Ceremonies
The Opening ceremony was held on the main straightaway of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. About 80,000 spectators watched a performance produced by The Walt Disney Company with 6,500 performers in the largest outdoor live entertainment show held in the United States up to that point. It was also the largest Opening Ceremony of the Pan Am games yet. Dignitaries included IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, Indianapolis Mayor William H. Hudnut III, Indiana Governor Robert D. Orr, and PASO President Mario Vazquez Raña. US Vice President George Bush officially opened the games.
Flag bearers in the Parade of Nations included the games' oldest athlete, 70-year-old yachtsman Durwood Knowles of the Bahamas, basketball star José Ortiz of Puerto Rico, and baseball pitcher Jim Abbott of the United States.
The final leg of the torch relay had the flame passed from Oscar Robertson to Kristie Phillips to Wilma Rudolph who lit the cauldron.
The closing ceremony took place in the Hoosier Dome. The headline act was Cuban American singer Gloria Estefan and her band Miami Sound Machine.
Read more about this topic: 1987 Pan American Games
Famous quotes containing the word ceremonies:
“Despite compelling evidence that she will be working at 35, by choice or necessity, today’s 21-year-old woman has difficulty looking beyond the ceremonies of her marriage and her babies’ christenings.”
—Marilyn Bender (b. 1925)
“Friendship should be surrounded with ceremonies and respects, and not crushed into corners. Friendship requires more time than poor busy men can usually command.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In ceremonies of the horsemen,
Even the pawn must hold a grudge.”
—Bob Dylan [Robert Allen Zimmerman] (b. 1941)