Olympic Hymn - Languages in Which Anthem Was Performed

Languages in Which Anthem Was Performed

The anthem has been recorded and performed in many different languages, usually as a result of the hosting of either form of the Games in various countries. The IOC requires that the anthem be performed in either English or Greek. But in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, Greek was also sung instead of host country official language, Chinese but this language can be sung in Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics.

Olympics City Language Performed Notes
1960 Winter Squaw Valley English The first time it was performed since the original 1896 revival Games in Athens.
1960 Summer Rome Italian
1964 Winter Innsbruck German
1964 Summer Tokyo Japanese The anthem was sung in Japanese at the closing ceremony.
1968 Winter Grenoble French
1968 Summer Mexico City Spanish
1972 Winter Sapporo Japanese
1972 Summer Munich Instrumental An instrumental arrangement was used during the opening and closing ceremonies.
1976 Winter Innsbruck German
1976 Summer Montreal Greek Decision was made to have it performed in Greek.
1980 Winter Lake Placid English
1980 Summer Moscow Russian and Greek The anthem was sung in Russian at the opening ceremony, but in Greek at the closing ceremony.
1984 Winter Sarajevo Serbo-Croatian
1984 Summer Los Angeles English
1988 Winter Calgary Greek A decision was made to have the anthem sung in Greek.
1988 Summer Seoul Korean
1992 Winter Albertville Instrumental A decision was made to play the instrumental version of the anthem.
1992 Summer Barcelona Spanish, Catalan, and French At the opening ceremony, Alfredo Kraus sang the anthem's first two stanzas in Catalan and the rest of the anthem in Spanish and French. At the closing ceremony, Plácido Domingo sung it entirely in Spanish.
1994 Winter Lillehammer Norwegian Sung at both the opening (with the Children's chorus) and closing ceremonies by Syssel Kyrkjebø.
1996 Summer Atlanta English Performed at the Opening by the 300 voices of the Centennial Olympic choir.
1998 Winter Nagano Japanese Performed by the Nagano Festival Orchestra and sung by the Nagano City Children's Chorus Group in Japanese.
2000 Summer Sydney English and Greek The only Olympics so far in which the anthem was performed in both of the languages preferred by the IOC. At the opening ceremony, performed in Greek by the Millennium Choir of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in recognition of the substantial Greek population of Australia. At closing ceremony, performed in English.
2002 Winter Salt Lake City English Sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
2004 Summer Athens Greek Naturally in Greek; sung to the arrangement of John Psathas.
2006 Winter Turin Instrumental; abbreviated version At these Olympics, an abbreviated version was performed at both the opening and closing ceremonies.
2008 Summer Beijing Greek A decision was made to have it sung in Greek at both the opening and closing ceremonies.
2010 Youth Singapore Greek
2010 Winter Vancouver English and French This was the only Olympics that the anthem was performed in both of the official languages of the Olympics. This was done to reflect the official bilingualism in Canada. Measha Brueggergosman at the opening ceremony and Ben Heppner at the closing ceremony sang the first two, the fourth, and sixth stanzas in English and the remainder in French.
2012 Youth Innsbruck German
2012 Summer London Instrumental and English Instrumental version played in the opening ceremony by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Sung in English at the closing ceremony by the London Welsh Male Voice Choir and the London Welsh Rugby Club Choir.
2014 Winter Sochi, Russia Russian
2014 Youth Nanjing, China Chinese The Chinese version will be sung at the closing ceremony.
2016 Summer Rio de Janeiro Portuguese

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