| 1994 Winter Olympics opening ceremony | |
| Place: | Lysgårdsbakken, Lillehammer, Norway |
| Coordinates: | 61.1256°N 10.4879°W |
| Filmed By: | 1994 Olympic Radio and Television Organisation (NRK ORTO '94) |
The opening ceremony of the 1994 Winter Olympics took place on 12 February 1994 at Lysgårdsbakken in Lillehammer, Norway.
Artistic content was made to present a range of Norwegian culture, included Sami joik, Telemark skiing, fiddlers and folk dancing,[1] simulations of traditional weddings and their processions, and vetter from Norse mythology.[2] The ceremony was hosted by an actress Liv Ullmann and explorer and sailor Thor Heyerdahl, 79 years old at the time.[3] After speeches by LOOC President Gerhard Heiberg and IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, the games were officially declared opened by King Harald V.[4] The Olympic Flame was to be carried by a skier down the ski jump before lighting the cauldron. Originally this task had rested upon Ole Gunnar Fidjestøl, but after he was injured in a practice jump, his back-up received the honour. The cauldron was lit by Crown Prince Haakon Magnus. The Olympic oaths were issued by Vegard Ulvang for the athletes and Kari Kåring for the officials.[5] Finnish Sami poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapää performed at the opening ceremony.
On the day of the opening ceremonies, art thieves stole Edvard Munch's masterpiece The Scream from the National Museum in Oslo.