Editing 1968 Winter Olympics (section)

== Ceremonies ==
=== Opening ceremony ===
[[File:Stade olympique - Grenoble 1968.jpg|thumb|Opening Ceremony in the [[Olympic Stadium (Grenoble)|Olympic Stadium]].]]
For first time, a temporary stadium was built to host the ceremonies, supported by scaffolding and able to hold 60,000 spectators. The Olympic Stadium was situated in the immediate vicinity to the Olympic Village and IBC/MPC. At the back of the stadium, there was a steel scaffold that kept host to the Olympic flame, located in a 4m wide bowl at the top, which also was able to take 550&nbsp;kg in weight. There were also stairs leading to the top, containing 96 steps.

The ceremony began on Tuesday, 6 February at 3:00&nbsp;p.m., with French president [[Charles de Gaulle]] in attendance. Among the 500 invited guests of honour was IOC president [[Avery Brundage]], the Irani empress [[Farah Pahlavi]], the Danish Princess [[Margrethe II of Denmark|Margrethe]] and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg [[Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium|Josephine Charlotte]]. After the [[La Marseillaise|Marseillaise]] was sung, the French national anthem, cultural performances followed.

The procession of the athletes into the stadium was traditionally led by the Greek team. The other teams proceeded into the stadium in alphabetical order, starting with West Germany (Allemagne) and then East Germany (Allemagne d'Est). The last team out was the hosts, the French team. Albert Michallon, president of COJO, said in his speech that all athletes and visitors were welcome. Brundage again recollected [[Pierre de Coubertin]]'s ideals and expressed the hope of these ideals lead to a peaceful and less materialistic world. He invited Charles de Gaulle to open the Games. De Gaulle appeared on the stage and read out the opening set-phrase.

14 [[Chasseurs Alpins]] soldiers carried a giant 54m2  Olympic flag into the stadium and hoisted. The organisers had decided against the usual tradition of letting the peace dove fly. Instead, they let out 500 small Olympic flags on paper parachutes and 30,000 perfumed paper roses from three helicopters over the stadium. Following this, figure skater [[Alain Calmat]] was the last torch bearer to enter the stadium. He climbed up the steps to the bowl, where his a sound of his heartbeat amplified over the loudspeakers. Once at the top, he lit the Olympic flame.

Shortly afterwards, skier [[Léo Lacroix|Leo Lacroix]] read out the [[Olympic Oath|Olympic oath]]. At the end, the [[Patrouille de France]], the aerobatic flight display team, flew over the stadium and marked out the colours of the Olympic rings with their vapour trails in the sky.

=== Closing ceremony ===
[[File:Allee parc Paul-Mistral - Grenoble.JPG|thumb|Stade de glace in [[Paul Mistral Park]].]]
The Winter Olympics ended on Sunday, 18 February, with the closing ceremony in the ''[[Palais des Sports (Grenoble)|Ice Stadium]]''. The first highlight was the figure skaters gala session. It also included ice dancing, an event that was first introduced into the main programme eight years after in 1976. The best ten partners from the last world championship took part in the event and there was no scores. After that, the last award ceremonies then took place.

After the Marseillaise was played, all athletes who were still in Grenoble reassembled onto the ice and the flag bearers formed a semi-circle. Whilst the flags of Greece, France and next host Japan were put up, a torchbearer brought the Olympic flame into the stadium and ignited it into a small cauldron on the center of ice. IOC president Avery Brundage thanked the organisers and declared the games over. When the Olympic flag was lowed and retired from the venue, gun salutes were heard all across the town and finally the flame went out.