List of People Who Have Opened the Summer Olympic Games

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics has been postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic situation which arose in early 2020. Now the games are scheduled from 23rd July 2021 to 8th August 2021. Now that the games have been postponed, many fans have become sad as many were expecting to enjoy visiting Japan or by streaming on their devices. Anyway, since we have some time for the Olympic Games to kick off, let’s check a few interesting stats. 

Do you know who inaugurates or officially opens the Summer Olympic Games? Well, I know we have asked a difficult question. Even if you follow the Olympics, it’s difficult to have knowledge regarding this. So let’s get into this and know the protocol for inaugurating Olympic Games. 

According to the protocol, the sitting president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) makes the speech and then invites the representative from the host country to officially open the Games. The person is supposed to be royalty, presidents, or their representatives. 

Also Read: 2021 Summer Olympics Broadcasters Worldwide

List of people who have opened the Summer Olympic Games

Check out the list of people who have opened the Summer Olympic Games. This list includes names from the very first Olympic Games in Athens to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. 

Year	Games	Host city	Officially opened by
1896	I Olympiad	Athens, Greece	George I
1900	II Olympiad	Paris, France	No official opening
1904	III Olympiad	St. Louis, United States	David R. Francis
1908	IV Olympiad	London, United Kingdom	Edward VII
1912	V Olympiad	Stockholm, Sweden	Gustaf V
1920	VII Olympiad	Antwerp, Belgium	Albert I
1924	VIII Olympiad	Paris, France	Gaston Doumergue
1928	IX Olympiad	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Prince Hendrik
1932	X Olympiad	Los Angeles, United States	Charles Curtis
1936	XI Olympiad	Berlin, Germany
1948	XIV Olympiad	London, Great Britain	George VI
1952	XV Olympiad	Helsinki, Finland	Juho Kusti Paasikivi
1956	XVI Olympiad (equestrian)	Stockholm, Sweden	Gustaf VI Adolf
1956	XVI Olympiad	Melbourne, Australia	The Duke of Edinburgh
1960	XVII Olympiad	Rome, Italy	Giovanni Gronchi
1964	XVIII Olympiad	Tokyo, Japan	Hirohito
1968	XIX Olympiad	Mexico City, Mexico	Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
1972	XX Olympiad	Munich, West Germany	Gustav Heinemann
1976	XXI Olympiad	Montreal, Canada	Elizabeth II
1980	XXII Olympiad	Moscow, Soviet Union	Leonid Brezhnev
1984	XXIII Olympiad	Los Angeles, United States	Ronald Reagan
1988	XXIV Olympiad	Seoul, Republic of Korea	Roh Tae-woo
1992	XXV Olympiad	Barcelona, Spain	Juan Carlos I
1996	XXVI Olympiad	Atlanta, United States	Bill Clinton
2000	XXVII Olympiad	Sydney, Australia	William Deane
2004	XXVIII Olympiad	Athens, Greece	Konstantinos Stephanopoulos
2008	XXIX Olympiad	Beijing, China PR	Hu Jintao
2012	XXX Olympiad	London, Great Britain	Elizabeth II
2016	XXXI Olympiad	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Michel Temer
2020	XXXII Olympiad	Tokyo, Japan	Naruhito (expected)
2028	XXXIV Olympiad	Los Angeles, United States	TBD

Who Will Open the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games?

It’s not yet official who will open the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, but it’s expected that Naruhito will have the honors. We will update you once the official news is out.