Keeping Olympic Time

The world is back in Brazil - this time for the Olympics that kicked off over the weekend. Was reading an interesting article on Olympic Humour this morning written by a sports-writer and cartoonist friend, Austin Coutinho

Over the years the Olympics have inspired a good lot of motivational songs encouraging effort to maximize one's potential and give it your best. The first Olympics Opening Ceremony I remember watching on TV was the 1984 Los Angeles Games when we woke up at 4.30 am. And the song I remember from that elaborate Opening Ceremony is "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand) which I believe was performed by Olivia Newton-John. I can't seem to get a hold on this one, but have the link to the Diana Ross version instead. 

Four years later (1988) in Seoul, the whole world was Hand in Hand with Koreana.

Part of the 1988 Olympic music was Whitney Houston's award winning single One Moment In Time. I've played accompaniment for this song on the keyboard as well as the guitar on many many occasions for my sister and others as well for various performances and competitions.

Atlanta in 1996 carried forward the same theme with Gloria Estefan's Reach 

Keeping with aspirational theme, Olivia Newton-John performed with John Farnham at the 2000 Sydney Olympics urging us on to Dare To Dream.

Back to the present time, the songs for 2016 Rio Olympics is a samba-rap fusion by Thiaguinho and Projota titled Alma e Coração" (Soul and Heart).

And the English song on that list is Rise from Katy Perry

So let's rise to every opportunity that comes our way and support the spirit of Sport. Enjoy the Olympics. Despite all the controversies that may surround this one, I trust there will be some exceptional performances and records to make this one memorable.