Watch: Fiery Accident at 1988 Olympics Is Why Doves Haven’t Been Used in the Games Since
The tradition of releasing doves during the Olympic Games started in 1920 at the Antwerp Games, symbolizing peace and recovery following World War I. Over 68 years, this poignant ritual became a hallmark of the opening ceremonies, visually representing the hopes of global unity. However, the practice was discontinued after a tragic incident at the 1988 Seoul Olympics when some doves landed on an unlit cauldron and were tragically burned when the flame was ignited. In response to this event, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose to abandon live dove releases in favor of symbolic alternatives. Modern ceremonies have since struggled to find equally meaningful representations, and with modern animal welfare considerations, it’s unlikely that doves will return to the Olympic stage.
Do you remember doves at the Olympic Games?
The tradition started in 1920, as the world healed and recovered from World War I.
According to the International Olympics Committee, the doves’ run at the opening ceremonies lasted for 68 years.
“For the first time, doves were released during an Olympic Games opening ceremony at Antwerp 1920,” a 2020 IOC post reads. “The image of one soldier for each country’s delegation releasing doves – a symbol of peace – was a striking visual representation of the role the Games hoped to play.
“The success of this intention is reflected in the fact that this symbolic gesture has been replicated, in one format or another, at every Olympic opening ceremony since.”
As anyone who watched the irreverent and distinctly French opening ceremony of the Paris Games knows, there were no live doves as part of the performance.
The reason for the Olympic exclusion of this bird of peace has to do with what happened during the 1988 Olympics.
That year, the games were held in Seoul, South Korea.
Video from the Seoul Games’ opening ceremony shows a small flock of the released doves did not depart the stadium, but instead landed on the unlit cauldron that was soon to host the Olympic flame.
The world wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen — and the doves certainly weren’t ready.
As torchbearers put their flames inside the cauldron, it ignited an inferno that left many of the birds as nothing more than charred corpses.
Video of the fiery avian disaster has resurfaced in light of this year’s games and is now making the rounds across social media.
They stopped releasing doves at the Olympics after they roasted some in Seoul South Korea in 1988
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) July 28, 2024
The IOC describes the Great Pigeon Roast of 1988 in more delicate terms than the reality the video shows.
“Live doves were released at each Games until those held in Seoul in 1988, when a number of the flock were drawn to the Olympic cauldron and sadly perished,” the IOC wrote.
“Since then, Organizing Committees have avoided a repeat of the incident by choosing to emulate the tradition symbolically.”
The opening ceremonies since 1988 have struggled to come up with symbols as universally poignant as the release of white doves, instead settling for comparatively anemic replacements.
“For example,” the IOC continued, “75 white-clad, winged cyclists completed a lap of London’s Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Opening Ceremony, while dancers interpreted the flight of the doves at the Olympic Games Sochi 2014.”
It’s hard to imagine modern groups like PETA allowing for doves to risk life and limb for an Olympics ceremony, so we may never see these symbolic birds at the games again.
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