If you watched any Olympic coverage in the US in the past 35 years or so, at some point you heard either Arnaud’s “Bugler’s Dream” or Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare and Theme.”
What songs would I expect to hear if I were watching the Olympics on TV in some other country?
On a related note, here’s a fun fact. I just discovered that the “Bugler’s Dream” we hear on TV is just a portion of a somewhat longer composition:
Has “Bugler’s Call” or “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” even been used for Tokyo 2020? I’ve been watching only the replays, and they’ve been using what seems to be a Japanese-derived song.
UK: There isn’t a theme song/composition that is used for every Olympics - The BBC, the main Olympic broadcaster, tends to commission something new for every Olympics - but there’s certainly songs I would associate with the British Olympic team. Heather small’s ‘Proud’:
And of course, there’s always the theme tune to Chariot’s of Fire:
I’m pretty sure I have heard the fanfare.
Yes the BBC seems to choose a song from a popular beat combo of the day as an unofficial “theme”
For the Beijing Olympics they had Elbow’s “one day like this”
For LA 1984 it was Spandau Ballet and “Gold”
And for Vancouver in 2010 it was Fleet Foxes “white winter hymnal”
I’m both a big music and a sports fan, but I draw a blank for Germany, nothing comes to mind. I don’t think there ever was an official Olympics song, not even for the 1972 games in Munich. The TV stations only just have new generic jingles for their respective programs, but they’re forgettable. Football (soccer) songs OTOH, especially for occasions like the World Cup, are numerous.