Being an athlete is a ton of pressure, and for those who want to end up standing on a winners’ podium holding an Olympic bouquet, the choice is narrow: either go for the win, or bury all your hopes in soft couch pillows. By extension, the awards on those huge global events also tend to reflect this make-or-break mentality, even if they are floral! Today, we are going to explore the history of the Olympic flowers, a trademark of a true winner.
Olympic flowers: the concept and history
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Olive the precursor
Since ancient times, the olive tree has been an integral symbol of victory, honor, peace, and unity. It was also a symbol of the ideal Olympian, since the olive branch was the only prize for the winners of the original Olympic games, which made it all the more valuable and important in the Ancient Greek world. At some point, though, a sacred apple had also served as the big reward, but after the grim predictions of the Oracle of Delphi, it was decided to award the winners with a wreath made of wild olive, called “κότινο” (kotino).
The species of olive used for the wreath was cultivated in a place called the Sacred Grove; with golden scissors, a little boy would cut off 17 branches, which stood for the number of sports in the Olympic Games of that time — it eventually became 18. Not a single athlete could declare victory until the judges crowned them with olive.
Then came the Olympic bouquet
Which, apparently, is a whole endeavor: for months, the best florists in the receiving country who make the cut in a rigorous competition work in groups to develop the concept of the future bouquet. Along with size requirements, the International Olympic Committee imposes other restrictions; for instance, only flowers that grow in the host country can be used. That gave birth to a plethora of distinctive national traditions of bouquet arrangement, with the Dutch, and their fabled galore of flowers, being the obvious frontrunners.
The limitations imposed on flower species sometimes led to curious results; at 2012 Summer Olympics in London, many winners ended up having to undergo inspection by an expert from the Food and Environment Research Agency — apparently, the bouquets included wheat, so taking them out of the country meant exporting a key agricultural resource! The awardees would probably have been spared the ordeal if the UK had a wider choice of flowers to use.
Along with wheat, the 2012 London bouquet featured four rose cultivars: the pink “Aqua,” the orange “Marie Claire,” the yellow “Ilios,” and, in a true London fashion, the green “Wimbledon.” It was designed by Jane Parker, a famous British florist, and the concept was for the colors to mirror those of the Olympic rings. The bouquet was also strongly scented, which in itself is a step away from its fellows: for fear of provoking an allergic reaction, the fragrance is usually very limited. Thankfully, hypoallergenic flowers and herbs — lavender, rosemary, and mint, — were used instead, making the moment of triumph doubly memorable for the lucky winners.
Six more Olympic Games — and only five bouquets
2004 Summer Olympics in Greece: the arrangement included gerberas, tansies, goldenrods, and sea-lavenders, all richly decorated with olive leaves that also adorned the Olympians’ heads, imitating a laurel wreath and reminding everyone that the Games were hosted by their ancestral home that year.
2006 Winter Olympics in Italy: the extravagant bouquet featured azaleas, camellias, and rhododendrons, in gorgeous red and white; coupled with greenery, they matched the colors of the Italian flag. Some of the flowers were shaped like spurts of scarlet, which brought the association with a flaming torch, fitting for the Olympic spirit.
The next bouquet also resembled a torch, albeit flameless: with a distinct shape that a lot of people would associate with masculinity, and the traditionally feminine flowers such as roses, hypericums, false dragonheads, plantain lilies, and fountainplants, the florists from Beijing created a truly unisex bouquet for the 2008 Summer Olympics in China.
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada featured the most concise winners’ bouquet with green chrysanthemums, hypericums, aspidistra, bear grass, and ferns. Like the Beijing bouquet, this one looked perfect in the hands of both male and female athletes, and it was no surprise that it surpassed its 23 competitors before the Olympic Committee in Vancouver.
For the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia, the florists went for something vivid, vibrant, and dazzling, including not only flowers such as chrysanthemums and sea-lavenders, but also vegetable herbs like laurel and eucalyptus, apparently for an immunity boost. The winners would clearly only be able to enjoy that boost after their victory, but curiously, one didn’t have to finish first to receive the champions’ bouquet, as the arrangements were the same no matter which step of the podium the athlete stood on.
At the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil, the winners were awarded no flowers whatsoever, but were given small token gifts, along with medals. The spokesman from Rio de Janeiro said: “In the interests of sustainability and innovation, it was decided that flowers will not be awarded to the champions and prize-winners of this Olympics,” so instead of bouquets, the athletes were awarded figurines of the Olympic logo in 3D.
Should you have a winner of the next Olympic Games somewhere in your list of overseas contacts and wish to present them — or just a person who is dear to you — with a bouquet, we’ve got you covered!
- Send flowers to congratulate on a personal accomplishment, wish them well, or just because!
- Browse our selection of flowers and gifts for women, for men, and for couples.
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Born in Nalchik in 1966, graduated with a major in English Lit, and working as a school teacher since 1990. My interests are diverse: music, good literature, and computer technology at the user level. I like to try new things, and I bring what I started to its logical conclusion. Oh! And I do love my pets! I’m already 54 and I still believe in miracles and hobbits with elves and Gandalf. I myself am a bit of an adventuress like a hobbit, and I love mushrooms, too, like they do.