The Olympic anthem is playing during the Olympic Games' opening ceremony, to music by Spyros Samaras and lyrics by Kostis Palamas

The Olympic Anthem was composed for the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 by the Corfu composer Spyros Samara and to Kostis Palamas's lyrics. It was written a year earlier and was first heard in January 1896 at the "Parnassos" Literary Society. On March 25, 1896, King George declared the first modern Olympic Games opening ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium. For the following Olympic Games and until 1956, the host country was expected to arrange its own Olympic Anthem. In 1936 during the Berlin Games, they decided that the Hymn, composed by Richard Strauss, would be the permanent Hymn of the Olympic Games. This decision was later revoked, and from 1954 to 1956, the Hymn used was by Polish composer Michal Spisak. Finally, in 1958, Samaras' and Palamas' Hymn was chosen by the International Olympic Committee as the official Hymn of the Olympic Movement. As of the Rome Olympiad in 1960, the Hymn is performed during the opening and closing ceremonies of each Olympiad. The original score is saved at the Headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.