Beijing - China launched the 29th summer Olympics Friday
with a glittering opening ceremony combining 5,000 years of its
past with a modern firecracker of a show.
The start of the four-hour extravaganza saw the Beijing sky light
up after each section of the show, a journey through the history of
the once reclusive country which is aims to use the Olympics to
showcase its rise to a world power.
China's President Hu Jintao officially opened the Games, slightly
varying from the traditional formula by saying: 'Now I declare open
the XXIX Beijing Olympic Games.'
'It has been a dream of the Chinese people for a century to host
the Olympics. I welcome the athletes from all nations and regions of
the world,' said organizing committee chief Liu Qi in his welcome
speech.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said:
'For a long time China has dreamed of opened its doors and inviting
the athletes to the Olympic Games in Beijing. Tonight that dream
comes true, congratulations Beijing.'
The 91,000-strong crowd in the National Stadium, and more than a
billion television viewers, earlier saw the hoisting of the Chinese
flag which was carried into the stadium by children from China's 56
ethnic groups after 2,008 drummers had started the show.
The trip through China's rich history referenced ancient paper-
making and calligraphy, the Great Wall, opera puppets and China's
arrival in the space age.
Performers included famous piano player Lang Lang.
Hu and the communist party's leadership watched in the VIP section
along with almost 90 state leaders including US President George W
Bush and Russian Premier Vladimir Putin.
Directed by Zhang Yimou, the show featuring some 15,000 performers
stayed away from politics with no mention for instance of chairman
Mao (Zedong), the former communist revolutionary leader, as Chinese
organizers had insisted all the way that politics and sport should
not mix.
Award-winning film director Zhang admitted after the show that he
had been very nervous. 'Making a movie is one thing, but you have a
chance to make things better if you do not get them right.
'But in this ceremony, we could not do that. The biggest concern
was that we would make a mistake with the flame lighting. I was
worried about that. But I am grateful that everything went so
smoothly in the end. The performers did really well.'
The parade of nations traditionally started with Olympic inventors
Greece and ended with hosts China who marched into the stadium behind
flag-bearing basketball star Yao Ming amid a deafening roar.
Yao was accompanied by a little boy who survived the devastating
May 12 earthquake in the Sichuan province. Rogge said that 'we grieve
with you' over the May 12 disaster.
Taiwan received a roaring reception and so did the large United
States team which is expected to battle China all the way for the top
of the final medal table.
Communist North Korea got a warm welcome and the crowd also roared
its approval when Swiss flag-bearer Roger Federer, the world's
leading tennis player who celebrated his 27th birthday Friday, was
zoomed in onto the big screen.
Before the concluding fireworks, the final torch bearer lit the
Olympic cauldron with the flame first sparked on March 24 in ancient
Olympia.
The Olympic flame travelled some 137,000 kilometres, mostly by
air, over 130 days of international and Chinese torch relay legs,
including a leg to the summit of Mount Everest.
The anti-Chinese government protests that dogged several
international legs of the relay prompted some International Olympic
Committee members to propose curtailing or ending the recent practice
of holding international legs.
Security was tight all over Beijing and the international airport
closed for the duration of the ceremony for security reasons.
Around 11,000 athletes from a record 204 nations will compete in
28 sports for 302 gold medals at the first Olympics in China and
third in Asia, following Tokyo 1964 and Seoul 1988.
The Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the
organizing committee Zhang Heping said that their biggest worry on
the night had been the weather.
'We distributed 10,000 raincoats to the athletes and others
thinking it might rain. But obviously the heavens were on our side
and it did not rain,' he said.
USA
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