Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (R) poses for photos with athletes of the Australian Olympic delegation at the Olympic Village in Beijing.Xinhua
U.S. President George W. Bush arrives with wife Laura in Beijing on Thursday.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo arrives.
The Bird’s Nest seen Thursday night ahead of Friday’s ceremony.Xinhua
More than 80 heads of state, members of royal families and other VIPs to attend opening
10,500 athletes from 200 countries and regions to vie for sport’s top honors
Yao Ming to carry Chinese national flag into Bird’s Nest
THE numbers tell the story: 15,000 performers, 30,000 fireworks, 5 billion people watching, and more than 80 world leaders, the most in Olympic history.
All these will bring dramatically to life the opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games to be held tonight in Beijing and the following weeks of intense competition.
Directed by Zhang Yimou, whose acclaimed films included “Raise the Red Lantern” and “Red Sorghum,” the 3 1/2-hour ceremony will launch a sporting event that has taken seven years to prepare. Half a million visitors are in town to watch the 10,500 athletes from 200 countries and regions vie for the sport’s top honors.
More than 80 heads of state and members of royal families will attend the Olympic opening ceremony, with dozens of other top officials taking the total number of diplomatic VIPs to more than 100.
The gala will begin with the beating of the ancient Chinese drum, fou, the organizers said. It will be followed by the display of the Olympic rings and the Chinese national flag.
The one-hour “main” performance, divided into two parts, will feature “a Chinese scroll painting” unrolling in the interval to reveal undulating blocks that symbolize buildings, synchronized tai-chi and ribbon-dance performances against plaintive strings.
Modern technology and wire performances will highlight China’s iconic civilization through to modern times, said Zhang Heping, director of BOCOG’s opening and closing ceremonies department. “It’s a Chinese story told in the language of the world.”
The performances will be followed by the traditional athletes’ parade, speeches by the International Olympic Committee and BOCOG presidents, oath-taking by athletes and referees, the release of doves and lighting of the Olympic cauldron in the stadium, to be accompanied by 30,000 fireworks shooting into the sky above the Olympic Green.
Basketball icon Yao Ming, China’s flag bearer in Athens four years ago, will carry China’s national flag into the Bird’s Nest tonight.
British soprano Sarah Brightman and Chinese singer Liu Huan will sing the theme song.
It was still a secret who will have the honor of lighting the cauldron, the climax and most important part of the show.
Media speculators have ruled out Yao, 2004 110-meter gold medalist Liu Xiang and China’s first Olympic gold medalist Xu Haifeng after they were drafted for earlier legs of the torch relay. Famous 45-year-old gymnast and entrepreneur Li Ning, and China’s Mr. Olympics He Zhenliang, 79, one of the most highly regarded dignitaries and most influential Chinese Olympic personality of his time, are instead their hot tips.
South Korea’s Seoul Broadcasting System has been forbidden from bringing its cameras into the ceremony as a penalty after its crew shot footage of a dress rehearsal and ran a two-minute item on television last week.
Forecasters said Thursday that the weather would be mainly overcast but favorable for the ceremony, with a possible brief shower in the afternoon and temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius.
A total of 10,500 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports from Aug. 8 to 24, one event more than the 2004 Athens Games.
The Olympic Games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games, “Dancing Beijing,” features a stylized calligraphic character “jing” (meaning capital), refering to the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwas, each representing both a color of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, “One World, One Dream” calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit.
(SD-Agencies)