The spectacular four-hour long opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics came to its close yesterday evening at the stunning Bird’s Nest stadium when Li Ning, the former Chinese athlete ran high above the crowd and the cloud in a gravity-defying space-walk holding the flame in his hand before lightening the ultimate one.
With this giant inaugural ceremony in which an estimated £20 billion has been spent by the host not only showcase China’s arrival as the super power in terms of a booming economy or technology but also symbolizes its cultural enormity of a five thousand year old civilisation along with the reverence of Chinese people to this great world event.
Thousands of performer, athletes and spectators across the world joined memories of their lifetime in this ceremony marking the fortnight long biggest sporting extravaganza on the earth. The games will run until August 24, with 10,500 athletes from a record 204 nations competing for 302 gold medals in 28 sports.
As per Olympics history and tradition Greece, the mother of Olympics, was the first country to march past with national flag and the host country in the last with 639 athletes, its largest ever sporting group. The Chinese have certainly set the score of the next fort-night.
The Chinese flag was carried by national basketball star Yao Ming accompanied by Lin Hao, a nine-year-old survivor of the Sichuan earthquake, who bravely led his classmates in singing songs to keep their spirits alive while rescuers worked on to free them from their collapsed school.
Chinese President Hu Jintao told international dignitaries that the Beijing Olympics was an opportunity for both China and the world.
"The Beijing Olympic Games is an opportunity not only for China but also for the whole world," Hu said in his toast at a welcoming banquet for foreign leaders and other VIP guests, including International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge and Honorary President Juan Antonio Samaranch.
"We should carry forward the Olympic spirit of solidarity, friendship and peace, facilitate sincere exchanges among people from all countries, deepen mutual understanding, enhance friendship and rise above differences, and promote the building of a harmonious world featuring lasting peace and common prosperity," said Hu.
|
|
Comments:
