On the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the millennium in a country where eight is the luckiest number, China welcomed the world to the 29th Olympiad with a blockbuster opening ceremony that launched arguably the most anticipated and assuredly the most controversial Games in modern Olympic history.
Amid the roar of fireworks and elaborate tributes to China’s 5,000-year-old civilization, athletes from 204 nations – before dignitaries that included President Bush, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Bush, rebuked by China after he raised human-rights concerns this week, is the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics on foreign soil.
The potential TV audience is 4 billion worldwide for what was certainly the costliest and probably the largest opening ceremony in Olympic history.
Among the flag-bearers were basketball stars Dirk Nowitzki of Germany and Manu Ginobili of Argentina, and South African swimmer Nathalie Du Toit, who lost her lower left leg in an accident and made history by qualifying for both the able-bodied games and the Paralympics.
The American flag-bearer was 1,500-meter runner Lopez Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, who spent a decade of his youth in a refugee camp in Kenya. He’s a member of the Team Darfur coalition, representing athletes opposed to China’s support for Sudan.
For full schedule of the Bejiing 2008 Summer Olympic Games visit: http://www.nbcolympics.com/resultsandschedules/index.html
Information from the Associated Press and NBC contributed to this report.