By Elton Tucker, Assistant Sport Editor
ATHENS, Greece:
THE Games of the XXVIII Olympiad opened with an extravagant ceremony at the Athens Olympic Stadium here last night.
Over 10,000 athletes from 202 countries, including Jamaica, were greeted by a packed Stadium of 72,000 spectators. As expected the loudest cheers went up for the host nation as Greece overcame several construction problems to welcome the world.
The parade of nations was led off by Greek weightlifter, Pyrros Dimas who is seeking a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.
Jamaica, with flag-bearer, five-time Olympian Sandie Richards, was the 185th country to enter the Olympic Stadium. The sequence of countries was based on the Greek alphabet which had Jamaica starting with a 'T'.
THUNDEROUS FIREWORKS
The real highlight of the ceremony was a huge, thunderous fireworks display which lit up the skies over Athens after the Games were declared officially open by President of Greece, Konstandinos Stefanopoulos.
The Olympic flame was lit by Greek sailor Nikolaos Kaklamanakis.
The colourful ceremony with more than 9,000 participants was a display of a journey through time in which Greek mythology, fire and water played a great part.
In one early scene a pyrotechnic 'comet' is launched from a video screen and it falls into a man-made lake at the centre of the field. As it does so it triggers the formation of the Olympic rings which are inscribed in fire on the surface of the water.
In another scene a Centaur is seen standing in water and he throws a javelin towards the centre of the lake from which a huge Cycladic head emerges.
In ancient Greek mythology the Centaur, half man, half horse, trained and educated the heroes of Greece. Cycladic comes from the group of islands known as the Cyclades. Cycladic heads were the first representations of the human form to be cut from marble.
Greece is the birth place of the ancient Olympics in 776 B.C. The first modern games was held in Athens in 1896.
JAMAICA BOW INTO ACTION
Jamaica bows into action in badminton and shooting on today's first full day of competition.
Shooter Dawn Kobayashi will be the first Jamaican in action as at 1:00 a.m. Jamaica time she starts competition in the 10m Air Rifle event.
Many-time National women's champion Nigella Saunders makes her Olympic debut with a tough singles game against Mia Audina of the Netherlands. Audina, a semi-finalist at last year's World Championships, is ranked four here. The round of 32 match is set for 10.30 a.m. (2.30 a.m. Ja time).
