ago.08.2008

An army of 2,008 drummers pounded out the countdown to the Games.

Twenty-nine "footprints of fire" shot into the sky and "marched" through the city to Tiananmen Square in a fantastic display of pyrotechnics.

Eighty world leaders including US President George W Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were among the 91,000 people in the audience.

The show, choreographed by China's most successful film director, Zhang Yimou, was a celebration of ancient Chinese history.

A record 204 national teams paraded through the stadium - not in the traditional alphabetical order but based on the number of strokes it takes to write their names in Chinese.

The T&T team led by George Bovell 111 had their brief moment centerstage in a ceremony described as "awesome" by TTOC president Larry Romany.

China came to a standstill for the ceremony, as there has been tremendous support for the Games from the Chinese public, many of whom see it as the most exciting event of their lifetime.

Although the opening of the 29th Olympiad lasted four hours,Romany said from what he saw most of those present were kept spell bound and attentive for the duration.

"I must congratulate China on a fantastic opening ceremony.There were little hiccups.All aspects were met.It is a great start.The hard part comes now"

Romany said that hosting a successful games requires more than a spectacular opening but the national Olympic chief is confident that China will build on their great start.

"With the competition getting started .Logistics and organization will be paramount" added Romany.