The world’s spotlight turns to London’s Olympic Stadium where the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympic Games is being held.
The athletes are now parading into the stadium. The parade of nations features most of the roughly 1500 athletes marching behind the flags of 204 nations and regions. Greece, the spiritual home of the games, has the lead. After that, countries parade in alphabetical order. Basketball player Yi Jianlian led the Chinese delegation. As the host, Team Great Britain is the last.
The ceremony has been an eccentric and exuberant celebration of British history, art and culture. Much of the show too has been an encyclopedic review of British musical history. Titled "Isles of Wonder", the show features 10,000 performers over nearly three hours. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth arrived at the opening ceremony and will help officially open the Games.