LONDON, July 28 (Bernama) -- Spectators at the Olympics Stadium here and television viewers all over the world were stunned as Great Britain put on a superb show to raise the curtains on the 30th Olympic Games tonight.
A spectacular combination of traditional and modern English culture showed their transformation, as the landscape at the stadium turned from countryside to industrial area.
The official opening ceremony started at 9pm (4am Malaysian time) at the 80,000 capacity full house stadium, located at Stratford in East London, where thousands of performers then staged two hours of sizzling performances.
Titled 'Isles of Wonder' to show the country's transformation society, it started with the industrial revolution in the year 1800's, and continued to portray Great Britain's progressive and drastic changes.
To end the first segment, five rings, the symbol of the Olympic movement, were then hoisted up at the middle of the stadium before Queen Elizabeth II arrived at 9.30pm.
The show then featured modern performance art where two English film's famous characters, Mr 007 James Bond and Mr Bean stole the limelight of the segment.
At 10.30 pm, the contingent parade from 204 participating countries started marching into the stadium, in alphabetical order, starting with Afghanistan.
The Malaysian contingent, comprising 22 athletes and officials for the parade led by Chef-de-Mission Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid and Jalur Gemilang bearer, Pandelela Rinong anak Pamg, joined the parade at 11.13 pm.
The Malaysian men were dressed in the yellow and black stripes, the colour of `Harimau Malaysa' 'Baju Melayu' and women in 'baju kurung'.
The men also wore a head-gear (tanjak) while the women put on the 'selendang' or shawl.
London Olympic and Paralympics Organizing Committee (Locog) chairman, Sebastian Coe in his speech than welcomed the participants to the biggest show on earth.
"In the next two weeks, we'll show the great city of London. London 2012 will see the very best of us," he said.
While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Jacques Rogge, thanked London for welcoming the world.
"It's here that the birth to modern sports takes place. London has become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, previously in 1908 and in 1948," he said.
The Queen then officially opened the London Games.
Beijing Olympic 2008 gold medalist in taekwondo, Briton Sarah Stevenson took the oath on behalf of the athletes.
After travelling nearly 12,800km, the Olympic torch finally entered the stadium at 12.35am.
A group of seven promising young British athletes then brought the torch around the stadium before lighting the Olympic cauldron.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN.
From Zulhilmi Supaat -- BERNAMA
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