All eyes turn to Bird’s Nest sporting spectacle

LET the games begin!

The most politically-charged Olympic Games of modern times gets under way in Beijing later today with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

Athletes from more than 200 countries will take part in the three-hour event which begins at 1pm Irish time with live coverage on RTÉ2 and BBC1.

Ireland will be the 159th team to enter the stadium, behind Peru and ahead of Estonia, as its position in the parade order is dictated by the Chinese alphabet.

The Irish team will be led into the dramatic 91,000-seater stadium by Ciara Peelo from Malahide, a member of the sailing team who has been given the honour of carrying the Tricolour.

The 54-member Irish team, however, will be dwarfed by the larger countries, with the host nation fielding its biggest squad of 650 athletes, who hope to top the medal league ahead of the US.

Amid widespread calls for boycotts, Chinese political leaders and the International Olympic Committee are hopeful a global TV audience estimated to at more than one billion people will focus on the event itself and avoid the distraction of the many political issues which have surrounded the build-up to these controversial Games.

The organisers will also be hoping that the date of the official opening — 08/08/08 — will be fortuitous as the number “8” is considered very lucky in Chinese culture.

“Of course we hope that these will be a great Games, even the greatest,” said Sun Weide, spokesperson for the Beijing Games organising committee.

However, Chinese officials are highly aware that the 24th Olympiad comes against a background of fears of a terrorist attack as well as concerns about protests over China’s poor human rights record and Tibet.

Other issues dogging the Games are the infamous air pollution and claims that the authorities have reneged on promises about open access to the internet during the two weeks of the Olympics.

It will also be something of a surprise if some doping scandal doesn’t erupt during the Games, despite the best efforts of the organisers to put stringent drug-testing conditions in place.

Competition in equestrian and shooting events will also take place today, while soccer matches have been under way since Wednesday.

Seventeen of the 28 official sports begin tomorrow, although the first medals will only be decided in five sports — road cycling, weightlifting, judo, shooting and fencing.

As usual, events in the Olympic swimming pool will dominate the first week of the action.

Among the main attractions will be the attempt by US swimmer Michael Phelps to win an unprecedented eight Olympic golds in a single Games to break the record held by compatriot Mark Spitz since Munich in 1972.

More than 10,700 athletes will compete for medals in 302 events before the official closing ceremony on August 24.

For the first time in the Olympics, women will compete in the 3,000m steeplechase, while there will also be a new discipline in cycling — with the introduction of a competition for BMX bikers.

A marathon for swimmers is also being introduced, with 10km freestyle races for both men and women, while the team foil and sabre events in fencing will also be open to females for the first time.

Although there are no obvious medal contenders in their ranks, the Irish Olympic squad representing 12 different sports will be hoping for strong performances with outside chances of a podium finish.

First into action will be Derek Burnett from Longford in the trap shooting qualifying round tomorrow morning, although the five-member Irish equestrian eventing team will take part in the first official inspection of their horses later today.