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The Olympics are under way in Beijing and apparently, the opening ceremonies went off quite spectacularly. However, because of the time difference (13 hours in KC) — and NBC’s desire to only show these ceremonies in prime time — we Americans won’t be able to see them until tonight. Oh well. Here’s my second-hand account, based on reports from Yahoo Sports.

Judging by the pictures and the report, it looks like the Chinese went all out on the pomp and circumstance department and rightfully so. It’s not every year you get to open a sports “tournament” of such magnitude.

To the beat of sparkling explosions, the crowd counted down the final seconds before the show began. A sea of drummers—2,008 in all—pounded out rhythms with their hands, then acrobats on wires gently wafted down into the stadium as rockets shot up into the night sky from its rim.

President Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were among the glittering roster of notables who watched China make this bold declaration that it had arrived. Bush, rebuked by China after he raised human-rights concerns this week, is the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics on foreign soil.

The Olympics feature a record 204 delegations. If you’d like to see video of the Opening Ceremonies, Yahoo’s got you covered here as well. Or you could always wait until tonight…

Tags: Beijing, Opening Ceremonies, Summer Olympics

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