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Summary The opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games has begun.
Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins rang a 23-ton bell at the Olympic Stadium Friday to end Britains seven-year countdown to the London Games and launch an extravagant opening ceremony celebration that included James Bond, the Bard and a Beatle.The show kicked off with a film about the River Thames, followed by a countdown and the release of four balloons carrying the five Olympic rings to the edge of space.The ringing of the giant bell ushered in what promised to be a quirky three-hour journey through British culture and history.Thousands of athletes were set to parade before 60,000 spectators, including Queen Elizabeth II and an A-list of global celebrities.Earlier Friday, Big Ben chimed 40 times, the British Air Forces Red Arrows aerobatic team flashed low over London trailing red, white and blue vapor trails at 8:12 p.m. 2012 on the 24-hour clock and South Korean archers were on target with two world records at Lords.Seven years after the British capital won the right to host the Olympics, the curtain was finally raised on the 30th edition of the Summer Games.After two days of football preliminaries outside London, the host city held its first Olympic competition Friday archery at the hallowed cricket ground.There was some confusion at the site when people mistakenly thought they could enter the free competition without a ticket.There were no such problems on the pitch, where South Korean archers set the first two world records of London 2012.Im Dong-hyun, who is legally blind, broke his own individual record for 72 arrows and joined Kim Bub-min and Oh Jin-hyek to set a team record for 216 arrows.This is just the first round, so I will not get too excited by it, Im said.Big Ben, one of the citys most recognizable landmarks, chimed for three minutes in honor of the opening ceremony featuring Queen Elizabeth II and directed by celebrated filmmaker Danny Boyle. Oh, and 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens and three sheep dogs, among others, with former Beatle McCartney reportedly set to end the three-hour show.The weather office had predicted a dry evening, but a summer shower soaked thousands of spectators just before the ceremony began.In other Olympic news, talks were under way to allow a female judo athlete to compete for Saudi Arabia after the sports governing federation said she would not be allowed to wear a headscarf in competition.Saudi Arabia, which sent its first two female Olympians to the London Games, had only agreed to let women participate if they adhered to the kingdoms conservative Islamic traditions, including wearing a headscarf.But on Thursday, the International Judo Federation said Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani would not be allowed to wear a headscarf because it was against principles of judo and raised safety concerns. Negotiations are continuing.A South Korean sailing coach was heading home in disgrace before the ceremony even began. The South Korea Sailing Federation said coach Lee Jae-cheol was sent back after being stopped by police for drunk driving after attending a banquet hosted by the mayor of Weymouth outside London. The federation apologized on Lees behalf.On Saturday, archery was to present its first medals in mens team competition, part of a blockbuster 19-sport schedule on the first full day of competition.One of the biggest events Saturday will be the mens cycling road race featuring Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins and world champion Mark Cavendish, who could help give Britain its first gold medal of the games.Its a dream team, Cavendish said. Weve got the first and second of the Tour de France, four guys who won stages at the Tour de France, the British champion, four guys incredibly motivated, four guys incredibly patriotic, incredibly loyal to each other.Other sports included womens basketball featuring the gold medal-favorite United States against Croatia and perennial silver medalists Australia against Britain, and preliminary womens beach volleyball at the Horse Guards Parade.At the Aquatics Centre, Australian Stephanie Rice hoped to repeat her 400-meter individual medley gold medal from Beijing. Other sports included mens bantamweight and middleweight boxing, the dressage portion of three-day eventing in equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, judo, rowing at Windsor outside London, shooting, table tennis, handball and tennis at Wimbledon.
