Amid pollution, protests and impressive pomp and circumstance, the curtains rose Friday on the XXIX Summer Olympics in Beijing.

The four-hour opening ceremony at the 91,000-seat Bird's Nest stadium was a gaily colored extravaganza punctuated by fireworks and festivities, including a guy-in-the-sky lighting of the Olympic flame.

Gymnast Li Ning, who won three gold medals for China in 1984, was lifted by wires for the spectacle. He circled the Bird's Nest once, gliding through the air like a spacewalker. Then he used the torch to light the massive Olympic caldron.

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