Thousands of athletes, coaches, referees, dignitaries and spectators gathered last night to celebrate the opening of the 21st Universiade at the 80,000-seat Beijing Workers’ Stadium in ceremonies that began with the traditional march of athletes and a high-tech lighting of the Universiade flame that left the stadium roaring its approval.
“I announce the 21st Universiade open!” President Jiang Zemin told the cheering crowd as flags carried into the stadium by the delegations of athletes representing the 169 participating countries waved all over the stadium in celebration of the Universiade, the international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years in a different city and which is second in importance only to the Olympic Games.
Also on the podium at Beijing Workers’ Stadium were Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Premier Zhu Rongji while Liu Jingmin, vice mayor of Beijing, served as master of ceremonies.
Beijing Mayor Liu Qi welcomed the athletes from all over the world while George Killian, president of the sponsoring International University Sports Federation thanked the citizens of China for “believing in the value of university sport.”
As the delegations marched into the stadium, many of the athletes took pictures and videos as they marched in smiling and waving, country after country, starting with countries like Albania, Algeria, Armenia and on to Zambia and Zimbabwe. The delegation from the Netherlands was particularly popular with the crowd as Dutch athletes threw out frisbees. Delegates from Uraguay carried a banner in Chinese that read: “We Love China.”
Each delegation was preceded by a placard bearer, a Chinese woman university student dressed in traditional ethnic costumes who carried placards announcing each delegation in Chinese and English adorned by an image of the country’s national bird, a symbol of China’s concern for environmental protection.
After all the athletes had gathered on center stage, the Universiade torch that had made its way in stages to Beijing was carried into the stadium by Lou Dapeng, vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations and a senior member of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee. The honor of the last leg was given to two Olympic gold medal winners and sports heroes in China, also symbolic of this Universiade as a precursor to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing: Deng Yaping, China’s champion ping pong player, and Tian Liang, China’s champion diver.
Music enhanced the gala celebration throughout the evening, starting with the concert band’s playing of popular songs from selected countries as the athletes marched into the stadium, such as Waltzing Matilda to honor the Australian delegation. The strains of Gaudeamus Igatur, the famous European college song popularized in the Academic Festival Overture of Brahms, pulled all the athletes and spectators together at the moment of the raising of the flag of the Universiade.
After the formal opening ceremonies ended with the Universiade pledge of allegiance by athletes and coaches, the stadium crowd and a nation-wide television audience was treated to an hour-long spectacular, entitled “Hello 21,” featuring singers, dancers, and musicians in elaborate choreography that combined the traditional with the modern, enhanced by high-technology lighting and staging. The opening ceremony ended with a display of fireworks.
(www.h5a3.com 08/23/2001)
