BEIJING • Lopez Lomong held the American flag in front of his chest. President Bush waved his own from the stands. And nearly 600 U.S. athletes walked onto China’s turf with a swagger, looking spiffy and confident.

The Olympics have begun.

An extravagant Opening Ceremony, capped by a flying, flame-throwing gymnast, put China on center stage Friday for the Beijing Games, billed as one of the most important in Olympic history, given how little the world knows about the communist country.

Most of the 10,500 Olympic athletes from a record 204 nations walked through 91,000-seat National Stadium, the new crown jewel of the Chinese capital, which will welcome 550,000 foreigners and 1 million domestic tourists during the 17-day Summer Games.

A Colorado Springs middle-distance runner who escaped from Sudanese rebels as a child, Lomong, 23, was the flag bearer for a 596-person U.S. contingent, sporting a sophisticated Ralph Lauren collection – blue blazers with white pants, white hats, white shoes, white shirts and red, white and blue ties.

“I have never been part of something like this,” said U.S. wrestler Randi Miller, one of 54 Colorado Springs athletes competing in Beijing. “It’s very special. It does definitely feel like a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

The Opening Ceremony was attended by a record80-plus world leaders. The first U.S. president to go to an Olympics on foreign soil, Bush addressed the American delegation prior to the event, and he’s expected to watch baseball, basketball and swimming the next three days.

There were no security problems, a day after a Chinese Islamic group threatened to attack the Beijing Games, warning Muslims to stay away from planes, trains and buses inhabited by Chinese.

There also were no protests after a week of bizarre ones, most notably four foreign activists who climbed electrical poles to hang pro-Tibet banners outside National Stadium and a California pastor who trashed two Beijing hotel rooms. Three American activists were detained after trying to protest near the stadium, according to Students for a Free Tibet executive director Lhadon Tethong.They had planned to hold Tibetan flags during the opening.

There was profound excitement from the Chinese, favorites to win the gold medal count and the total medal tally – feats accomplished by the U.S. at the past three Summer Games.

The four-hour Opening Ceremony, featuring 14,000 performers, 110 minutes of music from 18 composers and 30,000 fireworks, mixed China’s seldom-told heritage with its dramatic modernization.

It began with 2,008 drummers, spread across the massive floor of the $423 million, open-air stadium. A rolling scroll projected cliff paintings and images of pottery as an enthusiastic crowd waved Chinese flags and mini Olympic torches.

China’s Liu Huan and Great Britain’s Sarah Brightman sang “Beautiful Olympics,” the theme song of the Summer Games, before dancers hopped to music celebrating Chinese Opera on glistening projections of paintings.

A 5-year-old Chinese girl then played the piano while 1,000 dancers formed a dove and the shape of the Bird’s Nest out of flashing lights. That set the stage for a 9-year-old Chinese girl, who chased a kite across the stadium, suspended from wires on the roof.

The parade of athletes followed the unveiling of a nine-ringed globe, around which pictures of 2,008 smiling children were displayed as fireworks shot into a dark, hazy sky.

Roars were deafening when a 639-person Chinese contingent walked out of a tunnel with Houston Rockets star Yao Ming as its flag bearer. They grew louder when Chinese president Hu Jintao addressed the crowd before cables carried retired Chinese gymnast Li Ning to the roof, where he lit a gigantic torch.

“For a long time, China has dreamed of opening its doors and inviting the world’s athletes to Beijing for the Olympic Games,” International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said. “Tonight, that dream comes true. … Beijing, you are a host to the present and a gateway to the future.”-Contact the Writer: 636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazettedev.gazette.com. Check out our Olympics blog at gazetteolympics.freedomblogging.com

Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette

MARK REIS