olympics2008.com

The ceremony is attempting to tell the story of China's history

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The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics has begun with a spectacular display of dancing, music and fireworks at a packed national stadium.

Some 10,000 performers are taking part in the festivities, being watched on TV by an estimated one billion people.

The city's main airport has been closed for the ceremony, amid heightened security in the capital.

The build-up to the event has been dominated by worries over pollution and criticism of China's rights record. <!-- E SF -->

Earlier, President Hu Jintao said: "The historic moment we have awaited is arriving."

Bomb threat

The 2008 Olympics have been described as the most politicised Games since the boycott era of the early 1980s.

There is no doubting that America's Jesse Owens was the star of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

The Buckeye Bullet - his nickname a reference to his Ohio roots - became the first man to win the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay at the same Olympics.

He set three Olympic records, tied a fourth and became great friends with German long jumper Luz Long who offered him advice during qualifying.

Owens was in danger of not reaching the final, but Long told him to alter his run up and take off short of the board - he did and went on to beat Long.

Now we've got the initial facts out the way, let's get onto a few of the stories that arose out of the Games.

Much was made about Owens being a black athlete and destroying German leader Adolf Hitler's plans to use the Games to prove his theory of Aryan supremacy.

Whether that is completely true is open to debate

Certainly Hitler would not have been best pleased to see Owens win, but the fact that Berlin was hosting the Games was a publicity coup in itself and German athletes went on to top the medal table by some distance, so were Owens' four golds more of a blip?