The Athens Olympics are now well underway after Friday's lavish opening ceremony and start of competition on Saturday. The first fans made their way through turnstiles early, many of them heading straight for the Aquatic center for the action in the swimming pool got underway early in the day.
Last night the olympic stadium hosted the opening ceremony in front of 7
2000 spectators and estimated global audience of 4 billion people. Greek president declared games open after a spectacular theatrical celebration and a biggest parade of the nations in the history of the games. The ceremony begun with announcer's cry of "welcome back to Greece" and a Greek windsurfing champion lighted cauldron at the end of center 102 foot arm that rose slowly at one end of the stadium.
译文：周五奢华的开幕式和周六各项比赛全面展开后，雅典奥运会继续正常进行。稍早时第一批体育迷已步入了赛场，其中许多人直奔水上运动中心，观看早些时候已开始的游泳比赛。
昨晚，奥林匹克体育场举行了开幕式，现场观众有72000名，预计全球有40亿人观看了开幕式的盛况。在壮观的富有戏剧性的文艺表演和奥运会历史上最大规模的各国代表团入场式之后，希腊总统宣布本届奥运会开幕。开幕式在主持人“欢迎回到希腊”的欢呼声中开始，在希腊一位帆板运动员点燃102英尺高的火炬后结束。
