Dilixiati Dilana The national flag of the host nation, China, marches in.Ĭhina ranked atop the gold medal list as well as the overall medals list at the Games in Singapore, with 30 gold medals and 51 medals overall. Dilixiati Dilana, a member of China’s under-18 women’s basketball team, is the flagbearer. At this Games, only flagbearers parade through the stadium while athletes watch the ceremony on the stand. Li Xueyong,chairman of the committee of the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games addresses the ceremony. Now, watching the live broadcast of this spectacular event, the high-spirited audience at the scene has touched me so much. I only started to realize I was wrong after I grew up. I was really stupid and thought the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) was the Qingdao Olympics, because Youth and Qing are pronounced the same way in Chinese. He says “hello, China” in Chinese and invites the audience to take selfies. IOC chief Thomas Bach delievers a speech. He expresses appreciation to the host nation China and the host city Nanjing. He said, the host nation China has made the stage to the athletes. Chinese President Xi Jinping announces the opening of the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. The flag of the Olympics, is escorted by eight famous Chinese athlets, including Ren Cancan, Wu Minxia, Liu Xiang, Lei Sheng, Wu Jingyu, Wang Liqin, Zhang Xi and Qiu Jian, and passed over to young athlets. Chinese athlete Fan Zhendong takes vows on behalf of athletes. Chinese coach Li Rongxiang takes vows on behalf of coaches.Ĭhinese official Zou Qiurui takes vows on behalf of officials. Thomas Bach takes selfies Performance begins! Funny pic: IOC chief Thomas Bach takes selfies on the rostrum. A youth performs with a shining instrument shaped into the “armillary sphere.” The performing youth ascends to a huge astronomical telescope installed in the stadium. According to Chen Weiya, director of the opening ceremony, the huge sphere and telescope express the idea of “allowing young people to see the world and see the future.”Ī legion of actors perform Chinese shadowboxing. The stadium casts rays over the floor to present the shape of bronze vessel, then change to the shape of blue and white porcelain.ĭancers perform to demonstrate the making of bronze vessel while commentators talk about China’s history of bronze vessel. Dancers, dressing up in foreign costumes, put up a performance themed the “Silk Road.”ĭancers, dressing up in exquisite silk, perform. The center of the stadium looks like a red sea, as young dancers perform with red ribbons.Ī man acts as the famous navigator Zheng He, who commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. The youth holding the “armillary sphere” enters the stadium again. A total of 120 acrobats perform to form the “Dream Tower.” Opening Ceremony Performance In contrast to the Olympics, the YOG will feature four performance games, namely martial arts, rock climbing, roller skating and skateboarding.įive world’s top musicians play Franz Liszt’s Dreams of Love. The China delegation is the largest, with 120 athletes. 16) in Nanjing, will feature about 3,787 athletes from around the world. The second YOG, which starts from today (Aug.
It was open to athletes aged from 15 to 18 years old. The Youth Olympic Games was first held in Singapore four years ago and lasted for 12 days. The performance consists of three chapters: “pursing dream,” “building dream” and “realizing dream.”Ī giant armillary sphere, taken as a symbol for the pursuit of dream, ascends in the center. Students from universities in Nanjing compose the majority of the staff in the opening ceremony. He passes torch to a female Chinese short track speed skater Zhou Yang. Then is Tang Ying and Chen Ding.Ĭhinese athlete Lin Dan marches to the stadium, holding the torch. The next one to relay the torch is Zhang Jike. She walks over to the armillary sphere.Ĭhinese diver Chen Ruolin is the last one to relay the torch. The theme song is entitled “Light the future.” We will continue to bring you more about the Game and the exchanges among youths.įour singers, including South Korean actor Kim Soo Hyun, Chinese singers Jane Zhang, Zhang Jie and a Russian singer, sing the theme song for the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. Athletes will compete in the competition over the next 12 days. No need to reload page, content updates automatically every two minutes. Stay tuned here for live coverage on this event. provides a live webcast and minute-by-minute coverage of the Nanjing Youth Olympic opening ceremony, which begins at 8:00pm, Saturday.