Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics

Fighters roared in the sky and police lights flashed on the ground - the 19th Winter Olympics was held under tight security and a tense atmosphere at 7 pm local time in the United States on the 8th (Beijing time

The event kicked off at 10 a.m. on the 9th in Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah.

*** There are 2,399 athletes from 77 countries and regions participating in 78 events in this Winter Olympics, setting a record for the largest number of people and events at any previous Winter Olympics. China also sent a strong delegation this time, striving to achieve a breakthrough of zero gold medals in the history of the Winter Olympics.

The patriotic enthusiasm of Americans inspired by the "9·11" terrorist attacks surged again at the opening ceremony of this Winter Olympics. Before the official start of the opening ceremony, New York police representatives sang "God Bless America"; as soon as the opening ceremony began, 8 American athletes and 8 New York police and firefighters escorted an American flag rescued from the rubble into the venue. During the entrance ceremony for each country's team, three-time Winter Olympic gold medalist and famous ice skater Amy Peterson led the U.S. team into the venue holding another national flag. The attire of the U.S. delegation in this Winter Olympics also highlights patriotism. They wore red and blue costumes representing the colors of the national flag and waved small flags in their hands to greet the cheering audience.

Under the guidance of the bright five-star red flag, the Chinese sports delegation appeared. All the athletes were full of energy, marched neatly, and waved to the audience amidst music and applause. The Chinese sports delegation for this Winter Olympics, led by Yuan Weimin, director of the State Sports General Administration, consists of 133 people, including 77 athletes, which is the largest number of people participating in the Winter Olympics in my country. In recent years, Chinese athletes have made rapid progress in ice and snow sports. In this Winter Olympics, Chinese athletes will strive for gold medals in short track speed skating, figure pairs skating and biathlon.

This Winter Olympics is the first global sports event held after the terrorist attacks in the United States, so security issues have become a top priority for the organizers. In order to ensure that this Winter Olympics is "the safest," the U.S. government has invested a huge amount of 1.9 billion U.S. dollars, of which more than 300 million were spent on security prevention. Soldiers, police and FBI agents were dispatched. There are about 16,000 people. Even so, I was still shocked. Just a few days after the "suspicious gun incident", at noon yesterday, another plastic bag filled with wires and drugs was found in the parking lot near the press center. The upcoming Winter Olympics was once again threatened by terrorism.

The entire stadium was surrounded by soldiers and police armed with live ammunition. Audiences had started lining up in long lines in the biting cold wind two or three hours ago, and were subjected to detectors and body searches one after another. During the inspection, metal objects such as fruit knives and tacks are not allowed to be brought into the venue. Even drinking water must be sipped in front of the inspector to prove that there is no problem; the sky above the main venue was cleared during the opening ceremony and for two hours before and after. The "no-fly zone" is patrolled by US F-16 fighter jets and Black Hawk helicopters. To prevent terrorists from shooting from a distance, snipers were stationed at the highest points of the buildings around the venue. Although extremely strict security measures are taken, no one can guarantee that there will be no problems. It seems that before the Winter Olympics flame is extinguished, people still have to keep it in their hearts.

Although the atmosphere was somewhat tense, Americans, who are optimistic by nature, still did not miss the opportunity to enjoy this event. The temperature outside that night was reported to be around minus 23 degrees Celsius, but the audience inside the venue was enthusiastic. Some of them held national flags, some held cameras to take pictures of each other, and some painted their faces and took the lead in singing. An elderly couple who came from New York to watch the opening ceremony told reporters: "It is so exciting to watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. This will be a very beautiful memory in our lives."