Winter Olympics -- Opening Ceremony -- Let The Games Begin -- Zenlike Opening Ceremony Filled With Tears And Tradition

NAGANO, Japan - They came quietly, almost tiptoeing into Minami Nagano Sports Park with a calm that blanketed this holy city lying below the Japanese Alps.

They came like an army of peace: Thousands of men and women from all parts of the globe, streaming into the Opening Ceremony of the XVIIIth Winter Olympics today carrying only toothy smiles and lifelong dreams.

In a subdued and Zenlike beginning, more than 2,000 athletes from 72 countries were the centerpiece of the first Asian Olympics in 26 years.

This will be their stage for the next 16 days where triumphs and tragedies will play out like long-running soap operas.

For one afternoon, though, the athletes stopped focusing on themselves to celebrate the pure joy of being here.

In a spiritual performance beckoning a less ostentatious time, Nagano officials offered a simple ceremony distinctly Japanese. Serene music replaced the hard country and Western tunes of the last Olympics - the Atlanta Games two years ago.

The ceremony began with a traditional ringing of the bell at the Zenkoji Temple across the congested city of 360,000, and ended with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," sang simultaneously via satellite broadcast on five continents.

The temple ringing is said to purify the soul and for a few solemn, but joyous hours, Nagano seemed as innocent as its beautiful cherubs they call snow children.

Enhancing the spiritual atmosphere were sumo wrestlers, the raising of Onbashira wooden pillars that herald the beginning of festivals and the entrance of Japanese Emperor Akihito, who proclaimed the Games open.

It was a ceremony rich in symbolism. While the '96 Summer Olympics celebrated unabashed commercialism with Chevy trucks, BMX bicyclists and skateboarders, these are the Games of peace and friendship.

Political overtones were not lost in the moment. Juan Antonio Samaranch, International Olympic Committee president, told the athletes, officials and 50,000 spectators: "It is our hope that the appeal of the 185 member states of the United Nations to observe the Olympic truce will foster international dialogue and diplomatic solutions to all conflicts in an effort to bring human tragedies to an end."

While the athletes paraded around the stadium shaped like a cherry tree, Olympic torch carriers waited to culminate the event with the official lighting of the Olympic cauldron. The torch started in Athens late last year and was carried to Japan by relay.

Chris Moon of England, who lost a leg in a land-mine explosion, carried the flame into the stadium. Three Japanese Nordic combined gold medalists paraded it around the facility one by one, eventually handing it to marathoner Hiromi Suzuki, who scaled 148 steps to music from "Madame Butterfly."

Figure-skating champion Midori Ito, draped in layers and layers of kimonos, took the torch and lit the cauldron. Representing the emotions of so many in the stadium, Ito cried.

She cried for the athletes who will experience the Olympics for the first time, like she once did. She cried for those will appear in their final Games. She cried for her country, showcasing an ancient culture with some of the world's most advanced technology.

But mostly, she cried for the simple love of sport.

Thoughts of Lillehammer four years ago faded faster than a winter sun. Those Games began with the Nancy-Tonya affair that left many wondering just how far the Olympics had fallen.

The only thoughts of figure skating today centered on Tara Lipinski and her American teammates. The 1997 world champion paraded with U.S. athletes while her counterparts, Michelle Kwan and Nicole Bobek, trained in Lake Arrowhead, Calif. With the women's short program not scheduled until Feb. 18, the latter two decided to skip the Opening Ceremony.

"I wish I was there," Kwan said in a CBS interview. "I want to savor every moment of it."

Except today's festivities. Kwan said earlier she wanted to stay in a "normal" environment while recuperating from a broken toe. Bobek opted to stay home because she is said to be suffering from bronchitis.

Those on hand said they wouldn't have missed the ceremony for the world.

Eric Flaim, a short track speed-skater, led the U.S. delegation as the honorary flag bearer. He followed sumo wrestler Musashimaru with a bewildered look.

Entering his fourth Olympics, Flaim said he was overwhelmed to be selected to lead the team.

"Everybody knew but me when I walked through customs," he said.

He was handed a fax by a U.S. official but didn't bother to look at it.

"Then she told me, `You might want to take a look at that fax,' " Flaim said. "I was completely shocked. I didn't know what to think."

Seeing him with a dark cowboy hat and blue overcoat, the official American team uniform, everyone sure did.

Let the Games begin.