Photo gallery: Opening Ceremony when sports and politics collide

The Beijing Winter Games launched last night in a pageant featuring remarkable visual effects and a plea from International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Thomas Bach to “give peace a chance.”

Held in the famed Bird’s Nest stadium before a crowd thinned out because of COVID-19, the opening ceremony easily cleared the high hurdle of spectacle expected of China as 3,000 performers took to a stage comprised of 11,600 square metres of high-definition LED screens.

Two young Chinese athletes, cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang and Nordic combined skier Zhao Jiawen, were given the honour of lighting the snow-flaked formed Olympic cauldron at National Stadium.

During the traditional “parade of nations”, the Australian delegation was led by world champion aerial skier Laura Peel and figure skater Brendan Kerry.

It was the first time a male and female athlete have been named as flag bearers for the Winter Games team, following the move by the Australian Olympic Committee at the Tokyo Games last year.

Triumphant fireworks were launched into the night sky after Xi declared the games open – but the most consequential pyrotechnics may have come hours before, when President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin unveiled their new alliance, proclaiming friendship between their countries with “no limits”.

It was a stark reminder that the games were being held on a backdrop of geopolitical rivalry unseen since the tit-for-tat Cold War boycotts of the 1980s, when the United States refused to attend the Olympics in Moscow and the Soviet Union stayed away from Los Angeles.

Several mainly western nations, including Australia, are not sending government officials in protest of China’s human rights record in connection with threats towards Taiwan, the suppression of the democracy movement in Hong Kong and the treatment of ethnic minorities such as the Uighur people.

“In the Olympic spirit of peace, I appeal to all political authorities around the globe” to ‘give peace a chance’ by observing the Olympic Truce,” Bach said pointedly in his speech.

“In our fragile world, where division, conflict and mistrust are on the rise, we show the world: yes, it is possible to be fierce rivals while at the same time living peacefully and respectfully together,” he said, insisting: “There will be no discrimination for any reason whatsoever.”

Because of the pandemic, the dignitaries visiting for the Olympics were the first to make official trips to Beijing in more than two years. The guest of honour was clearly Putin.

The Russian leader – who hosted his own winter Olympics in 2014 just days before sending troops to seize Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula – thanked Xi for inviting him, adding: “We know first-hand that this is a huge job.”

Themed “One World, One Country,” the ceremony impressed with extraordinary visual effects to showcase China, the solar terms of its lunar calendar, ice and snow, as well as paying tribute to previous Olympic Winter Games hosts.

The main stage was an LED screen of 11,600 square metres which together with lasers and fireworks provided the visual effects for the half-full attendance and millions more via TV around the world.

Flag bearers in the parade of nations included skeleton slider Nathan Crumpton, who carried the American Samoa flag oiled and bare-chested, wearing only a traditional skirt-like cloth around his waist despite the sub-zero temperatures.