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Winter Games open with celebration of American heroes

President Bush meets with U.S. Olympic athletes before the opening ceremony in Salt Lake City, Utah. Bobsledder Brian Shimer and alpine skier Picabo Street stand behind Bush.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- The Olympic cauldron has been lit heralding the formal start of the 19th Winter Olympiad in Salt Lake City.

As always, the identity of the final torch-bearer was a closely-guarded secret, but in the end the honor went to the entire 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team, led by Captain Mike Eruzione.

The team scored an upset victory to win gold the last time the Winter Games were held in the United States, 22 years ago.

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Beneath a sky lit up by fireworks, more than 52,000 spectators -- the largest Opening Ceremonies crowd in the history of the Winter Olympics -- braved 30-degree temperatures and packed Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah's campus for the festivities.

Following Olympic tradition, Greece kicked off the parade of athletes at around 7:20 p.m. MST (9:20 p.m. EST), followed by more than 2,000 athletes -- several waving U.S. flags in addition to their own -- from 76 other nations. The crowd saved its loudest applause for the end, when specatators erupted as the U.S. delegation entered the stadium. Short-track speedskater Amy Peterson carried the American flag in her fifth Winter Olympics.

Besides the thousands of fans, entertainers and honored guests in Salt Lake City, the International Olympic Committee estimated that another 3.5 billion people worldwide would watch the festivities -- which will be broadcast to 160 nations and in 50 languages -- on television.

Before the parade of athletes, audience members waved white flashlights and were treated to a fanciful ice-skating performance featuring hundreds of skaters.

The program reflected the 2002 Games' Mountain West home, featuring a dance, skating exhibition and ceremony by Native Americans. Also performed were several songs by Utah's own Mormon Tabernacle Choir, an old-fashioned hoe-down and a performance by country music artists the Dixie Chicks. In all, the three-hour event was expected to cost about $37 million.

The Olympic flag was brought into the stadium by such noted figures as astronaut and former Sen. John Glenn, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmond Tutu, and director Steven Spielberg. The events of September 11 were also expected to hang over the Salt Lake City Games, the first major international sporting event held since the terrorist attacks and subsequent U.S. military action in Afghanistan.

The U.S. flag recovered from the World Trade Center rubble was brought into the stadium before the parade of athletes by eight American athletes and several New York City area police and firefighters.

"This flag serves (as) a symbol of this nation's strength, of our resolve, of our determination to fight for freedom," President Bush told U.S. athletes less than an hour before the start of the Opening Ceremony. Shortly after 9 p.m. local time, President Bush made the Games' opening official by saying, "I declare open the games of Salt Lake City, celebrating the Winter Olympic Games."

The ongoing terrorism threat in the United States, meanwhile, will be reflected in the Games' tight security. Some 10,000 security personnel - including 5,600 members of the U.S. military -- will canvass the 110-by-35 mile swath of Utah where Olympic events will be held, making this year's Olympics the most heavily fortified in history.

The first of the 2002 Olympics' 163 competitions will begin Saturday, after high winds forced the cancellation of a scheduled ski jump competition on Friday. The Games will last 17 days, culminating in the closing ceremonies February 24 back at Rice-Eccles Stadium. (Schedule)

Ten percent of the 1.6 million tickets remained unsold as of Friday, according to CNN/Money.com, meaning fans able to pay the average ticket price of $100 to $200 should have little trouble attending events.

The Salt Lake City Games are the first Winter Olympics held in the United States since the small New York town of Lake Placid hosted the 1980 event. This year's Olympics features twice as many events as 1980, as well as a host of state-of-the-art venues, including the speedskating oval and luge and bobsled runs, and infrastructure funded in part by the federal government.

Estimates of the level of federal support for the Games range widely, from the official estimate of $342 million from the General Accounting Office to the figure reached by two investigative reporters from Sports Illustrated of $1.5 billion. By contrast, the 1980 winter Olympics cost federal taxpayers $179.2 million when adjusted for inflation, according to the GAO.