London 2012 Olympic Games: The Opening Ceremony

Thousands of spectators are arriving at the Olympic Park to watch athletes take centre stage for the first full day of competition at London 2012.

It follows Danny Boyle's epic opening ceremony celebration of British culture which featured an unlikely meeting between the Queen and James Bond.
 The first gold medal will be won on Saturday morning in the women's 10m air rifle at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

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Cyclist Mark Cavendish aims to claim Team GB's first gold in the road race.
                                        
Huge crowds are expected to line streets in London and Surrey to watch Cavendish and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins in the race with road closures and parking restrictions in place throughout.

 Cavendish has said he hopes to "light the fire" for the GB team over the 250km route which starts and finishes on The Mall.

Britain's other big medal hopeful of the day is Scotland's Hannah Miley, 22, in the women's 400m individual medley who is ranked third-fastest in the world this year in the event.
Team GB women's pair Heather Stanning and Helen Glover will be among the first to race as the Olympic rowing events begin in Berkshire.
In total, athletes will compete in 19 sports on Saturday with medals also due to be awarded in archery, fencing, judo, swimming and weightlifting.
Great Britain's swimmers skipped Friday night's ceremony because of their early start in swimming events at the Aquatics Centre.

On Saturday night, meanwhile, 14-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps will race against rival and fellow-American Ryan Lochte in the 400m individual medley final.
On Friday night, the Queen declared the London Olympics officially open, before seven young athletes were given the honour of lighting the ceremonial flame.
The seven, chosen by British Olympic champions, each lit a single tiny flame on the ground, igniting 205 petals, one for each competing nation or territory.

Long stems then rose towards each other to form a cauldron, signifying unity.

The flame had arrived via the Thames on a speedboat carrying David Beckham, who handed the torch to five-time rowing gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave.
The show began with iconic images of London and Britain being beamed to the world, and all four countries of the UK being represented in song with a field at the stadium turned into a meadow with live animals.
The show moved through the "great revolutions in British society", from an agricultural setting through to the Industrial Revolution itself.
Steelworkers began forging material that transformed into golden Olympic rings prompting cheers from the 80,000-strong crowd

There were cheers too as the crowd saw a film featuring a meeting between the Queen and Daniel Craig, as agent 007 James Bond.
"Good evening Mr Bond," she said before the pair left together, heading towards the Olympic Stadium in a helicopter.
The aircraft then flew over the stadium to the sound of the Bond theme tune, as two figures parachuted down, one dressed as the monarch, before the Queen appeared in the stands.
There were also appearances from comic actor Rowan Atkinson, as Mr Bean, as well as from musicians including Mike Oldfield, Dizzee Rascal and Sir Paul McCartney

source: bbc.com