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Pictures: Opening ceremony

Three-hour spectacle opens two-week sports festival as crowd of 60,000 people gather in London’s Olympic stadium.

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A general view of the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium.
Published On 28 Jul 2012
The Olympic rings converge together above performers.
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A performer playing the role of Britain(***)s Queen Elizabeth II parachutes from a helicopter.
The ceremony was created by artistic director Danny Boyle, the British film maker known for his movie Slumdog Millionaire. 
Boyle focused heavily on the industries that revolutionised Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The event is thought to have cost $42m.
The opening event kicks off a two-week festival of sport in which 16,000 athletes from 204 countries share the thrill of victory, and despair of defeat, with 11 million visitors.
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Artists performed in an Olympic Stadium packed with a buzzing crowd of 60,000 people.
Actor Rowan Atkinson, known for his role as Mr Bean, took part in the ceremony.