Sebastian Coe, president of the London Olympics, and Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, gave the two traditional welcoming speeches last night at the Opening Ceremonies. We reproduce Coe's here; we liked his better, and besides, he's a lot faster than Rogge (a rower), with his multiple middle-distance world records and two Olympic golds in the men's 1500 meters in Moscow (1980) Los Angeles (1984).
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"To everyone in this stadium attending our Opening Ceremony, to every athlete waiting, ready, prepared to take part in these Games, to everyone in every city and village in the world watching as we begin, welcome to London. 'Welcome to the 2012 Olympic Games. Welcome from every one of us.'
"I have never been so proud to be British and to be part of the Olympic Movement as I am on this day, at this moment. The Olympics brings together the people of the world in harmony and friendship and peace to celebrate what is best about mankind.
"All my life I have loved sport. You have to love sport to compete at it. There is a truth to sport, a purity, a drama, an intensity, a spirit that makes it irresistible to take part in and irresistible to watch.
&A light sculpture inside the Olympic Park last night.
In every Olympic sport there is all that matters in life. Humans stretched to the limit of their abilities, inspired by what they can achieve, driven by their talent to work harder than they can believe possible, living for the moment but making an indelible mark upon history.
"To the athletes, gathered here on the eve of this great endeavor, I say that to you is given something precious and irreplaceable. To run faster, to jump higher, to be stronger.
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"In the next two weeks we will show all that has made London one of the greatest cities in the world. The only city to have welcomed the Games three times. Each time we have done it when the world faced turbulence and trouble. And each time the Games have been a triumph.
"Our history as a thriving commercial center, as a place where the people of all nations have for centuries come to meet, as a city which never stands still, this history has prepared us for today.
"For us too, for every Briton, just as the competitors, this is our time. And one day we will tell our children and our grandchildren that when our time came we did it right.
"Let us determine, all of us, all over the world, that London 2012 will see the very best of us."
