SYDNEY The world sportsperson of the year with a disability, Australian Louise Sauvage, lit the Paralympics cauldron at Sydney's Olympic Stadium on Wednesday in a stunning opening to the biggest Paralympic games ever.
Sauvage, 27, a wheelchair athlete unbeaten in eight years on the track, is also the reigning female athlete of the year in sports-mad Australia, beating all able-bodied athletes for the title last year, including golfer Karrie Webb, swimmer Susan o'Neill and runner Cathy Freeman.
Freeman lit the Olympic flame on September 15 in the same stadium in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation between black and white Australia.
Before a sellout crowd of 87,000 and on behalf of 4,000 athletes from 125 countries, Sauvage, who has done so much to bring Paralympic athletes respect in the Australian community, lit the cauldron in the center of the stadium from her wheelchair.
She embodied the theme of the opening ceremony, the fire within.
The flame then reappeared at the top of the grandstand, the home of the Olympic flame at the same stadium at the closing ceremony 17 days earlier.
Cambridge mathematics Professor Stephen Hawking, who is wheelchair-bound and severely disabled by motor neurone disease, delivered a videotaped message which organizers emphasized throughout the rock opera sequence of the opening ceremony.
"The fire is in our hearts and our minds and our spirits," said Hawking, who wrote the best-selling book "A Brief History of Time".
Crowd Make Feelings Known There was nothing uncertain about the Sydney crowd's feelings for the 4,000 Paralympic games athletes from more than 120 countries who painted their faces and danced in their wheelchairs as they celebrated on the athletics track, parading before an appreciative audience.
Australian singer Kylie Minogue was the final act, giving a stirring rendition of "Waltzing Matilda", an Australian bush ballad, although the backing soundtrack became stuck momentarily early in the song.
In the darkness, thousands waved their free torches in the air as Minogue launched into a raunchy version of "celebration", shedding her stockman's coat for a gold jumpsuit.
Fireworks erupted from the stage after Minogue departed.
Earlier, stingrays, whales, sharks and even the unwelcome visitors at Australian barbecues, the ubiquitous blowflies, were honored in the spectacular which featured 5,500 performers.
Australian Governor General Sir William Deane officially opened the games with International Paralympic Committee President Robert Steadward and Sydney Paralympic Organizing Committee President John Grant.
"Words cannot express our thanks to all the warm and willing volunteers who have gone the extra mile in exhibiting outstanding hospitality in Australia," Steadward said.
He also welcomed International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, thanking him for his support of the Paralympic Movement.
(Reuter)