HOPES AND DREAMS; NATIONS GATHER FOR OLYMPIAD.

Byline: Jo-Ann Barnas Knight Ridder Newspapers

Their voices seemed to reach the peaks of the Japanese Alps, an explosion of sound and song. It embraced the stadium and everyone in it. It reached around the world and back again, images on a screen, images of our hearts.

If the aim of the opening ceremonies of the 18th Winter Olympics was to fill people with joy, then the creators of Saturday's event hope it will last more than the two-plus hours it was on television.

Everyone knows what the next 16 days will be about - 2,450 athletes from 72 nations competing in 68 events, racing down mountains, spinning on ice, all dreaming of gold, silver and bronze.

But for one overcast and cool morning, those athletes huddled in a stadium shaped like a cherry blossom, singing ``Ode to Joy'' from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with choirs from cities on five continents - the Global Grand Chorus, it was called - linked by satellite.

By the time the final torchbearer, professional figure skater Midori Ito, Japan's 1992 Olympic silver medalist, lit the Olympic cauldron 79 feet above the ground, there was no doubt that the U.S. delegation had embraced the spirit of the Games.

Four-time Olympic speed skater Eric Flain led the way, carrying the U.S. flag ahead of the 350 athletes, coaches and officials. He was escorted by 440-pound sumo wrestler Musashimaru, who held the hand of Serina Saito, a junior-high student from Shinonoi.

The delegation entered the stadium from the west gate, after Ukraine and before Uruguay. Many of the athletes waved tiny U.S. flags as they marched.

``I don't know if everyone fully understands what happened here,'' said five-time U.S. men's figure-skating champion Todd Eldredge of the Detroit Skating Club. ``I have been waiting for this moment for six years. It was just a great feeling.''

One of the most emotional moments of the ceremonies came when the torch entered the stadium. It was carried by anti-land-mine activist Chris Moon, who was surrounded by a sea of children.

Moon lost part of his right leg and right hand three years ago when one of the mines he was removing in Mozambique exploded. He ran in the London Marathon in April 1996, finishing in 5-1/2 hours. But his run Saturday was equally as inspirational and meaningful.

In the middle of Beethoven's Ninth, a giant helium balloon shaped like the world was released. It floated higher and higher, until it could be seen no more.

``It was great, so emotional, totally cool,'' said Tara Lipinski, the reigning ladies' world figure-skating champion from the Detroit Skating Club. ``It was a great feeling knowing that I was finally here.''

The opening ceremonies went off without a glitch. It was a dignified, spiritual and simple event, filled not with the smoke-belching monster trucks of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, but with children, song and sumo wrestlers, the country's national sport that traces back to Japanese mythology.

Ceremonies in the 50,000-seat Minami Nagano Sports Park began not inside the 50,000-seat stadium, but six miles away at the Zenkoji Temple, where a priest rang a bell cast in 1669.

The bell's sound was to symbolize the purification of the soul. Eight Onbashira pillars - two at each of the stadium's four gates - were raised in unison to prepare the stadium for the arrival of the Olympic athletes.

And the entrance of the Maku-uchi sumo wrestlers and the entrance of Yokozuna (grand champion) Akebono and his shiko stomping served to drive away evil spirits in a pledge that the Nagano Games will uphold sportsmanship and honor.

But the one universal symbol everyone understood was the Japanese children. Dressed in straw raincoats and hats, they entered the stadium slowly before discarding their costumes when the cheerful music began. The ``snow children'' danced wearing white suits revealing the colors and motifs of the national flags of every participating nation.

They danced to an Andrew Lloyd Webber song composed for the ceremonies, ``When Children Rule the World,'' and ran to the east and west gates to welcome the athletes.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, called for peace, reminding everyone listening that the Games are being celebrated in the year of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In a brief speech, Samaranch said, ``It is . . . our hope that the appeal of the 185 member states of the United Nations to observe the Olympic Truce will foster international dialogue and diplomatic solutions to all conflicts, in an effort to bring human tragedies to an end.

``Let us strive to provide an education for all in which sport and the Olympic ideal also play an essential role, based on the values of respect, dignity, tolerance and solidarity.''

After the Emperor of Japan declared the 18th Winter Games open from the royal box, the Olympic flag was brought into the stadium by eight former Japanese medalists, including Yukio Kasaya, who won Japan's first and only individual gold medal in the ski jump in the 70-meter ski jump in the 1972 Sapporo Olympics - the last time the Winter Games were in Japan.

When Ito lit the flame, the crowd erupted in thunderous applause.

Hundreds of balloons shaped liked doves were released into the afternoon sky. Then came the grand finale and ``Ode to Joy.'' Under the direction of Seiji Ozawa, who conducted a local orchestra from the Nagano Prefectural Culture Hall, international satellite signals linked the five choruses from Beijing, Berlin, New York, Sydney and Cape Point, South Africa.

For Japan and the billions watching on TV, it was a ceremony to remember.

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) U.S. speed skater Eric Flain carries the American flag during opening ceremonies.

(2) Sumo wrestlers perform ritual movements of their sport at Saturday's inaugural festivities for the 18th Winter Games at Minami Nagano Sports Park in Nagano, Japan.

Associated Press

(3) U.S. skater Tara Lipinski waves the flag as she walks with teammates.

Knight Ridder Tribune Photo Service

(4) A full house at the Olympic stadium watches athletes from 72 nations take part in the opening festivities.

Associated Press