Pollution, politics cast shadow over opening ceremony.

Byline: George Schroeder The Register-Guard

BEIJING - Lopez Lomong gripped the American flag and led Team USA into the stadium, and his giddy grin was matched by tens of thousands.

It was hard to find anyone at the stadium they're calling the Bird's Nest who wasn't smiling. Certainly not among the hosts. China had pointed to Friday's opening ceremony of the 29th Olympiad as a defining moment in the country's emergence on the world stage, and so the grandest extravaganza ever was required.

"The moment we've been waiting for all our lives is just around the corner," an announcer shouted just before the festivities began. "Hello world! Are you ready?!"

And the idea was, China is.

The pageantry was fantastic, and that really doesn't begin to describe it. Old-fashioned fireworks - invented, you might remember, by the Chinese - mingled with newfangled special effects. More than 15,000 performers kept running onto the stadium's floor, or flying above it, in exquisite, precision choreography. The effect felt more like 150,000 - or maybe 1.3 billion - moving as one.

Also, the Olympic teams from 204 nations produced the usual colorful spectacle, marching or dancing or bouncing around the perimeter. And four hours after the first drumbeat, a gymnast levitated to the top of the stadium. Carrying the Olympic flame, he ran sideways around the upper faade and lit a giant torch.

The show was phenomenal, and stupendous, and had people saying "Wow!" in a dozen different languages. All the pomp was almost enough to make you forget the circumstance.

But pollution and politics continue to cloud these Games.

Just before the flame's appearance, the president of Beijing's organizing committee spoke, using slogans such as "Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and the People's Olympics." After Friday night, we'll give him high-tech.

But Beijing is less green than grayish-brown. The city was shrouded in pea soup on Friday. They would have you believe it's a combination of heat and humidity - rhymes with smog, but isn't - but the gritty air had a distinct, metallic taste and a consistency just shy of sludge.

There's no doubt the Chinese people are excited about their Olympics. They've been told to smile without ceasing, but they'd be grinning without the instruction.

"We have been waiting for (the Olympics) for a very long time," said Wang Yang, a 21-year-old student from the city of Si Ping who is spending her summer vacation as one of the thousands of Olympics volunteers. "We want to see how beautiful it is. I hope it can be very successful."

The people who were amazed by Friday night's performance at the Bird's Nest were the lucky ones. Friday afternoon in a subway station beneath Tiananmen Square, people were making photos of photos of the Bird's Nest.

Above ground, though, a line of policemen spoke rapidly and gestured, shooing would-be visitors away from the suddenly closed landmark, with no explanation as to why.

And earlier Friday, a pirate radio broadcast originating from somewhere in Beijing told listeners, "We don't want the Olympics, we want human rights."

This brings us back to Lomong. Even as he marched proudly with the American flag - he was elected to the role by the athletes of Team USA - I kept thinking back to what he said last month at Hayward Field. He'd waved an American flag then, too, celebrating his Olympic berth in the 1,500 meters.

But Lomong also said he'd like to win a medal in Beijing, so he could wave two flags. The second would be the Sudanese flag.

Perhaps you recall that Lomong was a "Lost Boy of Sudan," that he grew up in a refugee camp and came to America as a teenager. Maybe you've heard of Sudan's civil war in Darfur, and China's supporting role.

There is also Tibet, and there is the systematic way those who dare cross the Chinese government - preachers, philosophers, the press - risk being labeled dissidents and tossed into jail.

President Bush was among many world leaders in attendance Friday. Before his arrival in Beijing, he stopped off in Thailand to deliver a speech, and bluntly criticized China's record on human rights. The official Chinese reply was essentially: Mind your own business.

Their mantra is, "Don't politicize the Games." And they all keep smiling, putting on a collective happy face, hoping everyone else will do the same.

The actual sporting events begin now, and maybe the skies will clear. Perhaps when the sun comes up tomorrow in Beijing, we'll actually see it. If not, don't worry.

The Chinese say it's just fog.

George Schroeder can be reached at [e-mail].