Beijing and the Bird’s Nest delivered once again as a stunning Opening Ceremony raised the curtain on the 34th Olympic Winter Games.
Great Britain, one of only three nations to have participated at every Olympics, proudly marched among the 91 nations that have gathered in the Chinese capital.
Led by Eve Muirhead and Dave Ryding, 32 Team GB athletes marched behind the flag wearing the Ben Sherman Opening Ceremony uniform - more than did so in Tokyo, just 196 days ago.
Muirhead said: “It felt fantastic, it was such a great honour to carry the flag and lead Team GB out.
“I was very nervous, I must admit. As soon as I woke up this morning, I got butterflies in my stomach and I couldn’t wait for the time to come.
🇬🇧@TeamGB have entered the Bird's Nest Stadium! 🇬🇧
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 4, 2022
Curler Eve Muirhead and alpine skier Dave Ryding are Great Britain's flagbearers in the 2022 #WinterOlympics opening ceremony.
Watch live on @BBCiPlayer and @BBCOne.#bbcolympics pic.twitter.com/TwKRvNhHIh
“But then as you get closer and closer to walking out and you see the bright lights and all the other countries, the nerves were definitely there.
"It was a very proud moment to lead all the athletes out and to do it with Dave [Ryding] was also very, very special.
"It’s something I’ll definitely never forget and I’m sure it’s going to help me perform well in the next week as I feel this is going to be a very special Games for me having started with leading Team GB out.”
The Parade of Nations was the centrepiece of a ceremony that began with a 24-second countdown ‘The Beginning of Spring.’
It felt nothing like spring for the thousands in the Bird’s Nest where temperatures started sub-zero and dropped further and further as the night went on.
It was impossible not to be fired up by Yimou Zhang’s lavish production, smaller in scale than his 2008 epic but lacking nothing in class and character.
The Ceremony, themed ‘One World, One Family’ told the story of the snowflake based on a famous Chinese poem written by Li Bai more than 1,000 years ago.
A spellbinding penultimate segment saw the footsteps of more than 600 frolicking children activate AI technology to form snowflakes, an innovative breakthrough in visual technology.
Competition gets underway in earnest on Saturday when 18 of the 327 Olympic medals up for grabs will be handed out.
Who else loves this look from @BenSherman1963 😍#TeamGB | #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/H1dllwuqxH
— Team GB (@TeamGB) February 4, 2022
This weekend, Katie Ormerod will make her belated Olympic debut with a medal on the mind in snowboard slopestyle and Andrew Musgrave takes on the 30km skiathlon at his fourth Games.
Skiing begins to take centre stage next week with big air events at the groundbreaking Shougang venue, while Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat continue their mixed doubles medal push.
Snowboard cross world champion Charlotte Bankes goes for gold next Wednesday and the action keeps on coming.
Flagbearer Muirhead and Mouat begin their main curling campaigns with high hopes with all eyes shifting to Ryding and the slalom showpiece on 16 February.
The 4-man bobsleigh is one of the final blue riband events of the Games with Brad Hall and company minded to make more British sliding history.
Whatever happens on ice and snow in the next fortnight, it will be impossible to take your eyes off what is still the greatest show on earth.