Paralympic Games: Six-time Paralympian Patrice Dockery was the proud flag bearer as she led the 45-strong Irish team along with coaches, managers and team staff into Beijing's infamous Bird's Nest Stadium tonight for the stunning opening ceremony of the 13th Paralympic Games.
Beaming with pride track athlete Dockery said: "It was wonderful. I thought going in it may be overwhelming but as soon as we marched in it felt just deadly to be Irish and I couldn't have been more proud. It was a real honour to lead in this Irish team. We can't wait to get started now."
The ceremony was a moment the team had been looking forward to since their arrival in the Chinese capital almost a fortnight ago. Wexford swimmer Darragh McDonald was almost lost for words. "Absolutely amazing, it was just brilliant. I was just speechless…the whole team was amazed, in awe of the whole thing and just delighted to be here. My favourite part was definitely walking into the stadium," said the teenager swimmer.
"Words can't describe the feeling of entering the stadium with our team, the atmosphere was electric among them," said Liam Harbison, Irish Performance Director.
Nine Irish athletes will begin their Games tomorrow, with four of them making their Paralympic Games debuts. All four Boccia players are in action in the pool stages of the individual competition in the morning, with cyclists Enda Smyth and Michael Delaney racing in the veledrome.
Dublin teenager Ellen Keane starts her campaign in the pool in the water cube in the morning in the heats of the 100m Butterfly. In the afternoon Catherine Walsh races in the final of 1km tandem time trial in the veledrome with sighted pilot rider Joanna Hickey, with first time Paralympian Eimear Breathnach competing in the individual table tennis event.
China promised "Two Games, equal splendour" and certainly delivered tonight as the majesty of the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony matched that of its Olympic counterpart.
Less than a month after the mesmerising Olympic ceremony captivated audiences around the globe - despite controversies over miming and digital fireworks - the Bird's Nest welcomed the 13th Paralympics in a vibrant performance of light, colour, music and movement.
More than four thousand athletes from 148 countries paraded around the stadium in a celebration of "transcendence, integration and equality" before competition for the first of 472 gold medals across 20 sports begins tomorrow.
China, where six per cent of the 1.3 billion population - 83 million - are disabled, have embraced these Games with over one million tickets sold and the stadium was full to its 91,000-capacity for the curtain-raiser.
At the heart of the extravaganza, centred on themes of space, time and life, was Li Yue, a 12-year-old ballerina who lost her left leg in the Sichuan earthquake in May.
After a solitary sun bird flew suspended in a starlit sky - created by torchlight from the audience - and three hundred deaf girls dressed in pure white signed in a stunning synchronised dance, Li led a "never-ending dance".
Li conducted a group of ballerinas with hearing impairment before being held aloft to a huge ovation.
Pages then peeled from a giant magic book to symbolise the change of seasons and the cycle of life before 2,000 children danced expressively and acrobatically - once again in utter unison - as frogs, seagulls, ducks and cows.
The Paralympics mascot is Fu Niu Lele, a cow.
Songs and fireworks took place throughout the ceremony, while 750 pairs of hands imitated birds in flight before the finale.
International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven promised the Games would be truly memorable.
"During the 12 days of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games you will realise that the differences that you might have thought existed in the world are in fact, far less apparent," said Craven.
"You will see that we are all people of one world."
Six of the hosts' finest athletes - including Pin Yali, China's first Paralympic gold medallist - escorted the torch on its final journey.
Hou Bin, who lost his left leg at the age of nine before going on to triumph in the high jump at the last three Games, had the honour of lighting the flame.
Hou, sitting in a wheelchair, pulled himself up a rope suspended from the stadium roof before igniting the flame and setting off yet more stunning fireworks which proclaimed the Games open.