Spectacular beginning for Olympics

After seven years of meticulous preparation, undaunted by occasional pointers to Beijing's overcast environment, the likely fallout of the Tibet-related human rights issue, peripherally reflected on the otherwise undeterred journey of the Olympic Torch, and the doping concerns, China holds the 29th Olympics under gaze of four billion world citizens.
The efforts China took, her single-minded pursuit of the task, the high tech preparations going into the staging of the event and the total dedication of the country to the Olympics testified by the crash course on English learning taken by teeming Chinese volunteers, all go to establish the fact that China has come of age with a fiesta and dynamic face. Already, a growing economic power China has seized the opportunity of displaying its best. Its osmosis into the world community seems total today. We congratulate the government and the people of China on their success.
The Olympics is a magnificent event of unparalleled size and significance as more than ten thousand contestants from two hundred countries participate in more than three hundred items. Here the quest for perfection through fierce competition and the spirit of friendship, solidarity and brotherhood have always intermingled in a triumphal march against attempts at scoring political points between powerful countries. Here the East and the West and the North and the South converge on one place.
Bangladesh has sent a team of athletes and observers, more of the latter than of the former. Our interest is in swimming, shooting and athletics. We obviously fall far short of world standards. The exposure can only be of benefit if we learn about our strengths and weaknesses firsthand and accordingly train ourselves for the future within a time-bound plan.
It is the Olympic sprit that can be a shining beacon for mankind. Imbued with it, we must strive to remove the divisive tendencies and conflicting proclivities among countries, peoples and communities. The balmy breeze of harmony that blows out of the Olympic venue should refresh the whole world into containing violence and extremism. It is one world, one dream that must bind us together, not ephemerally but on a sustained basis.