Beijing organizers said Wednesday that they were ready to hold the opening ceremony on Friday.  The director of the opening and closing ceremonies department of the organizing committee, Zhang Heping, said that after three test runs they were confident that everything was in place.

He told a press conference that the ceremony was divided into three parts.

The first would include performances ahead of the official start of the opening ceremony. Thereafter just under an hour of audience participation would take place.

"Every person in the stadium will receive a package with props and then they will be shown how to use these props," Zhang said.

The main part of the ceremony, which begins with the official start at 1200 GMT, will include a show element, the parade of the athletes, the official speeches, the torch relay and the lighting of the Olympic Flame.

Zhang said that the theme song for the Olympics, which will be performed at the opening ceremony for the first time, will be sung by Chinese pop singer Liu Huan and British singer Sarah Brightman.

"Sarah has arrived in Beijing and is practising with Liu. They have not practised all that much, but I am sure it will be beautiful. It reflects the harmonious nature of our society."

"The performing part runs under several themes: Beautiful Olympics, Splendid Civilization and Magnificent Times. It will showcase the ancient and long history of our country, it will show the reform and opening which has occurred and it will showcase national characteristics."

The parade of the athletes will take two hours and Zhang said that the order in which the countries will march into the stadium was decided by the number of strokes in the country's Chinese name.

He said that Guinea, which had just two strokes, would follow Greece, who always enter the stadium first and Zambia, with 16 strokes, would be second last, ahead of the hosts.

The show will include 15,000 performers and will be spectacular.

Zhang promised that one of the highlights would be the firework display. "China is the home of fireworks. It will be colourful and we have selected a new form of fireworks and we have added a high-tech element."

The officials refused to divulge the name of the athlete who would be lighting the cauldron and the last torch bearer. "I hope you can respect the right of people for secrecy.

"This is always the most secret thing about the Olympics. I can say that the criteria we used that they needed to have achieved something in sport, but also showed social involvement."

A spokesman for the organizing committee, Sun Weide said that he hoped there would be no protests at the opening. "I believe such action would be against the Olympic Charter and the Olympic Spirit.

"The Olympic Movement has transcended boundaries of race and culture.

"We certainly would be opposed to such actions, but I am sure that the athletes know they should not link the Olympic Games with politics."

Zhang said that he was not concerned about the weather. "We have a contingency plan in place and at worst, there could be a slight rain, we are told.

"But I am optimistic. We are ready for the opening ceremony, which is like a big festival. We have the help of the Gods. "