London Olympics Opening Ceremony Photos

The 2012 London Olympics got underway with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Olympics stadium here on Friday night.

And after a long suspense, there were seven young athletes who lit the Olympic cauldron. The chairman of the London Organising Committee, Sebastian Coe, and the president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, delivered speeches and Britain's 86-year-old monarch Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Games.

Unlike the 2008 Beijing Olympics' curtain raiser, which featured 2,008 pounding drummers and a cauldron-lighter who seemed to float in the air of the Bird's Nest stadium, London 2012 opening ceremony had 70 sheep, 12 horses, 10 chickens and nine geese - recruited by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle along with a cast and crew of 10,000 presented a quirky, humourous and vibrant vision of quintessential Britain, its history and future.