35,000 fireworks will be launched from 1,800 sites around thecity for the opening ceremony

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

The Beijing Olympics will kick off, firing the starting gun for the world's ultimate sporting competition.

We are going to see a lot of actions over the next 16 days, more than 10,500 of the best international athletes will compete for the 302 gold medals up for grabs across 28 sports.

The 29th Olympiad Games, being held in China for the first time, will officially open at 8.08pm local time (1.08pm BST) on the 8th day of the 8th month of the year. For the superstitious, the number eight is associated with good fortune.

A spectacular display of fireworks will mark the occasion - not surprisingly, considering the Chinese invented them.

Olympic officials have promised that fireworks of different shapes would be set off over the main Bird's Nest stadium, the Olympic Forest Park and a section of the Great Wall.

Besides Beijing, Qingdao will hold the sailing competition, Hong Kong will be the location for the equestrian events, and football will be played in Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao.

The closing ceremony will bring down the curtain on August 24 before the Paralympic Games.