SALT LAKE CITY — The stage is set, the stars have arrived and the scene-stealer — a frail flag symbolizing one nation's recovery and resilience — awaits its worldwide debut.
Amid a backdrop of snow-covered mountains and an awe-inspiring temple, the curtain is ready to rise on the first Winter Olympics on U.S. soil in more than two decades.
This show is similar in tone but entirely different in look from the one in Lake Placid 22 years ago. Once again, chants of "USA! USA!" will ring on the streets and slopes from fans wrapped in red, white and blue. But the fans will be joined by soldiers, Secret Service agents and police in an extraordinary show of force.
Welcome to the 2002 Winter Games, a mix of unbridled patriotism, unprecedented security and 17 days of emotional competition in a nation made more vigilant and passionate by terrorism and war.
"The flame, the flag — a lot of the ideals we hope to touch on are going to be more meaningful because of the time we live in," said Don Mischer, producer of Friday night's opening ceremony.
The Olympic flame arrived Thursday in Salt Lake City, the last leg of a 13,500-mile, 46-state journey toward its final destination: the extravaganza at Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium.
Also arriving — snow. While it was just enough to cover streets and sidewalks in Salt Lake City, heavier accumulations in the mountains early Friday delayed ski jump qualifications and postponed or canceled practice runs for luge and the men's and women's downhills.
The opening ceremony and ensuing two weeks of competition take place under the tightest security ever at an Olympics. With America still on alert after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a 16,000-member force is on hand to patrol Olympic grounds and the skies above.
"Now that perhaps the most terrible terrorist incident in the world's history has happened on our shores, it calls for a very serious response to terrorism and to protecting our people and our guests," Salt Lake City organizing chief Mitt Romney said. "Does that mean it's impossible for anything bad to happen? Of course not."
American speedskater Amy Peterson wasn't worried.
"I've never felt safer in my life," said Peterson, competing in her fifth Olympics.
Authorities quickly dispensed with one possible threat Thursday. Police detonated a suspicious package — a plastic grocery bag filled with fuses and electrical wire — found in a parking garage three blocks from the Olympic media center. Construction workers spotted the bag near a support beam and alerted authorities.
Despite security concerns, 55,000 spectators will attend the opening ceremony, enduring long waits in frigid temperatures to pass through metal detectors and have their belongings searched. Tickets were going for anywhere from $400 on the street to $885 from organizers.
President Bush and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan were scheduled to attend the event, which promises to be sentimental and celebratory — juggling American patriotism and Olympic protocol.
The International Olympic Committee agreed Wednesday to let Americans carry into the stadium the flag recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center. Eight U.S. athletes, joined by New York police and firefighters, will carry the Stars and Stripes in a solemn tribute before the parade of nations.
The flag, Romney said, is "a tribute not only to Americans but to citizens from 80 nations who were lost in that tragic event."
"It will be a very emotional and powerful moment, perhaps the most powerful moment in the opening ceremonies," he said.
Organizers had planned for the flag to fly at the celebration but determined it was too delicate. Peterson will carry another flag on behalf of the U.S. team.
Even before the official start of the games, competition gets under way Friday morning with qualifying rounds in ski jumping. Competition begins in earnest Saturday with events in moguls, cross-country skiing, hockey, figure skating and speedskating.
In all, more than 2,500 athletes from 77 countries are participating in the games, expected to draw up to 80,000 spectators a day. The sporting program is the largest for a Winter Olympics, with 78 events in 15 disciplines and seven sports. That includes 10 new or returning events, among them women's bobsled, and skeleton, a headfirst version of luge.
While security was a dominant presence — even athletes were forced to wait outside the Olympic Village while their bags were searched — it didn't detract from the spirit of the games.
Cheryl Joe will spend the next 17 days in a ticket booth no bigger than a walk-in closet, miles from the skiing and sledding that she will never get the chance to see.
No matter.
Joe, a Navajo Indian who packed up her 2 1/2-year-old daughter, her baby sitter and her mother for the eight-hour drive from Lukachukai, Ariz., to Salt Lake City is downright giddy about being in that booth — and, more so, about being at the Olympics.
"I love it. It's awesome. It's great," she said from her post outside Discover Navajo, a cultural exhibit near downtown. "We've been trying to get here since last year. We said we'd sell fry bread — anything."
How ready is she for the games to begin?
"I'm sooo ready," she said. "Let's go!"