It's official.

The hoopla and excitement of the opening ceremonies behind us, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games begin today. For the next 17 days of the Games, you will be able to follow them in this newspaper and at thespec.com.

While competitions begin now, interest in these Games has been filling our news pages for weeks. How many medals will Canadians win? How will Oakville's Adam van Koeverden, who was chosen to carry the flag in yesterday's opening ceremonies, fare? What about the threat of terrorism at the Games? Who will stand out and what will be the stories we remember from these Games?

"Beijing is a somewhat mysterious, exotic location and backdrop for the Games," says Kevin Wamsley, past director of the International Centre For Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario. "There is interest because there are many subtexts to these Games."

China is unpredictable and that makes these Olympics different, according to Wamsley, now a professor and associate dean at UWO's Faculty of Health Sciences.

"The exotic political and cultural intrigue enhances an Olympic template that always runs the risk of stagnating. The environment of imprisonment, public executions, persecutions of religious and political groups, risks of attack and political protest has aroused international attention. People who normally have no interest in the Games have taken a stance for political reasons," he says.

"There is spectacle, political intrigue, the hopes and aspirations of the Chinese government and the Chinese people who want this to be a wonderful show. But there are also fears of attack, unpredictable political protests and the fear of violent crackdown by Chinese security forces. Many things are coming to bear at once, which heightens our sense of anticipation and anxiety."

A special Olympics interactive site at thespec.com will give you the latest standings instantly 24 hours a day. You will be able join in a discussion about what is happening at the games by logging into a special edition of The Games blog. Debate events and share opinions in this blog with our top sports writers: John Kernaghan, Steve Milton and Scott Radley.

In the newspaper, we are also adding extra pages to give you all the results and will feature an Olympic centrespread each day, along with highlights and looks ahead .

"With a 12-hour time zone challenge, we will put a premium on our web coverage," says sports editor Rick Hughes. "For our newspaper coverage it means our selection of stories will play less to who won yesterday and instead focus on advance coverage of athletes competing that night." Our web coverage will be live and updated regularly.

While Wamsley says it is hard to predict just how well Canadians will fare at the Games in the hunt for gold medals, the real legacy of Beijing will be "too many unanswered questions."

"There is no question China is putting on a grand facade and that the spectacle will be enormous in scale. I fear for Chinese citizens who protest anything and what their fate will be when the cameras leave town," Wamsley says, noting China has already destroyed many historical and culturally significant buildings and thousands of people have been dislocated.

David Estok is The Spectator's editor-in-chief. editorfeedback@thespec.com