Despite some minor glitches, last night’s opening ceremony of the Olympic Games has recieved wide acclaim.

An esitmated audience of 3.5 billion watched a four-hour performance highlighting Australia’s culture and history, featuring more than 12,000 artists.

The last seven runners with the torch were all women, including Dawn Fraser, Betty Cuthbert, Shane Gould and finally Cathy Freeman as the surprise choice to light the cauldron.

The first lady of last night’s Olympic Opening ceremony and stadium torch bearer Dawn Fraser says her main concern after Cathy Freeman lit the cauldron was for her health.

“She was very wet and we didn’t want her to get a cold,” she said. “It was cold standing down there with the breeze coming around the track because all the athletes were in the middle.

“It was just beautiful to see all the gold medalists carrying the flag in and us girls to the relay run.”

On Thursday, Olympics Minister Michael Knight said they were likely to decide yesterday who would light the flame.

But opening ceremonies director Ric Birch has told Channel 7 Freeman rehearsed on Thursday night.

“I’m not sure when she was told because the Minister and John Coates were the two people who chose the actual moment,” he said.

“David and I only found out about 24 hours before the opening and Cathy had a very rushed course in how to light the cauldron.”

Ric Birch says the total cost of all ceremonies will be high.

“It’s a bit hard to split it up because there are things like lighting and audio that go across the whole lot, all up to about $50 million, opening, closing, medal ceremonies, welcome ceremonies and so on.”

One of the stars of the opening ceremony, 13-year-old Nikki Webster told Channel Seven she was sworn to secrecy, not even telling her parents about the show.

“It wasn’t that hard,” she said.

“I just thought that if I told anyone it would spoil the secret and there wouldn’t be much point in watching it.”

Artistic director of the opening ceremony, David Atkins, has revealed Nikki Webster will play a role in the closing ceremony on October 1.

But Atkins has told Channel 7 it will be hard to eclipse last night.

“We just did the biggest show on earth, for the largest television audience in the world so I don’t think, well, we’re hoping to come close to topping it,” he said.

“Nikki is doing a little spot for me in the closing ceremony because her story will bookend the opening and closing and that’s going to be exciting as well.”

Source: abc.net.au