Lighting the flame:Mandela, Bono, Arnie and Co. all had to play second-fiddle on Saturday night to a 16-year-old athlete from Creggan, Derry - because it was David McCauley's lighting of the Flame of Hope which provided the climax to the Opening Ceremony.
Running the last leg of a torch race, which had covered 15,000 kilometres from Athens, McCauley paused momentarily in front of the dignitaries before lowering the flame into the Olympic Cauldron.
As the vessel lit up, chimney-blasts of flame erupted from the roof of the Hogan and Cusack Stands. The games were thus officially declared open.
As former president Mandela confirmed that to be the case, another sequence of flames shot into the sky from the stadium-top. They were quickly joined by fireworks launched from the grounds of neighbouring Clonliffe College.
The spectacular finale was preceded by the torch's arrival in Croke Park, led by a 30-strong motorcycle escort drawn from the ranks of the Garda and Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Sligo's Catriona Ryan, flanked by Roy Keane, swore the Olympic oath - "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt" - on behalf of all competitors. Her invocation was followed by a rousing performance of the Athletes' Song by Rita Connolly, Ronan Tynan, the National Symphony Orchestra, and a choir of 500.
One of the games' global messengers Anne Hickey from Carlow wished all the athletes good luck, noting "I have made many friends through Special Olympics and I know you will too, and those friendships will last forever. Special Olympics has changed all our lives."
Former athlete Rita Lawlor said: "We ask people to focus on our ability, not on our disabilities. We have many talents, you know. We never stop trying. We know how to win. We know how to have a party. So let's have a party."
