Olympics Opening Ceremony 2018: Top Photos and Highlights

The 2018 Winter Olympic opening ceremony marked the beginning of the 17-day games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and it didn't disappoint. From giant puppets to augmented reality to opera singing, it was a spectacular event worthy of the occasion.

Here are the highlights and best photos:

The central theme of the ceremony was five children on a time-travelling quest for peace. Each child represented the five traditional elements: wood, metal, fire, earth and water.

It was during this dance—which focused on the communion of heaven, earth and nature—that we saw some brilliant puppetry:

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Two more artistic segments followed, in which the children explored the Land of Peace and the Harmony of the Cosmos. Highlights included hundreds of dancers synchronising on stage and the performance of the national anthem of South Korea by the Rainbow Children's Choir:

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Next, the traditional parade of nations saw every competing nation enter the stadium, bearing flags and waving to the crowd. The clear highlight of this passage was the historic union of South and North Korea, which entered with the Korean unification flag, marking the first time it had been used since 2006. 

As the nations entered as one, South Korea president Moon Jae-in shook hands with North Korea president Kim Yong-nam:

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Following the completion of the parade of nations, a traditional Korean folk song, Arirang, was performed, before the five children returned as grownups and leaders in the tech industry. Theirs was a world in which harmony and peace had been achieved through advancements in information communication: 

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Before the final segment, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Pyeongchang 2018 President Lee Hee-beom gave their speeches. Bach called on the athletes to "inspire us all to live together in peace and harmony despite all our differences," per Bryan Armen Graham for the Guardian.

The ceremony closed with a candlelit version of John Lennon's Imagine, followed by a remarkable seven-minute fireworks display as Yuna Kim, the 2010 Olympic champion in figure skating, lit the cauldron:

Sean Haffey/Associated Press