Relive Winter Olympics opening ceremony

1. Watch the opening ceremony on BBC One (UK only)
2. Curler Eve Muirhead and alpine skier Dave Ryding are Great Britain's flagbearers
3. Beijing, the first city to host both a summer and winter Olympic Games, will reuse the Bird’s Nest stadium it built for the 2008 Summer Olympics
4. The opening ceremony is directed by Zhang Yimou, the same Oscar-nominated cinematographer who oversaw both the opening and closing ceremonies at Beijing 2008

Keep across the Winter Olympics on the BBC

If you're looking to get a few pointers on the Winter Olympics now that it is under way here are a few places you can start:

• BBC Sport's day-by-day guide to the Beijing Games
• How can I watch and follow the 2022 Winter Olympics on the BBC?
• All you need to know about Beijing 2022
• Who is part of Team GB at the Games?
• Who are GB's ones to watch?
• Who are the global stars to watch?
• Speaking out almost lost an Olympic favourite her place at the Games
• The 'internal battle' when counter culture meets elite sport
• Quiz: How well do you know the Winter Olympics?

We will be back with on Saturday morning from 00:30 GMT and following all the action until it ends around 15:00 GMT.

Winter Olympics: Day-by-day guide to key events & British medal hopes

Free Spirits: Team GB's snow sport athletes describe the perils of the job

Remember to check out our comprehensive guide to all the key events and British medal hopes in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Saturday will see six medal events in all in the Biathlon (mixed relay), cross-country skiing (women's skiathlon), freestyle skiing (men's moguls), ski jumping (women's normal hill), short track speed skating (mixed team relay and speed skating (women's 3,000m).

Great Britain's medal hopes

Great Britain winter medal hopes look ahead to Games

Why is luge the 'fastest sport on ice'?

Sonia Oxley

BBC Sport in Beijing

Athletes whizz at speeds above the motorway limit down sheer ice on small sleds in both sports - but what makes luge faster than skeleton?

Average luge speeds are 120-145km/h, with skeleton at 120-130km/h, and Luge USA even once patented the phrase 'fastest sport on ice'.

Turns out, it's all about the physics...

BBC

Follow the Winter Olympics on the BBC

Getty Images

So the Winter Olympics have opened with a bang but what is coming next?

Well BBC Sport have your back with more than 300 hours of live coverage on BBC One and BBC Two, plus a second live stream on BBC iPlayer, Red Button and online.

There will also be daily highlights programmes on BBC Two and BBC Three.

The BBC Sport website and app also have video highlights, on-demand clips, live text and reports, while Radio 5 Live will cover all the big moments.

The sporting programme includes a record 109 events over 15 disciplines in seven sports and Team GB's 50 athletes are hoping to secure a record number of medals.

Remember you can watch all the highlights from today from 19:00 GMT on BBC Two.

Winter Olympics: Why is Beijing 2022 so controversial?

If you are not full acquainted with all the issues and controversies surrounding the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, I promise that this is well worth a watch.

Memorable moment alert.

'I need my penguin!'

The magnificent Tia Kofi and Veronica Green from season two of RuPaul's Drag Race UK had a bash at ice dancing.

It went, er, about as well as you can imagine...

Winter Olympics: Drag Race UK meets Team GB ice dancing

'It's a badge of honour being the oldest here'

It has been sixteen (sixteen!) years since Shaun White won his first Olympic gold medal.

Now, aged 35, the American is the oldest competitor in the field as he attempts to secure his fourth.

He spoke to Aimee Fuller about his career, longevity and overcoming disappointnment.

Winter Olympics: Shaun White: The G.O.A.T on his favourite photos

Ever wanted to eat like an Olympic athlete?

Well now you know how...

'I woke up and my shoulder was on fire'

Before the Winter Olympics in 2018, skiier Charlie Guest was struggling to walk.

The Scot suffered recurring problems after breaking her back in 2014 and, although she made it to the startline in Pyeongchang, she says she felt huge "shame" as she competed in the slalom.

A year later, she became the first British woman to ever win an Alpine European Cup, and is now lining up in Beijing.

She told BBC Sport about her journey to the Games and how she picked herself up after the disappointment of four years ago.

Getty Images

Can you complete a Rubik's cube faster than a bobsleigh run?

Team GB bobsleigh pilot Brad Hall is challenged by his team-mates to complete a Rubik's cube faster than a bobsleigh run.

Winter Olympics 2022: Could you complete a Rubiks cube faster than a bobsleigh run?

GB mixed doubles curlers defeat Australia after extra end

Great Britain have already been in action in Beijing with mixed doubles curlers Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat surviving an inspired Australia fightback to maintain their semi-final hopes.

Leading 6-1 and then 8-6, the British pair were pegged back in the last end to force a decider.

After Mouat's take-out in the extra end, Australia's Tahli Gill missed her draw to give Britain a nervy 9-8 win.

They now have a record of three wins and one defeat in Beijing.

Downing Street wishes Team GB well

In the absence of UK government officials (given their diplomatic boycott), Prime Minister Boris Johnson has sent his best wishes on the Team GB via twitter.

@10DowningStreet

'It looks very different to 2008'

Montell Douglas

Team GB bobsleigh breakwoman

Bobsleigh brakewoman Montell Douglas is he first British female to be selected to compete at both a summer and winter Games. She previously competed for GB in the 100m and relay at the 2008 summer Games, which were also in Beijing.

It's a very different experience to when I went to the summer Olympics in 2008.

I remember being on the 100m start line, it was 38 degrees and so humid. Right now, it is about -3 degrees. It's a completely different world, but one we are fully preparing for.

One of our doctors, who was out there earlier, messaged me saying "hi from a very snowy Beijing!". I was like "SNOW?!". When some of my team-mates went out for the test event in October, they said during the day it wasn't that cold so I really wasn't expecting much snow.

It's a completely different world, but one we are fully preparing for.

Listen: The Winter Olympic Mile

BBC Sport

GB Snowsport CEO Vicky Gosling spoke to The Sports Desk podcast about finding kids with ‘grit’ to help with an ambition of making Great Britain a more competitive snowsport nation.

“We know our sport attracts kids with grit. So we need to find the kids with grit, with the talent and the mentality and the mentality to win.”

One of the ways they hope to do this is through Project Balance, aiming to bring young people from the skateparks to the mountain ranges.

“Going to skateboard parks and finding these kids that actually have got the balance, got what it takes or certainly got the grit and determination is a really good start point”

“We certainly want to increase that diversity and inclusion and really the breadth of that pipeline and the kids coming through is really important as a priority for us.”

Lizzy Yarnold

Two-time Olympic champion

I loved it. I was trying to spot all the people I know from all the different sports and choose the best outfits.

Now for the fireworks. Dazzling but restrained would probably be the most apt way to describe the conclusion of that opening ceremony.

Time to light the Olympic snowflake.

BBC One

BBC One