2008 Summer Olympics: Standing guard during the opening ceremonies

This photo, taken by Hans Deryk of Reuters, shows a Chinese police officer standing guard outside the National Aquatics Center during the opening ceremony today at Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing.

USA TODAY has a gallery of photos taken during the opening ceremony. Watch this "sights and sounds" gallery for more photographs from China.

Housekeeping: We're adding some special features to On Deadline for the 2008 Summer Games, including regular postings on pollution and other non-athletic aspects of the games in China. As part of this effort, we plan to publish an extra "today's photo" posting based on the competition and related activities.