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Spectacle – and Tragedy – Open Beijing Olympics Friday's dazzling kick-off (with Yao Ming and 14,000 others) is marred by the killing of an American Saturday

By Stephen M. Silverman Stephen M. Silverman Stephen M. Silverman is the former founding editor of PEOPLE.com. He left PEOPLE in 2015.People Editorial GuidelinesUpdated on December 23, 2021

06:52PM EST Credit : Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse/BEImages As the world was still catching its breath from Friday’s spectacular Olympic ceremony opening, news surfaced from Beijing that on

the first day of the competition Saturday, a knife-wielding Chinese man attacked two relatives of the coach for the U.S. Olympic men’s volleyball team at one of the city’s tourist sites.

Todd Bachman of Lakeville, Minn., was killed and his wife Barbara was seriously injured when they were stabbed by a man while the couple and their daughter, Elisabeth, were visiting the 13th

century Drum Tower. The assailant then killed himself by jumping from the second story of the site, according to Olympic officials.

Elisabeth, who was not hurt in the attack, is a 2004 Olympic U.S. women’s indoor volleyball player and wife of men’s volleyball head coach, Hugh McCutcheon.

“It is impossible to describe the depth of our sadness and shock in this tragic hour,” said U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth. “Our delegation comes to the Games as a family,

and when one member of our family suffers a loss, we all grieve with them. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences are with the Bachman and McCutcheon families.”

The midday incident was all the more shocking due to increased security for the games as well as the infrequency of violent crime against foreigners in tightly controlled China.

Elaborate Spectacle The tragedy stood in marked contrast to Friday’s ceremony, in which some 5,000 years’ worth of Chinese culture, history and technology dazzled an estimated worldwide

audience of 4 billion people, as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad officially were launched.

During the elaborate spectacle, a giant globe rose from the floor of the National Stadium (an architectural wonder simply called the Bird’s Nest), and a glittering fireworks display extended

as far over the city to the ancient Great Wall, as if to illuminate the entire country.

In all, the presentation involved 14,000 performers, including 9,000 from the People’s Liberation Army and, significantly, 2,008 drumbeaters.

Yao Ming, the Chinese professional hoop star who plays for the Houston Rockets, carried his home nation’s flag into the stadium. (Per Olympic tradition, the host country is the last of the

204 nations to appear.) A young schoolboy who had survived the devastating May earthquakes in western China accompanied the 7’6″ Yao into the stadium.

The Bushes Wave Flags President Bush and his wife, Laura, sat in the stands along with about 90 international dignitaries, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Bushes stood up and waved their hands and miniature American flags at the U.S. delegation, which was comprised of nearly 600 athletes dressed in a Ralph Lauren-designed, 1930’s-style

outfits of blue blazers, red, white and blue silk ties and scarves, canvas shoes and white twill hats.

On Saturday, Katerina Emmons, of the Czech Republic, won the first gold medal of this year’s games, in the women’s 10-meter air rifle.

“It really doesn’t get any better than this – representing this country,” said U.S. basketball’s LeBron James. “All these Olympic athletes are here and we are competing but we are

representing more. The Olympics is more then just basketball, soccer and track and field, we’re all representing each other. When I am out there playing basketball, I am representing a

gymnast and the swimmers, not just my teammates. This is the biggest stage.”

• Reporting by CYNTHIA WANG

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