Opening ceremony of 2014 Winter Olympics under way in Sochi

The opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics has gotten under way in the southern Russian city of Sochi.Preparations for Friday’s ceremony, which began at 8:14 p.m. local time, were conducted under a veil of secrecy, although some details had leaked out in the days running up to the event.

More than 50 heads of state and government are attending the opening ceremony in what organizers say is a record.

"The Games in Sochi will be record-setting in the history of the Winter Games in terms of attendance of heads of state and government," the Games organizers told RIA Novosti. "That's more than at the last two Games in Turin and Vancouver combined."

Leaders in attendance include Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Norway’s King Harald V and Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron are among the more conspicuous names to have turned down invitations, however. French President Francois Hollande declared in December he would not attend and German President Joachim Gauck explicitly cited Russia's human rights record as the reason he would skip it.

The Olympic Games will be over on 23 February.