By Thomas J. Sheeran
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - Metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs and a high-tech credential system for athletes were among tight security measures visitors and participants of the International Children's Games encountered Friday as President Bush helped open the event.

"There's police everywhere," said Tyler Accardi, 18, at a street festival featuring food and performers from around the world. He helped organize a 12-member team of athletes from his hometown of Grand Rapids, Mich.

"I feel plenty safe," Accardi said as state troopers, Ohio National Guard members, sheriff's deputies, city police and private security guards patrolled the two-block festival.

Bush seemed unconcerned about security as he spoke for five minutes from a podium on the field at Cleveland Browns Stadium. He was surrounded by cheering child athletes, many of them snapping photos as he welcomed them to the United States.

The athletes held red and white signs naming their home countries in the 73,200-seat stadium, where the seats were virtually empty but for two sections of VIPs and the athletes on the playing field.

The presidential welcome at the stadium preceded an outdoor evening gala for the games' participants.

Politics were far from the minds of many as the games opened in Cleveland, the first city in the United States to host the international event.

As Dennis Wannemacher, 15, and Niklas Eder, 14, of Darmstadt, Germany, practiced tennis for the four-day competition involving 2,200 youngsters from 58 nations, SWAT and mounted officers patrolled, police cars blocked an adjacent street and an officer and police dog stood watch.

Eder noticed the heightened police presence compared to his homeland. "The security is extreme. It's everywhere," he said.

The games, endorsed by the International Olympic Committee, are for children ages 11 to 15 who compete in sports including track and field, swimming, basketball and gymnastics.