Riders rolled off to the sound of crashing waves on Copacabana Beach on a steamy morning hours after Brazil’s high-energy opening ceremony featuring thumping funk, sultry samba and supermodel Gisele Bundchen sauntering to the tune of “The Girl from Ipanema”. Surely, amid the bloated ceremonials, a space could be found for, you know, some actual sport.
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Enthusiastic welcomes given to the refugee team and the host nation’s athletes who entered towards the end showed the crowd had the energy to last. The findings of the investigation led to the ban of 118 Russian athletes from this summer’s Olympics, including tennis ace Maria Sharapova, who failed a drugs test during the Australian Open in January.
Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, a bronze medalist in Athens in 2004, lit the Olympic cauldron, a small and low-emission model befitting the environmental theme of these Games. Numerous events took place in the Olympic Park on Barra de Tijuca, a modern suburb of Rio.
“You have fled from your homes because of violence, hunger, or just because you were different”, President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach told the athletes. Michael Phelps, the world record holder and two-time Olympic champion, dropped the race for his fifth games and defending champ Ryan Lochte didn’t qualify. The Brazil native walked 500 feet in a custom Alexandre Herchcovitch gown, which was praised by some on the internet as the “longest runway walk ever”.
Nor was everybody particularly moved by NBC’s approach to the night, which included repeated segments about the richness of Brazil that might have been made by its tourist office twenty years ago.
Buzzfeed reported it the thirstiest: Tonga’s flagbearer, Pita Taufatofua, got the crowd (and social media) all excited when he stepped out completely shirtless, oiled up, and in a skirt.
Unlike the opening ceremonies in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, a financially constrained Brazil had little choice but to put on a more “analog” show, with minimal high-tech and a heavy dependence on the vast talent of Brazil and its Carnival party traditions. The Tae Kwon Do competitor is sure to be a favorite in the coming weeks. The world’s largest sporting event is officially underway as athletes are gunning for various medals.
Preliminary soccer games already have been played and more were on tap Saturday, along with rugby sevens, gymnastics and judo.
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Is this Rio’s opening ceremony or Rutgers Football?’ Ana Paula Rodrigues led the way with 12 goals for Brazil, which has never won an Olympic handball medal.
