The most crisis-ridden Olympic Games in history opens in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday with organisers hoping to draw a line under a turbulent seven-year build-up to the greatest sporting show on Earth, AFP reports.
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The statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio de Janeiro was illuminated in Brazil’s yellow and green national colours yesterday as the city put the finishing touches to its preparations for South America’s first Olympics.
Brazil has deployed troops to patrol Rio’s emblematic tourist sites to guard against the slightest chance of an attack, officials said, though security at the Olympic stadium appeared slack on Tuesday. Violence broke out shortly before the opening ceremony for the 2016 Rio Olympics was set to begin, writes The Independent.
Home to the Amazon, the world’s largest forest, Brazil used the ceremony to call on the 3 billion people watching the opening of the world’s premiere sporting event to take care of the planet, plant seeds and reconquer the verdant land that Europeans found here five centuries ago. “We will not let threats stop us from holding demonstrations during the Olympics”, said Guilherme Boulos, the coordinator of the Movement of Homeless Workers and a member of the People Without Fear Front.
“I hope the opening ceremony can be a kind of anti-depressant for Brazil”, said one of the show’s creative directors, the acclaimed “City of God” filmmaker Fernando Meirelles.
Unpopular interim Brazilian President Michel Temer is expected to attend the opening ceremony. The world is threatened because of global warming. Grammy award winners Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and supermodel Gisele Bundchen were expected to star.
The cauldron was designed by American sculptor Anthony Howe, who told The Associated Press he was inspired by life in the tropics.
There are talks that the real flame will only be accessible for Olympic Stadium ticket holders of about 4,800 people and 11,000 athletes only and a smaller copy is likely to be placed in a live site in central Rio for fans to take pictures.
And while details regarding this year’s opening ceremonies have been kept under wraps, a few tidbits have trickled out regarding what’s expected to be a stunning display. The only Olympic events it is hosting are soccer matches.
NBC will broadcast the opening ceremony on a one-hour tape delay because it wants the entertainment spectacle to be shown completely in US prime time.
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“May this be the moment for us to overcome hard times and to work as a team, to make our country and our world fairer and safer”, said Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta, flanked by Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes. In a bitterly divided country, protesters are encouraging spectators to boo Temer, who took over after the Senate voted to subject leftist President Dilma Rousseff to an impeachment hearing this month. Rousseff’s impeachment trial is expected to end after the Olympics ends on August 21, which leaves the country with two presidents until then.
