Fireworks explode over Maracana Stadium during the opening ceremony at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016.
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Samba, Carnival and the famously fun Brazilian spirit are expected to play heavily into the three-hour ceremony, as will a call to save the planet from climate change.
Yet the giddy euphoria that invariably accompanies the opening of an Olympic Games has been notably absent as Brazil grapples with a tanking economy and a grim litany of social problems.
NBC broadcast the opening ceremony on a one-hour tape delay because it wants the entertainment spectacle to be shown completely in USA prime time. We are also willing to tell the world to stop attacking our home.
Brazilian officials wanted this cauldron smaller than most, a reminder to reduce global warming caused by fossil fuels and greenhouse gases. “The world is watching so we are here to denounce the coup”, said one demonstrator, Iraci Franca, 57, a nurse.
As she walked, “The Girl From Ipanema” blared through the stadium.
On behalf of all 11,288 competitors (6,182 men; 5,106 women), a Brazilian athlete will pledge an oath that they won’t take banned drugs – a promise likely to ring false to many fans after the scandal of government-orchestrated cheating in Russian Federation. He said this week he was invited to take part, but business deals were stopping him from participating.
The 75-year-old former football star (soccer star, to Americans) was rumored to light the Olympic cauldron, a honor previously held by unbelievable athletes like Mohammad Ali. Violence broke out shortly before the opening ceremony for the 2016 Rio Olympics was set to begin, writes The Independent.
The torch was taken to the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Rio and other landmarks as it moved slowly toward the Maracana where the opening ceremony starts at 2300 GMT.
The floor of the stadium will be a vast stage for projections, a substitute for more expensive structures in a nod to Brazil’s economic troubles.
In all, 4,800 performers and volunteers will be involved in the show created to showcase Brazil as a garden of the world.
But there were big cheers for nations with large immigrant communities in Brazil, such as Italy and Japan, and roars for the more recognisable flag bearers such as Rafa Nadal and Michael Phelps. The stadium does not have typical Olympic dimensions – there is no track. The only Olympic events it is hosting are soccer matches.
Kip Keino, a two-time Olympic champion who went on to open an orphanage in his native Kenya, gave a heartfelt speech at the opening ceremony of the Games.
The torch’s three-month, 20,000-km journey across Brazil ran into difficulties this week as protests flared in towns around Rio against the Games’ $12 billion price tag, at a time of high unemployment, rising crime and cutbacks to health and education spending.
Unpopular interim Brazilian President Michel Temer is expected to attend the opening ceremony.
A political crisis led to the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, meaning the Brazilian leader will miss Friday’s ceremony.
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Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei De Lima has lit the cauldron at the Rio Games. Rousseff’s impeachment trial is expected to end after the Olympics ends on August 21, which leaves the country with two presidents until then.
