While the opening sequence of the ceremony included a nod to “Gambiarra” – the Brazilian talent for making something great out of nearly nothing – public anger Friday focused on the level of spending on the Games.
Advertisement
Never have the organizers had such deep economic and political crisis while preparing for an Olympic Games since the turn of the century. Her ouster less than four months ahead of the games for alleged budget violations was one of many spanners in the works of Brazil’s Olympic preparations and impacted the opening ceremony itself.
The 75-year-old has been in Rio de Janeiro in the build-up to the opening ceremony to launch an academy in his name.
None of it, however, seemed to matter when Olympic marathoner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, denied a gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens when he was tackled late in the race by a spectator, finally lit cauldron shortly before midnight.
After one of the roughest-ever rides from vote to games by an Olympic host, the city of beaches, carnival, grinding poverty and sun-kissed wealth opened the two-week games of the 31st Olympiad with a high-energy gala celebration of Brazil’s can-do spirit, biodiversity and melting pot history. “The Organising Committee, Brazilian authorities at all levels, and all Brazilians can be very proud tonight”, said the German.
One of the most eagerly-awaited teams, certainly among the press corps, was Russia’s, if only to see if a team from a nation that had tried to fix the last Olympics – in Sochi, two years ago – really would be allowed to compete again, and hear if they would be booed. You have transformed the city of Rio de Janeiro into a modern metropolis and made it even more lovely.
But by that point the Maracana was in full-on party mode as a succession of dancers, musicians and volunteers raced through routines meant to showcase Brazil’s diversity and history, even finding time for a lecture on environmental issues. “We have always believed in you”, said Bach, a fencing champion at the 1976 Olympic Games.
It was an hour into the show that we were reminded why we are here – for the 11,288 athletes. The groups recreated patterns of their art, performing their native dances while holding elastic bands that formed giant huts, known as ocas.
No celebration of the host city’s culture could be complete without an acknowledgement of bossa nova, the sensual, soothing music that was born in the seaside city in the 1950s and became acclaimed around the world in the 1960s.
From supermodel Gisele Bundchen’s tribute to the “Girl from Ipanema” to the promise of an athletes’ forest to be planted after the Games, Brazil’s big night saluted the country’s past and pointed towards a greener future. Colombia is a neighboring country with plenty of supporters in Rio. “A flower has sprouted in the street”.
Athletes also joined Brazil’s cause on environment preservation as each of them was handed a seed of the country’s native trees after they paraded into the stadium.
On Saturday, barring anything unusual, Solo will appear in her 200th game for the US women’s national team in a group stage match against France at the Rio Olympics.
Pope Francis has written a letter of encouragement to the first team of refugees to participate in the Olympic Games.
Chinese athletes marched into the stadium in their usual red and yellow outfits, the colors representing the national flag. The delegation’s 416 athletes, including 35 returning Olympic champions, will compete in 210 events over 26 sports at the Games that ends on August 21.
For U.S. soccer goalie Hope Solo, the firsts just keep on coming.
The quality of life for Rio residents will also benefit from new waste management projects that have reduced pollution in the city’s waterways, according to the local organizing committee.
But Bach assertions would be disputed by any number of critics, both within Brazil and internationally, even within the IOC.
“At this moment I am not physically able to attend the opening of the Olympics”.
“Rio de Janeiro would not be where it is today, without the Olympic Games as a catalyst”, he said. “Rio is ready to make history”.
Bach fired back, blaming WADA for not being more aggressive in battling doping. As a outcome, Russia’s team was whittled down from a hoped-for 389 athletes to around 270.
Advertisement
There then followed the first ever awarding of an “Olympic laurel” to Kenyan running great Kip Keino, before the traditional unfurling of the Olympic Flag, rendition of the Olympic Anthem and recitation of Olympic oaths.
