Double Olympic bronze medallist Paddy Barnes proudly led out Team Ireland at the Maracana Stadium at a spectacular opening ceremony in Brazil in the early hours of Saturday morning.
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Residents of the Mangueira favela or slum, which overlooks the Maracana Stadium where the 2016 Olympic opening ceremony was held, expressed a mix of pride and disappointment as the Games opened in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
Celebrities have begun to play a larger role in Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and Rio did not disappoint on that front.
One of the Games’ most prominent elements of protocol is the moment representatives of the athletes, coaches, and officials take the Olympic Oath. The first list for selected athletes included 43 members but that was reduced taking into account sporting ability, personal circumstances and United Nations refugee status.
A total of 43 refugee athletes sought to qualify for the Olympic Games but only 10 were able to make it, coming from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While both are realities of the history of Brazil, the Olympics are often a place where the less savory details are swept under the rug to provide a more pleasant (if incomplete) image of the host country.
Hours before the announcement that he would miss the opening ceremony, the former striker posted a photo on Instagram alongside ex-Brazil captain Carlos Alberto in front of a Pele Academia backboard.
“They motivate us – especially our young people – to be more active in sport, whether it is in our own backyards, in local parks, or in sport venues from coast to coast to coast”. Though she retired officially from the catwalk in April 2015 at São Paulo Fashion Week, Bundchen walked her signature walk one final time at the opening ceremony in her home country.
Call us homers, but it was a little magical to watch Team USA enter the stadium with Michael Phelps bearing the American flag.
The IOC’s decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russia following revelations of a state-sponsored doping program opened the door to legal turmoil that left the precise make-up of the Russian team in limbo.
Iran picked a woman, archer Zahra Nemati, as flag bearer for its team made up overwhelmingly of men.
Celebrating world peace and environment, the programme highlighted the essence of Brazil with its synchronized fireworks. It certainly did so with beauty and grace; with samba and pop, Grammy award winners Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.
It was a heck of a statement, coming after a lengthy segment on global warming.
The ceremony’s creative director Fernando Meirelles had a smaller budget than his predecessors, including the mastermind of London 2012’s memorable show Danny Boyle, but he promised “the coolest party”.
He carried the torch into the stadium, but that honor was reserved for marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, a bronze medalist in Athens in 2004. “This is not the Rio we wanted the world to see”.
Almost 5,000 performers were expected to take part in the ceremony, including Brazilian music stars Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso and supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
“Smile is the approach the Brazilians have toward life”, said Marco Balich, the executive producer.
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Having won the Olympics in 2009 during an economic boom, Brazil since slipped into its worst recession in decades and a political crisis that has deeply divided the nation of 200 million people.
