“There’s a pent-up demand for spectator sports that people actually participate in, like swimming and running”, said Duber-Smith, who pointed to recent news of a 24/7 Rio Olympics channel as evidence.
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Dressed in colorful feathers, dozens of dancers formed in the shape of the arches of Lapa, a popular area of Rio akin to Roman ruins, then morphed to make the shape of iconic Sugarloaf before quickly changing again, this time to the official 2016 symbol.
In the last of 306 medal ceremonies, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach draped gold around the neck of Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, victor of the men’s marathon earlier in the day.
In the face of various dire in-advance-expressed concerns, Rio de Janeiro and Brazil have hosted for the world what virtually all parties see to have been a successful and entertaining two weeks of Olympic games.
The Olympic torch, clearly an enormous responsibility, has now been passed to Tokyo, which will host the summer games in 2020.
China’s Olympic team were given a warm welcome from big crowds waving banners and photographs at Beijing airport on Tuesday upon their return from a disappointing Rio Games.
Typically the Olympic team dominates written and televised media for the period of the games before sharply losing its visibility.
One of the more stunning moments of the ceremony focused on the ancient art found in the Serra da Capivara National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage site in northeastern Brazil featuring cave paintings, some more than 25,000 years old.
But the beauty was betrayed by Brazil’s tough times.
As for the barometers of success of the Rio Games, the benefits to the city in transport and sporting infrastructure are indisputable.
A low point for Rio came when Ryan Lochte, one of America’s most decorated swimmers, said he was robbed at gunpoint.
Women’s issues continue to come to the fore in the United States, and a major party has a female atop its presidential ticket for the first time. As absurd as our problems seemed – a group of strangers banded together on a quest, getting to know each other as they dealt with security searches and setbacks – we knew it would all work out. “I’m the first Simone Biles”, she said.
A survey conducted by our tourism ministry during the Olympic fortnight found that 88 per cent of foreign visitors meant to visit Brazil again.
But the conversation with Rio was always going to be about so much more than sports.
These Games will be remembered mostly for the conversations they fostered: the ethics of allowing athletes from Russia’s doping machine to compete here, and the boos that accompanied them; the inclusion of a refugee team; the behavior of young athletes in foreign lands, on and off the field of play.
With the Games no longer a distraction, Brazil gets back to the dour reality of political and economic crises.
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After a 16-day extravaganza of sporting heroics from the likes of Olympics legends Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, Brazil woke up to the hangover of suspended president Dilma Rousseff’s looming impeachment trial and its worst recession in more than eight decades.
