RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – What it lacked in flash, Rio made up for with feeling.
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While the opening ceremony took place Friday night, competition actually began on Wednesday when women’s football kicked off.
After all, over 11,000 Olympic athletes from over 200 countries flew in from around the world for this moment! REUTERS/Ruben Sprich FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY.
During his speech, Bach also paid tribute to the refugee team which will compete in Rio under the Olympic flag. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. Fireworks formed the word “Rio” in the skies.
Former marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima lights the Olympic Cauldron during the Opening Ceremony at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The ceremony launches 17 days of sporting drama led by a cast of elite athletes including sprint king Usain Bolt and swimming superstar Phelps which wraps up on August 21.
With the theme of world peace and environment, the programme retraced the history of Brazil – the arrival of the Portuguese, the African influence on its culture, the immigration of Arab and Japanese communities and the rise of great cities.
With a limited budget, the effect of a biting recession that roiled preparations for South America’s first Olympics, Brazil laced its high-energy opening party for the games of the 31st Olympiad with a sobering message of the dangers of global warming.
The 271 Russian athletes – out of an original entry list of 389 – who walked into the stadium were only officially cleared to take part in the Games on Thursday.
Brazil has spent more than $10 billion (9 billion euros) on new infrastructure and preparations for the Games at a time of economic crisis, angering many Brazilians.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, in his speech, stoutly defended hosting of the Games at Rio and predicted that it will be one of the best Games ever held.
Pele will not attend Friday’s opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics because of poor health, denying Brazilians a chance to celebrate their greatest sports figure.
Loud cheers erupted when Brazil’s beloved pioneer of aviation Alberto Santos-Dumont was depicted taking off from the stadium and flying over modern-day Rio.
Michel Temer, a 75-year-old law professor, became acting president after the Senate voted in favour of launching an impeachment trial against Rousseff, suspending her. The heavy bill for the games, at least $12 billion, made them unpopular with many.
Due to Brazil’s most intense security operation ever, some among the 50,000 attendees faced two-hour-long lines as Brazil staged its most intense security operation ever.
In all, 4,800 performers and volunteers will be involved in the show created to showcase Brazil as a garden of the world.
It started with the beginning of life itself in Brazil, and the population that formed in the vast forests and built their communal huts, the ocas.
For the first time, the athletes were handed tree seeds, which are meant to be sown in the Athletes’ Forest in the area of Deodoro, planned as Rio 2016’s enduring legacy. “Wow”, said Bryan Hossy, a black Brazilian who watched the ceremony in a bar in Copacabana.
“This is a conquest. The people on the periphery are having an influence, it’s a recognition of their art”, said Eduardo Alves, director of social watchdog Observatorio de Favelas. The biggest cheer, after the roar when the home team entered, was for Team Refugee of ten athletes from Syria, Sudan and other countries who sought refuge after fleeing civil wars at home.
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After the grandeur of Beijing’s opening ceremony in 2008 and the high-tech, cheeky inventiveness of London’s in 2012, Rio’s was earthier and less swish but more sobering with its gloomy environmental look at the future and deliberate penny-pinching.
