“More than 70,000 people that were in the Marakana stadium and more than two dozen world leaders cheered all of the athletes, but there was really a touching moment when people took to their feet cheering on this refugee team competing for the first time in the Olympics”.
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More than 80,000 people crammed into the famed Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Friday night for the experience of a lifetime: Watching the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games.
The following performance involved samba drumming, dancing, appearances by Brazilian celebrities like supermodel Gisele Bundchen and the story of Brazil’s history.
Francis wished each of the 10 athletes success, saying he hoped that “your courage and strength find expression through the Olympic Games and serve as a cry for peace and solidarity”.
Greece opens the parade of nations.
In other action, reigning world champion swimmer Yulia Efimova of Russian Federation was booed after winning her heat in the 100-meter breaststroke preliminaries, after serving a 16-month suspension for doping and then testing positive this year for the now-banned pharmaceutical meldonium.
What happened behind the scenes at tonight’s opening ceremony?
The opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics on Friday night did not feature any of the tech gimmicks or futuristic visual effects that we have become used to seeing in most sporting events since the turn of the millennium.
The crowd roared when Bundchen sashayed from one side of the 78,000-seat arena to the other, as Antonio Carlos Jobim’s grandson, Daniel, played his grandfather’s famous song about the Ipanema girl “tall and tan and young and lovely”.
Brazi’s Bruno Oscar Schmidt, left, and Alison Cerutti celebrate after a winning a men’s beach volleyball match against Canada during a men’s beach volleyball match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016.
More than 45 Presidents, Prime Ministers from around the world attended the Games that were opened by interim Brazilian President Michel Temer.
Brazil chose to break with tradition and host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio’s legendary Maracana Stadium, instead of holding the events at the Olympic Stadium, as customary.
The Portuguese bobbed to shore in boats, the African slaves rolled in on wheels and together they plowed through the forests and planted the seeds of modern Brazil.
The cauldron in central Rio is expected to be lit by a runner after the opening ceremony is finished, Howe said.
The 549-member USA team was led by flag-holder Michael Phelps.
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.
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In all, 4,800 performers and volunteers will be involved in the show created to showcase Brazil as a garden of the world. He thanked Brazil for hosting the games amid political turbulence.
