The festivities have already begun, and this week on May 3, the Torch Relay traveled through Brasília, the capital of Brazil.
Advertisement
President Dilma Rousseff who may face impeachment says her country’s political uncertainty will not affect the Games.
Among Brazil’s telecoms, troubled Oi (OIBR), down 3% today, said in a U.S. filing Tuesday that it will be late in filing U.S. 2015 results according to U.S. GAAP accounting standards because it misjudged the amount of time required. The torch will be passed along by 12,000 people in Brazil before it reaches Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro for the opening ceremonies on August 5. Earlier Ibrahim Al Hussein, was selected to carry the torch in Athens.
Hanan is not the only Syrian refugee represented as the world watches the tradition of the Olympic Torch Relay.
Hanan and her father, Khaled, mother Yusra, brother Mostafá and baby sister Yara came to Brazil along with other relatives just over a year ago, after spending two-and-a-half years at Zaatari refugee camp, in Jordan.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff holds the Olympic torch.
The beginning of the relay was not without acts of protests and support as the people involved took advantage of the relay’s worldwide visibility to show banners against and in favor of Brazil’s President Rousseff.
The family now lives in São Paulo, where Dacka attends school and speaks fluent Portuguese.
Brazil is spending around $10 billion, in public and private money, to prepare South America’s first Olympics, with numerous same construction companies ensnared in the Petrobras scheme also behind Rio’s Olympic projects.
She joined Olympic athletes and local leaders in the relay through the city.
This is also the first year that a refugee team will take part in the games. The team will consist of between five and ten members who have been granted official refugee status by the United Nations. “The world will see refugees as they deserve to be seen – as talented, strong, inspiring people”.
“It’s like winning an Olympic medal”.
Advertisement
The ongoing conflict in Syria is the main driver of the current global refugee crisis.
