The big talking point leading up to the opening ceremony was who was going to light the Olympic flame.
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The country also continues to battle chronic violence, and its three largest cities-São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador-are home to some of the world’s greatest wealth disparities between rich and poor.
The joyful opening contrasted with months of turmoil and chaos, not only in the organization of the Olympics but across Brazil as it endures its worst economic recession in decades and a deep political crisis. Further protests were expected near the Maracana later yesterday as the 78,600-seat venue hosted a parade of athletes from 207 teams and dozens of world leaders.
Pele, who in 1999 was elected by the International Olympic Committee as the Athlete of the Century, is considered by many as the greatest soccer player of all time.
One of the most anticipated moments will be seeing which famous Brazilian will light the Olympic cauldron.
Athletes from 206 countries and regions, and a team made up of refugees will compete in 28 Olympic sports. Their flag-bearer, Rose Nathike Lokonyen, fled war in South Sudan and ran her first race in a refugee camp in northern Kenya. It looked downright cheerful, and not much like the vision of favelas that Fernando Meirelles, who directed Rio’s opening ceremony, offered in his global hit City of God in 2002.
Each athlete will be asked to plant seeds that will eventually grow into trees and be planted in the Athletes Forest in Rio in a few years.
Michael Phelps will lead the USA team, the largest with 549 competitors.
On behalf of all 11,288 competitors (6,182 men; 5,106 women), Brazilian two-time Olympic champion sailor Robert Scheidt pledged that they won’t take banned drugs – an oath likely to ring false to fans after the scandal of government-orchestrated cheating in Russian Federation.
The IOC’s decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russia over revelations of a state-sponsored doping program opened the door to legal turmoil which left the precise make-up of the Russian team in limbo.
The cauldron was designed by American sculptor Anthony Howe, who said he was inspired by life in the tropics. She was paralyzed in a vehicle accident as a teenager.
Meanwhile, South Korean archer Kim Woo-Jin grabbed the first world record of the Rio Olympics yesterday, before the Games had even officially begun.
Unlike the opening ceremonies in Beijing in 2008 and London 2012, a financially constrained Brazil had little choice but to put on a more “analogue” show, with minimal high-tech and a heavy dependence on the vast talent of Brazil and its Carnival party traditions. When 40 percent of the homes in Brazil have no sanitation, you can’t really be spending a billion reals for a show.
The ceremony, which has famed Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, known for crime drama “City of God”, Andrucha Washington and Daniela Thomas as creative directors, started with thousands of performers entering the arena with sheets of metallic paper, quickly transformed into a sort of “pillow” and struck hard to create a beat that resounded through the stadium. I am the proudest man alive.
NBC will broadcast the opening ceremony on a one-hour tape delay because it wants the entertainment spectacle to be shown completely in US prime time.
Skipper Abby Erceg was a one of a number of Football Ferns to post a photo of the team getting into the swing of things by donning their official uniform for the night ahead of their match against Colombia overnight tonight NZ time.
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