Like the country it represented, the 2016 Olympic opening ceremony was a colorful, musical mashup of history, culture, music and political messaging that culminated in the lighting of a unique Olympic torch and traditional fireworks.
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The show drew homegrown stars, like supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who walked across the stadium to the sound of bossa nova hit “Girl from Ipanema” and Paulinho da Viola, a samba songwriter who sang the national anthem with a string orchestra.
Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, who won a bronze medal at the Athens games, lights the Olympic cauldron.
He retired after London before coming back for these Olympics.
Spitz’s phenomenal haul of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games was considered unbeatable until Phelps came along 36 years later. You have transformed the city of Rio de Janeiro into a modern metropolis and made it even more lovely.
“The world is very tense and so is Brazil. We have always believed in you”.
During his speech, Bach also paid tribute to the refugee team which will compete in Rio under the Olympic flag.
“It is frustrating to be so close to this spectacle and yet so far away, living in a place were we have no security, not even sewage”, Carmo said. “Here is our Olympic answer”.
Lei Sheng carries the flag of China during the opening ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. “This marvelous city is the ideal city”. Those are sustainability, particularly re-forestation; finding joy in life and in being Brazilian; and the idea of “gambiarra”, the quirky Brazilian art of improvising repairs using whatever parts are available.
Interim President Michel Temer – who took office in May when the sitting president was suspended on impeachment charges – was booed along with other officials.
The 75-year-old soccer great said this week he had been invited to light the cauldron, though that was not confirmed by Rio organizers. He eventually finished third. “We are calling for action”, said Fernando Meirelles, one of the directors of the show. Rehearsals had been going on since May.
Chants of “Brasil, Brasil, Brasil” reverberated around the stadium just before they emerged from the tunnel and then the crowd erupted as the athletes danced and skipped across stage. (And, y’know, every nation in the world.) But all the depressing images of sea levels overtaking the Netherlands and Florida were at least leavened a little by the nice grace note at the end, informing us that each Olympian will be given a seed to plant, the idea being that someday, many years from now, those seeds will grow into a kind of Olympic forest.
Hours before the announcement that he would miss the opening ceremony, the former striker posted a photo on Instagram alongside ex-Brazil captain Carlos Alberto in front of a Pele Academia backboard.
Keino said, “Join me and support all the youth of this world to get the basics of humanity: food, shelter and education”.
The show is the work of 35,000 professionals and roughly 12,000 volunteers.
And the roar the crowd gave the likes of Spain’s Rafael Nadal and the United States team, led by Michael Phelps, would support the view that has been growing here that Rio is ready to forget its concerns about the broken political system, struggling economy and alarming Zika virus to enjoy its moment as the centre of the world’s attention.
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The Russian team was led into the stadium by flag bearer Sergei Tetiukhin, who is on the men’s volleyball team.
