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, less swish and still inventive.
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Christ the Redeemer is lit with special LED lights by French artist Gaspare Di Caro Aug. 5 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
At 554 participants, the United States has the largest Olympic team. While I’m certain that actually seeing the ceremony in person would have been an experience, listening to over 100 Brazilians sing their national anthem in a bar left me breathless.Over the coming days, I’ll be going to several swimming events, and photographing several more celebrations and public athletic events, such as cycling. “Brazil is not a grand nation”. It was simple, classy and effective.
The opening ceremony charted Brazil’s roots from forest-covered jungle to modern industrial nation, taking in the first contact with Europeans and acknowledging its history of African slavery that lasted nearly 400 years.
Brazilian football great Pele will not be attending the Olympic opening ceremony due to ill health.
The introduction of the dance music Brazil is famous for set a party tone for the next segment, which focused on the arrival of the European, African and Middle Eastern settlers.
They went back to their hotel, Googled “Brazil soccer player” and there he was: Ronaldinho, the two-time FIFA World Player of the Year. This was followed by a longish interpretive-dance reenactment of the history of Brazil and its peoples. Fireworks formed the word “Rio” in the skies.
The only shorter cameo appearance in Friday’s ceremony was by Brazilian model Giselle Bundsen, who represented the “Girl From Ipanema” when the program paid tribute to that famous song composed on one of this city’s famous beaches. In just seven years you have achieved what generations could only dream of. It was officially party time. Nevertheless, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was not tempted to show off his samba skills.
Those 85,000 will be patrolling on the ground, while in the air, a web of more than 3,000 security cameras watch the streets, part of a plan to step up security during the Olympics and beyond in an effort to make this city as safe as it is handsome.
Organisers said the ceremony aimed to send a message of tolerance and respect.
A further simple but effective moment was a recital of “A Flor e a Nausea”, read by British actress Judi Dench, a poem which announces hope for the future.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Peace came in the shape of Regina Case inviting us to celebrate difference and ushering 1,500 dancers on to the stage to perform the Baile Charme, the traditional shimmy of the black community in Rio’s northern burbs.
Rio de Janeiro: The 31st Olympics, the first in South America and only the third to be held in the southern hemisphere, formally opened on Friday with a colourful ceremony depicting Brazil’s vibrantly diverse culture and dedicated to its history and the Earth’s environment, at the Macarana stadium here.
Others were annoyed at repeated ad breaks, including one who tweeted: “Can NBC slip in a bit of the Olympic opening ceremony between the commercials?!” Rousseff supporters were among the protesters.
Following Temer, IOC President Bach tried to smooth things over with his speech.
And after a wave of terrorist attacks around the world, a massive security presence is in place in Rio, with a vast deployment of police and military personnel deployed around Olympic sites. And while some venues have been finished with athletes long ago landed at Galeao airport – and more than a million tickets yet unsold, and transport between the disparate venues still creaking – to expect perfection in an imperfect city, at a Games run by a flawed governing body, is to be both unfair and unrealistic.
Final torch bearer Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima lights the Olympic Cauldron.
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With that the show was over and the Olympics had begun.
