The country’s acting president, Michel Temer, was booed as he declared the games officially open.
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Overall, the atmosphere in the Maracana was celebratory, as a succession of actors, dancers and musicians raced through routines meant to showcase Brazil’s culture, diversity and history, even finding time for a brief lecture on environmental issues.
Apart from the joyful celebration in Maracana Stadium, the Rio Olympics opening ceremony on Friday shed light on Brazil’s biodiversity as well as call-to-actions regarding climate change.
That set the stage for night’s final act: lighting the cauldron, which was done by de Lima, a late replacement for the unwell Pele.
Despite Rio being just one hour ahead of the U.S. East Coast, the network made the decision to air the show on tape-delay, a choice that was criticized by many on social media. DigitalGlobe, a company that specializes in taking high resolution photos of our planet, has reportedly captured interesting moments from how Brazil got the arena and stadiums Olympics ready.
The teams play each other in their Olympic tournament opener Saturday.
Greece, the historical and spiritual home of the games, led the march by athletes into the stadium.
Team GB’s Andy Murray would appear to have some work to do in South America to match that pair’s appeal but the Scot waved the Union Flag with gusto and the British squad was given a warm reception. Their flag bearer, Rose Nathike Lokonyen, fled war in South Sudan and ran her first race in a refugee camp in northern Kenya. Of course, the loudest cheer were be saved for last when the Brazil entered. When they sprout, they will be planted in a Rio park.
With “USA” emblazoned on the back of his jacket, Michael Phelps carried the flag for the US team, the largest with 549 competitors. This is Phelps’ fifth Olympics; he first went to the Games in 2000 when he was 15.
The spotlight of the night was on the Russian team, which has been whittled down to 271 athletes from an initial 389 following doping allegations. The 18-time gold medalist was named flag bearer for the Team USA earlier this week. She was paralysed in a vehicle accident as a teenager.
It was one of many problems in the run-up to the event, and hit the opening ceremony.
An estimated global audience of three billion watched the ceremony.
Creative director Fernando Meirelles said their budget, slashed by half as Brazil’s economic recession bit ever harder, was 12 times less than London and 20 times less than Beijing.
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“It is pretty tacky to be overspending”, he said. “It is not a good message for the world”. We are a for-profit organization, and we spend a lot of money to put on the Olympics, and I think [we have] the right – and duty to our shareholders – to make some revenue from that.
