Congratulating the athletes and the supporters and fans who will be filling the sporting arenas of host city Rio – and at venues in the cities of São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília (Brazil’s capital), and Manaus – in the weeks ahead, the Secretary-General, in his message for the games, said: “The Olympics and Paralympics celebrate the best of humanity”.
Advertisement
Ready or not, it’s time for Rio 2016!
Rio has consistently pulled off massive events with few security hiccups, including Carnival, the 2014 World Cup final and one of the world’s biggest New Year’s Eve bashes.
Now, it’s worth noting that the Opening Ceremony isn’t exactly the best preparation for certain athletes, given the fact that they’re on their feet for more than four hours.
“The world is very tense and so is Brazil”. Grammy award winners Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and supermodel Gisele Bundchen were expected to star.
This report includes material from the Associated Press.
There will be two cauldrons in Rio, one at the Maracana and another open to the public in downtown Rio.
Pele’s role in the opening ceremony has never been clear. In all, 4,800 performers and volunteers will be involved in the show, which is built on three basic pillars of life in Brazil.
“Smile is the approach the Brazilians have toward life”, executive producer Marco Balich told the AP.
Having won the Olympics in 2009 during an economic boom, Brazil since slipped into its worst recession in decades and a political crisis that has deeply divided the nation of 200 million people.
However, the 75-year-old has released a statement saying health reasons will prevent him from attending the opening ceremony.
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.
Advertisement
After taking office when leftist President Dilma Rousseff was put on trial in the Senate for breaking budget rules, Temer has taken Latin America’s largest economy – and one of the world’s most unequal countries – to the right.
