The opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games took place in Brazil’s iconic Macarana stadium on August 5th as thousands of athletes from across the globe including the Afghan athletes making their entrance in the colourful and pulsating ceremony.
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More than 500 Americans are on the Olympic team, though as was the case with Phelps in past years, not all of them marched in the opening. She’ll be the first goalkeeper in history to reach the milestone in global play – no small feat.
So the athletes were recast as a “planters army”, each given a tree seed that they placed in a pod, which will in turn be planted in an “Athletes forest” near one of the venues.
The team marched during the opening ceremony dressed in beige trousers and blue blazers while waving flags to the crowd in Rio which welcomed them affectionately.
The crowd at the Maracana Stadium cheered and clapped through images, special effects and dance routines, that while relatively low-tech, were no less spectacular.
The opening ceremony for the Rio Olympics was a demonstration of Brazil’s heritage, highlighted by the country’s proud musical history.
Graphic projections of world cities being swamped by rising seas set Rio de Janeiro’s otherwise fun and festive gala apart from the more self-congratulatory and lavish celebrations that Beijing and London wowed with in 2008 and 2012.
Hit with massive budget cuts, beleaguered organisers still staged an intimate party with samba music, spinning lights and wild dancing, capped by stunning supermodel Gisele Bundchen cascading across the entire length of the stadium to the tune of The Girl from Ipanema.
Brazil chose to break with tradition and host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio’s legendary Maracana Stadium, instead of holding the events at the Olympic Stadium, as customary.
More than 45 Presidents, Prime Ministers from around the world attended the Games that were opened by interim Brazilian President Michel Temer.
Pele’s planned role in the opening ceremony was never clear.
Iran’s flag bearer was wheelchair-bound Zahra Nemati, their first ever female flag-carrier who will compete in archery despite being paralysed in both legs.
But while the men and women given the task of guarding to pool – and interestingly being paid about $340 [£260] throughout the fortnight for essentially watching the Olympics – they’ve landed one of the best seats in the house.
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 overriding theme of the ceremony was nature – Brazil being home to the world’s largest rainforest – and an appeal to the people of the world to save planet earth from further degradation.
“It is pretty tacky to be overspending”, he said.
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“The responsibility of the decisions are mine, where I have always tried not to disappoint my family and the people of Brazil”.
