The iconic Maracana Stadium will host a pulsating gathering for more than 70,000 fans, 10,400 athletes and dozens of world leaders as the first Olympics to be staged in South America gets under way.
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NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp, has sold $1.2 billion in advertising for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the network said on the eve of a rare Games where some of the most high-profile contests will air live in prime time for US audiences. Maybe instead of worrying about getting Pokemon Go to be available to users visiting Rio, the city should have focused more on getting their facilities in gear for the world class event.
Not all eyes are monitoring the scoreboards of the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
The opening day ceremony, in preparation for weeks, is estimated to be watched by over three billion people with Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen and Britain’s Judi Dench expected to participate where over 300 professional dances and 5,000 volunteers will be performing. The odds-on favourite is soccer legend Pele. “He has gone to the doctor to see how things are”, the spokesman, also known as Pepito, said.
Organisers hope the bright lights and thumping rhythms of Friday’s samba spectacular at the Maracana can brighten the mood throughout the nation.
Pre-Olympics media reports about the Zika virus, polluted water and political unrest in Brazil raised awareness about the Rio de Janeiro Games and thus helped NBC’s advertising sales, network executives said Thursday.
The ceremony would craft a message of tolerance and care for the environment to a troubled planet, Meirelles said. “The whole world feels this tension”.
Russia, who finished fourth on the London 2012 Olympic medals table and have topped the table seven times, will have their smallest team since 1912 at the Rio Games, which open on Friday.
Brazil is also one of the most risky countries in the world.
The opposition has called a demonstration against interim President Michel Temer’s government for Friday outside the stadium, accusing him of conducting a “coup” against suspended leftist President Dilma Rousseff, who is being placed on trial in the Senate. Interim president Michel Temer will take Rousseff’s place, but could face a hostile reception from the crowd.
“We have received documents on the admission of about 270 sportspeople, now we need to do the updated counting”, Alexander Zhukov, the head of the Russian committee said.
Russian boxers, judokas and shooters were among those given last-minute approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the aftermath of a doping scandal which has tarnished Russia’s reputation as a sporting superpower and threatened to split the Olympic movement.
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The commission claimed it had found evidence that Russia’s Sports Ministry and the Center for the Training of Russian National Teams and the Federal Security Service had covered up a doping program in Russian sports.
