“The heat is melting the icecap”, a voice intoned in the Maracana Stadium. “It’s disappearing very quickly”.
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Brazilian supermodel Giselle Bundchen’s sashay across the stadium to the sound of “The Girl from Ipanema” will no doubt feature in newspapers around the globe, as will a clever section that featured a biplane appearing to fly out of the stadium and circle the city’s signature “Christ the Redeemer” statue. Fireworks formed the word “Rio” in the skies.
It all seemed a cruel riff on the green, yellow and blue Brazilian flag, which proclaims, in Portuguese, “order and progress”. Dancers, all hips and wobble, grooved to thumping funk and sultry samba.
Still, organizers say the budget for the games is only one-tenth that of the amount spent on the 2012 Games in London.
The ceremony was concluded with the lighting of the Olympic flame, a responsibility that was originally going to be performed by football star Pele, who had to rule himself out as a result of medical complications. Promises to clean up Rio’s filthy waters remained unfulfilled. In one of the world’s most unequal societies, the spectacle celebrated the culture of the favelas, the slums that hang vertiginously above the renowned beaches of Rio and ring the Maracana. Amidst protest outside the stadium, there were positive reactions of national pride.
The opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics on Friday night did not feature any of the tech gimmicks or futuristic visual effects that we have become used to seeing in most sporting events since the turn of the millennium. Producers utilized local talent and impressive projection effects to take the world on a journey of Brazil’s history. They have also pushed pollution beyond the levels you find in some Chinese cities, said the newspaper.
Temer, who took office in May when impeachment procedures were started against president Dilma Rousseff, was meant to be presented alongside International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
The jeers Brazil’s interim leader Temer was trying to avoid at the outset of the ceremony could not be avoided later on, though, as his short address to officially open the Olympics was drowned out by loud catcalls.
Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei De Lima has lit the cauldron at the Rio Games. Phelps was 15 when he made his first Olympic team in 2000, and he has competed in every Games since. She tried to flee and was shot in the head. The refugees were the second to last team to walk around the stadium, followed by host nation Brazil. When the seeds sprout, they will be planted in a Rio park.
Anna Meares of Australia leads her team. Canada was represented by Governor General David Johnston. “And I’ve always respected those who admire me”. People are dying. The bombs they set off there.this is war.
But there were big cheers for nations with large immigrant communities in Brazil, such as Italy and Japan, and roars for the more recognisable flag bearers such as Rafa Nadal and Michael Phelps.
But he said he had seen little investment in health, education or security in Mangueira since it was announced that Rio had won the Games in 2009.
While it escaped a blanket ban, Russian Federation is paying the price in the shape of a smaller team, whittled down from 389 athletes to around 270. Another woman pushed Nemati’s wheelchair.
Brazilian officials have pulled in police from around the country to conduct security around the Games, a total of 85,000 law enforcement officials.
Also following the environmental theme of the ceremony is, of course, the Olympics logo.
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“It is pretty tacky to be overspending”, he said. “It is not a good message for the world. When 40 per cent of the homes in Brazil have no sanitation, you can’t really be spending a billion reals for a show”. “I hope that things get better, like different for good”, said Azevedo.
