Rio Olympics Gets Underway With Colourful Ceremony, Parade

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Rio Olympics Gets Underway With
Colourful Ceremony, Parade InPics
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The 31st Olympics, the first in South America and
only the third to be held in the southern
hemisphere, formally opened on Friday with a
colourful ceremony depicting Brazils vibrantly
diverse culture and dedicated to its history and
the Earths environment, at the Macarana stadium
in Rio de Janeiro.
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The ceremony, which has famed Brazilian director
Fernando Meirelles, known for crime drama City
of God, Andrucha Washington and Daniela Thomas
as creative directors, started with thousands of
performers entering the arena with sheets of
metallic paper, quickly transformed into a sort
of pillow and struck hard to create a beat that
resounded through the stadium.
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A panoramic depiction of Brazils history,
including its slave trade past, followed before a
unique homage to Alberto Santos-Dumont, who is in
Brazil, credited with inventing the first
aeroplane and taking the first flight, instead of
the Wright Brothers, as a light plane flew inside
the stadium before taking off into the night sky
across a celebrating city.
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But the high point was in rendition of the late
Tom Jobims legendary The Girl from Ipanema,
performed by his grandson Daniel as supermodel
and national icon Gisele Bundchen, clad in a long
sleeved, gold-sequin spangled dress, sashayed
across on her most ambitious catwalk across the
stadium.
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Other star performers included the legendary
samba singer Elza Soares, and hip-hop proponents
Karol Conka and the 12-year-old M.C. Soffia (hip
hop), all representing Brazils black community
too.
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The hour-long cultural fiesta, capped by a
spectacular display of fireworks, led to the
Parade of the Nations, or the march past of the
participating contingents, comprising 207
including Kosovo and South Sudan who are making
their debut.
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Each team, dressed mostly in traditional
costumes, accompanied by young children bearing a
sapling and trailed by a team of traditional
musicians, entered the arena to applause, though
the loudest cheers were reserved for teams from
the neighbouring countries, as well as those
making their debut and Palestine.
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