The Sunday Mail
Festivities began with Friday night’s opening ceremony – a celebration of Brazilian culture featuring Gisele, carnival-style dancing and an elaborate light display.
But many were left unimpressed by the cut-price ceremony – which cost just a tenth of London’s in 2012, branding it “boring”.
Others were furious that the money had been spent on the Olympics during Brazil’s worst recession in recent years.
That anger erupted into protests outside the stadium as demonstrators, also frustrated over the presence of Brazil’s acting president Michel Temer, clashed with police who used tear gas on the protesters.
Inside the stadium, others showed their anger through the thousands of seats left unsold as the opening ceremony began.
The 80 000-seater Maracana Stadium was less than two-thirds full when the lights went down.
A Brazilian presenter told the audience “We are 60 000 people soon to be joined by three billion” on TV. Twenty minutes before the world tuned in, many of the seats of the “sold out” show remained empty.
Most of the Rio Olympic Opening Ceremony’s tight budget was spent on a high-tech splurge for the show’s video projections.
At one point, the entire of the stadium was transformed into an otherworldly landscape as huge moving sculptures of bugs moved across the floor.
At another, the stadium became a forest floor and people of the native tribes of Brazil, in traditional dress, performed a choreographed dance with the fibre optic lights to recreate tribal art.
Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen took to the stage as “The Girl from Ipanema” played during the opening ceremony while the event also saw performances from 12-year-old Brazilian rapper MC Soffia.
A speech on climate change – one of the themes of this year’s events – was also delivered during the ceremony. Soccer star Pele had been scheduled to light the cauldron at the climax of the show but was forced to pull out due to poor health.
Instead, the ceremony ended with Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima lighting the cauldron to officially start the Rio Olympic Games 2016.
De Lima is not a gold medallist or a Brazilian champion, instead his claim to fame was during the 2004 Athens Olympics where he was leading the marathon when he was attacked by a spectator.
The incident saw him finish third in the race. Brazilian tennis player Gustavo Kuerten brought the flame into the stadium and passed it to 1996 Olympic women’s basketball silver medallist Hortência Marcari who gave it to de Lima. The cauldron was set in a beautiful sun sculpture powered by the flame. Fireworks erupted from the stadium while scores of samba dances paraded through the stadiumcarnival-style.
Opinion was divided on the success of the ceremony, which had just a US$3 million budget.
Some praised it for its simple celebration of Brazilian culture, while others criticised the event as “boring” compared to the spectacular events at Danny Boyle’s London ceremony or Beijing’s incredible 2008 show. – Daily Mail.
