Brazil showcased its rich history and cultural heritage, combined with Rio’s famous ‘Samba’ dance, as the 31st Olympic Games was officially launched with a subtle yet powerful message of global warming plaguing the world in a glittering opening ceremony here.
Brazil organizers put their passion for football aside and made climate change and depletion of natural resources as the central theme in a thought-provoking nearly four-hour long ceremony to signal the opening of the 17-day extravaganza which will be competed by more than 11,000 athletes from 209 countries, including India, and a refugee Olympic team.
Brazil’s Acting President Michel Temer declared open the Games, the first to be held in South America, in the presence of International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach, who gave a lengthy speech, and United Nations head, Ban-Ki Moon.
“I declare the Rio Olympics open, and celebrate the 31st Olympic Games of the modern era,” Temer said to formally signal the commencement of competitions as the Rio night sky was lit with fireworks emanating from Maracana Stadium.
After the formal declaration of the Games, Brazilian 2004 Athens Olympics marathon bronze winner Vanderlei de Lima lit the Olympic cauldron after former tennis world number one and three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten brought the torch into the arena to the thunderous applause of spectators.
Having witnessed many memorable clashes on its pitch, the 78,000-capacity Maracana Stadium on Saturday bore testimony to Brazil’s effort to make the world a better place, and how!
It was, in a way, putting aside the trouble-torn build up that the host city faced from a Zika virus threat, to slumping economy and cost over-runs.
“It is not enough to stop harming the planet, it’s time to begin healing it. This will be our Olympic message: Earthlings, let’s replant, let’s save the planet,” said the creators of the opening ceremony.
Following the tradition, Greece, the birthplace of ancient Olympics, led the athletes’ parade with the hosts country Brazil coming last. The countries marched in alphabetical order based on the spelling of their names in Portuguese.
Led by its only individual gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, who is in his swansong Olympics, as the flag bearer, the Indian contingent entered the stadium as 95th country.
Around 70 Indian athletes (out of 118) and 24 officials took part in the march past with the male athletes wearing navy blue colour blazer and trousers and their female counterparts donning blue blazer and traditional Saree.
In his record seventh Olympic appearance, tennis ace Leander Paes was seen waving at the crowd, while the spotlight among the female members fell on the likes of shuttlers Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponappa and gymnast Dipa Karmakar.
Among the officials who were part of the march past were chef-de-mission Rakesh Gupta and his deputy Anandeswar Pandey.
The men’s hockey players skipped the parade as they have a match against Ireland. The archery, table tennis and weightlifting teams also skipped the opening ceremony. (PNA/PTI)
