This article titled "Rio Olympics 2016: opening ceremony kickstarts the Games – live" was written by Tom Lutz, for theguardian.com on Saturday 6th August 2016 01.56 UTCThe hosts arrive at their party
Did something just happen? Oh, yes, here’s the Brazil team. Unsurprisingly, few of the Brazil athletes have decided to skip the opening ceremony on home soil. The noise rises in the stadium, as do the Brazilian flags.
Team Brazil #BRA enters the stadium #OpeningCeremony #Rio2016 #olympics pic.twitter.com/vWiqNB7i9l
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 6, 2016
The refugee team appear
And a HUGE roar from the crowd as the refugee team enters the stadium. They represent the 65 million displaced people around the world, read about some of their stories here:
Uganda, who University of Georgia fans have got very angry about, make their way into the stadium. No boos from angry Georgians:
The Olympics has tweeted its approval of the Olympics. They would say that though, wouldn’t they:
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 6, 2016
Les Carpenter is wandering the streets of Rio. Apparently on his own:
“One great advantage to the opening ceremonies is that streets which are normally packed are instead empty. On some usually-crowded avenues you can walk across six lanes of traffic in the middle of the street. I don’t know if people are home watching or have decided to stay away from areas near Olympic venues. Either way it is very quiet in parts of Rio.”
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The Russians, clad in bow ties, may not have been here if the International Olympic Committee had followed the advice of Wada, many national governments and 13 major international anti-doping organisations. Instead, a large contingent marched out into the Maracana to be greeted by muted cheers and the odd boo. Today, more Russian athletes were re-admitted under the chaotic and convoluted process, including swimmer Yuliya Efimova, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport decided that those who had previously served bans could not be arbitrarily kept out. According to state news agency TASS, the total number now stands at 279. Will be fascinating to see how they are received in the venues, particularly if they win a medal.
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Russia enter the arena
They get a ... mixed reception. Let’s call it polite. Almost all of their track and field athletes have been left back in Russia after the doping scandal (some of those who train outside their homeland have been allowed to compete.) But the ones who have made it look in good spirit. More info here:
Portugal have turned up in jeans! Did they not read the dress code on the invite? It’s bermuda shorts, khakis or nothing. Anyway, despite their faux pas they get a huge roar from the country they colonised.
Palestine have entered to cheers. They’ve been competing since 1996 as they’re a member of the IOC. They’re followed by Panama. Effectively I’m just typing out the names of countries in alphabetical order now but there are worse ways of spending a Friday night.
Mexico get a huge cheer, the biggest of the night. One person who didn’t get a cheer tonight is Usain Bolt, he’s skipped the ceremony - he’s already been to a few in the past - as he concentrates on adding another gold to his medal collection.
There’s a fascinating story behind Iran’s flagbearer. Here’s the AP take:
Archer Zahra Nemati had a big smile and a wave for the crowd as she carried Iran’s flag into the opening ceremony in her wheelchair.
Nemati is competing at the Olympics and Paralympics, where she’s a defending gold medalist.
She was a black belt in taekwondo before she was paralyzed as a teenager. She picked up archery a few years later because she wanted to compete in a sport.
Earlier Friday, she competed in archery’s qualifying round at the Sambadrome. She shot 72 arrows and accumulated a score of 609 — good enough for 49th position.
She’s competing to “make my family and the people around me happy, and let them know I’m OK and I’m strong.”
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Here come Laos. Interesting fact: I once played snooker with the Laos football team. Or some of them. I lost, I’m sure they’re still talking about it now.
Ireland come out - they’ll be hoping for another gold from the brilliant boxer Katie Taylor. They’re followed by Iceland as the England football team shrinks into their seats at home.
Les Carpenter is out and about in Rio:
Outdoor cafes near Copacabana Beach are packed and not just with tourists. Many are locals. All the cafes have televisions and people are watching the parade of countries intently. Those delegations who wave Brazilian flags get the biggest ovation. This is why China inexplicably got a huge roar in all the cafes when they came into the stadium holding Brazil flags.
Far bigger roar in the Copacabana cafes for Great Britain than the US. There was a small pack of British fans holding a flag but most of the others appeared to be locals. The US was met with indifference from most here. A small handful cheered but the rest watched silently.
Owen Gibson is at the stadium:
Noticeable that Michael Temer, the Brazilian interim president, was not announced to the crowd as billed in the pre-ceremony publicity. Globo reported that he had asked not to be referred to in a bid to avoid getting booed. Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president who will later give a speech and is under huge pressure for his handling of the Russian doping crisis, received only tepid applause.
One other thing: also interesting that athlete’s delegations are noticeably smaller than in previous years. The spread out nature of the Games, with the Olympic Park a long way from the Maracana, means that many athletes felt unable to take part because their competition starts within the next 48 hours. For Team GB, there are only expected to be around 60 athletes marching out of a 366 strong team, for example. Those still at the holding camp in Belo Horizonte or watching from the Olympic Village or British House, near the Lagoa rowing venue, have dressed up in their team outfits regardless.
Great Britain are led in by Andy Murray
The 366-strong team are led in by Andy Murray, the greatest living Briton (take that Harry Styles). He is resplendent in blue blazer and red shoes.
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A comment from Daiene Mendes, who has written a diary of Rio’s Olympic year from the perspective of her favela community in Alemão, which is a base for the Red Command drug trafficking gang and is often raided by military police. She is watching with her 12 year old nephew. He says its “legal” (cool!). Daiene has a somewhat different take: “this shows various things about the city. Will they also show the gunfights?”
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The USA enter
And here come the plucky underdogs: the US athletes, all 560 of them. Michael Phelps, who you may remember from winning everything he has ever competed in, is the flagbearer. A much more mature figure than we’ve seen at past Games. The US NBA players are in there too, possibly the richest athletes in the arena tonight and it’s good to see Draymond Green avoiding Snapchat. Serena and Venus Williams are there too, as is the brilliant Simone Biles:
Rafa Nadal comes in to lead Spain into the arena. It’s great to see him back on the sporting stage after his recent injury struggles and he looks delighted to be leading his country out. Presumably he’s using the arm that’s way bigger than the other to hold the flag.
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The countries continue to come through. The TV commentators are now treating us to gems like “She’s the first female shooter to represent El Salvador”.
We’re still on C! Who knew there were so many countries in the world? I thought there were only five: Belgium, Yemen, Australia, Brazil and Romania. As Chile comes in a disturbing trend comes apparent. The Brazilians are cheering their neighbours and treating them with respect. This won’t do.
1.357bn people just got very excited: China are in the arena. They’ll be a contender for the top of the table along with Bhutan USA. Their flagbearer is huge. I assume he’s a basketball player but is in fact a fencer.
Bryan Graham is in the stadium:
Apparently the start of the parade of nations is the designated bathroom break for many of the hometown ticket holders, who are making beelines to the aisles to empty out, buy a Skol (R$13 on the concourse or US$4) and sneak a cheeky cig. A massive reaction for Argentina as they emerge from the tunnel. Boos? Cheers? Hard to say from the cheap seats. But certainly the biggest pop of the night so far. “I look at everything around me,” a São Paolo-based reporter says with tempered excitement. “I just wish for no disaster. I don’t want any embarrassment.” So far so good.
Canada are here. They are excellent at the Winter Olympics and meh at the Summer version. Why? Let our resident Canadian Sean McIndoe talk you through it:
The Bermudan team enter. I can confirm they have taken the bold decision to wear Bermuda shorts.
A sobering thought: every single person you see on TV for the next hour or so is physically superior to you. Unless Lionel Messi or the Incredible Hulk is reading this.
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Australia are in
Here come the Aussies! All 421 of them, and with a strong history in the Games. The brilliant cyclist Anna Meares is their flagbearer. They wear rather natty shorts, as do the next team Austria although the Europeans is more leiderhosen as opposed to the Aussies’ board shorts.
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Argentina are given a big roar as they enter the arena, much more friendly that the reception their football team usually gets when come to Brazil. Then again, their football team barely made it after an internal meltdown in the football association.
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Here come Saudi Arabia, which has four female athletes. There’s been some controversy about the status of its athletes, you can read here more:
Angola is given a bigger cheer than others, possibly due to its status as a former Portuguese colony.
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A note on sound quality for TV viewers. “Here in Ireland the sound quality on RTE is perfect,” says Chris O’Brien. “Switch to BBC and it’s dreadful. People are thinking it’s a Rio thing ... it’s not, it’s a BBC thing. Usually the reverse is true.”
Here come the athletes!
Greece, the country that brought the world the Olympics, comes in first as is traditional. They’re led in by a rider on a bike (as all teams will be) to continue the environmental theme of the ceremony.
Who’s going to plant these trees though? Why it’s the athletes themselves, which is a huge cost saving as most of them are amateurs. From the media guide:
Each of them will receive a seed and a cartridge with soil to seed a native tree of Brazil, the country with the highest diversity of trees on the planet. The 12,000 seeds will form the Athletes’ Forest in the Radical Park in Deodoro, a legacy to the city of Rio de Janeiro. There will be 208 species, one for each delegation.
Dressage and modern pentathlon: saving the planet one seed at a time.
A warning on climate change
We’ve had the party, and now here’s the comedown as we’re told the world’s population is slowly being boiled alive by climate change (expect a counter-tweet from a certain tangerine-faced presidential candidate in five, four, three, two, one …). This is a bit of a downer, as I’d just turned up for the dressage but then again being slowly boiled alive is supposed to be depressing. We’re shown maps and diagrams of temperatures rising, ice caps melting and cities - including Rio - disappearing under floodwaters. Brazil knew it had the world’s attention tonight and it’s doing a laudable and striking job of highlighting an urgent problem.
But there’s good news! The dressage has starte... Oh, sorry. Brazil, home to (large parts) of the Amazon, highlights the importance of trees which can trap carbon and delay (but not stop) global warming. And seeing as Daniel Craig went down so well at London 2012, the Bond theme continues with Judi Dench one of the readers of Carlos Drummond de Andrade’s, A Flor e a Náusea, which announces hope for the future.
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We’ve hit carnival time. 1,500 dancers rush on to the field (I didn’t count them, it says that in the media guide) and have a general party. They then invite members of the audience to join them in the party. Vladimir Putin is yet to show us his samba skills though.
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Seeing as every opening ceremony has to have a cute kid at some point, we now have 12 year-old MC Sofia rapping alongside Karol Conka while break dancing, capoeira and general merriment ensues in the background. If you want to know more about MC Sofia, you can read our story here:
Sonia Guajajara, head of The Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, tells the Guardian she is unimpressed by the interpretation of history earlier in the show:
“The images are beautiful but they hide the reality,” she said. “That the Amazon is threatened with extinction from logging and fires and the growing demand from soy and beef. So much from demand for what people eat in other countries. We are not folkloric we are real and we are the only ones who can protect the forest.”
We knew it was coming eventually. Here’s the Girl From Ipanema, apparently the second-most recorded song in history behind the godawful Yesterday by the Beatles. The song is sung tonight by Daniel Jobim, the grandson of the song’s composer, Tom Jobim and we are all reminded that it is 20 MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN YESTERDAY. You’ll want to know who The Girl is though. Why, it’s supermodel Gisele Bundchen who is really good looking, and is known to US viewers as the partner of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who is also really good looking.
This is Gisele’s retirement from the catwalk apparently. We’ll miss her she was great at the Givenchy 2007 show: she gave it 110% and it was her best performance IMHO.
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We have video of Santos Dumont, one of the early pioneers of powered flight, cruising over Rio at night. The actor playing Dumont has a killer moustache.
So, the people of Brazil have arrived and now it’s time for them to build cities for art, culture and McDonalds. We get a great display of parkour with people running over a simulation of the rooftops of Rio.
Next up is the arrival of the Europeans, Africans and Middle Eastern people. The Portuguese are first, in ships crossing the Atlantic and they’re shown encountering the indigenous population. We’’re then reminded of the fact that slavery existed for 400 years in Brazil and Africans are shown in shackles making their way to join the Europeans and indigenous people, there’s plenty of art reminding us of the huge part African culture has played in the formation of Brazil. Finally, immigrants from the Middle East and Asian arrive, making up the final part of the current Brazilian population.
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Right, we’re going to be taken through the history of Brazil now. And we’re starting waaaay back – as far back as pre-internet times! We’re shown the very start of life on Earth and then the Brazilian rainforest before the arrival of Europeans. This looks a bit like the Tree of Life … but a lot shorter and with a more understandable plot.
Soon, we see the dance and music of the indigenous inhabitants of Brazil. The art is created with huge elastic bands. Again, this segment is more simple than London or Beijing but no less effective.
Thomas Bach, the IOC president, is introduced - he’s not booed like Sepp Blatter was at World Cups in his days of ruin. And then a lovely rendition of the Brazilian national anthem by Paulinho Da Viola, as the Brazilian flag is raised with athletes draped in the flag looking on. A simple, classy opening.
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As it’s an Olympics opening ceremony, we start with a lot of people – 1,000 we are told - holding up tiles to create some pretty shapes, and a countdown from 10 to 0. Then we’re hit by another opening ceremony favourite – drummers – who help create a storm of noise and movement out of which rises the peace symbol. But wait! It’s inverting! Has Brazil used this ceremony to covertly usher in the apocalypse? No - phew. The symbol actually looks like a tree upside down, and this is a sign of the environmental message we’ll be getting in this ceremony. That or the end of days, anyway.
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Party mood at Praça Maua for Olympic Opening pic.twitter.com/gNQIUGLxW5
— jonathanwatts (@jonathanwatts) August 5, 2016
We’re close now, the stadium is bathed in a blue-purple light and the noise in the Maracańa is rising. We’re treated to early shots of the ocean breaking on Rio’s beaches. And then, inevitably, football. Not the 2014 World Cup semi-final, mind.
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If you’re expecting a comparable experience to the Beijing or London opening ceremonies then you may be disappointed. Because the Rio organisers have decided shipping in 12 millions drummers may be a waste of money. Tonight’s ceremony is estimated to cost something like 5% of the Beijing opening ceremony and 10% of the London one.
It’s a little known fact that the Olympics isn’t just about various officials from around the world getting free tickets to sporting events. There are athletes here too. And we’ve compiled a handy list of the 100 most compelling ones to watch over the next few weeks:
The streets of Rio are quiet tonight so far, despite some predictions of strife. Here’s Jonathan Watts on the ground:
A protest in Cinelandia had been called on Facebook (the usual medium to rally the disaffected to demonstrations) but nobody showed up. Another called at Maracana also appears to have come to naught. So far this evening’s threatened anti-government or anti-Olympic activity has been less than a damp squib.
The view from Christ the Redeemer:
Rio Olympics opening ceremonies from the feet of Christ the Redeemer pic.twitter.com/sqGCEzkRWW
— Les Carpenter (@Lescarpenter) August 5, 2016
Our own Bryan Graham is at the stadium, and says security is tight:
If the Maracanã Stadium is not the most safeguarded public space in the world right now it certainly feels like it. The atmosphere around the 66-year-old ground, one of only two venues to host two World Cup finals, can best be described as a demilitarized zone: roads have been closed throughout the area with only official vehicles granted clearance through security checkpoints. As our bus from the main press center in Barra made the final approach, uniformed officers from a various forces and agencies could be seen scattered throughout the area: positioned on ramps and nearby rooftops, inspecting trash bins, moving about in loose formations.
And Jonathan Watts, out Brazil correspondent, says there have been outbreaks of trouble around the city but not as bad as the last time the country hosted a major event:
The demonstrations do not seem as big or as violent as those before the World Cup in 2014, but there is still clearly a lot of frustration.
The latest in Saens Pena has just been broken up by Military Police shock troops, apparently using percussion grenades. Families in the main plaza were sent running, according to Chris Gaffney, a senior researcher at the University of Zurich. He said the police response was disproportionate because the crowd was peaceful and the demonstration had begun winding down from a peak of about 450 people to about 150 - and were outnumbered by almost twice that number of police.
The biggest protest so far was at Copacabana earlier in the afternoon, when several thousand people - many wearing the red of the ousted Workers Party government - called for the removal of the interim president Michel Temer with chants of “Fora Temer” (Temer Out). It mostly passed peacefully, though there were reports of police using pepper spray.
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Who is going to light the Olympic cauldron?
Unfortunately it won’t be Brazil’s most famous athlete, Robinho Pele. The football legend will be unable to attend tonight’s ceremony due to ill health. “At this point I’m not physically able to attend the opening of the Olympics,” the 75-year-old said in a statement. “As a Brazilian, I ask God to bless all who participate in this event and to make it a great success.”
Sources confirm that Robinho is still available though, although three-time French Open tennis player Gustavo Kuerten is many people’s tip to step in.
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Tonight's creative director
At London 2012 we got Danny Boyle who is best known for Trainspotting, a film about people having a good time on drugs before it all goes wrong. Tonight we have Fernando Meirelles who is best known for City of God, a film about people having a good time on drugs before it goes REALLY wrong. Any Japanese directors who fancy a go at the Tokyo 2020 ceremony may want to start thinking about a project involving the Japanese underworld right about now.
What tonight has in store
Rumours are that tonight’s ceremony will contain environmental themes, warning of the dangers of deforestation and climate change. Expect, therefore, Donald Trump to deny the ceremony is taking place.
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Let the Games begin
Hello, and welcome to live coverage of the opening ceremony of the [checks year] 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. The Beijing ceremony in 2008 gave us the most impressive choreography this side of a One Direction concert, while 2012 gave us the sight of the Queen parachuting out of a helicopter with James Bond as she played warm-up to the most important person in Britain, David Beckham.
So what have Brazil got in store for us? Well, apparently they’ve been channeling the spirit of ... MacGyver, the 80s TV spy who would spend each episode desperately trying to get himself out of trouble by cobbling together every day junk:
“Our budget was not on a par with expectations and we got used to this – makeshift improvising, being MacGyver,” said Daniela Thomas, a film director on the team who also oversaw Rio’s contribution to London’s ceremonies in 2012. “We have to do it with the resources we have but this is not a problem. Out of this MacGyver-ing came what was basically pure creativity.”
Let’s hope this doesn’t end up being a metaphor for the entire Games.
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