Rio 2016 Olympics medal count

After all, nowhere parties quite like Rio.

Almost 5,000 performers were expected to take part in the ceremony, including Brazilian music stars Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso and supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Fireworks formed the word “Rio” in the skies.

Bundchen’s long sashay was an early highlight, as was a clever section that featured a biplane appearing to fly out of the stadium and circle the city’s signature “Christ the Redeemer” statue. Dancers, all hips and wobble, grooved to thumping funk and sultry samba.

Graphic projections of world cities being swamped by rising seas set Rio de Janeiro’s otherwise fun and festive gala apart from other Olympic openers.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called a two-week truce from warring parties, asking them to “lay down their weapons” to “celebrate the best of humanity”, as per FOX News.

The main focus of security is Rio, a city where drug traffickers control large parts of poor neighbourhoods.

The US$12 billion price tag to organize the Games has aggrieved many in the nation of 200 million and in Rio, where few can see the benefits of the spectacle or even afford to attend the Games.

“We believed it, and we did it. Rio is ready to make history”.

” The world is very tense and so is Brazil”. Brazilian time (4.30 a.m. IST), reproduced patterns created by Brazilian artist Athos Bulcao through volunteers who turned their metallic paper into exotic shapes depicting what the organisers said where the indigenous geometry, African patterns and traditional Portuguese tile design. The leader who was supposed to preside over the Games, President Dilma Rousseff, was suspended last May to face an impeachment trial and tweeted that she was “sad to not be at the party”. New International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach declared the Rio Games open during last night’s Opening Ceremony.

I watched the Brazilians erupt in applause for their team and for marathoner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima to light the torch.

The cauldron was lit by De Lima, who won bronze for Brazil in the marathon at the 2004 Games after he was grappled by a spectator while leading the race.

Rio 2016 has had a hard upbringing with worries about the country’s ability to afford it, Rio’s preparations and sport’s credibility in the face of a divisive doping crisis, but South America’s first ever Olympics is now ready to entertain the world and perhaps revive a nation.

The Refugee Team marches during the opening of the Olympics.

Throughout the ceremony, athletes dropped seeds into a series of mirrored planters that were then arranged to look like the rings.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present at Maracana Stadium. Canada was represented by Governor General David Johnston.

I was not one of them.

Even swimmer Michael Phelps, the US flag bearer, left shortly after the Americans were introduced.

Zoë Schlanger, senior writer at Newsweek, joined Marketplace Weekend to discuss water issues at the Rio Olympics and beyond.

“Only God is more important than my health”, Pele said in a statement reported widely by the Brazilian media.

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.