The best moments from the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics

Irishman Neil Horan attacks marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima at the 35-km mark during the 2004 Olympic Games.

Once the ceremony finished its presentation of Brazil, it turned serious in its exploration of greenhouse emissions, the melting of the solar icecap and other ecological disasters.

Russian Federation was threatened with blanket expulsion just weeks before the start of the games after a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation revealed state-sponsored doping on a massive scale.

Pele did not attend Friday’s opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics because of poor health, thereby denying Brazilians the chance to celebrate their greatest sports figure.

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen added further glamor to the occasion, but the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the entrance of the Brazilian team.

The 2016 Olympics run until August 21.

And just when you were thinking that one essential ingredient in Brazilian culture, Carnival, was conspicuous by its absence, around 1,500 dancers rushed onto the field.

The jeers Brazil’s interim leader Temer was trying to avoid at the outset of the ceremony could not be avoided later on, though, as his short address to officially open the Olympics was drowned out by loud catcalls.

Bach, however, said the Games were a “catalyst for transforming Rio into a modern metropolis that is even more handsome than before”, while Nuzman said he was the “proudest man alive” that his city had got this far.

A total of 43 refugee athletes sought to qualify for the Olympic Games but only 10 were able to make it, coming from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In one of the signature moments of the almost four-hour night, the towers opened to reveal lush vegetation, forming the Olympic rings in green instead of the traditional five colors.

The creative minds behind the opening ceremony were determined to put on a simple show that would not offend a country in dire economic straits, but would showcase the famously upbeat nature of Brazilians.

But Kuerten was not the man to light the Olympic cauldron in the end.

With Samba and elaborately choreographed dances, the games began in resplendent glory – marking the first time that a South American country played host. NBC Olympics executive producer Jim Bell denied Tuesday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that NBC had pressured the International Olympic Committee to announce the teams in English so that the United States could be one of the last countries to walk.

Each athlete will be asked to plant seeds that will eventually grow into trees and be planted in the Athletes Forest in Rio in a few years.

Flag bearer Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time with 22 swimming medals, including 18 golds, wore the unique Ralph Lauren jacket, which illuminated “USA” on his back. As a effect, Russia’s team was whittled down from a hoped-for 389 athletes to around 270.

Iran picked a woman, archer Zahra Nemati, as flag-bearer for its team made up overwhelmingly of men.

After seven years of preparations for the opening at the Maracana stadium late last night, organisers hope the start of the Games will turn the page on months of bad publicity for Rio, from polluted water to faulty plumbing at the athletes’ village and worries about the Zika virus.

After the grandeur of Beijing’s opening ceremony in 2008 and the high-tech, cheeky inventiveness of London’s in 2012, Rio’s was earthier, less swish and still inventive.

“It is pretty tacky to be overspending”, he said.