I stayed up last night to watch the Rio Olympics 2016 Opening Ceremony ..... I do things like that !!
I have to say that I wasn't expecting much and, there were some unfortunate reminders of the troubled backdrop to these Games. Boo's greeted acting Brazilian president Michel Temer and the Russian Team received a few jeers. The organisers have had to deal with a lot ...... pollution, the Zikka virus, safety concerns, the ability to afford it and will it benefit or burden the poorer communities in Brazil ?
It was obvious that it was much smaller than Beijing and London but, the ceremony's creative director, Fernando Meirelles, used digital projection to suggest water, buildings and the potentially devastating effects of climate change, the latter having a very sobering effect..... and, the only team to receive as loud a cheer as the home team was the Refugee Team ...... a team without nation's to call home.
It was quite disorganised, untidy and disjointed in places but, in a way, somewhat refreshing .... we are so used to each country trying to outdo each other and spend more than the last host but, by the end, when the purposely small cauldron was lit which is, as you can see above, quite striking, I thought, Rio might just carry this off.
London 2012 was AMAZING in all respects and Rio, with all it's problems would never top it, nor should they { London never tried to top Beijing and didn't spend nearly as much } Maybe, in the next 16 days, Rio will have some difficulties to overcome but, I really hope that Brazil will make these games work.... hopefully, the organisers can now uncross those fingers that they have had behind their back !!
Bring on the GREAT !!!
image 1: via telegraph, image 2: via independent