Rio bucks strong headwinds to open first Olympics in South America

Never have the organizers had such deep economic and political crisis while preparing for an Olympic Games since the turn of the century. Nevertheless the hosts honored their promises and opened the Rio Olympic Games with a pulsating ceremony on Friday.

Brazil's acting president Michel Temer declared open the first ever Olympic Games in South America in the iconic Maracana Stadium.

Retired marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima lit the Olympic cauldron. He had international fame after he was attacked by a spectator and fell from the first place to third at the 2004 Olympics.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach said the city of Rio de Janeiro will benefit from the Games and thanked the hosts for their efforts.

"This is the moment of the cidade maravilhosa. These first-ever Olympic Games in South America will go from Brazil to the entire world. The Organising Committee, Brazilian authorities at all levels, and all Brazilians can be very proud tonight," said the German. "With the Olympic Games as a catalyst you have achieved in just seven years what generations before you could only dream of. You have transformed the wonderful city of Rio de Janeiro into a modern metropolis and made it even more beautiful.

"Our admiration for you is even greater because you managed this at a very difficult time in Brazilian history. We have always believed in you," said Bach, a fencing champion at the 1976 Olympic Games.

The samba spectacular set off a two-week long sporting celebration with over 11,000 athletes from 207 delegations gathering in the country which is home to the world's largest rainforest.

As a green entanglement, symbolizing the birth of the forest, took over the stage, two indigenous groups, interpreted by Parintins Festival dancers, emerged from the converged shadow of yellow butterflies. The groups recreated patterns of their art, performing their native dances while holding elastic bands that formed giant huts, known as ocas.

Producers carried the audience through history to contemporary Brazil as a majestic city skyline emerged, depicting dense Brazilian metropolises such as Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America and the biggest in the southern hemisphere.

No celebration of the host city's culture could be complete without an acknowledgement of bossa nova, the sensual, soothing music that was born in the seaside city in the 1950s and became acclaimed around the world in the 1960s. It was only fitting that bossa nova's most famous hit, the Girl from Ipanema, was performed by Daniel Jobim, the grandson of the song's composer Tom Jobim, whose image was projected on the stage.

Meanwhile supermodel Gisele Bundchen sauntered towards the image, leaving a winding trail resembling the curves that characterized Oscar Niemeyer's architecture.

Rio de Janeiro is a city of more than 1,000 favelas - communities where much of the country's rhythms and dances originate. Funk artist Ludmilla delighted the audience with her rendition of "Rap da Felicidade", an anthem in Rio's favelas.

The show then brought the audience' attention back to preserving the environment.

Screens with Nasa-type data showed the spread of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, climbing temperatures, melting ice caps and rising sea levels. Meanwhile a boy tried to find a way out of maze of buildings in a dry, treeless landscape.

The sombre scenes were followed by a message of hope as the boy spotted a plant emerge from the arid ground. Carlos Drummond de Andrade's poem, A Flor e a Nausea, was read by Fernando Montenegro and Judi Dench, its verses providing hope the planet can be saved. "Stop business," the poem said. "A flower has sprouted in the street." Meanwhile screens showed the benefits of planting new trees and told us that Brazil has reduced deforestation in the Amazon by 80% since 2005.

Distinctive from past opening ceremonies, Rio performers mainly conveyed a message of care for the environment, which was underlined by the fact that the Brazilian national flag was hoisted by Rio de Janeiro's Environment Police Command.

Athletes also joined Brazil's cause on environment preservation as each of them was handed a seed of the country's native trees after they paraded into the stadium. The 11,000 seeds will be planted in the Radical Park in Deodoro to become a legacy from the Games to the host city.

Among the seed planters will be 10 refugee athletes who formed the first ever Refugee Olympic Team and compete under the Olympic flag after they fled respective conflict riven homes. Sports turned to be the salvation of their hopes for a better life but their appearance at the Games also posed as a reminder to the world that so many people still live in despair.

Chinese athletes marched into the stadium in their usual red and yellow outfits, the colors representing the national flag. The 2008 Summer Olympics and 2020 Winter Games host sent its largest delegation to an overseas Olympic Games of 711 members. The delegation's 416 athletes, including 35 returning Olympic champions, will compete in 210 events over 26 sports at the Games that ends on Aug. 21.

Host Brazil's entry to a standing ovation of capacity spectators wrapped up both the athletes' parade and a seven-year long preparation dogged with political and economic crisis.

The host city had been put under scrutiny and criticized for construction delays and rife crime. Battling its worst recession since 1930s, the host raced to complete venues just days before competitions get under way.

Some 15.7 billion U.S. dollars has been invested to prepare the city for the Olympics, more than half of which has come from the private sector.

Now a gleaming port district, a new subway line, a light rail service, express bus lanes, a road featuring Brazil's longest underground tunnel and state-of-the-art sports arenas are decorating the city.

In addition to urban mobility projects and stadiums, Rio's Olympic blueprint has included a plan to create schools, training facilities and leisure centers for the public.

The quality of life for Rio residents will also benefit from new waste management projects that have reduced pollution in the city's waterways, according to the local organizing committee.

IOC chief Bach recognized Brazil's efforts.

"It has been a long and testing journey to get to this point: for all stakeholders of the Olympic Movement, for our Brazilian friends and for the IOC," Bach said at the opening of the 129th session on Monday, speaking of "challenging" final preparations but "unparalleled efforts" of Brazil.

"Rio de Janeiro would not be where it is today, without the Olympic Games as a catalyst," he said. "History will talk about a Rio de Janeiro before the Olympic Games and a much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games."

In the meantime, the competitions have to battle for attention as the fallout from the Russian doping scandal divided the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Russia managed to send over 270 athletes, down from 387 originally qualified, after the IOC decided not to impose a blanket ban following an independent report released by WADA accusing the country of a state-sponsored doping program less than three weeks before the Games.

The first gold medal should be awarded on Saturday in shooting as the first world record in Rio was already born in the morning through South Korean archer Kim Woojin. Enditem