Rio De Janeiro: The 31st Summer Olympics was inaugurated at the Maracana Stadium in the city of Rio De Janeiro in Brazil amid economic worries and protests against Brazil’s acting president Michel Timer on Friday.
The headline of UK daily Independent described it aptly ” Brazil make carnival from chaos in front of the world”.
For the first time in the history of Brazil, the country’s passion for football was not highlighted. Instead, Brazil made a difference by highlighting the theme of environmental dangers at the international ceremony watched by at least 3 billion people across the globe.
That was a class act.
Football legend Pele who was expected to light the Olympic cauldron could not enjoy the honour due to poor health. Instead, another Brazilian star, the 2004 Athens Olympics marathon bronze winner Vanderlei de Lima performed the ceremony.
Police had to use stun grenades against anti-Olympic protesters near the stadium and armoured tanks lined the streets.
The protests were against Brazil, a nation of 200 million people, mostly poor, hosting the Olympics extravaganza at a cost of $ 12 billion dollars.
