It's finally arrived: the opening ceremony for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is tonight. Technically, the Games are already underway (soccer competitions began on August 3), but the bulk of events will take place after the ceremony. And chances are for those in the U.S., you're nowhere near attending, and you'll be beholden to the broadcasters. Here's what you can expect.
The opening ceremony will be significantly cheaper than historically has been the case—the entire budget for the opening and closing ceremonies for both the Olympics and Paralympics is $55.9 million, less than half of what it had been originally. The ceremony's creative director Fernando Meirelles, the Brazilian director of City of God (2002), has incorporated three thematic "pillars" into the show: sustainability (partially an ode to the Amazon rainforest), smiling (!), and "gambiarra"—a Portuguese expression of resourcefulness.
The ceremony is also scheduled to include legendary soccer player Pele, singers Caetano Veloso, Elza Soares, and Gilberto Gil, actors Judi Dench and Fernanda Montenegro, and transgender model Lea T. Gisele Bundchen too, maybe.
For U.S. viewers, coverage of the opening ceremony begins at 7pm EST, and will be streamed by NBC with a one-hour delay on the East Coast, and a four-hour delay on the West Coast. NBC isn't going to air all the events on TV, but will stream everything online (you'll need to login with your TV provider if you want to watch more than 30-minutes).
For UK viewers, the ceremony begins at midnight on BBC1, with coverage starting at 11:40pm GMT.
There's also the official Rio 2016 YouTube page, where you can watch select clips. Let the Games begin!
3 Comments
I live in Australia and I never felt so proud of being Brazilian as watching the open ceremony.
Yes, was made in a budget but WAS FANTASTIC! and all countries from now on should look to make theirs also in a small budget as ours was absolutely amazing! surprising and entertaining!
So many things have being said here in Australia against going to Brazil. I was really upset and started to think that maybe the reporters were wright. But this morning I woke up to see that our people is amazing, we are used to do something from nothing, we are used to smile even if there is not much to do so.
Just to clarify, "gambiarra" is not really an expression of resourcefulness. Gambiarra is what you do to be able to have things done even if you have to "avoid" doing some of the work that you are suppose to. Is an expression that means that you made it cutting some edges, some things that people will not see that you did not do them.
If you haven´t watched all, find a way to do so.... it would be a great way of understanding the Brazilian people !
Love Brazil, but I wonder why it was held in Rio and not another Brazilian city that could have handled it better...
The IOC officials should not speak at the ceremonies.. They sounded so pretentious, scripted, fake and boring.. Ruined the creative acts in the ceremony.
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