Opening ceremony kicks off Rio Olympics

vendredi 5 août 2016

opening ceremony olympic rings fireworks

(Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty)

The Games officially began with the opening ceremony.

While some competitions started on Wednesday, the Games officially got under way with the lighting of the cauldron and the recitation of the Olympic oath.

That's former Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima (he replaced soccer legend Pele who withdrew due to illness) doing the honours.

Vanderlei Cordeiro lights the Olympic cauldron

(Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty)

Fireworks lit up the Maracana Stadium Friday night.

From the first refrains of samba music to the lighting of the Olympic cauldron, the show ran for some four hours and was bookended by fireworks.

opening ceremony maracana stadium fireworks

(Andrej Isakovic/AFP/Getty)

Rio opening ceremony fireworks maracana

(Richard Heathcote/Getty)

Greece opened the parade of nations.

As is Olympic custom, Greece was the first country into the stadium. From there, nations entered in alphabetical order following the Portuguese alphabet.

Canada's athletes, led by trampolinist Rosie MacLennan, entered 38th. The United States (Estados Unidos da America in Portuguese) came in with the E countries.

Canada parade of nations Rio 2016 opening ceremony

(Clive Brunskill/Getty)

Michael Phelps carried the fag for the US

(Julian Finney/Getty)

The entrance of the Russian team, diminished in numbers after nearly one-third of its potential Olympians were banned following doping scandals, was subdued.

Rio Olympics 2016 Russian team

(Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)

British tennis star Andy Murray led his teammates while carrying the Union Jack in one hand (perhaps to prove that he could in fact do it without endangering anyone's eye.) Rafael Nadal carried the flag for Spain. Croatia's Novak Djokovic is at the Olympics, too.

Andy Murray carried the flag for Great Britain

(Cameron Spencer/Getty) (Cameron Spencer/Getty)

Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce had some pretty impressive hair.

Tonga's shirtless flag-bearer stole the show.

A glistening Pita Nikolas Aufatofua, who winked directly to camera, made a name for himself on the world stage with this look. He will compete in taekwondo. 

Tongas flag bearer Pita Nikolas Aufatofua

(Paul Gilham/Getty)

The ceremony kicked off with an impressive visual spectacle. 

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, backdropped by a portrait of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, entered the stadium to the sounds of The Girl From Ipanema. (She was born in Tres de Maio.)

Rio Olympics opening ceremony 2016 gisele bundchen

(Jamie Squire/Getty)

Green is a theme at this year's Games.

Each contingent was led in by a volunteer carrying a tree sapling and athletes planted seeds to mark the Olympic organizer's commitment to reforestation.

There was also a lot of green in general.

green theme at Rio opening ceremony

(Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty)

green theme at Rio opening ceremony

(Francois-Xavier Marit/AFP/Getty)

Performers re-enacted the history of Brazil.

The opening ceremony began with a carnivalesque performance representing the origin of the country's precolonial peoples through to modern times, followed by more fireworks.

opening ceremony rio olympics

(Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty)

Rio 2016 opening ceremony fireworks

(Richard Heathcote/Getty)

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Opening ceremony kicks off Rio Olympics

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