Rio 2016

The opening ceremony of the 31st Olympiad was one of the best, if not the best in recent years. The typical Brazilian party and fun atmosphere was created with the traditional Samba dance. The venue was none other than the iconic Maracanã stadium that hosted almost 75,000 guests and local enthusiasts.
More than 10,000 athletes from 207 nations will participate in 28 sporting disciplines over the next fortnight.

Here are some interesting tidbits from the opening night:

• The "Refugee Olympic Team" or the ROT became the first of its kind to participate in the summer games
• It comprises refugees that got into Greece from Turkey; the team is made up of 10 athletes from 4 nations; Swimmers - 2; Marathoner - 1; Middle distance runners - 5; Judokas - 2
• It was truly spectacular to see these amazing men and women walk into the stadium amid a rapturous response; it showed what the human will could achieve in our trying and disturbing times and once again epitomized the true spirit of the modern Olympics
• The contingent from the USA marched in with the legendry Michael Phelps carrying the flag; the team has 292 female athletes - more than the men; it is also the largest ever female contingent at the quadrennial games
• Tennis stars Caroline Wozniacki, Giles Muller, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal had the honor of being the flag bearers for their respective nations - Denmark, Luxembourg, Great Britain & Spain
• Kiribati - a country situated in the Pacific ocean is the only nation that is simultaneously present in all the four hemispheres - North, South, East & West
• Kosovo will be featuring in the Rio games for the very first time after gaining independence
• The female torch bearer for Iran has qualified for both the summer as well as the Paralympic games to be held later in August; she's had both her legs amputated
• Fiji's torch bearer is the Captain of the Rugby 7s team - making its entry into the Olympics for the first time
• France - a powerhouse in Fencing and Cycling would be competing in 27 of the 28 sporting disciplines except Hockey
• The contingent from Pakistan was conspicuous by the absence of its men's field hockey team
• Lao People's Democratic Republic featured just 6 athletes; Malawi - 5, Malta - 7 and Mauritania - 2 athletes; in fact 101 countries had 10 or fewer athletes in their contingents - that's almost 50% of the total participating nations; The nation with 1 athlete - a 100 m sprinter was "Tuvalu"
• The flag bearer for Nepal was a 13 year old female swimmer - the youngest at Rio 2016
• The speeches made by Rio Organizing Committee Chairman Carlos Nuzman and IOC Chief Thomas Bach were stirring indeed; Nuzman was a volleyball medalist for Brazil in the 1964 games in Tokyo and Bach was a gold medalist for former West Germany in Fencing at the 1976 games in Montreal
• A specially selected group of 40 young children dressed in white, sang the Olympic anthem
• Kenyan 1500 m gold medalist in the 1968 summer games - Koichane Keino became the 1st recipient of the Olympic Laurel for his contribution to child development in his country

It was wonderful to witness the joyous moments during the opening ceremony and the athletes mixing and mingling with each other - it was like one big world party. Rio becomes the first South American City and Brazil becomes the first South American country to host the summer Olympics.

Let the games begin - Citius-Altius-Fortius