• 12,000 athletes set for showdon
By Gbenga Jolaosho
Abuja
The world attention including millions of Nigerians will be diverted to Brazil as the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics Games flags off with an opening ceremony at Maracana Stadium today.
The Rio Games opening ceremony is estimated to be watched by nearly three billion people around the world while the Local Organizing Committee believes that the event will be one unforgettable night of Brazilian music and dance featuring a 12-year-old rapper, two of Brazil’s most famous singers, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Velos, and lots of samba.
“I hope that the opening ceremony will be a drug for depression in Brazil. Brazilians can look at it and say, ‘We are a cool people, we are different ethnic groups, we live together, we never went to war, we are peaceful, we know how to enjoy life and we tend to be happy,” said Fernando Meirelles (an Oscar Award nominee), one of the three creative directors for the ceremony.
Though the organizers have kept the whole world guessing about the famous athlete that will light the cauldron but the Brazilian football king Pele has hinted Brazilian media that he was invited for that duty.
However, the high point of this night event is the traditional parade of the athletes. And about 12,000 athletes and delegation members who have stormed the South American country from across the globe to compete for honours in various sports will file out in their national colours.
Super Eagles and Dream Team VI captain, John Mikel Obi will bear the Nigeria flag during the opening parade and he will be assisted by table tennis icon, Funke Oshinaike.
During the ceremony, supermodel Gisele Bündchen will play the part of the famous “girl from Ipanema” while Brazilian model Lea T will become the first transgender person to have a major role at an Olympic opening ceremony.
The organizers say they have maintained a very tight budget in packaging the entire ceremonies for the Games as Brazil is going through her worst recession in recent history, and that has impacted the show.
“We were looking at a budget of 113.9 million U.S. dollars for the four ceremonies — opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Meirelles said in a statement released by the LOC.
“But now our budget is 55.9 million U.S. dollars for four ceremonies. Most of this money is for security, and all the stuff around the show. I think it is 12 times less than London, 20 times less than Beijing. This makes it very challenging.”
Nigeria is fielding 86 athletes in eight sports which include football, table tennis, basketball, weightlifting, wrestling, canoeing, boxing and athletics.
The Nigerian Federal Government is committing about two billion naira (N2b) in prosecuting this year’s Olympics but the late release of the fund for the use of the athletes has made their possibility of meeting a five gold medal target in Rio a façade.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate release of funds budgeted for Nigeria’s successful participation in the Rio Olympics in Brazil.
When he officially hosted Team Nigeria at the State House before their departure for the Games, President Muhammadu Buhari admonished the athletes and officials to steer clear of drugs to avoid embarrassing the country.
“The eyes of the global community are on you and as such, you should desist from acts that could dent the image of our great country, Nigeria,’’ he warned.
The Rio Olympics runs from August 5 to 21.