Rio sure does know how to throw a party. Last week, August 5th marked the first day and Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. And even though Brazil is currently is in the middle of a severe economic recession, an unprecedented political crisis and a dangerous Zika outbreak, it didn’t stop Rio from providing a grand platform for the Summer Olympics. My brother and I have watched the Olympics every four years since 2000 so there was evident excitement and expectations for the Summer Olympics this year. I loved watching the joyful music and dancing, an earnest celebration of the country’s multicultural heritage and was pleasantly surprised at the unapologetic call to action on climate change. There was no doubt about it, if you weren’t tuning in to the Opening Ceremony last Friday, you were missing out. But aside from that, what Americans were missing out on, was the celebration of global unity and togetherness at the same time as our friends around the world.
NBC, the network in charge of broadcasting the ceremony, released the content on a one-hour delay on the East Coast. The West Coast was delayed by an additional three hours. More than annoying, I’m sure for any fan of the Olympics this news was disappointing. Obviously, we can’t all be there to be a part of this celebration live but the fact that NBC just wanted to draw viewers into the multiple and never ending commercials instead of the actual event for a lack of better words, sucks. On a better note, the ceremony traced Brazilian history through the ages, beginning with giant bugs crawling across the floor of the Amazon. The vast rainforest was re-created using glowing vine-like ropes, twisted in an array of geometric patterns by dancers dressed in indigenous garb. It was unlike anything I had ever seen in any of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. But the exuberance of the ceremony was balanced by serious themes.
Brazil addressed it's complicated racial history in sequences about European colonization and the African slave trade. And the first portion of the night ended with a speech about climate change accompanied by frightening graphics showing the effects of rising sea levels on coastal cities around the world. I truly appreciated that these issues which deserve all the attention they can get, were brought up during such a largely viewed event by people all over the world. My newsfeed on Facebook was buzzing with how happy millennials in particular were happy with this mention because had the event been in America, we don’t know if there would have been any mention of controversial issues which needed to be addressed on a larger platform. Towards the end of the event came the time to finally light the flame. In true Olympics fashion, this marked the beginning of a 16 day time period that would consist of watching Olympians from all over the world compete in over 300 events spanning 35 officially recognized Olympic sports. Personally, I can’t wait to watch the numerous men and women on the American team compete for gold in Gymnastics and Swimming. Out of all the Opening Ceremonies I’ve watched, this was unlike any other, and I look forward to watching Olympians make history in within the next two and a half weeks.
