The world has come together again for another Olympic event, and as is my custom, I make a point to be present to watch it get started.
The disappointment that Chicago was not selected host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games has long worn off for me. So on Friday evening, August 5, I was able to get right into enjoying the Opening Ceremony for the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.
In comparison to other summer olympics opening ceremonies I've watched, especially Beijing 2008 and London 2012, the one aspect of ceremony in Rio de Janeiro that stood out to me was its simplicity. And it was nice, especially given how the ceremony in Beijing tried to hard to impress the global audience. The 2016 ceremony kept to the point of expressing Brazil, even displaying results of investing heavily in a projector.
Rather than go through all the details of the country's story, the focus was kept on the major themes of the indigenous peoples, the arrival of the Europeans, and then the music scene, including the Samba.
I also thought it was a nice touch to have a tree planted for each participating country, as a way to go beyond the doomsday talk of global climate change to some form of meaningful action.
I couldn't help but notice the sense of simplicity even in the Brazilian National Anthem. as the seated performer softly strummed the song on a guitar.
Indeed, Rio de Janeiro didn't need to pull out all the stops with lots of bells and whistles to put on a good show for the opening ceremony. Certainly it kept a good show going for a while, as I don't recall an opening ceremony ending as late as 11:30 PM CDT on NBC's coverage. The Rio Olympics kept the opening ceremony plain and simple, and that was nice.
Here's to the athletes, that they engage well in the competitions of these two weeks.
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