RIO DE JANEIRO — Shaking to samba and sharing reflections in uniquely Brazilian ways, Olympians and fans said goodbye to the Rio Games with one last big bash that was both revelatory and a sigh of relief.
The Rio Games, the first in South America, were a 16-day spectacle that combined numerous highlight-reel moments with ugly and bizarre episodes that sometimes overshadowed the competitions. And Rio residents, known as Cariocas, were not about to let sporadic rains and strong wind gusts get in the way of a final hurrah.
“These were marvelous Olympic Games in the ‘marvelous city,' ” said International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, playing off the “cidade maravilhosa” nickname of Brazil's postcard city of inviting coastlines, year-round sun and lush tropical vegetation.
While the stadium erupted in applause at that designation, a few minutes later there were boos of sadness when he announced: “I declare the Games of the XXXI Olympiad closed.”
The closing ceremony in iconic Maracana Stadium also was meant to take care of some business — formally signaling the transition to the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan.
But Sunday's party was all about Brazil, designed to be more low-key than the opening, which focused heavily on Rio.
Dressed in colorful feathers, dozens of dancers formed in the shape of the arches of Lapa, a popular area of Rio akin to Roman ruins, then morphed to make the shape of iconic Sugarloaf before quickly changing again, this time to the official 2016 symbol.
The athletes poured in under light rain, waving their flags while many shook their bodies to samba-infused pop that made the stadium feel like a Carnival parade. Britain's athletes wore shoes with soles that lit up in changing colors of red, white and blue, while Tongan taekwondo athlete Pita Taufatofua danced onstage in a grass skirt as a DJ performed, reprising a moment that captured attention when he carried the flag for his country during the opening ceremony.
Spectators got to see performers shake it to frevo, a frenetic dance that — if it's even possible — makes high-octane samba seem like a staid ballroom affair. Holding small umbrellas, dancers jumped and marched while performing acrobatics.
They shook it to “Vassourinhas,” which means “small brooms,” a popular song that was also the name of a famous club in the northeastern city of Recife.
The show also built performances around “saudade,” which means anything from longing for someone to sadness to remembering good times. It is one of the most important words in Brazilian Portuguese. Lights flashed translations for the word in many languages, and a group of women sang “Mulher Rendeira,” or “Lace-making Woman,” a nod to the country's African heritage. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to outlaw slavery, in 1888.
0 Comments