Press Play with Madeleine Brand
2016 Rio Summer Games open amid uncertainty, protests
After nearly seven years of planning, the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be held Friday in Rio de Janeiro. An estimated three-billion people from around the world will be watching the ceremony, a show that’s been in production for five years and includes some 300 dancers, 5,000 volunteers and 12,000 costumes.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readAfter nearly seven years of planning, the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be held Friday in Rio de Janeiro. An estimated three-billion people from around the world will be watching the ceremony, a show that’s been in production for five years and includes some 300 dancers, 5,000 volunteers and 12,000 costumes. The games themselves are setting a record this year with more than 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries participating; and it’s a historic moment for South America’s first Olympic host city. But so far that’s been overshadowed by the political situation in Brazil, with impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff ongoing, and an overabundance of safety and security concerns unresolved leading up to the games. Will that put a damper on Friday’s opening ceremony?
