Rio sets its own standard

The opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics on Friday night did not feature any of the tech gimmicks or futuristic visual effects that we have become used to seeing in most sporting events since the turn of the millennium. It was unlike Beijing 2008 or London 2012 in regards to pomp and glamour and lavishness, yet the show at the Maracana left its audience feeling fulfilled with a soulful, vibrant and ingenious display of life -- the authentic South American life.

The four-hour spectacle took the 78,000 spectators and athletes at the venue through a journey from the dawn of civilization to modern-day Brazil. It highlighted the history of Brazil, in quite an unabashed way, portraying the country's colonial past and slave labour and the clash of its diverse cultures. The overriding theme of the ceremony was nature -- Brazil being home to the world's largest rainforest – and an appeal to the people of the world to save planet earth from further degradation.

Paulinho da Viola sang the Brazilian national anthem to get the show running as laser lights and elaborate dances highlighted Brazil's history and its evolution through time.

Indigenous Brazilians performed native dances and created huts at the centre of the stage. A display of Rio's favelas was accompanied by a mesmerising Passinho dance as Samba and funk got the crowd on their feet before the vibrant and joyous mood of the ceremony gave way to a sober message about climate change and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

But it soon got back its party mood, with the country's favourite supermodel Gisele Bundchen walking across the Maracana to the sound of 'Girl from Ipanema' before the colourful athletes' parade. The loudest cheers of the parade were reserved for the refugees' team and the Brazil contingent.

There was an 'oops' moment though as Brazil's interim president Michel Temer's declaration of the opening of the games was met by jeers from some sections of the crowd.

The night of colour, rhythm and samba drew towards a close as Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, who had won the bronze medal at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, lit the Olympic cauldron.

The party was wrapped up with a boisterous parade of the city's samba schools, ushering in a carnival atmosphere, amid a show of dizzying pyrotechnics.

The 31st Summer Games and the first one to be held in South America had been mired in so many controversies and obstacles so long before it began that there was a big question mark on its success. The fallout from the political crisis and a weakening economy loomed like a dark cloud over these games for quite some time.

So there was good reason for apprehension as to whether it could match the standard set by Beijing or London. Managed at a budget less than half of what was spent at the London 2012 opening, Rio was indeed not meant to match the standards set by its predecessors. But what it lacked in lavishness it made up with invention and authenticity. Rio seems to have set its own standard for its successors to emulate.