The Rio carnival that had it all

Rio de Janeiro: The atmosphere had been bubbling up all day. Everywhere I went — whether it was joining the tourists at the top of the stunning Sugar Loaf mountain, or among the locals in the little newspaper kiosk outside my hotel — there was a jubilant, contagious energy that seemed like it was on the edge of bubbling over into something uncontrollable.

Rumours of the Olympic torch’s route were eagerly passed round and, as we saw the crowds gathering along the side of a street, we craned our necks out of our tour bus window begging the driver to slow down, desperate to catch a glimpse of the flame. When we finally did see it (whizzing past in the opposite direction) we jumped around the bus clapping each other on the backs at our good fortune. It seemed the day could not get any better, but it did.

Fast-forward six hours and I was in my seat in the Maracana Stadium, looking out at the 60,000-strong crowd. There was an almost tangible feeling in the air. There wasn’t the competitive vibe of a football game, or any game between two teams. And it wasn’t the same feeling as being a passive (albeit excited and enthusiastic) spectator at a concert, or a theatre. It was something more than that, something stronger and more unifying.

In the queues, people smiled and were pleasant to each other. In the stands, strangers welcomed each other and inquired about each others’ nationality. Gargantuan Mexican waves and “Brazil” chants and claps got us all energised and participating. When the show finally kicked off, it was to rapturous applause — and what a show it was.

Singers, dancers, fabulous sets and costumes, bringing the country’s cultural history to life and celebrating the creative, electric spirit of today’s community. Famous Brazilian singers and pop stars got us all up on our feet dancing while the Brazilian contingency sang along to well-loved favourites and shook their hips in a way that the rest of us simply couldn’t. Gisele Bundchen made an appearance, starring as ‘The Girl from Ipanema’, strutting the entire length of the stadium under a single spotlight.

By the time the athletes started to come out, country-by-country, we were ready. We were eager to see the people that we were there to support. We cheered on our own countries, we cheered on our neighbours’ countries. We whooped for countries that had huge numbers of athletes, such as Germany, the US, Canada and Japan, and we were equally excited by the countries with smaller teams, such as the Cook Islands and Oman. The cheering amped up for certain countries — namely, Jamaica (Bolt-related excitement); Palestine; Portugal; and pretty much every South American country.

By the end, we were satiated and weary — we had had our fill of celebrating athletes (there are 11,436 competing in these Olympic Games) and we had overdosed on the enthusiasm and expectation of what is to come over the next 16 days. After a positive and uplifting speech by Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, there was a moving speech by the chairman of the Rio 2016 organising committee, Carlos Nuzman, in which he reiterated how proud he was by saying a few times that he was the “proudest man alive”.

The speeches ended with another touching moment when Kip Keino, ex-running star from Kenya who now runs an orphanage, was the first person to be awarded the new Olympic Laurel award. After a beautiful moment where Keino ran down the middle of the stadium with a flock of children flying white kites, his voice cracked and broke with emotion during his acceptance speech.

After the raising of the Olympic flag, the Olympic oaths (there may have been some guffawing at the mention of drugs and doping, but it quickly ended), the torch bearers arrived and passed the flame along a line of Brazilian athletes who had all competed in previous Olympic Games, ending with long distance runner Vanderlei de Lima. Once the Olympic cauldron was lit, it was raised high into the air for another ceremony highlight — a stunning, twisting reflecting backdrop to the cauldron which had us all oooh-ing and aaah-ing and reaching for our phones.

The phones stayed out from that point onwards, as the entire stadium came to life with lasers and lights shooting all over the place, while fireworks popped off the top, lighting up the sky and filling the stadium with an eerie muted, smoky light. It wasn’t just the crowd who were impressed, the athletes on the stadium floor had their phones out too. And, finally, the energy that had been building up all day erupted into a crescendo of sound and light and cheering. As the smoke cleared, we left the arena, feeling like we had got what we came here for — the opening night of the greatest sporting event on the planet. And we left with so much more.

­— The writer is the editor of sister publication Aquarius