LET THE GAMES BEGIN A boat of the Navy of Brazil is pictured with the interlocking Olympic Rings colored blue, yellow, black, green and red as it patrols the coast of Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, a day ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. AFP
RIO DE JANEIRO—As the virulent Zika virus lurks like a nasty ghost in many neighborhoods, Brazil is set to sweep all its present troubles under the carpet of universal sporting unity on Friday night (7 a.m. Saturday in Manila), when it rings up the curtain on the 31st Olympic Games in this epicenter of samba.
An expectedly sizzling four-hour program that marries this Portuguese-speaking nation’s Afro-influenced culture with its perky sounds and rhythm, will welcome officials and some 15,000 athletes from 204 nations, including 13 from the Philippines, to the quadrennial competition.
Preliminary hostilities in women’s football and three other sports, out of the 41-sport Summer Games roster, may have commenced ahead of the grand opening ceremonies in Rio’s massive football mecca, Maracanã Stadium, but the bigger battles for medals will be fought starting
Saturday.
Three Filipinos—boxer Charly Suarez, swimmer Jessie Khing Lacuna and tablenetter Ian Lariba—plunge into action less than 12 hours after the Maracanã bash, with Lariba the only one guaranteed to remain in the hunt even if she drops her first match.
First-time Olympian
To first-time Olympian Lariba belongs the honor of bearing the Philippine tri-color at the iconic 74,738-seat stadium during the parade of delegations.
As the country’s first-ever Olympic bidder in table tennis, she was picked for the task over three-time Games campaigners Marestella Torres-Sunang (long jump) and Hidilyn Diaz (weight lifting).
Security measures
A massive security force rollout involving 22,500 Army and Força Nacional soldiers will ensure that the Games, many to be fought in Rio’s hastily finished, mountain-embraced Olympic Park, is safe for both athletes and fans.
On the day of the opening ceremonies, the Athletes Village will be cordoned off, not unlike Wednesday night when a bomb scare prevented Olympic chief of mission Joey Romasanta, three members of the PH team and about a thousand other athletes from entering the heavily guarded compound for over an hour.
Opening ceremonies
Football great Pelé, the brightest among Brazil’s retired galaxy of sports heroes, will light the Games cauldron.
Just like “The Greatest,” world boxing champ Muhammad Ali, before him in Atlanta 1992, Pelé will carry the torch with the flame lit by the sun at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, where the maiden modern-day Olympics was staged.
Subdued mood
Renowned Brazilian film director Fernando Meirelles (“City of God”) and producer Daniela Thomas have conspired to create an opening extravaganza budgeted at a tenth of the Danny Boyle’s London show for the 2012 Olympics.
But the mood around Rio was a bit subdued on the eve of the first Olympics to be held in South America.
There was a palpable sense of fear and uncertainty among the athletes and Rio’s population as the virulent Zika virus shadowed the city.
The air was heavy as well with accusations of treachery among the country’s politicians over botched economic initiatives related to the construction of Olympic facilities.
Tourist hub
All Filipino athletes, including golfer Miguel Tabuena who arrives here on Saturday, will see action in controversial, over-the-budget competition venues located in the tourist hub of Ipanema on the coast of Copacabana.
The Olympic Golf Course is part of reclaimed land that borders Rio’s sprawling Olympic Park.
“Our 13 athletes are well prepared,”
Romasanta said. “There’s nothing more we could ask of them. They are here because they are the best in the Philippines and because they fearlessly answered the call of national duty.”
Romasanta did not show it, but he was still hurting from the last-minute withdrawal of Angelo Que and Dottie Ardina.
The two golfers feared catching the Zika virus, which is borne by a breed of mosquito that multiplies in the tiniest pool of water and defies many of the insecticides deployed against it.
Avoiding the virus may yet be another battle that competing athletes would have to contend with. TVJ
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