Cue the samba, light the fireworks and damn the mosquitoes — the 2016 Summer Olympics are on!
Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium came alive with Latin music and the world’s fastest and strongest athletes at the Olympic Opening Ceremony Friday night, with US stars front and center.
Olympic medal record holder Michael Phelps carried the Stars and Stripes at the head of Team USA, the largest contingent in the Games.
The 554 members — wearing white pants, navy blazers and white and red striped shoes — drew thunderous applause as they marched through the stadium.
“I’m honored to be chosen, proud to represent the US, and humbled by the significance of carrying the flag and all it stands for,” said Phelps, a 22-time swimming-medal winner.
Brazil produced Friday night’s three-hour extravaganza on a shoestring budget, relying more on video effects than costly stage hardware.
The ceremony began quietly with several projected images of water and presentations to pay tribute to the environment and the indigenous people of Brazil.
Acrobats then mimicked the movements of ships in a dance to symbolize how Europeans arrived in South America in the 1500s.
But the homage to the environment and history quickly gave way to carnival-inspired music and dancing as the country’s most beloved exports — soccer stars and supermodels, including Gisele Bundchen — soon filled the stadium, with feathers and G-strings abounding.
Brazil musical giants Caetano Veloso, Elza Soares and Gilberto Gil performed.
The Opening Ceremony was directed by Sao Paulo-born film director Fernando Meirelles, best known for “City of God,” a gritty 2002 film that highlighted drugs and violence in Rio’s slums.
Meirelles had promised not to whitewash Brazil’s problems, which include political turmoil, wealth disparity, violent urban gangs and the mosquito-borne bane of the Zika virus.
But producers at the last minute scrapped a sketch in which Bundchen was supposed to get “mugged” on a beach, a comic nod to the recession and crime that have the city in its grip.
The ceremony showcased Brazil as the guardian of the Amazon rainforest, mankind’s largest garden.
“The world is very tense, and so is Brazil. We are also willing to tell the world to stop attacking our home. The world is threatened because of global warming. We are calling for action,” Meirelles said.
Brazil’s beloved soccer great Pelé was due to light the Olympic cauldron to signal the official start of the Games but pulled out earlier Friday, blaming health concerns.
The 75-year-old three-time World Cup winner said in a statement that he was “not physically able to attend” but gave no specifics.
Instead, the honor went to Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei De Lima, who finished third at the 2004 Athens Games despite being attacked by a protester.
With Post Wire Services