Rio Olympics 2016: Twitter reactions to the opening ceremony

Colleen Thomas

•
Rio Olympics 2016: Twitter reactions to the opening ceremony image

Friday night's opening ceremony was a bright spot among everything else that's gone wrong in Rio so far. 

There were lots of fireworks, interesting outfits worn by the athletes, and, of course, Gisele strutting her stuff.

MORE: Opening ceremony images |  2016 Rio Olympics TV schedule

Relive the biggest party at the Olympics with the play-by-play of NBC's 2016 Rio Olympics opening ceremony broadcast.

7:30 p.m. — The Opening Ceremony is already underway, but since we in the U.S. are going to be an hour behind, here are some sneak peek photos.

7:40 p.m. —  Curious about the Brazilian culture you'll be seeing during the opening ceremony? Read up.

7:54 p.m. —  This will be a great moment for the refugee team and in Olympic history. This'll happen a couple hours into the broadcast, but it will be a moment you don't want to miss. A quick note: The countries will enter in alphabetical order by their names in Portuguese. After Greece — it is always first since it was hosted the first Olympics — Afghanistan will enter. The U.S. (Estados Unidos da América in Portuguese) will be the 70th nation to enter.

8:00 p.m. — The NBC broadcast has begun! 

8:10 p.m —  After the countdown, the Games are *officially* on. And then, of course, a commercial break.

8:15 p.m. — Bob Costas quips "it's complicated when it comes to politics here in Brazil." Makes this giant spectacle and the Games themselves seem rather extravagant for all the turmoil in the country.

8:16 p.m. — The Brazilian national anthem is sung by Paulinho da Viola. A beautiful ballad, then the Brazilian flag is raised. And then another commercial!

8:25 p.m.   —  The performance begins with a depiction of the Amazon rainforest, and the performers are descendants of the indigenous people — a cool tribute to the history. After about 10 minutes, NBC cuts to commercial. Again. This might be a theme.

8:31 p.m. — Brazil's history is unfolding. First, the Portuguese settlers arrive. 

8:35 p.m. —  Representing the "Metropolis" is this next portion of the performance.

8:40 p.m. — Think the Wright Brothers discovered flight? Well, the Brazilians don't. They claim Alberto Santos-Dumont was the first sucessful aviator. He flies out of Maracaña Stadium as NBC cuts to another commercial. 

8:44 p.m. — And here comes Gisele, "one of Brazil's most notable exports." (NBC has used that phrase about five times so far). She's portraying "The Girl from Ipanema".

8:57 p.m. — There's a lot of upbeat dancing going on on the floor, but it's hard to get that vibe from the performers because NBC cuts to Gisele jumping up and down to the beat in the stands every five seconds. And then Matt Lauer says "we hate to cut away, but..." Another commercial before the parade of nations.

9:02 p.m. — Now the performance switches to a more somber tone, alerting us of the dangers of global warming. We go from a giant party to a science lesson.

9:13 p.m. — Here come the countries. Greece will parade out first, per tradition, and the rest will enter alphabetically by their names in Portuguese. Brazil, the host nation, will enter last. Buckle up, because this is about to take a while.

10:04 p.m. — And here comes Michael Phelps with the American flag. Behind him, the largest contingent of athletes from any one nation (554). Phelps wasn't out there for long — he left the stadium soon after leading Team USA in the parade of nations. Phelps had not marched in previous opening ceremonies because he had to compete the next day. He's not competing Saturday — instead, he's swimming in the 4x100m freestyle relay on Sunday — but still doesn't want to exhaust himself, so he left.

10:05 p.m. —  Some snippets from the athletes themselves.

10:54 p.m. —  Michael Phelps talks about his experience carrying the American flag.

11:01 p.m. —  Add this to the ever-expanding list of mishaps in Rio.

11:13 p.m. — Russia enters and you can faintly hear some boos. One-third of their Olympic hopefuls were banned from the games due to doping revelations. Still, there are 271 athletes that were cleared. 

11:31 p.m. — And the best opening ceremony outfit goes to...

11:43 p.m. — A standing ovation for the Refugee Olympic Team. Well deserved.

11:44 p.m. — The host nation is in the house.

11:46 p.m. — The parade of athletes lasted well over two hours, but props to NBC for not skipping a single country during the commercial break. That might be the one positive of a tape-delayed opening ceremony. 

12:23 a.m. — And here comes the torch! Former world No. 1 tennis player Guga runs the torch in and passes it to Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, who lights the cauldron. 

12:29 a.m. — What a way to end the evening. Let the games begin!

Colleen Thomas

Colleen Thomas Photo

Colleen Thomas is an Associate Editor at Sporting News. She joined Sporting News in 2014.