The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony starts the Olympic torch relay, which formally ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Through 2022, the flame would continue to burn in the cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it was extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony. In 2024, electric lighting and mist were used to create a simulated flame for the Olympic cauldron, with the actual flame kept in a lantern exhibited at an adjacent location.
Brazil competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's nineteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, excluding the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The Brazilian Olympic Committee sent the nation's largest ever delegation in history to the Games. A total of 243 athletes, 124 men and 119 women, competed in 24 sports.
Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima is a Brazilian retired long-distance runner. He was born in Cruzeiro do Oeste, Paraná. While leading the marathon after 35 km at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he was attacked on the course by Irish former priest Cornelius "Neil" Horan. Following the incident, Lima fell from first to third place, eventually winning the bronze medal. He was later awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for his sportsmanship shown in that race.
The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 3 August. Rio de Janeiro was announced as the host city at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009.
Hortência Maria de Fátima Marcari is a former basketball player who is often considered to be one of the greatest female basketball players in Brazil, along with Paula. Marcari is a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and FIBA Hall of Fame. She is known in her country as Hortência, and her nickname is The Queen.
The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 332 events in 34 sports and in 47 disciplines. During the Games, 95 new Pan American records were set; 2,196 medals were awarded; 1,262 doping control tests were performed and about 15,000 volunteers participated in the organization of the event, which served as an Olympic qualification occasion for 13 International Federations (IFs).
The 2016 Summer Paralympics, the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. The Games marked the first time a Latin American and South American city hosted the event, the second Southern Hemisphere city and nation, the first one being the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, and also the first time a Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country hosted the event. These Games saw the introduction of two new sports to the Paralympic program: canoeing and the paratriathlon.
The Opening Ceremony of the XV Pan American Games took place on 13 July 2007. Considered an audition for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, the Opening Ceremony was praised by the media for its creativity and Olympic-style production value. The Los Angeles Times reported:
Brazil's 2nd largest city still must overcome doubts about crime and traffic, among other things, if it hopes to make good on its quixotic bid to play host to the 2016 Olympic Games. But Rio sure has the opening ceremony down pat. On Friday the city inaugurated the 15th Pan American Games with a lavish and creative 3½ -hour show that featured a symphony orchestra, three 100-foot-long coral snakes, Miss Brazil, an alligator the size of a 747, fireworks, a 1,500-piece percussion band and thousands of dancers dressed as everything from ocean waves to water lilies.
The closing ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on 29 August 2004 21:15 EEST (UTC+3) at the Olympic Stadium, in Marousi, Greece, a suburb of Athens.
The 1976 Summer Olympics torch relay celebrated the first time that a Canadian city had hosted the Games. Convention states that the flame should be lit at Olympia in Greece and then transported to Athens, making its way onwards to the host city. On this occasion a signal was sent via satellite to transmit the flame to Ottawa where it would then make its way to the 1976 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Montreal and a second ceremony in Kingston, Ontario.
The 1968 Summer Olympics torch relay took part as part of the build-up to the 1968 Summer Olympics hosted in Mexico City, Mexico. The Olympic flame was lit in Olympia, Greece, and retraced the steps of Christopher Columbus, discoverer of the New World. This theme celebrated the link between Latin-American and Mediterranean civilizations.
The 2000 Summer Olympics torch relay was the transferral of the Olympic Flame to Sydney, Australia, that built up to the 2000 Summer Olympics. The torch travelled to various island nations as part of a tour of Oceania before beginning an extensive journey around Australia. For the first time the Flame was taken underwater, with a special flare-like torch taken on a dive down to the Great Barrier Reef. At the opening ceremony the cauldron was lit by Aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman.
The opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday 5 August 2016 in the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, starting at 20:00 BRT. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal ceremonial opening of this international sporting event with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history. The Games were officially opened by Acting President of Brazil Michel Temer.
The closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics was held on 21 August 2016 from 20:00 to 22:50 BRT at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Refugee Olympic Team competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016, as independent Olympic participants.
The opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Paralympics took place on the evening of 7 September 2016 at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, starting at 18:30 BRT.
The closing ceremony of the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 18 September 2016.
The 2016 Summer Paralympics Torch Relay was a 7-day event leading up to the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. It began on September 1, 2016, in Brasilia and concluded at the Games' opening ceremony on September 7. The Paralympic torch relay began with five individual flames being relayed to a city in each of the five regions of Brazil. These flames, as well as a sixth flame lit in Stoke Mandeville, Great Britain, were united to form a single Paralympic flame, which was relayed through Rio on 6 and 7 September 2016 en route to its lighting at the Maracanã during the opening ceremony.
The 2016 Summer Olympics cauldron was made for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In fact, there were two cauldrons, one in the Maracanã Stadium for ceremonial use, and another on Rio's new waterfront Boulevard Olímpico, opposite the 19th-century Neoclassical Candelária Church, which was lit after the Opening Ceremony and remained alight throughout the Games. They both featured small flame cauldrons backed by much larger kinetic sculptures created by the American artist Anthony Howe. The ceremonial version spans 40 feet (12 m) in diameter.
