What a show!
The Olympic Games began in Rio de Janeiro on Friday night, and Maria Esther Bueno bore witness to a historic and emotional Opening Ceremony.
“It was a fantastic experience and an amazing show, I must say,” she told her website.
“But it also needed a lot of stamina and endurance to get there! The show was four hours long and we set out to get there five hours ahead of it.
“I was privileged to be a guest of Bradesco and was taken by bus to Maracanã but it couldn’t get us close because of the crowds and security, so we ended up walking around 5 kilometres…
“It was well worth all the effort as I have never seen anything like it. What a show!
“I got very emotional, witnessing the Olympics opening here in Brazil, my home country, after all the poor publicity and problems, and they really did put on an incredible show for the world.
“I think it all went off extremely well and it is now time for the sport to take over the headlines.”
The creative directors for the ceremony were Fernando Meirelles, Daniela Thomas and Andrucha Waddington.
Deborah Colker, Brazil’s most celebrated choreographer, prepared a cast of over 6,000 volunteers who danced in the opening ceremony.
The theme was of sustainability and unity and the atmosphere simply joyous, with a serious message to take action to save our planet from climate change.
The artistic segments traced the history of Brazil, from its indigenous origins through the waves of immigrants and slavery to the modern day, embracing the country’s colourful cultures and natural heritage.
“With 70,000 people in the stadium, the show was centre stage but sometimes hard for us to see,” continued Maria Esther.
“It all came together on the television monitors and the effect, both on the screen and live in the stadium, was spectacular.
“The fireworks were amazing throughout the show and although the entry of the teams took a very long time – there were over 200 countries after all – it was wonderful to see their different uniforms and how thrilled all the athletes were to be there.
“The ceremonial part, of course, was very emotional for all us Brazilians because it has taken so much to get to this point and our country is in such trouble.
“The hope is that in bringing the Olympics here, there will be hope for the future and unity for our people.
“There were so many aspects of the Opening Ceremony that were memorable for me, particularly the paper peace doves that flew around the stadium.
“I managed to get my hands on one and the words said it all – Peace comes from us, not from others!”
Tennis Flagbearers
There were four flagbearers from the world of tennis – Andy Murray (GBR), Rafael Nadal (ESP), Caroline Wozniaki (DEN) and Gilles Muller (LUX).
“It was really good to see tennis so well represented on opening night. They all looked so proud!” added Maria Esther.
“I couldn’t really see Guga’s [Gustavo Kuerten] entrance into the stadium with the torch, but I know he too was unbelievably proud and emotional about the occasion and what it means for Brazil.
“I was very glad to see what I consider real Olympians being honoured, carrying the Olympic flag and lighting the cauldron.
“Vanderlei de Lima, who will forever be remembered for being stopped from winning gold in the marathon in Athens [2004], will now be remembered for lighting the Olympic cauldron in Rio. That’s just great.”
De Lima is a former long-distance runner who specialised in marathons.
He received international renown after a spectator, Irish priest Cornelius “Neil” Horan, attacked him at the 2004 Summer Olympics marathon while he was leading the race at 35 km.
Following the incident he fell back from first to third place, winning the bronze medal and was later awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship for that race.
Neil Horan, the priest who attacked de Lima, was defrocked by the Catholic Church the following year.
Bradesco Build-Up
After her adventure carrying the Olympic Torch in Sao Paulo on Sunday, Maria Esther flew into Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday and immediately got busy.
She started with a briefing at the TV Globo headquarters and then toured the Olympic Tennis Centre, taking in the logistics of working the commentary for the tennis matches on her named centre court.
“It was just buzzing at Barra,” she said. “To see the centre with all the players practising was fantastic.
“I think it has all come together well and the players are pretty much pleased with everything so that is good.”
On Wednesday she made a personal appearance for Bradesco and the bank’s foundation.
Along with the other Bradesco Ambassadors, they paraded up onto stage with the Brazilian flag and made speeches to the assembled audience of boys and girls who are benefitting from the foundation’s educational work.
“It was about motivation and setting your sights on your future,” she explained.
“Once again the directors from the bank were there and the Chairman told me I am ‘a sea of surprises’! I guess they were pretty pleased with how it all went.”
In the afternoon the Bradesco Ambassadors were driven to the Sheraton Hotel to be fitted with their uniforms for their evening duties.
“They had four women in the suite at the hotel, specially there to help dress us, do our hair and make up, so we didn’t have to worry about a thing.
“The event itself was Bradesco’s last duty as a sponsor of the Torch Relay so we did rehearsals and later received the Olympic Flame under guard, symbolically to guard it overnight ahead of its final day in Rio.”
Finally to the Sport
The Maria Esther Bueno Olympic Tennis Stadium
By Saturday, Maria Esther was almost relieved to be focusing on her television commentary.
“I had at least two appearances a day this week and then the Opening Ceremony so it has all been rather hectic and at times a bot chaotic, I must say,” Maria Esther explained.
“There are so many people around, lots of traffic everywhere and intense security so getting from one place to another is a real challenge.
“My TV work began with a marathon match between Venus Williams and Kirsten Flipkens, which she lost.
“I’m a bit sad for her because this must be her last Olympic Games, although she has a chance still in the doubles with Serena [WIlliams].
An unwell Venus Williams let the match slip through her hands
“Venus actually had the match in the bag and served for it 5-3 in the final set, but I must say that Flipkens played unbelievably well, producing drop shots that Roger [Federer] would’ve been proud of.
“This is her first Olympics, at the age of 30, and she is absolutely thrilled to get through to the second round.”
It took the 62nd-ranked Belgian three hours and thirteen minutes to overcome Venus, 4-6 6-3 7-6(5) in a thriller of a match to set up a second-round clash with Czech Lucie Safarova, who also came from behind to beat Italy’s Karin Knapp 4-6 6-1 6-1.
It was the biggest shock of the opening day of the Olympic Tennis Event.
“I’ve never played the Olympics before so it was already a dream coming true for me to come here,” Flipkens said.
“I qualified for it, I worked a year for this, not to get medal but just to qualify and come here, but then to beat Venus Williams, one of the biggest champions in our history, on [the Maria Esther Bueno] center court, gives me goose bumps all over the place.”
The four-time Gold medallist was apparently suffering with a virus as she slumped to her first ever opening round loss at an Olympic Games, joining jet-lagged Agnieszka Radwanska at the exit door.
The 36-year-old won singles Gold at Sydney 2000, but her three other Olympic titles are in the doubles with younger sister Serena and they will defend their crown from London 2012 in Brazil, starting with Sunday’s match against Safarova and Barbora Strycova.
The highest seed to lose on Saturday was Poland’s Radwanska, the No 4 seed falling to world No 64 Zheng Saisai of China, 6-4 7-5 after taking several days of flying due to delays and technical problems to reach Rio.
Roberta Vinci, the No 6-seeded Italian, was another first round casualty, losing to Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga managed to avoid Venus’ fate when he got out of trouble earlier in the day against the lesser-known Malek Jaziri.
The Tunisian, ranked 59 in the world, served for the match in the second set but Tsonga held firm to tease out a 4-6 7-5 6-3 result.
Tsonga, who won a doubles silver medal with Michael Llodra at London 2012, said: “I was very concerned because I was thinking this may be my last Olympic Games. The next one is in four years and I don’t know if I will play or not, or if I will be able to keep my level at this stage, so I don’t want to go out of this Olympic Games without playing my game, without taking pleasure.”
Asked how her stadium is doing, Maria Esther laughed: “I think the players are enjoying it!
“Certainly the spectators are. They are dancing in their seats between the games! Typical Brazilians!
“We will see the top seeds in action on Sunday.”
