A blustery storm, a touch of melancholy and a sense of pride converged at the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympics on Sunday as Brazil breathed a collective sigh of relief at having pulled off South America’s first Games.
After a gruelling 17 days, Rio de Janeiro cast aside early struggles with empty venues, security scares and a mysterious green diving pool to throw a huge Carnival-like party.
Samba dancers, singers, drummers and a giant plumed macaw float mixed with hundreds of athletes in the storied Maracana stadium while a final volley of fireworks lit up the night sky.
Brazilians came to the closing ceremony happy, many wearing the canary yellow jersey of the nation’s sports teams, having won two late gold medals in their two favorite sports, men’s soccer and volleyball.
But Sunday served up tough weather conditions for such a big party. High winds buffeted the Maracana, power briefly went out in the upper part of the stadium, and rain drenched performers and athletes as they entered the ceremony, many with medals hanging around their necks.
To the beat of traditional Brazilian music, Olympians danced and waved their countries’ flags to celebrate their place on the world’s premier sporting stage.
The curtain descended on two weeks of high drama at the Rio Games, marked by the heroics of Olympics legends Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps as Tokyo took up the baton and promised to go one better in 2020.
As Brazil shrugs off a post-Olympic hangover to face a deepening political and economic crisis, memories of Jamaican Bolt and Phelps will linger after they set the 2016 Olympics alight.
Swimming legend Phelps, Bolt, and an array of others helped the Games rise above the taint of scandal following the exposure of state-sponsored doping in Russia.
And security scares, off-field scandals and organizational gaffes were overshadowed as 16 days of competition ended in a blaze of color late Sunday with an exuberant closing ceremony.
Smiling and waving athletes danced into the Maracana stadium to launch an all-night party after the Rio Games were described by Olympics chief Thomas Bach as “marvelous.”
But for Brazilians, harsh reality dawned on Monday with the Senate readying the next stage of impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff, suspended from office in May amid allegations of accounting irregularities.
Interim head of state Michel Temer, booed at the opening ceremony and harangued wherever he went, kept a low profile during Sunday’s closing celebrations.
Despite the glitz and glamor and Bach’s upbeat comments, the Olympics brought no relief for the two million residents of Rio who live below the poverty line amid political deadlock and economic meltdown.
Joy did come for many Brazilians, however, on the final day and fittingly in football. The home men’s national team earned its greatest Olympic memory by winning the men’s gold medal.
The country celebrated long and loud when Neymar won a gold-medal penalty shoot-out against Germany to erase memories of their 7-1 World Cup semifinal humiliation in 2014.
Earlier, the glory belonged to Bolt, 29, who made history when he sealed the sprint “triple-triple” in his final Games, reaching a record-equaling nine gold medals with his third consecutive 100m, 200m and 4x100m sweep.
“There you go. I’m the greatest,” Bolt said.
It was the United States’ Phelps who set the first week on fire when he took his unmatched career haul to 23 gold medals with another five in Rio and now heads into retirement.
Then came Rio standout Katie Ledecky. At the age of 19 she obliterated her own world record in winning the 800m freestyle, uniting the 200m, 400m and 800m titles for the first time since 1968. The American added the 4x200m relay gold as a bonus.
Another 19-year-old newcomer, Simone Biles, dominated the gymnastics arena with her record-equalling four women’s gold medals and a bronze at her first Games.
“I’m not the next Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps. I’m the first Simone Biles,” she said.
A catalogue of outstanding achievements in Rio included Britain’s Mo Farah, who captured a “double double” of 5,000m and 10,000m titles.
Farah’s heroics and other astonishing performances took the spotlight off the long list of security scares and logistical problems, which were a regular feature of South America’s first Olympics. Swathes of empty seats also caused disquiet in a country better know for its passion for football than the less familiar Olympics events.
The United States topped the medal standings, matching their 46 golds from London four years ago ahead of Britain, who sealed a surprise second place ahead of China with 27 golds to 26.
For China, the world’s most populous country, it was the worst Olympics for 20 years — especially sobering after topping the standings at Beijing 2008 and finishing second in 2012.
Russia, with around half their team including the track and field stars banished from Rio following doping revelations, finished fourth with 19 golds.
Russia’s Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov told the R-Sport agency that Rio was a success “despite the circumstances.”
Off-field scandal also struck during the Games as police seized passports, phones and computers in a raid on the Irish Olympic office, following the arrest of Irish International Olympic Committee member Patrick Hickey over an alleged black market tickets scam.

Source: Arab News