{"id":575268,"date":"2026-08-05T06:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T06:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/575268\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T06:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T06:44:11","slug":"on-this-day-stunning-spectacle-rio-olympics-kicks-off-in-brazil-in-2016-scmp-archive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/575268\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day | \u2018Stunning spectacle\u2019: Rio Olympics kicks off in Brazil in 2016 \u2013 SCMP archive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This article was first published on August 7, 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Rio Olympics off with a bang in rifle event<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">by Nazvi Careem<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Against a backdrop of economic and political turmoil in Brazil, the 2016 Olympic Games opened in Rio Janeiro yesterday with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach appealing for unity in a troubled world.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Watched by an estimated global audience of close to three billion, Rio organisers produced a stunning spectacle at fabled Maracana Stadium that attacked senses right from the start with digital imagery previously unseen on such a grand scale.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Stephanie Au leads the Hong Kong team out at Rio. Photo: Reuters\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/93a2a3d0-506c-4503-a53d-d431c24f8040_f283362d.jpg\" title=\"Stephanie Au leads the Hong Kong team out at Rio. Photo: Reuters\"\/>Stephanie Au leads the Hong Kong team out at Rio. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">It may have paled in comparison to the outrageous sums spent on Beijing\u2019s opening ceremony in 2008 (US$100 million) and London (US$41.5 million) in 2012, but Brazil knows how to party \u2013 if you were invited.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In the city\u2019s thousands of favelas, life was the just the same \u2013 trying to stay alive in the face of gang violence, hunger, disease and pollution.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The Hong Kong and China teams are immune to the \u201creal\u201d Rio, confined to the Athletes\u2019 Village and concentrating on the task at hand \u2013 winning medals over the next two weeks.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">And China started the Games with a bang, even though it wasn\u2019t gold, in the women\u2019s air rifle by winning two medals.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Nineteen-year-old Virginia Thrasher of the United States claimed the first Rio gold medal with her final shot in the women\u2019s 10m air rifle event, holding her nerve to see off China\u2019s Du Li.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article was first published on August 7, 2016. Rio Olympics off with a bang in rifle event&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13184,1083,1657,260296,3448,85,40056,46,442,260294,260298,260293,260295,105,260292,153459,1032,260297],"class_list":["post-575268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-athens","tag-brazil","tag-china","tag-du-li","tag-hong-kong","tag-il","tag-international-olympic-committee","tag-israel","tag-london","tag-maracana-stadium","tag-nazvi-careem","tag-rio-janeiro","tag-rio-olympics","tag-sports","tag-stephanie-au-hoishun","tag-thomas-bach","tag-united-states","tag-virginia-thrasher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}