Mas gue nada

So the opening ceremony will be tonight at 2000 local time. This is the 5th time I am involved in the ceremonies and I must say every coverage has been quite unique. The only thing that never surprises is the protocol part, a compulsory part of every ceremony. The artistic part is luckily there to give the ceremonies a touch of local culture and history. And so it will be this time too. What part of the ceremonies is the most famous one? Well, according to the statistics the Parade of Nations, also called Athlete’s Parade, is the showstopper. The estimated number is more than 3 billion viewers. No pressure here!

We have of course been practicing the parade and I’ve had the privilege to go through the list of participants several times. Since we don’t have teams at the rehearsals we just imagine what the teams look alike. Boy does that make me yawn from time to time. Tonight we have 206 countries plus the Refugees team in reality. Yet it is not as easy to cover the parade as you would think. You shouldn’t miss anything and there is so much going on all the time. And the athletes are clothed sometimes with the funniest uniforms which makes them look very much different from the outfit and outlook they have on the field of play.

The coverage of the parade should also include the vip-persons of each country attending the stadium. So believe me, there is some serious background work to be done. I could call this the Olympics of Memory.  And all this should be shown in quite a small timeframe. I’m happy it’s not me who is doing the selection, but the director. You can imagine the talkback in the truck is lively and hectic at this part of the ceremony as well.

Some small discrepancies were found on the last rehearsal, as the alphabetical order is in Portuguese, we need to be attentive. I’m counting on the experience of our crew. The director and his assistants are from UK and the rest of the crew is from different countries all over the world, including 20 people from Finland. The opening is not the first coverage of the games with Finnish crew involved, actually the first one was women’s football, two days ago.

So what can I tell you about the Opening ceremony? Nothing much, unless I want to be sent home. Immediately. All I can tell is that you will be surprised, it is perhaps not the same grandeur as previously ceremonies. The Brazilian director and producer have created an opening ceremony with a budget which is a tenth of London 2012. I quote the director: "I'm very glad we're not spending money like crazy. I'm happy to work with this low budget because it makes sense for Brazil. The theme of the opening ceremony, therefore, will focus more on "originality" over "luxury"." Enjoy!