media_artricles :: 2016

Walcott to carry Team TTO flag

Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott will lead the T&T contingent at today's official opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games at Brazil's monumental Maracana Stadium from 6 pm.

The 'Toco boy,' as he is now affectionately known, will carry the flag of a nation filled with optimism of gold, silver and bronze medals in several of the 42 sporting disciplines and 306 events to be contested over the next 17 days or so, in tribute to his gold medal success at the London Olympics in 2012.

Team TTO has been in good spirits and ready to go from as early as this evening when it takes to the tracks at one the world's largest sporting facilities, along with 207 other countries.

Only 2012 Olympic host Great Britain will be without its full team for the opening, as their track and field athletes will still be at their training camp in Belo Horizonte.

The home team will enter the venue last following Team Refugee that will comprise 10 athletes who have fled civil wars in their respective countries. Team TTO podium kits and ceremonial uniforms will be symbolic of our national colours but its recreation and training gear will provide a variety of colours and modern vibrancy for non-event use, which the athletes are satisfied with, as they are reminiscent of Brazil colourful culture and people.

The air has been filled with excitement, despite speculations the event may not herald the excitement of Games in the past. Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench, at 81, is expected to read a poem by the Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade during a section of the four-hour ceremony dedicated to Brazil's natural environment.

It will also include include references to Brazil's history of slavery and its colonial past, while the 80,000-strong audience will be asked to imitate monkeys, macaws and the sound of rain (by tapping fingers on their palms) during a segment about the Amazon rainforest.

Global warming and the melting of the polar icecaps is also scheduled to be dealt with during a ceremony that is said to be heavily focused on environmentalism.

All 12,000 athletes taking part in the Games will be given seeds to represent a forest of saplings that will be planted in Brazil after the Games, one for every athlete, to create an "ecological legacy". All this is expected to paint an entirely different picture from the gloomy starts at football and other mishaps leading up to the event, being held at four venues for the first time in South America.

Only recently, reports of the Olympic Torch falling to the ground as well as attempts by someone to put out the flame added to the already slow preparation of the facilities.

In spite of the negative speculations however the event, being held at four regions—Barra, Copacabana, Deodoro and Maracaña, will be a major spectacle for many.

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