Paralympics 2016: Troubled Rio opens Games to samba beat

Rio de Janeiro opened the Paralympic Games on Thursday with samba, parading wheelchairs, giant balloons—and political protests—at the famed Maracana stadium.

The joyous rhythms of samba singers set the atmosphere in front of a packed stadium, followed by a giant projection of Brazil’s Paralympic swimmer Daniel Dias, and a carnivalesque reproduction of a Rio beach scene.

But Brazil’s tensions also flared with thousands in the crowd chanting “Out with Temer!” as newly sworn in President Michel Temer appeared at the ceremony just days after taking over from bitter rival Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached.

Blind, missing limbs or partially paralyzed, the world’s toughest and most competitive disabled were parading ahead of 11 days of contests.

For Rio, the Paralympics, coming right after a vibrant but sometimes tricky Olympics, are one more challenge in a period of deep recession and political instability.

But all those worries were set aside for the sporting extravaganza. “These are going to be the people’s Games. You can’t come to a more passionate people for sport,” International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven said.

Noting that 4,342 athletes from 159 countries plus members of the international refugee team were taking part, he said: “All I saw were happy athletes in the Village.”

Craven said the Paralympics, which will be broadcast in 154 countries, had the power to change the way people around the world think about the disabled.

“That’s where transformation happens,” he said. However, controversy hung over the opening ceremony after confirmation that International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was not attending. This was the first absence of an IOC chief since the 1984 Summer Games.

Bach is due at a mourning ceremony in Berlin for the late West German president Walter Scheel.

However, there have been suggestions that the no-show has to do with divisions over the Paralympic committee’s outright ban on Russian athletes after allegations of a state-sanctioned doping program and the IOC’s relatively softer line.

There were also reports in Globo and other Brazilian media outlets that Bach is wanted for questioning by local police investigating an illegal ticket selling ring allegedly involving a senior Irish Olympic official.

“Whether there’s anything else—I don’t know if there’s anything else,” Craven said of Bach’s decision.Russian para-athletes, who finished second behind China in the London 2012 medals table, were barred last month following a World Anti-Doping Agency report which alleged a vast state-sponsored doping program.

Separately UK Athletics will review classifications after the Games, according to BBC News, following concerns that athletes were being mismatched to create an unfair advantage.