Differently-abled students from NIED made their presence felt during the much-anticipated athletes parade.
It was ‘Saturday Night Fever’ gripping the dazzling Rio de Janeiro as all roads led to the Maracana Stadium where the ‘deaf marshals’ too got their fair share of limelight along with the biggest names of the sporting world in the Olympic opening ceremony.
* Deaf marshaling athletes parade
Faraway from the limelight of the Rio 2016 opening ceremony, differently-abled students from the National Institute of Education for the Deaf (NIED) made their presence felt during the much-anticipated athletes parade.
Nicknamed ‘Flippers’, the 20 marshalls directed each of the 207 delegation either left or right of the field as the one hour 50 minute and seven seconds parade began with the entry of Greece, where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896.
“The institute’s mission is to maximize the academic and social development of their students, having art and sport at the heart of their programme,” read a note.
* Victorious Volunteers
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach had a special ‘thank you’ for the many thousand volunteers in yellow without whom the Games cannot be successful.
“The best ambassadors of this Olympic Spirit à la Brazil are the many thousands of volunteers. Many thanks, volunteers,” Bach said in his address.
From Finland to India, the volunteers across age groups formed the core of the organising committee to facilitate the flow of the visitors, media in a region divided by the Portuguese language barrier.
“I speak English,” read a tag on their accreditation as the volunteer is one’s go-to person, be it while going to a venue, or to search for a restroom (read: banheiros in the local language).
“It’s like a dream come true,” Taavi Kork, a 20-something from Otepaa in Finland, told PTI.
He had filled up the form two years ago to be a volunteer.
“Previously I did volunteering in the European Biathlon Championship in 2010 and 2014. It’s a first for me. I’m living every moment.”
* Transport blues
Mad hussle to catch a bus is a regular sight in India, but come the Rio 2016 opening ceremony, a chunk of the media scrambled to get on to the bus after the programme stretched till midnight.
There was hardly any order as everyone tried to struggle past each other to board the bus to the Main Press Centre about 35 kilometres away, as if it was the “last one”.
“It took me one and half hour to get a bus,” said a harried foreign journalist as the organisers struggled to manage the heavy rush outside the iconic Maracana Stadium.
* Germans homecoming
More than two years after their football team won the World Cup beating Argentina here, Germans once again made their presence felt at the historic Maracana as they had a special fan in the VVIP gallery — IOC president Thomas Bach.
A 1976 fencing gold medalist, Bach stood and was seen waving both hands to his 200-strong country’s Olympic contingent who made a surprise entry at number five.
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