"It's Dilma!" The remark was made by comedian Fábio Porchat, a commentator during the broadcast of the opening ceremony on the Record TV network, referring to the China representative in the grandstand seen wearing a red blazer, reminiscent of the kind worn by the suspended president.

The Globo network tried to preserve the tone of the show, with Galvão Bueno and even Glória Maria containing themselves.

Despite its politicized appearance, the history of Brazil recounted during the ceremony avoided large conflicts, from the slaughter of the indigenous tribes to the horrors of slavery, choosing to prioritize ecology and racial reconciliation.

It was not a ceremony to be hated by Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, despite what one of the directors, Fernando Meirelles, tweeted hours before the show. It was designed to appeal to the greatest number of people, in contrast to the divided country and in line with the general flag, from Globo to NBC, in unity.

The American network broadcast the ceremony with a delay, to edit the images and open it up to endless commercial breaks -which cover the US $1.2 billion it paid for the rights. But, one of its presenters, Meredith Vieira, appeared more enthusiastic than the Brazilians on Globo and Record.

When Jorge Ben carried the party and NBC displayed Gisele Bündchen jumping, Vieira even said: "I want to get up and dance!". She then tried to explain the anthropophagy of Oswald de Andrade: "Like cannibals, they take the music of the entire world and make it their own".

The network's delivery was more illustrious than that of the Brazilians, who contributed very little to what was seen. For example, it relied on Daniela Thomas' explanations, another director behind the ceremony who was interviewed in English days before, to make slum and party references more comprehensible for Americans.

The presenter Matt Lauer, when faced with the many projections, recalled something she had said: "We did not have much money". At no point did NBC attempt to mask the problems. The newscast "Nightly News", broadcast live from Copacabana, highlighted "Rio's two cities".

But, they didn't have Porchat. When the Record network reported, in the midst of the parade of delegations, that the president of France and the American Secretary of State had left Maracanã stadium before the end, due to security issues, the comedian said: "And they left us here?".

In terms of Galvão Bueno and Globo, they reported that interim president Michel Temer finally stood up and said, "among boos and also some applause", but then corrected himself, for whatever reason: "among boos and applause".

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

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