audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Brazil is ready to do the Games as they have never been done before. The eyes of the world will be on Rio during the opening ceremony of the first ever Olympic Games in South America. For the next two weeks, more than 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will compete in 42 world championships over 17 days with a global audience of 5 billion people. It's no small challenge and Rio will rise to the occasion. No Olympics in recent memory has opened under so many dark clouds, both within recession-battered Brazil and beyond. Nation-wide anti-government protests have been held just days before the start of the Games. A political crisis continues to deepen, inflation has risen, as has unemployment and crime, and fears over the Zika virus have deterred visitors and athletes. An Olympic bid pledged to clean up Rio's polluted waterways by 80 percent has since gone to waste. With 100,000 police, soldiers and other security officials watching over the city - Brazilians will flock to the stadiums, and stay glued to their television screens, as they pray for football wonder Neymar and their men's football team to clinch the coveted and elusive Olympics gold. This may be the toughest of times for Brazil, but one can definitely count on the joie de vivre of 'Cariocas' to turn this pity party into a carnival to remember for years to come. It's samba time, Rio de Janiero! PHOTOGRAPHY By: ZUMA Photographers: DANIEL A. ANDERSON, PAUL KITAGAKI JR., SCOTT MC KIERNAN, CHRISTOPHER MORRIS and ZUMA Newspaper Partners: MICHAEL GOULDING via Orange County, BRIAN PETERSON via Star-Tribune, MARK REIS via Colorado Springs Gazette, LUCAS OLENIUK via Toronto Star.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - The American flag was raised in the Olympic Athlete Village Thursday afternoon during a welcome ceremony. Athletes were greeted by Brazilian dancers who entertained the crowd.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Soldiers and police are everywhere in Rio De Janeiro dimming the sound colors of the banners announcing the Olympic Games.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - An enthusiastic Olympic volunteer displays the Olympic rings as sunglasses in Rio de Janeiro.
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August 5, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Copacabana's sidewalk pattern is widely recognized as a surfer and others stroll during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
© Daniel A. Anderson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A boy plays soccer on the sands of Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Iceland gymnast IRINA SAZONOVA sports a Rio 2016 tattoo during a training session at the Rio Olympic Arena.
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August 3, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - As the opening of the games approach, Olympic fans gather at the Olympic rings on Copacabana Beach, site of the Beach Volleyball competition.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - People demonstrate against the impeachment process against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and fly a large banner in the public space of Boulevard Olimpico. The park was created out of an abandoned parcel of land in the city's water front.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Military presence is all over Rio de Janeiro.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A view of Rio de Janeiro through some building in the the Santa Teresa neighborhood. One of the paintings has an abstract painting on its side and the city can be seen in layers, residential at the bottom, a small favela and the commercial high rises at the top.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire
August 5, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A Military ship patrols Copacabana Beach as a worker touches up the Copacabana Arena during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics games.
© Paul Kitagaki Jr./zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A drainage ditch with trash and standing water sits near the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire.
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Vendors abound on the sands of Copacabana Beach.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Government work crews skim the surface water for trash and debris at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. The workers then bag up what they find for disposal.The lagoon will be the site of the Olympic rowing competition.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire.
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A bit like selling snow to eskimos, this vendor sells bikinis on the sand of Copacabana Beach on Sunday.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire.
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - In the waterfront neighborhood called Urca, on the shores of Guanabara Bay, where locals gather to lounge along a low concrete wall, sip beer and watch the sun go down.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire.
August 5, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A Canadian flag in front of a reflection of the beach volleyball stadium on Copacabana beach during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
© Daniel A. Anderson/zReportage.com/ZUMA Wire
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Even while the stop sits askew, finishing touches are still being placed on signs near the main media center in the Barra area during the run up to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire
August 4, 2016 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Workers rake debris from the sand on Copacabana Beach. The water surrounding Copacabana Beach is one of the most polluted areas in Brazil.
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August 3, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Hundreds of reporters showed up for the Michael Phelps Press Conference Wednesday afternoon. It was announced that Phelps will carry the US flag and lead in the US athletes at the Opening Ceremony.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - An eight women rowing team practices on the water at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon on Sunday.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire.
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A bird shares a pool of standing water near the Olympic Village with a white plastic container and a blue plastic bag in Rio de Janeiro.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A bit like selling snow to an eskimo this vendor sells bikinis on the sand behind the Olympic beach volley venue at Copacabana Beach.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire.
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Members of the Cuban Olympic team check check out items for sale along Copacabana Beach.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - A large group of Olympic volunteers pose for a picture in front of a set of Olympic rings in the Olympic Park in the Barra area of the games.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire.
August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - In the waterfront neighborhood called Urca, on the shores of Guanabara Bay, where locals gather to lounge along a low concrete wall, sip beer and watch the sun go down all under the far off watchful gaze of the statue of Christ the Redeemer.
© Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire.
August 3, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. - Why enjoy the reality of Copacabana Beach when you can experience it in a virtual world? Here, Olympic tourists enjoy a demonstration of a virtual reality world at the Samsung booth set up on Copacabana beach.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - GESSER GALVAO SALES, a Olympic volunteer from Rio, takes the opportunity to get a picture of himself on the Olympic rings in the Barra Olympic Park one day before the opening ceremonies to start the games.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - SEBASTIAO SANTOS DE SILVA, left, and HUMBERTO SANTOS DE SILVA assemble the medal ceremony platform, at the start/finish line at Fort Copacabana for the men's cycling road race. The cycling road race Saturday morning is one of the first medal events on the first day of the Rio Games.
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August 3, 2016 - Copacabana Beach, Brazil - Crews rappel from the roof of the Nissan building near Copacabana Beach, and install a replica Olympic swimming pool on the side of the building to promote the summer games in Rio.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio, California, U.S. - Rocinha is the largest favela in Brazil, and is located in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone.
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August 4, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Security on Copacabana Beach is tight, just three days before the men's cycling road race, which starts Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. The men's road race is among the first medal events to be contested on opening day of the Rio Games.
© Mark Reis/TNS/zReportage.com via ZUMA Wire
