Now that Brazil’s men football (soccer) team has won Olympic Gold, all is well in the host country. Neymar Jr. must have slept well Saturday night after kicking in the winning shootout goal against a worthy opponent, Germany.
What can you do with 10,000 high-resolution images? Taken atop Brazil’s iconic Sugarloaf Mountain with a Panasonic Lumix mirrorless camera, and stitched together, these images give a navigable 360-degree panoramic view of the southeastern part of Rio de Janeiro.
And Neymar is somewhere in that photo. There’s a fun little contest to find him and five other hidden athletes (and win a digital wallpaper).
View the Panasonic Find Your Dreams Citycam
It has been enjoyable watching the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, with plenty of memorable moments and both tears of joy and disappointment. In spite of some, I guess unavoidable, ugly displays of nationalism, commerce and politics; of state-sanctioned cheating; of some athletes’ lies and bland disrepect for the host country; of sore losers and inspiring acts of courage, determination and kindness — we salute those athletes who aspired to be “Faster, Higher, Stronger.”
Brazil pulled it off — and here’s hoping that it does not all end today. That the people and leaders of Brazil may realize that the dedication, planning, ingenuity and funds expended to solve relatively small Olympic-sized problems can also be applied to solve the huge problems facing its own people who graciously opened their arms to welcome the world. It should become an obligation that a host country dedicates as much funds as they reserve for hosting the Olympics as for helping the needy in their country. As it should also be an obligation for any participating country to ensure that all who wish should be given the means and funds to train and qualify. Otherwise, the Olympics becomes mostly a game for the wealthy, with a few poor invited just for good measure. The World is better than that, we hope.
Watch the Closing Ceremony at 7pm ET. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the Olympic flag will be passed on to Tokyo, which will host the 2020 games.
The two emblems of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games, designed by Asao Tokolo and made of chequered patterns in the traditional Japanese colour of indigo blue, are supposed to remind us that in spite of all our diversity, we are united and that “All people are equal.”
