周五，巴西长跑运动员万德雷·科代罗·利马点燃了奥运会开幕式主火炬。万德雷·科代罗·利马2004年马拉松比赛中铜牌获得者，由于比赛途中被抗议者攻击他从第一名变成了第三名，但是他的不服输精神让他成为了运动员的榜样。
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian long-distance runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima lit the Olympic cauldron in the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Games on Friday.
A marathon bronze medal winner in Athens in 2004, he has been held up as a model sportsman after refusing to give up when a protestor attacked him in that race, slowing him from first to third.
Football great Pele was expected to be given the honor before ruling himself out earlier on Friday because of ill health.
The lighting the of the flame was the culmination of a stirring ceremony at the Maracana stadium that lasted almost four hours.
The ceremony cost an estimated $21 million, about half the budget for the London 2012 Games.
It included the participation of 5,000 volunteers, 300 artistic producers and more than 200 dancers.
According to the International Olympic Committee, the extravaganza was watched by up to 5 billion people around the world.
