RIO OLYMPICS OFFICIALLY OPEN AFTER MIXED OPENING CEREMONY

The Rio Olympics officially started with a long and loud celebration of Brazilian culture that also featured some unfortunate reminders of the troubled backdrop to these Games.

The dominant images from the four-hour opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium will be supermodel Gisele Bundchen's catwalk across the pitch to The Girl From Ipanema, the joyous arrival of Brazil's team and former marathon star Vanderlei de Lima lighting an Olympic cauldron that morphed into a golden disco ball.

But the boos that greeted acting Brazilian president Michel Temer's short address to open the Games, the smattering of jeers the Russian team received and the catcalls that followed a reference to government funding tell a different story.

Rio 2016 has had a difficult upbringing, with worries about the country's ability to afford it, Rio's preparations and sport's credibility in the face of a divisive doping crisis, but South America's first ever Olympics is now ready to entertain the world and perhaps revive a nation.

Temer, who took office in May when impeachment procedures were started against president Dilma Rousseff, tried to postpone his poor reception by opting out of the initial welcome alongside International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.

This meant the first boos of the evening went to the team from Brazil's traditional rival, Argentina, although they were of the pantomime variety and the selfie-snapping Argentinians did not seem fazed.