TVC E. There have been 756 such shootings in the city in July. Ian Herbert speaks to one victim, Vitor Santiago, who had his leg amputated after being shot by Brazilian army officers
There is no disguising what is heading Brazil’s way and how, in the legendary land of Carnival, the people wish to embrace it.
The early stirrings of hope that the jewels in the Brazilian Olympic team – footballers Neymar and Marta – might have something special in store had turned the newspapers into messengers of delight here.
Brasil estreia com vitoria na Olimpiada (“Brazil opens Olympiad with a victory”) screamed the front page of O Globo after the women footballers beat China 3-0. They are rigging up televisions sets to watch the Games in places that do not have them.
And they are preparing to become familiar with names they never knew. Like Marcus Vinicius D’Almeida, the 18-year-old archer and son of this city, who is seen as one of great hopes of a nation which has never really been Olympian, despite its population of over 200 million.
The Brazilians see the other fables which are waiting to be written across the Rio de Janeiro sky, too – perhaps by Katie Ledecky, the 19-year-old American swimmer who, by dint of nothing more than an outsized lung capacity, might well sweep all aside.
Perhaps Caster Semenaya who, freed from the restrictions of taking hormones to limit her testosterone levels, could run 800m in 1:53. Nicola Adams, seeking to make history by retaining boxing gold. Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, bowing out of Olympian competition.
