Pele asked to light pyre in Rio
Print Edition
PELE has been invited to light the Olympic pyre for the Rio Games tomorrow but the Brazilian soccer great is checking with his sponsors to see if he is free to lead the torch ceremony in the Maracana Stadium.
“I have a contract that I am bound to fulfil,” Pele told Globo TV late on Tuesday, adding that he was consulting the US company that holds the rights to his brand name whether he can take up the invitation from the Olympic organizing committee.
“As a Brazilian, I’d love to do it,” said the 75-year-old, who helped his country win the World Cup three times and would be launching the games in the stadium where he scored his 1,000th goal in 1969.
Pele later told reporters that International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and the head of the Brazilian committee Carlos Arthur Nuzman had personally asked him to light the pyre and that he would have an answer today.
Pele, regarded as the greatest player of all time, played in four World Cups and is the only player to have won it three times: in 1958 in Sweden, when he was just 17, in 1962 in Chile and in 1970 in Mexico.
Meanwhile, swimming superstar Michael Phelps will carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony, the US Olympic Committee said yesterday.
Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals, including 18 golds, was chosen for the honor following a vote of Team USA members.
“I’m honored to be chosen, proud to represent the US, and humbled by the significance of carrying the flag and all it stands for,” said Phelps, taking part in his fifth Olympics.
“For Sydney, I just wanted to make the team. For Athens, I wanted to win gold for my country. For Beijing, I wanted to do something nobody else had done. In London, I wanted to make history. And now, I want to walk in the Opening Ceremony, take it all in, represent America in the best possible way and make my family proud.
“This time around, it’s about so much more than medals.”
Phelps is only the second swimmer to lead the US delegation in the opening ceremony. Gary Hall was the first at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
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