Rio unveiled not one, but 13 posters at the Olympic Games

World Today

OLYM 2

Poster art has been a tradition since the modern Olympics Games began in 1896.

This year, Rio has not one, but 13.

CCTV’s Stephen Gibbs reports from Rio de Janeiro.

The Rio 2016 organizers describe it as a ‘collection’. The 13 posters commemorating these Olympics. They all are designed to express the spirit of Rio and the games.

One of the artists selected was Nelson Rodrigues, who used to live in the Rocinha favela, one of the biggest in Latin America. He says inspiration came easily to him.

“When I was invited to do a poster for the Olympics, what happened I thought: Rio is blue, Rio is blue 365 days a year. It is the sea, it is the sky, it’s sports, and leisure, so I thought, let’s do something related to this,” said Rodrigues.

Many Olympic posters, going back 120 years, have become collectible items, and enduring symbols of the host cities, long after the games have ended.

A poster by Mexican artist Eduardo Terrazas, which advertised during 1968 Mexico City games, is one of them.

To this day, many people associate this with Mexico’s capital.

“I was 30 years old, and I think we did a good job, but the job was done by a team,” said Terrazas. “Everybody had the t-shirt of Mexico labeled on their chests. The poster came out very well. It has the structure and the force to become a great symbol of the Olympic games.”