News The opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will celebrate Brazilian culture, but it will be delivered with help from all over the world Since May, applications have been open for volunteers to play a part in the big day on 5 August 2016 – as well as in the Olympic closing ceremony and the Paralympic Games opening and closing ceremonies – and the USA, Argentina and Great Britain have provided the most applicants outside of Brazil Rio 2016 has also received expressions of interest from Senegal, Lesotho, Kenya, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Congo and Pakistan There are 12,000 volunteers places to be filled across the four ceremonies, all of which will take place at the legendary Maracanã Stadium Up to now, there have been about 4,000 applications, of which about 60 per cent are women and the average age is 20 – although there is no upper age limit, and the eldest applicant so far is 79 years old Applicants must be at least 16 years old on 1 April 2016 Rio 2016 is looking for volunteers who like activities such as skateboarding, roller skating, juggling, percussion and acrobatics It is not necessary to have artistic experience and people of any nationality can apply here “Volunteers will have the opportunity to show their talents to billions of people around the world Counting on volunteers to be the essence of the productions is a tradition of the Olympic Movement,” said Rio 2016 ceremonies director Leonardo Caetano Rio 2016 will soon begin recruitment activities in Rio, while applications can be made until September, with auditions due to take place between November and February For selected candidates, rehearsals will begin in April 2016 and will take place three times a week, during the evening or at weekends The Olympic Games opening ceremony will take place on 5 August 2016, with the closing ceremony on 21 August 2016 The Paralympic Games opening ceremony will take place on 7 September 2016, with the closing ceremony on 18 September 2016