Our admiration for you is even greater because you managed this at a very difficult time in Brazilian history. We have always believed in you.

- International Olympic chief Thomas Bach

Here we stand to deliver history. History to be made by the athletes, the volunteers, the public, the youth. The Olympic dream is now a wonderful reality. The best place in the world is here and now. Rio, Brazil welcomes the world with open arms.

- Organising committee president Carlos Nuzman

I just hope I don't fall. That would be a real nightmare.

- Denmark flagbearer Caroline Wozniacki

My samba dancing is terrible, horrible -- and I won't be doing it.

- Andy Murray, carrying the flag for Britain

I got my hair dyed green and yellow for the team. My friend in Miami did it and it took about three hours.

- Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

I will be proud and not nervous. It is time now to think about the sport.

- Rose Nathike Lokonyen, carrying the flag for the refugee team

It was my mum (Sue) who rung me and told me. She's been sick for a while but the doctors gave her permission to come to Brazil and she is somewhere in Rio with my sister watching on a big screen. That makes it extra special.

- Ella Nicholas of the Cook Islands 

I don't think anyone's dropped the flag and I don't want to be the first.

- Ireland's Patrick Barnes

In the past two months for sure it affected the athletes. It was a difficult situation. We were ready for the worst, the whole Russian team could have been banned, but there were reasonable people that too the right decisions. It is clear that there is a doping problem, but the clean athletes they should not suffer from that.

- Russian volleyball player Sergei Tetyukhin

I'm very nervous because I get sweaty palms. I have a tendency to be a bit clumsy but I'll make sure I won't let this one go.

- Australian flagbearer, cyclist Anna Meares

It is a very special moment, especially for the older generation in Kosovo. They have survived wars, they went through such hard times and what is happening today has been a dream for a long time for all people in Kosovo.

- Majilinda Kelmendi, flag bearer for Kosovo 

Tonight, the first-ever #TeamRefugees will also stand before the world and prove that you can succeed no matter where you're from.

- US president Barack Obama

We've got some pretty cool cloaks from back home. It's pretty special to be wearing that with all the past flagbearers that have worn it before. It just brings the mana (respect) of everyone that's gone in this team before.

- New Zealand's Peter Burling

In this Olympic world, we see that the values of our shared humanity are stronger than the forces which want to divide us.

- IOC president Thomas Bach

Look, we're extremely proud to be the host of the Games, but has there been any benefit to us? No, nothing has changed in my life and it's absurd to think that anything will change for my two children.

-Lilian Sales, a Mangueira favela resident

The world needs to know, I am here watching this spectacle from a slum right next to where they are opening the Olympics, and my life has not improved at all, it's frustrating to be so close to this spectacle and yet so far away, living in a place where we have no security, not even sewage.

-Jose Carmo, a 23Mangueira favela resident.

This party wasn't done for the people. The Games don't come close to the reality lived by the poor. 

- Teacher Guilherme Moreira Dias