Rafaela Silva

In the City of God favela where she’s from, Rafaela Silva’s cousin is wrapped in a Brazilian flag.

There is joy in Olympic Rio, make no mistake about it. Maybe it takes two hours to travel 25 miles across the city; and maybe only 15% of the Olympic decorations were delivered; and maybe there are more soldiers on the ground, per capita, than the United States had in Iraq at the height of Bush’s war; but there is joy.