The opening ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. (The name has confused some Americans, who’ve mixed it up with the famous song.) The stadium — part of a large sports complex — was first used for the 1950 World Cup. (Brazil lost to Uruguay in the finals in front of nearly 200,000 fans.) Rebuilt in 2013, it remains the largest stadium in Brazil with nearly 80,000 seats. The 2014 World Cup Finals were played at Maracana. (Germany beat Argentina.) The stadium is named for the Maracana River, which flows through the area.
The Macarena, on the other hand, is a Spanish dance song by Los del Rio which became a cultural phenomenon in 1994, even entering the American political dialogue. The only similarity — besides the different spelling — is that both the stadium and the band are named for a river (rio). The Macarena video (below) has been watched nearly 120 million times on YouTube. The Olympics will be watched by even more.
