Rio de Janeiro set for Olympic Games opening ceremony

The Olympic Games will be officially opened in Rio de Janeiro on Friday evening.

The 31st summer Olympics, and the first in South America, will open with a ceremony at the famous Maracana stadium.

The build-up to the games has been marred by a series of scandals and bad publicity, including pollution worries, concerns about infrastructure, the Zika virus outbreak and the Russian doping scandal. Brazilians are also angry about how much has been spent on hosting the Olympics given the difficult economic situation in their country.

But organisers hope much of that will be forgotten when around three billion people tune in to watch the opening ceremony, where 50,000 spectators will join 11,000 athletes and dozens of heads of state.

The event creates a huge security challenge, particularly in the current climate, and their will be a major operation in place for tonight's ceremony and throughout the games, which run until August 21.

The contents of the ceremony are a closely-guarded secret and one of the most anticipated moments will be seeing who lights the Olympic cauldron.

It is widely expected that football legend Pele will be handed the honour.

The 75-year-old triple World Cup winner had hip surgery in December but has been given the green light by his doctor to take part.

Before the ceremony, the Olympic torch will travel to some of Rio's most well-known landmarks - from the Christ the Redeemer statue to the Pao de Acucar rock formation on Guanabara Bay.

Andy Murray will lead Team GB's charge into the Maracana as the flag bearer, an honour the defending Olympic champion and two-time Wimbledon winner described as "by far the proudest moment of my professional career".

On the eve of the games there was further controversy when a Russian diplomat has reportedly shot dead a man who tried to rob him in Rio.