Local residents in Rio de Janeiro said that their city is ready for the big show, despite numerous reports of lingering problems plaguing the first Olympic Games to be held in South America.

Former Brazilian women's volleyball player, Maria Isabel Barroso Salgado, lifts the torch of Rio 2016 OIympic Games with the city mayor Eduardo Paes (left) and Rio's Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta beneath the outstretched arms of the giant statue of Christ that overlooks Rio's Guanabara Bay on Friday. Photo: IC

Locals, from ordinary residents to police officers and even former Olympians, said they are excited about the mass event and remain confident that it's going to be a safe, high-energy Olympic Games.

"We are ready, it's going to be the best Olympics," Claudia Carmo, a gymnast who represented Brazil at the 1980 Moscow Games, told the Global Times.

"I'm so excited, my heart is flipping all day long. I'm so happy to be back in Rio where I was born, and see everybody smiling and everyone from all over the world cheering all the athletes that give their blood for so many years just for a chance to get a gold medal," said Carmo.

Carmo, who now resides in the US, recently returned to Rio with her husband Aureliano Carmo to enjoy the 2016 Games, including carrying the Olympic torch on Thursday night and attending the opening ceremony on Friday evening.

"Rio is a great, high-energy town. I think the Olympics are going to have a lot of energy here," said Aureliano, a top gymnast and coach in his own right, who participated in two Olympic Games. "We are excited about all the things that are going to happen."

That excitement could be felt on Thursday in talks with locals across the city, even though, on the surface, it seemed to be just another day in Rio, with no big pregame celebrations taking place, and most locals working or relaxing on the beach, as if oblivious to the coming spectacle.

Despite the quiet, locals were quick to list reasons for their excitement over the Olympic Games.

"This is our soul, we live sports every day, going to work, coming back and finding more sports," said local resident Eduardo Molinari as he prepared to kite surf near Barra da Tijuca, an area that draws thousands of locals to its beautiful beaches to enjoy outdoor activities including running, biking and surfing the waves.

"I'm very excited because it's a lot of people having fun and celebrating sports and happiness," Molinari told the Global Times.

"In Rio, we are all about health, happiness and sports," making Rio the perfect place for the Olympics, Carmo said.

The excitement was also shared by police officers, who have been assigned to protect the Maracana Stadium, the main venue for the Rio Games.

"We are very excited for the Rio Olympics, the first in South America," said a police officer, who didn't provide his name, outside of the stadium.

The officer told the Global Times on Thursday that he and his colleagues have trained rigorously to ensure security for all, and they are happy to do it. Despite earlier reports of violent incidents in Rio, it will be a safe Olympics thanks to their hard work, he said, noting there are over 2,000 officers assigned to protect the Maracana stadium alone.

And as to other reports of concerns over the readiness of Rio's Olympic infrastructure, as well as the host country's political and economic turmoil, Rio residents maintained that everything will be just fine.

"We are not like Europe, they have more money and more infrastructure to receive people, we have our problems. But I believe we can safely do this and still have a lot of fun," said Molinari.

While local residents are light-heartedly anticipating the Rio Olympics, athletes remain laser-focused on the task at hand, trying to get in some last-minute training before the real competition starts on Saturday.

"Right now, they are like an arrow on the bowstring, there is no turning back," Zhou Yafei, a former member of the Chinese Olympic swimming team, told the Global Times.

"This is it. The big party is finally here," a volunteer for the Rio Games told the Global Times on Friday.

"It's going to be a lot of fun, that's what we all here for, right?" he said.