OLYMPICS

‘Ipanema' Song Jumps 1,200 Percent After Olympics Ceremony

The song was streamed more than 40,000 times a day after the Olympics kicked off, according to Spotify

"The Girl from Ipanema" has won a gold medal in music streaming following the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics. 

Spotify says the song was streamed more than 40,000 times a day after the Olympics kicked off Friday night in Rio de Janeiro. It is 1,200 percent rise for the track, which was typically streamed about 3,000 times a day before the Olympics, the streaming service said.

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen walked onstage during the opening ceremony while "The Girl from Ipanema" played. The Grammy-winning song was released in 1964.

Antonio Carlos Jobim wrote the song as a tribute to a girl he fell in love with as she left Ipanema Beach, one of Rio's iconic beaches. It is arguably Brazil's most recognizable song internationally.

The woman who inspired the song, Helo Pinheiro, carried the Olympic torch through Rio on Friday. Now 71 years old, Pinheiro runs a bikini shop right next to the bar where composers Antonio Jobim and Vinicius Moraes were sitting when they first spotted her. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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