The Indigenous Games
Soccer is the first sport that most people associate with Brazil, but the diverse nation of nearly 200 million people is home to a wealth of other athletic traditions. Nowhere was this so clear than at the 12th Games of Indigenous People, hosted in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso state.
Forty-eight Brazilian indigenous tribes participated in the event, presenting their rituals and competing in traditional sports such as archery, running with logs and canoeing.
Wearing traditional dress, Brazilian indigenous people attend the opening ceremony of the Games.
A participant holds a torch during a ceremony to light the Indigenous Sacred Fire.
Others take pictures on their mobile phones before attending the opening event.
Members of the Paresi indigenous group smile as they dance during the Games.
Participants from the Kuikuro community dance before the opening ceremony.
A young man takes a picture during the Games.
Members of the Enawene-Awe indigenous group strain at the rope during a tug-of-war competition.
Kanela-Ramkokamekra people compete in the tug-of-war.
Members of the Krao ethnic group attend a presentation of a relay race.
A Pataxo man competes in the spear-throwing competition.
Another Pataxo athlete takes aim during the bow-and-arrow event.
Indigenous peoples line up before the archery competition.
A man in a feathered headdress watches indigenous athletes play soccer.
People gather to watch a swimming competition in the Cuiaba river.
Residents watch Brazilian indigenous people competing in a canoeing event.
Members of the ethnic groups Rikbatsa (left) and Shanenawa race against one another across the water.
People sit on the banks of the Cuiaba river during the Games.
Indigenous people sit at computers inside a tent during the event.
Others pose for a picture.
Members of the Mamainde ethnic group raise their trophy during the closing ceremony.
Participants from the Pataxo community pose with their trophy.
People watch fireworks exploding in the sky at the end of the Games.
