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RIO DE JANEIRO 鈥� The opening ceremony of the 31st Olympiad offered beauty and passion without extravagance, setting the right tone in a country proud to host South America鈥檚 first Olympic Games but burdened with a deep recession that challenged its ability to host the planet抖阴ap biggest and best party.

Colorful tableaus told the history of Brazil from indigenous times to the arrival of Europeans, Africans and Asians, followed by Rio鈥檚 development into the largest metropolis in South America with high-rise buildings and mountainside slums. Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen played the role of the Girl from Ipanema, and an anti-global warming segment preceded the parade of athletes.

But as I watched the welcoming party of my 12th Olympics unfold Friday night, I found myself reflecting on what the Olympic Games offer a broken and cynical world increasingly tormented by hatred and horror. The stadium was surrounded by hundreds of soldiers with assault rifles so billions around the world could watch the festivities while reflecting on tolerance and the pursuit of excellence.

I work in a profession filled with cynics, but I am a true believer in the indispensable role the Olympics plays in today’s world because it gives us stories of hope, inspiration, grace in defeat and triumph over adversity. The world desperately needs those stories.

We don鈥檛 get enough of them from our major professional sports. Our big-name professional athletes all too often are self-absorbed, venal and full of entitlement. There are a few of those in Olympic sports too, but in my experience they are a small minority.

The vast majority of Olympic athletes I have known over the past 25 years compete for the love of their sport. Most will never get rich from the sports into which they pour their hearts. Many pursue their sports at great personal and financial sacrifice.

If sports is only about winning and losing, it抖阴ap just another reality show. There鈥檚 nothing wrong with entertainment, but the Olympics give the world so much more. The Olympics produce worthy role models who change lives. If you doubt me, let me share a story Missy Franklin鈥檚 mother, DA, told me about a girl from Louisiana who made a six-hour journey to Texas with her mother a few years ago to watch Missy swim, hoping to meet her.

The girl used to be overweight, nonathletic, got teased at school and suffered from depression. She got C’s in the classroom.

鈥淭hen she watched Missy swim in London, and that September she took up swimming,鈥� the mother told DA. 鈥淪he lost 20 pounds, the teasing stopped, her grades are back up to A’s and B’s, and she鈥檚 got no more depression signs. We owe that to Missy.鈥�

Yes, there are negative role models in the Olympics. I鈥檒l never forget Hungarian discus thrower Robert Fazekas making a spectacle of himself celebrating the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. A couple days later he was stripped of his ill-gotten prize for a doping violation. A cloud hangs over these Games because Russia鈥檚 massive state-supported doping has been revealed to the world.

That and other scandals within the Olympic movement make me heartsick because I believe our youth need role models like Franklin and Boulder runner Jenny Simpson. A two-time world championships medalist in the 1,500 meters, Simpson likes to say she has had the pleasure of beating cheaters for medals before and hopes to do so again.

The Olympics have always championed international brotherhood 鈥� remember, the ancient Greeks who started all this put wars on pause for the games at Olympia 鈥� and that message is even more important today in a world haunted by terrorism. Simpson sees Rio’s iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer as 鈥渁 symbol of what I deeply and sincerely believe is goodness in the world that will triumph over evil.鈥�

That’s usually what happens at the Olympics. I pray that’s what happens over the next two weeks.