By Pedro Fonseca

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) – Brazilian sailors delivered the Olympic torch to Rio de Janeiro’s mayor yesterday, two days before South America’s first Olympic Games opens under tight security.Torch alights on Rio shore ahead of Games openingAfter a 20 000-km (12,400-mile) journey through one of the world’s largest and most diverse nations, the torch crossed Guanabara Bay in a boat, piloted by former medallists, in a nod to a competition where the host country has claimed Olympic glory.
The flame landed on terra firma at 09:15hrs (1315 London time) while just kilometres away 450 heavily armed police battled drug traffickers to carry out dozens of arrest orders in the Alemao slum, an area near the international airport and close to the main road to Olympic venues.
Armed soldiers stood patrol on highways and on many corners throughout the iconic beach city in Brazil’s largest security operation ever. Some 85 000 police, soldiers and security personnel will be deployed in Rio, more than double the amount in London in 2012, to deter both violent street crime and the threat of attacks by extremists.
The world’s largest sporting event comes to Brazil at a challenging time, in the midst of the country’s worst recession in at least a quarter-century and an impeachment trial of a suspended president. Many residents struggling with the dire economy question the wisdom of hosting the Olympics, a bid Brazil won in 2009 while the economy was booming.
“The Olympics is a waste of time. The Games did not bring any benefits to Rio de Janeiro,” said waiter Adriano Souza, 25, lamenting the lack of public transportation to get around the sprawling, mountainous city.
Residents have faced hours of traffic jams in recent days as new express bus lanes ferrying athletes and visitors to sport venues take up highway space, leading Mayor Eduardo Paes to declare today the fourth city holiday of the Games.
After picking up the torch at a local naval academy, a grinning Paes took it on its first laps through the streets of downtown Rio, known locally as “the marvellous city”. A few protesters cropped up in the mostly celebratory crowd, which cheered to the pulse of drums and samba music.
In addition to baulking at the $12 billion (£9 billion) price tag, largely unorganised protesters are calling for more accountability from elected officials after a massive corruption scandal focused on the state oil company ensnared dozens of high-level politicians.
The economic malaise might have contributed to a larger excess supply of tickets before the Games’ start than in London. The Rio Organising Committee said 1.3 million tickets remained unsold yesterday, though nearly half of those tickets are for football matches held in other cities.

EARLY TEST AT FOOTBALL MATCH
The symbol of the Olympic Games will visit surrounding towns and return to the city centre today, ahead of tomorrow’s opening ceremony in the famed Maracanã stadium, site of the World Cup final in 2014.
Some cariocas, as residents of Rio are known, said they were eager to show the world their city is ready for the international spotlight and pleased they had largely delivered venues on time.
“It was easy to get here and there are plenty of police,” said architect Sergio Lima e Silva, who was attending the first sporting event of the Games – a women’s football match between South Africa and Sweden in a new stadium.
While the torch’s tour through 300 cities has generally been smooth, it did spur an international outcry when authorities had to shoot a jaguar after the animal escaped from its handlers at a ceremony in the Amazon city of Manaus.
The name of the final torch-bearer is a closely guarded secret, but football legend Pele said on Tuesday he had been invited to light the Olympic cauldron tomorrow and was checking availability with his sponsors.