Basketball legend Oscar Schmidt, the all-time leading scorer in Olympic history, was overcome with emotion as he carried the Rio 2016 Olympic Torch in his home town of Natal on Saturday (4 June). Considered one of the greatest basketballers to have never played in the NBA, Schmidt starred in Brazil's shock 1987 win over the USA that helped create the 1992 Olympic 'Dream Team'.

Carrying the Olympic flame in the city of Natal in the North East of Brazil, Schmidt was brought to tears as he ran past the school where he studied and shot his first hoops. "It's something extraordinary, to have the Olympic flame in your own hands," he said. 

The giant forward, who participated in five Olympic Games – Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Athens 1996 – was famous for scoring three-pointers, as was noted by the New York Times after that seminal gold medal match at the 1987 Pan-American Games in Indianapolis. Schmidt ended up with an impressive 46 points as Brazil defeated the USA, overturning a 14-point half-time deficit.

Brazil also claimed gold at the Pan-American Games last year and Schmidt, the only player who has scored more than 1,000 points in the Olympic Games, thinks the current Brazilian side is well positioned for Rio 2016. "It's very likely that our basketball team is going to win a medal," he said in Natal.

Meeting of stars

Schmidt took the Olympic flame from another home-town sporting icon, Virna Dias, who won bronze medals in volleyball at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. "Natal is the most beautiful city in the world," she said. "I've been around the world but there is nowhere like this."

Dias's three children accompanied her during her stage of the relay. "I wish I was 15 years old again so I could be part of the Olympic Games in my home country," she said.

Dias passes on the Olympic flame to Oscar Schmidt  (Photo: Rio 2016/Marcos de Paula)

Paralympic hero remembers Muhammad Ali

Paralympic swimmer Clodoaldo Silva was the last runner in the Olympic Torch Relay in Natal on Saturday. Silva, who won six gold medals at Athens 2004, paid tribute to the late Muhammad Ali. He called on the huge crowds to be inspired by the boxing legend and follow the Olympic values. "I have never seen so many people, or such human warmth," Silva said after lighting the cauldron in Natal.

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, a new generation of Brazilian swimming stars who have been inspired by Silva, including Daniel Dias and André Brasil, look set to continue the country's strong tradition in Paralympic swimming. 

Football icon Júnior lights cauldron in João Pessoa

On Friday, another iconic Olympic athlete lit the Olympic cauldron in his home town. Leovegildo Lins da Gama Júnior, better known simply as Júnior, played for the national team at Montreal 1976, where the seleção finished fourth. The mustachioed hero then went on to a glorious career at Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro and was a member of the legendary national sides of 1982 and 1986.

Júnior (below) said he didn't think twice when he was asked to light the cauldron in his birthplace of João Pessoa. "I would have made any sacrifice to carry the torch in my home town. It is a truly unique moment," he said.

(Photo: Rio 2016/Fernando Soutello)