In an action-packed four days since the Olympic flame arrived in Brazil, the Rio 2016 Torch has abseiled from helicopters, travelled by cable car and ox-cart, climbed into tree-tops and rappeled down waterfalls.

In this most diverse of countries, it has been carried by torchbearers of all ages, all colours and all backgrounds. Wherever they come from, whatever they do, every one has been hailed with rapturous applause.

Here's a selection of some of the torchbearers and followers who are making the Rio 2016 Olympic Torch Relay so memorable...

The first lady

Double Olympic volleyball champion Fabiana Claudino got the show on the road in Brasília on Tuesday and it was a proud and emotional moment for her. “As a black Brazilian woman and an athlete, the feeling of representing the Brazilian people at the arrival of the Olympic flame on Brazilian soil is hard to contain,” she said.

The messenger

In an evocative night-time ceremony in Brasília, the torch passed into the hands of Kamukaiká Lappa, a member of the indigenous Xingu people. Kamukaiká carried the torch around the capital city's memorial to the continent's indigenous tribes before taking part in a traditional Xingu performance. 

“Our participation in the relay is important because it reminds people about the need to respect nature and cultural diversity,” he said. “It is what the indigenous world needs right now. As I pass on the torch to the next person, I hope that they believe in us.”

The dancing torch

A very different figure stole the show the next day during the torch's journey into the state of Goiás. In true Carnival spirit, dentist and amateur marathon runner Lucio Monteiro dressed up as a giant torch, chased the relay and then danced his way into the nation's hearts.

The artisan

With his grey beard and flowing silver locks, local craftsman Frey Marcos brought a biblical touch to the proceedings when the relay reached the cobbled streets and colonial churches of Cidade de Goiás. The visit of the Olympic Torch Relay will linger long in the memory of this historic town.

The air guitarist

You read that right – the air guitarist. Fausto Carraro, business consultant by day, legend of the air guitar by night. Sadly, the air guitar is not yet an Olympic discipline. Fausto showed us all what we are missing when he launched into an impromptu performance with the torch.

The wagon driver

In all his 82 years Antônio de Paula can never have carried a passenger quite like this. The long-time resident of the sleepy town of Trindade took the Olympic Torch for a ride in an ox cart, a traditional means of transport that is still in common use in Goiás.

The refugee

Amid the fun and festivities there was room for a serious message on day one of the torch relay in Brazil. When 12-year-old Hanan Khaled Daqqah, a refugee from the war in Syria, carried the torch in the country she now calls home there was hardly a dry eye in the house.

“I love the Brazilian people, I feel Brazilian myself,” she told Rio2016.com.