Founder of Esporte em Ação (Sport in Action), former Cruzeiro goalkeeper Gilmar Sette is saluted as he carries the torch. "I've faced penalties, lifted trophies, worn the captain's armband but this is a different feeling. With the torch there's no opposition. We are all buzzing, together."

Crowds flocked to JK square in Guanhães to see jiu-jitsu star Alexandre Nunes, better known as Xuxa, carry the torch. "It's only sunk in now," he said. His social project teaches the sport to about 500 kids in Guanhães.