good morning. revelry in rio. the 2016 olympic games now under way. after a stunning opening ceremony in true brazilian style. the wild the pageantry. the world's most famous supermodel gisele bundchen. and the team of nations. as michael phelps walks in his first ever leading the strong u.s. delegation. all leading up to the moment everyone was waiting for. the olympic cauldron is lit and the athletes can now officially

today, saturday, august 6th, 2016. >> team usa has won back-to-back gold medals. >> another strong finish by phelps. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is a special edition of "today at the olympic games." >> welcome to a special split edition of "today" on this saturday morning. a look burning bright in downtown rio. i'm craig melvin in rio. stephanie ruhle and sheinelle jones and dylan dreyer holding down the fort in new york. >> we are all smiling at the intro and we are not even there. >> i am under the weather, craig. i have olympic fever. >> you were at the opening ceremony last night. how was it?

one thing i discovered about the brazilian people over the past nine days or so, they know how to throw a party. and last night, they threw one heck of a party. they were dancing in the aisles. there was singing. it was a fantastic show. the highlight probably seeing team usa, 550 members strong, with michael phelps coming in. the crowd went wild. we'll have lots more of the highlights in a bit. >> i'm pretty surear their national past time. craig, you have important guests joining you this morning. >> we do. we will talk to secretary of state john kerry in a moment. we will talk to one of the most decorated athletes in olympic history. gold medal winning swimmer mark spitz. let's start with the opening ceremony we were talking about. a special night.

brazil can throw a party to kickoff the olympic games and they did it in style. maracana stadium with color and music as the friday night open ceremonies showcasing the culture at times looked more like a cirque du soleil show. there were fireworks, 3d projections and lots of samba. memorable moments. and in beijing, it was the drums. in london, the queen. in rio, it just may have been a bombshell who stole the show. brazil's beloved gisele bundchen in the longest catwalk of her career to the tune of "the girl from ipanema." she joined thousands of revelers on stage to dance like no one

the celebration of the world, the spotlight then turned to protecting it. climate change taking center stage. that theme continued throughout the night. bicycles with children carrying small trees as they led the delegation as they entered the children. brazil will plant a tree, one for every athlete in the games. over 550 strong, the united states, the largest delegation most decorated olympian of all time. michael phelps. and an emotional first for the olympics. when a team of refugee athletes entered the stadium to a standing ovation. just moments before team brazil closed the parade of nations. and the most anticipated moment of the night.

lighting the olympic cauldron. the symbol that the games of the xxxi olympiad are under way. secretary of state john kerry attended the opening ceremony. his first in person. he is leading the u.s. delegation at the games. joined by gold medalist mark spitz. thank you gentlemen for getting up early or staying up late. >> this is a tough location. >> i couldet the opening ceremonies, i know you were sitting next to french president hollande. >> it was beautiful. extraordinary. the only thing, the first time i have been to one of them. i missed some of the comments explaining this is what this is. it was beautiful and unbelievably well done. it was thrilling to be there. the u.s. delegation stretched

>> coming into the games, there was a lot of talk of security and safety. the political unrest in the country as well. the thousands of americans for the next two weeks or so. are they safe? >> nobody can make predictions in today's world, but i have never seen as much security and coordinated effort. we have been working with them. we are tightly even with them. we live in a complicated place. >> i know you are an avid cyclist. i know you will go there. >> i will be at the start of the cycling. i will pile in with beach volleyball and gymnastics. >> let's talk about the swim team, mark. katie ledecky and michael

get in the pool for team usa. what can we expect from that team going into the games? >> well, katie, as you mentioned, will lead off the women in a positive way. she is predicted to win the 200 free and 400 free and 800 free. she has the best times going into the olympic games. of course, michael phelps swimming in three events. his times are world in two events. he wasn't rested for the olympic trials. i would never bet against him. this is his swansong. i expect he will surprise us or maybe not surprise us or come away with several more medals and probably gold. >> mr. secretary, on a more serious note. you and president obama hold firm that the $400 million payment to iran was not in exchange for those detainees. can you appreciate -- can you

the world and especially in the country see it differently? >> i can see why somebody would ask a question, but when the facts are known, it should be ended immediately of any controversy. the fact is we went to great pains to have a completely separate track of negotiation. we know the negotiation was go on. we are paying interest. american taxpayers were paying potentially billions of dollars of interest. what we did was take advantage of the mt completely separate career team, no politics, nobody influenced. they negotiated this separately. it is a legal proceeding under international law. we're being sued for money that belonged to the iranians. what the iranians got back was their money plus interest and this was actually a principle payment. we got a huge savings for the

the transfer of the people which we negotiated. i personally negotiated our team with the state department. >> why cash? why not wire transfer? >> we have no banking relationship with the iranians because of our sanctions. so the very measures congress put if place in order to bring about a negotiation are what created a situation where you have to transfe this is a political season. we understand that. the facts make it absolutely clear. we don't pay ransom. we will not pay ransom. >> team usa. you spoke to them yesterday. what did you say to them? >> they are all champions already for being here. the excitement and level of confidence. these kids are absolutely extraordinary. we're very, very proud of all of

incredible. a refugee who came over. kids who are competing, but working at the same time with our embassies. to work with children in other countries who don't have the same opportunities. it is an extraordinary team. i have great expectations. i think all americans do. we are all proud. >> mr. secretary, thank you. mark, good to see you. thank you for your time. the networks of nbc are the only place to watch the olympic games. watch ourov starting at 8:00 eastern and 7:00 central. sheinelle, back to you. >> thank you, craig. we will check in with you in a bit. we have to get to the other news headlines of the day. beginning with the latest in the race for the white house. donald trump is trying to recover from one of the worst weeks of the campaign. he extended an olive branch to republicans in wisconsin endorsing paul ryan and senator john mccain.

wisconsin where mr. trump is campaigning later today. >> reporter: good morning. the republican nominee endorsing the republican house leader is not supposed to be news, but it seems mr. trump is listening to advisers and voters who hope he will unite the party before it is too late. a rare about face for donald trump from not quite there yet to a full endorsement in time. >> i support and endorse our speaker of the house paul ryan. >> reporter: damage control after arguably the worst week of the campaign. the days long battle with the gold star family, condemned by republican leaders, retaliating his poll numbers nationally and swing states plummeting. even losing with men. finally back on message. >> she's a monster. >> reporter: even some true

>> if he doesn't change, he may not win. >> reporter: trump blames the media. the example, a crying baby. >> you can get the baby out of here. the press came out with headlines "trump throws baby out of arena." so dishonest. >> reporter: hillary clinton, meanwhile, speaking to a convention of minority journalists, doubling down on debunked claims on the e-mail controversy. >> director comey said my answers in my fbi interview were truthful. >> reporter: almost apologizing. >> i may have short circuited and for that i will try to clarify. >> reporter: before repeating another statement at odds with the fbi director. >> i never sent or received anything that was marked classified. >> reporter: the career politician struggling to regain trust. the underdog outsider desperate

weekend. back campaigning on monday in florida. donald trump will be behind me at this high school tonight in new hampshire and he is back on monday campaigning in michigan. all three states where trump is now behind in the polls. stephanie. >> big saturday night for you. jacob. protests are already planned in chicago today. a day after the police department released videos showing the fatal shooting of the unarmed black teenager last month. [ gunshots ] >> the officers opened fire as the suspected car thief paul o'neil raced through a stop sign. the teen took off on foot after the car crashed. the police took off after him and hitting him in the back. the video suggests that policy was violated and promises

responsible. three police officers were relieved of their duty. one officer can be heard, quote they shot at us, right? and their lawyer praised the police for the quick release of the tapes, he is calling for a special prosecutor in the case. a big scare last night at a concert in new jersey. the crowd was watching snoop dogg perform when the railing on the stand it sent row after row of fans toppling on the concrete below. several were taken to the hospital. we have to get to the olympics. president and mrs. obama released a statement on twitter wishing team usa good luck. take a look. >> oh, babe, you should leave it up to the pros.

on the world. >> bring home the gold for the red, white and blue. >> okay. >> they love the comedy. >> i love her clothes. >> i know. i was looking at her dress the whole time. thank you very much. we have the purple thing going on. the east coast and gulf coast. a cold front draped across the northeast. this will start to trigger thunderstorms as we start around noon across w overnight hours across the east coast itself. this is the area down through florida where we are seeing the area of low pressure that is not going to move all that quickly. it is associated with the stationary front. we will see days and days of moisture streaming off the gulf of mexico and produce several inches of rain across florida. especially northern florida. florida can handle the rain, but 10 to 12 inches of rain over the

isolated flooding. that will be the concern. out in the southwest, we have flash flood watching with the monsoonal moisture. it produces pockets of heavy rain. parts of arizona with 4 inches of rain. >> weather: this is jerry brown here in the news 3 weather center. big changes ahead for t 103 to 105 with sunny skies. few southerly breezes. otherwis thanks, dylan. still to come.

glued to the television watching the opening ceremony. our man craig melvin was in the stands so close to gisele. >> but first this is "today" on

we are back with more olympic fe craig, what is it like there? >> you know, nine days i've been here. and every day it has been just fantastic. first of all, the weather here is just perfect. we started last week in ipanema. i would say it is three miles behind me. we're on copacabana. ipanema is three miles down the road. i think we have a picture of

have been taking 100 pictures a day. >> i'm living through you with instagram. this is the picture i saw. the christ the redeemer statue. pretty cool, huh? >> sheinelle, you and i know that is probably as close as i will ever get. we spent time yesterday with team usa's basketball team. carmelo anthony is the face of the we are seeing the gymnasts members come in to watch the basketball team. that all pales in comparison to what we saw last night. >> the opening ceremony was extraordinary. >> we will talk about it in a bit. more to come from rio and a conversation with the men's

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we're back on this saturday morning, august 6th. another great moment from the ceremony. the maracana stadium. a thunderous applause from the stadium. what a moment before the cauldron was lit. that is the cauldron right there. welcome back to the split edition of "today." we are at studio 1a and craig melvin reporting from rio this morning. >> we will check in with him and get more from the opening ceremony in a moment. here is a look at other headlines today.

now endorsing house speaker paul ryan, senator john mccain and senator kelly ayotte. mr. trump campaigned in wisconsin last night. neither ryan or walker attended. police are warning people to be vigilant after a ninth shooting. several people have been killed since the spree started in march. police are widening the search area and increased the reward to find the scary moments after a mid air collision with two planes in alaska. officials are still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong, but say the crash likely happened when one plane was taking off and the other coming in for a landing despite substantial damage, amazingly, no injuries. now it is time for "the download." the recap of the biggest headlines of the week. >> another week of controversy

party and zika raged on and a plane crash in dubai. those are some of the stories that caught our attention. >> president obama during his annual summer news conference tearing into donald trump. >> i don't really know where to start. >> responding to these comments. >> i'm afraid the election will be rigged. >> this after a tough week for the republican nominee. >> you have family fallout, trump lashing out. >> she's the devil. >> and putting fellow republicans on edge. >> supporters like rudy giuliani are hoping for a possible intervention. >> but trump is still feeling confident. >> the campaign is doing really well. it has never been so well

dubai. a crash land in flames. the flames gutting the cockpit to tail. all 300 passengers and crew, including six americans got out alive. alarm bells in florida with the increase in zika cases from local mosquitoes. >> the streets of the popular miami neighborhood filled with clouds of insecticide. >> we are very active in making sure we do everything we can to control the spread of zika. >> experow repellent with deet for everyone. >> we never faced a situation like this. and despite concerns of zika, rio and the rest of the world celebrated the countdown to the 2016 olympics. >> for the u.s. women's soccer team, too good. >> off to a winning start. >> michael phelps learned he

>> a huge honor. >> and what is a road trip without a sing along? the basketball team let loose with a classic jam. ?? i need you ? ? i miss you ? ? and now i wonder ?? >> then, the camera pans over to carmelo anthony. he's not having it. >> and finally, the biggest stars in rio could take a cue from dustin hoffman when dealing with the paparazzi. >> he is playing with the camera. if you can't see me, i can't see you. >> i love it. the attitude i love was kyrie irving singing on the plane. would you think if the u.s. basketball team, would you think it was that song? >> that is why it is so great. >> we said this before. social media has changed the

they are doing. >> i like it. >> you know how excited i was to watch. >> i missed the united states coming out because i forgot it is portuguese names. in the "e" i missed it. i was in the kitchen. >> let's go to dylan with a check of the forecast on the plaza. good morning. >> good morning, guys. we are celebrating birthdays of all these beautiful ladies here who traveled halfway around the world from vietnam. was it worth the trip? >> yes. a great trip to new york. >> are you having fun? >> yes. >> sisters. i see the relationship. let's take a look at the weather for the olympics. we have a lot starting today with the opening ceremonies last night. let's start with the soccer stadium. usa and france at 4:00.

heading to copacabana beach. we have beach volleyball. men's volleyball today. usa and qatar. 84 degrees. tomorrow, women's volleyball. u.s. and poland. 79 degrees and lots of sunshine. elsewhere across our country. we have a cold front and humid in the northeast. we will see thunderstorms continuing to develop as we go into the afternoon. very unsettled across northern florida and the gulf coast. we could see up to 10 t inches of rain. still dealing with the monsoon season in the southwest. we could see more heavy rain. 1 to 2 inches possible. on sunday, we stay in the upper 80s and low 90s and unsettled >> weather: this is jerry brown here in the news 3 weather center. big changes ahead for this weekend. say good-bye to monsoon. 103 to 105 with sunny skies.

and that's your latest forecast. sheinelle and steph. >> dylan, thank you. just ahead, pokemon comes to rio. wait until you hear how a gymnast racked up $5,000 playing it. another epic showdown on

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you are a backwards duck. instead of quack, he says- no, kcauq. kcauq. kcauqqq. kcauuuu. ? ? pringles! i sleep extremely hot. i wake up and i just feel like sticky.

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flights to #tonga. and the kids asked where are we going for spring break? i said tonga. and this is what happened to them when tonga's flag bearer walked in. >> he was oiled up. >> body oil. >> what was funny about that, that was the point in the ceremony where folks started to tune out a t. thought, again, michael phelps had come back out for another run or something. they screamed, they clapped, they cheered. >> is there a purpose? >> he is tuned up right there. the purpose was to win. that's what he did. we will move on. guess who did not win? the pokemon go phenomenon made

for one japanese olympic gymnast, pokemon go cost him $5,000 in roaming fees. the six-time world champion told the local japanese newspaper he downloaded the app in brazil and quickly became addicted, but had no idea he did not have a flat rate for overseas data. lucky for him, he is an olympic star and the phone company spared >> the rest of us? $5,000. >> you think he will not fare well with gymnastics if he is spending that much on pokemon. and so now we want to play a quick game. is this an actual olympic sport taking place in rio? >> great title. >> no creativity here in rio. first off, rugby. >> yes.

you guys all got that one. i spent time with the team in california. i saw them yesterday. they should medal. we have a great squad. how about bmx biking? olympic sport? >> yes. >> yes. >> no. >> dylan, you should not have done that. it is yes. bmx biking is a sport. what about lacrosse? is lacrosse a sport? >> no. >> no for lacrosse? all of it is not an olympic sport. a lot of people argue it should be. how about trampolining? is that an olympic sport? >> i think it is. >> i feel like i have seen it before. >> it is. definitely. >> you are right. it is actually a sport. we have a team. >> what do we win? >> oh, i will bring you a t-shirt.

the chance to do pop start. first up is one of our favorite moments on "the tonight show." when jimmy performs the lip sync battles. he took on seth rogen. the boys did not disappoint. ?? ? jam, big boys make noise ?? ?? ? ever since i left the city ?? >> that earned him bragging rights of the battle. that was a toss-up. >> when that first came out, i said i love this song. >> come on. >> i love it. moving on. one of the summer's biggest blockbusters, "suicide squad."

getting lackluster reviews. everyone is talking about the rendition of the joker. you may have heard that the rumors he stayed in character during filming. that is true. listen to what viola davis said in the interview. >> what was the first interaction? >> i met him at carnegie hall and he was passing by and not looking at me. i he said viola. he still had his red hair. he said, oh, viola, nice to meet you. we stood there and he said bye. i said bye. >> and by the way, according to early estimates, it is expected to bring in $140 million this weekend. up next, the men's

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gymnastics team. after a rocky showing at the 2012 london games, but as they tell natalie morales, they are back and proving they have what it takes to get back to the podium. >> flipping and twisting and soaring through the air at the men's gymnastics team put on a show at trials. but now it is game time and these guys are ready to put up a fight of the lifetime to get on the the team led by first time olympian chris brooks. >> chris, you are the team captain. to see this team, perhaps, get to some sort of medal contention for a team medal, what does this team need to do? >> we just need to keep doing what we have been doing. we talk about hitting routines. i think this team has the talent and depth to go out and we have a decent day and hit sets.

that's been a problem with the team. >> yes, absolutely. the team in london, they showed chances of brilliance in winning prelims and in finals, it wasn't their day. we are as prepared as we can be and go out and hit our sets. >> four-time champion sam mikulak is looking to score his first u.s. medal. >> for me, if we can live up to our expectations of what a good performanc the day, we'll have absolutely no regret because we put on the show we thought was necessary and we're capable. that will be success. >> 2012 olympic bronze medalist was an alternate for the olympic team. after john orozco was injured in training camp, he has been called up to once again represent his country. >> your story of how you are here this time around, it must be somewhat bittersweet.

devastating. to see that happen. he has been through a lot. for him to make the olympic team was amazing. i'm honored to be considered for the competitive team. i'm ready to go. >> veteran jake dalton and first time alex naddour show me how close these guys really are. >> we have grown up together since we were 6 years old. sam was with me in a meet. jake was we are brothers. for us, i know each and every one of these guys. we are on a roll. if we put pressure on, we can shock the world. >> brothers trying to take the podium starting tonight, guys. >> i'm excited for that. >> everything. i love the olympics started. >> you can watch it here.

teams and qualifiers and swimming events tonight on nbc at 8:00. >> we are back in a moment, but

that's beautiful. >> you know, we are all olympics. craig, what is the number one thing you want to see? >> basketball. i spent time yesterday with melo and coach k, by the way, he said t country needs the olympics, that time is now. i'm looking forward to the men's basketball. >> women's gymnastics. >> the fierce five. craig, it looks absolutely beautiful where you are this morning. >> a tough assignment. i'll have that story next saturday with melo. >> tomorrow on today, willie >> tomorrow on today, willie talks with the members i will awaken your sixth sense mom.

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no one has won more! the most dominant in olympic history and it's pure gold! it is saturday morning in rio de janeiro, brazil. more than 40 miles of the city is bordered by the atlantic ocean accentuated by a number of distinct mountain peaks. and for the next 16 days and nights, some 11,000 athletes from 206 countries will be competing in and around rio as the olympics have come to south america for the very first time.