Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes waved the five-ringed flag as he stepped off the plane. He was accompanied by Carlos Arthur Nuzman, President of the 2016 Games Organizing Committee, Rio Governor Sergio Cabral and Brazilian athletes, some with medals around their necks, reports media correspondent.

“The arrival of the Olympic flag marks a period of transformation in the city,” Paes told reporters. “This is a unique opportunity for Brazil — a time of great celebration.”

“I see the arrival of this Olympic Flag as not the start, but the consolidation of an important process of transformation for the city of Rio de Janeiro,” he added.

“Rio is a city that spent the lion's share of its history, much more time than it should have, looking towards the past. I'm sure that this process of transformation, this turning toward the future, has been consolidated here,” he further said.

Paes said the most important effects of the Olympics “are sometimes, many times, the intangible transformations, the impalpable ones related to the brand of a country, the brand of a city, with the self-esteem of a country.”

The Olympic flag, made out of silk for the 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea, will be temporarily housed in the City Hall and will be open to viewings by visitors.