Olympic sculpture inaugurated on Rio's Copacabana beach

Rio de Janeiro: An Olympic rings sculpture made from 65 kg of recycled plastic bottles has been formally inaugurated on Rio's world-famous Copacabana beach.

Tourists congregated on the sand early Thursday for the unveiling, eager for the chance to snap selfies in front of the three-metre-high piece, reports Efe.

On hand for the event were representatives of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee and the Rio de Janeiro state tourism office, along with some of the students who collected the bottles used in the work.

Municipal Olympic Company Communications Director Martha Tellez told Efe the Copacabana statue took 10 months to be completed and that it should be seen as an "universal symbol of recycling, of taking care of the planet, and of course, of the Olympics, which begin in two weeks".