NEW YORK -- "The Girl from Ipanema" has won a gold medal in music streaming following the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics.
Spotify says the song was streamed more than 40,000 times a day after the Olympics kicked off Friday night in Rio de Janeiro. It is 1,200 per cent rise for the track, which was typically streamed about 3,000 times a day before the Olympics, the streaming service said.
Supermodel Gisele Bundchen walked onstage during the opening ceremony while "The Girl from Ipanema" was played by the composer's grandson Daniel Jobim. The Grammy-winning song was released in 1964.
Antonio Carlos (Tom) Jobim, a Brazilian composer and musician who is considered one of the driving forces of the bossa nova musical style, wrote the song as a tribute to a girl he fell in love with as she strolled Ipanema Beach, one of Rio's iconic beaches. It is arguably Brazil's most recognizable song internationally.
Jobim died in 1994.
His muse for the song, Helô Pinheiro, 71, a Brazilian model and businesswoman, carried the Olympic torch on the final day of the relay.
