2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (Portuguese: Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016),[c] officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad (Portuguese: Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 3 August. Rio de Janeiro was announced as the host city at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009.
Emblem of the 2016 Summer Olympics[a] | |
| Host city | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
|---|---|
| Motto | A New World (Portuguese: Um mundo novo) |
| Nations | 207 (including IOA and EOR teams)[1] |
| Athletes | 11,180 (6,146 men, 5,034 women)[1] |
| Events | 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) |
| Opening | 5 August 2016 |
| Closing | 21 August 2016 |
| Opened by | |
| Cauldron | |
| Stadium | Maracanã (ceremonies), Estádio Olímpico (athletics competition) |
Summer Winter 2016 Summer Paralympics | |
11,238 athletes from 207 nations took part in the 2016 Games, including first-time entrants Kosovo, South Sudan, and the Refugee Olympic Team.[2][3] With 306 sets of medals, the Games featured 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf, which were added to the Olympic program in 2009. These sporting events took place at 33 venues in the host city and at five separate venues in the Brazilian cities of São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília, and Manaus.
These were the first Olympic Games to be held in South America,[4] as well as the first to be held in a Portuguese-speaking country, the first summer edition to be held entirely in the host country's winter season, the first since 1968 to be held in Latin America (the second being 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina), and the first since 2000 to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.[5] These were also the first Summer Olympics to take place under the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidency of Thomas Bach.[3]
The United States topped the medal table, winning the most gold medals (46) and the highest number of medals overall (121); the US team also won its 1,000th Summer Olympic gold medal overall. Great Britain finished second and became the first country to increase its tally of medals in the Olympiad immediately after being host nation in 2012.[6] China finished third in the medal table. Host nation Brazil won seven gold medals and 19 medals, its best result at any Olympics, finishing in thirteenth place. Bahrain, Fiji, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kosovo, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Tajikistan and Vietnam all won their first gold medals, as did the group of Independent Olympic Athletes (from Kuwait).
Bidding process edit
The bidding process for the 2016 Summer Olympics was officially launched on 16 May 2007.[7] The first step for each city was to submit an initial application to the International Olympic Committee by 13 September 2007, confirming their intention to bid. Completed official bid files containing answers to a 25-question IOC form were to be submitted by each city by the deadline of 14 January 2008. On 4 June 2008, two months before the Beijing Olympics, four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo, which had already hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964. Three cities—Baku, Doha, and Prague—failed to reach the candidature phase. Doha was not promoted, despite scoring higher than the selected candidate city Rio de Janeiro, because of their proposal to host the Olympics in October, outside the IOC's sporting calendar, added with its problems while hosting the 2006 Asian Games, including deaths and illnesses involving athletes and volunteers. Others included lack of infrastructures, including beds for athletes and media reporters at that time.[8]
Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco headed the 10-member Evaluation Commission, having also chaired the evaluation commission for the 2012 Summer Olympics bids, which was awarded to London, United Kingdom. The commission made on-site inspections in the second quarter of 2009. They issued a comprehensive technical appraisal for IOC members on 2 September, one month before the elections.[9]
Many safeguards were put in place to prevent bidding cities from communicating with or directly influencing the 115 IOC members eligible to vote in the elections. For example, cities could not invite any IOC member to visit, nor could they send anything that could be construed as a gift. Nonetheless, bidding cities invested large sums in their PR and media programs to indirectly influence the IOC members by garnering domestic support and backing from sports media and general international media.
Ultimately, you are communicating with just 115 people and each one has influencers and pressure groups but you are still speaking to no more than about 1,500 people, perhaps 5,000 in the broadest sense. It is not just about getting ads out there but it is about a targeted and very carefully planned campaign.
The final voting was held in Copenhagen on 2 October 2009, with Madrid and Rio de Janeiro considered favorites to secure the Games. Chicago was eliminated after the first round of voting, and Tokyo after the second (The latter city would eventually awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2013). Rio de Janeiro took a significant lead over Madrid, heading into the final round; the lead was held, and Rio de Janeiro was announced as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
| City | NOC | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | 26 | 46 | 66 |
| Madrid | Spain | 28 | 29 | 32 |
| Tokyo | Japan | 22 | 20 | — |
| Chicago | United States | 18 | — | — |
Development and preparation edit
On 26 June 2011, it was reported on AroundTheRings.com that Roderlei Generali, the COO of the Rio de Janeiro Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, resigned just one year after taking the job at ROOC. This came just five months after CCO Flávio Pestana quit for personal reasons.[12] Pestana withdrew later during the 2012 Summer Paralympics, and Renato Ciuchin was then appointed as COO.[13]
Venues and infrastructure edit
Events took place at eighteen existing venues, nine new venues constructed specifically for the Games, and seven temporary venues.[14]
For the events held in Rio de Janeiro, each event was held in one of four geographically segregated Olympic clusters–Barra, Copacabana, Deodoro, and Maracanã–as was done for the 2007 Pan American Games.[15][16] Several of the venues were located at the Barra Cluster Olympic Park.[14] Nearly half of the athletes could reach their venues in less than 10 minutes, and almost 75 per cent could do so in less than 25 minutes. Of the 34 competition venues, eight underwent some permanent works, seven were totally temporary and nine were constructed as permanent legacy venues.[17]
The largest venue at the Games in terms of seating capacity was the 74,738-seat Maracanã Stadium, which served as the ceremonies venue and site of the football finals.[14] The second largest stadium was the 60,000-seat Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, which hosted track and field events.[14] The athletes' village was said to be the largest in Olympic history. Fittings included about 80,000 chairs, 70,000 tables, 29,000 mattresses, 60,000 clothes hangers, 6,000 television sets and 10,000 smartphones.[18]
Olympic Park edit
The Barra Olympic Park is a cluster of nine sporting venues in Barra da Tijuca, in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The site was formerly occupied by the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, also known as the Jacarepaguá Formula One circuit.[19]
The nine venues within the Olympic Park were:[20][21]
- Carioca Arena 1 – basketball (capacity: 16,000)
- Carioca Arena 2 – wrestling, judo (capacity: 10,000)
- Carioca Arena 3 – fencing, taekwondo (capacity: 10,000)
- Future Arena – handball (capacity: 12,000)
- Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre – diving, synchronized swimming, water polo (capacity: 5,000)
- Olympic Aquatics Stadium – swimming, water polo play-offs (capacity: 15,000)
- Olympic Tennis Centre – tennis (capacity: 10,000 Main Court)
- Rio Olympic Arena – gymnastics (capacity: 12,000)
- Rio Olympic Velodrome – track cycling (capacity: 5,000)
Football edit
As well as the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange and Maracanã and in Rio de Janeiro, football matches took place at five venues in the cities of São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília and Manaus.
Urban renovation edit
Rio's historical downtown underwent an urban waterfront revitalization project known as Porto Maravilha, covering 5 km2 (1.9 sq mi) in area. The project aimed to redevelop the port area, increase the city center's attractiveness, and enhance Rio's competitive position in the global economy.[22]
The urban renovation involved 700 km (430 mi) of public networks for water supply, sanitation, drainage, electricity, gas and telecom; 4 km (2.5 mi) of tunnels; 70 km (43 mi) of roads; 650 km2 (250 sq mi) of sidewalks; 17 km (11 mi) of bike path; 15,000 trees; and three sanitation treatment plants. As part of this renovation, a new tram was built from the Santos Dumont Airport to Rodoviária Novo Rio, due to open in April 2016.[23]
The Games required over 200 kilometers of security fencing. A 15,000 square meter warehouse in Barra da Tijuca was used to assemble and supply the furniture and fittings for the Olympic Village. The second warehouse of 90,000 square meters in Duque de Caxias, near the roads that provide access to the venues, contained all the equipment needed for the sporting events.[18]
Medals edit
The medals were produced by the Casa da Moeda do Brasil (the Brazilian mint). The medal design was unveiled on 15 June 2016. They were designed to be environmentally friendly using recycled materials; the bronze and silver medals contained 30% recycled materials. The gold medals were produced using gold that had been mined and extracted according to a set of sustainability criteria, such as being extracted without the use of mercury. The medals feature a wreath design on the front, and in keeping with tradition, the obverse features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. A wooden carrying box accompanied each medal. Medalists were also awarded a trophy in the shape of the Games' emblem.[24][25]
In May 2017, an Associated Press article disclosed that over 100 athletes who had won medals at the Rio Olympics reported that their medals were showing some damage, including black spots, flaking, or surface degrading. Rio officials offered to replace any defective medals and found problems with 6 to 7 percent of all those awarded.[26]
Torch relay edit
The Olympic flame was lit on 21 April 2016 at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, the traditional start of the Greek phase of the torch relay. The flame was handed over to the Brazilian organisers in a ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on 27 April. A brief stop-off was made in Switzerland to visit the IOC headquarters and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, as well as the United Nations Office at Geneva.[27]
The torch relay began its journey around Brazil on 3 May at the capital Brasília. The flame visited more than 300 Brazilian cities, including all 26 state capitals and the Brazilian Federal District.[28] The relay ended in Rio de Janeiro on 5 August when the flame was used to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony.
Volunteers edit
Unpaid volunteers performed a variety of tasks before and during the Games. A target of 50,000 volunteers was set as early as 2012. More than 240,000 applications were received when recruitment took place in 2014. The clothing worn by the volunteers included yellow polo shirts and jackets, beige trousers, white socks, and green trainers, which they collected from the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre. Volunteers also wore photo accreditation badges which were allocated to officials, athletes, family members, and media, allowing them to gain access to specific venues and buildings around the site.[29] Many volunteers gave up their roles due to long working hours and insufficient free meals.[30]
Ticketing edit
The ticket prices were announced on 16 September 2014, all of which were sold in Brazilian reais (BRL). A total of 7.5 million tickets were to be sold in total, with ticket prices ranging from BRL 40 for many events to BRL 4,600 for the most expensive seats at the opening ceremony. About 3.8 million of these tickets were available for BRL 70 or less.[31][32]
Sustainability edit
As an aspect of its bid, Rio's organizing committee planned to focus on sustainability and environmental protection as a theme of the 2016 Games, going on to dub them a "Green Games for a Blue Planet".[33] As legacy projects, organizers intended to introduce a wider array of public transport options, upgrade the infrastructure of the favelas to provide improved transport and access to utilities, upgrade Rio's sewer system to remediate the level of pollution in the Guanabara Bay,[33][34] and plant 24 million seedlings to offset the expected carbon emissions of the Games. However, some of these projects met with delays or faced economic shortfalls, leading some critics to believe that Rio would not be able to accomplish them.[33][35]
The focus on environmental protection also influenced the implementation of certain Olympic protocols. To reduce emissions, the Olympic cauldron was designed to be smaller than previous iterations, using a kinetic sculpture to enhance its appearance in place of a larger body of flames.[36] The bronze and silver medals, as well as the ribbons on all medals, were designed to incorporate recycled materials.[24][25] The athletes were not presented with flowers during the medal ceremonies, as had been the tradition at previous Olympics (although floral displays were still used as part of the staging of medal presentations). The organizers considered the practice to be wasteful because the flowers were often thrown away and "would struggle to survive in the tropical Brazilian climate" if kept. The podiums were designed using materials that could be recycled to make furniture.[25][37]
The Future Arena, the venue for the handball competitions, was designed as a temporary modular structure whose components could be reconstructed after the Games to build schools.[38] However, as of November 2017, the arena was still standing due to lack of funds to dismantle it and no allocation of funds to do so in the 2018 budget.[39] Portions of the opening ceremony were dedicated to the issue of climate change.[40]
The Games edit
Opening ceremony edit
The opening ceremony took place at Maracana Stadium on 5 August 2016, directed by Fernando Meirelles, Daniela Thomas, and Andrucha Waddington.[41] The ceremony highlighted aspects of Brazilian history and culture, and featured a segment narrated by Fernanda Montenegro and Judi Dench with an appeal to environmental conservation and the prevention of global warming.[40][42] The crowd in the stadium numbered 60,000 and the event was broadcast to an estimated global audience of three billion.[4]
The ceremony included the inaugural presentation of the Olympic Laurel, an honor bestowed by the IOC on those that have made "significant achievements in education, culture, development and peace through sport"; the trophy was awarded to Kenyan athlete Kipchoge Keino.[43] The Games were officially opened by the acting president of Brazil, Michel Temer.[44]
The Olympic cauldron was lit by long-distance runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima,[4] the men's marathon bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympics, who had also received the IOC's Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship after being attacked by a spectator and losing his lead in the race.[41][45] The cauldron was originally expected to be lit by Brazilian footballer Pelé, but he declined to participate due to health problems.[42][46][47]
Following the opening ceremony, a public cauldron was lit in front of the Candelária Church by Jorge Gomes, a 14-year-old Brazilian athlete who had escaped from poverty to train as a runner.[48][49]
Sports edit
The 2016 Summer Olympic program featured 28 sports encompassing 306 events. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
| 2016 Summer Olympic Sports Programme | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New sports edit
In April 2008, the IOC began accepting applications for two new sports to be introduced to the Olympic programme. Baseball and softball (which were both dropped in 2005), karate, squash, golf, roller sports, and rugby union all applied to be included on the programme. Formal presentations were made to the IOC executive board in June 2009.[50]
In August, the executive board initially gave its approval to rugby sevens—a seven-player version of rugby union—by a majority vote; baseball/softball, roller sports, and squash were removed from contention, leaving golf, karate, and rugby sevens in the running. A final vote was held on 9 October 2009, the closing day of the 121st IOC Session. At this session, a new voting system was in place: a sport now needed only a simple majority from the full IOC committee for approval rather than the two-thirds majority previously required.[51][52]
The 121st IOC Session decided to add rugby sevens and golf to the Rio 2016 Olympic programme.[53] The tally for rugby was 81 in favor, with eight against,[54] and golf was approved by 63 votes to 26.[55] Neither of these two sports was new to the Summer Olympics; rugby last featured in 1924, and golf in 1904.
In May 2012, the International Sailing Federation announced that windsurfing would be replaced by kitesurfing at the 2016 Olympics,[56] but this decision was reversed in November.[57]
Participating National Olympic Committees edit
All 205 National Olympic Committees qualified at least one athlete.[citation needed] The first three nations to qualify athletes for the Games were Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, who each qualified four athletes for the team dressage by winning medals in the team event at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games.[58]
As host nation, Brazil received automatic entry for some sports including in all cycling disciplines and six places for weightlifting events.[59][60]
The 2016 Summer Olympics were the first Games in which Kosovo and South Sudan were eligible to participate. Bulgarian and Russian weightlifters were banned from Rio Olympics for numerous anti-doping violations.[61][62]
Kuwait was banned in October 2015 for the second time in five years over government interference in the country's Olympic committee.[63]
Blue = Participated for the first time in 2016.
Green = Had previously participated.
Yellow circle is host city (Rio de Janeiro)
Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee edit
Refugee athletes edit
Due to the European migrant crisis and other reasons, the IOC allowed athletes to compete as Independent Olympians under the Olympic Flag. During the previous Summer Olympic Games, refugees were ineligible to compete because of their inability to represent their home NOCs.[64] On 2 March 2016, the IOC finalized plans for a specific Refugee Olympic Team (ROT); out of 43 refugee athletes deemed potentially eligible, 10 were chosen to form the team.[65]
Independent athletes edit
Due to the suspension of the National Olympic Committee of Kuwait, participants from Kuwait were allowed to participate under the Olympic Flag as Independent Olympic Athletes.
In November 2015, Russia was provisionally suspended from all international track and field athletic competitions by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) following a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report into a doping program in the country.[66] The IAAF announced that it would allow individual Russian athletes to apply for "exceptional eligibility" to participate in the Games as "neutral" athletes if it was independently verified that they had not engaged in doping nor in the Russian doping program.[67]
On 24 July 2016, the IOC rejected the IAAF and WADA's recommendations to allow athletes to compete neutrally, stating that the Olympic Charter "does not foresee such 'neutral athletes'" and that it was each country's National Olympic Committee decision on which athletes would be competing.[68] As a result, Russian athletes competed under the Russian flag, although they would compete under a neutral flag in the 2018 Winter Olympics following several developments concerning the doping investigation.
National houses edit
During the Games, some countries and continents had a national house. These temporary meeting places for supporters, athletes and other followers were located throughout Rio de Janeiro.[69]
| Nation | Location | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Africa House | Barra da Tijuca | Casa da África |
| Australia | Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange Convention Center | Casa da Austrália |
| Austria | Botafogo | Casa da Áustria |
| Brazil | Gamboa | Casa do Brasil |
| Colombia | Centro | Casa da Colômbia |
| Czech Republic | Barra da Tijuca | Casa da República Tcheca |
| Denmark | Ipanema | Pavilhão Dinamarquês |
| Finland | Centro | Casa da Finlândia |
| France | Lagoa | Clube da França |
| Germany | Leblon | Casa de Praia da Alemanha |
| Great Britain | Parque Lage, Jardim Botânico | Casa Olímpica da Grã-Bretanha |
| Hungary | Gávea | Casa da Hungria |
| Jamaica | Gávea | Casa da Jamaica |
| Mexico | Centro | Casa do México |
| Netherlands | Lagoa | Holland Heineken House (Casa da Holanda) |
| Portugal | Centro | Casa de Portugal |
| PyeongChang 2018 | Copacabana Beach | Casa de PyeongChang 2018 |
| Qatar | Botafogo | Bayt Quatar |
| Russia | Copacabana | Casa do Time Olímpico do Rússia |
| Slovakia | Barra da Tijuca | Casa Eslovaca |
| Tokyo 2020 | Barra da Tijuca | Casa de Tóquio 2020 |
| Tokyo Metropolitan Government | Paço Imperial | Casa do Governo Metropolitano de Tóquio |
Calendar edit
This is currently based on the schedule released on the same day as ticket sales began, 31 March 2015.[70]
- All dates are Brasília Time (UTC–3)
| OC | Opening ceremony | ● | Event competitions | 1 | Gold medal events | EG | Exhibition gala | CC | Closing ceremony |
| August 2016 | 3rd Wed | 4th Thu | 5th Fri | 6th Sat | 7th Sun | 8th Mon | 9th Tue | 10th Wed | 11th Thu | 12th Fri | 13th Sat | 14th Sun | 15th Mon | 16th Tue | 17th Wed | 18th Thu | 19th Fri | 20th Sat | 21st Sun | Events | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceremonies | OC | CC | — | ||||||||||||||||||
| Aquatics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Diving | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ● | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | 46 | |||||||
| Marathon swimming | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Swimming | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Synchronized swimming | ● | ● | 1 | ● | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Water polo | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Archery | ● | 1 | 1 | ● | ● | ● | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Athletics | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 47 | ||||||||||
2016, summer, olympics, brazil, 2016, redirects, here, events, 2016, brazil, 2016, brazil, 2016, olympics, 2016, redirect, here, winter, youth, olympics, lillehammer, norway, 2016, winter, youth, olympics, summer, paralympics, 2016, summer, paralympics, portug. Brazil 2016 redirects here For the events in 2016 in Brazil see 2016 in Brazil 2016 Olympics and Rio 2016 redirect here For the Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer Norway see 2016 Winter Youth Olympics For the Summer Paralympics see 2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Olympics Portuguese Jogos Olimpicos de Verao de 2016 c officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad Portuguese Jogos da XXXI Olimpiada and also known as Rio 2016 was an international multi sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro Brazil with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 3 August Rio de Janeiro was announced as the host city at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen Denmark on 2 October 2009 Games of the XXXI OlympiadEmblem of the 2016 Summer Olympics a Host cityRio de Janeiro BrazilMottoA New World Portuguese Um mundo novo Nations207 including IOA and EOR teams 1 Athletes11 180 6 146 men 5 034 women 1 Events306 in 28 sports 41 disciplines Opening5 August 2016Closing21 August 2016Opened byVice President Michel Temer b CauldronVanderlei Cordeiro de LimaStadiumMaracana ceremonies Estadio Olimpico athletics competition Summer London 2012Tokyo 2020 Winter Sochi 2014Pyeongchang 2018 2016 Summer Paralympics11 238 athletes from 207 nations took part in the 2016 Games including first time entrants Kosovo South Sudan and the Refugee Olympic Team 2 3 With 306 sets of medals the Games featured 28 Olympic sports including rugby sevens and golf which were added to the Olympic program in 2009 These sporting events took place at 33 venues in the host city and at five separate venues in the Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo Belo Horizonte Salvador Brasilia and Manaus These were the first Olympic Games to be held in South America 4 as well as the first to be held in a Portuguese speaking country the first summer edition to be held entirely in the host country s winter season the first since 1968 to be held in Latin America the second being 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires Argentina and the first since 2000 to be held in the Southern Hemisphere 5 These were also the first Summer Olympics to take place under the International Olympic Committee IOC presidency of Thomas Bach 3 The United States topped the medal table winning the most gold medals 46 and the highest number of medals overall 121 the US team also won its 1 000th Summer Olympic gold medal overall Great Britain finished second and became the first country to increase its tally of medals in the Olympiad immediately after being host nation in 2012 6 China finished third in the medal table Host nation Brazil won seven gold medals and 19 medals its best result at any Olympics finishing in thirteenth place Bahrain Fiji Ivory Coast Jordan Kosovo Puerto Rico Singapore Tajikistan and Vietnam all won their first gold medals as did the group of Independent Olympic Athletes from Kuwait Contents 1 Bidding process 2 Development and preparation 2 1 Venues and infrastructure 2 1 1 Olympic Park 2 1 2 Football 2 2 Urban renovation 2 3 Medals 2 4 Torch relay 2 5 Volunteers 2 6 Ticketing 2 7 Sustainability 3 The Games 3 1 Opening ceremony 3 2 Sports 3 2 1 New sports 3 3 Participating National Olympic Committees 3 3 1 Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee 3 3 2 Refugee athletes 3 3 3 Independent athletes 3 3 4 National houses 3 4 Calendar 3 5 Records 3 6 Event scheduling 3 7 Closing ceremony 3 8 Cost 4 Medal table 4 1 Podium sweeps 5 Broadcasting 5 1 Olympic Golden Rings Awards 6 Marketing 6 1 Mascots 6 2 Emblem 7 Concerns and controversies 7 1 Political and economic crisis 7 2 Zika virus 7 3 Environmental problems 7 4 Security 7 5 Russian doping scandal 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External linksBidding process editMain article Bids for the 2016 Summer Olympics nbsp A young girl adding her signature in support of Rio de Janeiro s candidacy nbsp The bid committee led by Carlos Arthur Nuzman giving a press conference The bidding process for the 2016 Summer Olympics was officially launched on 16 May 2007 7 The first step for each city was to submit an initial application to the International Olympic Committee by 13 September 2007 confirming their intention to bid Completed official bid files containing answers to a 25 question IOC form were to be submitted by each city by the deadline of 14 January 2008 On 4 June 2008 two months before the Beijing Olympics four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist Chicago Madrid Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo which had already hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964 Three cities Baku Doha and Prague failed to reach the candidature phase Doha was not promoted despite scoring higher than the selected candidate city Rio de Janeiro because of their proposal to host the Olympics in October outside the IOC s sporting calendar added with its problems while hosting the 2006 Asian Games including deaths and illnesses involving athletes and volunteers Others included lack of infrastructures including beds for athletes and media reporters at that time 8 Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco headed the 10 member Evaluation Commission having also chaired the evaluation commission for the 2012 Summer Olympics bids which was awarded to London United Kingdom The commission made on site inspections in the second quarter of 2009 They issued a comprehensive technical appraisal for IOC members on 2 September one month before the elections 9 Many safeguards were put in place to prevent bidding cities from communicating with or directly influencing the 115 IOC members eligible to vote in the elections For example cities could not invite any IOC member to visit nor could they send anything that could be construed as a gift Nonetheless bidding cities invested large sums in their PR and media programs to indirectly influence the IOC members by garnering domestic support and backing from sports media and general international media Ultimately you are communicating with just 115 people and each one has influencers and pressure groups but you are still speaking to no more than about 1 500 people perhaps 5 000 in the broadest sense It is not just about getting ads out there but it is about a targeted and very carefully planned campaign Jon Tibbs a consultant on the Tokyo bid 10 The final voting was held in Copenhagen on 2 October 2009 with Madrid and Rio de Janeiro considered favorites to secure the Games Chicago was eliminated after the first round of voting and Tokyo after the second The latter city would eventually awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2013 Rio de Janeiro took a significant lead over Madrid heading into the final round the lead was held and Rio de Janeiro was announced as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics 2016 Summer Olympics bidding results 11 City NOC Round 1 Round 2 Round 3Rio de Janeiro nbsp Brazil 26 46 66Madrid nbsp Spain 28 29 32Tokyo nbsp Japan 22 20 Chicago nbsp United States 18 Development and preparation editOn 26 June 2011 it was reported on AroundTheRings com that Roderlei Generali the COO of the Rio de Janeiro Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games resigned just one year after taking the job at ROOC This came just five months after CCO Flavio Pestana quit for personal reasons 12 Pestana withdrew later during the 2012 Summer Paralympics and Renato Ciuchin was then appointed as COO 13 Venues and infrastructure edit Main article Venues of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics nbsp Venues of the 2016 Summer OlympicsEvents took place at eighteen existing venues nine new venues constructed specifically for the Games and seven temporary venues 14 For the events held in Rio de Janeiro each event was held in one of four geographically segregated Olympic clusters Barra Copacabana Deodoro and Maracana as was done for the 2007 Pan American Games 15 16 Several of the venues were located at the Barra Cluster Olympic Park 14 Nearly half of the athletes could reach their venues in less than 10 minutes and almost 75 per cent could do so in less than 25 minutes Of the 34 competition venues eight underwent some permanent works seven were totally temporary and nine were constructed as permanent legacy venues 17 The largest venue at the Games in terms of seating capacity was the 74 738 seat Maracana Stadium which served as the ceremonies venue and site of the football finals 14 The second largest stadium was the 60 000 seat Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange which hosted track and field events 14 The athletes village was said to be the largest in Olympic history Fittings included about 80 000 chairs 70 000 tables 29 000 mattresses 60 000 clothes hangers 6 000 television sets and 10 000 smartphones 18 Olympic Park edit Main article Barra Olympic Park nbsp Barra Olympic ParkThe Barra Olympic Park is a cluster of nine sporting venues in Barra da Tijuca in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro Brazil The site was formerly occupied by the Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet also known as the Jacarepagua Formula One circuit 19 The nine venues within the Olympic Park were 20 21 Carioca Arena 1 basketball capacity 16 000 Carioca Arena 2 wrestling judo capacity 10 000 Carioca Arena 3 fencing taekwondo capacity 10 000 Future Arena handball capacity 12 000 Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre diving synchronized swimming water polo capacity 5 000 Olympic Aquatics Stadium swimming water polo play offs capacity 15 000 Olympic Tennis Centre tennis capacity 10 000 Main Court Rio Olympic Arena gymnastics capacity 12 000 Rio Olympic Velodrome track cycling capacity 5 000 Football edit Main article Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics As well as the Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange and Maracana and in Rio de Janeiro football matches took place at five venues in the cities of Sao Paulo Belo Horizonte Salvador Brasilia and Manaus nbsp Maracana StadiumRio de Janeiro RJ nbsp Olympic Stadium Rio de Janeiro RJ nbsp Arena da AmazoniaManaus AM nbsp Arena CorinthiansSao Paulo SP nbsp Arena Fonte NovaSalvador BA nbsp Estadio NacionalBrasilia DF nbsp MineiraoBelo Horizonte MGUrban renovation edit Main article Port of Rio de Janeiro nbsp Maua Square with the Museum of Tomorrow designed by Santiago Calatrava and the light rail Rio s historical downtown underwent an urban waterfront revitalization project known as Porto Maravilha covering 5 km2 1 9 sq mi in area The project aimed to redevelop the port area increase the city center s attractiveness and enhance Rio s competitive position in the global economy 22 The urban renovation involved 700 km 430 mi of public networks for water supply sanitation drainage electricity gas and telecom 4 km 2 5 mi of tunnels 70 km 43 mi of roads 650 km2 250 sq mi of sidewalks 17 km 11 mi of bike path 15 000 trees and three sanitation treatment plants As part of this renovation a new tram was built from the Santos Dumont Airport to Rodoviaria Novo Rio due to open in April 2016 23 The Games required over 200 kilometers of security fencing A 15 000 square meter warehouse in Barra da Tijuca was used to assemble and supply the furniture and fittings for the Olympic Village The second warehouse of 90 000 square meters in Duque de Caxias near the roads that provide access to the venues contained all the equipment needed for the sporting events 18 Medals edit nbsp Medals of the 2016 Summer OlympicsThe medals were produced by the Casa da Moeda do Brasil the Brazilian mint The medal design was unveiled on 15 June 2016 They were designed to be environmentally friendly using recycled materials the bronze and silver medals contained 30 recycled materials The gold medals were produced using gold that had been mined and extracted according to a set of sustainability criteria such as being extracted without the use of mercury The medals feature a wreath design on the front and in keeping with tradition the obverse features Nike the Greek goddess of victory A wooden carrying box accompanied each medal Medalists were also awarded a trophy in the shape of the Games emblem 24 25 In May 2017 an Associated Press article disclosed that over 100 athletes who had won medals at the Rio Olympics reported that their medals were showing some damage including black spots flaking or surface degrading Rio officials offered to replace any defective medals and found problems with 6 to 7 percent of all those awarded 26 Torch relay edit Main article 2016 Summer Olympics torch relay nbsp Basketball player Anderson Varejao carrying the torch in Sao Paulo nbsp Volunteers working at the Olympic Stadium during the GamesThe Olympic flame was lit on 21 April 2016 at the Temple of Hera in Olympia the traditional start of the Greek phase of the torch relay The flame was handed over to the Brazilian organisers in a ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on 27 April A brief stop off was made in Switzerland to visit the IOC headquarters and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne as well as the United Nations Office at Geneva 27 The torch relay began its journey around Brazil on 3 May at the capital Brasilia The flame visited more than 300 Brazilian cities including all 26 state capitals and the Brazilian Federal District 28 The relay ended in Rio de Janeiro on 5 August when the flame was used to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony Volunteers edit Unpaid volunteers performed a variety of tasks before and during the Games A target of 50 000 volunteers was set as early as 2012 More than 240 000 applications were received when recruitment took place in 2014 The clothing worn by the volunteers included yellow polo shirts and jackets beige trousers white socks and green trainers which they collected from the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre Volunteers also wore photo accreditation badges which were allocated to officials athletes family members and media allowing them to gain access to specific venues and buildings around the site 29 Many volunteers gave up their roles due to long working hours and insufficient free meals 30 Ticketing edit The ticket prices were announced on 16 September 2014 all of which were sold in Brazilian reais BRL A total of 7 5 million tickets were to be sold in total with ticket prices ranging from BRL 40 for many events to BRL 4 600 for the most expensive seats at the opening ceremony About 3 8 million of these tickets were available for BRL 70 or less 31 32 Sustainability edit nbsp Future Arena a temporary venue designed for future reconstruction into school buildingsAs an aspect of its bid Rio s organizing committee planned to focus on sustainability and environmental protection as a theme of the 2016 Games going on to dub them a Green Games for a Blue Planet 33 As legacy projects organizers intended to introduce a wider array of public transport options upgrade the infrastructure of the favelas to provide improved transport and access to utilities upgrade Rio s sewer system to remediate the level of pollution in the Guanabara Bay 33 34 and plant 24 million seedlings to offset the expected carbon emissions of the Games However some of these projects met with delays or faced economic shortfalls leading some critics to believe that Rio would not be able to accomplish them 33 35 The focus on environmental protection also influenced the implementation of certain Olympic protocols To reduce emissions the Olympic cauldron was designed to be smaller than previous iterations using a kinetic sculpture to enhance its appearance in place of a larger body of flames 36 The bronze and silver medals as well as the ribbons on all medals were designed to incorporate recycled materials 24 25 The athletes were not presented with flowers during the medal ceremonies as had been the tradition at previous Olympics although floral displays were still used as part of the staging of medal presentations The organizers considered the practice to be wasteful because the flowers were often thrown away and would struggle to survive in the tropical Brazilian climate if kept The podiums were designed using materials that could be recycled to make furniture 25 37 The Future Arena the venue for the handball competitions was designed as a temporary modular structure whose components could be reconstructed after the Games to build schools 38 However as of November 2017 the arena was still standing due to lack of funds to dismantle it and no allocation of funds to do so in the 2018 budget 39 Portions of the opening ceremony were dedicated to the issue of climate change 40 The Games editOpening ceremony edit Main articles 2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony and 2016 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations nbsp A scene from the opening ceremonyThe opening ceremony took place at Maracana Stadium on 5 August 2016 directed by Fernando Meirelles Daniela Thomas and Andrucha Waddington 41 The ceremony highlighted aspects of Brazilian history and culture and featured a segment narrated by Fernanda Montenegro and Judi Dench with an appeal to environmental conservation and the prevention of global warming 40 42 The crowd in the stadium numbered 60 000 and the event was broadcast to an estimated global audience of three billion 4 The ceremony included the inaugural presentation of the Olympic Laurel an honor bestowed by the IOC on those that have made significant achievements in education culture development and peace through sport the trophy was awarded to Kenyan athlete Kipchoge Keino 43 The Games were officially opened by the acting president of Brazil Michel Temer 44 The Olympic cauldron was lit by long distance runner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima 4 the men s marathon bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympics who had also received the IOC s Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship after being attacked by a spectator and losing his lead in the race 41 45 The cauldron was originally expected to be lit by Brazilian footballer Pele but he declined to participate due to health problems 42 46 47 Following the opening ceremony a public cauldron was lit in front of the Candelaria Church by Jorge Gomes a 14 year old Brazilian athlete who had escaped from poverty to train as a runner 48 49 Sports edit nbsp Youth Arena nbsp Deodoro Stadium nbsp Olympic BMX Centre nbsp Olympic Golf CourseThe 2016 Summer Olympic program featured 28 sports encompassing 306 events The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses 2016 Summer Olympic Sports ProgrammeAquatics nbsp Diving 8 nbsp Swimming 34 nbsp Synchronized swimming 2 nbsp Water polo 2 nbsp Archery 4 nbsp Athletics 47 nbsp Badminton 5 nbsp Basketball 2 nbsp Boxing 13 nbsp Canoeing Sprint 12 Slalom 4 nbsp Cycling competitors BMX 2 Mountain biking 2 Road 4 Track 10 nbsp Equestrian Dressage 2 Eventing 2 Jumping 2 nbsp Fencing 10 nbsp Field hockey 2 nbsp Football 2 nbsp Golf 2 nbsp Gymnastics Artistic 14 Rhythmic 2 Trampoline 2 nbsp Handball 2 nbsp Judo 14 nbsp Modern pentathlon 2 nbsp Rowing 14 nbsp Rugby sevens 2 nbsp Sailing 10 nbsp Shooting 15 nbsp Table tennis 4 nbsp Taekwondo 8 nbsp Tennis 5 nbsp Triathlon 2 nbsp Volleyball Volleyball 2 Beach volleyball 2 nbsp Weightlifting 15 nbsp Wrestling Freestyle 12 Greco Roman 6 New sports edit See also 121st IOC Session In April 2008 the IOC began accepting applications for two new sports to be introduced to the Olympic programme Baseball and softball which were both dropped in 2005 karate squash golf roller sports and rugby union all applied to be included on the programme Formal presentations were made to the IOC executive board in June 2009 50 In August the executive board initially gave its approval to rugby sevens a seven player version of rugby union by a majority vote baseball softball roller sports and squash were removed from contention leaving golf karate and rugby sevens in the running A final vote was held on 9 October 2009 the closing day of the 121st IOC Session At this session a new voting system was in place a sport now needed only a simple majority from the full IOC committee for approval rather than the two thirds majority previously required 51 52 The 121st IOC Session decided to add rugby sevens and golf to the Rio 2016 Olympic programme 53 The tally for rugby was 81 in favor with eight against 54 and golf was approved by 63 votes to 26 55 Neither of these two sports was new to the Summer Olympics rugby last featured in 1924 and golf in 1904 In May 2012 the International Sailing Federation announced that windsurfing would be replaced by kitesurfing at the 2016 Olympics 56 but this decision was reversed in November 57 Participating National Olympic Committees edit nbsp Rio 2016 Olympic VillageAll 205 National Olympic Committees qualified at least one athlete citation needed The first three nations to qualify athletes for the Games were Germany Great Britain and the Netherlands who each qualified four athletes for the team dressage by winning medals in the team event at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games 58 As host nation Brazil received automatic entry for some sports including in all cycling disciplines and six places for weightlifting events 59 60 The 2016 Summer Olympics were the first Games in which Kosovo and South Sudan were eligible to participate Bulgarian and Russian weightlifters were banned from Rio Olympics for numerous anti doping violations 61 62 Kuwait was banned in October 2015 for the second time in five years over government interference in the country s Olympic committee 63 nbsp Country by team size nbsp Participating countries color codeBlue Participated for the first time in 2016 Green Had previously participated Yellow circle is host city Rio de Janeiro Participating National Olympic Committees nbsp Afghanistan 3 nbsp Albania 6 nbsp Algeria 64 nbsp American Samoa 4 nbsp Andorra 4 nbsp Angola 26 nbsp Antigua and Barbuda 8 nbsp Argentina 215 nbsp Armenia 31 nbsp Aruba 7 nbsp Australia 420 nbsp Austria 71 nbsp Azerbaijan 56 nbsp Bahamas 28 nbsp Bahrain 33 nbsp Bangladesh 7 nbsp Barbados 11 nbsp Belarus 120 nbsp Belgium 104 nbsp Belize 3 nbsp Benin 6 nbsp Bermuda 8 nbsp Bhutan 2 nbsp Bolivia 12 nbsp Bosnia and Herzegovina 11 nbsp Botswana 12 nbsp Brazil 462 host nbsp British Virgin Islands 4 nbsp Brunei 3 nbsp Bulgaria 50 nbsp Burkina Faso 5 nbsp Burundi 9 nbsp Cambodia 6 nbsp Cameroon 22 nbsp Canada 310 nbsp Cape Verde 5 nbsp Cayman Islands 5 nbsp Central African Republic 6 nbsp Chad 2 nbsp Chile 42 nbsp China 392 nbsp Colombia 143 nbsp Comoros 4 nbsp Republic of the Congo 10 nbsp Democratic Republic of the Congo 4 nbsp Cook Islands 9 nbsp Costa Rica 11 nbsp Croatia 85 nbsp Cuba 117 nbsp Cyprus 15 nbsp Czech Republic 104 nbsp Denmark 119 nbsp Djibouti 7 nbsp Dominica 2 nbsp Dominican Republic 26 nbsp Ecuador 37 nbsp Egypt 121 nbsp El Salvador 8 nbsp Equatorial Guinea 1 nbsp Eritrea 12 nbsp Estonia 46 nbsp Ethiopia 37 nbsp Fiji 53 nbsp Finland 54 nbsp France 392 nbsp Gabon 6 nbsp The Gambia 4 nbsp Georgia 40 nbsp Germany 418 nbsp Ghana 13 nbsp Great Britain 360 nbsp Greece 92 nbsp Grenada 7 nbsp Guam 5 nbsp Guatemala 21 nbsp Guinea 5 nbsp Guinea Bissau 5 nbsp Guyana 6 nbsp Haiti 10 nbsp Honduras 23 nbsp Hong Kong 37 nbsp Hungary 154 nbsp Iceland 8 nbsp India 112 nbsp Indonesia 28 nbsp Iran 63 nbsp Iraq 20 nbsp Ireland 76 nbsp Israel 47 nbsp Italy 309 nbsp Ivory Coast 12 nbsp Jamaica 56 nbsp Japan 335 nbsp Jordan 8 nbsp Kazakhstan 101 nbsp Kenya 79 nbsp Kiribati 3 nbsp North Korea 31 nbsp South Korea 207 nbsp Kosovo 8 nbsp Independent Olympic Athletes 9 nbsp Kyrgyzstan 19 nbsp Laos 6 nbsp Latvia 32 nbsp Lebanon 9 nbsp Lesotho 8 nbsp Liberia 2 nbsp Libya 7 nbsp Liechtenstein 3 nbsp Lithuania 67 nbsp Luxembourg 10 nbsp Macedonia 6 nbsp Madagascar 6 nbsp Malawi 5 nbsp Malaysia 32 nbsp Maldives 4 nbsp Mali 6 nbsp Malta 7 nbsp Marshall Islands 5 nbsp Mauritania 2 nbsp Mauritius 11 nbsp Mexico 123 nbsp Federated States of Micronesia 5 nbsp Moldova 23 nbsp Monaco 3 nbsp Mongolia 43 nbsp Montenegro 35 nbsp Morocco 48 nbsp Mozambique 6 nbsp Myanmar 7 nbsp Namibia 10 nbsp Nauru 2 nbsp Nepal 7 nbsp Netherlands 237 nbsp New Zealand 195 nbsp Nicaragua 5 nbsp Niger 6 nbsp Nigeria 71 nbsp Norway 62 nbsp Oman 4 nbsp Pakistan 7 nbsp Palau 5 nbsp Palestine 6 nbsp Panama 10 nbsp Papua New Guinea 8 nbsp Paraguay 11 nbsp Peru 29 nbsp Philippines 13 nbsp Poland 234 nbsp Portugal 90 nbsp Puerto Rico 40 nbsp Qatar 37 nbsp Refugee Olympic Team 10 nbsp Romania 95 nbsp Russia 284 nbsp Rwanda 7 nbsp Saint Kitts and Nevis 6 nbsp Saint Lucia 5 nbsp Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 4 nbsp Samoa 8 nbsp San Marino 4 nbsp Sao Tome and Principe 3 nbsp Saudi Arabia 10 nbsp Senegal 22 nbsp Serbia 103 nbsp Seychelles 10 nbsp Sierra Leone 4 nbsp Singapore 25 nbsp Slovakia 51 nbsp Slovenia 63 nbsp Solomon Islands 3 nbsp Somalia 2 nbsp South Africa 135 nbsp Spain 307 nbsp Sri Lanka 9 nbsp Sudan 6 nbsp South Sudan 3 nbsp Suriname 6 nbsp Swaziland 2 nbsp Sweden 150 nbsp Switzerland 102 nbsp Syria 7 nbsp Chinese Taipei 55 nbsp Tajikistan 7 nbsp Tanzania 7 nbsp Thailand 54 nbsp East Timor 3 nbsp Togo 5 nbsp Tonga 7 nbsp Trinidad and Tobago 28 nbsp Tunisia 61 nbsp Turkey 100 nbsp Turkmenistan 9 nbsp Tuvalu 1 nbsp Uganda 21 nbsp Ukraine 204 nbsp United Arab Emirates 12 nbsp United States 555 nbsp Uruguay 17 nbsp Uzbekistan 70 nbsp Vanuatu 4 nbsp Venezuela 85 nbsp Vietnam 22 nbsp Virgin Islands 7 nbsp Yemen 3 nbsp Zambia 7 nbsp Zimbabwe 30 Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee edit 11 238 athletes from 207 NOCs IOC Country AthletesUSA nbsp United States 554BRA nbsp Brazil 465GER nbsp Germany 425AUS nbsp Australia 421CHN nbsp China 413FRA nbsp France 399GBR nbsp Great Britain 366JPN nbsp Japan 338CAN nbsp Canada 314ITA nbsp Italy 309ESP nbsp Spain 306RUS nbsp Russia 282POL nbsp Poland 243NED nbsp Netherlands 242ARG nbsp Argentina 213KOR nbsp South Korea 205UKR nbsp Ukraine 203NZL nbsp New Zealand 199HUN nbsp Hungary 160SWE nbsp Sweden 152COL nbsp Colombia 147RSA nbsp South Africa 137MEX nbsp Mexico 125DEN nbsp Denmark 122BLR nbsp Belarus 121CUB nbsp Cuba 120EGY nbsp Egypt 120IND nbsp India 117BEL nbsp Belgium 108CZE nbsp Czech Republic 105KAZ nbsp Kazakhstan 104SRB nbsp Serbia 104SUI nbsp Switzerland 104TUR nbsp Turkey 103ROM nbsp Romania 97GRE nbsp Greece 95POR nbsp Portugal 92KEN nbsp Kenya 89CRO nbsp Croatia 87VEN nbsp Venezuela 87IRL nbsp Ireland 77NGR nbsp Nigeria 75AUT nbsp Austria 71UZB nbsp Uzbekistan 70JAM nbsp Jamaica 68LTU nbsp Lithuania 67ALG nbsp Algeria 64IRN nbsp Iran 64NOR nbsp Norway 62SLO nbsp Slovenia 61TUN nbsp Tunisia 61TPE nbsp Chinese Taipei 60AZE nbsp Azerbaijan 56FIN nbsp Finland 56THA nbsp Thailand 54BUL nbsp Bulgaria 51FIJ nbsp Fiji 51MAR nbsp Morocco 51SVK nbsp Slovakia 51ISR nbsp Israel 48EST nbsp Estonia 45MGL nbsp Mongolia 43CHI nbsp Chile 42PUR nbsp Puerto Rico 42GEO nbsp Georgia 39ECU nbsp Ecuador 38HKG nbsp Hong Kong 38QAT nbsp Qatar 38BHR nbsp Bahrain 35PRK nbsp North Korea 35ETH nbsp Ethiopia 34LAT nbsp Latvia 34MNE nbsp Montenegro 34ARM nbsp Armenia 33MAS nbsp Malaysia 32TTO nbsp Trinidad and Tobago 32ZIM nbsp Zimbabwe 31DOM nbsp Dominican Republic 29PER nbsp Peru 29BAH nbsp Bahamas 28INA nbsp Indonesia 28HON nbsp Honduras 26ANG nbsp Angola 25SGP nbsp Singapore 25CMR nbsp Cameroon 24IRQ nbsp Iraq 23MDA nbsp Moldova 23VIE nbsp Vietnam 23SEN nbsp Senegal 22GUA nbsp Guatemala 21UGA nbsp Uganda 21KGZ nbsp Kyrgyzstan 19URU nbsp Uruguay 17CYP nbsp Cyprus 16GHA nbsp Ghana 14PHI nbsp Philippines 13UAE nbsp United Arab Emirates 13BAR nbsp Barbados 12BOL nbsp Bolivia 12BOT nbsp Botswana 12ERI nbsp Eritrea 12CIV nbsp Ivory Coast 12MRI nbsp Mauritius 12KSA nbsp Saudi Arabia 12BIH nbsp Bosnia and Herzegovina 11PAR nbsp Paraguay 11CGO nbsp Republic of the Congo 10CRC nbsp Costa Rica 10HAI nbsp Haiti 10LUX nbsp Luxembourg 10NAM nbsp Namibia 10PAN nbsp Panama 10ROT nbsp Refugee Olympic Team 10SEY nbsp Seychelles 10ANT nbsp Antigua and Barbuda 9ARU nbsp Aruba 9BDI nbsp Burundi 9COK nbsp Cook Islands 9IOA nbsp Independent Olympic Athletes 9LIB nbsp Lebanon 9SRI nbsp Sri Lanka 9TKM nbsp Turkmenistan 9BER nbsp Bermuda 8ESA nbsp El Salvador 8ISL nbsp Iceland 8JOR nbsp Jordan 8KOS nbsp Kosovo 8LES nbsp Lesotho 8PNG nbsp Papua New Guinea 8RWA nbsp Rwanda 8SAM nbsp Samoa 8BAN nbsp Bangladesh 7DJI nbsp Djibouti 7GRN nbsp Grenada 7LBA nbsp Libya 7MLT nbsp Malta 7MYA nbsp Myanmar 7NEP nbsp Nepal 7PAK nbsp Pakistan 7SKN nbsp Saint Kitts and Nevis 7SYR nbsp Syria 7TJK nbsp Tajikistan 7TAN nbsp Tanzania 7TGA nbsp Tonga 7ISV nbsp Virgin Islands 7ZAM nbsp Zambia 7LAO nbsp Laos 6AFG nbsp Afghanistan 6ALB nbsp Albania 6BEN nbsp Benin 6CAM nbsp Cambodia 6CAF nbsp Central African Republic 6GAB nbsp Gabon 6GUY nbsp Guyana 6MKD nbsp Macedonia 6MAD nbsp Madagascar 6MLI nbsp Mali 6MOZ nbsp Mozambique 6NIG nbsp Niger 6PLE nbsp Palestine 6SUD nbsp Sudan 6SUR nbsp Suriname 6AND nbsp Andorra 5BUR nbsp Burkina Faso 5CPV nbsp Cape Verde 5CAY nbsp Cayman Islands 5GUM nbsp Guam 5GUI nbsp Guinea 5GBS nbsp Guinea Bissau 5MAW nbsp Malawi 5MHL nbsp Marshall Islands 5FSM nbsp Federated States of Micronesia 5NCA nbsp Nicaragua 5PLW nbsp Palau 5LCA nbsp Saint Lucia 5TOG nbsp Togo 5ASA nbsp American Samoa 4IVB nbsp British Virgin Islands 4COM nbsp Comoros 4COD nbsp Democratic Republic of the Congo 4GAM nbsp The Gambia 4MDV nbsp Maldives 4OMA nbsp Oman 4VIN nbsp Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 4SMR nbsp San Marino 4SLE nbsp Sierra Leone 4VAN nbsp Vanuatu 4BIZ nbsp Belize 3BRU nbsp Brunei 3LIE nbsp Liechtenstein 3MON nbsp Monaco 3STP nbsp Sao Tome and Principe 3SOL nbsp Solomon Islands 3SSD nbsp South Sudan 3TLS nbsp East Timor 3YEM nbsp Yemen 3BHU nbsp Bhutan 2CHA nbsp Chad 2DMA nbsp Dominica 2GEQ nbsp Equatorial Guinea 2LBR nbsp Liberia 2MTN nbsp Mauritania 2NRU nbsp Nauru 2SOM nbsp Somalia 2SWZ nbsp Swaziland 2TUV nbsp Tuvalu 1Refugee athletes edit Main article Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Summer Olympics nbsp Refugee Olympic team arriving in Rio de JaneiroDue to the European migrant crisis and other reasons the IOC allowed athletes to compete as Independent Olympians under the Olympic Flag During the previous Summer Olympic Games refugees were ineligible to compete because of their inability to represent their home NOCs 64 On 2 March 2016 the IOC finalized plans for a specific Refugee Olympic Team ROT out of 43 refugee athletes deemed potentially eligible 10 were chosen to form the team 65 Independent athletes edit Main article Independent Olympic Athletes at the 2016 Summer Olympics Due to the suspension of the National Olympic Committee of Kuwait participants from Kuwait were allowed to participate under the Olympic Flag as Independent Olympic Athletes In November 2015 Russia was provisionally suspended from all international track and field athletic competitions by the International Association of Athletics Federations IAAF following a World Anti Doping Agency WADA report into a doping program in the country 66 The IAAF announced that it would allow individual Russian athletes to apply for exceptional eligibility to participate in the Games as neutral athletes if it was independently verified that they had not engaged in doping nor in the Russian doping program 67 On 24 July 2016 the IOC rejected the IAAF and WADA s recommendations to allow athletes to compete neutrally stating that the Olympic Charter does not foresee such neutral athletes and that it was each country s National Olympic Committee decision on which athletes would be competing 68 As a result Russian athletes competed under the Russian flag although they would compete under a neutral flag in the 2018 Winter Olympics following several developments concerning the doping investigation National houses edit During the Games some countries and continents had a national house These temporary meeting places for supporters athletes and other followers were located throughout Rio de Janeiro 69 Nation Location NameAfrica House Barra da Tijuca Casa da AfricaAustralia Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange Convention Center Casa da AustraliaAustria Botafogo Casa da AustriaBrazil Gamboa Casa do BrasilColombia Centro Casa da ColombiaCzech Republic Barra da Tijuca Casa da Republica TchecaDenmark Ipanema Pavilhao DinamarquesFinland Centro Casa da FinlandiaFrance Lagoa Clube da FrancaGermany Leblon Casa de Praia da AlemanhaGreat Britain Parque Lage Jardim Botanico Casa Olimpica da Gra BretanhaHungary Gavea Casa da HungriaJamaica Gavea Casa da JamaicaMexico Centro Casa do MexicoNetherlands Lagoa Holland Heineken House Casa da Holanda Portugal Centro Casa de PortugalPyeongChang 2018 Copacabana Beach Casa de PyeongChang 2018Qatar Botafogo Bayt QuatarRussia Copacabana Casa do Time Olimpico do RussiaSlovakia Barra da Tijuca Casa EslovacaTokyo 2020 Barra da Tijuca Casa de Toquio 2020Tokyo Metropolitan Government Paco Imperial Casa do Governo Metropolitano de ToquioCalendar edit See also Chronological summary of the 2016 Summer Olympics This is currently based on the schedule released on the same day as ticket sales began 31 March 2015 70 All dates are Brasilia Time UTC 3 OC Opening ceremony Event competitions 1 Gold medal events EG Exhibition gala CC Closing ceremonyAugust 2016 3rdWed 4thThu 5thFri 6thSat 7thSun 8thMon 9thTue 10thWed 11thThu 12thFri 13thSat 14thSun 15thMon 16thTue 17thWed 18thThu 19thFri 20thSat 21stSun Events nbsp Ceremonies OC CC Aquatics nbsp Diving 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 46 nbsp Marathon swimming 1 1 nbsp Swimming 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 nbsp Synchronized swimming 1 1 nbsp Water polo 1 1 nbsp Archery 1 1 1 1 4 nbsp Athletics 3 5 4 5 5 4 6 7 7 1 47 a, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library, article, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games. | |||||||||||||||||||||