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.
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.
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]
Events took place at eighteen existing venues, nine new venues constructed specifically for the Games, and seven temporary venues.[14]
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]
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]
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.
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
Medals of the 2016 Summer Olympics
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]
Volunteers working at the Olympic Stadium during the Games
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
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
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
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]
Future Arena, a temporary venue designed for future reconstruction into school buildings
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 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]
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]
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.
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]
Country by team size
Participating countries color code Blue = Participated for the first time in 2016. Green = Had previously participated. Yellow circle is host city (Rio de Janeiro)
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
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]
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 238 1 Events306 in 28 sports 41 disciplines Opening5 August 2016Closing21 August 2016Opened byVice President Michel Temer b CauldronVanderlei Cordeiro de LimaStadiumMaracana Stadium ceremonies Estadio Olimpico Joao Havelange 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 Edit A young girl adding her signature in support of Rio de Janeiro s candidacy The bid committee led by Carlos Arthur Nuzman giving a press conference Main article Bids for the 2016 Summer Olympics 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 Brazil 26 46 66Madrid Spain 28 29 32Tokyo Japan 22 20 Chicago 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 Venues of the 2016 Summer Olympics Events took place at eighteen existing venues nine new venues constructed specifically for the Games and seven temporary venues 14 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 Barra Olympic Park 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 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 Maracana StadiumRio de Janeiro RJ Olympic Stadium Rio de Janeiro RJ Arena da AmazoniaManaus AM Arena CorinthiansSao Paulo SP Arena Fonte NovaSalvador BA Estadio NacionalBrasilia DF MineiraoBelo Horizonte MGUrban renovation Edit Main article Port of Rio de Janeiro 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 Medals of the 2016 Summer Olympics 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 Main article 2016 Summer Olympics torch relay Basketball player Anderson Varejao carrying the torch in Sao Paulo Volunteers working at the Olympic Stadium during the Games 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 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 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 Future Arena a temporary venue designed for future reconstruction into school buildings 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 A scene from the opening ceremony 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 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 Youth Arena Deodoro Stadium Olympic BMX Centre Olympic Golf Course 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 ProgrammeAquatics Diving 8 Swimming 34 Synchronized swimming 2 Water polo 2 Archery 4 Athletics 47 Badminton 5 Basketball 2 Boxing 13 Canoeing Sprint 12 Slalom 4 Cycling competitors BMX 2 Mountain biking 2 Road 4 Track 10 Equestrian Dressage 2 Eventing 2 Jumping 2 Fencing 10 Field hockey 2 Football 2 Golf 2 Gymnastics Artistic 14 Rhythmic 2 Trampoline 2 Handball 2 Judo 14 Modern pentathlon 2 Rowing 14 Rugby sevens 2 Sailing 10 Shooting 15 Table tennis 4 Taekwondo 8 Tennis 5 Triathlon 2 Volleyball Volleyball 2 Beach volleyball 2 Weightlifting 15 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 Rio 2016 Olympic Village 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 Country by team size 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 Afghanistan 3 Albania 6 Algeria 64 American Samoa 4 Andorra 5 Angola 25 Antigua and Barbuda 9 Argentina 213 Armenia 33 Aruba 7 Australia 421 Austria 71 Azerbaijan 56 Bahamas 28 Bahrain 35 Bangladesh 7 Barbados 12 Belarus 121 Belgium 108 Belize 3 Benin 6 Bermuda 8 Bhutan 2 Bolivia 12 Bosnia and Herzegovina 11 Botswana 12 Brazil 465 host British Virgin Islands 4 Brunei 3 Bulgaria 51 Burkina Faso 5 Burundi 9 Cambodia 6 Cameroon 24 Canada 314 Cape Verde 5 Cayman Islands 5 Central African Republic 6 Chad 2 Chile 42 China 413 Colombia 147 Comoros 4 Republic of the Congo 10 Democratic Republic of the Congo 4 Cook Islands 9 Costa Rica 10 Croatia 87 Cuba 120 Cyprus 16 Czech Republic 105 Denmark 122 Djibouti 7 Dominica 2 Dominican Republic 29 Ecuador 38 Egypt 120 El Salvador 8 Equatorial Guinea 2 Eritrea 12 Estonia 45 Ethiopia 34 Fiji 51 Finland 56 France 399 Gabon 6 The Gambia 4 Georgia 39 Germany 425 Ghana 14 Great Britain 366 Greece 95 Grenada 6 Guam 5 Guatemala 21 Guinea 5 Guinea Bissau 5 Guyana 6 Haiti 10 Honduras 26 Hong Kong 38 Hungary 160 Iceland 8 India 117 Indonesia 28 Iran 64 Iraq 23 Ireland 77 Israel 48 Italy 314 Ivory Coast 12 Jamaica 68 Japan 338 Jordan 8 Kazakhstan 104 Kenya 89 Kiribati 3 North Korea 35 South Korea 205 Kosovo 8 Independent Olympic Athletes 9 Kyrgyzstan 19 Laos 6 Latvia 34 Lebanon 9 Lesotho 8 Liberia 2 Libya 7 Liechtenstein 3 Lithuania 67 Luxembourg 10 Macedonia 6 Madagascar 6 Malawi 5 Malaysia 32 Maldives 4 Mali 6 Malta 7 Marshall Islands 5 Mauritania 2 Mauritius 12 Mexico 125 Federated States of Micronesia 5 Moldova 23 Monaco 3 Mongolia 43 Montenegro 34 Morocco 51 Mozambique 6 Myanmar 7 Namibia 10 Nauru 2 Nepal 7 Netherlands 242 New Zealand 199 Nicaragua 5 Niger 6 Nigeria 75 Norway 62 Oman 4 Pakistan 7 Palau 5 Palestine 6 Panama 10 Papua New Guinea 8 Paraguay 11 Peru 29 Philippines 13 Poland 243 Portugal 92 Puerto Rico 42 Qatar 38 Refugee Olympic Team 10 Romania 97 Russia 282 Rwanda 8 Saint Kitts and Nevis 7 Saint Lucia 5 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 4 Samoa 8 San Marino 5 Sao Tome and Principe 3 Saudi Arabia 11 Senegal 22 Serbia 103 Seychelles 10 Sierra Leone 4 Singapore 25 Slovakia 51 Slovenia 61 Solomon Islands 3 Somalia 2 South Africa 137 Spain 306 Sri Lanka 9 Sudan 6 South Sudan 3 Suriname 6 Swaziland 2 Sweden 152 Switzerland 104 Syria 7 Chinese Taipei 60 Tajikistan 7 Tanzania 7 Thailand 54 East Timor 3 Togo 5 Tonga 7 Trinidad and Tobago 32 Tunisia 61 Turkey 103 Turkmenistan 9 Tuvalu 1 Uganda 21 Ukraine 203 United Arab Emirates 13 United States 554 Uruguay 17 Uzbekistan 70 Vanuatu 4 Venezuela 87 Vietnam 23 Virgin Islands 7 Yemen 3 Zambia 7 Zimbabwe 31 Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee Edit 11 238 athletes from 207 NOCs IOC Country AthletesUSA United States 554BRA Brazil 465GER Germany 425AUS Australia 421CHN China 413FRA France 399GBR Great Britain 366JPN Japan 338CAN Canada 314ITA Italy 309ESP Spain 306RUS Russia 282POL Poland 243NED Netherlands 242ARG Argentina 213KOR South Korea 205UKR Ukraine 203NZL New Zealand 199HUN Hungary 160SWE Sweden 152COL Colombia 147RSA South Africa 137MEX Mexico 125DEN Denmark 122BLR Belarus 121CUB Cuba 120EGY Egypt 120IND India 117BEL Belgium 108CZE Czech Republic 105KAZ Kazakhstan 104SRB Serbia 104SUI Switzerland 104TUR Turkey 103ROM Romania 97GRE Greece 95POR Portugal 92KEN Kenya 89CRO Croatia 87VEN Venezuela 87IRL Ireland 77NGR Nigeria 75AUT Austria 71UZB Uzbekistan 70JAM Jamaica 68LTU Lithuania 67ALG Algeria 64IRN Iran 64NOR Norway 62SLO Slovenia 61TUN Tunisia 61TPE Chinese Taipei 60AZE Azerbaijan 56FIN Finland 56THA Thailand 54BUL Bulgaria 51FIJ Fiji 51MAR Morocco 51SVK Slovakia 51ISR Israel 48EST Estonia 45MGL Mongolia 43CHI Chile 42PUR Puerto Rico 42GEO Georgia 39ECU Ecuador 38HKG Hong Kong 38QAT Qatar 38BHR Bahrain 35PRK North Korea 35ETH Ethiopia 34LAT Latvia 34MNE Montenegro 34ARM Armenia 33MAS Malaysia 32TTO Trinidad and Tobago 32ZIM Zimbabwe 31DOM Dominican Republic 29PER Peru 29BAH Bahamas 28INA Indonesia 28HON Honduras 26ANG Angola 25SGP Singapore 25CMR Cameroon 24IRQ Iraq 23MDA Moldova 23VIE Vietnam 23SEN Senegal 22GUA Guatemala 21UGA Uganda 21KGZ Kyrgyzstan 19URU Uruguay 17CYP Cyprus 16GHA Ghana 14PHI Philippines 13UAE United Arab Emirates 13BAR Barbados 12BOL Bolivia 12BOT Botswana 12ERI Eritrea 12CIV Ivory Coast 12MRI Mauritius 12KSA Saudi Arabia 12BIH Bosnia and Herzegovina 11PAR Paraguay 11CGO Republic of the Congo 10CRC Costa Rica 10HAI Haiti 10LUX Luxembourg 10NAM Namibia 10PAN Panama 10ROT Refugee Olympic Team 10SEY Seychelles 10ANT Antigua and Barbuda 9ARU Aruba 9BDI Burundi 9COK Cook Islands 9IOA Independent Olympic Athletes 9LIB Lebanon 9SRI Sri Lanka 9TKM Turkmenistan 9BER Bermuda 8ESA El Salvador 8ISL Iceland 8JOR Jordan 8KOS Kosovo 8LES Lesotho 8PNG Papua New Guinea 8RWA Rwanda 8SAM Samoa 8BAN Bangladesh 7DJI Djibouti 7GRN Grenada 7LBA Libya 7MLT Malta 7MYA Myanmar 7NEP Nepal 7PAK Pakistan 7SKN Saint Kitts and Nevis 7SYR Syria 7TJK Tajikistan 7TAN Tanzania 7TGA Tonga 7ISV Virgin Islands 7ZAM Zambia 7LAO Laos 6AFG Afghanistan 6ALB Albania 6BEN Benin 6CAM Cambodia 6CAF Central African Republic 6GAB Gabon 6GUY Guyana 6MKD Macedonia 6MAD Madagascar 6MLI Mali 6MOZ Mozambique 6NIG Niger 6PLE Palestine 6SUD Sudan 6SUR Suriname 6AND Andorra 5BUR Burkina Faso 5CPV Cape Verde 5CAY Cayman Islands 5GUM Guam 5GUI Guinea 5GBS Guinea Bissau 5MAW Malawi 5MHL Marshall Islands 5FSM Federated States of Micronesia 5NCA Nicaragua 5PLW Palau 5LCA Saint Lucia 5TOG Togo 5ASA American Samoa 4IVB British Virgin Islands 4COM Comoros 4COD Democratic Republic of the Congo 4GAM The Gambia 4MDV Maldives 4OMA Oman 4VIN Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 4SMR San Marino 4SLE Sierra Leone 4VAN Vanuatu 4BIZ Belize 3BRU Brunei 3LIE Liechtenstein 3MON Monaco 3STP Sao Tome and Principe 3SOL Solomon Islands 3SSD South Sudan 3TLS East Timor 3YEM Yemen 3BHU Bhutan 2CHA Chad 2DMA Dominica 2GEQ Equatorial Guinea 2LBR Liberia 2MTN Mauritania 2NRU Nauru 2SOM Somalia 2SWZ Swaziland 2TUV Tuvalu 1Refugee athletes Edit Main article Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Summer Olympics Refugee Olympic team arriving in Rio de Janeiro 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 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 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 Badminton 1 1 2 1 5 Basketball 1 1 2 Boxing 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 4 13Canoeing Slalom 1 1 2 16 Sprint 4 4 4Cycling Road cycling 1 1 2 18 Track cycling 1 2 2 1 1 3 BMX 2 Mountain biking 1 1 Equestrian 2 1 1 1 1 6 Fencing 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 10 Field hockey 1 1 2 Football 1 1 2 Golf 1 1 2Gymnastics Artistic 1 1 1 1 4 3 3 EG 18 Rhythmic 1 1 Trampolining 1 1 Handball 1 1 2 Judo 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 14 Modern pentathlon 1 1 2 Rowing 2 4 4 4 14 Rugby sevens 1 1 2 Sailing 2 2 2 2 2 10 Shooting 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 td, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
