All About the 2016 Rio Olympics

By R. Thomas

The Olympics is an occurrence that puts both our competitiveness and nationalities on the line. Screaming when your country scores, crying when it loses but most of all, doing it together with your friends, family and country. 206 countries all come together simply to compete in the games, can you imagine, 206 different nationalities all in a single place? The 2016 Olympics were hosted in Rio de Janeiro, and by reading on you will uncover all the fun facts and hidden secrets behind the games. 

1. Both Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps performed at their last competitive Olympics, finishing with a term we like to use in Portuguese "Fechando com chave de ouro", quite literally in this case, as both won gold in their respective races.  

1. Team USA was extremely successful (not far from usual), one of their best Olympics yet. They officially managed to win their 1000th gold medal, obtained by the women's swimming 4 X 100 medley relay team. The final five women gymnastics team had their best Olympics yet, they won the most amount of gold medals ever, and most impressively Simone Biles who was only 19 years old, won the individual all round gold medal. This serves to show that even with the weight of her whole country counting on her, and the high expectations set, she still outperformed herself proving how anything is possible with a little commitment.  

1. Brazil won their first gold medal in soccer. Picture this, the sport that represents Brazil, the Olympics being hosted in their home country, and a penalty standing in between their dream. Without hesitation Neymar scored, bringing them the ultimate prize.  

1. The Rio Olympics were the first games to ever allow a refugee team to compete. There were refugees from a variety of nationalities, a team which brought hope, resilience and inclusion to the Rio games. 

1. One of the biggest and most serious doping scandals happened before and during the 2016 Olympics. Russia was evidently utilizing performing enhancing drugs on many medalists' Olympic athletes. In response, of course, numerous Russian athletes who were proven to be taking the drugs were kicked out of the games. This was a devastating occurrence for Russia.  

1. The mascot for the Rio Olympics was called Vinicius and served as a symbol for Brazil's, nature, fauna, culture and animation. The character was made by combining the agility of a cat, grace of birds and sway of monkeys and was named after musician Vinicius de Moraes 

In conclusion, the Rio Olympics served as a propeller for many athletes, step stones for some and even finishing line for a few others.  
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