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The 2016 Summer Olympics of Rio de Janeiro has concluded! It was the 31st Summer Olympics to take place. For anyone who doesn't know, the Summer(And Winter) Olympics occur once every four years, which means the next Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
With that being said, this MyTake will explore some of the interesting highlights, and stories which surrounded this particular Olympics. First of all, let's look at the overall medal count totals.
Top Ten Countries which won the most medals in the 2016 Summer Olympics
1. United States of America-121 medals(46 Gold, 37 Silver, and 38 Bronze).
2. China-70 medals(26 Gold, 18 Silver, and 26 Bronze).
3. United Kingdom of Great Britain, and Northern Ireland-67 medals(27 Gold, 23 Silver, 17 Bronze).
4. Russia-56 medals(19 Gold, 18 Silver, 19 Bronze).
5. Germany-42 medals(17 Gold, 10 Silver, 15 Bronze).
6. France-42 medals(10 Gold, 18 Silver, 14 Bronze, ranked lower due to lack of Gold medals).
7. Japan-41 medals(12 Gold, 8 Silver, 21 Bronze).
8. Australia-29 medals(8 Gold, 11 Silver, 10 Bronze).
9. Italy-28 medals(8 Gold, 12 Silver, 8 Bronze).
10. Canada-22 medals(4 Gold, 3 Silver, 15 Bronze).
For the sixth consecutive Summer Olympics, the United States won the most medals, and this time, it wasn't even close. They completely dominated this time around, especially in the Swimming, Gymnastics, Basketball, and Water Polo events. However, this is largely due to the large population of the United States. Coming from a per capita standpoint, the country of Grenada was the most successful country. They have a population of roughly 107,000, and still won a medal(A Silver medal in Track, and Field). Even from a Gross Domestic Product standpoint, they are the poorest country to win a medal. On the other end, Bangladesh has roughly 171 million people, and has still never won a medal in recent Olympic History(Since 1896).
History was made before the Olympic games began
Not only was this the first Olympics to take place in Brazil, it's also the first Olympics to take place in any South American country. As of now, Africa(And of course, Antarctica) are the only other continents which haven't hosted an Olympics. Interestingly enough, the 2024 Summer Olympics will take place in Lima, Peru(In South America again). Why has South America suddenly been a hot-spot for the Olympics? I have no idea. You would think with scorching hot temperatures, this would be an ideal place for the Summer Olympics. But apparently, we just realized this in the 2010's.
And there was also another "First." This was the first Olympics in history to have a Refugee team, which was a team of people who don't belong to a country(For one reason, or another). They didn't win any medals, but it's remarkable to have such a team in my opinion. Kudos to Team Refugee!
Wayde van Niekerk steals Usain Bolt's Thunder
Jamaica's Usain Bolt is arguably the fastest runner in the world, but it looks like his storm has came to an end(The fading of a lightning bolt). Sure, he still won a gold medal, but South Africa's Wayde Van Niekerk broke a world record, and it was one of the most famous ones of all time. Besides the fact he broke Michael Johnson's 400 meter run from 1999 for the World Record(in 43.03 seconds), he also became the first person to win a race from lane eight in 400 meter history-And it was a world record!
Michael Fred Phelps II
Trust me, even as someone who is a lifelong citizen of the United States, I'm sick of hearing about Michael Phelps. This was his fifth Olympics, and he has now "retired"( He claimed as such back in 2013 as well). However, you have to give the man credit-He won five more gold medals in Rio De Janeiro, a silver medal, and is still the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 total medals. On the female side, Katie Ledecky took the shaft-But she is only 19 years old, and is already the most dominant female swimmer. She domolished world records when she was 15 years old in 2012-Where as Michael Phelps at 15 years old couldn't even come in fourth place. Comparative to their genders, Katie Ledecky is actually having a more successful Olympic career so far.
Poor Joao Rodrigues
Who, you might ask? The Sailer from Portugal, that's who. He has now officially competed in seven Olympics, and has still never won a medal. He is actively the Olympian with the most Olympics competed in without winning a medal. From reports, he apparently came very close this time around-He came within inches of coming in third place for a Bronze medal in the 200 Meter sailing event. Lucky for him, his age(45 years old) won't hold him back too much, since wind-sailing abilities aren't stopped by age too much.
Ian Miller's streak comes to an end.
And I'm not talking about winning streaks. Canadian Ian Miller is an Equestrian athlete who broke an Olympic record in 2012 with his tenth Olympic appearance. So, the 73 year old was set to compete in his eleventh consecutive Olympics this Summer-But he quickly ran out of horse power. According to reports, his horse came down with a major sinus infection just two months before the Olympics, and he couldn't compete. There was no way his horse would recover, and he accepted the fact he wouldn't be competing. I have no doubt he will come back for the 2020 games, spanning his Olympic career over six decades, since his first Olympics he attended was back in 1972.
Lochte vs Solo
I know what you're thinking: "You were totally pulling out stories which weren't mainstream, but now you totally went mainstream!". *Sighs*, as a citizen of the United States, I was reluctant to put this story out there, but I have to. There is no way to avoid it. However, this is a comparison of incidents which happened among the United States of Arrogant athletes.
During the Rio Olympics, the U.S. women's soccer team fell in a quarterfinals heartbreaker to Sweden. After the U.S. lost a penalty shoot-out—forfeiting an Olympic medal for the first time—goalkeeper Hope Solo called the Swedish players "a bunch of cowards" for their more conservative playing tactics. Sweden went on to win silver. The U.S. team went home. The United States of America Soccer committee announced they had terminated Solo's contract and suspended her from the team for six months for "conduct that is counter to the organization's principles," effectively firing her and giving the team time to find a replacement goalkeeper.
Yes, Solo's comments were, without a doubt, unsportsmanlike. They were an ugly low blow to add to the disappointment of a a Team USA loss. Solo herself—with a previous ban, domestic violence charges, and nasty Twitter rants to her name—is often a disappointment. But, like the general counsel for the U.S. team's players' association said, "She was fired for making comments that a man never would have been fired for." And I concur! Professional male athletes make arrogant, absurd, and cocky comments all the time, yet, nothing ever happens to them.
Fiji glistens in GOLD!
In the final Rugby Sevens match, Fiji defeated the United Kingdom 43-7 to take the gold medal. Not only was this Fiji's first Gold medal in Olympic history, but it was the island country's first medal in Olympic history. This happened on August 11th, and that day in Fiji has now been declared a national holiday!
So, did you watch the Summer Olympics this year? Did you like them? Were they overrated? Why, or why not?
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