Rio 2016 Olympics

Rio 2016 Olympics

The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and commonly known as Rio 2016, is a major international multi-sport event being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 August to 21 August 2016.

More than 11,000 athletes from 207 National Olympic Committees, including first time entrants Kosovo, South Sudan, and the Refugee Olympic Team, are taking part. With 306 sets of medals, the games features 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf, which were added to the Olympic program in 2009. These sporting events are taking place at 33 venues in the host city, and at five in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília, and Manaus.

These are the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach. The host city Rio de Janeiro was announced at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009. Rio became the first South American city to host the Summer Olympics. These are the first games to be held in a Portuguese-speaking country, the first to be held entirely in winter, the first since 1968 to be held in Latin America, and the first since 2000 to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.

Medals

The medal design was unveiled on 15 June 2016; they are produced by the Casa da Moeda do Brasil. The bronze and silver medals contain 30% recycled materials, while the gold medals were produced using gold that had been mined and extracted using means that met a series of sustainability criteria, such as being extracted without the use of mercury. The medals feature a wreath design, while the obverse, as is traditional, features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. They are accompanied by a wooden carrying box, while medallists also receive a trophy of the Games' emblem.

New sports

The two new sports for 2016 Olympic Games are golf and rugby sevens. There were two open spots for sports and initially seven sports began the bidding for inclusion in the 2016 program. Baseball and softball, which were dropped from the program in 2005, karate, squash, golf, roller sports, and rugby union all applied to be included. Leaders of the seven sports held presentations in front of the IOC executive board in June 2009.

International Golf Federation executive director Antony Scanlon said that the top players, including Tiger Woods and Annika Sörenstam, would show their continued support of golf's Olympic involvement by participating in the events.

Participating National Olympic Committees

All 206 National Olympic Committees have 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.