The Rio Games brought first medals for Fiji, Jordan and Kosovo – and all three opened their accounts with gold, Fiji in the first Olympic rugby sevens competition.
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The answer, according to experienced Olympic officials and experts, is a mixed bag.
The Olympics on TV are never the same as the Olympics on site.
“This has been probably a little below the expectations of the experts, but will have televised well for the 99.9 percent of the population of the world that experiences the Olympics”, senior Canadian IOC member Dick Pound said. “To be fair, some of that was because of the economic and political background on which the games are being held”.
It’s almost time to say farewell to Rio and look ahead to the Olympic Games in Japan in 2020. “Winning medals and just one after the other”.
But the games must also be judged from a local perspective.
In the end, it was once again the Chinese women’s volleyball team that lifted the national spirit and let the world’s most populous country go out with a bang at the Rio Games. Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan won the men’s hammer event, handing the Central Asian nation its first-ever Olympic gold medal.
Numerous athletes wore ponchos as they entered the stadium taking selfies and dancing to music from Brazilian DJs.
The U.S. Olympic Team made itself right at home in Rio.
Though it was heavily pouring, the enthusiasm of the spectators for the closing ceremony did not dampen, and the city bid goodbye to the Olympic games with a splendid show.
IOC President Bach, in his speech, warmly thanked hosts Brazil, saying “we love you”. “If you want to be fair to Rio, you can not compare us to Tokyo, to Chicago, to Madrid”. They come from developed countries. Apart from this, the event comes once in four years.
But the beauty was betrayed by Brazil’s tough times.
She said: “They haven’t just made history; by showing just how far talent and hard work can take you, they have inspired the next generation”.
From swimmer Adam Peaty’s gold on day three to Mo Farah’s long-distance “double double” on the final Saturday, this was Britain’s most successful Games in 108 years.
UK Sport distributed £275m of lottery and exchequer funding to the various sports in the build-up to the Olympic Games.
Ryan Lochte and the other three US swimmers hijacked media coverage for the second half of the Games by lying about being robbed at gunpoint to cover up for a drunken night.
For all the drumbeat of bad news in the months ahead of the Olympics, two of the biggest issues caused barely a ripple.
The diving pool turned green. But British Athletics will feel they left a few medals out there, too. But others suffered from lesser turnouts and lack of buzz. In Track, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt claimed his legend status as he took the 9th career Gold.
The long distances and travel times between the three main venue clusters meant there was no single area where large, colorful crowds could congregate and produce a Carnival atmosphere.
On the field, Rio will surely be remembered for great sporting moments. Pound said the IOC and global federations should carry out a “forensic analysis” after Rio on what worked, what didn’t and why.
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Rio 2016 organising committee president Carlos Nuzman also said the Games in Rio was a great challenge. “We should train the city well in advance. They have no option but to continue using us”.
