GE’s technology is everywhere on the Olympic sites. It is also very much present in the legacy that the Games will leave for the residents of the host city. Led by tournament MVP Maggie Steffens, the US women’s water polo team became the first to successfully defend its Olympic title and the only nation to medal at each of the five Olympic Games since the sport debuted in 2000. The most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, swimmer Michael Phelps, spoke with the media to make it crystal clear the 2016 Rio Games will be his last.
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As Brazil shrugs off a post-Olympic hangover to face a deepening political and economic crisis, memories of Jamaican Bolt and Phelps will linger after they set the 2016 Olympics alight.
If American athletes were divided into two separate countries – male and female – the women would rank third in gold medals and fourth in total medals.
Allyson Felix won three Olympic medals in Rio.
The Miami Valley played its part in the dominance, too, as Middletown native Kayla Harrison won her second gold medal in judo.
Great Britain’s Mo Farah won his fourth Olympic gold as he became only the second man to retain the 5,000m and 10,000m titles.
It was as if to say, hey, we created everything you hold dear, of course 2020’s games are going to be excellent.
Brazil’s football team’s talisman Neymar delivered a national obsession, scoring the winning penalty in the final against Germany to secure an elusive first-ever gold for the five-time world champions. The 51-medal dropoff from the United States to China is the largest total since 1984, and the seventh best all-time. The U.S.is one of only five nations to have accomplished the feat at the Olympic Games in summer competition and the first to do in 40 years.
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Ironically, officials also took advantage of the watching global TV audience to introduce its new “Olympic channel”, on the day that the sports action was over.
