Certainly the Rio Games struck a triumphant tone here in Charleston. Though undefeated heading into the final, the US men’s team flirted with disaster at several points in the tournament, including razor-thin three point victories over France and its gold medal opponent Serbia in Group play. Following the golden finish in the women’s event on August 14th, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge won gold in the men’s marathon finishing the race in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 44 seconds. The U.S. had a comfortable lead, totaling 121 medals; China came in second place with 70 medals overall.
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“This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me and my team and I consider it a privilege to represent my country, the United States Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics by carrying our flag”. “Thanks to the contribution of the National Lottery players via UK Sport and their investment, this is 20 years in the making”. They won their last five games by an average of seven goals on their way to the first gold medal in the nation’s history.
The U.S. Olympic Team made itself right at home in Rio.
China sent a team of 410 athletes and finished with 26 golds compared to Great Britain’s 27, their lowest gold medals tally since Atlanta in 1996, where they finished with just 16.
Two other ex-Trojans-tracksters each won three medals: Allyson Felix of the US (golds in the 400-meter relay and 1600-meter relay, and silver in the 400-meter) and Andre De Grasse of Canada (silver in the 200-meter and bronzes in the 100-meter and 400-meter relay).
Rio de Janeiro, Aug 22 (IANS): Billions of viewers around the world watched the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and would have seen the city’s iconic landscape, from Corcovado to Sugarloaf mountain, the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon and the city’s famous coastline.
And what will the host nation think now that the games are over?
A blustery storm swept in before the start of the closing ceremonies at Maracana Stadium, where Rio de Janeiro handed the torch to Tokyo, host of the 2020 Games. Mossely won lightweight gold on her 24th birthday on Friday and was in the stands shouting encouragement for Yoka. This was the third straight Olympic gold medal for men’s basketball. The country went from a peak of 100 medals in Beijing in 2008 to 88 in London to 70 in Rio.
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Rio 2016 was at times chaotic and ragged, but South America’s first-ever Olympics was on the whole a huge success and helped put a smile on Brazilian faces for at least three weeks.
