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Rio 2016: The good, the bad and the ugly

Try telling one of the 80,000 Brazilians crammed into the Maracana stadium, who roared deliriously as Neymar won Brazil football gold with a crisp last-kick penalty, that this Olympics was anything but a success.

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American gymnast Simone Biles was the breakout star of Rio, winning a record-equalling four golds for a female gymnast at a single Games.

There was the remarkable comeback of American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won five golds to reinforce his distinction as the most decorated Olympian of all time.

The athlete, who had said the feat would make him “immortal”, was matter-of-fact about his 12 years of Olympic dominance.

Rugby and golf, which returned to the Olympic program after a long absence, proved to be successes, although the swaths of empty seats at many of Rio 2016’s venues were an indictment on the organizers’ inability to market the games to the public.

Brazilian supermodel Izabel Goulart looks ravishing during the ceremony marking the close of the Olympic Games in RIo. Phelps, 31, held off the challenge of young rivals Masato Sakai of Japan and Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary – then enthralled the Olympic Aquatics Stadium crowd with a climb into the stands to share his moment of triumph with three-month-old son Boomer, snuggled in the arms of his mother Nicole Johnson with Phelps’s mother Debbie, at their side.

Or Sasson of Israel (right) and Islam El Shehaby of Egypt (left) in action in the men’s +100kg bout of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Judo events at the Carioca Arena 2 in the Olympic Park. ― Reuters picUsain Bolt danced for joy with his Jamaican relay teammates after anchoring the squad to a 4x100m victory that sealed his Olympic “triple-triple” – his third straight sweep of the 100m, 200m and 4x100m golds.

The country’s tally in Rio de Janeiro was capped off by a gold in the men’s volleyball final on Sunday and Brazil’s first men’s soccer gold on Saturday.

But at times it was hard to focus on the sporting triumphs taking place across the sprawling city. And American swimming standout Ryan Lochte and three teammates caused outrage when they falsely claimed they had been robbed at gunpoint in Rio by muggers disguised as police. That ignited further security concerns after a series of assaults against government ministers, athletes and tourists.

“I don’t think there’s anything better than having the opportunity to hang gold medals on American athletes and listen to the Star-Spangled Banner”, said USOC Chairman Larry Probst.

For many in the soccer-mad nation, the best Olympic moments happened in the Maracana, where Brazil defeated Germany in soccer on Saturday and pieced together a widely hailed opening ceremony despite the tight budget.

He said: “It’s great to be back on British soil again and I can’t wait to inspire the next generation of British athletes”. Brazil struggled the rest of the way, losing their final five games, but still proved that water polo could have a place, and definitely a fan base, in the country afterall.

But for Brazilians, harsh reality dawned on Monday with the Senate readying the next stage of impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff, suspended from office in May amid allegations of accounting irregularities.

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For now though, Rio celebrates.

Rio Olympics kept NBC on top with viewers again last week