The Olympic torch officially left Rio De Janeiro on Sunday night after a colorful closing ceremony at the famous Maracana stadium brought an end to the games which have been hailed as nothing short of historic.
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With the conclusion of the games in Rio on August 21, the United States took a commanding lead in overall medals, as well as gold, silver and bronze, respectfully.
Ervin, who has lived in Berkeley for much of the past 20 years, was the first swimmer of African-American heritage to win a gold medal when he did it at the Sydney Games. He won six in Rio, while Biles and US swimmer Katie Ledecky each won five to lead to lead a big haul from American women. The overwrought emotions came to a powerful conclusion Sunday with Kenyan star Eliud Kipchoge winning the marathon, the US men dominating Serbia for the gold medal in basketball and Ohio State wrestler Kyle Snyder winning the final event of the Rio Games. This isn’t the first time American female athletes performed such a feat; they outpaced their male counterparts at the London Games in 2012, too, winning 58 out of the 103 total medal count.
Argentina’s men’s football team – which won gold at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games – was another disappointment, failing to make it past the first round after arriving in Rio with a coach appointed at the last minute.
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Iranian athletes took home a total of 8 medals (three gold, one silver and four bronze).
But one man bestrode the whole event, Usain Bolt signing off his extraordinary Olympic career with an unprecedented treble-treble: gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay for the third time in successive Games. Russian Federation – with its track team told to stay home because of the doping probe and a cloud hovering over its athletes who were in Rio, some of whom got publicly called out by competitors – finished with 19 golds and 56 medals overall, both well below its normal showings.
“I stand by what I said”, King said. “It was like war”. Phelps, the record holder, added six medals in his fifth Olympics, while Biles and Ledecky each had five and Felix three. However, Marcia Cavallari, the CEO of IBOPE states that; “While the majority supports the Olympics, there are doubts about the use of public funds on such an event when there are so many other ways to prioritise, especially given the economic crisis [in Brazil]”. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
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