American women grabbed headlines with their dominance and brought home a staggering numbers of medals.
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During the closing ceremony of Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Sunday night, when the British athletes entered the Maracanã stadium with their astonishing haul of gleaming medals, the feeling for everyone connected with Team GB must have been one of “mission accomplished”.
“This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me”, said USA gymnast and closing ceremony flag-bearer Simone Biles, who won five medals, four of them gold, in her first Olympics. The American added the 4x200m relay gold as a bonus.
Is this really it for Michael Phelps?
Over three Olympics, from 2004 through ’12, Michael Phelps won 18 gold medals and 22 medals overall, each total more than anyone ever. Biles’ sublime floor-exercise routine and powerful vaults gave her gold medals in the team and all-around competition, as well as both event finals. The girl was already fist-pumping in celebration while the silver-medalist was still racing to the wall.
“I stand by what I said”, King said.
India finished 67th with a silver won by shtuttler P.V. Sindhu in Women’s singles and a bronze claimed by wrestler Sakshi Malik in women’s freestyle 58 kg category.
While the swimmers were great, the girl who stole the show in Rio was gymnast Simone Biles. The Indian contingent, which was able to garner two medals in the Olympics, also made the country proud by putting in some spirited performances. Social media ensured that even casual viewers knew how many events turned out before they were broadcast.
Celebratory post by Neymar Jr., Brazilian soccer player whose penalty kick helped win Brazil its first national medal in soccer, was Facebook’s second-most shared post and the most-tweeted about moment during the Olympics.
Rio won the right to host the Games in 2009, when the economy was booming and millions were pushing into the middle class.
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“Every Olympics has its own set of issues”, said Meghan Musnicki, a member of the US gold medal-winning eight rowing team, which competed in the most-discussed water on the planet. Oh, and then there’s the women’s water polo team which won its second straight gold and bested its opposition by an average of 6.8 goals per match. Bolt bagged his third consecutive Olympic triple-triple, winning the 100 and 200 meters and anchoring Jamaica’s victorious 4×100 relay. It was a Games that belonged to the Americans, as they started off by grabbing the first gold up for grabs in the women’s 10m air rifle. “You kidding me? Xinhua exclaimed”. Lights flashed translations for the word in many languages, and a group of women sang “Mulher Rendeira”, or “Lace-making Woman”, a nod to the country’s African heritage. Seriously, take time to appreciate what they just accomplished. Local officials went after Ryan Lochte and his cohorts aggressively when they determined their tale was a lie. We didn’t need a reminder of how important the fairer sex is to our country, but we got one over the last two weeks.
