To the beats of traditional Brazilian music, Olympians danced and waved their countries flags to celebrate their place on the worlds premier sporting stage. All of the athletes participating in Rio have reached one goal or another getting there, but only few will be remembered for eternity for being the first to achieve something that had never been achieved before by a fellow countrymen or Olympic competitor.
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“Brazil and Rio de Janeiro delivered marvellous Olympic Games to the world”.
But for the thousands of visitors and locals who embraced the Games, flowing each morning over an elevated walkway into the Olympic Park, this had been a resounding success.
United States’ Courtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis and Allyson Felix hold a sign and wear their nation’s flag after winning the gold in the women’s 4×400 meter relay during athletics competitions at the Summer Olympics inside Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday. History will talk about a Rio de Janeiro before and a much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games. The LA bid’s plans to integrate the city’s scenic coastline, diverse topography and iconic landmarks into the fabric of the Games will extend this athlete-, fan- and camera-friendly strategy.
Then came Rio standout Katie Ledecky. It ended officially with the handing over of control for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
In a private luncheon hosted by the Vice Chairman of GE, John Rice, IOC President Thomas Bach spoke of the role of The Olympic Partners (TOP), and of GE specifically, in developing transformative infrastructure to support the Olympic Games. 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. Many Rio residents could not afford tickets to events, leaving them feeling on the sidelines of the city’s biggest undertaking.
But even as Olympics highlight reels continued to loop on Brazilian television, the nation’s attention began to shift back to the capital, Brasilia, where Rousseff will go on trial before the Senate Thursday on charges of fudging the national budget to make the numbers look better.
One last stat about their dominance: The United States had 19 more gold medals than second-place finishers Great Britain. The US led the medal table with 121, with 46 gold, the most it has ever won at an Olympics outside its territory.
The country celebrated long and loud when Neymar won a gold-medal penalty shoot-out against Germany to erase memories of their 7-1 World Cup semi-final humiliation in 2014.
World and Olympic records tumbled in the pool and on the track, and heroes were born at the Games.
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Phelps cut a more subdued, serious figure but nonetheless dazzled through his performances, winning five gold medals and one silver to give him 23 career Olympic golds and 28 medals overall.
