Michael Phelps cemented his status as the most successful Olympian of all time by winning five golds and one silver at Rio 2016, taking his tally to 28 medals (23 gold). The one that seemed to mean the most to the great American swimmer was the 200 metre butterfly.
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The honour of bearing the Indian flag came to Sakshi as silver medalist shuttler P V Sindhu had left yesterday as about 50 Indians, including the men’s and women’s hockey teams, the wrestlers and boxer duo of Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar, participated in the athletes’ parade.
Then came Rio standout Katie Ledecky.
All Brazil has to look to is how the host nations during the past three decades have performed in the subsequent Olympics. “These Games will be defined by the inspiring performances of our athletes, the images of them on the podium and the success of the Organizing Committee”.
Earlier, the glory belonged to Bolt, 29, who made history when he sealed the sprint “triple triple” in his final Games, reaching a record-equalling nine gold medals with his third consecutive 100m, 200m and 4x100m sweep.
Few people had heard of Monica Puig before Rio 2016. I just have to enjoy what I do and keep winning medals for my country because I just love winning but being Sir Mo would be wonderful. Winning five of the six relays, the USA garnered almost half of the 34 gold medals up for grabs, while no other country won more than three. They were awarded the Pierre de Courbertin prize for sporting behaviour.
High-tech tracks and pools at Rio 2016 helped runners, cyclists and swimmers deliver their best performances, with 65 Olympic and 19 world records being broken.
A total of 67 medals, with 27 golds, put Team GB second in the medal table – above China for the first time since the latter returned to the Games in 1984. Highlighting the list of firsts by American women, Gwen Jorgensen and Helen Maroulis gave the U.S its first gold medals in triathlon and women’s wrestling, while Kim Rhode (shooting) became the first woman from any nation to win a medal at six straight Olympic Games.
In the last of the 306 medal ceremonies, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach draped the gold around the neck of Kenyas Eliud Kipchoge, victor of the mens marathon earlier on the final day, during the function. He went on to triumph in the same events in two successive world championships and repeated the feat in Rio, emulating Finnish great Lasse Viren at the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Games. Neymar’s game-winning penalty kick decided a shootout and clinched the men’s soccer gold medal for Brazil, a host that wasn’t a factor in the medal standings but got the gold that it probably wanted most. Neymar also set a new record for fastest goal scored at the Olympics, when he scored after just 14 seconds in the semi-final game against Honduras.
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Marjorie Enya, manager at Deodoro Stadium, publicly kissed and proposed to her partner, Brazil player Isadora Cerullo. “This is the most ambitious task in the media business, and our team of thousands scattered among Rio (2,000-plus), Stamford (more than 1,000), Orlando and Hialeah all deserve a Gold Medal”.
