Despite a troubled build up to and a few embarrassing hiccups during, Rio de Janeiro did eventually deliver a successful Olympic Games.
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Peaty, who broke the 100m breaststroke world-record twice on his way to securing Team GB’s first medal in Rio as he sealed the gold, is hoping for a chance to replicate the achievements of a host of medal winners who became instant household names following 2012.
Great Britain’s record-breaking Olympics in Rio has been hailed as “the best sporting achievement” in the country’s history by chef de mission Mark England.
The British, they had a Games to savor as well.
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. United States of America topped the medals tally with 121 medals (46 Gold, 37 Silver, 38 Bronze), followed by Great Britain (27 23 17) and China (26 18 26). 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.
Out of the 121 USA medals, 61 of them were brought home by female athletes, while the men took 55 (another five came from mixed events).
“Got ’em”, Felix said, smiling. But the significance in Rio were the sheer amounts of hardware.
The seating plan caused little disruption though, with Team GB athletes all smiles as they departed in Rio, and the method has been seen as another incentive for athletes planning to compete in Tokyo in four years’ time to push even harder in order to gain similar recognition among their teammates.
Several British competitors defended titles won in London, notably Mo Farah who again took gold in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres, with boxing’s Nicola Adams and taekwondo’s Jade Jones also repeating their victories of four years ago.
“The Maracanazinho atmosphere is electrifying”, he said. “Winning medals and just one after the other”. Everything we went through and now we are Olympic champions.
The Russians and the Chinese probably didn’t feel the same. Carmelo Anthony’s third gold made him the most decorated male in Olympic basketball history.
Annalise Murphy and the O’Donovan brothers scooped a silver medal each, while Phelps got five gold and one silver at Rio. Efimova has twice been banned.
“It was not positive”, Efimova told the BBC.
Jamaica won six gold medals – home to the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt – in Rio from its population of 2.73 million people, equating to a population per gold medal of 454,323.
This was after the Olympic flag was lowered and handed over to the representative of Tokyo 2020, the next host of the Games.
“In terms of the attractiveness of the Olympic games, I don’t think that’s going to diminish at all”, he said. “So much love and support throughout my career and I just wanted this one for them”. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
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