)
, nations = 207 (including
IOA and
EOR
The ''Ear'' rune of the Anglo-Saxon runes, Anglo-Saxon futhorc is a late addition to the alphabet. It is, however, still attested from epigraphical evidence, notably the Thames scramasax, and its introduction thus cannot postdate the 9th century ...
teams)
, athletes = 11,238
, events = 306 in 28
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
(41 disciplines)
, opening = 5 August 2016
, closing = 21 August 2016
, opened_by =
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
Michel Temer
Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia (; born 23 September 1940) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and writer who served as the 37th president of Brazil from 31 August 2016 to 31 December 2018. He took office after the impeachment and removal from off ...
, cauldron =
Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima
, stadium =
Maracanã Stadium
Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...
(ceremonies),
Estádio Olímpico João Havelange (athletics competition)
, summer_prev =
London 2012
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, summer_next =
Tokyo 2020
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
, winter_prev =
Sochi 2014
, ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'')
, nations = 88
, events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, athletes = 2,873
, opening = 7 February 2014
, closing = 23 February 2014
, opened_by = President Vladimir Putin
, cauldron =
, stadium = Fisht Olympic ...
, winter_next =
Pyeongchang 2018
, nations = 93
, athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women)
, events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening =
, closing =
, opened_by = President Moon Jae-in
, cauldron = Kim Yun-a
, stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium
, wi ...
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international
multi-sport event
A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...
held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, Brazil, with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 3 August. Rio de Janeiro was announced as the host city at the
121st IOC Session
The 121st International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session was held on October 1–9, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, during which Rio de Janeiro was selected as the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The city of Copenhagen was chosen on February ...
in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Denmark, on 2 October 2009.
11,238 athletes from 207 nations took part in the 2016 Games, including first-time entrants
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
,
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
, and the
Refugee Olympic Team
The Refugee Olympic Team is a group made up of independent Olympic participants who are refugees. In March 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, as a s ...
.
With 306 sets of medals, the Games featured 28
Olympic sports
Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an Sports governing body, inter ...
, including
rugby sevens and
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
, which were added to the Olympic program in 2009. These sporting events took place at 33 venues in the host city and at five separate venues in the Brazilian cities of
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
,
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
,
Salvador
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
,
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
, and
Manaus
Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...
.
These were the first
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
to be held in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
,
as well as the first to be held in a
Portuguese-speaking country, the first summer edition to be held entirely in the
host country's winter season, the first since
1968
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide.
Events January–February
* January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
* Januar ...
to be held in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
(the second being
2018 Summer Youth Olympics
The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de la Juventud de 2018), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international sports, cultural, and educational event held ...
in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
), and the first since
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
to be held in the
Southern Hemisphere. These were also the first Summer Olympics to take place under the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC) presidency of
Thomas Bach
Thomas Bach (born 29 December 1953) is a German lawyer, former Olympic foil fencer and Olympic gold medalist, serving as the ninth and current president of the International Olympic Committee since 10 September 2013. He is also a former memb ...
.
The
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
topped the
medal table
The Olympic medal table is a method of sorting the medal placements of countries in the modern-day
Olympics and Paralympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not officially recognize a ranking of participating countries at the Olympic ...
, winning the most gold medals (46) and the highest number of medals overall (121); the US team also won its 1,000th Summer Olympic gold medal overall.
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
finished second and became the first country to increase its tally of medals in the
Olympiad
An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games.
Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not until ...
immediately after being
host nation in 2012.
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
finished third in the medal table. Host nation
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
won seven gold medals and 19 medals, its best result at any Olympics, finishing in thirteenth place.
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
,
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
, and
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
all won their first gold medals, as did the group of
Independent Olympic Athletes
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independen ...
(from Kuwait).
Bidding process
![Rio de Janeiro 2016 press conference](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Rio_de_Janeiro_2016_press_conference.jpg)
The bidding process for the 2016 Summer Olympics was officially launched on 16 May 2007. The first step for each city was to submit an initial application to the International Olympic Committee by 13 September 2007, confirming their intention to bid. Completed official bid files containing answers to a 25-question IOC form were to be submitted by each city by the deadline of 14 January 2008. On 4 June 2008, two months before the
Beijing Olympics, four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist:
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
,
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, and
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, which had already hosted the Summer Olympics in
1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
. Three cities—
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
,
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
, and
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
—failed to reach the candidature phase. Doha was not promoted, despite scoring higher than the selected candidate city Rio de Janeiro, because of their proposal to host the Olympics in October, outside the IOC's sporting calendar, added with its problems while hosting the
2006 Asian Games
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...
, including deaths and illnesses involving athletes and volunteers. Others included lack of infrastructures, including beds for athletes and media reporters at that time.
Nawal El Moutawakel
Nawal El Moutawakel (Amazigh: ⵏⴰⵡⴰⵍ ⵍⵎⵓⵜⴰⵡⴰⵇⵇⵉⵍ ; ar, نوال المتوكل; born 15 April 1962) is a Moroccan former hurdler, who won the inaugural women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, ...
of Morocco headed the 10-member Evaluation Commission, having also chaired the evaluation commission for the
2012 Summer Olympics bids
Nine cities submitting bids to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics were recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Committee shortlisted five of them—London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, and Paris ...
, which was awarded to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. The commission made on-site inspections in the second quarter of 2009. They issued a comprehensive technical appraisal for IOC members on 2 September, one month before the elections.
Many safeguards were put in place to prevent bidding cities from communicating with or directly influencing the 115 IOC members eligible to vote in the elections. For example, cities could not invite any IOC member to visit, nor could they send anything that could be construed as a gift. Nonetheless, bidding cities invested large sums in their PR and media programs to indirectly influence the IOC members by garnering domestic support and backing from sports media and general international media.
The final voting was held in Copenhagen on 2 October 2009, with Madrid and Rio de Janeiro considered favorites to secure the Games. Chicago was eliminated after the first round of voting, and Tokyo after the second (The latter city would eventually awarded the
2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
in 2013). Rio de Janeiro took a significant lead over Madrid, heading into the final round; the lead was held, and Rio de Janeiro was announced as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Development and preparation
On 26 June 2011, it was reported on
AroundTheRings.com
Around the Rings (ATR) is an Internet-based publication covering the business and politics of the Olympic Movement, as well as a wide array of issues in international sports.
ATR had its beginnings in the late 1980s when Atlanta was bidding for ...
that Roderlei Generali, the COO of the Rio de Janeiro Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, resigned just one year after taking the job at ROOC. This came just five months after CCO Flávio Pestana quit for personal reasons. Pestana withdrew later during the
2012 Summer Paralympics
The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...
, and Renato Ciuchin was then appointed as COO.
Venues and infrastructure
Events took place at eighteen existing venues, nine new venues constructed specifically for the Games, and seven temporary venues.
Each event was held in one of four geographically segregated Olympic clusters–
Barra
Barra (; gd, Barraigh or ; sco, Barra) is an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and the second southernmost inhabited island there, after the adjacent island of Vatersay to which it is connected by a short causeway. The island is na ...
,
Copacabana,
Deodoro, and
Maracanã–as was done for the
2007 Pan American Games
The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Com ...
. Several of the venues were located at the Barra Cluster Olympic Park.
Nearly half of the athletes could reach their venues in less than 10 minutes, and almost 75 per cent could do so in less than 25 minutes. Of the 34 competition venues, eight underwent some permanent works, seven were totally temporary and nine were constructed as permanent legacy venues.
The largest venue at the Games in terms of
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
was the 74,738-seat
Maracanã Stadium
Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...
, which served as the ceremonies venue and site of the football finals.
The second largest stadium was the 60,000-seat
Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, which hosted track and field events.
The athletes' village was said to be the largest in Olympic history. Fittings included about 80,000 chairs, 70,000 tables, 29,000 mattresses, 60,000 clothes hangers, 6,000 television sets and 10,000 smartphones.
Olympic Park
![Parque_Olímpico_Rio_2016_(2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Parque_Ol%C3%ADmpico_Rio_2016_%282%29.jpg)
The Barra Olympic Park is a cluster of nine sporting venues in
Barra da Tijuca
Barra da Tijuca () (usually known as Barra) is an upper-class neighborhood or bairro in the Rio de Janeiro#West Zone, West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, located in the western portion of the city on the Atlantic Ocean. Barra is well known for it ...
, in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The site was formerly occupied by the
Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet
The Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet (Nelson Piquet International RaceTrack), also known as Jacarepaguá after the neighbourhood in which it was located, and also as the Autódromo Riocentro, was a motorsport circuit in Rio de Janeiro, Braz ...
, also known as the Jacarepaguá Formula One circuit.
The nine venues within the Olympic Park were:
*
Carioca Arena 1
Carioca Arena 1 (Portuguese: ''Arena Carioca 1'') is an indoor stadium in Barra da Tijuca in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The venue hosted basketball at the 2016 Summer Olympics as well as wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby a ...
– basketball (capacity: 16,000)
*
Carioca Arena 2
Carioca Arena 2 (Portuguese: ''Arena Carioca 2'') is an indoor stadium in Barra da Tijuca in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The venue hosted judo at the 2016 Summer Olympics, judo and wrestling at the 2016 Summer Olympics as well as bocci ...
– wrestling, judo (capacity: 10,000)
*
Carioca Arena 3
Carioca Arena 3 (Portuguese: ''Arena Carioca 3'') is an indoor stadium in Barra da Tijuca in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The venue hosted taekwondo at the 2016 Summer Olympics, taekwondo and fencing at the 2016 Summer Olympics, fencin ...
– fencing, taekwondo (capacity: 10,000)
*
Future Arena
The Future Arena (Portuguese: Arena do Futuro) was a temporary sporting venue in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that was used for handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics, volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics and goalball at the 2016 Sum ...
– handball (capacity: 12,000)
*
Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre
The Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre ( pt, Parque Aquático Maria Lenk) is an aquatics centre that is part of the City of Sports Complex in the Barra da Tijuca district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is part of the investments made by the city to host t ...
– diving, synchronized swimming, water polo (capacity: 5,000)
*
Olympic Aquatics Stadium
The Olympic Aquatics Stadium ( pt, Estádio Aquático Olímpico) was a temporary aquatics center in the Barra Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro. The venue hosted the Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics, swimming events, Synchronized swimming at t ...
– swimming, water polo play-offs (capacity: 15,000)
*
Olympic Tennis Centre – tennis (capacity: 10,000 Main Court)
*
Rio Olympic Arena
Jeunesse Arena is an indoor multi-purpose arena, located in the region of Barra da Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is named for the American cosmetics company Jeunesse Global through a naming rights deal closed in 2017. Before, the spons ...
– gymnastics (capacity: 12,000)
*
Rio Olympic Velodrome
The Rio Olympic Velodrome, officially the Velódromo Municipal do Rio (''Rio Municipal Velodrome''), is a velodrome located in the Barra Olympic Park sports complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Built as a replacement for the former Barra Velodr ...
– track cycling (capacity: 5,000)
Football
As well as the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange and Maracanã and in Rio de Janeiro, football matches took place at five venues in the cities of
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
,
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
,
Salvador
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
,
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
and
Manaus
Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...
.
Image:Maracana_internal_view_april_2013.jpg, Maracanã Stadium
Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, RJ
Image:Olympic_Stadium_(Engenhão),_Rio_de_Janeiro,_Brazil.jpg, Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, RJ
Image:Arena_Amazônia.jpg, Arena da Amazônia
Arena da Amazônia (''Amazon Arena'') is a football stadium in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, located on the former site of the Vivaldão stadium. The stadium has an all-seater capacity of 44,300 and was constructed from 2010 to 2014 as part of Brazil ...
Manaus
Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...
, AM
Image:Belgium vs Korea Republic - Group H - 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.jpg, Arena Corinthians
Neo Química Arena, previously known as Arena Corinthians, is a sports stadium located in São Paulo, Brazil, owned, operated and used by Corinthians. It has a seating capacity of , making it the fifth-largest stadium used by teams in the t ...
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, SP
Image:EstadioForteNova-cancha1.jpg, Arena Fonte Nova
The Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova, also known as Complexo Esportivo Cultural Professor Octávio Mangabeira, is a football-specific stadium located in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and has a maximum capacity of 48,000 people. The stadium was built in plac ...
Salvador
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
, BA
Image:Estádio Nacional Brasília.jpg, Estádio Nacional
The Estádio Nacional (English: National Stadium), also known as National Stadium Sports Complex ( pt, Complexo Desportivo do Estádio Nacional) and as ''Jamor Sports Complex'' ( pt, Complexo Desportivo do Jamor), is a national football stadium ...
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
, DF
Image:Mineirao_Stadium.jpg, Mineirão
Mineirão (), officially Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto (''Governor Magalhães Pinto Stadium'') is the largest football stadium in the state of Minas Gerais. It was established in 1965, and it is located in Belo Horizonte.
It served as a ...
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
, MG
Urban renovation
![VLT Rio 09 2016 3355](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/VLT_Rio_09_2016_3355.jpg)
Rio's historical
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
underwent an urban waterfront revitalization project known as ''
Porto Maravilha
The Port of Rio de Janeiro ( pt, Porto do Rio de Janeiro) is a port, seaport in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil located in a cove on the west shore of Guanabara Bay. It is the third-busiest port in Brazil, and it is managed by Companhia Docas ...
'', covering in area. The project aimed to redevelop the port area, increase the city center's attractiveness, and enhance Rio's competitive position in the global economy.
The urban renovation involved of public networks for water supply, sanitation, drainage, electricity, gas and telecom; of tunnels; of roads; of sidewalks; of bike path; 15,000 trees; and three sanitation treatment plants. As part of this renovation, a new tram was built from the
Santos Dumont Airport
Santos Dumont Airport is the second major airport serving Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is named after the Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont (1873–1932). It is operated by Infraero.
Santos Dumont has slot restrictions operatin ...
to Rodoviária Novo Rio, due to open in April 2016.
The Games required over 200 kilometers of security fencing. A 15,000 square meter warehouse in Barra da Tijuca was used to assemble and supply the furniture and fittings for the Olympic Village. The second warehouse of 90,000 square meters in Duque de Caxias, near the roads that provide access to the venues, contained all the equipment needed for the sporting events.
Medals
![Medalhas Rio 2016 (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Medalhas_Rio_2016_%282%29.jpg)
The medals were produced by the
Casa da Moeda do Brasil
The Casa da Moeda do Brasil is the Brazilian mint, owned by the Brazilian government and administratively subordinated to the Ministry of Finances. It was established in 1694. Its current headquarters and industrial facilities occupy a modern pla ...
(the Brazilian
mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAES g ...
). The medal design was unveiled on 15 June 2016. They were designed to be environmentally friendly using recycled materials; the bronze and silver medals contained 30% recycled materials. The gold medals were produced using gold that had been mined and extracted according to a set of sustainability criteria, such as being extracted without the use of mercury. The medals feature a wreath design on the front, and in keeping with tradition, the obverse features
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...
, the Greek goddess of victory. A wooden carrying box accompanied each medal. Medalists were also awarded a trophy in the shape of the Games' emblem.
In May 2017, an
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
article disclosed that over 100 athletes who had won medals at the Rio Olympics reported that their medals were showing some damage, including black spots, flaking, or surface degrading. Rio officials offered to replace any defective medals and found problems with 6 to 7 percent of all those awarded.
Torch relay
![Passagem da Tocha Olímpica em SP (28605511640)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Passagem_da_Tocha_Ol%C3%ADmpica_em_SP_%2828605511640%29.jpg)
The Olympic flame was lit on 21 April 2016 at the
Temple of Hera in
Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
, the traditional start of the Greek phase of the torch relay. The flame was handed over to the Brazilian organisers in a ceremony at the
Panathenaic Stadium
The Panathenaic Stadium ( el, Παναθηναϊκό Στάδιο, Panathinaïkó Stádio, ), as spelled by Philostratus. or ''Kallimarmaro'' (Καλλιμάρμαρο, , Literal translation, lit. "beautiful marble") is a multi-purpose stadium ...
in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
on 27 April. A brief stop-off was made in Switzerland to visit the IOC headquarters and the
Olympic Museum
The Olympic Museum (french: Musée olympique) in Lausanne, Switzerland houses permanent and temporary exhibits relating to sport and the Olympic movement. With more than 10,000 artifacts, the museum is the largest archive of Olympic Games in the ...
in
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
, as well as the
United Nations Office at Geneva
The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG, french: Office des Nations Unies à Genève) in Geneva, Switzerland, is one of the four major offices of the United Nations where numerous different UN agencies have a joint presence. The main UNOG ...
.
The torch relay began its journey around Brazil on 3 May at the capital
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
. The flame visited more than 300 Brazilian cities, including all 26 state capitals and the
Brazilian Federal District
The Federal District ( pt, Distrito Federal ) is one of 27 federative units of Brazil. Located in the Center-West Region, it is the smallest Brazilian federal unit and the only one that has no municipalities, being divided into 31 administr ...
.
The relay ended in Rio de Janeiro on 5 August when the flame was used to light the Olympic cauldron during the
opening ceremony
An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event. .
Volunteers
Unpaid volunteers performed a variety of tasks before and during the Games. A target of 50,000 volunteers was set as early as 2012. More than 240,000 applications were received when recruitment took place in 2014. The clothing worn by the volunteers included yellow polo shirts and jackets, beige trousers, white socks, and green trainers, which they collected from the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre. Volunteers also wore photo accreditation badges which were allocated to officials, athletes, family members, and media, allowing them to gain access to specific venues and buildings around the site. Many volunteers gave up their roles due to long working hours and insufficient free meals.
Ticketing
The ticket prices were announced on 16 September 2014, all of which were sold in
Brazilian reais (BRL). A total of 7.5 million tickets were to be sold in total, with ticket prices ranging from BRL 40 for many events to BRL 4,600 for the most expensive seats at the opening ceremony. About 3.8 million of these tickets were available for BRL 70 or less.
Sustainability
As an aspect of its bid, Rio's organizing committee planned to focus on
sustainability
Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...
and
environmental protection
Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...
as a theme of the 2016 Games, going on to dub them a "Green Games for a Blue Planet".
As legacy projects, organizers intended to introduce a wider array of public transport options, upgrade the infrastructure of the
favela
Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...
s to provide improved transport and access to utilities, upgrade Rio's sewer system to remediate the level of pollution in the
Guanabara Bay
Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and ...
,
and plant 24 million seedlings to offset the expected carbon emissions of the Games. However, some of these projects met with delays or faced economic shortfalls, leading some critics to believe that Rio would not be able to accomplish them.
The focus on environmental protection also influenced the implementation of certain Olympic protocols. To reduce emissions, the Olympic cauldron was designed to be smaller than previous iterations, using a
kinetic sculpture to enhance its appearance in place of a larger body of flames.
The bronze and silver medals, as well as the ribbons on all medals, were designed to incorporate recycled materials.
The athletes were not presented with flowers during the medal ceremonies, as had been the tradition at previous Olympics (although floral displays were still used as part of the staging of medal presentations). The organizers considered the practice to be wasteful because the flowers were often thrown away and "would struggle to survive in the tropical Brazilian climate" if kept. The podiums were designed using materials that could be recycled to make furniture.
The
Future Arena
The Future Arena (Portuguese: Arena do Futuro) was a temporary sporting venue in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that was used for handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics, volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics and goalball at the 2016 Sum ...
, the venue for the handball competitions, was designed as a temporary modular structure whose components could be reconstructed after the Games to build schools.
However, as of November 2017, the arena was still standing due to lack of funds to dismantle it and no allocation of funds to do so in the 2018 budget.
Portions of the opening ceremony were dedicated to the issue of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
.
The Games
Opening ceremony
![2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony 1035301-05082016- v9a2048 04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/2016_Summer_Olympics_opening_ceremony_1035301-05082016-_v9a2048_04.08.16.jpg)
The opening ceremony took place at
Maracana Stadium on 5 August 2016, directed by
Fernando Meirelles
Fernando Ferreira Meirelles (; born 9 November 1955) is a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for co-directing the film '' City of God'', released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the U.S. by Miramax Films, which ...
,
Daniela Thomas
Daniela Thomas (born 1959) is a Brazilian film director, screenwriter and editor.
Early life
In 1959, Thomas was born as Daniela Gontijo Alves Pinto in Brazil.
Thomas' father is Ziraldo Alves Pinto, a cartoonist. Thomas' brother is Antonio P ...
, and
Andrucha Waddington
Andrew "Andrucha" Waddington (born 20 January 1970) is a Brazilian film Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter.
Career
His several film credits include “Me You Them” (2000), Mention spéciale of Un Certain Regard ...
.
The ceremony highlighted aspects of Brazilian history and culture, and featured a segment narrated by
Fernanda Montenegro
Arlette Pinheiro Esteves Torres ONM (née da Silva; born 16 October 1929), known by her stage name Fernanda Montenegro ( /feʁˈnɐ̃dɐ mõtʃiˈnegɾu/), is a Brazilian stage, television and film actress. Considered by many the greatest Brazil ...
and
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...
with an appeal to
environmental conservation
*Environmental protection
Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, w ...
and the prevention of
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
.
The crowd in the stadium numbered 60,000 and the event was broadcast to an estimated global audience of three billion.
The ceremony included the inaugural presentation of the
Olympic Laurel
The Olympic Laurel is a distinction awarded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to honour those who have "made significant achievements in education, culture, development and peace through sport". It was introduced in 2016 to implement pa ...
, an honor bestowed by the IOC on those that have made "significant achievements in education, culture, development and peace through sport"; the trophy was awarded to Kenyan athlete
Kipchoge Keino
Kipchoge Hezekiah Keino (born 17 January 1940) is a retired Kenyan track and field athlete. He was the chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee (KOC) until 29 September 2017. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Keino was among the first in a lon ...
. The Games were officially opened by the
acting president
An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or a vacation) or when the post is vacant (such as for death, injury, resignation, dismissal ...
of Brazil,
Michel Temer
Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia (; born 23 September 1940) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and writer who served as the 37th president of Brazil from 31 August 2016 to 31 December 2018. He took office after the impeachment and removal from off ...
.
The Olympic cauldron was lit by long-distance runner
Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima,
the
men's marathon bronze medalist at the
2004 Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
, who had also received the IOC's
Pierre de Coubertin medal
The Pierre de Coubertin medal is a special decoration awarded by the International Olympic Committee that "pays tribute to institutions with a pedagogical and educational role and to people who, through their research and the creation of intellect ...
for sportsmanship after
being attacked by a spectator and losing his lead in the race.
The cauldron was originally expected to be lit by Brazilian footballer
Pelé
Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...
, but he declined to participate due to health problems.
Following the opening ceremony, a public cauldron was lit in front of the
Candelária Church
The Candelária Church ( pt, Igreja da Candelária, ) is an important historical Roman Catholic church in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in southeastern Brazil. It was built and decorated during a long period, from 1775 to the late 19th century. The ...
by Jorge Gomes, a 14-year-old Brazilian athlete who had escaped from poverty to train as a runner.
[.]
Sports
The 2016 Summer Olympic program featured 28 sports encompassing 306 events. The number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses.
New sports
In April 2008, the IOC began accepting applications for two new sports to be introduced to the Olympic programme. Baseball and
softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
(which were both dropped in 2005),
karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...
,
squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
,
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
,
roller sports
Roller sports are sports that use human powered vehicles which use rolling either by gravity or various pushing techniques. Typically ball bearings and polyurethane wheels are used for momentum and traction respectively, and attached to devices or ...
, and
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
all applied to be included on the programme. Formal presentations were made to the IOC executive board in June 2009.
In August, the executive board initially gave its approval to
rugby sevens—a seven-player version of rugby union—by a majority vote; baseball/softball, roller sports, and squash were removed from contention, leaving golf, karate, and rugby sevens in the running. A final vote was held on 9 October 2009, the closing day of the 121st IOC Session. At this session, a new voting system was in place: a sport now needed only a simple majority from the full IOC committee for approval rather than the two-thirds majority previously required.
The 121st IOC Session decided to add rugby sevens and golf to the Rio 2016 Olympic programme. The tally for rugby was 81 in favor, with eight against, and golf was approved by 63 votes to 26. Neither of these two sports was new to the Summer Olympics; rugby last featured in
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...
, and golf in
1904
Events
January
* January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''.
* January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
* ...
.
In May 2012, the
International Sailing Federation
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
announced that
windsurfing
Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...
would be replaced by
kitesurfing
Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...
at the 2016 Olympics, but this decision was reversed in November.
Participating National Olympic Committees
All 205
National Olympic Committee
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...
s qualified at least one athlete. The first three nations to qualify athletes for the Games were Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, who each qualified four athletes for the team dressage by winning medals in the team event at the
2014 FEI World Equestrian Games
The 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games were held in the region of Normandy, France. It was the seventh edition of the Games, which are held every four years and run by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI). For team even ...
.
As host nation, Brazil received automatic entry for some sports including in all cycling disciplines and six places for weightlifting events.
The 2016 Summer Olympics were the first Games in which
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
and
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
were eligible to participate. Bulgarian and Russian weightlifters were banned from Rio Olympics for numerous anti-doping violations.
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
was banned in October 2015 for the second time in five years over government interference in the country's Olympic committee.
Number of athletes by National Olympic Committee
11,238
athlete
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...
s from 207
NOCs
Refugee athletes
![Rio 2016 Refugees 1033413-29072016- dsc1069](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Rio_2016_Refugees_1033413-29072016-_dsc1069.jpg)
Due to the
European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...
and other reasons, the IOC allowed athletes to compete as
Independent Olympians under the
Olympic Flag
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses icons, flags and symbols to elevate the Olympic Games. These symbols include those commonly used during Olympic competition—such as the flame, fanfare and theme—as well as those used throughout ...
. During
the previous Summer Olympic Games, refugees were ineligible to compete because of their inability to represent their home NOCs.
On 2 March 2016, the IOC finalized plans for a specific
Refugee Olympic Team (ROT); out of 43 refugee athletes deemed potentially eligible, 10 were chosen to form the team.
Independent athletes
Due to the suspension of the National Olympic Committee of Kuwait, participants from Kuwait were allowed to participate under the Olympic Flag as Independent Olympic Athletes.
In November 2015,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
was provisionally suspended from all international track and field athletic competitions by the
International Association of Athletics Federations
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
(IAAF) following a
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...
(WADA) report into a
doping program in the country.
The IAAF announced that it would allow individual Russian athletes to apply for "exceptional eligibility" to participate in the Games as "neutral" athletes if it was independently verified that they had not engaged in doping nor in the Russian doping program.
On 24 July 2016, the IOC rejected the IAAF and WADA's recommendations to allow athletes to compete neutrally, stating that the
Olympic Charter
The Olympic Charter is a set of rules and guidelines for the organisation of the Olympic Games, and for governing the Olympic movement. Its last revision was on the 17th of July 2020 during the 136th IOC Session, held by video conference. Adop ...
"does not foresee such 'neutral athletes'" and that it was each country's National Olympic Committee decision on which athletes would be competing.
As a result, Russian athletes competed under the Russian flag, although they would compete under a neutral flag in the
2018 Winter Olympics
, nations = 93
, athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women)
, events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening =
, closing =
, opened_by = President Moon Jae-in
, cauldron = Kim Yun-a
, stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium
, winte ...
following several developments concerning the doping investigation.
National houses
During the Games, some countries and continents had a national house. These temporary meeting places for supporters, athletes and other followers were located throughout Rio de Janeiro.
Calendar
Records
Twenty-seven world records and ninety-one Olympic records were set during the 2016 Summer Olympics. The records were set in archery, athletics, canoeing, cycling track, modern pentathlon, rowing, shooting, swimming, and weightlifting.
Event scheduling
![Candelária cauldron at 2016 Summer Olympics](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Candel%C3%A1ria_cauldron_at_2016_Summer_Olympics.jpg)
A number of events, most notably in aquatics, beach volleyball and track and field, were scheduled with sessions and matches occurring as late as 10:00 p.m. to midnight BRT. These scheduling practices were influenced primarily by United States broadcast rightsholder
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
, whose substantial rights fees are one of the major sources of revenue for the IOC, who therefore allowed NBC to have influence on event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible (on 7 May 2014, NBC agreed to a US$7.75 billion contract extension to air the Olympics through 2032, including US$1.23 billion for Rio 2016), as well as the main Brazilian rightsholder
Rede Globo
TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...
. As Brasília time is only one hour ahead of the U.S.
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
, certain marquee events were scheduled to occur during U.S.
primetime
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
hours (traditionally 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. ET, 9:00 p.m. to midnight BRT), allowing them to be broadcast live on the east coast as opposed to being
delayed. This practice was also beneficial to Globo; a Brazilian critic noted that the network very rarely preempts its primetime
telenovela
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...
s, as they are among the highest-rated programs in the country.
Closing ceremony
The
closing ceremony
An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event. of the 2016 Summer Olympics was held on 21 August 2016 from 20:00 to 22:50 BRT at the
Maracanã Stadium
Maracanã Stadium ( pt, Estádio do Maracanã, standard Brazilian Portuguese: , local pronunciation: ), officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho (), is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part o ...
. As per traditional Olympic protocol, the ceremony featured cultural presentations from both the current (Brazil) and following (Japan) host countries, as well as closing remarks by IOC president
Thomas Bach
Thomas Bach (born 29 December 1953) is a German lawyer, former Olympic foil fencer and Olympic gold medalist, serving as the ninth and current president of the International Olympic Committee since 10 September 2013. He is also a former memb ...
, who declared the Games closed, and the
Games' organizing committee leader
Carlos Arthur Nuzman
Carlos Arthur Nuzman (born 17 March 1942) is a Brazilian lawyer and former volleyball player, having competed professionally from 1957 to 1972 and represented the Brazil men's national volleyball team, national team between 1962 and 1968. Nuzman ...
, the official handover of the
Olympic flag
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses icons, flags and symbols to elevate the Olympic Games. These symbols include those commonly used during Olympic competition—such as the flame, fanfare and theme—as well as those used throughout ...
from Rio de Janeiro mayor
Eduardo Paes
Eduardo da Costa Paes (, born 14 November 1969) is a Brazilian politician who was the mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro from 2009 to 2012, re-elected for a second term from 2013 to 2016 and returning elected again in 2021. He is currently t ...
to
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
governor
Yuriko Koike
is a Japanese politician who currently serves as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1976 and was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 1993 until 2016, when she resigned to ...
, whose city will host the
2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
, and the extinguishing of the Olympic flame.
The creative director for the ceremony was
Rosa Magalhães
Rosa Lúcia Benedetti Magalhães (born January 8, 1947 in Rio de Janeiro (city), Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian professor and artist. She is best known as the most successful carnival designer in Rio de Janeiro, with six championships won since 1 ...
. Amid heavy rainfall, the ceremony began with interpretive dancers representing various landmarks in the host city.
Martinho da Vila
Martinho da Vila (born February 12, 1938) is a Brazilian singer and composer who is considered to be one of the main representatives of samba and MPB. He is a prolific songwriter, with hundreds of recorded songs across over 40 solo albums. He a ...
then performed a rendition of "" by
Pixinguinha
Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, known as Pixinguinha (; April 23, 1897February 17, 1973) was a Brazilian composer, arranger, flautist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. Pixinguinha is considered one of the greatest Brazilian composers of popu ...
. In another segment, introducing the athletes, singer
Roberta Sá
Roberta Varela de Sá (born December 19, 1980) is a Brazilian singer.
Sá was born in Natal and is of Portuguese descent.Veloso, Maria João.MORA & AVIS – WITH ARMS WIDE OPEN" '' Up''. TAP Portugal, June 1, 2011. Retrieved on February 15, 2012. ...
channeled
Carmen Miranda
Carmen Miranda, (; born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, 9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955) was a Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress and film star who was active from the late 1920s onwards. Nicknamed "The B ...
, the fruit-headdress-wearing, mid-century Hollywood diva who endures as a beloved
camp figure. The Parade of Flags followed shortly after a choir of 27 children, representing the
states of Brazil
The federative units of Brazil ( pt, unidades federativas do Brasil) are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation and self-collection) and endowed with their own government and constitution, which ...
, sang the
Brazilian national anthem
The "Brazilian National Anthem" ( pt, Hino Nacional Brasileiro) was composed by Francisco Manuel da Silva in 1831 and had been given at least two sets of unofficial lyrics before a 1922 decree by president Epitácio Pessoa gave the anthem its d ...
.
Cost
![Centro_Olímpico_de_Deodoro](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Centro_Ol%C3%ADmpico_de_Deodoro.jpg)
The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 estimated the out-turn cost of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics at US$4.6 billion in 2015-dollars. This figure included sports-related costs, that is, (i) ''operational costs'' incurred by the organizing committee to stage the Games, of which the largest components were technology, transportation, workforce, and administration costs, while other operational costs included security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) ''direct capital costs'' incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which were required to host the Games.
Indirect capital costs were not included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, for hotel upgrades, or other business investment incurred in preparation for the Games but not directly related to staging the Games. The Rio Olympics' cost of US$4.6 billion compares with costs of US$40–44 billion for
Beijing 2008
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
and US$51 billion for
Sochi 2014
, ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'')
, nations = 88
, events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, athletes = 2,873
, opening = 7 February 2014
, closing = 23 February 2014
, opened_by = President Vladimir Putin
, cauldron =
, stadium = Fisht Olympic ...
, the two most expensive Olympics in history. The average cost of the Summer Games since 1960 is US$5.2 billion.
Medal table
The top ten listed
NOCs by the number of gold medals are listed below. Host nation Brazil finished in 13th place with a total of 19 medals (7 gold, 6 silver, and 6 bronze).
Podium sweeps
Broadcasting
Olympic Broadcasting Services
Olympic Broadcasting Services S.L. (OBS) is a company which was established by the International Olympic Committee in 2001 in order to serve as the Host Broadcaster organisation for all Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Olympic Winter Games and ...
served as the host broadcaster for the 2016 Games. Produced from a total of seven mobile units, OBS distributed 40,000 hours of television footage and 60,000 hours of digital footage of the Games to its international rightsholders. For the first time in Olympic history, digital-oriented footage exceeded the amount of television-oriented footage. The International Broadcast Centre was constructed in the Barra da Tijuca cluster.
NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestri ...
and OBS once again filmed portions of the Games, including the opening ceremony and selected events, in
8K resolution
8K resolution refers to an image or display resolution with a width of approximately 8,000 pixels. 8K UHD () is the highest resolution defined in the Rec. 2020 (UHDTV) standard.
8K display resolution is the successor to 4K resolution. TV manuf ...
video. Additionally, expanding upon a 180-degree trial at the
2016 Winter Youth Olympics
The 2016 Winter Youth Olympics ( no, Olympiske vinterleker for ungdom 2016; nn, Olympiske vinterleikane for ungdom 2016), officially known as the II Winter Youth Olympic Games, took place in and around Lillehammer, Norway, between 12 February an ...
, 85 hours of video content were originated in
360-degree virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
formats.
In the United States,
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
offered
4K content downconverted from the 8K footage and with
HDR and
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal, nor verti ...
support, to participating television providers.
Owing to their expertise in domestic broadcasts of the new sports introduced in Rio,
Golf Channel
Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television television network, network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently ...
and
Sky New Zealand
Sky Network Television Limited, more commonly known as Sky, is a New Zealand broadcasting company that provides pay television services via satellite, media streaming services and broadband internet services. It is also a wholesale channel pro ...
staff handled the production of the golf and rugby sevens events on behalf of OBS.
In August 2009, the IOC reached a deal to sell domestic broadcast rights for the 2016 Summer Olympics to
Grupo Globo
Grupo Globo ( en, Globo Group), formerly known as Organizações Globo ( en, Globo Organization), is a Brazilian private mass media conglomerate based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Founded in 1925 by Irineu Marinho, it is the largest media group ...
. Replacing
Record TV
RecordTV (), formerly known as Rede Record, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It is currently the second largest commercial TV station in Brazil, and the 28th largest in the 2012 world ranking. In 2010, it was elected by the adverti ...
, the deal covers free-to-air coverage on
Rede Globo
TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...
,
pay TV
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
, and digital rights to the Games. In turn, Globo sublicensed partial free-to-air rights to Rede Record, along with
Rede Bandeirantes
Rede Bandeirantes (, ''Bandeirantes Network''), or simply known as Band (), is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It began broadcasting on May 13, 1967 on VHF channel 13 in São Paulo. Its founder was businessman João Saad with t ...
. IOC board member
Richard Carrión
Richard L. Carrión Rexach (born November 26, 1952)
is the executive chairman of Popular, Inc., the parent company of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Popular Bank. Prior to assuming his current position in July 2017, he served as chairman and ...
described the agreement as "unprecedented", touting that "by working with Brazil's leading media organizations, we are confident that this represents a great deal for Olympic fans in the region. There will be a huge increase in the amount of Olympic action broadcast, both during and outside Games time, and Brazilians will have more choice of how, when and where they follow their Olympic Games."
Olympic Golden Rings Awards
In November 2017, the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
announced the winners of the Golden rings in six categories for the best broadcast coverage of the Games. The Best Olympic Sports Production was awarded to Beach Volleyball, produced by Geoff Johnson and directed by Greg Breakell and Gary Milkis. The production for the cycling road race and Sailing came second and third. The next category was the best Olympic feature, for which
TV Globo's show ''Esporte Espetacular'' finished third, and
CCTV from China feature ''A Sequel of Love'' came second. The winner was
NBC Olympics
The broadcasts of ''Summer'' and ''Winter Olympic Games'' produced by ''NBC Sports'' are shown on the various platforms of NBCUniversal in the United States, including the NBC broadcast network, NBC Sports app, NBCOlympics.com, Peacock, Spanish l ...
for their feature ''The Most Beautiful Thing''. The third category was The Best Athlete Profile, for which
RTBF
The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...
from
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
collected the third place prize for their profile of
Nafi Thiam
Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam (; born 19 August 1994) is a Belgian athlete specializing in multi-event competition. Thiam is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the heptathlon event at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. She is the only Belgian ...
.
TV Globo
TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Grupo Globo. The TV station ...
went one better than the previous category coming second with their profile of
Isaquias Queiroz
Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos (born 3 January 1994) is a Brazilian sprint canoeist who has competed since 2005. He is the only Brazilian athlete to ever win three medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games, and the third most decorated Brazil ...
. The winner of the category again was NBC, this time for their piece on
Wayde van Niekerk
Wayde van Niekerk (South African English: , ; born 15 July 1992) is a South African track and field sprinter who competes in the 200 and 400 metres. In the 400 metres, he is the current world and Olympic record holder, having set the reco ...
. The Best On-Air Promotion was announced next, with the
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
winning with NBC coming second this time and
BNT from Bulgaria finishing third. The Best Olympic Digital Service went to NBC, with
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
and
SporTV
SporTV is a Brazilian pay television sports network owned by Canais Globo, part of Grupo Globo, launched in 1991. It is the most watched sports network in Brazil.
On January 18, 2013, were launched High-definition simulcasts of SporTV and S ...
/
Globosat
Globosat, was a Brazilian pay television content service, part of Grupo Globo. Established in 1991, after the creation of subscription television services in Brazil, with 29 channels and over 1,000 employees, it is the largest pay television c ...
picking up the second and third places. The Best Olympic Programme was awarded to SporTV/Globosat, while
TV Globo
TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Grupo Globo. The TV station ...
and
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
completed the podium.
Marketing
Mascots
On 24 November 2014, the
official mascots of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled, created by
Sao Paulo
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...
-based animation company Birdo.
The Olympic mascot
Vinicius Vinícius is a Portuguese given name from the Roman family name ''Vinicius'', possibly derived from Latin ''vinum'' "wine". Notable people with the name include:
* Lucius Vinicius, Roman consul in 33 BC
* Marcus Vinicius, Roman consul in 19 BC, Rom ...
, named after musician
Vinicius de Moraes
Marcus Vinícius da Cruz e Mello Moraes (19 October 1913 – 9 July 1980), better known as Vinícius de Moraes () and nicknamed O Poetinha ("The little poet"), was a Brazilian poet, diplomat, lyricist, essayist, musician, singer, and playwright ...
, represents Brazilian wildlife and carries design traits of cats, monkeys, and birds.
According to their fictional backgrounds, the mascots "were both born from the joy of Brazilians after it was announced that Rio would host the Games".
Brand director Beth Lula stated that the mascots were intended to reflect the diversity of Brazil's culture and people.
The names of the mascots were determined by a public vote whose results were announced on 14 December 2014. The names, which reference the co-writers of the song "
The Girl from Ipanema
"Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema") is a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Por ...
", won over two other sets of names, tallying 44 percent of 323,327 votes. At the
Olympic wrestling events, coaches were given plush dolls of Vinicius to throw into the ring when they wished to challenge a referee's call.
Emblem
The official emblem for the 2016 Summer Olympics was designed by Brazilian agency Tatíl Design and was unveiled on 31 December 2010, winning in a competition against 139 agencies.
The emblem represents three figures joined at their arms and feet, with the overall shape reflecting that of
Sugarloaf Mountain
Sugarloaf Mountain ( pt, Pão de Açúcar, ) is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to ...
. It was also designed to have a three-dimensional form, which designer Fred Gelli claimed made it the first 3D logo in the history of the Olympics.
The logo has been noted as evoking
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...
's painting ''
Dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
''. There were also allegations by the Colorado-based Telluride Foundation that the logo had been plagiarized from its own; while also consisting of several figures linked in motion, the Telluride Foundation logo contains four figures. This was not the first time that the foundation had alleged plagiarism of its logo by a Brazilian event; in 2004, the linked figures element had been copied for the logo of
Carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
celebrations in
Salvador
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
. Gelli defended the allegations, stating that the concept of figures linked in embrace was not inherently original, as it was "an ancient reference" and "in the
collective unconscious
Collective unconscious (german: kollektives Unbewusstes) refers to the unconscious mind and shared mental concepts. It is generally associated with idealism and was coined by Carl Jung. According to Jung, the human collective unconscious is populat ...
". Gelli cited ''Dance'' as an influence of the logo's concept and stated that the designers had intentionally aimed to make the interpretation of the concept as dissimilar to others as possible.
Concerns and controversies
The lead-up to the Rio Games was marked by several controversies, including: Brazil's
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
and
economic crisis
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the p ...
; the
Zika virus epidemic
Zika fever, also known as Zika virus disease or simply Zika, is an infectious disease caused by the Zika virus. Most cases have no symptoms, but when present they are usually mild and can resemble dengue fever. Symptoms may include fever, red ...
; the significant
pollution in the Guanabara Bay; and an ongoing
doping scandal involving
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, which affected the participation of Russian athletes in the Games. However, the Zika virus was not contracted by anyone competing in or attending the Olympics, and the Games went ahead normally with no major incident.
Political and economic crisis
In 2014,
Operation Car Wash
Operation Car Wash ( pt, Operação Lava Jato) was a criminal investigation by the Federal Police of Brazil's Curitiba branch. It began in March 2014 and was initially headed by investigative judge in France, but unlike judges in the common law ...
, an investigation by the
Federal Police of Brazil
The Federal Police of Brazil (Portuguese: ''Polícia Federal'') is a federal law enforcement agency of Brazil and one of the three national police forces. The other two are the Federal Highway Police, and the National Force. From 1944 to 1967 it ...
, uncovered unprecedented
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
and corruption at the state-controlled oil company
Petrobras
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a state owned enterprise, state-owned Brazilian multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The company's name transla ...
. In early 2015, a series of protests against alleged corruption by the government of President
Dilma Rousseff
Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the first w ...
began in Brazil, triggered by revelations that numerous politicians were involved in the Petrobras affair. By early 2016, the scandal had escalated into a full-blown political crisis affecting not only President Rousseff, but also former President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...
, resulting in
widespread demonstrations involving millions of protesters, both anti- and pro-Rousseff. At the same time, Brazil faced its worst economic recession since the 1990s, raising questions about whether the country was adequately prepared to host the Olympic Games against a volatile political and economic backdrop. On 12 May 2016, President Rousseff was stripped of her powers and duties for 180 days after an
impeachment
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
vote in the
Federal Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature.
Senate or the Senate may also refer to:
* Any one of the national senates in the world, including
** The Brazilian Senate
** The United States Sen ...
, with Vice President
Michel Temer
Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia (; born 23 September 1940) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and writer who served as the 37th president of Brazil from 31 August 2016 to 31 December 2018. He took office after the impeachment and removal from off ...
standing in as
acting president
An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or a vacation) or when the post is vacant (such as for death, injury, resignation, dismissal ...
during the Games.
On 5 October 2017, Brazilian Olympic Committee head
Carlos Nuzman
Carlos Arthur Nuzman (born 17 March 1942) is a Brazilian lawyer and former volleyball player, having competed professionally from 1957 to 1972 and represented the national team between 1962 and 1968. Nuzman was part of the first Brazilian male v ...
was arrested amid a money-laundering investigation into a $2 million payment that was allegedly made to secure votes for the bid to bring the Olympics to Rio. The money was believed to have been paid to former
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
president
Lamine Diack
Lamine Diack (7 June 1933 – 3 December 2021) was a Senegalese businessman, sports administrator, and athlete. He was president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 1999 to 2015. He was the subject of numerous ...
and his son Papa Massata Diack, who was a member of the IOC at the time of the alleged payment, which was three days before the vote in 2009. All three were charged with money laundering, along with the former Rio state governor
Sergio Cabral
Sergio may refer to:
* Sergius (name), Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio
* Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found
* Sergio (album), ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass
* Sergio (2009 film), ' ...
(who was already in prison for money laundering offenses at the time), Brazilian businessman Arthur Soares, and ex-Brazilian Olympic Committee chief Leonardo Gryner. All six were charged with running a criminal organization, money laundering, and violating currency laws in their own native countries. On 4 July 2019, it was reported that Cabral told a judge that the money paid to Diack was used to buy as many as nine votes. Rio mayor
Eduardo Paes
Eduardo da Costa Paes (, born 14 November 1969) is a Brazilian politician who was the mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro from 2009 to 2012, re-elected for a second term from 2013 to 2016 and returning elected again in 2021. He is currently t ...
was also accused of corruption and fraud in relation to the construction of a number of venues for the Games.
Zika virus
![Dengue Votuporanga](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Dengue_Votuporanga.jpg)
An
outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
of the mosquito-borne
Zika virus
''Zika virus'' (ZIKV; pronounced or ) is a member of the virus family ''Flaviviridae''. It is spread by daytime-active ''Aedes'' mosquitoes, such as '' A. aegypti'' and '' A. albopictus''. Its name comes from the Ziika Forest of Uganda, whe ...
in Brazil raised fears regarding its potential impact on athletes and visitors. To prevent puddles of stagnant water that allow mosquitoes to breed, organizers announced plans to perform daily inspections of Olympic venues. Zika virus transmission was also attributed to
inefficient sewage treatment in the area, an issue that was also in the process of being addressed for the Games.
In May 2016, a group of 150 physicians and scientists sent an open letter to the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
(WHO), calling upon them to, according to co-author
Arthur Caplan
Arthur L. Caplan (born 1950) is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine and the founding director of the Division of Medical Ethics.
Caplan has made many contribut ...
, have "an open, transparent discussion of the risks of holding the Olympics as planned in Brazil". The WHO dismissed the request, stating that "cancelling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics
ould Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames.
Notable p ...
not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus", and that there was "no public health justification" for postponing them.
Some athletes did not attend the Games because of the epidemic. On 2 September 2016, however, the World Health Organization reported that there were no confirmed cases of Zika among athletes or visitors during the 2016 Olympics.
Environmental problems
The
Guanabara Bay
Guanabara Bay ( pt, Baía de Guanabara, ) is an oceanic bay located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lie the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and ...
, whose waters were used for sailing and windsurfing competitions, is heavily polluted. Among the chief causes of the pollution are uncollected trash fed into the bay via polluted rivers and
slum
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...
s along the coast. Pollution of the Guanabara has been a long-term issue. At the
Earth Summit
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992.
Earth Su ...
in 1992, officials promised they would begin to address the pollution, but previous attempts to do so have been insufficient. As an aspect of their bid for the Games, Rio once again committed to making efforts towards cleaning the bay.
However, some of these proposed initiatives have faced budgetary issues.
Prior to these efforts, only 17% of Rio's sewage was treated;
this
raw sewage
Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...
also leaked into the bay. Although Rio mayor
Eduardo Paes
Eduardo da Costa Paes (, born 14 November 1969) is a Brazilian politician who was the mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro from 2009 to 2012, re-elected for a second term from 2013 to 2016 and returning elected again in 2021. He is currently t ...
stated that the city might not be able to reach its goal of having 80% of sewage treated,
at least 60% of sewage was treated by March 2016, with a projected goal of 65% of sewage being treated by the start of the Olympics.
Security
Rio's crime problems also received renewed attention after it was awarded the 2016 Games; mayor Paes stated that the city was facing "big issues" in heightening security, but that such concerns and issues were presented to the IOC throughout the bidding process.
The governor of Rio de Janeiro also highlighted the fact that London faced security problems, with a
terrorist attack
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
occurring just a day after it was awarded the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. The estimate was that 5,000 men of the
National Public Security Force
The National Public Security Force ( pt, Força Nacional de Segurança Pública) was created in 2004 and is headquartered in Brasília, in the Federal District, as a joint cooperation of various Brazilian Public Safety forces, co-ordinated by ...
and 22,000 military officers (14,800
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
; 5,900
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
and 1,300 of the
Brazilian Air Force
"Wings that protect the country"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = Hino dos Aviadores
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 22 May (anniver ...
), in addition to the fixed quota of Rio January, would act during the Olympic Games.
On 21 July 2016, two weeks before the scheduled start of the Games, the
Brazilian Federal Police
The Federal Police of Brazil (Portuguese: ''Polícia Federal'') is a federal law enforcement agency of Brazil and one of the three national police forces. The other two are the Federal Highway Police, and the National Force. From 1944 to 1967 it ...
broke up an
Islamic jihadist terrorist ring by arresting 12 people.
Russian doping scandal
![ОКРоссии](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/%D0%9E%D0%9A%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B8.JPG)
In December 2014, media attention began growing when German broadcaster
ARD reported on state-sponsored doping in Russia, comparing it to
doping in East Germany
The government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) conducted a decades long program of coercive administration and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, initially testosterone, later mainly anabolic drugs to its elite athletes. The ai ...
. In November 2015, the
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...
(WADA) published a report, and the
International Association of Athletics Federations
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
(IAAF) suspended Russia indefinitely from world track and field events. The United Kingdom Anti-Doping agency later assisted WADA with testing in Russia. In June 2016, they reported they were unable to fully carry out their work, and noted intimidation by armed
Federal Security Service
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) RF; rus, Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ России), Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Feder ...
(FSB) agents. After a Russian former lab director made allegations about the
2014 Winter Olympics
, ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'')
, nations = 88
, events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, athletes = 2,873
, opening = 7 February 2014
, closing = 23 February 2014
, opened_by = President Vladimir Putin
, cauldron =
, stadium = Fisht Olympic ...
in
Sochi
Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...
, WADA commissioned an independent investigation led by
Richard McLaren, which found corroborating evidence, concluding in a report published in July 2016 that the
Ministry of Sport
A Ministry of Sports or Ministry of Youth and Sports is a kind of government Ministry (government department), ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people ...
and the FSB had operated a "state-directed failsafe system" using a "disappearing positive
estmethodology" (DPM) from "at least late 2011 to August 2015".
In response to these findings, WADA announced that RUSADA should be regarded as non-compliant with respect to the World Anti-Doping Code, and recommended that Russia be banned from competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics. The IOC rejected the recommendation, stating that the IOC and each sport's
international federation
This is a list of international sports federations, each of which serves as a non-governmental governing body for a given sport and administers its sport at a world level, most often crafting rules, promoting the sport to prospective spectator ...
would make decisions on each athlete's individual basis. A day before the opening ceremony, 278 athletes were cleared to compete under the Russian flag, while 111 were removed because of doping. In contrast, the entire Kuwaiti team was banned from competing under their own flag for a non-doping related matter. Unlike the IOC, the
International Paralympic Committee
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...
voted unanimously to ban the entire
Russian team from the
2016 Summer Paralympics
)
, nations = 159
, athletes = 4,342
, opening = 7 September
, closing = 18 September
, opened_by = President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva
, events = 528 in 22 sports
, stadium = Maracanã
, sum ...
, and suspended the
Russian Paralympic Committee
The Russian Paralympic Committee (russian: Паралимпийский комитет России) is the National Paralympic Committee representing Russia.
History
The Russian Paralympic Committee was founded in 1996. On 7 August 2016, i ...
after it found evidence that the DPM was also in operation at the
2014 Winter Paralympics
The 2014 Winter Paralympics (russian: Зимние Паралимпийские игры 2014, Zimniye Paralimpiyskiye igry 2014), the 11th Paralympic Winter Games, and also more generally known as the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, were an ...
.
See also
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
International sports competitions in Rio de Janeiro (city)
Olympic Games in Brazil
Summer Olympics by year
2010s in Rio de Janeiro