Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

, officially known as ''Brunei Darussalam'', competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics 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 held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

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, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's seventh appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. Brunei failed to register any athletes in two editions of the Games:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

in Barcelona and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

in Beijing. The delegation included two sprinters, Mohamed Fakhri Ismail and Maizurah Abdul Rahim, as well as badminton player

Jaspar Yu Woon Chai Jaspar Yu Woon Chai (born November 14, 1988) is a Bruneian badminton player. He achieved a career high ranking of 199 in the men's singles discipline. It was announced in May 2016 that he was awarded the tripartite commission to compete in the m ...

. Yu's appearance made him the country's first Olympic badminton player. All three athletes qualified for the game via

wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

places because they failed to meet their respective qualifying times/rankings. Fakhri was selected to carry the Bruneian flag for 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.

while Maizurah held it at 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.

. Following another zero medal appearance, Brunei has yet to win its first Olympic medal.

Background

Although Brunei first participated in the Summer Olympics in the

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, it was only represented by one official. It would not be until the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, United States that the country would send athletes to the Games. Since then, it has participated in six Summer Olympic Games between its debut and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The country was the sole member of 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 ...

not to participate in the

2008 Summer Olympics 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 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

; it had intended to do so, but was excluded on the day of the opening ceremony after failing to register any athletes. No Brunei athlete had ever won a medal at the Summer Olympics before the 2016 Rio Games. The Brunei Darussalam

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 ...

(BDNOC) selected two athletics competitors through

places. Usually, an NOC would be able to enter up to three qualified athletes in each individual event as long as each athlete met the "A" standard, or one athlete per event if they met the "B" standard. However, since Brunei had no athletes that met either standard, they were allowed to select two athletes, one of each gender, as wildcards. Brunei had intended to send another competitor, swimmer and national records holder Tiara Shahril Anwar to the Olympics, but she withdrew due to time-related reasons. The three athletes selected to compete were Mohammad Fakhri Ismail in the men's 100 metres, Maizurah Abdul Rahim in the women's 200 metres, and Jaspar Yu Woon in the men's badminton singles. Fakhri bore the flag in the

parade of nations The Olympic Games ceremonies of the Ancient Olympic Games were an integral part of these Games; the modern Olympic games have opening, closing, and medal ceremonies. Some of the elements of the modern ceremonies date back to the Ancient Games from ...

and Maizurah held it in the closing ceremony.

Athletics

Brunei received universality slots from

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 ...

to send two athletes (one male and one female) to the Olympics. The pair of sprinters Mohamed Fakhri Ismail and Maizurah Abdul Rahim both made their Olympic debut. The former competed in the men's 100 m event while Rahim participated in the women's 200 m. Rahim finished last in her heat and in total with a time of 28.02 seconds, still managing to achieve her personal best but missing the qualification entry standards.

Tori Bowie Frentorish "Tori" Bowie (born August 27, 1990) is an American track and field athlete, who primarily competes in the 100 m and the 200 m. She has a personal record of for the long jump, set in 2014. She is the 2017 100m world champion, a 2016 ...

of 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 ...

who finished first in Rahim's heat went on to win a bronze medal. Meanwhile, Ismail qualified for the next round of his event by finishing third in his heat in the preliminary round with a time of 10.92. Nevertheless, Ismail couldn't better his previous time and finished ninth in his heat with a time of 10.95, thus failing to qualify for the semifinals. ;Track & road events

Badminton

Brunei received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send a badminton player in the men's singles event, signifying the nation's Olympic debut in the sport. The Tripartite Commission is made in collaboration of the individual countries' committees, the

, as well as the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

. Jaspar Yu Woon Chai participated in the men's singles event. Yu was seeded in group D together with Hu Yun of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and Pablo Abián of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Yu lost both sets against Hu on 12 August, the first 16–21 and the second 15–21. The following day, Yu also lost both sets against Abián. The first was 12–21 and the second 10–21. Hu went on to beat Abián on 14 August with two close sets, the former 21–18 and the latter 21–19.

References

External links

* * {{Country at games navbox, Brunei, Summer Olympics Nations at the 2016 Summer Olympics

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Oly Oly may refer to: * Oly, informal name for Olympia, Washington, United States * OLY (: ), postnominals granted to participants in the Olympics People with the name * Oly (born 1992), American singer-songwriter and musician * Oly Hicks (born 1968) ...