Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

. Haitian Olympic Committee (, COH) sent the nation's largest delegation to the Games since

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

. A total of 10 athletes, 7 men and 3 women, were selected to the Haitian team across seven sports. Eight Haitian athletes were born and raised in the United States, having acquired a dual citizenship to represent their parents' homeland at these Games. Among them were taekwondo fighter

Aniya Louissaint Aniya Louissaint (born 9 September 1998) is a Haitian taekwondo athlete. She represented Haiti at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the women's 67 kg where she was defeated by Haby Niaré in the first round and by Ruth Gbagbi Ru ...

, 19-year-old light welterweight boxer

Richardson Hitchins Richardson Hitchins (born September 26, 1997) is an American professional boxer, who has held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) light welterweight title since December 2024. Amateur career As an Amateur boxing, amateur he represented Hai ...

, first female swimmer

Naomy Grand'Pierre Naomy Grand'Pierre (born 16 April 1997) is a Haitian-American swimmer. She competed in the women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she ranked 56th with a time of 27.46 seconds. Grand'Pierre is the first woman from Ha ...

(born in Canada), female hurdler Mulern Jean, male hurdler

Jeffrey Julmis Jeffrey Michael Julmis (born September 30, 1987) is a Haitian-American hurdler. He was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States. He competed in the 110 m hurdles event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and performed well enough in his heat to ...

, the lone returning athlete from

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, and freestyle wrestler

Asnage Castelly Asnage Castelly (born March 29, 1978Asnage Castelly
,

While the American-born athletes shared their kinship ties with Haiti, freestyle swimmer Frantz Dorsainvil and weightlifter Edouard Joseph (men's 62 kg) were the nation's only homegrown Olympians on the team. Before Rio de Janeiro, Haitian athletes yielded a tally of two Olympic medals, a silver won by long jumper

Silvio Cator Sylvio or Silvio Paul Cator (October 19, 1900 – July 21, 1952) was a Haitian athlete, most successful in the long jump. He earned a silver medal in the long jump at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Biography Born in Cavaillon, Haiti, Cator ...

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...

, and a bronze by a team of five rifle shooters 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–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

. Haiti, however, did not win its first Olympic medal for nearly nine decades.

Athletics (track and field)

Haitian athletes achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event): ;Track & road events

Boxing

Haiti entered one boxer to compete in the men's light welterweight division into the Olympic boxing tournament. Richardson Hitchins claimed an Olympic spot with a quarterfinal victory at the 2016 AIBA World Qualifying Tournament in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, Azerbaijan.

Judo

Haiti qualified one judoka for the men's lightweight category (73 kg) at the Games. Josue Deprez earned a continental quota spot from the Pan American region as the highest-ranked Haitian judoka outside of direct qualifying position in the IJF World Ranking List of May 30, 2016.

Swimming

Haiti received a Universality invitation from

FINA World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (; ), is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in List of water sports, water sports. It is one of several interna ...

to send two swimmers (one male and one female) to the Olympics, signifying the nation's return to the sport for the first time since

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Taekwondo

Haiti received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send Aniya Louissaint in the women's welterweight category (67 kg) into the Olympic taekwondo competition, signifying the nation's Olympic comeback to the sport for the first time since

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Weightlifting

Haiti received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send Edouard Joseph in the men's featherweight category (62 kg) to the Olympics, signifying the nation's Olympic return to the sport for the first time since

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

Wrestling

Haiti received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send a wrestler competing in the men's freestyle 74 kg to the Olympics, signifying the nation's debut in the sport. ;Men's freestyle

References

External links

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

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2016 in Haitian sport