2016 Olympics

The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the XXXI Olympic Games and commonly known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport spectacle that was held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary sporting events starting on 3 August. At the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009 Rio was confirmed as host city. Around 11,000 athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees participated, including the first-time Kosovo, South Sudan and Olympic Refugee Team members. The events featured 28 Olympic sports and 306 medal collections, including sevens rugby and golf, added to the 2009 Olympic Programme. These sporting activities took place in the host city's 33 stadiums and five separate stadiums in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília and Manaus, Brazil. This is the first Winter Games ever held in South America. They were also the first to be hosted in a Portuguese-speaking country, the first summer edition to be held entirely in the host country's winter season, the first to take place in Latin America since 1968, and the first to take place in the southern hemisphere since 2000. Those is the first Summer Games that took place under the International Olympic Committee chairmanship of Thomas Bach. The U.S. toped the medal table, winning the most gold medals and the highest overall medal count; the U.S. team have won the summer record 1000th Olympic gold medal. Great Britain becomes second in recent Olympic history soon after becoming the host country to lift the gold count in the Olympics. In the medal table China was in third place. The host nation of Brazil won seven gold medals, the largest haul for any single Summer Olympics, finishing in 13th place. Bahrain, Fiji, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kosovo, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Tajikistan and Vietnam each won their first gold medals, as did the group of Independent Olympic Athletes. On 5 August 2016, Fernando Meirelles, Daniela Thomas, and Andrucha Waddington conducted the opening ceremony at Maracana Stadium. The ceremony addressed facets of Brazilian history and culture, which featured a segment provided by Fernanda Montenegro which Judi Dench with an appeal for environmental conservation and global warming avoidance. The new mascots of 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were revealed on 24 November 2014. They'd been created by Sao Paulo-based animation company Birdo. The Olympic mascot Vinicius, named for the composer Vinicius de Moraes, portrays the Brazilian animals and incorporates the attributes of cats, primates, and birds. The mascots "both were born out of the Brazilians ' enthusiasm when it was announced that Rio will host the Games," according to their fake identities. Brand director Beth Lula clarified that the mascots were supposed to reflect the peculiarity of Brazil's culture and people. The names of the mascots were determined by a public vote, the results of which were announced on 14 December 2014; the names, referring to the co-writers of the song "The Kid from Ipanema," won over two other words, comprising 44 per cent of 323,327. During the Olympic Wrestling matches, Vinicius's plush dolls were given to coaches to carry in the ring if they wanted to challenge a referee's ruling. On 31 December 2010 the new logo for the 2016 Summer Olympics was revealed, created by the Brazilian group Tatíl Design, participating in a competition between 139 agencies. The logo depicts three characters joined at their arms and feet, reflecting the Sugarloaf Peak's general shape. The emblem was also designed to include a three-dimensional outline, claimed by artist Fred Gelli, that made it the "first 3D logo in the history of the Olympics." Scandals dominated the run up to these Games, including the political and economic crises in Brazil; the outbreak of the Zika virus and the big pollution in the Guanabara Bay; and a bribery scandal involving Russia that affected Russia;