Hosts Candace Rice, Steve Kaufmann, and Zoe Hewitt discuss the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics!
The 2016 Summer Olympics officially known as theGames of the XXXI Olympiad, and commonly known as Rio 2016, is a major international multi-sport eventin the tradition of the Olympic Games as governed by the International Olympic Committee, being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Opening rounds in certain events began on 3 August 2016—two days before the opening ceremony, and the Games will formally run from 5 August to 21 August 2016.
A record number of countries are participating in a record number of sports. More than 11,000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), including first time entrants Kosovo and South Sudan, are scheduled to take part. With 306 sets of medals, the games will feature 28 Olympic sports—includingrugby sevens and golf, which were added by the International Olympic Committee in 2009. These sporting events will take place at 33 venues in the host city and at five venues in the cities of São Paulo (Brazil’s largest city), Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília (Brazil’s capital), and Manaus.
These will be the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach. The host city ofRio de Janeiro was announced at the 121st IOC Session held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009. Rio will become the first South American city to host the Summer Olympics. These will be the first games to be held in a Portuguese-speaking country, the first to be held entirely during the host country’s winter season (the 2000 games began on 15 September – five days before the Southern Hemisphere’s spring equinox), the first since 1968 to be held in Latin America, and the first since 2000 (and third overall) to be held in theSouthern Hemisphere.
The lead-up to these Games have been marked by controversies—including the instability of the country’s federal government, health and safety concerns surrounding the Zika virus and significant pollution in theGuanabara Bay, as well as a doping scandal involving Russia which has affected the participation of its athletes in these Games.
8/5/2016
