2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics or Games of the XXXI Olympiad is an international sporting event that is mostly taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Games opened on 6th August. Rio will also host the XV Paralympic Games the following month.
The Rio Games is the first time that the events have been held in South America. Other Brazilian cities such as São Paulo are hosting football matches with Rio.
Participation
Russian team
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stopped short of a blanket ban on Russian athletes participating at Rio following the publication of a report by Richard McLaren, a law professor, which said that Russia practised state-sponsored doping from 2011 to 2015.[1] In contrast, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) banned the entire Russian paralympic team on 7th August 2016.[2]
Refugee team
The Rio Games was the first time that some athletes participated as a team of refugees. These participants were originally from a variety of countries: South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Syria. Other former refugees also competed as part of national teams.[3]
Bidding process
Rio de Janeiro was selected as host city in October 2009, beating Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago in three rounds of voting by the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen, Denmark. The final round saw Rio take a 66-32 majority of votes to secure the 31st Summer Olympic Games.[4]
Footnotes
- ↑ BBC News: 'Rio Olympics 2016: Russia not given blanket Games ban by IOC'. 24th July 2016.
- ↑ BBC News: 'Rio Paralympics 2016: Russian athletes banned after doping scandal'. 7th August 2016.
- ↑ CNN: 'Yusra Mardini: Refugee swimmer off to flying start after Pope Francis sends letter'. 7th August 2016.
- ↑ BBC: 'Rio to stage 2016 Olympic Games'. 2nd October 2009.