Looking Back at the Olympics
October 5, 2016
The 2016 Rio Olympics certainly was an experience to remember. Whether it was
Usain Bolt’s dominance in track, Simone Biles game changing performance in gymnastics or
Michael Phelps going out in style in his very last Olympics. There was also saw a political side
to the Olympics with the Russian Doping Scandal, the Zika virus Terror and the very bizarre
Ryan Lochte incident. The Olympics certainly turned out to be one of the most compelling and
memorable games to ever occur.
The Games started out with a beautiful opening ceremony at Maracana Stadium
in Rio. There were over 200 nations that boasted over 10,500 athlete’s competing in 28 sports
and in 306 events. For the first time in Olympic history we saw a collection of refugees who
competed without representing a country. Viewers also saw double the amount of policemen
and soldiers deployed to keep an eye on security, than we saw at the 2012 London Olympics
because of the recent rise in terror attacks around the world.
As the Games began viewers saw many inspiring achievements occur. Fiji won its first
ever gold medal with their win in Rugby over Great Britain. Viewers saw Ibtihaj Muhammad
become the first American woman to wear a full hijab and win a bronze medal in
fencing. The United States men and women’s basketball teams continue their dominance by
winning their third straight gold medal, each winning by more than 35 points in the final.
Simone Biles set a new American record for most gold medals in women’s gymnastics at a single
Games, with four Olympic gold medals. Usain Bolt obtained three gold medals, raising his total to
nine, without ever losing an event at any Olympic Games he has ever competed in. We also saw a
brilliant close to Michael Phelps’ Olympic career, that started out with him being chosen as the flag
bearer for the United States and eventually tailing four gold medals and a silver that added to his
recording breaking total of 28 medals an Olympic record.
There was also a political edge to these Olympics as well. There were major concerns for
the health of tourists, whether it was the worry about the pollution in waters like the Guanabara Bay,
the lack of treatment of raw sewage or the mysterious new virus called Zika that was spreading
through Brazil, which caused athletes like golfer Rory Mcllroy and basketball superstar Steph Curry
to withdraw from the Games. Then there was the Russian Doping Scandal. This was a very large
and extensive investigation of an alleged doping program and a possible cover up by the Russian
State. The investigation found that 111 of 389 athletes entering were found guilty of doping and
therefore banned from the competition. Finally came the very odd Ryan Lochte incident. On
August 14 Lochte and three other swimmers alleged that men dressed as police officers pulled them
out of their taxi, held them at gunpoint and robbed them. There then came question to the original
story especially with the police and the robbery, along with a different interpretation coming from an
owner of a gas station stating that Lochte and the swimmers were heavily intoxicated and vandalised
a bathroom and caused heavy damage. A video was then released proving the gas station owner’s
story, which then caused immediate international backlash toward the swimmers. Lochte has since
apologized for the incident, but has suffered significant backlash and loss of sponsorships.
Even with all that commotion, the Olympics were still spectacular and exciting. The beautiful closing ceremony at Maracana Stadium gave the world a reason to stay united under
the gift of sports.