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Rio Olympics 2016: The Most Memorable Moments by 2rutalkconcept: 7:29am On Aug 22, 2016 |
The Rio 2016 Olympics have provided an
abundance of memorable moments. Here
are some of the best - good, bad, and ugly.
The first defining moment of any Olympic
Games, Brazilian long-distance runner
Vanderlei de Lima lit the Olympic flame
during the opening ceremony. He won
bronze for Brazil in the marathon at the
2004 Games, but only after he was grappled
by a spectator while leading the race.
Opening ceremony had warmth, passion
and hope
One of the first Olympic moments to go viral
happened when Pita Taufatofua, Tonga's
flag-bearer, appeared at the opening
ceremony. The taekwondo athlete emerged
topless, wearing traditional Tongan dress
and apparently covered in baby oil. It did not
go unnoticed.
Athlete outfits from the opening ceremony
The Rio games became the first to feature a
refugee team, made up of 10 athletes. The
team featured five athletes from South
Sudan, two from Syria, two from DR Congo
and one from Ethiopia. They received a
heroes' ovation when they walked into the
opening ceremony at the Maracana.
One photograph quickly demonstrated that
the Olympic games caters for all shapes and
sizes. This photo of US gymnast Ragan Smith
and basketball player DeAndre Jordan swept
across the internet as soon as she posted it
online.
Who is your Olympic body match? Find
out here
Another Olympic highlight captured on
social media. Lee Eun-ju of South Korea and
Hong Un-jong of North Korea provided a
moment of unity as the two gymnasts - from
countries technically still at war with each
other - posed for a smiling selfie.
North Korean athlete selfie: What happens
next?
It wasn't always so friendly in the swimming
pool. Twitter went into meltdown after
swimming legend Michael Phelps was
pictured giving rival Chad le Clos a "death
stare". He was caught putting his game face
on while in the warm-up area of the Olympic
pool, prompting #Phelpsface to trend on
Twitter.
The first golden moment for the host nation
- the story of Brazil's 57kg judo champion
Rafaela Silva shone a light on some of Rio's
poorest residents. From one of Rio's
toughest neighbourhoods, the so-called City
of God, Silva was disqualified at London
2012 and later labelled an embarrassment.
Her victory marked a fairytale rise.
Brazil's first gold from the City of God favela
It wasn't long before Phelps, the most
decorated Olympian of all time, broke into a
smile, beating le Clos of South Africa in the
men's 200m butterfly final. Some suggested
le Clos should have been looking where he
was swimming rather than watching his
rival.
It was not all about the winners in the pool.
Rami Anis - a swimmer for the refugee team
who fled war-torn Syria in 2015 before
travelling by boat across the Mediterranean
Sea to Turkey - earned a standing ovation
after setting a personal best in the men's
100m freestyle.
It wasn't just the swimmers attracting all the
attention. Some bored-looking lifeguards -
who had been charged with watching over
the best swimmers in the world - caught the
attention of many people on social media.
A memorable moment for a small nation.
Fiji's rugby sevens players burst into song as
they celebrated winning their country's first-
ever Olympic medal - a gold - after beating
Great Britain 43-7 in the final.
Nineteen-year-old US gymnast Simone Biles
took the Games by storm, producing a
stunning performance to win the women's
all-around Olympic gold medal. She ended
up taking home four gold medals and a
bronze. She was even watched by Buzz
Aldrin, a man who has walked on the moon.
Why Simone Biles is the best at the Games
The colour of the water at the Maria Lenk
Aquatics Centre became a major talking
point, after it turned from aquatic blue to a
murky green overnight. Games organisers
blamed chemical levels in the water.
Pictures of Egypt's women's beach volleyball
team swept the internet, after Doaa
Elghobashy took part while wearing a hijab.
Does this picture show a culture clash?
American swimmer Katie Ledecky
dominated in the pool, taking nearly two
seconds off her own world record to win
the women's 800m freestyle final in eight
minutes 4.79 seconds - finishing nearly 12
seconds clear of the rest of the field. She
also won the women's 200m freestyle, the
400m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle
relay.
When the athletics finally got under way on
day seven, it was the empty seats inside the
Olympic Stadium that initially got tongues
wagging rather than the performances on
the track.
Why are there so many empty seats?
Is the #RioProblems hashtag a fair reflection
of #Rio2016?
The first world record inside the Olympic
Stadium went to Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana,
who smashed the previous record by more
than 14 seconds to win gold in the
women's 10,000m.
Egyptian Islam El Shehaby caused
controversy when he refused to shake the
hand of Israeli opponent Os Sasson after
losing in the men's judo. El Shehaby was
roundly booed by the crowd and was later
sent home from Rio, the International
Olympic Committee said.
Singapore's gold medallist Joseph Schooling,
who idolised Michael Phelps as a child,
managed to get the better of his hero in
pool, winning the 100m butterfly ahead of
Phelps, Chad Le Clos and Laszlo Cseh - who
finished joint second. A photograph of a
young Schooling, then just 13, with Phelps
at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 quickly went
viral.
One of the images from the track cycling
came when Laurine van Riessen, of the
Netherlands, managed to avoid a nasty
crash with France's Virginie Cueff by riding
up and along the barrier at the side of the
track. Such was the extent of her
precautionary action, she became almost
horizontal.
Some athletes were disappointed to miss
out on gold, or with having to settle with a
mere silver or bronze medal. Not Aurimas
Didzbalis of Lithuania. The weightlifter
celebrated pocketing a medal in the men's
94kg with an impressive back flip.
A nation gasped when he tripped and fell,
but despite taking a mid-race tumble,
Britain's Mo Farah became the first British
track and field athlete to win three Olympic
gold medals as he retained his 10,000m title
with a thrilling victory.
It wasn't all tears on the podiums. Britain's
Sir Bradley Wiggins instead poked out his
tongue to celebrate winning the men's
cycling team pursuit - his fifth Olympic gold
medal. He also became the first Briton to win
eight Olympic medals.
Wiggins and other podium moments
Chinese diver He Zi had just collected her
silver medal in the 3m women's
springboard final when fellow diver Qin Kai
entered the podium presentation. He duly
got down on one knee, produced an
engagement ring and proposed. She said
yes.
Never far from the spotlight, Jamaica
sprinter Usain Bolt managed to find time to
smile for the cameras while easing to a
100m semi-final victory. It prompted a flurry
of internet memes. He later won the final in
a time of 9.81 seconds - his third 100m
crown in three Olympic Games.
How do you upstage Mr Bolt? Why not break
a world record less than half an hour before
the great man was due to run in the 100m
final? South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk
shattered Olympic legend Michael Johnson's
17-year-old 400m world record by 0.15
seconds to sensationally win Olympic gold.
Apparently the credit goes to his 74-year-old
great-grandmother - who happens to be his
trainer.
Old master, new hero: How Bolt was nearly
upstaged
How can you forget a dancing weightlifter?
Big David Katoatau, from Kiribati, threw
some shapes every time he successfully
made a lift. He finished sixth in the men's
105kg Group B final but certainly kept the
crowds entertained.
Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas somehow
managed to win a dramatic gold medal in
the women's 400m final - by diving over the
line. Miller stumbled in the final stages and
then lunged forward as she headed
towards the track, edging out American
world champion Allyson Felix to win in
49.44 seconds.
Ireland's bantamweight Michael Conlan
went out of the boxing tournament in the
quarter-finals - losing on points to Vladimir
Nikitin of Russia. Conlan was furious at the
verdict, which was booed by the crowd, and
he vented his frustration at the judges
afterwards, saying he had been "robbed" of
his dream of winning Olympic gold.
A golden night for Britain's golden couple.
Laura Trott first won gold in the women's
omnium - following up her victory in the
women's team pursuit. She then had to sit
trackside as fiance Jason Kenny won his
third gold of the games and his sixth in total
in a dramatic keirin - which twice had to be
restarted. One relationship, 10 Olympic gold
medals. Not bad.
Laura Trott & Jason Kenny - Britain's golden
couple
Cycling's Posh and Becks: Golden couple 'just
Laura and Jason'
There were tears on the podium for
France's Renaud Lavillenie, but for all the
wrong reasons. The pole vault silver
medallist was booed by the Rio crowd for a
second time in 24 hours, having lost out to
home favourite Thiago Braz da Silva in a
dramatic final.
One of the most bizarre stories from Rio
involved American gold medal-winning
swimmers and a petrol station. Ryan Lochte,
Jimmy Feigen and Jack Conger became
embroiled in an international scandal over a
made-up robbery. It became an Olympic
mystery and resulted in a police
investigation and a series of apologies.
US falls out of love with the ultimate 'bro'
Ryan Lochte, Prince Harry and the 'grill'
Was it fratricide? Was it brotherly love? It
definitely ended well for the Brownlee
brothers, Alistair and Jonny, who won gold
and silver in the men's triathlon. The image
of the British brothers collapsing into each
other arms at the finish line will live long in
Yorkshire memories.
The inside story of the Brownlees' triumph
Unperturbed Bolt, once again, shows his
gregarious personality by pointing in
admiration at Canada's Andre De Grasse as
both men cross the line - in first and second
place respectively - in the men's 200m semi-
final. Bolt went on to win the final, of course.
Morolake Akinosun ploughed a lonely
furrow down the home straight after the
USA women's 4x100m relay team was
allowed to re-run their heat after dropping
the baton. They successfully argued they had
been obstructed in their first race and ran
on an empty track to qualify for the final. All
the extra effort was worth it as the USA
went on to win the final in 41.01 seconds -
the second-fastest time in history.
Nick Skelton became Britain's second-oldest
Olympic gold medallist when he won the
individual show jumping event. The 58-year-
old, who had retired in 2000 after breaking
his neck in two places, triumphed after a
six-way jump-off. The only person older
than Skelton to win gold for Britain was
shooter Joshua Milner in 1908 - aged 61.
Skelton will not beat that record as he has
ruled out competing in the Tokyo Games in
four years' time.
The true Olympic spirit shone out when New
Zealand's Nikki Hamblin (left) and Abbey
D"Agostino of the USA helped each other out
after colliding in their heat of the women's
5000m. D'Agostino tore her anterior
cruciate knee ligament in the incident but
both runners insisted on completing their
race. They were both handed places in the
final but the injury prevented the American
taking part.
The triple triple? The treble treble? However
you dress it up, Usain Bolt has nine Olympic
medals from three Olympic Games. He said
victory in the 100m, the 200m and the
4x100m relay would make him "immortal".
It is hard to argue.
Bolt's amazing Olympic career in numbers
Brazil exorcised the demons of their 7-1
defeat by Germany in the World Cup semi-
final in Belo Horizonte in 2014 by beating
them in a penalty shoot-out to win the
Olympic gold medal. The match had finished
1-1 after extra-time and star striker Neymar,
who missed the World Cup humiliation
because of injury, scored during normal
time before converting the decisive penalty
and bursting into floods of tears.
Britain's Mo Farah completed the double
double as he became only the second man,
after Finland's Lasse Viren, to retain both the
5,000m and 10,000m Olympic titles. His four
gold medals make him his country's most
successful track and field athlete.
After the competition, came the party as Rio
produced a carnival-style closing ceremony
full of music, dancing and colour.
The Olympic flame was extinguished with
artificial rain - on a night where there had
been plenty of actual rain.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
appeared dressed as computer game
character Super Mario, with the next
Olympics being held in Tokyo in 2020. |
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