How many days does the Summer Olympics last? Rio Olympics: how was the opening ceremony

Incredible Facts

Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil starts on August 5 and will last until August 21, 2016.

The opening and closing ceremonies will take place at the Maracanã Stadium and during the games, around 16,000 athletes will compete in 306 sets of medals in 42 sports.

More than 1.6 million foreign tourists visit Rio de Janeiro every year. This is the most visited city in Brazil, because in 2015 alone, about a million tourists came to Rio for the carnival.

Here are some interesting facts about the 2016 Olympics that you wanted to know.

Summer Olympic Games 2016

1. For the first time in history, the Olympic Games will be held in South America.. Rio de Janeiro was voted in 2009, leaving cities like Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo behind.

2. The Olympic torch relay began on April 21 in the home of the Olympic Games in Olympia, Greece, passing through Brazil in a little more than 90 days, and completing its journey in Rio de Janeiro on August 5.

3. The opening and closing ceremony will be held on the Maracanã stadium, which holds the record for the largest number of football fans attending.

Although it currently holds about 78,000 people, it has been able to muster 173,000 fans during the 1950 FIFA World Cup final. It also hosted the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

4. Expected around 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will take part in the Olympics, playing 306 sets of awards.

5. Competitions will be held in four different areas: on Copacabana beach- where will the beach volleyball competitions take place, in Barra da Tijuca Where is the Olympic Park located? Deodoro- where will the water sports competitions take place, Olympic Centerbmx and centers for equestrian sports, as well as in Maracana where there are two large stadiums.

Sports in the 2016 Olympics

6. Golf will return to the Olympics after 112 years. The International Olympic Committee decided to reintroduce the sport, which was last competed in 1900 and 1904.

7. For the first time, Olympians born in 2000 will participate in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

According to the rules, athletes born before January 1, 2003 can take part in competitions, but in some sports other age restrictions apply. The youngest participants will most likely compete in sports such as gymnastics and diving.

8. A team of athletes who were forced to leave their country will take part in the competition. The IOC stated that about 5-10 private refugee team will compete under the Olympic flag.

9. Vinicius is the mascot for the 2016 Olympics.- a yellow-blue character representing the animal world of Brazil.

It looks like a cat or a monkey that can fly and stretch its limbs and body.

It was named after the Brazilian musician Vinicius de Moraes, who became one of the authors of the famous bossa nova composition "The Girl from Ipanema". Organizers hope the mascot will help them raise 1 billion reais ($398 million) from merchandise sales.

10. Total submitted to the Olympic Games 7.5 million tickets, ranging from $40 for some swimming events to nearly $3,000 for the top seats at the opening ceremony.

The most popular competitions are football, basketball, volleyball and handball.

11. The organizers are planning cook about 60,000 meals a day to feed athletes. Traditional Brazilian dishes will be offered, such as rice, black beans and grilled meat, tapioca, cheese rolls and acai berries.

Participants of the 2016 Olympic Games

12. The 2016 Olympics are expected to participation of 70,000 volunteers mainly from Brazil, USA, UK, Russia and China.

13. For the Olympics involved about 85,000 soldiers and police is the largest security force formed for an event in Brazilian history and is twice the size of the security forces present at the London 2012 Olympics.

14. The Organizing Committee provided Rio de Janeiro taxi drivers with the opportunity to enroll in free online English courses.

15. The motto of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was "Viva sua paixão", which translates as "Live your passion."

Less than a year is left before the opening of the next Summer Olympic Games. The main sports competitions of the four years will start on August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro at the Maracana Stadium. For the first time, the Olympics will be held in South America.

Summer Olympic Games-2016were far from the first application for such a competition in Brazil. Previously, Rio de Janeiro claimed to host the Olympics in 1936, 1940, 2004 and 2012. Attempts to host the main Games were successful for Rio only for the fifth time. In addition to Brazil, Madrid (Spain), Tokyo (Japan) and Chicago (USA) also competed for the right to host the XXXI Summer Games. Interestingly, at the first stage, St. Petersburg also fought for the possibility of hosting the Summer Olympic Games. However, in the summer of 2007, after the city of Sochi received the right to host the 2014 Winter Games, the northern capital withdrew from this race.

NUMBERS

The Summer Olympic Games in sunny Brazil will be held from 5 to 21 August. August in this country is considered calendar winter. The air temperature at this time here is from +18 to +25 degrees. In Rio de Janeiro, August is the "coldest" and windiest month of the year, but also one of the sunniest (22 days of clear weather). The opening ceremony of the XXXI Summer Olympic Games will begin on August 5 at 18:00 local time (in the Southern Urals - 2 am). In a tradition that began at the 1996 Games, it will be Friday.

Feature of the upcoming Olympics will be a return to the official program after a long absence of sports such as rugby sevens and golf. The last time rugby was held as part of the Summer Games was 92 years ago, and golf has not been considered an Olympic sport for the past 112 years.

According to the organizers, in the upcoming competitions more than 10 thousand athletes will take part, which will represent 205 countries of the world. Athletes will play 306 sets awards in 42 types. The largest number of medals - 47 sets (23 for women, 24 for men) will go to athletes. Almost 5,000 award and 75,000 commemorative Olympic medals will be produced by the Brazilian Mint.

Over 7.5 million tickets for sports competitions can already be purchased by booking them through the National Olympic Committee. The cheapest seats at the grand opening ceremony will cost viewers $86, while the price of the most expensive reaches up to $2,000. The average ticket price for the competition is $30.

The official cost of preparing for the Olympics in Brazil today is 2.9 billion dollars. The amount differs significantly from the originally announced - 1.8 billion. The organizers attributed the significant increase to inflation, the addition of new species to the program, and an unforeseen increase in the cost of equipping the Olympic Village.

SYMBOLS OF RIO 2016

Emblem of the XXXI Olympic Games, according to its creators, symbolizes Rio de Janeiro itself. The symbol of the future Games is based on the three colors of the national flag of Brazil, and the sinuous lines represent the sea, the sun, the mountains and the silhouettes of people dancing together.

- Vinicius and Tom- presented back in November 2014. The names of the patrons of the Games were given in honor of famous Brazilian musicians. The characters are collective images of the richest flora and fauna of a tropical country. The Olympic talisman was depicted in the form of a smiling yellow animal Vinicius, similar to a cat. Tom, resembling a cross between a flower and a tree, is the mascot of the Paralympic Games, the personification of the Brazilian flora.

OLYMPIC FIRE

The traditional lighting of the fire will take place on April 21, 2016 in Greece. The flames will be delivered to the capital of the Games by a special flight by air by April 27, and will start on May 3 olympic torch relay "Rio 2016". It is planned to involve 12 thousand torchbearers in it. The length of the walking route for each of the participants will be about 200 meters. The total length of the route will be 20 and 16 thousand km by land and air, respectively.

The relay will take place almost throughout Brazil, and almost 90% of the country's inhabitants will have the opportunity to see this event. The end of the long journey of the Olympic flame will be the grand opening of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

OLYMPIC VENUES

Sports venues the organizers divided into four zones: Copacabana, Maracana, Deodoro and Barra.

Copacabana as one of the most famous beaches in the world, will be an area predominantly for aquatic species. There will be medals in sailing, open water swimming, triathlon, rowing, as well as cycling (highway), walking and marathon.

Maracana zone named after its central sports facility - the famous football stadium. It is at the Maracana stadium that the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, as well as football competitions, will be held. Other facilities in this zone include the Maracanizinho volleyball arena and the Joao Havelange stadium, where athletes will perform.

Former military base Deodoro as planned by the organizers for the duration of the Games, it will become a competitive zone where medals in equestrian sports, modern pentathlon, fencing, rowing slalom, cycling (BMX, mountain bike) and shooting will be played.

The largest and most competitive area in Rio will be Barra. It will house: the Olympic Arena (rhythmic and artistic gymnastics, trampolining), the Olympic Tennis Center, the Maria Lenk swimming pool (water polo, diving), a water sports center (swimming, synchronized swimming), Riocenter (boxing , badminton, table tennis, weightlifting), Olympic halls 1-4 (taekwondo, judo, wrestling, basketball, handball), golf center, velodrome.

In addition to sports grounds, Barra is home to the Olympic Park and the Olympic Village, as well as press and television centers.

Before the opening of the Olympic Games, by sports standards, the wait is not so long - less than a year! In some sports, the struggle for tickets to the main starts of the four-year period is already in full swing. It is too early to talk about possible results and make any predictions. However, fans of the Russian team believe that very soon the next Olympic Games will write new Russian names in the history of world sports.

Where will the 2016 Olympic Games be held? The next Summer Olympic Games 2016 will be held for the first time in their history in South America. This sports championship of the planet will be held in Brazil from 5 to 21 August.

Hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics

An application for the right to host this most prestigious sporting event was filed back in 2007. The following countries took part in the competition: Azerbaijan, USA, Spain, Japan, Qatar, Czech Republic and Brazil. Based on the results of the competition, four applicant cities were selected: Madrid, Tokyo, Chicago and Rio de Janeiro. In 2009, the International Olympic Committee held several tours of these cities and made the final decision on where these sports competitions would be held. The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will be the winning city and host of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Before that, Brazil made several attempts and submitted an application to the International Olympic Committee, but never made it to the final. According to preliminary data, more than 12 thousand athletes from 205 countries of the world will participate in the games. 306 sets of awards will be drawn. At the moment, the budget for the Olympics is $2.95 billion, and this does not take into account the costs that the government has allocated for the development of infrastructure in the places where the competitions will be held. Such a huge amount was the result of accounting for rising inflation, the use of the most advanced technologies and changes in some programs.

It should be noted that the program of the 2016 Olympics itself has not undergone significant changes, this is when compared with the previous Games held in 2012 in London, the capital of Great Britain. It was slightly supplemented with some provisions. For example, some sports have been added: golf, beach soccer, a simplified version of rugby and street basketball. The ongoing 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be the first environmentally friendly sporting event in history.

Especially for the Olympics, the RAFAA company from Switzerland built a huge waterfall that runs on solar panels and accumulates solar energy throughout the day. According to the developers, the capacity of this unique structure will be enough to fully provide electricity to the Olympic village and the entire city. The city authorities presented an improved transportation system Bus Rapid Transit. This vehicle will deliver people to various Olympic venues, moving along lanes specially allocated for it and linking the city districts with each other.

Olympic venues

The organizers of the games have allocated several areas for competitions, which are discussed below.

Barra

Most of the Olympics will be held in Barra. Several sports facilities were built in this place. Water polo and diving competitions will take place in the Maria Lenk Water Park. Rhythmic and artistic gymnastics competitions will be held at the Olympic Arena. The Riocenter will host boxing and weightlifting competitions. Basketball and martial arts competitions will be held in the Olympic halls. In addition, there is a Velodrome and a Tennis Center in Barra.

Deodoro

The following sports competitions will be held in this zone:

mountain bike;
Rowing slalom;
Pentathlon;
Shooting;
Equestrian competitions;
Fencing.

Maracana

This grandiose sports facility is one of the most popular football stadiums in the world. This stadium will host the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics, as well as the football championship, in which not only Rio de Janeiro, but also other Brazilian cities will participate. It is worth noting that in this zone there is the Joao Havelange facility, where athletics competitions will be held, as well as the Maracanazinho sports complex, where volleyball competitions will be held. Small Olympic villages have been built for media representatives at the competition venues.

Copacabana

Copacabana is considered one of the famous and picturesque beaches in the world. In this place, the organizers of the games plan to hold competitions in the following sports:

Swimming;
Sailing;
Rowing;
Triathlon.

Mascots and symbols of the 2016 Olympics

We found out that the 2016 Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, and now let's talk about what the mascot will be. The 2016 Olympic Games will be held under the auspices of talismans that symbolize the Brazilian flora and fauna: a cat-like yellow animal and a blue-green plant, in which you can see the outlines of an exotic flower and tree. According to the results of the Internet voting, the mascots were named Vinicius and Tom, in honor of the famous Brazilian musicians.

During the development of the visual image of the Olympics, the designers pursued the goal of creating a feeling of a festive and at the same time solemn atmosphere for the guests of Rio de Janeiro. Here you can see the main values and attributes of the city, as well as some of the elements that emphasize its passion and volatility.

In addition, the developed image reflects the places of Brazilian cities, which will host football matches of the Football Championship: Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte. This Olympic image can be seen on tickets, posters, on sports facilities where sports competitions will be held. Medals for rewarding athletes will be made from precious metals obtained from the processing of electrical appliances. It is planned to produce about 5,000 medals for awarding, as well as about 75,000 commemorative medals and badges.

How much will the tickets cost

Many sports fans are wondering what the cost of tickets for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be? The organizers of this event released the following information: the cheapest ticket will cost 14 euros, and the most expensive - 420 euros. It is well known that the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games are considered the most spectacular, memorable and grandiose events. In order to get to these events, you will need to pay about 1,000 euros. Tickets can be purchased from the beginning of 2016 on the official website of the organizers of the games.

Volunteering

The organizers of the 2016 Olympics plan to attract about 60,000 volunteers to participate in all events. Application deadline was until the end of 2015. Anyone over the age of 18 could offer their services, regardless of their gender and nationality. Selected candidates are given special online trainings, during which they are introduced to the features of the upcoming work, as well as to the places where the Games will be held. During the Olympics, all volunteers will be provided with appropriate equipment and food. True, they will need to get to Rio de Janeiro at their own expense. At the end of the Olympic Games, all volunteers will receive exclusive gifts and special certificates.

Ready for the Olympics

Finally, we found out where the 2016 Olympics will be held. But the following should be noted: the International Olympic Committee is of the opinion that Brazil is not quite ready to host the Olympics. This is due to the fact that the organizers do not have enough finances and therefore they do not invest in the deadlines allotted for preparation. IOC officials say funding for all preparations is being delayed. Many sports facilities have not yet been completed, and Rio de Janeiro still lacks the necessary infrastructure and there is a shortage of hotel rooms.

It is also worth noting this fact: Guonabara Bay is heavily polluted and the authorities are now working on cleaning it up, because it is here that sailing, kayaking and canoeing competitions will be held. The organizers assure that by the beginning of the Olympics, all pollution will be eliminated. Information has appeared in the media that the organizers may change the venue for the 2016 Summer Olympics. According to some reports, the International Olympic Committee asked the UK authorities about the possibility of holding the Olympics in London for the second time in a row.

To which the British authorities agreed and assured that London was quite ready to host the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Although there are no official statements about this. Now representatives of the International Olympic Committee are taking a number of decisions to stabilize the situation. They offered the Brazilian authorities their assistance in the implementation of certain activities, as well as their readiness to constantly monitor the preparations for the Games so that they take place at the highest level. According to the situation that has developed at the end of 2015, they do not intend to transfer the Olympic Games to another country, and they will take place, as planned, in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

The preparations for the 2016 Games are the worst I have ever seen... But we have no other plan B. So we're going to Rio.

Vice President of the IOC

Summer Olympic Games in 2016 - the main sporting event of the four years The Olympic movement originated in ancient Greece. Then it was both a sporting and religious event. But after 394 AD. competition fell under the disgrace of the authorities.

Only at the end of the 19th century the Games were resumed. Since then, since 1986, 22 Winter and 30 Summer Olympics have taken place in the world. The next Summer Olympic Games 2016 will be held in Brazil. This is the first Olympics in South America.

Choice of the host country and problems of organization

Eight countries have applied to host the Games. In addition to Brazil, Azerbaijan, Spain, the Czech Republic, Qatar, Japan, the USA and Russia fought for the right to host the Games. Three countries indicated in their applications cities that were not their capitals. These were: Russia (St. Petersburg), USA (Chicago) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro). St. Petersburg withdrew the application, because a month and a half after the application was submitted, another city (Sochi) received the right to host the 2014 Winter Games.

Four applicants got to the final part of the race: Madrid, Tokyo, Chicago and Rio de Janeiro. Voting took place in three stages. With each of them, one applicant was eliminated. As a result, there were only two left: Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.

With a double advantage during the final vote in October 2009, Rio de Janeiro won. In 2014, information appeared that the venue for the 2016 Summer Olympics could be changed. The reason for the rumors was the frequent statements by IOC officials about non-compliance by the host country with the deadlines for the delivery of facilities for competitions.

The media considered London, which hosted the competition in 2012, and Moscow as an alternative to hosting the Games. But despite problems with the organization, IOC officials said that the Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, and there is no talk of postponing the competition.

The Brazilians, after the approval of the candidacy of Rio de Janeiro, decided that the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held on the territory of four zones of the city.

Athletics;
marathon;
archery;
football;
water polo;
volleyball.

Maracana will become the main object of the Olympics. The stadium of the same name will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. Also, the stadium "Maracana" will host the final match of the Olympic football tournament. It is the largest sports ground in Brazil with a capacity of 79,000 people.

The Joao Havelange and Maracanazinho stadiums adjacent to the Maracanã will host athletics and volleyball competitions, respectively. The João Havelange Olympic Stadium is new (commissioned in 2007) and can accommodate 45,000 people.

The Maracanazinho stadium has a capacity of 12,000 people. The stadium was built in 1954 and has gone through two renovations. The last one was in 2007. One of the main attractions of the Maracanã area will also host part of the Olympics competitions. We are talking about the famous Sambodrome street, where the Brazilian carnival takes place every year. The street has a length of 700 meters, and on the sides it is fenced off by spectator stands. Their capacity is 90,000 people.

Archery competitions will be held at the Sambadrome. Here will be the start and finish of the women's and men's marathons.

Barra

boxing;
table tennis;
badminton;
cycling (road);
Weightlifting;
gymnastics (sports, artistic and trampolining);
cycle track;
sports walking;
diving;
water polo;
swimming;
synchronized swimming;
basketball;
judo;
taekwondo;
wrestling (freestyle and Greco-Roman);
handball;
fencing;
golf;
tennis.

The Barra area will host the lion's share of the upcoming Olympics. There are 15 sports facilities on its territory. The largest water sports facility is the Maria Lenk Water Park, which will host swimming and ski jumping competitions.

The center was built in 2004 and has a capacity of 8,000 spectators. Its total area is 42,000 sq.m. Medals in all types of gymnastics and trampolining will be played at the HSBC Arena. The arena was opened in 2007 and can accommodate 15,000 spectators. The exhibition complex "Riocentro" can accommodate up to 9,000 spectators. It will host competitions in badminton, table tennis, boxing and weightlifting.

Basketball competitions will also be held in the Barra area. The venue for the tournament will be the Olympic Training Center, built specifically for the 2013 Olympics. The center can accommodate 20,000 spectators. Tennis competitions will be held at the Rio Olympic Tennis Center, which is still under construction. The center will consist of 16 courts. The central court will accommodate 10,000 spectators, court No. 1 - 5,000, court No. 2 - 3,000, other courts - 250 people each.

Barra will be home to the Olympic Park and the Olympic Village, as well as a television and press center covering the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Beach volleyball;
rowing, canoeing and rowing;
cycling (highway);
swimming in open water;
triathlon;
sailing.

In the Copacabana area, which is famous for its beach, there will be beach volleyball competitions, as well as open water swimming and triathlon competitions. Within the boundaries of Copacabana in the center "Marina da Gloria" sailing competitions will be held. Temporary stands will be erected on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, which will be able to accommodate 10,000 people.

Deodoro

basketball;
modern pentathlon;
Horseback Riding;
field hockey;
shooting;
rugby 7;
mountain biking and velomotocross;
slalom.

Show jumping competitions will be held at the fourth Deodoro Center at the National Equestrian Center. The center was built in 2007, but three years later it required reconstruction. Its capacity is 20,000 people. Next to the Equestrian Sports Center is the National Shooting Sports Center, also built in 2007. Within its limits, competitions in bullet and trap shooting will be held.

Fencing (Deodoro Arena), modern pentathlon (National Center for Modern Pentathlon), cycling (mountain biking) and rowing and canoeing (Olympic Slalom Stadium) will also be held within Deodoro. Cycling competitions will be able to attract up to 25,000 spectators based on the number of places in the Olympic mountain bike center, and fencing, slalom and modern pentathlon competitions, respectively, 5,000, 8,000 and 15,000 spectators.

Not only Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Four more Brazilian cities will host competitions as part of the Olympics. Part of the competitions of the Olympic football tournament will be held at the stadiums of Sao Paulo, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and the capital of Brasilia. The most capacious is the Mane Garrincha Stadium in Brasilia (76,000 people). This is followed by the Mineirão Stadium in Belo Horizonte (74,000), Morumbi in Sao Paulo (66,000) and Fonte Nava Arena in Salvador (60,000).

Mascot and logo of the Games

The talisman of the future Olympics was an animal named Vinicius and a plant named Tom. Both mascots represent the diverse flora and fauna of Brazil. Vinicius is the epitome of all the animals that live in Brazil, "born from an explosion of joy" that the country was chosen as the capital of the Olympics. The volume personifies the symbol of the Paralympic Games and is a mixture of plants.

The theme of the Brazilian flag is clearly traced in the colors of the mascots. The official logo of the Olympics is an image of three dancing human figures in orange, green and blue. They all hold hands. Below is the inscription "RIO 2016" and the symbol of all the Olympic Games - five rings connected to each other.

301 medals in 40 sports disciplines will be played at the Olympics. For the first time, rugby sevens, which is a simplified form of this game, was included in the program of the Summer Games. Also, for the first time since 1904, a golf tournament will be held at the Summer Olympics. This sport was once excluded from the Olympics, but by decision of the IOC, by voting in 2009, this status was returned to it.

Otherwise, the 2016 Summer Olympics will follow the same sports program as the previous Olympics.

The well-known Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva plans to perform in Rio de Janeiro. Elena twice became the champion of the Olympic Games (2004 and 2008). After a bronze podium at the 2012 London Olympics, she announced that she was suspending her sports career and would make a final decision on performance at the next Games later.

The American swimmer, 18-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps, who retired in 2012 and returned to sports in 2014, intends to take part in the Games in Brazil, setting the 2016 Summer Olympics as his goal.

Going to the Olympics as a Volunteer

To do this, you need to register on the official website of the Games and submit an application. In May 2015, casting began at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. It will run until November 2015. During this period, interviews will take place, following which, in November 2015, there will be a meeting of the participants with the artistic group, which will select the most liked applicants with an invitation in April 2016 to Brazil for rehearsal events.

Participants must be at least 16 years of age as of April 1, 2016. The ticket to Brazil is paid by the volunteer himself.

Tickets for the competition went on sale at the beginning of 2015. So, the price of tickets for the Olympic Games in Brazil ranges from 17 to 1300 dollars. For the opening ceremony, the cheapest tickets cost $57 or BRL 200 depending on the exchange rate.

The most expensive tickets (1,200 reais or $341) will be sold for athletics and volleyball competitions, the cheapest (40 reais or $11) for open water swimming, field hockey, shooting, weightlifting and race walking.

All tickets can be purchased through the online portal "Rio 2016 Tickets" after registration. There are no direct flights between Russia and Brazil. Direct flights to Galleon Airport can be reached from airports in Europe. These can be: Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Madrid, Rome, London and Istanbul.

A trip to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will require a large financial outlay for at least one flight, but despite the financial side of the issue and the initial problems with the organization, the 2016 Summer Olympics promise to be the grandest sporting event of the year, which is worth visiting at least once in a lifetime .

The Olympics have moved from London to Rio. The main competition of the planet was held in August at the best sports grounds of the capital of the Brazilian carnival.

According to the decision of the 121st session of the IOC, the Games of the XXXI Olympiad or the 2016 Summer Olympics were held in the second largest city in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. Rio competed for the right to host such a prestigious event with such global cities as Madrid, Prague, Tokyo, Chicago and St. Petersburg. The positive decision in favor of the Brazilian application was influenced by the successful experience of hosting Rio's previous sporting event of comparable proportions - the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The 2016 Olympic Games were the first competition of this level in the South American continent and the second in Latin America, after the 1968 Olympics in the capital of Mexico.

The main part of the sports competitions within the framework of the 2016 Olympics took place in four clusters on the territory of Rio de Janeiro - the Barra Olympic Park, Copacabana, Maracana and Deodoro. The early stages of the Olympic football tournament also took place in the cities of Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador and Sao Paulo. Among the largest sports venues of the XXXI Olympiad were the world's second largest football stadium Maracanã, Rio Olympic Arena and the largest exhibition center in South America Riocentro. Beach volleyball competitions were held on the legendary Copacabana beach, and athletes and archers were hosted by the Sambadrome "carnival" arena. Despite numerous comments from the IOC about the delay in the construction of sports facilities, by the beginning of 2016, the Brazilian authorities managed to stabilize the situation and fulfill their earlier obligations.

The logo of the 2016 Summer Olympics was chosen as the figure of three men holding hands in yellow, blue and green. She reflected the colors of the national flag and became a symbol of interaction and energy, harmony in diversity, the riot of nature and the Olympic spirit. The sinuous "landscape" lines in the logo's design are intended to resemble the mountains, sun and sea of Brazil.

The talisman of the XXXI Olympiad, the cat-like yellow beast Vinicius, serves as a collective image of the rich fauna of Brazil. The Paralympic mascot, the "walking tree" Tom, is a reminder of the diversity of the Brazilian fauna. The mascots got their names from two prominent Brazilian cultural figures - Vinicius de Morais and Tom Jobim - who created the musical style of bossa nova.

For the Russian Olympic team, the 2016 Games in Rio were a real tough nut to crack. Due to international pressure in connection with the "meldonium" scandal, all athletes from Russia were in danger of being suspended from participation in the main competition of the year. An end to the delicate issue was put at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee on July 24 - the Russians were given the opportunity to participate in the 2016 Olympics. Destiny” of each athlete was given over to the international federation for his sport. Those allowed had to pass a control doping test already in Brazil. At the same meeting, the IOC's earlier decision to remove all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics was confirmed, except for one athlete, long jumper Darya Klishina. However, a few days before the start of the Olympics, the IOC again changed its mind. The issue of participation of Russian athletes in the competition was finally decided by an independent commission of the Committee of three people under the leadership of the head of the IOC medical group Ugur Erdener. According to her verdict, 273 out of 387 members of the Russian team were allowed to participate in the Summer Olympics.

Some interesting statistics.

More than 10,000 athletes from 206 countries of the world took part in the games of the XXXI Olympiad. For 17 days of competition they played 306 medals in 42 sports disciplines. The innovation of 2016 was the addition of two "newcomers" to the already existing Olympic sports - golf and rugby. The first returned to the honor roll after 112 years of absence, the second - in a somewhat simplified rugby-7 format - after a 92-year hiatus. The number of spectators in the stands of the 2016 Olympics exceeded 7 million people.

The price of tickets for the events of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro starts from 40 reais (about 17.4 dollars).