The Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the most important sports competition in the world, officially started on August 5th. The games will receive more than eleven thousand athletes from more than 200 countries, participating in over 300 events of 41 different disciplines from 28 Olympic sports. This edition also marks the debut of rugby seven and golf, sports voted in in 2009.
Rio de Janeiro is the first South American host of the Olympics and the second Latin American city after Mexico 1968. It also marks the inclusion of refugee athletes that will be able to compete as independent and under the Olympic flag, a decision taken in March where the IOC created the Refugee Athletes Olympic Team, made up of 10 athletes.
More than 11.000 athletes will be competing in various disciplines and we will be able to see famous faces like: Usain Bolt (track and field), Hope Solo (female football), and Michael Phelps (swimming) amongst many other dedicated professionals.
In September the city will also host the XV edition of the Paralympic Games, debuting two new disciplines: canoeing and paratriathlon.
Curiosity: Five new sports have been approved for Tokyo 2020: baseball/softball, surfing, sports climbing, karate and skateboarding. The inclusion of these sports will add 18 events and 474 athletes.
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Photo credit: Rio 2016-Fernando Soutello
