Officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, the 2016 Summer Olympics are being held right now in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. It is always interesting to see athletes from so many countries compete with each other. A sense of nationalism evokes in each and every individual and people root for their nation’s sportsmen to bring home medals and make their homeland proud! Let us tell you some great facts about the Rio Olympics.
- For the first time, Kosovo and South Sudan are taking part in the games.
2. There will be over 11,000 athletes who will be participating from more than 200 National Olympic Committees.
3. This is the first time that a country from South America is hosting the games! Also, it is only the third time that is being held in the Southern Hemisphere.
4. There are more male athletes than female athletes taking part. The difference is more a an astonishing one thousand!
5. The largest team is that of USA having 556 athletes. On the other hand, the smallest team is that of Tuvalu having only 1 athlete in men’s 100m of athletics.
6. There are 2 new sports in this Olympics – golf and rugby sevens.
7. On an average, every single day, there will be more than sixty thousand meals which will be cooked for participants of the games.
8. Close to $38 billion US dollars is being spent to host the games in Brazil!
9. From the Indian contingent, there are more than 70% who first timers and the remaining have already been a part in the previous Olympic Games.
10. The oldest athlete is from New Zealand. Julie is 62 years old! Nepal’s Gaurika is the youngest at 13 years old.
11. Michael Phelps, from the USA, holds the record for having the most number of Olympic gold medals – 21!
12. Bhutan’s contingent is one that has only females – two in number.
13. There will be sales of more than seven and half million tickets!
14. The taxi drivers of Rio are having a chance to learn English by signing up for online lessons provided by the organizing committee.
15. There is a Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) for refugees this year wherein 10 out of 46 are part of the team.
