It’s Olympics time again! The Olympic Games are an international sporting event, alternating between the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games. The gap between two summer events or two winter events is 4 years. The last summer Olympic Games were held in 2012, and the venue was London.
The 2016 Summer Olympics
This year (2016) is the year for the 28th Summer Olympic Games. The venue for the event is Rio de Janerio, Brazil. It is the first Olympic event to be held in South America and the host city has undergone major infrastructure upgrades to suitably host the mass-event.
The first edition of the Olympic Games, which was way back in 1896 only saw 9 sports being contested. Since then, the number of contested sports has gone up. The last summer Olympic Games saw 26 sports being contested, and 2016 will see 28.
A place in the Olympic Program is a great honor and also a popularity for any sport. Each sport is represented by an international organization, or Federation. The various federations bid for a place on the Olympic Program. The contested sports vary from event to event. Some of them may win a place on the program, but may be discontinued due to lack of interest or absence of a proper governing body.
For example, after 2008, baseball and softball were discontinued, whereas golf and rugby have been added to the 2016 program. Since 1896, only
five sports have been contested every time. These are – Athletics, Cycling, Fencing, Swimming and Gymnastics.
Sports of the Olympic Games
The 2016 Summer Olympics will see the following 28 sports (a total of 306 events from 41 disciplines) –
- Archery (4 events)
- Athletics (47 events)
- Aquatics (46 events from the disciplines of swimming, diving, water polo & synchronized swimming)
- Badminton (5 events)
- Basketball (2 events)
- Boxing (13 events)
- Canoe / Kayak (16 events)
- Cycling (18 events from the disciplines of track, road, mountain, BMX cycling)
- Equestrian (6 events from the disciplines of dressage, jumping and eventing)
- Fencing (10 events)
- Field hockey (2 events)
- Golf (2 events)
- Gymnastics (18 events from the disciplines of Artistic, rhythmic and trampoline gymastics)
- Handball (2 events)
- Judo (14 events)
- Modern pentathlon (2 events)
- Rowing (14 events)
- Rugby Sevens (2 events)
- Sailing (10 events)
- Shooting (15 events)
- Soccer / football (2 events)
- Table tennis (4 events)
- Taekwondo (8 events)
- Tennis (5 events)
- Triathlon (2 events)
- Volleyball (4 events from the disciplines of Beach and indoor volleyball)
- Weightlifting (15 events)
- Wrestling ( 18 events from the disciplines of free style and Greco–Roman wrestling)
The opening ceremony (Olympics 2016) will take place on August 5, 2016 in the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. It’s just around the corner, so pick your sport and cheer with all your heart for the contestants!
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- What are the Top 10 Olympic World Records?
- Read all about the Olympic Medals.
- Click Here to know the Origin of Ancient Olympic Games.