Looking Back at the Olympics

By Michael Sweeney '17

The Opening Ceremony during the Rio Games this summer. Courtesy Shutterstock

The 2016 Rio Olympics certainly was an experience to remember. Whether it was

Usain Bolt’s dominance in track, Simone Biles game changing performance in gymnastics or

Michael Phelps going out in style in his very last Olympics. There was also saw a political side

to the Olympics with the Russian Doping Scandal, the Zika virus Terror and the very bizarre

Ryan Lochte incident. The Olympics certainly turned out to be one of the most compelling and

memorable games to ever occur.

The Games started out with a beautiful opening ceremony at Maracana Stadium

in Rio. There were over 200 nations that boasted over 10,500 athlete’s competing in 28 sports

and in 306 events. For the first time in Olympic history we saw a collection of refugees who

competed without representing a country. Viewers also saw double the amount of policemen

and soldiers deployed to keep an eye on security, than we saw at the 2012 London Olympics

because of the recent rise in terror attacks around the world.

As the Games began viewers saw many inspiring achievements occur. Fiji won its first

ever gold medal with their win in Rugby over Great Britain. Viewers saw Ibtihaj Muhammad

become the first American woman to wear a full hijab and win a bronze medal in

fencing. The United States men and women’s basketball teams continue their dominance by

winning their third straight gold medal, each winning by more than 35 points in the final.

Simone Biles set a new American record for most gold medals in women’s gymnastics at a single

Games, with four Olympic gold medals. Usain Bolt obtained three gold medals, raising his total to

nine, without ever losing an event at any Olympic Games he has ever competed in. We also saw a

brilliant close to Michael Phelps’ Olympic career, that started out with him being chosen as the flag

bearer for the United States and eventually tailing four gold medals and a silver that added to his

recording breaking total of 28 medals an Olympic record.

There was also a political edge to these Olympics as well. There were major concerns for

the health of tourists, whether it was the worry about the pollution in waters like the Guanabara Bay,

the lack of treatment of raw sewage or the mysterious new virus called Zika that was spreading

through Brazil, which caused athletes like golfer Rory Mcllroy and basketball superstar Steph Curry

to withdraw from the Games. Then there was the Russian Doping Scandal. This was a very large

and extensive investigation of an alleged doping program and a possible cover up by the Russian

State. The investigation found that 111 of 389 athletes entering were found guilty of doping and

therefore banned from the competition. Finally came the very odd Ryan Lochte incident. On

August 14 Lochte and three other swimmers alleged that men dressed as police officers pulled them

out of their taxi, held them at gunpoint and robbed them. There then came question to the original

story especially with the police and the robbery, along with a different interpretation coming from an

owner of a gas station stating that Lochte and the swimmers were heavily intoxicated and vandalised

a bathroom and caused heavy damage. A video was then released proving the gas station owner’s

story, which then caused immediate international backlash toward the swimmers. Lochte has since

apologized for the incident, but has suffered significant backlash and loss of sponsorships.

Even with all that commotion, the Olympics were still spectacular and exciting. The beautiful closing ceremony at Maracana Stadium gave the world a reason to stay united under

the gift of sports.