Everyone is a fan of different sports and waits for the tournament of that sport to start, but when it’s time of the Olympic Games everyone is eager to watch it as it has all kind of sports and all most every country takes part in it.

After every four years, it is hosted in different countries and this time Brazil is hosting it in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Rio is the first South American city to play host to the Olympic Games, and the third one in the southern hemisphere.

In every competition, the top three players are awarded with the medals, the first place gets gold, second place gets silver and the third gets bronze. Countries with the most gold medals come first and if the gold medals are the same then on the basis of total number of medals the rank is given. The most dominant country in Olympics is United States of America, the all-time medals won by them are 2406.

Besides the US, the countries that make it to the top of the medals table are Russia, Germany, Great Britain and now China has joined this elite club since the brilliant performance of its players in the last Olympics when it stood second with a total of 88 medals. South Korea also made it mark in the London Games by claiming the fourth position by winning 13 gold medals and surprisingly they won a medal in football!

Rio 2016

More than 10,000 athletes from 206 countries are taking part in 42 sports and 306 events, and there will be a total of 161 events for men, 136 for women and nine mixed events. The events are being held in four Olympic clusters in the regions of Barra, Copacabana, Deodoro and Maracana. The Maracana Stadium is the largest venue and host to the opening and closing ceremonies and the Paralympics. The Games will finish with the closing ceremony on August 21.

The Rio Olympics mascot is a mix of different animals called Vinicius, with the name being a tribute to the Brazilian musician Vinicius de Moraes. A notable aspect of this year’s Games is that for the first time it will see the participation of athletes born after the year 2000.

Golf is to be a part of the Olympic Games after more than a century, it was last part of the competitions in 1904, St Louis, the US. The two sports that will be making their first Olympics appearance are kite-surfing and rugby sevens, though the last rugby event was played 92 years ago in the Games.

Any large-scale event cannot be without controversy and so is the case with Rio 2016. The most damaging one is the threat of Zika virus that has affected scores of people in South America and Brazil and this has kept many athletes as well as tourists from going to Rio. Besides this, in terms of readiness, or rather the lack of it, much criticism is being hauled at the organisers. The facilities and the Olympic village housing the players are said to be faulty, there are complains of the waters of the aquatic events being polluted, etc.

But however things may be in Rio, there is much that sport lovers can look forward to as they follow their favourite teams and cheer their favourite players.

Team Pakistan

It is sad to note that for the first time Pakistan’s national hockey team is not a part of the Olympic Games as they did not qualify for it. Only a 24-member contingent is representing Pakistan and — interestingly — it has 17 officials to manage the seven athletes taking part! Most of the athletes are wildcard entries or on continental quota system, and they live and train internationally.

Flashback

Pakistan has won a total of 10 medals in the Olympic Games, with three gold, three silver and four bronze. Out of these, eight have been in field hockey, meaning we have only won two individual medals, a bronze medal in wrestling in Rome 1960, and another bronze in boxing in Seoul 1988.

The Rome Olympic Games 1960 was the most successful Olympics for Pakistan as it won two medals in it — a gold in field hockey and a bronze in wrestling.

Since 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Pakistan has not won a single medal.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 06th, 2016