Every four years, millions of people gather to watch the biggest sporting spectacle in the world. For a few weeks, the greatest athletes of the time compete in sports ranging from track and field and gymnastics to horseback riding and archery, all wanting to achieve the highest honor of becoming an Olympic medaled athlete. Each Olympics has different athletes, different venues, and a different story.
The Olympics this summer in Rio de Janeiro have not broken that cycle. But there was something special about these games, not only with the record breaking times and amazing finishes by athletes, but for the groundbreaking accomplishments in sports as well.
In these Olympic games, millions of saw and heard of the record-breaking athletes that dominated in their events. Michael Phelps came into these Olympic games wanting to defend his name and his title as a swimmer and role model after the tough years he had after London 2012. After swimming in six events, he won five gold and one sliver medal, adding to his collection to now have a total of 28 medals. He is now the most decorated Olympic athlete, has the most gold medals in an individual event and the most medals in individual events. The US swimmer Katie Ledecky stunned the world in her events for freestyle swimming, winning gold and breaking world records in outstanding times against her competitors at age 19. The US gymnast Simone Biles wowed with her skills in vault, floor, and team gymnastic events, now considered the best gymnast in the world. And there is the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who came back to the Olympic games to defend his title in the 100m and 200m sprints in track and field; accomplishing the feat, he became the first man to win gold in three back-to-back Olympic games in those events and solidified his title as the fastest man in the world. From those exceptional athletes and other common household names like Ryan Lochte and Tom Daley, they bring hype and excitement to the games for people wanting to see them compete.
But then there were the athletes that were under the radar in the beginning of these Olympic games that are now inspirations to millions. Simone Manuel, a US freestyle swimmer, became the first African American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming, setting an Olympic record and American record in the women’s 100m freestyle. Ibtihaj Muhammad was the first Muslim American woman to compete in the games while wearing a hijab; she won the bronze medal in the women’s team sabre event for fencing. Puerto Rican tennis star Monica Puig won the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the women’s singles event. Fehaid Al-Deehani was born in Kuwait, a country that is barred from competing in the Olympic games, and competed in the games as an independent athlete; he won an Olympic gold medal in men’s double trap for shooting, becoming the first independent athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. In the women’s 100m hurdles, the US women’s team became the first to ever win gold, sliver, and bronze in a single Olympic event. For Kosovo’s first time competing in the Olympics, Majilinda Kelemendi won Kosovo’s first medal ever in the 52-kg category of women’s judo. Joseph Schooling won an Olympic gold medal in the 100m butterfly, defeating Michael Phelps in the event and taking home Singapore’s first Olympic medal. When the Fiji Rugby Sevens team won the gold medal in rugby, Fiji’s first Olympic medal, businesses and shops all over the island closed down to celebrate the victory. Kariman Abuljadayel became the first-ever Saudi Arabian woman to ever compete in the Olympic 100m sprint in track and field, wearing a full black body kit and hijab in her race. And there was the first-ever Olympic team composed of refugees, athletes that came from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
From all of the amazing accomplishments from the well known to the unheard of athletes, these Olympic games were truly special. They inspired, they amazed, and they broke ground for the future of sports and athletes around the world. Not only did they bring people together, Rio 2016 showed how anyone from any background with the grit and will to compete could come out on top.
