2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics

Also called: Games of the XXXI Olympiad, Rio 2016

The first Olympics held in South America. A Refugee Olympic Team of athletes who had lost their homelands competed for the first time, and revelations of state-sponsored Russian doping caused a major controversy.

Some 11,000 athletes from 207 teams took part from 5 to 21 August 2016. Ten athletes who had fled war and persecution competed for the first time as a Refugee Olympic Team under the Olympic flag, and Kosovo and South Sudan made their debuts. Shortly before the Games an investigation found that Russia had organised and covered up doping at state level, and the IOC left it to each sport to decide which Russian athletes could compete. The Games were held amid Brazil’s economic crisis, the impeachment of its president and fears of the Zika virus. South Korea won all four archery events, and Park In-bee won golf, back in the Olympics after 112 years.