Half the world’s population watched the coverage of the Olympic Games Rio 2016 and well over seven billion video views of official content were registered on social media platforms.
Athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees plus the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team participated and 812 gold medals were awarded. A handful of those gold medal winners have taken a look back at their 2016 seasons as this Olympic year comes to a close.
Over 11,000 athletes took part in the Olympic Games Rio 2016 with 45% of those athletes being women, the highest number ever. Women competed in every sport at the Rio 2016 Games and 10 refugee athletes competed as part of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team.
Kosovo and South Sudan also participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in Rio and 9 National Olympic Committees won their first-ever gold medals (Bahrain, Fiji, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kosovo, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Tajikistan and Vietnam.)
Rio 2016 left behind a great legacy for the city of Rio de Janeiro with increased access to high-quality public transport for Rio citizens, an increase from 18% in 2009 to 63% at the end of 2016.
