7,134 athletes from 121 countries took part in the 1972 Summer Olympics. For the first time, Albania, Upper Volta, Gabon, Dahomey, North Korea, Lesotho, Malawi, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, Somalia, and Togo sent their athletes. Sets of awards were raffled off in 23 sports. For the first time during the olympic games The official mascot of the event was presented, it was the multi-colored dachshund Waldi.
According to the results of the competition, athletes from the USSR became the leaders in the medal standings, winning 50 gold, 27 silver and 22 bronze medals. It is interesting that Soviet athletes were given the task of winning at least 50 gold medals in honor of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Olympians coped with the task. The US team took second place, its athletes received 33 gold, 31 silver and 30 bronze medals. Third place went to the GDR with 20 gold, 23 silver and 23 bronze medals.
The track and field competitions were very intense. Soviet sprinter Valery Borzov managed to win two gold medals at once, breaking the undivided monopoly of the Americans. For domestic athletes, these were the first gold medals in sprint. Viktor Saneev won his second gold medal in the triple jump. The champion in the high jump was Leningrad student Yuri Tarmak, who cleared a height of 223 cm. Olga Korbut performed brilliantly, winning three medals of the highest standard and one silver.
Cuban boxers trained by Soviet coach Andrei Chervonenko showed a sensational result in Munich; they won three gold medals. Boxers from the USSR were just a little behind them with two gold medals. All but one of the gold medals went to Soviet rowers in kayaking and canoeing. In freestyle and classical wrestling, wrestlers from the USSR won 9 gold medals.
There were also some sporting sensations - in particular, the American swimmer Mark Spitz achieved unprecedented success, winning seven gold medals and setting seven world records.
Unfortunately, Munich was overshadowed by the tragedy of the capture of Israeli team athletes on September 5 by Palestinian terrorists. A very unprofessional attempt by the police to free the hostages resulted in the death of eleven athletes and one policeman. It was this tragedy that prompted the world's intelligence agencies to create special groups to combat terrorism.
It was decided to continue the Olympics. One of the reasons for this decision was the desire to show that the efforts of terrorists cannot break the spirit of athletes, and the Olympic Games are above any political differences.
Tip 2: Where were the 1972 Summer Olympics held?
The Twentieth Summer Olympic Games in 1972 were held in Munich from 26 August to 10 September. A record number of athletes and national teams arrived in Germany. For the first time, representatives of Albania, Saudi Arabia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Somalia and a number of other countries took part in the Olympic competitions. Unfortunately, the 1972 Olympics was remembered not only for its sporting achievements.
Before the start of the Olympics, a metro was built in Munich for the first time, the city center was completely reconstructed, and the road system was re-created. The new complex of sports facilities consisted of an Olympic village for 10 thousand people, an Olympic stadium for 80 thousand people, a sports palace, a large swimming pool, a cycling track for 13 thousand people and other sports halls and grounds. A new Olympic stadium (Olympiastadion) was built especially for the Games, with an unusual roof design reminiscent of a spider's web.
Most of the Olympic venues in Munich were equipped with modern means of urgent information for that time (electronic computers, scoreboards, measuring instruments using a laser beam, duplicating equipment for printing press bulletins, etc.) The capabilities of television were widely used, thanks to which the Olympic Games were able to see more than a billion people on all continents.
September 5, 1972 was an unprecedented tragedy in the history of sports. Terrorists of the Palestinian organization managed to enter one of the pavilions of the Olympic village at 4:30 am. They took several members of the Israeli delegation hostage, 11 of whom were subsequently killed, including a German policeman. This incident shocked the whole world, but it was decided to continue the games.
Soviet athletes were faced with a difficult task; they had to win 50 gold medals by the 50th anniversary of the USSR, surpassing the United States. They completed it, winning exactly 50 awards of the highest standard, the Olympians from the United States received 33 medals. In total, USSR participants received 99 medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics, including 27 silver and 22 bronze.
The Soviet Union men's basketball team won gold medals for the first time, defeating the United States in a tense match. Two gold medals went to Soviet boxers: Vyacheslav Lemeshev from Moscow and Boris Kuznetsov from Astrakhan. Freestyle wrestlers received five gold medals. Soviet gymnasts performed at a very high level, winning several gold medals in various competitions. All gold medals in canoeing and kayaking for both women and men went to Soviet rowers. The competitions of the XX Summer Olympic Games showed high level preparation of all participants. During these events, 94 Olympic and 46 world records were set.
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Sources:
- Faster! Higher! Stronger! From the history of the Summer Olympic Games
The first Olympic Games in post-war Germany took place 27 years after the end of World War II. In 1972, the 20th Summer Olympics were held in Munich with the motto “Happy Games” and a shining blue sun in the logo. Unfortunately, the mournful color of terrorism from the Palestinian “Black September” was also added to the palette of games.
The venue for the Summer Olympic Games with the anniversary - twentieth - serial number was determined in 1966 in Rome. After this, a large-scale preparation program for the sports festival was launched in Munich. Dozens of sports facilities with the latest equipment were built, including a stadium with 80 thousand seats, a cycling track, a swimming pool, a sports complex, etc. In addition to sports facilities, an “Olympic village” arose for 15 thousand athletes, and for the XX Olympics, a metro even appeared in the city.
The opening ceremony of the games, which was attended by almost 7,200 Olympians from 121 countries, took place on August 26, 1972. The very next day the first two Olympic champions became known, and a total of 195 sets of awards were awarded at these games. The undisputed hero of the Olympics was the American Mark Spitz - the swimmer competed at the start line seven times and won a gold medal each time. Moreover, all swims ended with a new world record. In total, 46 world records and 94 Olympic records were broken in Munich. Athletes from the Soviet Union also took part in this. Thus, Lyudmila Bragina improved the world record three times in the 1.5-kilometer distance among runners. Another runner, Valery Borzov, managed to win two gold and one silver medal. In general, the party and government set the task for the Soviet team to win 50 gold medals by the 50th anniversary of the USSR and beat the Americans in the medal standings. The Olympians were able to solve the task, rising to the highest step of the podium exactly 50 times, and supplemented this number with another 49 awards of other denominations. The Americans received only five fewer awards, but were significantly behind in the number of gold medals (17 fewer).
On the 11th day of the Olympics, the largest terrorist attack in the history of the games occurred. Five Palestinian terrorists from the Black September organization infiltrated the Olympic village and took nine members of the Israeli delegation hostage, killing two athletes. The terrorists demanded that they be taken with the hostages to the airport and provided with a helicopter, which the German authorities complied with. At the airport, an attempt was made to free the hostages, which failed - the terrorists killed the hostages, and only three of them survived. Olympic competitions were stopped that day, but then the IOC decided to continue the games.
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Tip 4: What happened at the 1972 Munich Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics were held in the German city of Munich, the capital of the federal state of Bavaria, in the south of Germany. In the six years that have passed since this city was chosen as the site of the Olympics, the organizers of the games have done a tremendous job.
Enormous amounts of money were invested in the improvement of Munich, building a metro, many new hotels, and reconstructing the central part of the city. A huge Olympic stadium with 80 thousand seats with an original roof resembling a spider's web was erected, as well as a number of other sports facilities where the participants of the games were to compete. Moreover, all these facilities were equipped with the most modern technical devices at that time.
The opening ceremony of the Olympics took place on August 26. 7,170 athletes took part in the competition, competing for 195 sets of medals. The USSR team performed brilliantly, winning the most gold medals - 50. The US team, which took second place, had 33.
Unfortunately, this wonderful sports festival was overshadowed by tragedy. At dawn on September 5, Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic Village, killed two members of the Israeli sports delegation and took nine others hostage. The terrorists demanded the release of several hundred prisoners, and a little later they made an additional demand - to provide them with a plane to Cairo, as well as the opportunity to freely get to the airfield along with the hostages. As a result of the hastily planned and insufficiently professional rescue operation, all nine hostages, five terrorists and one policeman were killed. Three terrorists were captured alive.
Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were faced with a very serious question: how to respond to this blatant incident, whether to continue the games or end them? In addition, many athletes, including the surviving members of the Israeli team, announced their departure from Munich. After a difficult discussion and a one-day break, the IOC decided to continue the Olympics. The competition ended on September 10.
This tragedy led to a sharp increase in security measures at subsequent Olympics, especially in the Olympic villages. Also, special anti-terrorism units have been created in many countries.
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Tip 5: How the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics ended
The 1972 Summer Olympics, held in Munich, were overshadowed by a tragic event - a terrorist attack organized by the radical Palestinian group Black September. As a result, on September 5, 11 members of the Israeli delegation - athletes, coaches and judges - were taken hostage. During the operation to free the hostages, carried out by German intelligence services, all of them, as well as 5 terrorists, died. But the terrorist attack at the Olympic Games in Munich did not end there.
Israel, for which the incident became a national tragedy, was not satisfied with the results of the investigation into the terrorist attack. The surviving terrorists and those involved in organizing the terrorist attack were detained by the German police, but under the threat of new terrorist attacks that the Palestinians promised to carry out, the detainees were released as a result of the exchange. The bodies of the five dead Palestinians, at the insistence of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, were handed over to Palestine, where they were named national heroes and buried with great pomp.
Of course, this state of affairs did not suit Israel at all, since those responsible for the deaths of the athletes were not punished either according to state or international laws. The question of adequate response measures, or, more simply put, of revenge, arose at the highest state level.
Operation Wrath of God began, carried out by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. Its goal was the physical elimination of all participants in the terrorist attack and those involved in it. There were 17 of them. It didn't take long for the terrorists to be punished - already in October 1972, one of the organizers of the terrorist attack was shot dead. 9 months after the tragedy, 13 people were already marked with crosses on the Mossad list.
Two more Palestinians involved in the killing of the athletes died later. The remaining two from the Mossad list escaped punishment, one of them died in 2010, the second, the only survivor, is hiding in one of the African countries.
The 2012 London Olympics marks the 40th anniversary of the events in Munich. Members of the IOC, athletes and residents of London honored the memory of the victims of the terrorist attack on July 23. After the ceremony at the Truce Wall, symbolizing the peacekeeping idea of the Olympic Games, a minute of silence was held. More than 100 people took part in this event, including IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge, the head of the London Olympics Organizing Committee, Lord Coe, and the mayor of the city, B. Johnson.
On September 5, 1972, armed Palestinian terrorists from the Black September group freely entered the Olympic site and took 11 Israeli athletes hostage. This happened at 4:10 am. Munich was completely unprepared for such a development of events: unarmed security, a decorative fence around the Olympic Village. Radical extremists demanded the release of 232 members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, two German terrorists and 16 prisoners in Western European prisons from Israeli prisons.
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir refused to negotiate with terrorists. Israeli intelligence services offered their assistance in freeing the hostages, but the Germans did not accept it. As a result, all 11 athletes were killed. Five militants and one German policeman, Anton Fliegerbauer, were also killed. No matter how cynical, the death of the policeman turned out to be useful for the perception of what happened: both peoples suffered at the hands of extremists, and it was possible to express participation and sympathy to Israel without feelings of guilt. The names of the dead Israelis: David Berger, Yosef Romano, Moshe Weinberg, Eliezer Halfin, Zeev Friedman, Mark Slavin, Andrei Shpitser, Kehat Shor, Amitsur Shapiro, Yaakov Springer.
The German authorities responded negatively to Israel's request to interrupt the Olympic Games. They motivated this decision by the fact that “retreat” would mean the victory of world terrorism, submission to it. So, sports competitions were continued the next day. Soviet Union In the end, he took 50 gold medals, the USA - 33. It is interesting to note that every fifth “gold” of the American team belonged to the Jew Mark Spitz.
The German police's security efforts are considered one of the most disastrous operations in the history of intelligence services. Is this a coincidence? The authoritative German publication Der Spiegel ("Mirror") publishes some documents relating to the events of forty years ago. These documents indicate that German intelligence services were warned twice about the impending terrorist attack. However, they underestimated the importance of the information received and were sure that the Black September group was poorly prepared and would not be able to “turn around” in a city crowded with guests, so they left things to chance.
At the same time, it became known that German neo-Nazis assisted Black September. Wolfgang Abramovsky and Willy Pohl, members of the National Socialist Resistance Group for Greater Germany, worked closely with terrorists. Perhaps these were echoes of National Socialism that allegedly “fell” 27 years ago. By the way, the Bavarian capital Munich is geographically adjacent to the notorious Dachau concentration camp. Coincidence?
For the next 40 years, Germany has been trying to hide the traces of its mistakes. Meanwhile, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is launching an operation called “Wrath of God.” “Israel will use all the strength and ability that our people have to catch the terrorists wherever they are,” Golda Meir said in the Knesset. A list of priority tasks was compiled with the goal of neutralizing and eliminating not only Black September, but also the entire terrorist network in Europe. How long will extremists “rape” public peace?
The summer of 2012 marks the Olympic Games in London. Enormous security measures have been taken here. The Olympic village is surrounded by 18 kilometers of electric fences, protected by 13.5 thousand soldiers, many canine units, anti-aircraft guns and fighters are trained. On the one hand, such pragmatism is justified, on the other hand, the holiday of “Peace and Friendship” turns into tense anticipation. Will the true atmosphere of the Olympics have to become a thing of the past? It is important to understand that extremism can only be defeated by the united efforts of the entire world community.
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| 03:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. China - Switzerland | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Canada - Norway | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. South Korea - Finland | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. USA - Russia | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. USA - Canada | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. South Korea - China | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Finland - Switzerland | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Russia - Norway | qualification |
| 02:35 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Russia - Finland | qualification |
| 02:35 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. South Korea - Norway | qualification |
| 02:35 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. China - Canada | qualification |
| 02:35 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. USA - Switzerland | qualification |
| 07:35 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Canada - Finland | qualification |
| 07:35 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. USA - South Korea | qualification |
| 07:35 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Switzerland - Norway | qualification |
| 07:35 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. China - Russia | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. China - USA | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Norway - Finland | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Canada - Switzerland | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. South Korea - Russia | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Switzerland - South Korea | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Russia - Canada | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Finland - China | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Mixed couples. Preliminary round. Norway - USA | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Canada - Italy | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. South Korea - USA | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Switzerland - UK | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Denmark - Sweden | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Denmark - Sweden | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Switzerland - China | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Japan - USA | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Russia - UK | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Norway - Japan | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Switzerland - Italy | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Canada - UK | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. South Korea - Sweden | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Canada - South Korea | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. UK - USA | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Denmark - Japan | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. China - Russia | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Norway - Canada | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. USA - Italy | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Denmark - Switzerland | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. UK - Japan | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. South Korea - Japan | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. China - UK | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Canada - Sweden | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. USA - Switzerland | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Italy - Denmark | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Sweden - USA | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Norway - South Korea | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Sweden - Russia | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Denmark - Canada | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. South Korea - Switzerland | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Denmark - USA | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Sweden - UK | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Japan - Switzerland | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Canada - South Korea | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Switzerland - Sweden | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Denmark - UK | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Japan - China | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Russia - USA | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Canada - Sweden | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. South Korea - UK | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Switzerland - Norway | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Japan - Italy | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Russia - Japan | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. South Korea - UK | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. USA - Canada | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. China - Denmark | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Norway - Denmark | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. USA - Japan | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Switzerland - Canada | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Canada - Switzerland | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. China - South Korea | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. UK - Sweden | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. USA - Norway | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Denmark - South Korea | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Italy - UK | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Sweden - Japan | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. USA - Denmark | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Russia - Switzerland | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Sweden - South Korea | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Japan - Canada | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. USA - Canada | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Italy - South Korea | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Sweden - Switzerland | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. UK - Denmark | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Japan - Sweden | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Denmark - Russia | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. China - USA | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. UK - Switzerland | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. UK - Norway | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Italy - Sweden | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Japan - Canada | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. South Korea - Switzerland | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Canada - China | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. USA - South Korea | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. UK - Japan | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Norway - Italy | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Japan - Denmark | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Switzerland - USA | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. South Korea - Russia | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Sweden - China | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Canada - UK | qualification |
| 03:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Switzerland - Denmark | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. South Korea - Japan | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Denmark - Canada | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. UK - USA | qualification |
| 08:05 | Curling. Men. Preliminary round. Sweden - Norway | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. South Korea - Denmark | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Sweden - USA | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Russia - Canada | qualification |
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Preliminary round. Switzerland - Japan | qualification |
| 14:00 | Skating. Women. Team race. Semi-finals | semi-final |
| 14:22 | Skating. Men. Team race. Semi-finals | semi-final |
| 14:54 | Skating. Women. Team race. Consolation finals | consolation playoffs |
| 15:13 | Skating. Men. Team race. Consolation finals | consolation playoffs |
| 15:52 | Skating. Women. Team race. Small final | for 3rd place |
| 15:58 | Skating. Women. Team race. The final | the final |
| 16:11 | Skating. Men. Team race. Small final | for 3rd place |
| 16:17 | Skating. Men. Team race. The final | the final |
| 05:00 | Snowboard. Men. Big air | the final |
| 06:00 | Snowboard. Women. Parallel giant slalom. 1/8 finals | 1/8 finals |
| 06:15 | Snowboard. Men. Parallel giant slalom. 1/8 finals | 1/8 finals |
| 06:30 | Snowboard. Women. Parallel giant slalom. Quarterfinals | 1/4 finals |
| 06:38 | Snowboard. Men. Parallel giant slalom. Quarterfinals | 1/4 finals |
| 06:48 | Snowboard. Women. Parallel giant slalom. Semi-finals | semi-final |
| 06:52 | Snowboard. Men. Parallel giant slalom. Semi-finals | semi-final |
| 08:28 | Snowboard. Women. Parallel giant slalom. Small final | for 3rd place |
| 08:30 | Snowboard. Women. Parallel giant slalom. The final | the final |
| 08:34 | Snowboard. Men. Parallel giant slalom. Small final | for 3rd place |
| 08:37 | Snowboard. Men. Parallel giant slalom. The final | the final |
| 09:35 | Curling. Men. The final. Sweden - USA | the final | |||
| 14:05 | Curling. Women. Small final. Japan - UK | 32 | 5 | 10 | |
| 12 | Russia | 2 | 6 | 9 | 17 |
| 13 | Czech | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 14 | Belarus | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 15 | China | 1 | 6 | 2 | 9 |
| 16 | Slovakia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 17 | Finland | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 18 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 19 | Poland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 20 | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Ukraine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 23 | Slovenia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Spain | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 26 | New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 27 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 28 | Latvia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 29 | Liechtenstein | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2016 - the first Olympic Games held in South America and second in Latin America after the '68 games in Mexico. Over 17 days, 306 sets of awards were drawn in 28 sports.
The games set a record number of participating countries - 206. Teams from even Kosovo and the newly formed South Sudan came to the Olympic Games. In addition, the refugee team, performing under the Olympic flag, also took part in the competition. In total, more than 11 thousand athletes took to the start line. The most numerous was the US Olympic team - 554 athletes.
The medal standings are a summary table of all awarded medals and do not have official status. For first place in the Olympic Games medal table, the winning team does not receive any reward. At the end of the 2016 Olympic Games, the medals of all countries were counted, and the teams were arranged in the table by the number of gold medals, then silver, then bronze.
The USA took first place in the overall standings with 121 medals. In terms of the total number of medals won at one Olympics, this is the third result for the United States and eighth among all nations.
For the second Games in a row, the Americans took the lead in the unofficial team competition. In total, the US team has 16 victories at the Summer Games. 7 times the victory remained with the athletes and the CIS. In total, 7 powers won the Summer Games.
The 121 medals set a new record for the United States for the most medals won at a non-home Games. The previous achievement - 110 medals - was shown at the 2008 Beijing Games.
As a result, the United States ended up with 51 more medals than China (70), the second-most since 1984 and seventh in the history of the Games.
In second place in gold medals - (27 gold), third - (26), fourth - Russia (19 and 56), fifth - (17 and 42). The top 10 also included Italy and Australia. The hosts of the Games, the Brazilians, collected 19 medals (7 gold).
The Russian team has 10 gold medals for women and 9 for men. Women are ahead of men for the first time in the history of Russia's performance at Olympic tournaments - since 1996. In 1996 in Atlanta, the gap between Russian athletes of different sexes was very large - 20:6, and in -2012 men and women brought Russia an equal number of gold medals - 11 each.
In total, medals at the 2016 Olympics were won by representatives of 87 countries (Latvia is not among them). Athletes from 59 countries took at least one gold, and 21 teams won one medal.
American swimmers Michael Phelps and Kathleen Ledecky became the most titled athletes at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Phelps won six medals: five golds in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays, the 4x100m medley relay, the 200m medley and 200m butterfly, and a silver in the 100m butterfly.
Ledecky won five Olympic medals: four golds in the 200, 400, 800 m freestyle and 4x200 m freestyle relay and one silver in the 4x100 m freestyle relay.
The third highest number of awards belongs to American gymnast Simone Biles. Biles won five medals - gold in the team events in gymnastics, all-around, vault and floor exercise, and bronze in the balance beam.
The fourth record is for the Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu: three gold and one silver medal.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who once again won three Olympic golds, rounded out the top five most decorated athletes at the 2016 Games.
Rio 2016
Medal classification (total - gold-silver-bronze). Bottom line
1. USA - 121 (46-37-38)
2. Great Britain - 67 (27-23-17)
3. China - 70 (26-18-26)
4. Russia - 56 (19-18-19)
5. Germany - 42 (10-17-15)
6. Japan - 41 (12-8-21)
7. France - 42 (10-18-14)
8. South Korea - 21 (9-3-9)
9. Italy - 28 (8-12-8)
10. Australia - 29 (8-11-10)
11. Holland - 19 (8-7-4)
12. - 15 (8-3-4)
13. Brazil - 19 (7-6-6)
14. Spain - 17 (7-4-6)
15. Kenya - 13 (6-6-1)
16. Jamaica - 11 (6-3-2)
17. Croatia - 10 (5-3-2)
18. Cuba - 11 (5-2-4)
19. New Zealand - 18 (4-9-5)
20. Canada - 22 (4-3-15)
21. Uzbekistan - 13 (4-2-7)
22. - 17 (3-5-9)
23. Colombia - 8 (3-2-3)
24. -7 (3-2-2)
25. - 8 (3-1-4)
26. - 6 (3-1-2)
27. Argentina - 4 (3-1-0)
28. Denmark - 15 (2-6-7)
29. Sweden - 11 (2-6-3)
30. South Africa - 10 (2-6-2)
31. - 11 (2-5-4)
32. Serbia - 8 (2-4-2)
33. - 11 (2-3-6)
34. - 7 (2-3-2)
35. Belgium - 6 (2-2-2)
36. Thailand - 6 (2-2-2)
37. Slovakia - 4 (2-2-0)
38. - 7 (2-1-4)
39. Azerbaijan - 18 (1-7-10)
40. Belarus - 9 (1-4-4)
41. - 8 (1-3-4)
42. Armenia - 4 (1-3-0)
43. Czech Republic - 10 (1-2-7)
44. Ethiopia - 8 (1-2-5)
45. Slovenia - 4 (1-2-1)
46. Indonesia - 3 (1-2-0)
47. Romania - 5 (1-1-3)
48. Bahrain - 2 (1-1-0)
Several cities competed to host the 1996 Olympic Games: Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, Toronto and Atlanta. Athens, of course, was the favorite - the 100th anniversary of the first Olympics was planned and they wanted to hold it in Greece. But members of the Atlanta bid committee were able to convince the IOC of the city's excellent and highest readiness for Summer Games. As a result, on September 18, 1990, at the 96th session of the IOC, Atlanta was announced as the capital of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Mascot of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta
They decided to generate it on a computer. As a result, the creature came out strange: barefoot without a nose or mouth. The designers tried to give Izzy a more attractive look: a big mouth, a tail with Olympic rings, funny boots and white gloves. Then we added sparkling star eyes. The creature's name Izzy is short for Whatisit? ("What it is?"). He is considered one of the worst Olympic mascots.
Opening of the 1996 Olympics
The ceremony took place on July 19, 1996 at the Olympic Stadium in Atlanta. The broadcast was carried out by 170 television companies, and was watched by about 3.5 billion viewers. The main themes of the performance were the history of Atlanta and the American South, as well as the 100th anniversary of the Olympic movement. 
10,700 athletes from 197 participating countries took part in the parade. Russian flag The ceremony was carried out by wrestler Alexander Karelin, who later won his third Olympic gold medal in Atlanta.
After a speech by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch and Games Organizing Committee President Billy Payne, US President Bill Clinton declared the 1996 Olympics open. The Olympic flag was raised and the Flame was lit, carried by swimmer Janet Evans and boxer Evander Holyfield, and lit by former boxer Muhammad Ali.
The culmination was the song “The Power of Dreams” performed by the famous singer Celine Dion, and then a colorful fireworks display.
Russia at the 1996 Olympics
The Russian team competed as a separate country for the first time at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. According to the results of the medal standings at the 1996 Olympics, the Russian team won second place after the US team. The Russians received 63 medals: 26 gold, 21 silver and 16 bronze.
Most of the winners were among swimmers, wrestlers, fencers and track and field athletes. Swimmer Alexander Popov was able to win 4 medals: 2 gold and 2 silver, and became a four-time Olympic champion.
Criticism of the organization of the 1996 Olympics
Athletes, journalists and officials were very dissatisfied with the organization of the Games. There are many problems with traffic, numerous failures in the operation of information systems, unpreparedness of volunteers, too much commercialization of the Olympics in Atlanta.
But the most serious incident was the explosion in the Olympic Park on July 27 at night, in which 2 people died during mass celebrations and 111 people were injured of varying severity. After many assurances from the organizers of increased security measures, the 1996 Summer Olympics decided to continue.
The criminal was detained only a year later after several more terrorist attacks and was given four life sentences with no right to parole.
Closing of the 1996 Summer Olympics
At the ceremony, Juan Antonio Samaranch, the IOC President, did not say the phrase “These Games were the best in history” for the first and last time.
The closing ceremony took place at the Olympic Stadium on August 4 and was attended by more than 85 thousand people. Many American musicians took part in it. At the ceremony, the last awards of the Summer Olympics were presented to the winners in the men's marathon.
The final parade showed Olympic unity - all athletes marched together without division by country.
In his speech, Juan Antonio Samaranch called for remembering the victims of the Atlanta park explosion and the Israeli athletes who died in Munich 1972.
The Olympic flag was lowered and the banner was presented to the mayor of Sydney, the capital of the next Games. It all ended with a magnificent fireworks display.
Doping scandal at the 1996 Games
On July 28, IOC representatives announced that tests of Russian athletes: swimmer Andrei Korneev, cyclist Rita Razmaite and wrestler Zafar Guliyev tested positive for the banned drug bromantane.
Then bromantane was found: in swimmer Nina Zhivanevskaya on July 30, in runner Marina Trandenkova on August 1. All caught athletes were disqualified and their medals were taken away. But after arbitration court in Lausanne, when they found out that the drug was banned during the Games, but was not blacklisted, the athletes’ results were restored and the medals were returned.
Following the results of the London Olympics, the US team won a landslide victory in the unofficial team competition - 104 medals, of which 46 were gold. In second place is China (87 medals with 38 gold), in third place is Great Britain (65, 29), in fourth place is Russia (82, 24), and in fifth place is South Korea (28, 13). In total, athletes from 85 countries won medals, 18 of them with one award each.
Latvian Olympians have two medals. The only gold was won by BMX cyclist Māris Štrombergs, and bronze by Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Jānis Šmedīņš in beach volleyball.
In the medal standings, the Latvian team was in 49th place - lower than Lithuania (5 medals with two gold, 34th place), but higher than Estonia (2 medals, no gold, 68th). It is worth noting that no other country has such a set at the 2012 Olympics - gold plus bronze.
At the same time, in terms of the total number of awards, Latvia performed more modestly than at the three previous Games. The last time Latvian athletes, competing as a separate team, won less than three medals was 16 years ago. In Atlanta-96, rower Ivan Klementyev won silver, becoming the only medalist. That Olympics was the worst for Latvia.
In 1992 in Barcelona, Latvian athletes had three medals (Klementyev and shooter Afanasy Kuzmin - silver, cyclist Dainis Ozols - bronze). In 2000 in Sydney there was full set medals: gold for gymnast Igor Vikhrov, silver for walker Aigar Fadeev, bronze for judoka Vsevolod Zeleny.
The same result was in 2008 in Beijing: gold for Strombergs, silver for javelin thrower Ainar Kovals, bronze for weightlifter Viktor Shcherbatykh. And in 2004 in Athens, Latvia had four silver medals - from gymnast Evgeniy Sapronenko, javelin thrower Vadim Vasilevsky, pentathlete Elena Rublevskaya and Shcherbatykh.
Before the Second World War, Latvian athletes won medals at two Olympics. In 1932, in Los Angeles, walker Jānis Dalins won silver, in 1936, in Berlin, wrestler Edvins Bietags took the silver medal, and walker Adalberts Bubenko took the bronze medal.
London 2012 medal standings (result)
1 USA 46 29 29 104
2 China 38 27 22 87
3 UK 29 17 19 65
4 Russia 24 25 33 82
5 South Korea 13 8 7 28
6 Germany 11 19 14 44
7 France 11 11 12 34
8 Italy 8 9 11 28
9 Hungary 8 4 5 17
10 Australia 7 16 12 35
11 Japan 7 14 17 38
12 Kazakhstan 7 1 5 13
13 Holland 6 6 8 20
14 Ukraine 6 5 9 20
15 Cuba 5 3 6 14
16 New Zealand 5 3 5 13
17 Iran 4 5 3 12
18 Jamaica 4 4 4 12
19 Czech Republic 4 3 3 10
20 DPRK 4 0 2 6
21 Spain 3 10 4 17
22 Brazil 3 5 9 17
23 Belarus 3 5 5 13
24 South Africa 3 2 1 6
25 Ethiopia 3 1 3 7
26 Croatia 3 1 2 6
27 Romania 2 5 2 9
28 Kenya 2 4 5 11
29 Denmark 2 4 3 9
30 Azerbaijan 2 2 6 10
31 Poland 2 2 6 10
32 Türkiye 2 2 1 5
33 Switzerland 2 2 0 4
34 Lithuania 2 1 2 5
35 Norway 2 1 1 4
36 Canada 1 5 12 18
37 Sweden 1 4 3 8
38 Colombia 1 3 4 8
39 Georgia 1 3 3 7
40 Mexico 1 3 3 7
41 Ireland 1 1 3 5
42 Argentina 1 1 2 4
43 Serbia 1 1 2 4
44 Slovenia 1 1 2 4
45 Tunisia 1 1 1 3
46 Dominican Republic 1 1 0 2
47 Trinidad and Tobago 1 0 3 4
48 Uzbekistan 1 0 3 4
49 Latvia 1 0 1 2
50 Algeria 1 0 0 1
51 Bahamas 1 0 0 1
52 Venezuela 1 0 0 1
53 Grenada 1 0 0 1
54 Uganda 1 0 0 1
55 India 0 2 4 6
56 Mongolia 0 2 3 5
57 Thailand 0 2 1 3
58 Egypt 0 2 0 2
59 Slovakia 0 1 3 4
60 Armenia 0 1 2 3
61 Belgium 0 1 2 3
62 Finland 0 1 2 3
63 Bulgaria 0 1 1 2
64 Indonesia 0 1 1 2
65 Chinese Taipei 0 1 1 2
66 Malaysia 0 1 1 2
67 Puerto Rico 0 1 1 2
68 Estonia 0 1 1 2
69 Botswana 0 1 0 1
70 Gabon 0 1 0 1
71 Guatemala 0 1 0 1
72 Cyprus 0 1 0 1
73 Portugal 0 1 0 1
74 Montenegro 0 1 0 1
75 Greece 0 0 2 2
76 Qatar 0 0 2 2
77 Moldova 0 0 2 2
78 Singapore 0 0 2 2
79 Afghanistan 0 0 1 1
80 Bahrain 0 0 1 1
81 Hong Kong 0 0 1 1
82 Kuwait 0 0 1 1
83 Morocco 0 0 1 1
84 Saudi Arabia 0 0 1 1
85 Tajikistan 0 0 1 1
