The Rio Olympics concluded with the closing ceremony Sunday with the U. S. dominating the field. In the overall medal count, the U.S. collected 121 total medals, while the next country, China attained 70 medals.
Swimming
The U.S. led the medal count in swimming with 33 medals, 16 of which were gold.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, finished his career out with a bang winning five gold medals and a silver. If Phelps is truly retired, he will finish his Olympic career with 28 medals overall, 23 of which are gold.
Phelps was followed by up-and-coming star Katie Ledecky, who won four gold medals and a silver. Ledecky won the 800-meter freestyle by a staggering 11 seconds, a rarity in swimming. The 19-year-old Ledecky also won the 200 and 400 free, and the 4×200-meter free relay. Though Ledecky and Phelps stole the show on the world stage, we cannot forget about NC State’s very own Ryan Held.
Held swam the third leg of the 4×100 freestyle relay. Held maintained the lead and swam a solid split of 47.73 seconds to help Team USA claim gold. Along with Held, NC State swimmers Simonas Bilis, Anton Ipsen and Soren Dahl competed.
Ipsen placed 20th in the 400 freestyle and Dahl placed 12th in the 4×200 freestyle relay for Denmark. Sprinter Bilis competed in the 50 and 100m free events for Lithuania. Bilis made the final in the 50 after achieving a personal best 21.71 seconds in the semifinal round. Bilis also placed 30th in the 100 free.
Gymnastics
There was a lot of hype surrounding the “Final Five” going into this Olympic Games, and they exceeded expectations. Simone Biles led the team, who achieved gold in the floor exercise, vault, individual all-around and team all-around as well as bronze in the women’s beam.
Team captain Aly Raisman had an incredible routine to claim silver in the floor exercise after winning gold in London. The 22-year-old also received a silver in the individual all-around. The most energetic person on the women’s team, 16-year-old Laurie Hernandez, finessed her way to a silver medal in the women’s balance beam.
With gymnasts Biles, Raisman, Hernandez and 2012 Olympian Gabby Douglas almost a sure-fire lock to make the team, the final spot of uncertainty was filled by Madison Kocian. Kocian outperformed everyone’s expectations and took the silver medal on the uneven bars with an impressive score of 15.833.
However, Douglas didn’t even receive an individual medal. Outside of the team all-around, she placed seventh in the uneven bars and failed to reach the finals in the individual all-around.
Basketball
For what is historically a cake-walk for the U.S., the men’s basketball team’s road to gold in Rio was anything but easy. The usual dominance ensued after defeating China and Venezuela by 57 and 44 points, respectively. Then the U.S. defeated Australia, Serbia and France by a combined 16 points, 10 of which were against Australia. Former U.S. men’s basketball player Charles Barkley expressed his disappointment in the team to Sports360AZ.com.
“I think they have been really stagnant offensively,” Barkley said. “When they put that team together in the future, they have to realize we can’t have just really, really great offensive players. They’ve got to have players that if they don’t get a shot, they’re not just going to stand around and mope.”
Barkley thinks that the star-studded men’s team doesn’t exactly mean it’s the best team. Players who have offensive mentalities don’t mesh as well as others. Despite the struggles, the team got its mojo back and defeated Serbia by a score of 96-66 to clinch the third-straight Olympic gold.
Track and Field
Usain Bolt proved once again why he is one of the greatest Olympians of all time by becoming the first to win three consecutive titles in the 100 and 200 meter. Bolt finished first in the 100 in 9.81 seconds, followed by Justin Gatlin of the U.S. in 9.89 seconds. Bolt continued his reign in the 200 final, winning in 19.78s followed by Andre De Grasse of Canada in 20.02 seconds and Christophe Lemaitre of France in 20.12 seconds. LaShawn Merritt of the U.S., bronze medalist in the 400m, finished sixth. Though Bolt stole the show in track & field, the U.S. won the most medals with 32.
Allyson Felix became the most decorated woman in U.S. track and field history by winning her seventh career Olympic medal in Rio. Felix won gold in the 4×100 and 4x400m relays, and silver in the individual 400m.
Galen Rupp, the successful long-distance runner for the U.S., didn’t medal in his signature 10,000m, but he did receive the bronze in the men’s marathon event. When asked about the marathon, he thanked Adam Sandler for his success.
“I was watching ‘Happy Gilmore’ the other day,” Rupp told NBC’s Lewis Johnson at the finish line. “He fights being a golfer for a while, saying he’s a hockey player. I fought being a marathoner and wanted to run on the track, but maybe this is my best event.”
This was only Rupp’s second marathon of his career.
