Records Broken At Rio

NEW DELHI: The 2016 Olympic Games at Rio De Janeiro have come to an end, with a whole lot of ‘firsts’ in terms of records set by countries and individuals.

India saw its first silver medal won by a woman athlete when PV Sindhu reached the Badminton finals, losing out on the gold to Spain's Carolina Marin. India’s Sakshi Malik became the first Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics when she took bronze in the 58 kg category. Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar went into Rio as the first female Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics, and went onto the final to become the first Indian gymnast to do so.

Five countries won their first gold medal -- Kosovo (Majlinda Kelmendi, judo); Fiji (men’s Rugby sevens); Singapore (Joseph Schooling, 100m butterfly); Puerto Rico (Monica Puig, tennis singles) and Vietnam (Xuan Vinh; 10m air pistol).

Two personalities stood out at Rio: US swimmer Michael Phelps and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Phelps won five more golds for his country at Rio, bringing his total tally of Olympic gold medals to a massive 23. Phelps has won more gold medals at the Olympics than any other individual -- and this feat is evinced by the fact that only 12 countries have won more Olympic gold medals than the celebrated swimmer.

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt pulled off what is being called a “Triple Treble” -- as he took gold in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metres events, becoming the first person to win all three events in three successive Olympics. Bolt’s tally of Olympic medals, therefore, is nine gold medals over nine events in three successive years.

A number of world records were also broken at Rio. Woojin Kim of Korea set a WR in Men’s Individual Archery; Katinka Hosszu of Hungary set a WR in the Women's 400m Individual Medley; Australia’s swimming team set a WR in the Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay; China’s Qingquan Long set a WR in the Men’s 56kg Weightlifting category; Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden set a WR in the Women’s 100m Butterfly; USA’s Katie Ledecky set a WR in the Women's 400m Freestyle and Women’s 800m Freestyle; China’s Wei Deng set a WR in Women’s 63kg Weightlifting; Kazakhstan's Nijat Rahimov set a WR in Men’s 77kg Weightlifting; Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana set a WR in the 10,000 metres; Iran’s Kianoush Rostami broke his own record to set a WR the Men’s 85 kg Weightlifting Category; USA’s Ryan Murphy set a WR in the Men’s 100m Backstroke; South Africa’s Wayde Van Niekerk set a WR in Men’s 400m; Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk set a WR in Women’s Hammer Throw; and Georgia’s Lash Talakhadze set a WR in Men's +105kg Weightlifting.

Rio is also the Olympic games with more wedding bells than any other, with Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin and Tom Bosworth, Chinese diver He Zi, and Brazilian rugby player Isadora Cerullo all being proposed to at the games.