Summer Olympic Games in Brazil
Brazil’s Olympic History
In 1920, Brazil took part in the Olympic Games for the first time. Since then, the country has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games (except for the 1928 Games). Brazil has also participated in the Winter Olympic Games since 1992. In spite of this, no Brazilian athletes have ever medaled in the Winter Games. Brazil was just recently given rights to host the 2016 Olympics in the city of Rio de Janerio.
Brazilian athletes have won a total of 91 medals. They have won the most Olympic medals in sailing (16: 6 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze), beach and indoor volleyball (16: 5 gold, 7 silver, 4 bronze), judo (15: 2 gold, 3 silver, 10 bronze), and athletics (14: 4 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze). The athlete from Brazil that has won the most Olympic medals is Torben Grael who won 5 (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) in sailing.
Volleyball, sailing, and judo have always been the top medal-producing sports in Brazil.
Brazilian Olympic Committee
The National Olympic Committee for Brazil is the Brazilian Olympic Committee. The Brazilian Olympic Committee or BOC (Portuguese: Comitê Olímpico Brasileiro – COB) is the top authority in Brazilian sport. They are considered the governing body of the Brazilian Olympic sport. The organization began unofficially on June 8, 1914. In spite of this official activities did not start until 1935 because of World War I. It was established at the headquarters of the Brazilian Federation of Rowing Societies (Federaço Brasileira das Sociedades de Remo).
2016 Olympic Games in Brazil
In October 2009, Rio de Janeiro (the capital of Brazil) was named to be the host of the 2016 Olympic Games. This will follow the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Rio de Janeiro will be the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. They are the second to host The Games in Latin America (after Mexico City). It will also be the third time they are held in the southern hemisphere. The Games are set to occur from August 5th-21st, 2016. The 2016 Summer Paralympics will be held in the same city. The Games will also be organized by the same committee and are scheduled to occur from September 7th to 18th.
The 2016 Summer Olympic program will include 28 sports and a total of 38 disciplinary areas. There were two open spots for sports, and initially, seven sports began bidding for inclusion in the 2016 program. Baseball and softball, which were dropped from the program in 2005, karate, squash, golf, roller sports, cricket, futsal, and rugby union all applied to be included. Leaders of the seven sports held presentations in front of the IOC executive board in June 2009.