The ball is rolling again!
16 male teams and 12 female teams are in Brazil fighting for the gold, silver and bronze medals. At the women’s group, Our U.S. team is heavily favored, while at the men’s competition there is no clear favorite.
The ball is already rolling in Brazil, in 7 different cities: Río, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Bahía, Manaos y Sao Paulo. At the men’s tournament, U-23 national teams will participate, that is to say, players who were born on or after January 1, 1993 even though each team is able to select up to three over-age players. Meanwhile, at the women’s tournament, there are no age restrictions; therefore national teams of each country can participate.
BRAZIL WILL GET EVEN
Predictions are unclear, the strongest squads have traditionally been the African teams, although Brazil is always a rival to fear. At the 2012 Olympics in London, Mexico surprised everyone and won the gold leaving a sad Brazil with the silver medal. South Korea was the third place winner. Now in Rio, the three of them are facing again, especially South korea and Mexico who will be in the same group.
Another novelty is the return of the Argentine squad to an Olympic meeting, since it did not qualify for London. And the strongest teams of the moment: Portugal, Germany, Colombia, and the always dangerous Nigeria.
U.S. TO KEEP GOLD
The top 12 teams from five continents are present at the women’s tournament. In this select group, our U.S. team is the clear favorite. The U.S. team tops the FIFA World Ranking in the female category. It has participated in every Olympics Games and the Women’s World Cup in adult and youth category (U-20 and U-17). The national team is currently one of the most successful in the world in its category; winning the Women’s World Cup three times, CONCACAF Gold Cup in seven instances, ten Algarve Cups, and the gold medal at the Olympics in four out of the five times the tournament has been played.
Among the most prominent players of the U.S. women’s national team are: Hope Solo (goalkeeper), Carly Lloyd (midfielder) y Alex Morgan (forward). Jill Ellis, is the Head Coach of the American Team since 2014. At the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, Ellis’ team surpassed brilliantly a tough group C, and then successively got rid of Colombia, China and Germany before a triumph in 5-2 over Japan at a memorable final where the U.S. clinched the title.
RIO 2016 OLYMPICS IN NUMBERS
* 206 countries
* 42 sports
* 37 stadiums
* 306 competitions
* 10.000 athletes
DIFFERENT KIND OF MEDALS
1. The Brazilian Mint has produced 5,310 medals, using only precious metals that have been recycled.
2. The silver and bronze medals are made of 30% recycled material from X-ray plates, car parts and mirrors.
3. About 2.5 tons of metals were used to manufacture the medals, including gold, silver, bronze, zinc and copper.
4. It took about two days to create each award.
5. Half of the material for the medals’ ribbons is made from recycled plastic bottles.