After much controversies and celebrations, the Rio Olympics 2016 are finally here. The Games will officially take place between 5 August and 21 August. Athletes from 206 countries and a refugee team are ready to compete in 28 sports and will be watched by a global audience of billions. The Games will officially start after the opening ceremony which will take place at the Maracana Stadium. But despite of all the controversies that plagued the Olympic, the sporting action will take the center stage.
When does it start?
The Games will officially take place between 5 August and 21 August. The opening ceremony will start from 8 PM Brazil time on 5th August. Due to the timezone difference, in India the live broadcast of the opening ceremony will start at 4:30 AM on August 6. The opening ceremony will last for approximately 4 hours.
There is an estimate that 3 Billion people will watch the ceremony, which took 5 years in making with 300 dancers, 5000 volunteers and 12000 costumes.
Where can I watch the live broadcast/stream?
The live broadcast will be available on all 8 channels of Star Sports. The broadcast rights to cover the mega event is held by Star Sports.
You can watch the live stream at the Star Sports website or the Hotstar. They will provide the coverage for both the Indian athletes and International athletes.
Who is taking part?
There will be 10,500 athletes from a 207 teams competing in Rio Games, including the Refugee Olympic Team. The Refugee Team will compete under the Olympic flag and has 10 members from South Sudan, Syria, DR Congo and Ethiopia.
The United States of America has the largest contingent with 554 athletes.
What about the Indian Contingent at Rio Olympics 2016?
The Indian Olympic Association is going to send the its largest ever delegation (thus far 124 athletes;41 larger than their previous record of 83 athletes in 2012) in Summer Olympic history. The highest numbers are in the likes of badminton and shooting.
Participating in his fourth Olympics, Shooter Abhinav Bindra will be carrying the Indian flag and lead the strong contingent.
Highest expectations of a medal will be from Yogeshwar Dutt (Wrestling), Indian Hockey Team, Saina Nehwal (Badminton), Sania Mirza (Tennis), Rohan Bopanna (Tennis), Vikas Krishnan (Boxing), Deepika Kumari (Archery), Jitu Rai (Shooting), Dipa Karmakar (Gymnastics), Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling) and Abhinav Bindra (Shooting). This year there is an expectation to double the London Games medal tally in the Rio Games 2016.
All said, the image of 124 Indian athletes competing at the Rio Games is a matter of pride and an indication that Indian sports is heading in a good direction. It seems that the government is taking loads of efforts to fund its athletes and sports programs, so there is hope to more success for the country at Rio Olympics 2016.
The International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said,” TOGETHER WITH THE GREAT SUPPORT AND ENTHUSIASM OF THE BRAZILIAN PEOPLE, WE WILL ENSURE THAT THESE OLYMPIC GAMES WILL SEND A SIGNAL OF HOPE AND JOY TO THE WORLD IN OUR MUCH TROUBLED TIMES “.
Keep in touch for more updates on Indian team performance and other Olympics news.