By NAN Sports Editor
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. May 5, 2016: In exactly 92 days from today, May 5th, the eyes of the world will be on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as the 2016 Summer Olympics gets underway. Here are 10 things you should know about the Summer Games as the countdown begins:
1: Despite the political scandal in Brazil that’s now engulfed President Dilma Rousseff, the Summer Olympics is definitely on and is set for August 5-21, 2016 in 32 venues in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2: The Olympic flame arrived in Brazil on May 2, 2016 for the start of a torch relay that will culminate with the opening of the Olympic Games in Rio on August 5th.It was flown inside a small lantern on a special flight from the Swiss city of Geneva to Brasilia and President Rousseff lit the Olympic torch which will be carried around Brazil by 12,000 runners.
3: Among the first torchbearers will be a Syrian refugee who now lives in Brazil.
4: While most of the action will be in Rio, there are five football co-host cities. They are Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Manaus, Salvador and São Paulo.
5: The opening ceremony on August 5th will be held at the legendary Maracanã stadium.
6: More than 10,000 athletes will compete in the first edition of the Olympic Games in South America. The battle to qualify, which began in 2014, is still going on and concludes shortly before the Games, when the official list of athletes will be confirmed.
7: More than 200 member nations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are expected to compete in the 2016 Rio Games. The official list of participants will be confirmed shortly before the Games begin, once the competition for places concludes.
8: 2,102 is the number of gold, silver and bronze medals that will be awarded to the athletes competing in the Olympic Games. Designed by the Organising Committee’s design team, the Rio 2016 medals will be revealed soon.
9: A whopping 306 events over the course of 19 days of competition will yield 136 medals for women, 161 for men and nine mixed medals. Athletics, one of the most watched sports of the Olympics will begin from August 12th and will feature Olympian Usain Bolt, perhaps for the last time in the Olympics.
10: Tickets for the Games and many of the competitions over the 19 days are still available and can be purchased online here.
