The 2016 Summer Olympics was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 5 August to 21 August with 306 sets of medals featuring 28 Olympic sports and more than 11,000 athletes who took part in the event. In the opening ceremony, they tried to give powerful messages to the world. The message was to warn people of the rising sea level in Rio, Florida and Amsterdam caused by global warming. It showed the world how committing to fight against global warming all together can make a big difference to the environment such as planting more than 11,000 trees in Rio. 11,000 trees has a great meaning because it represents the 11,000 athletes taking part in the Olympics. The ceremony exceeded people’s expectations, although it was planned to have the least expense for the ceremony in modern Olympics.

However, the Rio Olympics raised anxiety for the many political, social and economic issues in Brazil before the games even started. A year before the Rio Olympics, there was an impeachment proceeding against Brazil’s president, Dilma Vana Rousseff, which caused the vice president Michel Temer to assume her power and duties as the president during her suspension. There was also controversy in health problems due to the Zika virus and safety concerns. The Zika virus in Brazil almost postponed the Olympics for its deadly impact.

There were some great moments in this Olympics for South Korea. After finishing the Olympics, South Korea managed to be in the top ten for the fourth consecutive time. Jin Jong-oh won the men’s 50-meter pistol competition. Jin Jong-oh shot an inexplicable 6.6 on his ninth shot which made him 4.4 points behind Hoang Xuan Vinh, the winner of Vietnam’s first gold medal in history for the 10-meter air pistol. However, he overcame that shot by slowly tracking Hoang Xuan Vinh down. In the end, Jin Jongoh finished 2.4 points ahead of Hoang Xuan Vinh making him the 3rd consecutive men’s 50-meter pistol winner which is unprecedented in Olympics history. In taekwondo, Lee Dae-hoon accomplished being the first South Korean male to win two medals in a row. Although it was a bronze medal, Lee showed everything he had. Lee said, "I am pleased with this bronze medal, and I think it's as valuable as a gold medal." Furthermore, 4 years ago South Korea had a chance to sweep all 4 titles in archery, but the men’s team barely missed the gold medal, but this time South Korea won all 4 titles which is also unprecedented. Park In-bee won the gold medal in the women’s golf competition which is the first gold medal since the Olympics were held in the year of 1900. South Korean fencer Park Sang-young snatched the gold medal by scoring 5 consecutive points at 14-10. He did not give up and he changed his tactics in the last four touches, stopping 41-year old Hungarian Geza Imre to become the oldest Olympic epee champion. On the other hand, some athletes came back empty handed. South Korean swimming champion, Park Tae-hwan failed to win any medals in the Olympics this time. He did not have enough time to train by serving 18 months of suspension for doping. He ended up finishing in 32^nd place in the 100m and decided to pull out in the 1,500m feeling his lack of practice. South Korea’s soccer team won a bronze medal at the last Olympics but they failed to pass the round of 16 which was a once in a lifetime chance to get an exemption from compulsory military service.

Although winning the gold medal or any kind of medal seems like everything in a competition like this, that’s not the point of the Olympics. What matters is the sweat and blood the athletes showed the world.

Jeong Seung-in, reporter  samcandothat@naver.com

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