Monday, May 9, 2016

What you need to know about 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics Medals

Rio 2016 Summer Olympics is here with us, this the 31st edition of the Summer Olympics; also known as Rio 2016 Olympics. One of the most common features of the Olympics Games is the awarding of medals to the first three top competitors in the each of the sporting events.

The medals awarded are either classified as gold medal; which is awarded to the winner of the event, the silver medal awarded to the second best competitor and finally the bronze medal awarded to the third best placed competitor.

It’s not only the top three who are awarded medals, any other competitor who do not make it to the podium for the medal ceremony is awarded a medal for participating. Besides each of the competitors goes home with a diploma for participating.

But what is the story behind this medal awards? In the ancient Olympics the winners were not awarded with medals, actually they went home with an Olive Branch from the wild olive trees in Olympia. The tradition of giving the medals came with the modern Olympics back in 1896 and 1900. However, unlike today only the winner and the second best placed competitors were given medals with the winner getting a silver medal, an olive branch and a diploma.

The second best placed competitor went home with a copper/bronze medal, a branch of laurel and a diploma, while the third best placed person got nothing, maybe a pat at the back, well am not sure about if anyone patted the guy or girl for ending up third.

The 1900 Summer Olympics Medals

This Picture is Courtesy of Wikipedia

The 1904 St Louis Summer Olympics saw several changes on the medal for games. First, the winner got a gold medal; the second person got a silver medal, while the third competitor went home with a bronze medal. Each competitor got a certificate of participation. The gold, silver and bronze medals idea was borrowed from the Greek Mythology denoting 3 ages of human being. There was the Gold Age when human and mythical gods lived together; there was the Silver Age when youth lasted for 100 years and then lastly the Bronze Age; or the age for heroes.

As much as they are referred to as the gold, silver and bronze medals, they hardly have significant amount of the metal they carry the name for. This is especially for the gold medal. The only time pure gold was used to make a gold medal was in the 1912 Summer Olympics held in Swedish Capital City; Stockholm. To put this into perspective, the 2012 gold medal was made of 6 grams of gold, while the rest was silver 925 grade. Its value was about US$ 700. The silver medal was made 925 grade silver and copper, while the bronze medal was made mostly copper; 97% while the rest was some tin and zinc.

The Olympics Medal Design

From the 1896 Summer Olympics, to the 1924 edition of the games, the host designed the medal without any design criteria from the International Olympics Committee (IOC). However all that changed in the 1928 Olympics, when IOC provided a design criteria for the front part of the medal. The front part of the Olympics medal is actually known as Observe. This design criteria was known as Trionfo and came after a design competition in which an Italian; Giuseppe Cassioli, who was a painter and sculptor, won with his Trionfo design. The Trionfo design had the front side showing the Greeks goddess of victory; Nike, whose one hand was holding corn’s ear and other one wreath or the winner’s crown. Besides, the Trionfo had a background showing the Roman’s Colosseum.

The Trionfo medal design of the 1936 Summer Olympics

This Picture is Courtesy of Wikipedia

The Colosseum would create controversies in the future as we would see in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Trionfo is the Italian word for "triumph", and this Giuseppe design was only changed in the 2004 Summer Olympics. This was after the Greeks complained about the designs use of Colosseum, which are of Roman origin as opposed to using something from Greeks, who were the innovators of Olympics. The 2004 Summer Olympics medal design has the Colosseum replaced with Panathinaikos stadium. This is where the Modern Olympics were first held in the 1896 edition. This new design was used in 2004, 2008 and 2012 and it will be one in use in the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.

International Olympics Committee has laid down medal design criteria. The front side of the medal remains the same however a hosting nation is allowed to customize the medal’s back face.

The medal is circular in shape, this was once not the case; the 1900 medal was nothing but circular actually is was rectangular, but for now it must be circular. Besides an Olympics medal must not be less than 6 centimeters in diameter with a minimum of 3 millimeter thickness. As for the gold medal, it must have at least 6 grams of gold and the rest is silver 925 grade. The silver medal must have silver 925 grade while the bronze medal must be made of copper and some tin and zinc and should cost less than US$ 3 to make.

Hence there will be no difference between the 2012 London Olympics medal front part, but we might have Christ the Redeemer Statue on the backside of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics Medals, well even Amazon and Copacabana beach would do.

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Rio 2016 Summer Olympics Men Football Schedule

At the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, the football matches will commence of the 3rd of August, that is 2 days before the 2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony scheduled for the 5th of August. This is just a day away. The the men football group matches will kick off on the 4th of August; it’s the women football matches that will kick off on the 3rd of August (read more about Rio 2016 Summer Olympics Women Football Schedule).

GET READY TO SHEER YOUR RIO 2016 SUMMER OLYMPICS FOOTBALL TEAM

The men football sport at the Summer Olympics has 16 qualified teams which are divided into 4 groups as follows:

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Brazil (Host)

Colombia

Germany

Algeria

Denmark

Japan

Fiji

Argentina

Iraq

Nigeria

Mexico

Honduras

South Africa

Sweden

South Korea

Portugal

Men football groups

The men football matches at the 2016 Summer Olympics will kick off on the 4th of August. The first match will be Iraq versus Denmark at the Brasilia’s

On the same day at the same stadium host Brazil will fight it out with South Africa.

On this day of the 4th of August all the 16 teams will play their first group matches in each of the 4 different cities in Brazil.

Three days later all the teams will gain play their second group matches; on the 7th of August, while the final group matches will be played on the 10th of August.

Once the group matches are over, only 8 teams will proceed to the quarter finals scheduled for the 13ths of August. These 8 teams will be the group leader and the runners-up.

The quarter final will be a knock out stage where the loser will fail to get to the semifinal scheduled for 17th of August.

There will a bronze match against the losers of the semifinals while the gold match to be played at the Rio’s Maracana Stadium will to determine the gold and silver medalist of the men football sport at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Below is the entire schedule of the of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics Men Football sport

Match

Date

Group

Gender

Time

City

Venue

Team 1

Team 2

Match 1

3rd August

Group E Matches

Women

1.00 PM

Rio de Janeiro

Olympics Stadium

South Africa

Sweden

Match 2

3rd August

Group F Matches

Women

3.00 PM

São Paulo

Arena Corinthians

Australia

Canada

Match 3

3rd August

Group E Matches

Women

4.00 PM

Rio de Janeiro

Olympics Stadium

Brazil

China PR

Match 4

3rd August

Group F Matches

Women

6.00 PM

São Paulo

Arena Corinthians

Germany

Zimbabwe

Match 5

3rd August

Group G Matches

Women

7.00 PM

Belo Horizonte

Mineirão Stadium

New Zealand

USA

Match 6

3rd August

Group G Matches

Women

10.00 PM

Belo Horizonte

Mineirão Stadium

Colombia

France

Match 7

6th August

Group F Matches

Women

3.00 PM

São Paulo

Arena Corinthians

Canada

Zimbabwe

Match 8

6th August

Group G Matches

Women

5.00 PM

Belo Horizonte

Mineirão Stadium

France

USA

Match 9

6th August

Group F Matches

Women

6.00 PM

São Paulo

Arena Corinthians

Australia

Germany

Match 10

6th August

Group E Matches

Women

7.00 PM

Rio de Janeiro

Olympics Stadium

China PR

South Africa

Match 11

6th August

Group G Matches

Women

8.00 PM

Belo Horizonte

Mineirão Stadium

Colombia

New Zealand

Match 12

6th August

Group E Matches

Women

10.00 PM

Rio de Janeiro

Olympics Stadium

Sweden

Brazil

Match 13

9th August

Group F Matches

Women

4.00 PM

Brasília

EstádioNacional de BrasíliaManéGarrincha

Canada

Germany

Match 14

9th August

Group F Matches

Women

4.00 PM

SãoSalvado

ItaipavaArena Fonte

Australia

Zimbabwe

Match 15

9th August

Group G Matches

Women

06.00 PM

Manaus

Arena da Amazônia

Colombia

USA

Match 16

9th August

Group G Matches

Women

7.00 PM

SãoSalvado

ItaipavaArena Fonte

France

New Zealand

Match 17

9th August

Group E Matches

Women

9.00 PM

Manaus

Arena da Amazônia

Brazil

South Africa

Match 18

9th August

Group E Matches

Women

10.00 PM

Brasília

EstádioNacional de BrasíliaManéGarrincha

China PR

Sweden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QF 1

12th August

Group E Winner/3rd Best Placed Team of Group E/F

Women

1.00 PM

Brasília

EstádioNacional de BrasíliaManéGarrincha

 

 

QF 2

12th August

Group F Winner/Group G Runners-Up

Women

7.00 PM

São Paulo

Arena Corinthians

 

 

QF 3

12th August

Runners Up of Group E/Group F

Women

4.00 PM

SãoSalvado

ItaipavaArena Fonte

 

 

QF 4

12th August

Group E Winner/3rd Best Placed Team of Group G/E

Women

10.00 PM

Belo Horizonte

Mineirão Stadium

 

 

 

SF 1

16th August

Winner of QF 1/QF 4

Women

1.00 PM

Rio de Janeiro

MaracanaStadium

 

 

SF 2

16th August

Winner of QF 3/QF 3

Women

4.00 PM

Belo Horizonte

Mineirão Stadium

 

 

 

 

Match 25

13th August

Loser of S1/Loser of S2

Women

1.00 PM

São Paulo

Arena Corinthians

 

 

Gold Match

13th August

Winner Group S1/Winner of S2

Women

5.30 PM

Rio de Janeiro

MaracanaStadium