The wonderful city is waiting for the start of Olympic Summer

06.07.2016 13:50

Less than one month is left until Olympic Summer is reality. Holiday-town Rio will host representatives from almost all countries in the world this time.

Mediamax Sport decided to present interesting facts about Rio and the games that were not included in the last articles but are not less important.

River of January, incredible constellation and wonderful city

According to legend when Portuguese explorers set foot in Rio de Janeiro in January 1502, they confused the famous Guanabar Bay with estuary. As a result, the town was called the January River, which in Portuguese is called Rio de Janeiro.

Rio is often called Cidade Maravilhosa that means wonderful city translated.

Stars on the Brazilian flag reflect the sky in Rio on 15 November 1889. Flag appears at 9 constellations that are so clearly reflected in the Rio sky.
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The city is known for its slums, the largest of which is Rochinan, there are officially 70 thousand people living there, and the population reaches to 180 thousand.

One of the symbols of the city, the famous statue of Christ, due to its very high position is lightning target. It was most affected in 2014, when the finger of the statue was damaged but then quickly recovered.

The statue is one of the largest in the world that is visited 5000 times daily by tourists.

It is impossible to imagine Rio without dances and carnavals. Over 2 million people visit Rio to be a part of that festivity. The city attracts tourists thanks to its beaches as well. Rio has 50km long shore: the most famous and beautiful being Ipanema and Copacabana.

11mln dishes, triplet sisters and Olympic recordsman

306 competitions will be held in South America on August 5-21 representing 42 sports. 10500 athletes representing 205 countries will compete for 4924 medals. Kosovo and South Sudan teams will take part for the first time.

More than 90 000 workers and 45 000 volunteers will also participate in the games. 11 mln dishes will be prepared for the athletes and the guests. The canteen will be bigger than 2 football fields.

The Brazilian Government and Olympic Committee have spent EUR 10.24 bln to organize the 31st Olympic Games.

The youngest participants were born in 2003 and will take part in swimming and gymnastics. By the way, Armenian team will have a young representative as well. 15 year old Gayane Chiloyan will take part in 200m running.
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The most titled athlete is swimmer Michael Phelps, the 18 -time Olympic champion has to attend to his 5th Olympic Games.

For the first time in history triplet sisters will take part in the Olympic Games representing Estonia: Leila, Liina and Lily Luik will be participating in marathon running.

The closing ceremony will be the biggest in recorded history of the Olympic Games.