Africa’s best Olympian dives in for the last time

Judo – Sarah Menezes is an Olympic champion, while 2014 world champion Mayra Aguiar and 2013 world champion Rafaela Silva are also competing.

“That ’96 team readjusted the balance of power so that starting 20 years ago to today, there has never been a more dominant team in the Olympics at any sport moreso than the U.S. women’s national team”.

As has been customary since professionals were allowed into the Olympics in 1992, the U.S. men’s team will be the most star-studded of any roster at the Games.

It takes a truly spectacular person to even make it to the Games, let alone win. The USA team is captained by 31-year-old defender Lauren Crandall, who with over 270 global appearances, is one of the longest serving members of the group. These men and women represent our country in the world’s most intense athletic competition, dedicating everything they’ve got to bringing home the gold.

“Making the Olympic team is a huge accomplishment, going to five Olympics is incredible”, she wrote.

Patterson, who lives and trains in Leongatha in Victoria’s Gippsland region, won the 2013 world youth title as a 17-year-old and 12 months later landed the gold at the Commonwealth Games in what was her senior worldwide debut.

During the Olympic Games, a single night can make history.

If USA basketball did bar NBA stars from participating in the Games it could cost America a couple of losses and maybe a gold medal.

Brazil won three golds at each of the past two Olympics and a record 17 medals in London – but who carries their best hopes of a place on the podium at Rio 2016? The Americans at times have had trouble getting their best players to come suit up. How good was the opposing team, you ask?

They may have won five World Cups but Brazil have never taken Olympic gold. Although Canada rebounded to win the bronze medal in dramatic fashion against France, the Canadian women are ready for revenge against their neighbour to the south. Team Canada kicks off group play on August 3. But there was little time to waste. Great Britain had just 9 golds that year with 30 overall medals.

France actually have more National Basketball Association players in their team rather than mainland European players. The team has won about 1010 medals (395 gold, 319 silver and 296 bronze).

Goalkeepers need quick reflexes in Olympic water polo, where 32-minute games can feature several dozen shots on goal with the ball hurled at speeds that can top 50 miles per hour (80 kph). Her first sport of choice was Track and Field, but lucky for Team USA, she was recruited for the Bobsled team.

If he wins an eighth medal, he will become the most decorated British Olympian of all time, having already become the first British man to win the Tour de France. In 2015, they successfully defended their Pan American Games gold medal by defeating Argentina in the final, and in 2016 the side snatched the bronze medal at the Hockey Champions Trophy in London. At Olympic Games in Melbourne, Takashi Ono won his first Olympic title on the horizontal bar.

Biles has won 10 gold medals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, the most by any female gymnast.

With the Olympic Games in Rio fast approaching, we can’t wait to see what happens next.

Help us cheer on Team USA and encourage them to hit their targets by not missing the events.

This post is sponsored by Smucker’s® Uncrustables® Sandwiches, a proud sponsor of Team USA.