The 2016 Rio Olympics have come to an end, and the Summer Games enter a four-year hibernation before hitting Tokyo in 2020.
The United States was its usual, dominant self, winning 121 overall medals. Take away the Rio-best 46 golds, and the U.S. still won more overall than any other nation.
It wasn’t a perfect Games for the U.S. — just ask Ryan Lochte and his late-night pals — or host country Brazil — which had trouble keeping some of its water smelling or looking clean. On the whole, things could have been worse.
There was plenty more to celebrate, though. Here’s a look at some of the Olympic standouts.
Pool rulers
Lochte’s infamous “robbery” aside, American swimmers had a marvelous run in Rio.
Michael Phelps closed out his incredible Olympic career by adding five golds and a silver, upping his career totals to 23 gold and 28 overall.
Katie Ledecky, the new swimming superstar, didn’t do so bad herself. She won four golds and a silver, and she’s only 19. Having also won a gold in London four years ago, Ledecky could make a run at Phelps’ mark someday.
Her relay teammate, Simone Manuel, made history of her own when she became the first African-American woman to win individual swimming gold, claiming victory in the 100-meter freestyle.
Triple-triple
Jamaican track phenom Usain Bolt might have competed in his final Games. If that’s the case, he went out in style.
Bolt retained the unofficial “world’s fastest man” title by winning the 100-, 200- and 4×100-meter relay for the third consecutive Olympics.
Now with nine gold medals in 10 career Olympic events, Bolt tied the great American Carl Lewis. the Jamaican speedster has a claim to GOAT status.
American acrobats
Team USA medaled in every women’s artistic gymnastic event — earning multiple medals in three of five individual events. The team won the all-around, and Americans went 1-2 in both individual all-around and the floor exercise.
Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, Madison Kocian and Gabby Douglas all shined, but none was brighter than Simone Biles. The diminutive dynamo was brilliant en route to four golds and a bronze.
Five boroughs standouts
The Big Apple sent a host of athletes with city connections to Rio, and several came back with hardware for their efforts.
Red Hook-born Knicks star Carmelo Anthony helped the U.S. earn men’s basketball gold, while Christ the King H.S. alumnae Tina Charles and Sue Bird did the same for the women’s team.
Several New York Athletic Club athletes helped the U.S. earn gold in women’s water polo: KK Clark, Kami Craig, Kaleigh Gilchrist, Ashleigh Johnson, Courtney Mathewson, Melissa Seidemann and Maggie Steffens.
On the track, Queens’ Dalilah Muhammad (gold, women’s 400-meter hurdles) and Sheepshead Bay native Justin Gatlin (silver, men’s 100-meter) captured medals.
Several fencers excelled, led by Bronx native Daryl Homer’s silver in men’s individual sabre. Miles Chamley-Watson, who trains at midtown’s Fencers Club, took bronze as part of the men’s foil team. The women’s sabre team also earned bronze thanks to the efforts of Manhattan Fencing Center’s Monica Aksamit and Dagmara Wozniak, as well as Ibtihaj Muhammad of the Peter Westbrook Foundation in Manhattan. Muhammad also made history as the first Muslin-American athlete to compete in the Olympics while wearing a hijab.
Swimmer Lia Neal, of Fort Greene, helped the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay team to a silver.
