2016 Rio

Rio Olympics 2016: Brazil beat Germany on penalties to win men's football gold

The game finished 1-1 after extra-time, with Neymar's free-kick cancelled out by Max Meyer's low strike.

In the shootout, Germany's Nils Petersen's had his penalty saved by Weverton before Neymar calmly scored the final spot-kick.

Brazil lost in the final in 1984, 1988 and 2012.

Germany humiliated Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup and the Brazilians gained a measure of revenge to win the Olympic gold medal.

 

Jimmy Feigen to pay his way out of Rio; $10,800 'donation' to 'resolve' case, attorney says

Feigen has agreed to "donate" $10,800 in exchange for getting his passport back and being able to leave the country, Feigen's attorney told reporters Friday morning.

"After a long deliberation, this agreement was reached … he will donate 35,000 real (approximately $10,800) to an institute, and with that the case is resolved," the attorney, Breno Melaragno, told reporters, per NBC News.com.

"After this donation is done, his passport will be given back to him, and he will be free to return home," Melaragno also said. He did not say what institute would receive the money.

Rio 2016: Usain Bolt cruises to victory in Olympic 200m heats

Bolt is halfway through what may be the final chapter of a historic Olympic "triple-double" in the men's sprints, as he hopes to add the 200m gold to the 100m crown for the third consecutive Games.

The Jamaican won the 100m final in 9.81 seconds on Sunday night (Rio time), beating home Justin Gatlin (9.89) and Andre De Grasse (9.91) for the gold.

He is focused on a third straight victory in the 200m, which he also won in Beijing (2008) and London (2012), and moved a step closer when he strolled across the line to win heat nine in 20.28.

Seven injured when overhead camera falls in Olympic Park

No-one was badly hurt in the accident, which comes as another embarrassment for organisers already facing safety concerns after the armed robbery of US gold medallist Ryan Lochte and three of his team-mates at the weekend, as well as the robberies of two visiting government ministers.

Rio 2016: Rafaela Silva wins judo gold for Brazil

Silva defeated world number one Sumiya Dorjsuren of Mongolia by Waza-ari to delight a partisan crowd at Carioca 2.

The gold medal marks a fairytale rise to Olympic triumph from a childhood in Rio's notorious 'City of God' favela for Silva.

She qualified for London 2012 Games but was disqualified in the early rounds for a rule violation.

London champion Kaori Matsumoto of Japan took bronze alongside five-time European champion Telma Monteiro of Portugal.

 

Tags: 

Rio Olympics 2016: Michael Phelps wins 19th Olympic gold

The 31-year-old came to Brazil as the most decorated Olympian in history and has now won 23 medals at five Games.

He swam the second leg for the USA, who won in a time of three minutes 9.92 seconds, with France second in 3:10.53 and Australia third in 3:11.37.

Phelps came out of retirement in 2014, having quit after London 2012.

He has won twice as many Olympic gold medals as the athlete second on the list, former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.

Rio Paralympics 2016: Russian athletes banned after doping scandal

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) had opened suspension proceedings following the McLaren report, and has now confirmed the ban.

The report, published last month, claimed Russia had operated a state-sponsored doping programme.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose not to give Russia a blanket ban from the Olympic Games.

"The anti-doping system in Russia is broken, corrupted and entirely compromised," said IPC president Sir Philip Craven at a news conference on Sunday.

Rio 2016 Olympics: an opening ceremony of warmth, passion and hope

But there were dancing microbes, and super-cities, and Gisele Bundchen as the Girl From Ipanema. There were giant yellow butterflies, and passinho dancing from the favelas. There was drumming - there's always drumming - and there was carnival, of course.

And if nothing could ever top the Queen skydiving out of a helicopter with James Bond alongside, then no-one should ever try. This is Rio's party, and at last it has begun.

Tags: 

Rio 2016 Opening ceremony anticipated to be "the biggest event in the world"

Details of the opening ceremony are always a closely-guarded secret, but what is known is that the budget for Rio's festivities is substantially lower than the £31m devoted to director Danny Boyle's London 2012 extravaganza.

Reports in 2015 suggested Rio ceremony director Fernando Meirelles - who made films like City of God and The Constant Gardener - could be working with as little as one-tenth of Boyle's budget.

Who can't tweet about #Rio2016?

For ordinary people the answer is a definite no. You can use it in posts about your favourite athlete as much as you like.

But for companies it's a different matter. And the United States Olympic Committee has been accused of "bullying" firms that aren't official sponsors, to prevent them joining in the social media conversation about the upcoming games.

Like any major sporting event the organisers of the Olympics go to huge lengths to protect the rights of corporate sponsors who invest over a billion dollars in the games.