It’s 2 days to the first bell at Paris 2024 – and the advent of Irish Boxing’s Olympic centenary.
We’re revisiting every Irish Olympic Boxing Team, and today, it’s Rio 2016. Boxing at the games was overshadowed with controversy after there were doubts raised that results in certain bouts had been manipulated. These concerns were upheld in a report published in 2021. In 2019 the IOC stripped the AIBA of the right to organise the tournament at the 2020 Olympics, due to “issues in the areas of finance, governance, ethics and refereeing and judging”.
Team Ireland: Rio 2016
Katie Taylor, Lightweight, Women
Paddy Barnes, Light-Flyweight Men
Brendan Irvine, Flyweight Men
Michael Conlan, Bantamweight, Men
David Oliver Joyce, Lightweight, Men
Stephen Donnelly, Welterweight, Men
Joe Ward, Light-Heavyweight, Men
Check out the world record highlights from Rio 2016 – Twenty-seven world records and ninety-one Olympic records were set during these Games. The records were set in archery, athletics, canoeing, cycling track, modern pentathlon, rowing, shooting, swimming, and weightlifting.
All 205 National Olympic Committees qualified at least one athlete. The first three nations to qualify athletes for the Games were Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, who each qualified four athletes for the team dressage by winning medals in the team event at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games.
The competition venues were clustered in four zones—Barra, Copacabana, Deodoro and Maracanã—and connected by a high-performance transport ring. Nearly half of the athletes could reach their venues in less than 10 minutes, and almost 75 per cent could do so in less than 25 minutes.
Venue Facts
Of the 34 competition venues, eight underwent some permanent works, seven were totally temporary and nine were constructed as permanent legacy venues.
Spotlight on Rio
The Rio Games also celebrated and showcased sport, thanks to the city’s stunning setting and a desire to lift event presentation to new heights. At the same time, Rio 2016 was an opportunity to deliver the broader aspirations for the long-term future of the city, region and country—an opportunity to hasten the transformation of Rio de Janeiro into an even greater global city.