WEIGHTLIFTING
The world’s strongest athletes
WATER
POLO
The world’s best teams
gather for the ultimate test
duel in the pool
Water polo, much like
handball, is played by two
teams of seven with the
object of throwing the ball
into the opposition’s goal.
The matches consist of four
periods of eight minutes, and
each team has 30 seconds
to complete its attack or risk
losing possession of the ball.
Fouls are called when a
player touches the bottom or
side of the pool, sinks the
ball underwater and holds or
pushes an opponent. On the
men’s side, 2012 gold med-
alists Croatia should be chal-
lenged by Hungary and
Serbia while the United
States women’s team looks
to defend its 2012 gold
medal.
8/6, 8/8 - 8/18 Q; 8/19-20 M
Weightlifting is the ultimate
test of strength, and has
been identifying the world’s
strongest athletes since
the first modern Olympic
Games in Athens in 1896,
with the women joining the
competition at Sydney
2000. There are two types
of lift: the ‘snatch’ and the
‘clean and jerk’. The
snatch entails lifting the
bar from the floor above
the head in one movement.
The clean and jerk is a
two-stage lift, from the
floor to the chest and then
overhead. Each athlete is
allowed three attempts,
and the final score is the
combined total of the high-
est two lifts.
8/6-10, 8/12-16 M
WRESTLING
helen maroulis
Helen Maroulis
• Rain turned the i rst Olympic basketball i nal in 1936 in Berlin into a muddy af air, as it was held outdoors
on clay tennis courts. The i nal score: United States 19, Canada 8.
• In 1968, Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was the i rst athlete to fail a drug test. The drug?
Beer, which he drank before the pistol shoot to calm his nerves.
Kendrick Farris
Changes to Olympic
wrestling competition
Regular viewers of Olympic wrestling will notice chang-
es in Rio. The women’s competition goes from four class-
es to six and the men (both freestyle and Greco-Roman)
lose a weight class, from seven to six. In another change,
the matches will consist of two rounds with cumulative
scoring, instead of the previous “best-of-three” format.
American Jordan Burroughs is a favorite to repeat his gold
medal-winning performance from London in the 163-
pound men’s freestyle. On the women’s side, Japan’s
Kaori Icho will try for an Olympic-record fourth wrestling
gold medal when she fights in the 128-pound weight
class.
8/14-21 M
• The 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, Australia, were the i rst Olympics held in the Southern Hemi-
sphere.
• Tug of war was an event at every Summer Olympics from 1900 to 1920.
• The i rst ancient Olympics were held in 776 B.C. in Olympia, Greece.
2016 SUMMER OLYMPICS VIEWER’S GUIDE pg 15