The 2016 Rio Olympics took place from August 6 to the 22. Athletes pushed themselves as hard as they can to represent not only their country but also to show the whole world what they’re all about. Team USA came home with a total of 141 medals, 46 of them Gold. In case you missed it, here are some important highlights that took place:

1. Simone Manuel became the first African-American female to win gold for an individual swim event. She participated in the 100-meter freestyle and tied first with a sixteen year old Canadian girl named Penny Oleksiak with a time of 52.99 seconds.                                     
2. Ibtihaj Muhammad competed in fencing while wearing a hijab. She won 15-13 in a match against Olena Kravatska of Ukraine and became the first athlete to win a match wearing a  hijab.
3. First refugee team to compete ever. One of the athletes Yusra Mardini, is a refugee from Syria who had to swim in pools that were hit by explosives and so ruined she could see the sky from holes in the roof just to practice. This teenage swimmer swam for three hours in a sinking dinghy, saving the lives of the other 19 passengers on board.
4. Ryan Lochte and three other Olympic swimmers claimed to have been robbed at gun point in Brazil. Under investigation, the story turned out to be false. Turns out the Olympic swimmers had been drunk and disrespected a Shell gas station in Brazil. Due to this false claim of robbery, Lochte has lost sponsorship agreements with companies like Speedo,  Ralph Lauren, and even Airweave Mattress.              
5. Piotr Malachowski, a Polish discus thrower won silver but decided not to keep it to himself but to auction it off to help a boy with retinoblastoma. This medal helped pay for the little boy’s surgery.
6. Helen Maroulis, a U.S. women wrestler, won the first ever gold medal for women U.S. wrestling. She beat Japanse Saori Yoshida (a 16-time world champ) in a freestyle match 4-1.
7. Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt retire from the Olympics. Phelps finished his career with 23 gold medals and 28 overall, and Bolt, “the fastest man alive”, earned 9 gold medals and has set 3 world records.