Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Belgium at the
2016 Summer Olympics
IOC codeBEL
NOCBelgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee
Websitewww.olympic.be (in Dutch and French)
in Rio de Janeiro
Competitors108 in 19 sports
Flag bearers Olivia Borlée (opening) [1]
Nafissatou Thiam (closing)
Medals
Ranked 35th
Gold
2
Silver
2
Bronze
2
Total
6
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
1906 Intercalated Games

Belgium competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1900, Belgian athletes had appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. The Belgian team consisted of 108 athletes, 70 men and 38 women, across nineteen sports.[2]

Belgium returned home from Rio de Janeiro with six medals (two in each color), which matched its overall tally from the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.[3] A third of the medal tally was distributed to the Belgian cyclists, including the first ever gold of the Games won by Greg Van Avermaet in the men's road race.[4] These Games also marked a historic first for the Belgians on the podium in collective sports after nearly a century, bringing them home a silver medal in the men's field hockey tournament.[5] Indeed, the Belgian men surpassed their female counterparts in the medal count for the first time since 1988.[3]

Apart from Van Avermaet and the men's field hockey team, other medals were distributed to the following athletes on the Belgian roster: a gold to Nafissatou Thiam, who edged out the defending champion Jessica Ennis-Hill of Great Britain in the women's heptathlon; a silver to Pieter Timmers, who became the first Belgian swimmer to ascend the Olympic podium, since Frédérik Deburghgraeve captured the gold in Atlanta two decades earlier; and two bronzes to judoka and three-time Olympian Dirk Van Tichelt (men's lightweight) and track cyclist Jolien D'Hoore (women's omnium).[3][6][7]

  1. ^ "Team Belgium duidt zijn vlaggendraagster aan !" [Team Belgium appoints its flag bearer!] (in Dutch). Belgian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  2. ^ Torfs, Michaël (6 August 2016). "Only 9 Belgian athletes in opening ceremony". www.vrt.be. VRT Nieuws. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "België 35e beste land in Rio, Team USA haalde veruit meeste medailles" [Belgium finished 35th in Rio, Team USA won most medals by far]. Het Nieuwsblad. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  4. ^ Garside, Kevin (6 August 2016). "Rio 2016: Greg van Avermaet secures gold medal in road race as Vincenzo Nibali and Geraint Thomas collide". The Independent. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Argentina's first men's Olympic field hockey medal is gold". USA Today. 18 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  6. ^ Bradshaw, Lisa (18 August 2016). "Pieter Timmers swims his way to silver". Flanders Today. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  7. ^ Phillips, Mitch (14 August 2016). "Athletics: Belgium's Thiam wins heptathlon goldr". Reuters. Retrieved 19 August 2018.