| Peru at the 2016 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | PER |
| NOC | Peruvian Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| in Rio de Janeiro | |
| Competitors | 29 in 11 sports |
| Flag bearer | Francisco Boza[1] |
| Medals |
|
| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
Peru competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1936, Peruvian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games throughout the modern era. Peru failed to register any athletes at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.
Peruvian Olympic Committee (Spanish: Comité Olímpico Peruano) sent the nation's largest delegation to the Games without any association to the women's volleyball team for the first time in history. A total of 29 athletes, 17 men and 12 women, were selected to the Peruvian squad across eleven sports.[2][3] Among the sporting events represented by the nation's athletes, Peru marked its Olympic debut in artistic gymnastics and women's freestyle wrestling, as well as its return to equestrian for more than three decades.
Trap shooter and 1984 silver medalist Francisco Boza etched his name into the historic records as the first ever Peruvian to compete in eight Olympic Games. The oldest and the most experienced participant (aged 52), Boza reprised his role to lead the Peruvian team for the third time as the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony, the previous two doing so in Barcelona 1992 and Athens 2004.[1] Apart from Boza, seven other athletes were returning Olympians, with only two headed to their third Games, including marathoner Inés Melchor and Laser Radial sailor Paloma Schmidt. 21 Peruvian athletes made their Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro; the most notable were middle-distance runner and dual American citizen David Torrence and gymnast Ariana Orrego, the youngest of the roster (aged 18).[2][4]
Peru, however, failed to win a single medal in Rio de Janeiro, continuing a drought that began at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where shooter Juan Giha took the silver in the mixed skeet. Peru's most successful outcome at these Games occurred in taekwondo, where Julissa Diez bounced back from her early elimination to finish seventh in the women's 49 kg, losing the repechage bout to Thailand's Panipak Wongpattanakit.[5]
- ^ a b "Francisco Boza será el abanderado de Perú en Río 2016" [Francisco Boza will be Peru's flag bearer in Rio 2016] (in Spanish). Peru: El Comercio. 16 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
- ^ a b Cole, Jack Dylan (3 August 2016). "Rio 2016: Peru sends most Olympic athletes in history". Peru Reports. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- ^ "Río 2016: los 29 peruanos que lucharán por una medalla" [Rio 2016: 29 Peruvians will fight for the medal] (in Spanish). Peru: El Comercio. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- ^ Almond, Elliot (28 July 2016). "Why Cal's David Torrence chose to run for Peru at Rio Games". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
- ^ "Río 2016: Conoce cómo les fue a los peruanos en los Juegos Olímpicos" [Rio 2016: Outcomes of the Peruvians at the Olympics] (in Spanish). Perú.21. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.