| Venezuela at the 2016 Summer Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | VEN |
| NOC | Venezuelan Olympic Committee |
| Website | cov |
| in Rio de Janeiro | |
| Competitors | 87 in 20 sports |
| Flag bearer | Rubén Limardo[1] |
| Medals Ranked 65th |
|
| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |
Venezuela competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's eighteenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics.
The Venezuelan Olympic Committee (Spanish: Comité Olímpico Venezolano, COV) fielded a team of 87 athletes, 62 men and 25 women, to compete in twenty sports at the Games. It was the nation's second-largest delegation sent to the Olympics, falling short of the record set in Beijing 2008 (108) by nearly twenty percent. Men's basketball was the only team-based sport in which Venezuela qualified for the Games, returning to the Olympic basketball for the first time since 1992.[2] Venezuela also made its debut in golf (new to the 2016 Games) and women's beach volleyball, as well as its return to equestrian, rowing, and taekwondo events after eight years.
The Venezuelan roster featured 28 returning Olympians, with fencers Silvio Fernández and Alejandra Benítez, along with multiple-stroke swimmer Albert Subirats, headed to their fourth Games as the most experienced competitors of the team.[3] Other notable Venezuelan athletes included artistic gymnast Jessica López, amateur welterweight boxer and Pan American Games champion Gabriel Maestre, 2015 world BMX champion Stefany Hernández, and fencing brothers Francisco and Rubén Limardo, who became the nation's first gold medalist since 1968 at the previous Games. Looking to defend his men's épée title in Rio de Janeiro, the elder Limardo was selected by the public through a nationwide online vote to carry the Venezuelan flag at the opening ceremony, the first male from his country to do so since 2004.[1][4]
Unlike the previous Games, Venezuela failed to produce another gold-medal winning feat in Rio de Janeiro, but left instead with three medals (one silver and two bronze), which matched its overall tally from the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. These medals were awarded to the following athletes for the first time in their respective sporting events: a silver to triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, and a bronze each to Hernández and flyweight boxer Yoel Finol.[5] Finol would later be upgraded from bronze to silver after Russian boxer Misha Aloyan was disqualified.[6]
- ^ a b "Fencer Ruben Limardo announced as Venezuela's flag-bearer for Olympics". Xinhua. 27 May 2016. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
- ^ "Returning Venezuela hoping to stand tall". Olympics. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- ^ "Esperanzas Olímpicas para Río 2016: Venezuela se arma con un equipo competitivo" [Olympic hopefuls for Rio 2016: Venezuela fielded a competitive team] (in Spanish). La Opinión de Cojedes. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- ^ "Fencer Ruben Limardo to be Venezuela's flag-bearer at Rio". Business Standard. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- ^ "¡Bravo! Venezuela sumó tres medallas y nueve diplomas en #Río2016" [Bravo! Venezuela won three medals and nine diplomas in #Rio2016] (in Spanish). La Patilla. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- ^ "Rio 2016 52kg men Results - Olympic boxing".