Australia
Our performance was below expectations overall. We made the mistake of peaking for the Olympic trials and the world championship in an Olympic year which meant many performance in Rio seemed flat. We seemed unable to deal with the added pressure, and we seemed to lack the depth required when coming up against some really impressive competitors. My highlight was definitely the Australia women’s rugby sevens gold medal.
Australia’s favourite sports – AFL, cricket, netball and surfing – are not Olympic sports, which means the country’s best athletes don’t participate. The future will be bright though - we’re a sports mad country and always will be. But we may need to rethink funding and preparation for future Games. Xavier
Belgium
We didn’t really exceed expectations as we haven’t had more than 10 medals since 1924. But we can happily say that this summer’s tally of six medals is the best since Atlanta 20 years ago. The reason for this relative success is the will to build on the legacy of the past Games and not just forget a sport when nobody is performing in it.
Many were surprised to see Nafissatou Thiam win the heptathlon, but athletics in Belgium has been on the up since the success of Kim Geveart, the Borlee family in the past years and especially Tia Hellebaut’s gold medal in 2008. We were also successful in the cycling and in the men’s hockey. Our hockey team has been allowed to improve over time.
Unfortunately Belgium is tied up in a number of political divisions between the north and the south of the country, meaning that we have more or less two federations for each sport in addition to a national federation. This means the funding is managed and used differently in the north and south. Moreover don’t have the same national centres of sport excellence that you would find in France or Great Britain. We have been promised one of these for several years, but it has yet to materialise. This would probably be key for Belgium to move forward from the relatively successful Rio Games to the next level. Marc Hennequart
Canada
Canada has benefited from the emergence of many rising stars and we exceeded expectations in Rio. There has been plenty of government and corporate support in preparation for the Games, which has paid off. Our performances in the swimming and athletics were particularly impressive. Multi-event track and field is also high-profile thanks to bronze medals for Brianne Theisen-Eaton in the heptathlon and Damian Warner in the decathlon. Their efforts will inspire young athletes to persevere.
Now we need to continue developing 16-year-old swimming sensation Penny Oleksiak and 21-year-old sprinter Andre De Grasse. In women’s football 17-year-old Deanne Rose became the youngest woman to score at the Olympics as Canada beat the hosts in the bronze medal final. We see a very bright future. James Mihaychuk
Colombia
We performed much better than expected and were above other countries of a similar level in terms of development and population. Gold medal winner Caterine Ibargüen has become the most carismatic athlete in Colombia right now. A new generation of Colombians looked determined to succeed and accomplish their dreams, and our future prospects look good if the future governments maintain the support for athletes in our country. Luis Gabriel
Croatia
We’ve had our best Olympics so far medal wise, with our athletes producing many inspired performances. Sara Kolak did brilliantly in the women’s javelin throw and her gold medal will be a source of national pride for years to come. Tihana
Denmark
While our favourites did not perform, we picked up some surprise medals where the expectations were much lower. Sara Slott Pettersen won our first female athletics medal in 68 years and Lasse Norman Hansen managed to win two medals in the otherwise totally Team GB-dominated track cycling events. Pernille Blume won a very surprising gold in 50m freestyle, which several of our other medallists have since claimed was a massive inspiration for their performances. We can be very proud of that. Thomas Monberg
Fiji
The Olympics were a success for Fiji as the country won its first ever medal by striking gold in the men’s rugby sevens. This success meant the internet in the country temporarily broke after everyone was searching for the highlights. Hopefully there will be more rugby sevens success in Tokyo 2020. William Waqavakatoga
Great Britain
The main reason for our Rio success is the concentration of investment in sport across the board. Since the success of London 2012 investment has increased with improved facilities and hiring of more coaches, especially within track and field disciplines. Mo Farah impressed me in particular along with our cyclists. It’s a fantastic achievement to hold on to second place in the medals table, when everyone expected China to catch us eventually.
I hope the government understands the importance of sports starting at junior level and how that can make a difference. Sport is a ongoing work in progress. It can only improve and reap the benefits if there is the right level of investment, infrastructure, equipment and coaching. Without these, we would not be witnessing the success we’re having. Seb Chowdhury
India
The success this year was sending the largest contingent of athletes in our history to the Olympics. We also sent the largest female contingent. Unfortunately we failed to match this with success in terms of medals. Indian women provided exceptional performances for the future. This is the path we should choose. It has awakened a much-needed discussion on careers around Olympic sports. In time we should see a jump in demand for Olympic sports. Sufficient coaching and training remains the biggest challenge for our athletes, and there’s a lot to improve on. Sagar Birkar
Ireland
Boxing aside I thought we were very good. The problem is boxing was meant to account for 75% of Ireland’s medals. The loss of coach Billy Walsh to the USA clearly had some impact, but bad luck has also been a factor.
In reality world champion Michael Conlan did win a medal but for whatever reason the judges awarded the bout to Russia. He had a great chance of gold but leaves empty handed through no fault of his own. Medal hope Joe Ward was also very unfortunate to exit as a result of two strange point deductions. Other out-of-the-ring factors also played a role with gold medal favourite Paddy Barnes struggling to make the weight and the previously unbeatable Katie Taylor having coaching issues this year.
The O’Donovan brothers, who won Ireland’s first ever rowing medal, and sailor Annalise Murphy should be given credit for their brilliant silver medal performances. The hockey team and Thomas Barr, who came fourth in the 400m hurdles, deserve praise too. There might be a small uplift in the rowing after the O’Donovan’s exploits, on and off the water. In terms of the future I don’t think things will change in any obvious ways. Everyone will go back to watching football, rugby and Gaelic Games until Tokyo 2020. Daniel James
Israel
We performed better than four years ago that’s for sure. While in London the Israeli delegation returned empty handed, but in Rio two judo competitors, Ori Sasson and Yarden Gerbi, both won bronze. In the long jump Hannah Kanayezva-Minenko finished a very respectful fifth. The two medals have brought a lot of happiness to people after the disappointments of London 2012, and I’m very happy with the spirit of the Israeli athletes who had to fight extremely hard for their success. Ezra Kloot
Kenya
I’m extremely proud of our team at Rio. The relentless training and a strong will to retain the dominance in long distance runs has paid off, but to widen our scope to sprints and other field events has really impressed me. For David Rudisha to recover from injury and double his Olympic and world champion glory in the 800m was spectacular. He is a true hero.
A lot of mismanagement is currently plaguing our athletic federation. If we curb this, we can perform even better in Tokyo. Kenya has great talent to showcase at the next games. Dennis Lugano
Malaysia
Despite not winning a single gold medal, it’s been our best ever performance in the Olympics. For us silver and bronze medals are enough to make the country proud. One of the main reasons that contributes to our country’s success is the endless support from Malaysians. We are from all walks of life – different races and religious beliefs and so are our athletes. A special mention goes to our outstanding badminton pair Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong. I’m confident Malaysia will continue to produce athletes who always strive for excellence. Aisyah Sinclair
Mexico
We did very well considering there has been next to no support from the government to most of the athletes. Mexico’s athletes haven’t met the expectations we had though. In recent years many of them like boxer Misael Rodriguez have lost their funding. He had to ask for money in the streets to pay for his trip to Rio and had to compete wearing an improvised uniform because he wasn’t provided with one. The fact he ended up winning a bronze medal is incredible.
Mexican athletes need broader support from the government. It is frustrating to see how our athletes do their best to compete with people who have clearly had better preparation. While other countries give their athletes the support that allows them to train 24/7, Mexican competitors manage to combine a busy work schedule with the training they can get in their spare time - training they have to pay for themselves of course, since the CONADE only funds selected people and disciplines. We will never do any better without the necessary help and support from the top. Imelda Mejía Osornio
Netherlands
While the judo and swimming were mostly disappointing, except the golden races of Sharon van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman, the women’s handball and volleyball was very exciting. It was all about the group cohesion in those events. We had a fantastic bunch of players who performed very well. Most of the players are young so they can participate in four years’ time as well.
I think in judo and swimming they trained too hard in preparation of the Rio Olympics. But our disappointed athletes will learn from their mistakes and avenge themselves in Tokyo. John Koopman
New Zealand
The efforts on the water have been on the whole very good. Drysdale, Carrington, the men’s pair and the sailors have done an amazing job. A lot of the less experienced rowing crews didn’t quite live up to expectation, but they’ll be surely targeting Tokyo as a main event.
The biggest disappointment was the men’s rugby sevens. Four years ago you would have locked them in for gold, now they’re nowhere close. New Zealand has put too much importance on effectively meaningless games for the all blacks above Olympic success. On the whole though there was a record medal haul and some great performances. There might be a bit more interest in sailing and rowing. The problem with these sports is that they’re quite expensive to get into so maybe the government can look at programs to allow more people to take these sports up. Chris
Portugal
We were competitive in all the events we participated in, but we were just not good enough to get on to the podiums. Fifth places in both the men’s and women’s triple jump, fourth and fifth in kayak sprint and the quarter-finals in the football tournament means that Rio 2016 is very much a tale of “almost”. But we achieved these placings on a small fraction of the funding other nations enjoy. We possess the raw quality but don’t have the resources that other more economically sound countries do.
I think we will still be able to get European championship titles in athletics, as well as good results in martial arts, but the medal count will still look pretty grim in Tokyo unless serious, decisive and very unlikely investment is made into sports practice in general and competitive sport in particular. Tiago
Singapore
We craved a medal in Rio and Joseph Schooling delivered a historic gold in the men’s 100m butterfly event. The government deserves credit for continuing to fund our nation’s athletes; Schooling deserves credit for just focusing on the 100m butterfly event and preserving his energy; and the intensive training he received in the US has also helped his development. jopaya
South Africa
Our success at the Games was limited but, when it came, it came from the athletes’ dedication, ability and delivering their best at the time, which is all that matters.
You can’t really call silver failure, but over-confidence and over-expectation in some instances possibly cost us more gold medals. Dedicated athletes such as javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen in her fourth Olympics won her first medal, which shows youngsters not to give up. Track and field sprinter Wade van Niekerk also impressed everyone. Sports in South Africa now needs more corporate involvement and the success of athletes at Rio will hopefully spark this. Dave Bartle
Sweden
What made Rio so enjoyable is the way our women’s football team performed on their way to a silver medal. We knocked out both USA and hosts Brazil to get there, but Germany were just a bit too strong in the final. There’s room for improvement across the board, but there were plenty of positives for Sweden at the Games this summer. cannonball
Uruguay
It wasn’t a failure because we didn’t expect much in the first place. Our only minor hope was sailing and Pablo Cuevas in tennis, but neither had a good week, with conditions going against them. But we had the best historic result in athletics with Emiliano Lasa’s sixth place in long jump, which is an unexpectedly great thing, especially considering he’s a guy who has to ask money from his parents to pay rent in Brazil. Not too many disappointments as we didn’t expect much and one big unexpected joy, so this was an acceptable Olympics for us.
The future looks mediocre at best sadly. There’s no funding whatsoever for athletes, who really struggle to make a living, let alone compete at the highest level. Obviously there’s other priorities but there’s no base at all for sports other than football and that will leave us way behind in every aspect as nobody wants to practice something different. It seems very difficult that we’ll get any medals for the next few Games. Only an outstanding miraculous individual performance could do it. Renzo
USA
We crushed it! Team USA showed their dedication and discipline and above all their love of sports. In the swimming Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky were awesome, Simone Biles and the other athletic gymnasts were just perfect and we dominated the basketball in both the men’s and women’s categories. A few chances for gold were lost or squandered, but we have to be happy with our lot. We have to keep working hard though. The bar keeps getting higher. Tariq
