Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ National teams of Mongolia competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Games which took place on August 5-21 in Brazil.

It was Mongolia’s thirteenth participation in the Summer Olympics since the country competed in the Olympics for the first time since 1964. In addition, Mongolia took part in the Rio Olympic with the largest number of athletes since the Olympic qualification criteria were introduced.

Mongolia was represented at the 2016 Olympics by 43 athletes--13 judokas, 10 freestyle wrestlers, six boxers, five marathon athletes, three shooters, two weightlifters, one athlete for archery and taekwondo, respectably. Moreover, two swimmers competed with wild cards in the races of men's 50 m freestyle and women's 50 m freestyle.

On the fourth day of the Olympics (August 8), D.Sumiya won the first silver medal in the women’s -57 kg contest of judo. She had a bye in the first round, and defeated her opponents Sanne Verhagen (the Netherlands), Telma Monteiro (Portugal) and Kaori Matsumoto (Japan). At the gold medal match, she lost to a Brazilian judoka Rafael Silva.

Other judokas, L.Otgonbaatar (men’s -90 kg) and M.Urantsetseg (women’s -48 kg) took fifth places, while D.Tomorkhuleg was ranked seventh in the men’s -66 kg division.

D.Otgondalai IMS, a gold medalist of the 2014 Asian Games, captured second medal for Mongolia in the Rio Olympics. He claimed a bronze medal in the men’s lightweight division. Until semifinals, he had a bye in the first round and then beat his rivals of the Netherlands and Algeria.

Mongolia participated in the Olympic taekwondo competitions for the first time. An athlete from the “Aldar” sports club P.Temuujin competed in the men’s -68 kg weight category contest. In the first round, he defeated Saul Gutierrez of Mexico, a bronze medalist of the 2015 World Championships, becoming the first Mongolia to possess a win at Olympic taekwondo. In the quarterfinals, he was defeated by a 2012 Olympic champion Joel Gonzalez Bonilla of Spain, in the quarterfinals.

An 18-year old girl M.Ankhtsetseg, an Asian champion, finished 8th place in the women’s 69 kg contest of weightlifting. She lifted 237 kg overall, 106 kg by snatch and 131 by clean & jerk. Athletes from China, Kazakhstan and Egypt grabbed gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively in this contest.

In the Rio Olympics, Mongolia did not claim medals in its competitive sports such as shooting and freestyle wrestling. Our shooters O.Gundegmaa, Ts.Monhzul and G.Nandinzaya competed in the women’s 10 m air rifle, 50 m rifle 3 positions, 10 m air pistol and 25 m pistol. But none of them win a medal.  In the freestyle wrestling, G.Mandakhnaran took 5th place in the men’s -65 kg division contest, which was the highest success among wrestlers at the 2016 Olympics. Mongolia has won no medals in wrestling since 1980.

By overall results, Mongolia took 67th place, winning one silver and one bronze medals alongside India. 87 nations won at least one medal, and 69 of them captured at least one gold medal in the Olympics. Success of Mongolian Olympic athletes was lower than the previous Summer Olympics in London where Mongolia grabbed two silver and three bronze medals. The Beijing 2008 Olympics has been Mongolia's most successful Games ever, collecting two gold and two silver medals.