On 5 August, the official opening ceremony of the XXXI summer Olympic Games took place in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

On 5 August, the official opening ceremony of the XXXI summer Olympic Games took place in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

These Olympic Games’ opening ceremony took place in the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

In this stadium specially decorated for the ceremony, its unique history, national traditions, theatrical stage and artistic performances were shown.

According to the tradition, sportsmen from Greece entered the stadium first. After these representatives of the homeland of Olympic Games, it was the turn of the national teams of states participating in the biggest sporting event of the recent four years.

Holding high the state flag of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a famous sportsman of this country and a world boxing championship medal winner, Bahodir Jalolov, entered the stadium. Spectators cordially greeted the Uzbekistan sporting delegation’s members.

Sportsmen of Uzbekistan will be competing in such sports as rowing, rhythmic gymnastics, canoeing, boxing, judo, athletics, weightlifting, artistic gymnastics, table tennis, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, trampoline gymnastics, shooting, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling.

The necessary conditions were created for sportsmen of Uzbekistan to attend training gatherings in their home country and abroad in order to raise their mastery and experience and participate in prestigious international sports competitions, in accordance with the presidential decree dated 25 February 2013 “On training sportsmen of Uzbekistan for the XXXI summer Olympic and XV Paralympic games of 2016 in the city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)”.

Uzbek sportsmen took part in various prestigious competitions serving as qualifying stages of the Olympic Games and achieved high results.

The period of time up to the XXXI summer Olympic Games shows that Uzbekistan’s sporting potential is increasing and that a talented generation of sportsmen are growing, set to perform in a worthy manner in international competitions. This was clearly evident in great victories achieved by sportsmen of Uzbekistan in the XVII Asian Games that took place in the South Korean town of Incheon, the II Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, in world and Asian championships and prestigious competitions in such sports as boxing, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, weightlifting, judo, taekwondo and rhythmic gymnastics. In the year 2015 alone, Uzbek sportsmen won 311 gold, 274 silver, 276 bronze medals, that is 861 medals in all, in international competitions.

In accordance with the presidential decree dated 12 July 2016 on the training and participation of sportsmen of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro XXXI summer Olympics and XV Paralympic games, prizes are specified as decent rewards for sportsmen of Uzbekistan – winners and runners-up of these Olympic and Paralympic games - for their worthy contribution to the homeland’s sporting glory.

The teams of more than 200 countries lined up in the Maracana stadium.

The Olympic anthem was played, and the flag of the XXXI summer Olympic games was hoisted.

The torch ignited by using the Sun’s light in the homeland of Olympic Games was brought in to the stadium.

The XXXI Olympic Games began. In this prestigious sporting event, Olympians will be competing in more than 30 types of sport for 306 sets of medals.

Sportsmen of Uzbekistan traditionally come back with medals from summer Olympics. This year’s XXXI summer Olympic Games are taking place on the eve of the 25th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence.

Uzbek sportsmen have taken to heart the slogan of “My life, my destiny – my sacred homeland, my beautiful and unique Uzbekistan” and have resolved to attain great results in the upcoming competitions and to return with a decent gift for the greatest and dearest holiday of the country.