Rio de Janeiro hosted the Games of the XXXI Olympiad from 5 to 21 August 2016, the first Olympics ever staged in South America. Held against a backdrop of economic difficulty and public-health concerns, the Games nonetheless drew around 11,200 athletes from 207 delegations competing across 28 sports and 306 events.

Rio 2016 introduced the first Refugee Olympic Team, a squad of displaced athletes competing under the Olympic flag, and welcomed golf and rugby sevens back to the programme after long absences. On the track and in the pool, stars such as Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps closed out era-defining Olympic careers. For Qatar, Rio marked its largest Olympic delegation to date, 38 athletes representing ten federations, including athletics, handball, shooting, equestrian, boxing, beach volleyball, swimming, table tennis, judo and weightlifting.

The standout result came from high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, who cleared 2.36 metres to take silver, becoming the first Qatari athlete to win an Olympic silver medal and adding to the bronze he had earned in London. The expanded delegation reflected sustained national investment in elite sport and gave several Qatari athletes and team-sport programmes valuable Olympic experience ahead of Tokyo.