Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is a place for relaxation in the sand and energy in the bustling streets. Yet this past August, from the 5^th to the 21^st, Rio was bustling for other reasons. The adventures of the 2016 Summer Olympics never seemed to disappoint and the surprises throughout the events left the United States back home wanting more.

The first surprise came in the track and field arena. The average speed of a pole vaulter is 10m/s. This is approximately how fast Olympian Sam Kendricks was running when he stopped mid-run at the peak of his Olympic performance.  Kendricks was competing during a qualifying round when he stopped and saluted the National Anthem.

Crossing over to another Olympic arena, the aquatic competitors had a surprise of their own. Waking up on Tuesday, August 9^th to find the diving pools at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center a shade of bottle green was a first in Olympic history. The green pool was no doubt a shock and an embarrassment to the Rio officials, considering the Rio Olympics were the first to be held in South America. It was discovered that local pool maintenance workers had poured 160 liters of hydrogen peroxide into the pool. Officials said the mixture had a neutralizing affect on the chlorine and resulted in a growth of algae. As a solution, officials emptied the algae contaminated water and returned with a supply of 3,725,000 liters of water from a practice pool.

The biggest shock of all occurred when a well-known American Olympian made the news for a light-night, drunken mishap. Even though 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte won a gold medal in Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay, America isn’t remembering him from his achievements in the water. Lochte’s story of what happened the night of August 14^th seems to be the most mysterious scandal.   Nobody can be sure of what events transpired.

After celebrating one night with his teammates, Lochte and his friends had an interesting adventure on the way back to the Olympic village where they were staying.  The Olympians were pulled over into a gas station by robbers disguised as police officers. Coincidentally, the “police officers” did not have lights, badges, or sirens. The robbers took their wallets and even cocked a gun while holding it to Lochte’s forehead. All of this dramatic scandal seems too crazy not to believe- not until Lochte’s mother also confirmed the story. And who doesn’t believe everyone’s precious, sweet mother?   After much trouble returning home and having the Brazilian police hold up Lochte’s return, Ryan states that he was mistaken and that he “let his team down.” Once home, he admitted to making up all of these accusations and apologized publicly. While the media is still leaking with new information on the scandal, we’ll just have to wait and see more of Lochte until he shows his best dance moves on the upcoming season of “Dancing With the Stars.”