The Best Moments of Rio 2016

With a great Olympic Games coming to an end, it has been a fantastic fortnight of Olympic sport in Brazil. The Sportplan Team takes a look through the best moments of Rio 2016, with plenty of inspirational, nerve-wrecking and dramatic moments to look back on!

The Olympic Spirit

Camilla - One of the more inspirational moments was during the 5,000m ladies heats, when drama struck for athletes Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D'Agostino.

During the race, D'Agostino collided with Hamblin, sending both falling heavily to the track. On seeing how distraught Hamblin was, D'Agostino quickly encouraged the New Zealander to continue and helped her back to her feet, instead of continuing to race.

It however became apparent that D'Agostino was struggling with an injury - which later turned out to be a torn cruciate ligament - and it was then Hamblin who helped the American to continue running. D'Agostino went on to finish the race and shared an emotional embrace with Hamblin, who had waited to see her finish.

Although it's of course not what both athletes were hoping from their Olympic Games, both have been praised for their actions and have since received fair play awards. It was an excellent display of sportsmanship and epitomizes the meaning of the Olympic spirit, showing what the Games stand for, with two athletes helping one another despite starting as rivals. An emotional but iconic Olympic moment.

Check out this sporting moment here on BBC Sport.

The Brownlee Brothers

Chloe - By far another highlight of Rio 2016 is the story of the Brownlee brothers dominating the triathlon and both landing the top spots of the podium. Sibling rivalry at its finest! Team GB's Alistair Brownlee was competing to make history as the first triathlete to retain an Olympic title, whilst his brother Jonny strived to upgrade his Bronze medal from 2012.

Both of them did just that. The older of the two, Alistair broke away from his brother 6km into the 10k run, crossing the line in the winning time of 1:45:01, clutching the Union Jack. His brother Jonny was just 6 seconds behind, taking home a silver medal.

Elated and exhausted they lay on the ground together, not as brothers, but as elite athletes that were reaping the rewards of all their hard work; Olympic Gold and Silver medals. This really was a case of two for the price of one!

Watch the moment the Brownlees finished first and second here.

Rugby 7's Debut

John - Rugby Sevens made its debut at the Olympics this year, a highly anticipated tournament that definitely did not disappoint. It is a fast-paced and action-packed game, that involves individual skill combined with outstanding team-work, with some spectacular matches.

Tournament favourites Fiji stormed their way into the final after winning 3/3 of their pool matches and dominating 20-5 against Japan in the semi-final. GB also breezed through the pool stages, claiming all 3 matches as wins, before narrowly beating South Africa in their semi-final to make the first-ever Rugby 7's final.

The historic final ended 43-7, with Fiji quite rightly claiming their first ever Olympic medal, dominating from the start to finish. A true display of what the Olympics is all about and definitely a highlight in our eyes!

An incredible story of one nation making history. It is safe to safe that sevens definitely left a positive mark on Rio 2016 and we can't wait to see what is in store for Fiji at Tokyo 2020.

Check out this emotional moment from the victorious Fiji side here.

Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin - First Female Medalist for Iran

Tara - One of my favourite moments of the Olympics has to be when 18 year old Kimia Alizadeh Zenoor (affectionately known as 'The Tsunami' in Iran) beat Sweden's Nikita Glasnovic in the 57kg weight class Taekwondo event to win Bronze. This secured herself as the first Iranian woman to win a medal in the Olympic Games since 1979.

Tearing down greater barriers than just her sporting rivals, a proud Kimia is quoted saying: "I hope that this medal can open the way for other girls (from Iran) to get to the Olympics and to get medals". Nine women and 55 men represented Iran in the Rio Olympics, gaining a total of eight medals.

With a strong few years behind her - after winning gold in the 63kg class at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic games, bronze at the 2015 Taekwondo World Championship and gold at the 2015 World Championship Grand Prix - the young athlete is an inspiration and we expect great things from her in years to come.

Read more about this inspirational story here.

Adams Defends Olympic Title

Laura - Making history on Saturday, Nicola Adams became the first British boxer to defend an Olympic title for 92 years. Adams took the first and second rounds with a flurry of jabs after a slightly unsteady start. But the tables looked as if they may turn as her opponent, Sarah Ourahmoune, took the third round. Unshaken, Adams came back fighting in the fourth round, landing the punches that mattered and winning the bout for gold.

She entered Olympic and British history after winning a unanimous points battle in the Rio ring with a triumphant Ali shuffle. With an uncharacteristic tear in her eye, she lifted her fingers in the air to remind the crowd, and the world, she is the number one athlete of flyweight boxing.

Her gold medal meant that once again, the county of Yorkshire would be climbing up the medals table, above countries including Spain, Jamaica and host nation Brazil!

Read more on this historic feat here.

Ladies Hockey Make History

Josh - Not only my favourite part of the Olympics, but this was my favourite Hockey game of all time. The range of emotions that were felt during the 60 minutes of normal time, plus the extreme ecstasy that was the penalty shootout were enough to to excite even the most casual of fans. Ending 3 -3, the shootout that followed ended with Great Britain winning 2 - 0. After Maddie Hinch had saved all 4 of the Netherlands attempts, it came down to Hollie Webb to cap off what was an extraordinary game, at the end of an extraordinary tournament for GB.

Even after watching the game again the next day, I still struggle to remember exactly what happened. Of the moments that I do recall, my favourite (which only just beats Maddie Hinch saving the penalty stroke from Pauman in the first quarter) was the shot of Hinch's water bottle before the shootout began. A self professed geek, renowned for studying tapes of opposition players, Hinch had scrawled some choice words across her water bottle. The three that stick in mind; 'relax', 'chillout' and 'stay big'. Simply put, she did just that, and the rest is history.

Having already seen the reaction to the Gold medal, I have no doubt that this result will means big things for Hockey in this country!

Read more on this fantastic achievement here.

There's no doubt that it has been a fantastic Olympic games and we hope you have been inspired to take part in sport - maybe even starting a completely new one - from these (and many more) inspirational moments. We already can't wait for Tokyo in 2020!