Liechtenstein at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Liechtenstein competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1936, Liechtensteinian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, except for two occasions. Liechtenstein did not register any athletes at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, and eventually joined the United States-led boycott when Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics. The 2016 delegation included two swimmers, Christoph Meier and Julia Hassler, and tennis player Stephanie Vogt. Two of the athletes debuted in the 2012 Summer Olympics, with long-distance freestyle swimmer Julia Hassler leading the squad as the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony. Liechtenstein has yet to win a Summer Olympic medal.

Liechtenstein at the
2016 Summer Olympics
IOC codeLIE
NOCLiechtenstein Olympic Committee
Websitewww.olympic.li (in German and English)
in Rio de Janeiro
Competitors3 in 2 sports
Flag bearers Julia Hassler (opening)
Christoph Meier (closing)
Medals
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
0
Total
0
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)

Background

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Liechtenstein participated in seventeen Summer Olympic Games between its debut in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The highest number of Liechtensteiners participating at any one Summer Games was 12 in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.[1] No Liechtensteiner has ever won a medal at the Summer Olympics. However, Liechtenstein has won nine medals at the Winter Olympic Games.[1] All of the Liechtensteiner participants competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics through invitations by FINA or the ITF.[2][3][4] Hassler was chosen to be Liechtenstein's flag bearer during the Parade of Nations of the opening ceremony while Meier bore the flag during the closing ceremony.[5][6]

Swimming

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Liechtenstein received a universality invitation from FINA to send two swimmers (one male and one female) to the Olympics.[7][8][3] Christoph Meier made his Olympic debut by competing in the men's 400 m individual medley event while Julia Hassler made her second appearance, with the first being in London 2012.[9] At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was one of three athletes to compete for Liechtenstein. She swam the 400 and 800 freestyles, finishing twenty-seventh in the 400[10] and 17th in the 800.[11] Meier finished eighth in his heat and twenty-second overall with a time of 4:19.19 seconds, which set a national record but did not qualify him for the finals.[12][13] Hassler started in the second lane. She came second in her heat and twenty-first overall with a time of 8:38.19 seconds. Hassler was eight seconds off the slowest qualifying time of 8:25.55 seconds by Mireia Belmonte of Spain.[14][15]

Athlete Event Heat Final
Time Rank Time Rank
Christoph Meier Men's 400 m individual medley 4:19.19 22 did not advance
Julia Hassler Women's 800 m freestyle 8:38.19 21 did not advance
 
Stephanie Vogt competing in the first round of the 2015 Wimbledon Qualifying Tournament at the Bank of England Sports Grounds in Roehampton, England.

Tennis

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Liechtenstein received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send London 2012 Olympian Stephanie Vogt (world no. 274) in the women's singles for her second time into the Olympic tennis tournament.[16][2] In the round of 64, Vogt lost both sets, losing the first 3–6 and the second 1–6 against Johanna Konta of Great Britain. Konta reached the quarterfinals after she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the third round, but was knocked out in the last eight by Angelique Kerber of Germany.[17][18] Following the loss, Vogt announced that she would pause her tennis career and enroll in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich.[19]

Athlete Event Round of 64 Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final / BM
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Opposition
Score
Rank
Stephanie Vogt Women's singles   Konta (GBR)
L 3–6, 1–6
did not advance

References

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  1. ^ a b "Olympic History of Liechtenstein". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b "ITF announces entries for Rio 2016 Olympics". International Tennis Federation. 30 June 2016. Archived from the original on 24 August 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Rio 2016 – FINA Swimming Qualification System" (PDF). Rio 2016. FINA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Swimming World Rankings". FINA. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Julia Hassler ist Fahnenträgerin" [Julia Hassler is the flag bearer] (in German). Liechtensteiner Volksblatt. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  6. ^ "The Flagbearers for the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony". International Olympic Committee. 21 August 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  7. ^ "Men's Final Entry List" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Women's Final Entry List" (PDF). FINA. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Julia Hassler – Swimming – Olympic Athlete". LOCOG. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  10. ^ "Women's 400m Freestyle – Olympic Swimming". LOCOG. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Women's 800m Freestyle – Olympic Swimming". LOCOG. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Records page of the Liechtenstein Swimming Federation" (in German). Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  13. ^ "Men's 400m Individual Medley Heats Results Summary" (PDF). Rio2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  14. ^ "Results - Womens 800m Freestyle - Swimming - Rio 2016 - Olympics". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  15. ^ "Women's 800m Freestyle Heats Results Summary" (PDF). Rio2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  16. ^ "Stephanie Vogt bei Olympia dabei" [Stephanie Vogt goes to the Olympics] (in German). Liechtensteiner Vaterland. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  17. ^ Arena, Kevin Mitchell at the Tennis (9 August 2016). "Jo Konta beats Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach last eight in Rio". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  18. ^ "Johanna Konta beaten by Angelique Kerber at Rio 2016 Olympic tennis". Sky Sports. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  19. ^ tennisnet (10 August 2016). "Steffi Vogt beendet überraschend ihre Karriere" [Steffi Vogt surprisingly finishes her career]. tennisnet (in German). Retrieved 17 February 2017.
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