Rio 2016 – some fun facts about Olympic women’s soccer

The 2016 Olympics officially kick off today, but the first games of the women’s soccer tournament actually started a couple days ago, and already the women are kicking butt and breaking records – three records, to be exact!

Team Canada’s Janine Beckie scored the fastest goal in Olympic history by tapping in a pass from Christine Sinclair in just 20 seconds in their game against Australia. Unfortunately, Canada also set a record for the fastest red card when Shelina Zadorsky was ejected in the 18th minute. Still, my beloved Team Canada managed to beat Australia 2-0 in a dramatic match that had me chewing off my fingernails. That same day, Brazil’s Cristiane set a record for the most goals scored by a player in women’s Olympic soccer, bringing her total up to 13 (tied with Denmark’s Sophus Nielsen, who set the men’s record in 1912).

Here’s a few other interesting facts about women’s soccer:

  1. Women’s soccer was only introduced into the summer Olympics in 1996. Men’s soccer has been included since 1900.
  2. The US Women’s National Team has won gold four times.
  3. In the men’s competition, the players must be 23 and under, with three players allowed to be older. No such age restrictions exist for the women’s game, meaning the top players in the world are currently competing.

What sports are you most looking forward to this Olympics?

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