The 2016 Rio Olympics were characterised by poor organisation, nowhere more so than in women’s football.
The summer tournament faced numerous controversies, chiefly among them was the cost of hosting so soon after the Brazil World Cup and amid a financial crisis.
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Yet more problems soon arose, including the Zika virus, polluted water and numerous street robberies.
But no issue was more avoidable than when the organisers for the women’s football tournament forgot their keys.
As is common in the Olympics, longer running events often start before the tournament’s opening ceremony as was the case for football, where Sweden and South Africa kicked off the group stage.
Yet just hours before the match got underway, a reporter recorded three officials having to cut their way in to the Maracana stadium after forgetting their keys.
BBC reporter Julia Carneiro tweeted a video of the moment, along with the words: “What a start!
“Rio 2016 kicking off with a lost key and firemen forcing open the lock to the east gate of Olympic stadium. Oops.”
Eventually they got the lock off via the help of some bolt cutters, and passed it to a man wearing stewarding gear.
The stress was already at a high, though, as Carneiro also reported that spectators queuing for that gate had to be moved to a different entrance after a two-hour wait.
If it were up to the locals, Sweden never would have got to kick off, as they later broke Brazilian hearts.
Brazil were knocked out at the semi-final stage after a 0-0 draw, with legend Marta scoring in the shootout, only to be let down by her teammates.
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For the men, they did record victory, also on penalties, with Neymar scoring the final spot-kick to defeat Germany and capture the gold medal.
It was some revenge for Brazil, but not much, as their previous game against Germany was the famous 7-1 defeat in front of their own fans in the semi-finals of the 2014 tournament.
It also did little to distract from the other issues surrounding the tournament where Brazil finished 13th in the medal table with seven golds.
There were highlights elsewhere as Usain Bolt won his ‘triple triple’ of the 100metres, 200metres and 4x100metres relay.
It was also the finale for the game’s most successful athlete of all time, Michal Phelps, who added five more golds to make it 23 overall.
Yet with the games costing a reported £11billion, £3bn over budget, many venues were left unused and derelict.
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The Maracana is still going, at least, hosting Fluminense and Flamengo who managed to get a copy of the keys.
