Brazil is ready for the Olympics

Brazil will participate with the largest Olympic delegation ever, which will be composed of 462 athletes at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, scheduled from 5 to August 21, the Brazilian Olympic Committee announced.

The host-country of the Olympics has officially announced that it will participate in the competition next month and that its delegation will include 209 sports and 253 athletes, says EFE agency.

Until this year, the largest Brazilian delegation at the Olympics was in 2008 in Beijing, where 277 athletes were part of the team: 132 women and 145 men. "The Brazilian delegation had the best start ever, empowered with an absolute record of members," said the Brazilian mission chief Bernard Rajzman in a statement issued by the COB.

The games that most athletes will compete in at Rio are: athletics, with 67 athletes, football (36), swimming (33), basketball (28) and water polo (26).

But not just athletes ready to compete. Brazilian authorities have mobilized 200,000 military personnel on Saturday on a “day of action” designed to raise awareness about the risks of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries the Zika virus. This is the first time the Brazilian army has deployed in force on home soil since the World Cup in 2014, when soldiers helped to secure Rio de Janeiro against gang violence. The Olympic organizers have reassured athletes and guests that Zika will not pose a threat during the event.