Golf returned to the Olympic Games in 2016, when Rio de Janeiro hosted the sport’s first Olympic competition since 1904. The 2016 Games marked a 112-year gap between Olympic golf appearances.
The International Olympic Committee voted in 2009 to reinstate golf for the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. Supporters argued that golf’s worldwide popularity and growing international participation made it suitable for the modern Games.
Rio featured separate men’s and women’s individual tournaments, both played over 72 holes of stroke play at the Olympic Golf Course in the Reserva de Marapendi. Great Britain’s Justin Rose won the men’s gold medal, while South Korea’s Inbee Park won the women’s event.
A common mix-up is 2020: golf also appeared at the Tokyo Olympics, but 2016 was the year of its return. Golf had previously been played at the 1900 Paris Olympics and the 1904 St. Louis Olympics before disappearing from the program.