Laos at the 2016 Summer Olympics Laos at the 2016 Summer Olympics Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's ninth appearance at the Summer Olympics, having attended all games since 1980 with the exception of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, because of its support of the Soviet boycott. Six athletes, four men and two women, were selected to the Laotian team through universality places and Tripartite Commission invitations across four sports, without having qualified. Apart from athletics and swimming, Laos marked its Olympic
Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics two-time Olympic champions from East Germany in the men's 8 twice at the Lucerne pre-olympic regatta. Steve Redgrave won his first of five consecutive gold medals. Elisabeta Oleniuc, later known as Elisabeta Lipă, also won her first gold medal. Twenty years later she won her fifth gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The quadruple sculls events, as in 1976 and 1980, were again held without coxswain for men and with coxswain for women. Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics featured 14 events in total, for both men and women. Events were