By Armstrong Vas

Rio de Janeiro: A record number of 38 athletes, including Olympic bronze medalists Nasser Al Attiyah and Mutaz Barshim, are leading lead Qatar challenge at the Rio Olympics which began with an impressive ceremony at the Maracana Stadium yesterday.

Qatar has sent its biggest athlete delegation in its Games"; history, since its participation in the Los Angeles Games in 1984 — more than triple the number sent to London in 2012.

Yesterday, the Qatari flag was hoisted at the Olympic Village.

H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President, Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and Head of the Qatari mission to the Games, attended the ceremony, which marks the official entry of the Qatari mission to the village.

QOC Secretary-General Dr. Thani bin Abdulrahman Al Kuwari, Mohamed Issa Al Fadala, Head of the administrative delegation of the Qatari Olympic mission, federation presidents, executives and Qatari athletes were present.

This is the eighth Olympics at which Qatar has competed and there is expectation that the country can land its first gold medal.

Possibly the biggest hope is high jumper Mutaz Barshim, who won bronze in London and earlier this year claimed his fourth Asian Indoor Athletics Championships at 24.

Another gold medal prospect is the handball team, which took silver at the world championships last year, losing out to France in the final in addition to Al Attiyah, a former world rally champion who won bronze at the men";s skeet, a shooting event, in 2012.

Qatar has also taken two women athletes to Rio.

Nada Arakji, the first Qatari woman to compete in the Olympics when she swam in the 50m freestyle four years ago, will compete in the 100m butterfly and Dalal Al Harthi will compete in the women";s 400m.

In 2012, Arakji and three other female athletes made history as it was the first time Qatar had sent women to compete in the games.

Qatar";s participation in the games starts today with the qualifiers of swimming, table tennis, boxing, volleyball and beach volleyball.

Qatar has won four Olympic bronze medals.

Athletes from 206 nations and a refugee team are in Brazil to compete in 28 sporting events and be watched by a global audience of billions.

The build-up has been dominated by a Russian doping scandal, the Zika virus and issues with the city";s security, infrastructure and venues. These are the Games of the 31st Olympiad but are the 28th to be held as those in 1916, 1940 and 1944 did not take place because of World War I and II.

There are about 10,500 athletes from a record 207 teams competing in Rio, including a Refugee Olympic Team. Kosovo and South Sudan are taking part for the first time.

The Refugee Olympic Team will compete under the Olympic flag and has 10 members — five from South Sudan, two from Syria, two from DR Congo and one from Ethiopia.

With 554 athletes, the US has the largest team, but 100m runner Etimoni Timuani is the only athlete from the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu.

The Rio Games will be the first to feature Olympians born since 2000 — and the youngest is 13-year-old Nepalese swimmer Gaurika Singh.

Brazil has drafted 85,000 security personnel from 55 countries to be stationed at the sport venues, Olympic Village, airports and main roads — almost twice as many at the 2012 London Olympics.

The Peninsula