Year in World Records – August: Prolific Olympians, Stunning spray paint murals, and an incredible Batman suit

With a year packed full of amazing world record achievements drawing to a close, Guinness World Records is taking a month-by-month look back over the most impressive, exciting and game-changing accomplishments that have happened in 2016.

 

August was one of the most exciting and eventful months of the year, showcasing the many record holders of Rio 2016 Olympics, accomplishments of famous celebrities, and an insanely cool army of dancing robots. 

 

 

No surprise that prolific swimmer Michael Phelps was the talk of August. 

 

 

Rumoured to retire after the 2016 Olympics, many anticipated what records he would achieve as he appeared on the sporting world's biggest stage one final time. 

 

Defying expectations, Phelps furthered several of his records, including: Most Olympic medals won and Most medals won at the Olympics for swimming (male) at 28. 

 

He also upped his record for Most gold medals won at the Olympics (male), with a shining 23 gold medals. 

 

 

Speeding through 2016 was legendary sprinter Usain Bolt, who set a record for the Most consecutive gold medals won in the 100 metre (male) after coming first in the race for the third time in a row.  

 

 

However, record breaking athletes weren’t the only stars of Rio 2016. Fantastic Brazilian artist, Kobra, worked with other spray can gurus to accomplish the Largest spray paint mural by a team.

 

In a colourful and vibrant stretch along the street unofficially known as “Olympic Boulevard”, five indigenous faces of tribal people from differing continents watched pedestrians over a 560-foot wall.

 

 

After using 180 buckets of acrylic paint, 2,800 cans of spray paint, and 7 hydraulic lifts to finish the piece, he finished the incredible piece to show that everyone is united and connected. 

 

 

In mid-August, the world said goodbye to Pramukh Swami Maharaj, founder of the world’s Largest Hindu temple. 

 

 

Passing at the age of 95, his holiness’ greatest feat was the 356 ft long, 316 ft wide and 141 ft high ancient-styled BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi, India a, which was built within five years by 11,000 artisans. 

 

 

Awe-inspiring, it was entirely made from stone, without use of any structural steel. 

 

Though saddened by the loss of the guru, he served as an uplifting figure for many millions of people and will be remembered for the outstanding temples he created. 

 

 

It might look like a robot invasion, but really, the clip below shows the Qingdao Beer Festival in Shandong, China. 

 

At the festival, 1,007 mobile-controlled robots named QRC-2 danced a full minute to achieve the title Most robots dancing simultaneously. 

 

 

 

In the music industry, Justin Bieber and the Weeknd made major headlines with their awesome record titles featuring in the Guinness World Records 2017 edition. 

 

The Weeknd, earned the title for Most consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 by a solo male artist after his music spent 45 weeks at the top of the charts. He also achieved Most streamed album on Spotify in one year, current (unique listeners), with 60 million listeners for the album Beauty Behind the Madness. 

 

 

Elsewhere, pop sensation Justin Bieber wracked up an unbelievable eight titles for this year alone, including: 

 

•Most streamed track on Spotify in one week for “What Do You Mean?”

• Most streamed album on Spotify in one week for “Purpose” 

• Most followers on twitter (male) - 85,235,563 followers

• Most viewed music channel on YouTube (individual) with 10,478,651,389 

• Most subscribers on YouTube for a musician (male) with 20,711,202 subscribers 

 

 

The singer retweeted the news on his page, spreading the amazing news like wildfire amongst his passionate fans. 

  

 

Ending our round-up of records in August, is this amazing cosplay suit owned by Julian Checkley. 

 

Batman fans saw their dreams come true as Guinness World Records announced the highlighted title of the 2017 Gamer’s Edition, Most functional gadgets on a cos-play suit.  

 

 

 

Compiled of 23 functioning gadgets, it was one of the most realistic superhero memorabilia records in our archives.