8 August 2021 08:27 pm Views - 1232
By Shehan Daniel reporting from Tokyo, Japan
Three golds on the final day of the games pushed the United States to the top of the medals table, overtaking China who had led going into today's schedule of events, the third successive Olympics that the Americans finished on top.
The United States’ women’s basketball team added to the Men’s gold from Saturday albeit, with a more dominant display, beating hosts Japan 90-75 in the final today. Brittney Griner top scored with 30 points, making 14 of her 18 attempted field goals, to go with five rebounds and three assists.
The United States also won gold in the Women’s Volleyball final, beating Brazil 3-0. Serbia took bronze over the Republic of Korea with the same margin.
Jennifer Valente won the third gold for the United States in the Women’s Omnium Points Race over Japan’s Yumi Kajihara and Kirsten Wild.
Jason Kenny became the first athlete from Great Britain to win seven Olympic gold medals when he won the Men’s Keirin gold, ahead of Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia and Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands. Serbia won the final gold medal of the Games, beating Greece 13-10 in the Men’s Water Polo final, with Hungary besting Spain 9-5 to take bronze.
Hosts Japan won the most Olympics medals in its history with 27 golds; an improvement of 11 from its previous best haul.
Kigchoge marathon masterclass
Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge became just the third man to win back-to-back Olympic marathon gold on the final day of Tokyo 2020 today, the World Record holder winning by a margin of more than a minute.
Kipchoge could not beat his World Record from two years ago, but even with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 38 seconds, he finished a minute and 20 seconds ahead of Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands. Bashir Abdi won Belgium’s first medal in athletics in 45 years, taking bronze two seconds behind in a time of 2:10:22.
“I think I have fulfilled the legacy by winning the marathon for the second time, back-to-back. I hope now to help inspire the next generation,” the 36-year-old, who was also a World Champion in the 5000m in 2003, said after the race.