LONDON, Aug 11: Long-distance dynamo Mohamed Farah sparked widespread British joy when he completed the Olympic distance double by winning the 5,000m title on Saturday.

Meanwhile, David Svoboda of Czech Republic won the men's modern pentathlon and Russian Yelena Lashmanova set a world record time enroute to winning gold in the women's 20km walk on a beautiful second-last day at the Games.

The gorgeous weather on Saturday — temperatures in the mid-20s Celsius made Britain and its resilient citizens forget about the near-continuous rain that plagued the lead-up to the Games.

And fittingly, Farah added to their delight.

Farah timed 13min 41.66sec to deafening cheers at the Olympic Stadium, a week after winning gold in the 10,000 with Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel taking silver in 13:41.98, while Kenya's Thomas Longosiwa claimed bronze (13:42.36).

His victory made him only the seventh man in history to win both the 5,000m and 10,000m events at the same Olympics.

Farah’s victory brought the hosts’ 27 gold medal at the Games as they stayed on third place in the gold medal race behind the United States (41) and China (37).

Svoboda, who won the European championship two years ago, stormed to an early lead after equalling the Olympic fencing points record but slipped into second behind Cao after struggling in his swimming heat.

But a cleaner result in the riding than his Chinese rival put the 27-year-old first going into the final event, where he proved the stronger runner, crossing the finish line six seconds ahead of Cao to set an Olympic record of 5,928 points.

Earlier, a late surge by 20-year-old Lashmanova, who finished in a world record time of 1:25.02, saw her pass compatriot and 2008 champion Olga Kaniskina, who took the silver seven seconds behind. China's Qieyang Shenjie set an Asian record in taking bronze (1:25.16). Qieyang is the first Tibetan athlete China has ever fielded in the Games.

Politics also crashed the party on the penultimate day of the Games when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) called for a South Korean football player to be banned from collecting his bronze medal after he held up a poster referring to his country's long-running territorial dispute with Japan.

The IOC said it has opened its own investigation into the South Korea national flag paraded after Friday's match. It carried a slogan supporting Korean sovereignty of islets which are disputed territory between it and Japan.

In sailing, Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega and Sofia Toro of Spain won gold in women's match racing in the best-of-five final over Australia.

There was more Spanish celebration when they beat South Korea 31-29 after two periods of extra-time to win bronze in women’s handball.

Australia's men scored a deserved 3-1 win over Great Britain which earned them the hockey bronze medal and extended their Olym-pic medal-winning sequence to six, the longest of any country.

Their exploits at the Riverbank Arena were followed by their female compatriots at the North Greenwich Arena when they defeated Russia 83-74 to clinch bronze in women’s basketball with the victory extending their medals streak to five consecutive Olympics in the sport.

At the Excel Arena, Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan won the men's 60kg freestyle wrestling gold, defeating world champion Besik Kudukhov of Russia in the final while India's Yogeshwar Dutt and Coleman Scott of the US won bronze.

Azerbaijan then rounded off a golden day when Sharif Sharifov won the 84kg wrestling crown.—Agencies