Tola wins marathon as China sweeps diving, TT golds

CHINA’S contestants in action during the rhythmic gymnastics’ group all-around final at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena on Saturday.—AFP

PARIS: Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola broke the Olympic record to win the men’s marathon on Saturday as China completed an unprecedented clean sweep of all eight diving medals and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko upgraded to a gold in the women’s golf.

Tola dominated the marathon on the sun-drenched streets from central Paris to Versailles as Eliud Kipchoge’s bid for a third straight gold went up in smoke.

The 22-year-old delivered a masterclass in solo front running to clock a time of 2hr 06min 26sec, 21 seconds clear of Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, the bronze medallist from Tokyo, with Kenya’s Benson Kipruto taking bronze.

“I’m happy today. I was 2022 world champion and now I’m Olympic champion,” said Tola. “It’s the greatest day in my life. This was my goal.”

Former world record holder Kipchoge, the 39-year-old Kenyan who won golds in the 2016 Rio Games and in Tokyo in 2021, pulled up late in the race.

Kipchoge turned to fans and handed over his shoes, bib and socks to supporters, receiving a rapturous reception.

Later on Saturday, China underlined their total domination of Olympic diving by winning their eighth gold out of eight events, as Cao Yuan triumphed in the men’s 10m platform.

The diving powerhouse went one better than at the Tokyo Games three years ago when they claimed seven of the eight golds.

Defending champion Cao was a class above his rivals. He finished on 547.50 points, with Japan’s Rikuto Tamai on 507.65 to claim silver and Briton Noah Williams (497.35) the bronze medal.

The Chinese also swept the board in the table tennis for the sixth time in Olympic history, with China’s women overpowering Japan in the team event and compensating for the disappointment of missing out in Tokyo.

TAMIRAT Tola of Ethiopia competes on his way to winning the men’s marathon on Saturday.—Reuters

China has now won 37 of the 42 golds since table tennis was introduced to the Summer Olympics in 1988.

In a repeat of the team event final three years ago in Tokyo, China faced Japan once again and triumphed 3-0, this time overcoming greater resistance and showcasing their comeback prowess in key moments.

Awarded 69.800 points in total at the Port de La Chapelle Arena, China also won the gold in the rhythmic gymnastics group all-around final in a sport that has for decades been dominated by eastern European countries, mainly Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Another Chinese victory came when world champion Liu Huanhua put in a superb performance to win the 102kg weightlifting title with a total of 406kg — 7kg short of his own world record.

KO COMPLETES

MEDAL SET

At Le Golf National, New Zealander Ko completed the set of Olympic golf medals during a tense final round, with Germany’s Esther Henseleit finishing two shots behind.

The former world number one won silver at the 2016 Rio Games and bronze in Tokyo.

Also on Saturday, France beat the world number one ranked side Poland 3-0 to win the men’s volleyball gold, defending their title from the Tokyo Games but this time on home soil inside a rocking South Paris Arena 1.

But Norway denied another home celebration when they overcame a hostile home crowd to beat France 29-21 in the women’s handball final at the Pierre Mauroy stadium.

Spain celebrated their first gold medal in women’s water polo by fending off Australia 11-9 to erase galling defeats in finals at the Tokyo and London 2012 Games.

It was third time lucky for Spain, three years after being trounced 14-5 in Tokyo and 8-5 in London by the United States, who also won the title in 2016.

“We weren’t settling for another silver, we wanted the gold,” Spain wing Anni Espar told reporters. “We fought and finally achieved (it). I’m grateful for being able to live this.”

PEERLESS CARRINGTON

At the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington completed a stunning clean sweep of gold medals by winning the women’s kayak single 500 metres title in her third and final competition, adding to the golds she won in the kayak four and double events.

Saturday’s triumph was Carrington’s eighth Games gold, making her by far the most successful Olympian.

In the men’s kayak single 1000m race, Josef Dostal of the Czech Republic pulled off an incredible victory, holding off the strong late challenge of silver medallist Hungary’s Adam Varga and Balint Kopasz, who won gold in Tokyo but had to be content with bronze in Paris.

In the final race of the Olympic regatta, Canada’s Katie Vincent won the women’s 200m canoe single race by one-hundredth of a second from American Nevin Harrison, with Cubas Cirilo Duboys picking up the bronze.

At a sold-out Le Bourget, Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret drew raucous cheers from the crowd as she took another big step to cementing her status as the world’s greatest sport climber by battling her way to a back-to-back Olympic titles with a victory in the boulder and lead event.

KHELIF WINS GOLD

In Friday’s late action, boxer Imane Khelif defied a major gender controversy to win gold in front of a roaring crowd that rallied round the Algerian as the United States’ star sprinters flew and then flopped on the track.

Khelif, 25, claimed a unanimous points decision win over China’s Yang Liu in the women’s 66kg final for her first Olympic medal.

“I’m very happy. For eight years this has been my dream and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medallist,” said Khelif. “I’ve worked for eight years, no sleep, eight years tired.”

Khelif, along with Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, was disqualified from last year’s world championships after failing gender eligibility testing.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which runs the sport in Paris, however, insist the two fighters were born and raised as women, and have passports saying that.

“I want to thank all the people who have come to support me,” said Khelif, after the final at Roland Garros, the home of French tennis. “All the people from Algeria and all the people at my base. I want to thank all the team, my coach. Thank you so much.”

US TRIUMPH AND TRIBULATION

On the track at the Stade de France, US sprint superstar Sha’Carri Richardson made up for her silver in the individual 100m with a gold-winning anchor run in the 4x100m relay.

Richardson turned on the afterburners to overhaul Britain, Germany and France in the home straight as the US quartet took gold in a season’s best time of 41.78sec.

But the US men again failed in their bid to win their first 4x100m gold since Sydney in 2000 with a disastrous baton fumble.

Already missing 100m individual champion Noah Lyles through Covid, a botched baton change completely slowed the US momentum, allowing Canada to snatch gold ahead of South Africa and Britain.

Elsewhere on the track, Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet surged to the Olympic women’s 10,000 metres gold medal to add to her 5,000 title at the Games while Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam won her third successive Olympic heptathlon gold medal.

American Rai Benjamin outstripped Norwegian arch-rival and defending champion Karsten Warholm to win the 400m hurdles.

Spain’s Jordan Diaz won gold in the men’s triple jump leading a podium consisting of three Cuban-born men.

BREAKOUT STAR

Japan’s Ami Yuasa won a battle with Lithuania’s Dominika Banevic to dance her way to the first Olympic gold medal ever awarded for breaking.

Yuasa, known as B-Girl Ami, immediately broke out an impressive air flair to start the final and laid down a series of halos to seal the 3-0 win over B-Girl Nicka and bring the crowd at La Concorde to their feet.

Medals table

(Tabulated under country, gold, silver, bronze and total)

China 37 27 24 88

USA 35 41 40 116

Australia 18 17 14 49

Japan 16 11 13 40

France 15 22 22 59

Great Britain 14 20 24 58

South Korea 13 8 8 29

Netherlands 13 6 11 30

Germany 12 10 8 30

Italy 11 13 15 39