PARIS: The United States pipped China for top spot in the battle of medals on Sunday as Paris prepared to bring the curtain down on one of the most successful Olympic Games in history.

In a thrilling finale that capped 17 days of spellbinding action, the United States women’s basketball team squeezed past France 67-66 to clinch the last gold of the Games.

The win — the eighth consecutive Olympic women’s basketball won by the USA — ensured the Americans finished level with China on 40 golds each as the games drew to a close.

The USA however finished on top of the overall medal table with a total of 126 medals, with China in second place on 91.

MARATHON MAGIC

Sunday’s final day began with a gripping women’s marathon victory by the Netherlands’ long-distance running star Sifan Hassan.

Hassan had taken on what many considered to be a crazy gamble in Paris, competing in the 5,000m, the 10,000m and the marathon — the last two events just two days apart.

But in a jaw-dropping sprint finish, Hassan overhauled Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa to take gold by three seconds in an Olympic record of 2hr 22min 55sec.

On Friday she had taken bronze in the 10,000m after coming away with a bronze in the 5,000m.

She fell to the ground on the blue carpet in front of the golden dome of the Invalides memorial complex in the heart of Paris before grabbing a Dutch flag to celebrate an extraordinary achievement.

“It was not easy,” said Hassan, 31. “It was so hot, but I was feeling OK. I’ve never pushed myself through to the finish line as I did today.

“Every moment in the race I was regretting that I ran the 5,000m and 10,000m. I was telling myself if I hadn’t done that, I would feel great today.

“From the beginning to the end, it was so hard. Every step of the way. I was thinking, ‘Why did I do that? What is wrong with me?’

Wrestling, weightlifting, water polo, volleyball, modern pentathlon, handball, and track cycling were the other sports to crown Olympic champions on the last day.

Hungary’s Michelle Gulyas ran and shot to Olympic gold in the modern pentathlon, with home favourite Elodie Clouvel roared on to clinch silver.

In weightlifting, China’s jubilant Li Wenwen lifted her coach into the air instead of the bar, having already secured gold.

At the velodrome, Dutch star Harrie Lavreysen surged to the men’s keirin for his third gold of the Games, ending British dominance of the event they had won at every Olympics since 2008.

New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews blasted to the women’s sprint title to add to her keirin gold, while American cyclist Jennifer Valente won the women’s omnium.

In men’s water polo, Serbia won their third straight Olympic gold with a 13-11 victory over Croatia at La Defense Arena and pulled their coach into the pool in the celebrations.

In wrestling, Kotaro Kiyooka of Japan won the men’s 65kg freestyle gold, while Iran’s Rahman Amouzadkhalili took silver. Sebastian Rivera of Puerto Rico and Albania’s Islam Dudaev took bronze.

Bahrain’s Akhmed Tazhudinov won the 97kg gold leaving Georgia’s Givi Matcharashvili with the silver. Magomedkhan Magomedov of Azerbaijan and Iran’s Amirali Azarpira took bronze.

In the women’s 76kg, Japan’s Yuka Kagami won the gold while Kennedy Blades of the USA bagged silver. Milaimy Marin of Cuba and Tatiana Renteria of Colombia won bronze.

GLORY FOR WANYONYI, KERR

Late on Saturday, Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi held off one of the strongest fields in history to win the gold medal in the men’s 800 metres. Wanyonyi blazed to a time of one minute 41.19 seconds, making him the third fastest man ever over the distance.

Canada’s world champion Marco Arop finished one-hundredth of a second behind the Kenyan in 1:41.20. Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati crossed the line in 1:41.50 for bronze.

New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr won gold in the men’s high jump with a best effort of 2.36 metres after a long and gruelling final, securing his country’s first medal in the event.

Defending champion Mutaz Barshim of Qatar got the bronze with a season’s best 2.34, leading to a war of attrition between Kerr and American Shelby McEwen as they sparred for the gold.

American Masai Russell won the 100 metres hurdles title in a blanket finish, edging out home hope Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Tokyo champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.

Norways Jakob Ingebrigtsen bounced back from defeat in the 1,500 metres to win the 5,000 metres gold. Kenya’s Ronald Kwemoi took silver with American Grant Fisher adding a brilliant bronze.

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon won her third straight 1,500 metres gold, surging ahead of the pack to finish more than a second ahead of the field.

Australia’s Jessica Hull took silver and Britain’s Georgia Bell bronze.

The United States blazed to the gold medal in the women’s 4x400 metres relay, clocking three minutes 15.27 seconds, the second quickest time in history. The Netherlands had to settle for silver in 3:19.50. Britain claimed bronze in 3:19.

Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi crushed the women’s javelin on Saturday, taking the top of the podium with her first throw of 65.80 metres to give Japan its first gold medal in the event. South Africa’s Jo-Ane van Dyk and Czechia’s Nikola Ogrodnikova took silver and bronze, respectively, with their best throws of 63.93 and 63.68.

In the boxing events, Uzbekistan’s Razambek Jamalov won the men’s 74kg freestyle gold, while Japan’s Daichi Takatani claimed silver. Kyle Dake of the United States and Albania’s Chermen Valiev won bronze.

Geno Petriashvili of Georgia won the gold in the 125kg, while Iran’s Amir Hossein Zare took silver. Taha Akgul of Turkey and Giorgi Meshvildishvil of Azerbaijan won bronze.

Sakura Motoki of Japan won the women’s 62kg gold, while Ukraine’s Iryna Koliadenko settled for silver. Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan and Grace Bullen of Norway took bronze.

Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting beat Julia Szeremeta of Poland by unanimous decision to claim the gold medal in women’s featherweight

Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia won the gold medal in the men’s over 102kg weightlifting event. Varazdat Lalayan of Armenia took silver and Gor Minasyan of Bahrain claimed the bronze.

Iran’s Arian Salimi won the gold medal in the men’s taekwondo heavyweight (+80kg) division on Saturday, beating Britain’s Caden Cunningham who claimed silver. Cuba’s Rafael Alba and Ivory Coast’s Cheick Sallah Cisse won the bronze medals.

France’s Althea Laurin won the gold medal in the women’s taekwondo heavyweight (+67kg) divisioN, beating Uzbekistan’s Svetlana Osipova who claimed silver. South Korea’s Lee Da-bin and Turkey’s Nafia Kus Aydin won the bronze medals.

The United States claimed their fifth consecutive title in men’s basketball by beating France 98-87 on Saturday. Serbia beat Germany to clinch bronze.

Final medals table

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

US 40 44 42 126

China 40 27 24 91

Japan 20 12 13 45

Australia 18 19 16 53

France 16 26 22 64

Netherlands 15 7 12 34

Great Britain 14 22 29 65

South Korea 13 9 10 32

Italy 12 13 15 40

Germany 12 13 8 33

New Zealand 10 7 3 20

Canada 9 7 11 27

Uzbekistan 8 2 3 13

Hungary 6 7 6 19

Spain 5 4 9 18

Sweden 4 4 3 11

Kenya 4 2 5 11

Norway 4 1 3 8

Ireland 4 0 3 7

Brazil 3 7 10 20

Iran 3 6 3 12

Ukraine 3 5 4 12

Romania 3 4 2 9

Georgia 3 3 1 7

Belgium 3 1 6 10

Bulgaria 3 1 3 7

Serbia 3 1 1 5

Czech Republic 3 0 2 5

Denmark 2 2 5 9

Azerbaijan 2 2 3 7

Croatia 2 2 3 7

Cuba 2 1 6 9

Bahrain 2 1 1 4

Slovenia 2 1 0 3

Taiwan 2 0 5 7

Austria 2 0 3 5

Hong Kong 2 0 2 4

Philippines 2 0 2 4

Algeria 2 0 1 3

Indonesia 2 0 1 3

Israel 1 5 1 7

Poland 1 4 5 10

Kazakhstan 1 3 3 7

Jamaica 1 3 2 6

South Africa 1 3 2 6

Thailand 1 3 2 6

Ethiopia 1 3 0 4

Switzerland 1 2 5 8

Ecuador 1 2 2 5

Portugal 1 2 1 4

Greece 1 1 6 8

Argentina 1 1 1 3

Egypt 1 1 1 3

Tunisia 1 1 1 3

Botswana 1 1 0 2

Chile 1 1 0 2

Saint Lucia 1 1 0 2

Uganda 1 1 0 2

Dominican Republic 1 0 2 3

Guatemala 1 0 1 2

Morocco 1 0 1 2

Dominica 1 0 0 1

Pakistan 1 0 0 1

Turkey 0 3 5 8

Mexico 0 3 2 5

Armenia 0 3 1 4

Colombia 0 3 1 4

Kyrgyzstan 0 2 4 6

North Korea 0 2 4 6

Lithuania 0 2 2 4

India 0 1 5 6

Moldova 0 1 3 4

Kosovo 0 1 1 2

Cyprus 0 1 0 1

Fiji 0 1 0 1

Jordan 0 1 0 1

Mongolia 0 1 0 1

Panama 0 1 0 1

Tajikistan 0 0 3 3

Albania 0 0 2 2

Grenada 0 0 2 2

Malaysia 0 0 2 2

Puerto Rico 0 0 2 2

Ivory Coast 0 0 1 1

Cape Verde 0 0 1 1

Refugee 0 0 1 1

Peru 0 0 1 1

Qatar 0 0 1 1

Singapore 0 0 1 1

Slovakia 0 0 1 1

Zambia 0 0 1 1

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2024