Allyson Felix became the first woman athlete with five gold medals as she powered the United States sprint relay team to victory just a day after they had been brought back from the Olympic dead. This race has gone to America six straight times. It was the fifth time the USA has secured the 4x400m double.
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Jamaica took silver and Britain the bronze. USC athletes have now earned 18 medals, including eight gold, at the Rio Games.
American J’den Michael Tbory Cox dominated Cuba’s Reineris Salas Perez to win a bronze medal in a women’s 86 kg wrestling match.
Felix hasn’t hinted at retirement yet, but she does turn 31 in November, so Friday night’s race very well could have been her last in Olympic competition. “Track and field is such a big part of my life. We each have had a rocky road here, a different journey, a unique experience and we just came together”, said Felix, whose team won gold from the highly unfavoured inside lane, with its tight corners.
Thompson won the 200 metres on Wednesday to add to the 100 title she took from Fraser-Pryce earlier in the week and allowing her a shot at matching Usain Bolt’s feat at the last two Olympics. In the 4x100m, the U.S. women had survived a scare in qualifying before appealing and running a solo lap against the clock to qualify for the final.
That setback left her scrambling to regain full fitness, ending her hopes of a 200m-400m double in Rio.
Allyson Felix of the United States celebrates as her team wins the Olympic 1,600-meter relay on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. The US had breezed through qualifying without Felix or Hastings. But the night’s biggest surprise came from Matthew Centrowitz, who shocked the field in a slow 1,500-meter final and became the first American to win gold in the “metric mile” since 1908.
“It’s every athlete’s dream but I can’t believe it”, the 33-year-old Farah said.
Gardner says that after Thursday night’s time trial for the relay, which advanced them into the final, she returned to the apartment she shared with her parents in Rio and never touched her spike bag.
Among the US gold medal winners on Friday was Elyria native Tianna (Madison) Bartoletta, who ran the first leg on the women’s 4×100 relay team.
Neymar scored in the 27th minute as Brazil took a 1-0 lead. Tony McQay made the difference for the U.S., running the second leg in 43.2 seconds after taking the baton from Arman Hall. With nine Olympic medals, Felix is the most decorated US woman in Olympic track and field history.
“We have an incredible team”.
“People are at home watching watching 2012, watching 2008”, said Felix, 30, who wrapped up her fourth Olympics and now has nine total medals. All three cleared the same height of 1.97m but Beitia had gone clear in all her attempts until all the top four contenders failed at 2m.
Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo won a silver medal after finishing in second place in the men’s 5,000-meter final.
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The United States extended a winning streak that begin in Atlanta in 1996. “We just kept fighting the whole way through”.
