Brazil finished with a flourish as they beat Italy 3-0 to win the men’s title in volleyball, one of the country’s most popular sports, a day after Neymar guided the hosts to football gold.
Advertisement
Michael Phelps also capped his Olympic career in Rio, adding five gold medals to take his career haul to 23 – plus a silver, after his loss to Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, a former childhood fan of the USA swimmer.
RIO DE JANEIRO – Red-hot favorite Eliud Kipchoge stormed to a runaway gold medal in a wet men’s marathon Sunday, the final day of competition at the Rio Olympics.
Semenya decimated the field in the 800m final, capturing the gold medal in 1:55.28, a national record for her nation while Niyonsaba finished 1.21 seconds behind after a blistering final sprint to claim a silver medal.
Kipchoge, 31, has an idea about the American’s potential: “I expect Rupp to run the fastest time ever in the marathon”, he told NBC.
Ward, who finished third at the Olympic Marathon Trials, already likes what he has seen from Rupp.
“It was a bit slow so I chose to take over”.
He timed 2hr 8min 44sec on a rainy but picturesque course that snaked below Rio’s mountain-top Christ the Redeemer statue, winning by more than a minute.
American men won five marathon medals in the early years of the 20th century, but since 1908 there have been only four: Frank Shorter (gold in 1972, silver in 1976), Meb Keflezighi (silver, 2004) and now Rupp. “I was still stubborn, wanted to be a track runner and thought I could do both”.
Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya sloshed his way to the gold medal in the men’s Olympic marathon as Rio de Janeiro began its grand goodbye to the 2016 Games in clammy conditions that did nothing to dampen Brazil’s frenzied mood.
Kipchoge had won a bronze medal and silver medal in the 5,000 meters at the Athens and Beijing Games, respectively. “But by the time I started thinking about attacking him, the other half would say, ‘Just hang on.’ It hit me really hard”.
Keflezighi said his tears were the best expression of how he felt. I feel blessed to represent our country.
Rupp tipped his hat to the victorious Kenyan.
“The Ethiopian government is killing my people so I stand with all protests anywhere as Oromo is my tribe”, Lilesa said. “If not kill me, they will put me in prison”. According to Human Rights Watch, security forces have killed more than 400 people and injured thousands in the country’s largest region of Oromia.
“I’ve won a lot of races but I don’t have a nationality to participate at the Olympic Games or European championships”. The 21-year-old Flint, Michigan, native thumped Dutch fighter Nouchka Fontijn in convincing fashion to wrap up back-to-back middleweight gold medals.
Advertisement
“If you talk about this one it’s very risky”, Lilesa said.
