The message from the Queen, who is on her summer break in Balmoral, read: “I offer my warmest congratulations to the athletes of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Commonwealth for their success at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro”.
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In the last of 306 medal ceremonies, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach draped the gold around the neck of Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, victor of the men’s marathon earlier in the day.
The Rio Olympics closes with a colorful festival of Brazilian culture and music with bursts of spectacular fireworks. She became the first female track-and-field athlete with six career gold medals after posting wins in the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relay teams.
She’s the second American gymnast to carry the flag in an opening or closing ceremony after Alfred Jochim marched with the American flag during opening ceremonies at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, according to The Huffington Post.
A blustery storm swept in before the start of the closing ceremonies at Maracana Stadium, where Rio de Janeiro handed the torch to Tokyo, host of the 2020 Games.
“London 2012 will always be the greatest modern Olympics but the medal haul we have come away with is out of this world”, Rutherford told the One Show. In between these two achievements came Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s third consecutive gold medal win in the men’s 100m.
The United States topped the medal standings, matching their 46 golds from London four years ago ahead of Britain, who sealed a surprise second place ahead of China with 27 golds to 26. Mr Farah admitted he would be thrilled to receive a knighthood after his “double double” success in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres race at the games in Rio. That ignited further security concerns after a series of assaults against government ministers, athletes and tourists.
Scandal also struck during the Games as police seized passports, phones and computers in a raid on the Irish Olympic office, following the arrest of Irish International Olympic Committee member and European Olympic chief Patrick Hickey over an alleged black-market tickets scam. The United States were top.
“Even the sporting superpowers haven’t done that in the past but we are one of those now”.
Host country Brazil copped 19 medals and Jamaica had the best performance of the English-speaking Caribbean with 11 medals in total, 6 of which were gold.
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Mo Farah, who was given a CBE after his London 2012 success, has admitted he would be thrilled to receive a knighthood after his “double double” triumph in Rio, with other stars also expected to be honoured. An impeachment vote in coming days could lead to the permanent ouster of suspended President Dilma Rousseff.
