Brazil’s Neymar celebrates after scoring the decisive penalty kick during the final match of the men’s Olympic football tournament between Brazil and Germany at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday Aug. 20, .
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United States’ Courtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis and Allyson Felix hold a sign and wear their nation’s flag after winning the gold in the women’s 4×400 meter relay during athletics competitions at the Summer Olym. Sergio Rodriguez made two free throws with 5.4 seconds left and the Spaniards, who captured silver in 2008 at Beijing and the London Games, got the defensive stop they needed.
“This experience has been the dream of a lifetime for me”, said US gymnast and closing ceremony flagbearer Simone Biles, who won five medals, four of them gold, in her first Olympics.
It was the final game with the national team for Mike Krzyzewski, who took the Americans back to the top and leaves with them there after becoming the first coach to win three Olympic gold medals.
For the fourth consecutive games, US swimmer Michael Phelps left with more medals than anyone else.
The second half was a predictable in-game party for the Americans, with Durant cleared to serve as head cheerleader at the end and the lead stretching as high as 41 points, all of which banished the memories of those nervy three single-digit victories in their first seven games here.
The Americans haven’t lost since, winning 25 straight in the Olympics.
However, Anthony’s most significant mark in Rio may have come when he visited the city’s favelas, blighted areas he compared to Baltimore’s inner city of his youth.
The previous record for USA medals at a fully attended Olympics was 110, set at Beijing eight years ago. The rout was on and allows Team USA to fly home Sunday with an average victory margin of 22.5 for the tournament. Serbia on the other hand, try to replicate the same gameplan they use during the pool play, which failed as foul trouble cause them to play catch up.
But Blackmun was thrilled by the results, and he wasn’t the only one leaving Rio happy. China had the second most total medals with 70.
The team also won gold medals in synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics and judo.
“The atmosphere at the GB house has been fantastic in the village”, said Mo Farah, who won gold for Britain in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races to match the feat he pulled off at London in 2012.
Bahamas tops the medal tally per population with one per 388,000.
Update: Kenya’s Kipchoge takes gold, Ethiopias Lilesa takes silver and the USA’s Rupp wins bronze in the men’s marathon.
“We came here and despite what people are saying about this group, being less talented and not blowing teams out, we did a good job of bottling all that up and unleashed it on Serbia”, forward Paul George said.
The Russians and the Chinese probably didn’t feel the same.
In Sunday’s gold medal game, Serbia actually led for most of the first quarter, indicative of the U.S.’s struggles throughout the tournament. Efimova has twice been banned.
“I don’t think I can explain how I feel right at this moment”, he said, later adding he will retire as an Olympian. “It was like war”.
“I know there was kind of a lot of buzz around us not playing well a couple of games, two, three games in the early round”, Carmelo Anthony said, “but the way that we locked in and the way that we focused in to be able to have this gold medal around our necks was special”.
It was by now an exhibition, underlined by DeMar DeRozan’s breath-taking alley-oop, as the United States’ men won a 15th basketball gold.
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And 10 teams – including the independent team – won their first golds, including Monica Puig in women’s tennis for Puerto Rico. “The more interest in basketball on all levels, I’m for”. “It’s his passion for the country and his love for the game, that’s all that it comes down to”.
