Tokyo Olympics LIVE: Games brought to an end in closing ceremony as Paris 2024 welcomes handover
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Your support makes all the difference.As the Tokyo Olympics comes to an end, the 16th and final day of the Games has not been without its drama. With two late golds, Team GB have now equalled their medal tally of 65 from the home Games of London 2012, and the USA have overtaken China at the top of the table.
Cyclist Jason Kenny won Team GB’s first gold of the day with an extraordinary performance in the keirin final. He started at the front and saw a gap, tearing away with more than three laps to go – and the chasing pack simply couldn’t keep up. It makes him the most decorated Briton in Olympic history, with an unmatched seven gold medals.
Hopes were also high for Laura Kenny, who was looking to wrap up her Games with a second gold in Tokyo in the women’s omnium. The reigning champion was initially leading the race before she suffered an early blow after being involved in a huge crash in the opening scratch race. She was able to ride on but unable to climb back up the leaderboard, with Team USA’s Jennifer Valente eventually claiming gold.
In the boxing, Lauren Price has also taken gold for Team GB in her women’s middleweight final against China’s Li Qian at the Kokugikan Arena. It denies China the opportunity to match Team USA on 39 golds – with the Americans winning both the women’s basketball and volleyball today.
Earlier, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge won the final athletics event of Tokyo 2020 with a commanding performance in the men’s marathon in Sapporo, winning his second straight gold medal after the Rio marathon and cementing his place among the all-time greats of the sport.
Follow all the latest news, results and medals below.
Tokyo Olympics: Team USA win first gold in women's volleyball
Team USA have beaten Brazil in the women’s volleyball final, winning their first-ever gold. Brazil will take silver while Serbia beat South Korea to take bronze.
Tokyo Olympics: Hungary clinches bronze in water polo
Hungary have beaten Spain 9-5 in the third place play-off to win bronze in the water polo. Greece and Serbia will compete in the final to win gold.
Tokyo Olympics: Team USA miss out on gold to Cuba in men's lightweight boxing
Andy Cruz of Cuba has won gold in the men’s lightweight final after winning a split decision of 4-1 in the match against USA’s Keyshawn Davis. While Davis claimed the second round unanimously, the Cuban national claimed the top place on the podium after winning the third round.
Tokyo Olympics: Ireland take gold in women’s lightweight boxing
Kellie Harrington has won boxing gold for Ireland, defeating Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira in the women’s lightweight category. Ferreira takes silver, with losing semi-finalists Mira Potkonen of Finland and Sudaporn Seesondee of Thailand both getting bronze medals.
Tokyo Olympics: Kipchoge wins back-to-back Olympic marathons
In case you are just joining us and missed it this morning, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya successfully defended his Olympic marathon title with a commanding performance in Sapporo for the final athletics event of the Tokyo Games.
The 36-year-old, running in his fourth Olympics, crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 38 seconds, finishing the race more than 80 seconds ahead of second-placed Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands. Bashir Abdi of Belgium earned bronze.
Kipchoge has won a medal of every colour and at every Games he has attended, taking a bronze home from Athens 2004 and winning 5,000m silver in Beijing 2008. He failed to make Kenya’s track team for London 2012 and switched to the road, winning the marathon gold in Rio.
Tokyo Olympics: Laura Kenny on finishing sixth in omnium
Laura Kenny spoke to the BBC track-side moments after finishing sixth in the women’s omnium, and event she went into with huge expectation on her shoulders.
Describing the moment she crashed out in the scratch race, the first event, she said: “I hit them so fast. I was just about to come over (the group) and then ‘bam’. I literally had nowhere to go.
“And then yeah, like you say, I just had a mountain to climb (in the remaining races).
“[In] the tempo race I just rode off adrenalin, and then we only had 20 minutes. And when I got into the elimination race I couldn’t have felt further away from me if I tried. When we took off I just felt really tired, instantly, and I just thought ‘this is bad’.
“I always ride on the inside when my legs are hurting, even though [I’m telling myself] I’m in the worst place. But you can’t do anything, because in my head I’m just thinking ‘make it easy’.
“And then in the points race I had nothing to lose…”
Laura Kenny still takes home a gold and a silver medal from Tokyo after winning the madison on Friday with Katie Archibald and coming second in the team pursuit.
Reflecting on the Games as a whole, she said: “To be honest I think I was done after the madison.
“You just hit such a high, and that really was the race that we targeted. We put so much work into that, and because we did win I could just go ‘job done’.
“To then refocus and come into the omnium where you are on your own, you don’t have any teammates with you… Yeah it just wasn’t to be.”
Asked for her reaction to husband Jason Kenny winning his historic seventh gold medal moments before the start of her final omnium event, Laura said: “The amount of people who came up to me afterwards and was like: ‘I’d have counted him out of this,’ and to be honest so had I.
“I was speaking to him last night and he was like: ‘I just want to go home’. Then obviously when he won, it’s just typical Jason that.”
Tokyo Olympics: Bulgaria claim gold in rhythmic gymnastics
Bulgaria, the 2016 Olympic bronze medallists, have won their first-ever gold in the rhythmic gymnastics team event, causing a major upset to the favourites Russia. Russian Olympic Committee have to settle for silver.
Italy take the third spot, winning bronze.
Tokyo Olympics: US win gold in women's basketball
Two golds in moments for Team USA as they also win the women’s basketball finals, making them the Olympics champions for the seventh time in a row after they beat Japan 90-75. Earlier on Saturday, France took the bronze medal after defeating Serbia in the third-place match.
Tokyo Olympics: Team USA win cycling gold with women's omnium
Jennifer Valente of the USA has won gold in the women’s omnium, while Japan’s Yumi Kajiahara took the silver. Kirsten Wild of the Netherlands won bronze after scoring the third-highest tally on the points board.
Meanwhile, Team GB’s Laura Kenny climbed up to the sixth spot in the final race.
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