Rio 2016 | Michael Phelps bids farewell with another gold; Mo Farah defends title on Day 8

08/14/2016

American swimmer Michael Phelps added one more gold to his kitty – fifth of the Rio Olympics and 23rd of his career – on day 8 of Rio Olympics to end the last race of his career on a high. British runner Mo Farah also dazzled on track, and won the 10000m race, despite a fall during the race.

On day 8 of the Olympic Games in Rio, fans anxiously waited for the wee hours to watch one of the greatest Olympians for the last time in the Games. Michael Phelps won his fifth gold of Rio Olympics and 23rd of his career in the 4x100m medley relay final to bid farewell on a high. The USA team comprising Phelps, Ryan Murphy, Cody Miller, and Nathan Adrian edged past Great Britain with a timing of 3:27.95, a new Olympic record, to take the gold, while Australia took the bronze.

On track, Mo Farah, who won gold in 5000m and 10000m at the 2012 London Olympics, became the first British track and field athlete to win three gold medals at Olympics by defending his title in the 10000m. The 33-year-old fell on the track after a collision with USA’s Galen Rupp on lap 10, but kept his composure to continue the race, and produced a trademark surge in the last 100 meters to take the gold with a timing of 27:05.17.

In tennis, Spain’s Rafael Nadal’s hopes of a winning a second gold at the Rio Olympics went up in smokes yesterday after Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, who knocked out Novak Djokovic in the first round, once again becoming the giant-killer. In a thrilling semi-final encounter, De Potro, who won a bronze four years ago, lost the first set 5-7, but produced an excellent comeback to stun the 2008 Olympic champion, winning the match 5-7, 6-4, 7-6. In the other semi-final, reigning champion Andy Murray remained on course to defend his title after defeating Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-1,6-4.

In the women’s singles, Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig defeated second seed Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to become the country’s first individual gold medallist in history. The 22-year-old, who is ranked 42nd in the world, had knocked out Grand Slam champions Garbiñe Muguruza and Petra Kvitova as well as 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the earlier rounds. Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova took the bronze medal in the event after defeating Madison Keys of the USA.

On day 8, the USA continued their dominance at the top of the medal tally and added three more golds to increase their tally to 24, while China is second with 13 golds. Great Britain is currently third in the table with 10 golds, followed by Germany at fourth and Japan at 5th.

Rio 2016 | Michael Phelps bids farewell with another gold; Mo Farah defends title on Day 8

Get updates! Follow us on

Comments

0 Comments