Track and Field: The day’s proceedings was dominated by the men’s 200m final. Could Usain Bolt add the 200m to his 100m gold? Yes he could, as he led home a 1-2-3 for Jamaica.
Bolt set a season best to cross the line first ahead of compatriot Yohan Blake who also set a season’s best,with Warren Weir trailing home for bronze with a personal best. With his victory, Bolt became the first man to successfully defend both the 100m and 200m Olympic titles.
In the day’s other big final, there was a new world record set in the 800m by Kenya’s David Rudisha. He let home the field from Botswana’s Nijel Amos and Kenya’s Timothy Kitum. All eight athletes in the race set either a personal best or national record.
In the men’s triple jump there was gold and silver for the USA, with Christian Taylor setting a seasons best jump of 17.81 metres to take the gold ahead of Will Claye.
Italy’s Fabrizio Donato took bronze. In the women’s javelin final, the Czech Republic’s Barbora Spotakova took gold with a season’s best effort of 69.55 metres, with Germany’s Christina Obergfoll and Linda Stahl taking silver and gold respectively.
The men’s Decathlon drew to a close on Thursday with America’s Ashton Eaton taking gold medal ahead of his compatriot Trey Hardee. Cuba’s Leonel Suarez took bronze.
Basketball: There will be a USA v France showdown for the gold medal in the women’s basketball event. The USA edged out a solid challenge by Australia, before France completely overpowered their Russian opponents in the respective semi finals.
America will be favourites to compete the gold double in the men’s and women’s events.
Boxing: Great Britain’s Nicola Adams made history by becoming the first ever women’s gold medallist in Boxing. She beat China’s Ren Cancan in the final of the Women’s Fly.
Ireland picked up a gold through Katie Taylor in the Women’s Light and American Claressa Shield took an easy win in the gold medal match of the Women’s Middle.
Field Hockey. It will be a big Germany v Netherlands final in the men’s field hockey. Reigning Olympic Champions Germany ran out a 4-2 win over Australia in a good match in the first of the semi finals, and then came the host nations hopes of Great Britain up against the Netherlands. However, it turned into a bit of forgettable nightmare for Team GB who suffered an embarrassing
9-2 defeat.
Women’s Open Water: Favourite and British big gold medal hope Keri-Anne Payne was narrowly edged out into fourth place in the gruelling test of swimming endurance.
Hungary’s Eva Risztov took the gold medal ahead of America’s Haley Anderson, with Italy’s Martina Grimaldi taking Bronze, just holding off a late charge by Payne.
Volleyball: There will be a much anticipated USA v Brazil final in the women’s Volleyball, as the USA took out South Korea 3-0, while Brazil beat Japan by the same scoreline.
Water Polo: There was a gold medal in the women’s event for the USA who beat Spain 8-5. Australia did just enough in the bronze medal match to grab the medal with a 13-11 win over Hungary.
