Written by Johnathon Powell at Rio.com
Cancellara reclaims men’s time trial title
Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara won the men’s individual time trial and caps his career by reclaiming the title he won at Beijing 2008. It means Great Britain’s Chris Froome was denied a Tour de France-Olympic Games double. Froome was a minute behind, finishing with a bronze medal. Dutchman Tom Dumoulin took silver.
Armstrong wins third consecutive time trial
Kristin Armstrong won her third consecutive Olympic time trial, covering the course through driving wind and rain in 44 minutes, 26.42 seconds. Her effort beat Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia by 5.55s. Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands took the bronze medal, adding to her gold from the road race.
French class shines through in basketball
A long three from San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker rounded off France’s comeback against Serbia. France found themselves chasing the game, then in the dying seconds a turnover gifted them possession and Parker nailed a beauty.
“It’s not everyday you hit almost a buzzer beater, a game-winning shot,” said Parker. “It was great, against a great team.”
Shooter Al deehani is first independent Olympic champion
Fehaid Al Deehani won gold in the men’s double trap to become the first independent Olympic athlete to win an Olympic title. The shooter has represented Kuwait in the past five Olympic Games, with his best result coming at London 2012 when he won bronze in the trap.
Uchimura is all-around gold for Japan
A sublime performance on the horizontal bar in the final rotation by defending champion Kohei Uchimura secured all-around gold for Japan. Oleg Verniaiev, who celebrated after his routine thinking he had won gold, took silver. Great Britain gymnast Max Whitlock is being hailed as a hero back home. The 23-year-old’s bronze was Great Britain’s first medal in an all-around final for 108 years.
Great Britain claims first ever diving gold
Jack Laugher and Chris Mears wrote their names in the history books as they became Great Britain’s first ever Olympic diving champions with gold in the synchronised 3m springboard. The British pair stunned world champions China with a sublime series of dives, taking the lead in the third round and holding on to clinch the title on 454.32. They finished ahead of USA duo Sam Dorman and Mike Hixon, while Chinese pair Cao Yuan and Qin Kai took bronze.
For Mears, it has been an extraordinary story. He was given a 5 per cent chance of survival when he ruptured his spleen during training seven years ago. Soon after the incident, he suffered a seven-hour seizure that left him in a coma for three days.
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