The Rio Round Up: Day 15 in Review

Mo Farah earned sporting immortality on Day 15 of Rio 2016, completing the long distance double-double as Team GB ensured the Games would be their most successful Olympics of the modern era with 66 medals.

Mo Farah became just the second man to win both long distance titles at two separate Olympic Games, adding 5,000m gold to the 10,000m success from Saturday.

Farah joins Finland’s Lasse Viren in the elite club, storming to victory on the final night of athletics, beating Paul Chelimo into second place, with Hagos Gebrhiwet third in the 5,000m.

The 33-year-old was always in control, easing to the front with five laps to go and holding off a last-lap challenge from Ethiopian Gebrhiwet to storm home and take GB's 27th gold of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

“Mentally I had to be on top of my game – the guys were out there to get me – so I just had to be alert. You saw me sat at the back, but it wasn’t an easy last five lap burnout. The guys pushed on and on,” he said.

“At the beginning I felt a bit tired but I got going again. I went to the front and I know the guys were thinking about me, so I controlled the race. I wasn’t going to let anyone past me. Then just at the end I used my speed.”

Teammate Andy Butchart provided great support to Farah, now a four-time Olympic champion, with the British pair leading the race with four laps to go. The Scot eventually finished sixth.

In the following race, Team GB’s women’s 4x400m relay team pushed the nation past its London 2012 medal total of 65, with a bronze taking the tally to 66 medals.

Behind the winners USA and silver medallists Jamaica, the race became a battle for bronze. Emily Diamond gave Team GB the advantage on the third leg and Christine Ohuruogu was able to stay away from her rivals on the last 400m to take the medal.

Elsewhere, 19-year-old Morgan Lake finished tenth in her first Olympic Games high jump final, clearing 1.93m, just a centimetre shy of her personal best. Spain’s Ruth Beitia, 18 years older than Lake, took gold with a height of 1.97m.

Lynsey Sharp finished outside of the medals in the women’s 800m final, crossing the line sixth in a race won by Caster Semenya. And Charlie Grice ran to 12th in the men’s 1,500m final.

Nicola Adams became the first British boxer to retain their Olympic Games title since 1924, beating France’s Sarah Ourahmoune in the final.

The 33-year-old from Leeds won by unanimous decision, cruising through the first two rounds before defending her advantage in the fight’s final two.

Harry Mallin was the last British boxer to win consecutive Olympic titles and Adams was delighted to go into the pantheon of the nation's best amateurs.

“It feels absolutely amazing, especially to be able to think to myself that I’ve created history and I’m not the most accomplished British amateur boxer of all time," she said.

“The route to gold was not easier this time. I had to qualify the same way as everyone else. It’s tough because everyone wants to go to the Olympic Games, so every time you beat someone you’re crushing their dreams.

“I felt like I did enough to win, definitely. I thought I was winning the rounds comfortably and was scoring the cleaner shots.”

Liam Heath became the joint most decorated British Olympic canoeist after winning K1 200m gold at as the canoeing events drew to a close at Rio 2016.

The 32-year old from Guildford took the Team GB gold medal tally up to 25 with his victory early on Day 15, pulling through the field in the second half of the final to win in 35.197 seconds.

Heath’s victory was his third medal on the Olympic stage, equalling the British record tallies of Tim Brabants and David Florence.

It was also Heath's second of Rio 2016, having teamed up with Jon Schofield for K2 200m silver just two days ago.

“I had an inkling I had won but I was just so focused on my lane and those work blocks, which is your finish point, that I’d blanked everything out,” said Heath.

“It’s an absolutely incredible feeling. All the efforts of so many people behind me – my team, UK Sport, National Lottery funding, my coach, my family, my friends.

“They’ve all been behind me and their efforts have combined in to one moment when you cross that line and it’s pretty intense.”

The women’s K4 of Jess Walker, Rebekah Simon, Rachel Cawthorn and Louisa Gurski finished seventh in their 500m final, coming home in 1:37.043 minutes.

Vicky Holland became the first British woman ever to claim an Olympic triathlon medal after winning a sprint finish for Rio 2016 bronze at Copacabana with teammate Non Stanford.

Holland and Stanford were in medal contention throughout, cycling among the pack after the swim before running side by side as Gwen Jorgensen and Nicola Spirig broke away.

It was Holland who had more at the death sprinting away from Stanford in the last 100m to complete the podium after American Jorgensen had surged ahead of Spirig herself.

“I have such mixed emotions. I was absolutely delighted when I crossed the line and I still am. To come and win a medal for Team GB and for myself is absolutely what I came here for,” said Holland.

“But to have to beat out your best friend, your training partner, your housemate is hard. And I guess about 5km into the run, I knew that it was going to come down to me or Non for a medal.

“We’ve always said it’s fair game when it comes to the run. We knew we wanted a medal and we didn’t want to let Barbara Riveros [of Chile] back in from behind. So at that point we just had to keep the pressure on and keep running for the bronze.

“I wanted both of us to do it. Non is a huge part of what I do. Half of this medal is hers. I wouldn’t be the athlete I am if it wasn’t for her. I moved in with Non at the end of 2013 and I’ve become an exponentially better athlete for it.”

Holland’s eventual winning margin was just three seconds after almost two hours of racing and Stanford hinted that her tactics had cost her the reverse result or better.

“I was within 20 seconds of winning a medal and maybe I played it tactically a bit wrong,” she said. “I didn’t feel great out there but I wanted to try and push on and make sure we got rid of Barbara [Riveros] so one of the medals was secure. Maybe I pushed a bit too hard and sacrificed my own race.”

And the third of the British trio Helen Jenkins, who was fifth at the last Olympics in London in 2012, admitted she wasn’t good enough after placing 19th in Copacabana.

She said: “I don’t want to make excuses; I wasn’t good enough. It isn’t anything too serious, on this kind of course if you are a per cent off it is not going to happen.”

Bianca Walkden admitted to a bittersweet bronze after claiming Team GB’s third taekwondo medal of Rio 2016 after victory in the women’s heavyweight bronze medal contest.

A head kick in the second and third rounds were enough for Walkden beat Morocco’s Wiam Dislam 7-1 and follow in the footsteps of teammates Jade Jones and Lutalo Muhammad in winning an Olympic medal in Rio – Team GB’s best ever return at a Games.

The 24-year-old missed out on a chance to fight for gold earlier in the evening following a golden point defeat to number two seed Shuyin Zheng of China and the 2015 world champion needed a word from coach Paul Green to help her over the line.

“I came here for gold,” said Walkden. “I didn’t really want to go out again to fight but my coach said to me you have to go out there and fight for it.

“It’s still an Olympic medal and I’ve done well to get here. In Tokyo [2020 Olympics] I’ll be trying to go a little but further and try to get gold. It’s only four years away.

“This is the best Games we’ve ever had and to come away with gold, silver and a bronze is really good. We’re improving all the time.

However, Team GB’s fourth and final taekwondo player Mahama Cho couldn’t complete the set as he was edged into fourth after a 5-4 defeat in his own heavyweight bronze medal fight to Brazil’s Maicon Siqueira.

“I gave it my absolute everything but it’s just disappointing not to come away with something from all the hard work me and my team have done together,” said Cho. “One of us had to lose and unfortunately that was me.”

Team GB’s Charley Hull finished just outside the medals at Rio 2016 after a thrilling final round at the Olympic Golf Course saw her end up tied for seventh.

The 20-year-old from Kettering was within a shot of the bronze-medal position after a birdie on the 11th but she three-putted on the 13th and was unable to pick up any shots until a birdie on the last.

The competition saw South Korea's Inbee Park become the first women’s Olympic golf champion in 116 years as she shot a final-round 66 to finish on 16 under, five clear of world number one Lydia Ko of New Zealand who took silver.

China's Shanshan Feng took bronze as she finished a shot further back on ten under par.

“I played pretty decent and I was quite happy with the way I finished,” said Hull.

“My putting wasn’t as good as usual but other than that, I have played very well all week. My first Olympics were a fantastic experience and I got a good buzz off it.

“It is a shame I couldn’t come away with a medal but I finished tied seventh. If you finish in the top ten in a major it is a pretty good week so I am happy.”

Elsewhere Team GB’s Catriona Matthew was level par for the tournament as a final round of one under saw her finish 29th overall.

“I was never really in with a chance for a medal [on the final day] so it was just trying to play good golf and try something different with my putting to help that," she said. "It was nice to finish with a good round."

Joe Choong narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal on his Games debut despite a gutsy display that saw him go into the final discipline in the silver medal position.

The 21-year-old put in strong performance in the first three events – swimming, fencing and riding – to go into the combined running/shooting competition that decides the medals in second place.

Choong started the final discipline at the Deodoro Stadium nine seconds behind Russian Alexander Lesun, who led the field off, and ten seconds before Egypt's third placed athlete Amro Elgeziry.

He was comfortable for the first two laps and shot well to keep up with the Russian leader but the second and third shoots cost him dearly as a number of missed targets saw him fall back into the field and finish in tenth place.

“All of the competition has been good until those two shoots at the end there,” said Choong. “That really just threw my medal chances out of the window.

“I guess at the moment I am disappointed but I know coming into the competition I wouldn’t have been upset coming tenth.

“I have absolutely loved the Olympic experience. There are so many ifs and buts but at the end of the day I have come tenth and that is more than I would have expected four years ago.”

Choong’s Team GB compatriot Jamie Cooke finished in 14th place which was largely due to an under par display in the fencing.

“The fencing wasn’t very good at all,” said Cooke. “This is just not the best time to have a bad day at the office.”

Tom Daley has vowed to fight on in search of his Olympic gold medal dream after bowing out of the men’s 10m platform at the semi-final stage.

Daley, who topped the standings in the preliminary on Day 15, finished bottom of the pack in 18th with a score of 403.25 after failing to replicate his recent good form.

The 22-year-old struggled to find an explanation for the result but was quick to look towards Tokyo 2020 in order to chase his childhood dream of an Olympic gold.

“I’ve no idea what went wrong,” said Daley. “Training has been going really well, I’m in the shape of my life, moving better than I’ve ever moved before and last night showed that.

“I was fighting until the end. When it came down to the last dive I needed 9.5s and 10s to qualify and I know I can do that. I gave it my everything and tried my absolute best. It’s just heart breaking to think that after four years of hard work and effort it’s tough to accept.

“The whole team around me has been amazing and to think that Team GB has already got three diving medals from these Games is incredible and definitely gives you a massive kick of motivation to want to be standing on top of that podium in 2020.

“It definitely does give me that kick to come back in 2020. I want to be Olympic champion – that’s been my dream since I was a kid.”

Team GB will close off their most successful Olympic Games of the modern era at Rio 2016 with a medal on the final day with super heavyweight boxer Joe Joyce guaranteed to climb the podium no matter what happens.

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