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Day 15 at Olympics: Mo Farah wins 'double-double', Neymar wins gold and US dominates relays

Sahil Bhalla | Updated on: 10 February 2017, 1:47 IST

All Indian hopes were thrown out of the water after a disastrous third round from the lone Indian golfer, Aditi Ashok. Just 18-years-old, the golfer was in contention for a medal after the first two rounds of 3-under par 68.

On Saturday, Day 15, Ashok was the lone Indian competing at the Olympics but there was always plenty of action elsewhere. Neymar helped host Brazil to their first Olympic football gold and there was drama in the track and field.

Day 15, the penultimate day is behind us, and here\'s a brief summary of all that happened:

01
Aditi Ashok (golf)

After giving billionx of Indians a glimmer of hope with two successive rounds of 3-under par 68s, Ashok capitulated in rounds three and four to finish a lowly 41st. Competing in her maiden Olympics, and being the youngest golfer in the fray, 41st is still a very good finish. With age on her side, and experienced gained, there is always plenty of hope for Ashok to bring back lots of laurels in the future. In her fourth round, Ashok finished with a 5-over 76 to take her four day score to 7-over 291 after 72 holes at the Rio Olympics. Ashok came into the Olympics as world No. 462, will surely be taking her experience forward and hoping to do much better.

With Ashok's Rio campaign coming to an end, only four Indians are left to compete on the last and final day of the Games. All eyes will be on Yogeshwar Dutt, the wrestler who brought home a bronze through the repechage round at the London Olympics. The hope is that he can improve upon the colour of his medal. Other than Dutt, there are three marathron runners - Thonnakkal Gopi, Kheta Ram and Nitendra Singh Rawat - but their personal bests are way off the world's best.

That's all for the Indians on Day 15 of the Olympics. With one more day to go, there is hope India can bring home a third medal of the Games. Yogeshwar Dutt starts his campaign on Sunday, 21 August at 5 pm IST.

02
Neymar gets Brazil over the line

Brazil beat Germany in a thriller on Saturday, 20 August, to win the gold medal in men's football at the Rio Olympics. The match went down to the wire, with Brazil outlasting Germany 5-4 on penalties. The match was played out at an emotionally charged Maracana stadium. Neymar stepped up for the hosts to score the winning spot-kick and seal a famous victory. Brazil's goalkeeper Weverton had saved Germany's fifth penalty, taken by Nils Petersen.

This goes a long in way in healing the wounds inflicted by Germany which, two years ago at the World Cup, had defeated Brazil 7-1 in the semifinals. Germany were targetting a Rio double as the women's team triumphed against Sweden on Friday. The match had ended 1-1 in regulation time with Neymar scoring for Brazil and Max Meyer equalised in the 50th minute. It was a tense affair with the woodwork being hit more tha once. Brazil have been beaten three times before in the final and won two bronze. This was one major tournament that had eluded them. No more. They've done it, in front of their home crowd.

03
Gwen Jorgensen (triathlon)

Gwen Jorgensen became the first defending world champion to win an Olympic crown the next year. She dominated her rivals, especially in the 10km run. She won with a timing of 1 hour 56 minutes 16 seconds - 40 seconds clear of her nearest rival and Swiss defending champion, Nicola Spirig.

04
Nicola Adams (boxing)

Nicola Adams became the first British boxer to retain an Olympic title for 92 years. The 33-year-old from Yorkshire won 39-37 on her way to becoming the first two-time women's Olympic boxing champion. She defeated France's Sarah Ourahmoune in the women's flyweight division gold medal match.

05
Inbee Park (golf)

South Korea's Inbee Park didn't put a foot wrong during her four rounds of golf at the Rio Olympics. She became the first women's gold medallist in Olympic golf in 116 years. The 28-year-old finished her last round with five-under 66 to win by five shots. Lydia Ko of New Zealand, the world no. 1, claimed silver and Feng Shanshan of China settled for bronze.

06
Lee Chong Wei (badminton)

Lee Chong Wei, the man who defeated China's Lin Dan in the semifinals was outdone by another Chinese shuttler in the final. Wei had to settle for this third straight Olympic silver medal.

07
The US has done it again in basketball

The USA women's basketball team defeated Spain comfortably. They won 101-72 for their sixth straight Olympic gold medal.

08
Farah with the double-double

After Usain Bolt's historic triple-triple (100m, 200m and 4x100m golds), it was time for Great Britain's Mo Farah to step up. In the 5,000m race, Farah was behind the leaders for much of the race but pulled away in the last third of the race to complete a historic double-double (5,000m and 10,000m golds). This is his fourth Olympic gold medal. Farah becomes only the second man in history to retain both the 5,000m and 10,000m titles. At 33, age wasn't on Farah's side, but he didn't put a foot wrong as he ran a strategic race to win the gold. He is now Britain's most successful Olympic track and field athlete of all time.

"It's every athlete's dream but I can't believe it," Farah said afterwards. "Being away from my family for so long, I knew I had to do something for them. I just want to go home now and see my beautiful kids and hang my medals around their necks."

09
Caster Semenya (800m)

Caster Semenya of South Africa triumphed in the women's 800m race fighting from behind to overtake Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi on the final bend before cruising home and taking the gold medal. She won the race in a South African national record timing of 1 minute 55.28 seconds.

10
Matt Centrowit (1500m)

Matt Centrowit became the first American to win a gold in the 1500m race since 1908. Centrowit was in the lead, practically from the start. A series of challengers came to the front during the last 400m but Centrowit was having none of it as he accelerated to the line for the win.

11
4x400m relay

The US dominated both the men's and women's 4x400m relay races. Allyson Felix of the US won her sixth Olympic gold medal on track. This is a record. This was the US's sixth consecutive Olympic 4x400m gold medal and the Jaimaicans who came in second, were no match. Great Britain got a surprise bronze.

LaShawn Merritt anchored the US men's 4x400m team to win an Olympic gold medal. Four years ago, the Americans may have lost to the Bahamas but this time the Bahamas could only finish in third place, behind the Jamaicans.

12
Thomas Rohler (javelin throw)

Thomas Rohler of Germany won his first major title with his penultimate throw of 90.30m to clinch the Olympic javelin gold medal. Julius Yego of Kenya took home the silver with a throw of 88.24m. It was an unfortunate end for the Kenyan as he had to retire, injured late in the competition. The defending champion, Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, could only finish third with a throw of 85.38m.

13
Ruth Beitia (high jump)

Winning a gold at the age of 37 is no mean achievement. Spain's Ruth Beitia did exactly that. She won her first major championships taking gold in the high jump with a leap of 1.97m. Mirela Demireva of Bulgaria took the silver medal while Blanka Vlasic of Croatia claimed bronze.

14
Women's volleyball

China rallied from a set down to beat Serbia for the gold in women's volleyball at the Rio Olympics. The 19-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23 win means China's coach Jenny Lang Ping becomes the first person to win volleyball gold as a coach and player. Lang Ping had captured gold at the 1984 Olympics.

15
Great Britain and gold medals

No nation has ever hosted the Games and then gone on to win more medals four years later at the next Olympics. Great Britain did just that on Saturday. At London 2012, Great Britain won a total of 65 medals. At Rio 2016, with one day left of the Olympics, Great Britain have won 66 medals. Mo Farah won Britain's 65th medal, while the women's 4x100m relay bronze brought home the 66th. Great Britain won six medals in all on Saturday.

16
New Zealand with record haul

Middle distance veteran Nick Willis and teenage golf sensation Lydia Ko helped New Zealand bring their medal tally to 18 with just one day to go. 33-year-old Willis made history by becoming the only New Zealander to win dual Olympic 1500m medals. He won a bronze in the 1500m race at Rio.

First published: 21 August 2016, 6:44 IST
 
Sahil Bhalla @IMSahilBhalla

Sahil is a sports and tech correspondent on the speed news desk at Catch. A gadget freak, he loves offering free tech support to family and friends. He studied at Sarah Lawrence College, New York and worked previously for Scroll. He selectively boycotts fast food chains, worries about Arsenal, and travels whenever and wherever he can. Sahil is an unapologetic foodie and a film aficionado.