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Home  » Sports » PHOTOS: The gold medallists on Day 14 at Rio Olympics

PHOTOS: The gold medallists on Day 14 at Rio Olympics

August 20, 2016 03:13 IST
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Check out the gold medallists on Day 14 of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Friday:

Marin wins Spain's first badminton title

Carolina Marin

IMAGE: Carolina Marin celebrates after winning against PV Sindhu in the women's singles badminton final match at the Rio Olympic Games. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

P V Sindhu's gallant attempt to win a gold medal for India ended in heartbreak when she went down fighting to Spain's Carolina Marin in the women's singles badminton final.

The 21-year-old Indian crumbled under the relentless pressure created by Marin and lost 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 in 83 minutes.

Japan's Nozomi Okuhara won the bronze in a walkover after her Chinese opponent, the 2012 singles champion Li Xuerui, pulled out of their play-off with a serious knee injury.

Cycling: Pajon powers to women's BMX gold

Mariana Pajon

IMAGE: Mariana Pajon celebrates after winning the gold during the Women's Final on day 14 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images

Peerless Colombian Mariana Pajon retained her women's BMX title and Connor Fields became the first American to win Olympic gold in cycling's most spectacular discipline on Friday.

Pajon, 24, roared on by hundreds of yellow-clad fans in the sun-bathed grandstand at Rio's X-Park, put not a wheel out of place as she pedalled to victory in the final, repeating her feat from London four years ago.

The Medellin flyer won all three runs in her semi-final to give her the best lane in the eight-rider showdown. Blasting out of the gate she quickly hit the front in the final and flowed smoothly over the humps and bumps to the finish line.

American Alise Post took the silver medal with Venezuela's Stefany Hernandez, who lost a chain after a crash in a semi-final run and had to walk across the line, claiming the bronze medal, sparking a fiesta for the South Americans.

Mossely takes women's lightweight gold for France

Estelle Mossely

IMAGE: Gold medallist Estelle Mossely of France celebrates on the podium after winning the Women's Light Final Bout on Day 14 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Photograph: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

France's Estelle Mossely celebrated her 24th birthday on Friday by winning the women's Olympic lightweight boxing gold medal after boyfriend Tony Yoka had reached the super-heavyweight final.

China's Yin Junhua, beaten 2-1 on a split decision, took silver for China's first medal of the boxing competition.

Losing semi-finalists Mira Potkonen of Finland and Anastasia Belyakova of Russia took bronze medals.

Tense Malaysia gift doubles gold to China

IMAGE: Gold medallists Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan of China, silver medallists V Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan of Malaysia, and bronze medallists Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge Great Britain pose on the podium. Photograph: Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters

Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan held firm in a furious men's doubles final to win the title for China after their Malaysian opponents froze twice when within reach of grabbing their nation's first ever Olympic gold medal.

Malaysia's Goh V. Shem and Tan Wee Kiong had two match points in a nail-biting finish to the 16-21, 21-11, 23-21 thriller but agonisingly, for hundreds of their shrieking fans at the Riocentro, they blew both of them by duffing serves into the net.

Fu and Zhang could hardly believe their luck and closed out the decider abruptly on their first match-point when Tan netted in a brief front-court exchange.

After China swept all titles in London four years ago, the Asian superpower was frustrated in Rio, with the women's doubles, singles, and mixed doubles titles going to rivals.

Fu, a 32-year-old survivor in his nation's cut-throat badminton programme, celebrated his second Olympic gold after winning the doubles title with Cai Yun in London.

It was another helping of Olympic gold for Zhang, too, who won the mixed doubles championship with Zhao Yunlei in London but had to be content with bronze in the event here.

Britain's Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge were thrilled to edge China's second-ranked men's pair for the bronze on Thursday.

Russia win fifth consecutive synchronised swimming team gold

IMAGE: Team Russia celebrates with their medals after winning the synchronised swimming event. Photograph: Michael Dalder/Reuters

Their eight pairs of lean legs batting out of the water in the form of praying hands, Russia's synchronised swimming team swept to their fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal on Friday.

The victory, while expected, was particularly sweet given the high score of 99.1333 points for their free routine and because the choreography was intensely personal for team head coach Tatyana Pokrovskaya.

The judges appeared to agree, giving Russia a total team score of 196.1439 for the technical and free routines.

China won silver with total marks of 192.9841, and Japan were third with 189.2056 points.

Russia's balletic grace in the pool, extreme precision and vivid choreographies have given the country a stranglehold on the discipline, although teams from China, Japan and Ukraine are also strong.

Toth overhauls Tallent to win 50km walk gold

IMAGE: Matej Toth of Slovakia celebrates winning the gold medal in the 50km walk. Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Matej Toth of Slovakia overhauled reigning champion Jared Tallent with a perfectly timed surge on the last circuit of the Rio road track on Friday to add the 50km walk Olympic title to the World crown he won last year.

The 33-year-old journalist blew kisses to the crowd as he walked the final kilometre of the gruelling test of endurance before completing the course in three hours 40.58 minutes to win his first medal at his fourth Games.

"It's something unbelievable for me," Toth told reporters. "Something like immortality in sport. I'm so proud. So happy. It's a great feeling."

Australia's Tallent, who led the race for much of the final 10 kilometres, crossed the line in second place for the third Games in a row, 18 seconds behind Toth.

Japan's Hirooki Arai finished a further six seconds back but was later disqualified, leaving Canada's Evan Dunfee to take the bronze medal in 3:41.38.

Another silver medal was a huge disappointment for Tallent as both his previous second-place finishes had come behind athletes who were subsequently banned for doping.

Fields takes gold in men's BMX 

IMAGE: Connor Fields of the United States competes during the Olympic BMX final. Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters

Connor Fields of the United States powered home to the Olympic BMX gold after a thrilling final at the X Park on Friday.

Fields trailed compatriot Nicholas Long at the halfway point of the final but produced a stunning couple of turns to take the title from Dutch rider Jelle van Gorkom.

Colombia's Carlos Alberto Ramirez Yepes was third after edging out Long in a photo finish.

An ecstatic Fields, who recovered from a badly broken hand in April, threw down his bike in the finish area and leapt into the arms of his support team.

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