Triumph of Kipchoge in the marathon, the achievement of basketball players from the USA and the closing ceremony: what did the 16th day of the Tokyo Games remember

The final day of the Tokyo Olympics began with the most traditional type of program - the men's marathon. The main intrigue of the 42.195 km race was the performance of the reigning champion Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya. In the five years that have passed since his victory in Rio de Janeiro, he managed to set a world record, win two prestigious Berlin and London marathons and be the first in history to run out of two hours in an experimental race. With such a track record, Kipchoge was ready to become the third-ever two-time Olympic champion in the marathon.

The race, held in Sapporo, was attended by 106 runners.

Many of them were unable to reach the finish line due to high humidity and sweltering heat.

Kipchoge was able to cope with the weather conditions and broke away from the main group after about 25 kilometers.

No one else could overtake him, and the 36-year-old Kenyan celebrated the victory by a margin of 1:20 - the largest in an Olympic marathon since 1972.

The rest of the medals were played at the finish line between three athletes.

The second was Abdi Nageye, the third was Bashir Abdi - both of them were born in Somalia, but represent the Netherlands and Belgium.

Kenyan Lawrence Cherono, who had many more titles behind him than his rivals, could not cope with them and took fourth place.

In general, the 16th day of the Olympics was marked by correspondence rivalry between China and the United States for first place in the medal standings.

Athletes from the Middle Kingdom had an advantage of two gold medals, but the Americans had several chances of winning in four sports at once.

In the end, they still achieved their goal and for the third time in a row they became the most titled nation at the Games.

One of the gold medals was almost guaranteed in women's basketball.

The American women have not lost since 1996 and often beat their rivals in the finals.

This time, basketball players from Japan tried to resist them, who had never even taken fourth place before.

The match ended 90:75 in favor of the United States, in which Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi won their fifth gold - a record for all team sports.

And in women's volleyball, the American women celebrated their first success. In the final, they beat the Brazilian national team, not allowing her to hook at least one set. For the head coach of the United States, Karch Kirai, this victory was the fourth in his career - twice he won Olympic gold in indoor volleyball and once in beach volleyball. It is worth noting that the American women in this tournament suffered only a defeat from the Russian national team. Bronze medals in a dispute with South Korea were won by Serbian athletes, who reached the final five years ago.

Serbia had another reason to be happy on Sunday. The national team of this country won the water polo for the second time in a row. In the final, the Serbs defeated the Greek team, which won their first medal in the men's tournament. Among the champions, it is worth highlighting Philip Filipovic, Andrija Prlineovic and Dusko Pietlovic. Each of them added one more award of the highest dignity to gold and two bronzes from previous competitions.  

In boxing, the finals were held in four weight categories. Here, American athletes could have won two more golds, but they did not get it. Cuban Andy Cruz defeated Keyshon Davis (up to 63 kg) and brought Cuba the fourth victory - no country has achieved such success in boxing for 17 years. Heavyweight champion Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan, who already has eight victories in the professional ring, crushed Richard Torez. In women, two gold medals went to athletes from the British Isles - Irish Kelly Harrington, who defeated Brazilian Beatriz Ferreira (up to 60 kg), and British Lauren Price, who deprived the Chinese national team and its representative Li Qian (up to 75 kg) from the last hope for gold.

Price's victory put an end to yet another team confrontation at this Olympics. After her, Great Britain has already firmly taken the fourth place in the overall team classification, leaving behind the Russian national team. Earlier, Jason Kenny's gold in keirin had already fallen into the piggy bank of the hosts of the Games before last - he became a seven-time Olympic champion and the most titled athlete in the history of his country, beating another cyclist Chris Hoy.

On the same day, his wife Laura Kenny performed with Jason, who in Tokyo added one to her four gold medals in Madison. But in her trademark discipline omnium, she did not shine this time and became the sixth. The victory was won by the American Jennifer Valente, the second was the Japanese Yumi Kajihara. Bronze was won by the Dutchwoman Kirsten Wilde - for the owner of 16 world championships, this is the first Olympic medal in her career. Russian cyclist Maria Novolodskaya, who had previously sensationally won bronze in Madison, took the final 15th line.

In the women's personal sprint, Canada's Kelsey Mitchell won an amazing victory.

She only started cycling in 2017 at the age of 23.

In the semifinals, Mitchell knocked out the main favorite Emma Hinze from Germany, who collected all the sprint gold at the last world championship, and then defeated the Ukrainian Elena Starikova in two races, each time ahead of her by less than seven hundredths of a second.

The third place was taken by the representative of Hong Kong Li Weixi.

After the final whistle of the water polo match for gold sounded, the entire sports program of the Tokyo Olympic Games ended.

Officially, they were supposed to end during the traditional closing ceremony at the Japanese Central Stadium.

During it, a parade of athletes took place who had not yet left home after the competition.

One representative from each country carried his own banner.

The flag of the Russian Olympic Committee was entrusted to the two-time freestyle wrestling champion Abdulrashid Sadulayev.

In the presence of all athletes, the awards ceremony for the winners in the men's and women's marathon took place.

Another important part of the closing ceremony was the symbolic handover of the baton to the capital of the next Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris in 2024.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Kokie handed over the flag of the International Olympic Committee to its head Thomas Bach, who handed it over to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.

In honor of this event, the National Orchestra of France played the country's anthem, and astronaut Tom Pesce even joined him - he played a part on a saxophone right in orbit of the International Space Station.

At the end of the colorful event, Bach declared the Games of the XXXII Olympiad closed and, according to tradition, urged young people from all over the world to gather again to participate in the competition. Only not in four years, but in three. Following his words, the Olympic flame went out.