…as Nigeria finish 74th
Eliud Kipchoge produced a marathon masterclass and the USA edged China at the top of the Tokyo Olympics medals table as the curtain fell on the biggest sport event since the pandemic on Sunday.
This is as Nigeria finished 74th on the medal table with two medals -bronze and silver.
While Ese Brume won the bronze for Nigeria, Blessing Obodururu secured the silver medal.
Brume recorded a 6.97 metres jump in the final of the event at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium to win her first Olympic medal and Nigeria’s first at the Games.
Oborududu had to settle for the silver medal in the women’s freestyle 68kg event on Tuesday in the Tokyo Olympics wrestling competition in Tokyo.
The medal was Nigeria’s first one ever in the wrestling sport since the country’s first-ever appearance at the Olympics in 1952.
After Kipchoge’s marathon win for Kenya, the United States scored victories in volleyball, track cycling and basketball to top the medals tally with 39 golds, just one ahead of China.
The 339th and final gold medal went to Serbia’s men’s water polo team, capping a Games that were in stark danger of cancellation after they became the first postponed Olympics last year.
Thirty-three sports have been contested across 16 days in largely empty stadiums, with fans barred over coronavirus risks and athletes living in strict biosecure conditions.
“Some were already speaking of ‘Ghost Games’,” Olympics chief Thomas Bach told an International Olympic Committee session on Sunday.
“What we have seen here is that on the contrary the athletes have brought soul to the Olympic Games.”
The Olympics were plagued by low Japanese support over super-spreader fears but officials maintained that a record haul of 27 gold medals, putting Japan third on the table, has won hearts.
“We believe our athletes’ earnest spirit and all-out performance moved people,” said Tsuyoshi Fukui, chef de mission for the Japanese team.
Britain finished fourth with 22 golds and the Russian Olympic Committee, the team for Russian athletes after Russia were banned for systematic doping, were fifth with 20.
– ‘Once in a lifetime’ –
A succession of big names have failed to perform in Japan, where new sports skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and karate have brought young new stars to the fore.
But marathon world record-holder Kipchoge showed his class, kicking in the closing stages and clocking 2hr 08min 38sec to retain his 2016 title.