PARIS (Reuters) – Letsile Tebogo won the 200 metres, the first African to win the men’s title as the athletics delivered another pulsating evening.
Here is what you need to know about the Olympics:
BOTWANA’S TEBOGO SWOOPS IN
Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win the men’s Olympic 200 metres title on Thursday when he powered clear of Americans Kenny Bednarek and COVID-hit Noah Lyles to claim Botswana’s first Olympic gold medal.
REFUGEE TEAM MEDAL
Cindy Ngamba became the first representative of the refugee team to win a medal at the Olympics after making it to the boxing semi-finals of the Paris Games on Sunday, guaranteeing her at least a bronze although she is gunning for more.
US SNEAK PAST SERBIA
The United States kept the dream alive with a stirring fourth quarter rally to tame feisty Serbia 95-91 on Thursday and move into the Paris Olympics men’s basketball gold medal final against France.
Trailing by double digits for much of the game and down 76-63 heading into the fourth quarter, the United States chances of a fifth consecutive gold were quickly dimming. Then NBA stars LeBron James and Stephen Curry took charge, bringing a wide-eyed capacity crowd at the Bercy Arena to their feet with a furious fight back.
CHINA’S FIRST IN WOMEN’S BOXING
Chang Yuan became the first woman boxer to win Olympic gold for China by beating Turkey’s Hatice Akbas by unanimous decision in the women’s bantamweight final at the Olympics on Thursday.
Pang Chol-mi of North Korea and South Korea’s Im Ae-ji took bronze after their semi-final defeats.
CLIMBING FAST
Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo won a gold medal in the men’s speed climbing in a historic Olympic title for his country, while American Sam Watson walked away with a bronze despite setting a world record in his last race.
TABLE TENNIS SUSPENSE
China’s men’s table tennis team triumphed over host nation France with a 3-0 semi-final victory, but the scoreline belied the closely contested matches that captivated a packed stadium of French and Chinese fans.
China now have their sights set on winning the men’s and women’s teams gold medals on Friday and Saturday to complete a sweep of the five on offer at the Games.
FIRST KITEBOARD GOLD
Britain’s Ellie Aldridge won the first ever Olympic kiteboarding gold on Thursday, with Lauriane Nolot of France securing silver and Annelous Lammerts of the Netherlands the bronze.
KAYAK CHAMPION
New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington led her women’s kayak four crew to the gold medal, increasing her personal Olympic tally to six golds and one bronze with another stunning performance.
Germany’s four-man kayak team edged Australia by four-hundredths of a second to take gold in the 500 metres final with Spain claiming the bronze.
SAILING GOLD
Reigning Olympic champions Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti of Italy won gold in the mixed multihull event, sailing an assured final race to confirm their overall win.
Earlier, Austria’s Lara Vadlau and Lukas Maehr did enough in their medal race to clinch gold in the mixed dinghy after fighting their way up from the back of the fleet.
(Compiled by Ingrid Melander and Rachel Armstrong; Editing by Alison Williams, Ed Osmond and Tom Hogue)
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