Olympics 2016 diary: Team GB finish second in medal table

Olympics 2016 diary: Whitlock, Murray, Kenny and Rose win gold

15 August

It's been hailed as Sensational Sunday - a day of Olympic success to rival Super Saturday four years ago in London.

Team GB didn't quite manage the six gold medals it achieved in 2012, but a haul of five golds and three silvers made it one of the greatest ever days for UK sport.

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Here's the lowdown on the medal rush and the other headlines from Sunday.

Whitlock's historic double

Max Whitlock produced the most sensational day in the history of British gymnastics by winning two golds on Sunday. It was an astonishing display from the 23-year-old athlete, who last Wednesday helped the men's team win bronze - the first all-around gymnastics Olympics medal for Team GB in 108 years.

The UK had never before won a gymnastics gold, but Whitlock got his first with a stunning performance in the floor. His score of 15.633 was too good for the favourite, world champion Kenzo Shirai of Japan, who coughed up a series of errors to finish fourth, while the home crowd was treated to a silver and bronze by the Brazilian pair of Diego Hypolito and Arthur Mariano.

"Winning the floor was a surprise," said Whitlock. "I never go into any competition thinking about medals but just thinking about doing my job... I wasn't watching any of the other floor routines so it just hit me when I realised what I'd done."

He claimed gold number two less than hour later, this time with a superlative display on the pommel horse to outshine team-mate Louis Smith. He had to settle for silver with a score of 15.833, inferior to Whitlock's 15.966 but well ahead of Alexander Naddour of the US, who claimed bronze with 15.700.

Dempsey collects silver

Nick Dempsey received a late birthday present on Sunday when he won silver in the RS:X event. The veteran Olympian, who won a bronze in the 2004 Games and a silver four years ago in London, became the first man to win three windsurfing medals at the games.

Dempsey, who turned 36 on Saturday, went into Sunday's medal race assured of silver at least and could not overhaul event leader Dorian van Rijsselberghe.

It was the final race of Dempsey's distinguished career, he says, although coach Dom Tidey has other ideas. "What a way to go out," he said. "Hopefully it's not his last race at an Olympics. I'm going to try to convince him to do another."

Rose rises to the occasion

Justin Rose became golf's first Olympic champion since 1904 by pipping Henrik Stenson to gold in the final round in Rio. It was a gripping finale, with the 36-year-old player level with the Swede on 15 under par after 17 holes. Stenson then bogeyed the 18th, allowing Rose the chance to snatch gold with a birdie putt to win by two shots.

Matt Kuchar of the US posted a 63 to take bronze, but the day belonged to Rose. "That felt better than anything I've ever won," he said.

"It was the best tournament I've ever done. Hopefully we've shown Brazil what golf is about. I'm glad it was close - not for my nerves, for golf."

Kenny wins battle of Britain

Jason Kenny outwitted and outpedalled his Team GB room-mate Callum Skinner in the men's sprint final, needing just two races to win the best-of-three final.

The all-British affair went the way of the veteran, whose victory in the velodrome takes his gold medal tally to five, equalling the achievements of rower Sir Steve Redgrave and fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins. He now has Sir Chris Hoy's record of six golds in his sights and has the chance to draw level in the Keirin on Tuesday.

"People keep saying I have won five but I don't feel any different from the other day when I only had three," said Kenny. "It's not sunk in yet... Still got the Keirin to go. I probably won't let it sink in. I'll go back, relax as much as possible and hopefully give myself the best chance possible."

Skinner, meanwhile, described the Olympics experience as "incredible" and added: "I got beaten by the world champion and he had the tactics and the legs. The main focus has been the team sprint, so to come away with anything else was a bonus."

Russia's Denis Dmitriev beat Australia's Matthew Glaetzer in the race for bronze.

Murray retains his title

Scotland's Andy Murray became the first tennis player to win two Olympic singles titles by beating Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in a brilliant final. The 29-year-old Wimbledon champ needed to be at the top of his game against an opponent who was clearly inspired by the vocal support of the Argentinian fans.

Murray lost the second set after taking the first 7-5, but then refocused and began moving his tiring opponent around the court with a series of punishing strokes. He won the third set 6-2 and held on to take the fourth 7-5 in a match that featured 14 breaks of serve.

Both men were exhausted and emotional at the end and Murray hinted that the effort required to win an Olympic gold may deter him from defending his title in 2020.

"The fact it's not been done before shows it's very hard so I'm proud to have done that," he said. "Who knows about Tokyo in four years. At 33, I'm not sure I'll be at the same level."

Bolt makes history

Jamaica's Usain Bolt sprinted into the history books on Monday morning with a third consecutive 100m title. He ran 9.81secs to win gold, with Justin Gatlin of the US taking following and Canada's Andre de Grasse claiming bronze in a personal best of 9.91.

No Olympian has ever won three 100m titles but Bolt's victory never looked in doubt.

"It wasn't perfect today but I got it done and I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved," he said. "Nobody else has done it or even attempted it. I expected to go faster, but I'm happy that I won. I did what I had to."

Retaining the 100m title is the first step in Bolt's quest to win a "triple-triple", a third consecutive series of golds in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m after his wins at Beijing and London.

"Somebody said I can become immortal," he said. "Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal."

Van Niekerk sets a new world record

South African 400m runner Wayde van Niekerk muscled in on the limelight at the athletics track as he broke Michael Johnson's 17-year-old world record by 0.15secs to win gold in 43.03.

Johnson, a pundit with the BBC at the Games, heaped praise on the young sprinter, tipping him to take up the mantle of Bolt as the sport's biggest star once the Jamaican has retired.

"Oh my God," he said. "That was a massacre... I've never seen, from 200m to 400m, anything like that."

Olympics 2016 diary: Joy for Katherine Grainger, cyclists win gold

12 August

Britain reaped several more Olympic medals in Rio on Thursday, claiming four in total to take the Team GB tally to 16 so far, one more ahead of their 2012 haul at the same stage of the Games.

More importantly, after a week of competition Team GB is eighth in the table - ahead of both Germany and France

Cycling

The track cycling is underway and Team GB have picked up where they left off four years ago. The trio of Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner defeated New Zealand in the final of the team sprint to take Team GB's fourth gold of the Games.

It's the third consecutive Olympics that the British men have triumphed in the event, and their winning time of 42.440 second was an Olympic record. The victory means the 28-year-old Kenny now has four Olympic golds, two short of Chris Hoy's number, but the Englishman could draw level with the Scot if he wins the individual sprint and keirin.

Hindes has also scooped gold before - in 2012 - but for Skinner the win in Rio was his first Olympic title. "It's not been an easy road so to come here and be Olympic champion is incredible," said the 23-year-old. "We've been working so hard and it shows it pays off."

Rowing

Katherine Grainger and Victoria Thornley won a silver in the double sculls after being overhauled in the final 250 metres by Poland. It was a stirring comeback from the Polish pair of Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowska and Natalia Madaj, who won by 0.95 seconds, with Lithuania taking bronze.

In finishing second the 40-year-old Thornley became Britain's most decorated female Olympian, who came out of retirement two years ago and struggled for a long while to rediscover her form on the water. She and Thornley split after failing to make the podium at this year's European Championships but they subsequently reunited and were selected for Rio on the back of Grainger's reputation.

"I don't think anything could eclipse London because of everything that surrounded it," said Grainger, who has now won an Olympic gold and four silvers in five Games. "But I remember at the start of this campaign feeling that if I could come out with anything, a medal of any kind, it would probably be my greatest achievement."

Rugby sevens

Britain won a silver in the men's Sevens rugby but the headlines were made by the brilliant Fijians. The Pacific Islanders brushed past Japan in their semi-final and then crushed Team GB 43-7 to win gold - their country's first Olympic medal of any colour.

The Fijians scored seven tries in all in the final, five in the first half, with Dan Norton the only Briton to cross the opposition try-line. Nonetheless it was a fine achievement by the British seven, a mix of English, Scots and Welsh players, considering they'd only come together in May. Their narrow 5-0 win over Argentina in the quarter-final was followed by a similarly tight 7-5 victory over number two seeds South Africa in the semi-final, but in the final they had no answer to the power, pace and inventiveness of the Fijians.

There was one Briton with cause to celebrate, however, and that was Fiji's coach Ben Ryan. "The team saved the best until last," he explained. "They played some staggeringly good stuff. We wanted to showcase the way Fijian sport can be played and wanted to put smiles on everyone's faces... the entire population - towns and villages - will be under siege in Fiji now."

Canoeing

For the second consecutive Olympics David Florence and Richard Hounslow won a silver in the C2 double. The pair, both 34, finished second in London and repeated the feat in Rio with the Slovak duo of Ladislav Skantar and Peter Skantar taking gold, 0.43 seconds ahead of their British rivals.

"It has been a hard eight years, we've worked really hard and to come out with a medal at the Olympics is fantastic," said Hounslow. "It is maybe a little bit bittersweet, coming so close to gold, but we're happy."

Meanwhile Fiona Pennie missed out on a medal with the 33-year-old Scot finishing sixth in the women's kayak single final.

Tennis

Defending Olympic champion Andy Murray was pushed hard by Fabio Fognini of Italy in his last 16 match but the Scot ground out a 6-1 2-6 6-3 victory to set up a quarter-final clash against American Steve Johnson on Friday.

Murray lost eight games on the bounce at one point but he regained his focus to see off the spirited challenge of Fognini.

There was no such satisfaction for Johanna Konta, who lost her women's quarter-finals match to Germany's Angelique Kerber in straight sets. Konta was then beaten in the mixed doubles as she and Jamie Murray went down to Americans Jack Sock and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 6-3.

Andy Murray, on the other hand, pulled off another win, partnering Heather Watson as they beat Carla Suarez Navarro and David Ferrer of Spain in their mixed doubles encounter.

Olympics 2016 diary: Clarke, Laugher and Mears win golds

11 August

Britain enjoyed its best day of the Games so far on Wednesday with a haul of six medals, including two golds. The medal rush took Team GB to ninth in the table and puts them two ahead of their medal tally at the same stage of the 2012 Games. However, there was yet another fourth place in the pool, which leaves Team GB way out in front in the heartbreak stakes, with seven athletes having finished one place outside the medals.

Here's how the action unfolded on day five:

Froome finishes third

Chris Froome's underwhelming Olympics continued with the Tour de France winner having to settle for a bronze in the men's cycling individual time trial. He missed out on a medal in Saturday's road race and on Wednesday he struggled to master the 54.6km course, finishing one minute and 2.12 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. Holland's Tom Dumoulin took silver and Britain's Geraint Thomas finished ninth.

"I can't be disappointed," reflected the 31-year-old Froome. "I'd love to have been in with a chance of gold. I gave it everything I had... I tried to hold back a little bit for the last lap knowing how hard the course was but I didn't have any more."

Team GB shoot-out

There was joy for one Briton and heartbreak for another as Steven Scott won the bronze medal shoot-out in the double trap shooting event against compatriot Tim Kneale. Scott scored a perfect 30, while Kneale could only manage 28, to leave the former delighted. "I can't describe what this means, but I've worked my butt off," exclaimed Scott.

In the gold medal match Fehaid Aldeehani of Kuwait beat Italy's Marco Innocenti 26-24.

Canoeing king Clarke

Joe Clarke took a brilliant gold in the kayak K1 thanks to a nerveless final run. The 23-year-old from Staffordshire had qualified third fastest for the final but he saved his best for last, posting a time of 88.53 seconds on the 250m white-water course to take first place.

Slovenia's Peter Kauzer, the favourite for gold, finished 0.17 seconds behind Clake with Czech Jiri Prskavec taking bronze after incurring some penalties on his final run.

"Everything pieced together so nicely, I can't put it into words," said Clarke. "I knew I was capable but to put down that run in the Olympic final, it is a dream come true."

It is only the second canoeing gold Britain has won in the Olympics, following Timothy Baillie & Etienne Stott's triumph four years ago in the men's C2 [canoe double] event.

Judo joy

Sally Conway from Edinburgh erased memories of her second round defeat at the London Olympics by winning a bronze in the 70kg weight category, beating world champion Gevrise Emane of France on the way.

She saw off Emane in the last 16, but lost to silver medallist Yuri Alvear in the semi finals. The Briton bounced back to defeat Austria's Bernadette Graf in the bronze medal match by scoring a single yuko and promptly declared: "It hasn't sunk in. I knew if I was going to come away with a medal I would have to put in my best performance."

Japan's Haruka Tachimoto beat Alvear of Colombia to take the gold medal.

Historic diving gold

Team GB won their first diving gold in Olympic history after a stunning performance by Jack Laugher and Chris Mears.

Their victory in the men's synchronised 3m springboard, added to their to Commonwealth and European crowns, underlines their dominance in an event traditionally ruled by the Chinese.

Having won gold in every other diving event in Rio, China had to settle for bronze behind the British pair and the USA. It was a remarkable culmination in the life and career of the 23-year-old Mears, who as BBC Sport reports, was given a five per cent chance of survival in January 2009 after contracting the rare Epstein Barr virus.

A ruptured spleen and the loss of five pints of blood left the Reading diver in hospital for weeks and though he returned to diving in 2010 he failed to win a medal at the 2012 Olympics.

"After going through all that horrible experience, just making the 2012 Olympics in London was enough for me," he told the BBC. "But we were in a different position at this Games. We knew we could get medals here, we kind of thought we could get gold, but to actually get it is just incredible."

Gymnastics glory

Max Whitlock won Great Britain's first all-around gymnastics Olympic medal since Walter Tysall's silver in 1908 after a superb display in Rio. The 23-year-old finished third behind Japan's Kohei Uchimura, the 2012 Olympic champion, and Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev. Whitlock's compatriot, Nile Wilson, finished in eighth place.

Whitlock had the advantage of performing his routine early on but he then had to sit and wait to see if his points total of 90.641 would be enough to get him on the podium. It was, just, with Russia's David Belyavskiy finishing a mere 0.143 points behind the Briton.

"My coach and I have been working so hard over the past four years," said Whitlock. "We stepped out of London 2012 and I wanted to prove myself as an all-rounder and I've done that. I feel I've completed that target now."

Rugby sevens drama

Team GB face South Africa face on Thursday in the semi-final of the men's rugby sevens after defeating Argentina in the quarters in one of the most extraordinary matches in the history of the sport.

In wet, blustery conditions more akin to Rhyl than Rio, the two sides failed to score any points in the 14 minutes of normal time, although Argentina had the chance to win the tie with what would have been the last kick of the game. But the South Americans drop goal attempt was off-target resulting in sudden-death extra-time. The British team attempted a penalty kick only for Tom Mitchell's effort hit the post, but then soon after Dan Bibby's finally broke the deadlock with a well-worked try.

"I thought that our Olympic dream was over, but luck was on our side," said Bibby. Team GB face South Africa in the semi-final while Fiji, who knocked out New Zealand in the quarter-final, take on Japan in the other last four clash.

Near miss in the pool

Andrew Willis finished fourth in the final of the men's 200m breaststroke as Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan took gold in a time of two minutes 7.46 seconds. American Josh Prenot won silver and Anton Chupkov of Russia finished third, just 0.08 seconds in front of the Briton.

In the women's 200m breaststroke, Team GB's Molly Renshaw and Chloe Tutton both qualified for Friday's final (2.17am) with 20-year-old Renshaw setting a new British record of 2:22:33 in her semi-final.

Olympics 2016 diary: Phelps rules, but Team GB claim silvers

10 August

Day four of the Rio Olympics saw Team GB win two more medals in the pool. However, the UK's competitors missed out elsewhere as William Fox-Pitt finished 12th in the eventing, David Florence saw his chances of a medal go up in smoke in the canoe slalom and the women's diving and gymnastic teams finished fifth in their finals.

But there was plenty of drama elsewhere as Michael Phelps of the US proved he is the greatest swimmer in history and Japan stunned the world in the rugby sevens:

Swimming silvers for Team GB

The UK enjoyed another good evening in the pool on Tuesday with silver medals for Siobhan-Marie O'Connor in the 200m individual medley and the men's team in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

It means Team GB has amassed six medals so far, four of which have been earned by the swimmers, with Adam Peaty's 100m breaststroke gold and Jazz Carlin's 400m freestyle silver the other podium finishers.

O'Connor, 20, produced one of the swims of her life in the 200m medley, posting a British record time of 2:06.88, just 0.3 seconds behind Hungarian world champion Katinka Hosszu, who set an Olympic record in winning gold. Madeline Dirado of the US took the bronze.

The British swimmer's feat is all the more remarkable because she suffers from chronic bowel disease and was understandably emotional after the race.

"It feels pretty unreal," she said. "I am trying not to cry but it is the best feeling in the world... It means everything. It has been tough but it is so, so worth it."

O'Connor's feat was replicated by the men's freestyle relay team, who finished behind the US after coming strong in the closing stages, with Stephen Milne, Duncan Scott, Dan Wallace and James Guy overtaking the Australian and Japanese teams in the last two legs.

"I can't believe it," said Milne. "These guys were amazing and it was a real honour to swim with them."

Phelps is a golden boy - again

Team GB could be proud of their efforts in the pool, but there was no doubt who was king of the aquatic centre.

US swimmer Michael Phelps, appearing at his fourth Games, continued to write history yesterday, taking his Olympic gold medal tally to 21 with victories in the 200m butterfly and men's 4x200m freestyle relay.

In the 200m fly, the veteran sportsman became the first swimmer to win medals in the same event at four separate Olympics. It was his 20th gold medal at the Games. London 2012 victor, Chad le Clos, trailed in at fourth.

Phelps's 21st Olympic victory came soon afterwards as he helped the US team to victory in the 4x200m relay.

He now has "more than twice as many Olympic gold medals as the athlete second on the list, former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina (nine)", BBC Sport reports.

Japan star in the sevens

Team GB's Olympic Sevens men won their opening two games, although it went down to the wire against Japan, who were the stars of day one.

The Brits began in confident style, thrashing Kenya 31-7, with Dan Bibby scoring two of the five tries. But they then faced a Japanese side who had stunned New Zealand in the opening round. The Commonwealth Games gold medallists, one of the favourites in Rio, lost 14-12 - and also lost star player Sonny Bill Williams, who is out of the Games with a partially ruptured Achilles tendon.

Team GB were leading for most of the match but a try from Japan in the dying seconds meant they required the conversion to draw level at 14-14. The ball sailed wide of the posts, however, and the squad now face New Zealand at 4.30pm (UK time), with victory guaranteeing a place in the quarter-finals.

Gymnasts fall short

The UK failed to win a medal in the women's gymnastics team event as the US took gold ahead of Russia and China. It was a dominant display from the Americans to retain the title, finishing with a score of 184.897, way ahead of Russia's total of 176.688.

The British team of Claudia Fragapane, Becky Downie, Ellie Downie, Ruby Harrold and Amy Tinkler finished fourth in Monday's qualifying round, but hopes of a medal vanished when Downie fell off the beam and the squad finished in fifth spot, behind Japan.

British divers green with envy

Tonia Couch and Lois Toulson were unable to emulate Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow in the 10m synchronised diving as they finished fifth. China took gold, Malaysia silver and Canada bronze, although the colour most people were talking about was green, after the pool turned a strange colour before the event.

Despite its unpleasant appearance, the water was declared safe. Organisers said the colour had been caused by the wrong amount of chlorine being added.

Murray and Konta fight on

In a tournament that has been full of shocks, Team GB breathed a sigh of relief as Johanna Konta and Andy Murray both won their matches on day four of the Rio Olympics.

Konta, the 25-year-old from Eastbourne, who is seeded 13th, triumphed in an epic three-hour contest against Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the quarter-finals. Kuznetsova, ranked eighth, took the first set 6-3, but the Brit found her rhythm in the next set, winning 7-5, and she then took the third and final set by a similar margin to set up a last eight clash against Germany's Angelique Kerber.

Murray, meanwhile, produced a strong display against Juan Monaco. The Wimbledon champion made short work of the South American, brushing him aside 6-3, 6-1, to face Italy's Fabio Fognini in the last 16. Murray has now won 14 consecutive matches, with his last defeat the loss to Novak Djokovic in the final of the French Open in early June.

"It was good today," said the Scot. "I hit the ball well from the back of the court, not many unforced errors, so it was a good match."

But Serena Williams is out

Adding to the drama in the tennis tournament, Serena Williams lost to Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the third round of the women's singles.

The straight sets (6-4 6-3) defeat to the 20th-ranked player comes two days after Williams and sister Venus were dumped out of the doubles.The defending Olympic champion conceded it hadn't been the best of Games for her. "It didn't work out the way I wanted it to but at least I was able to make it to Rio. That was one of my goals," she said.