Day 14 started out slowly but turned into an absolute cracker for Team GB as Britain’s women’s hockey outfit and showjumper Nick Skelton secured historic golds.
A dramatic penalty shootout was required, but Team GB’s women’s hockey squad won their first ever Olympic gold medal beating reigning champions the Netherlands after a dramatic final.
Hollie Webb and Helen Richardson-Walsh both scored in the shootout in Deodoro as goalkeeper Maddie Hinch proved the hero, keeping the Dutch at bay on four occasions.
Regular time finished 3-3, with Team GB fighting back from a goal down twice on the night, as Lily Owsley, Crista Cullen and Nicola White found the net to force the dramatic shootout.
Team GB last won Olympic hockey gold courtesy of the men at Seoul 1988 but you have to go even further back to find the record that Skelton broke on Friday.
The showjumper became Team GB’s oldest Olympic medallist since 1912 as he won Britain’s first ever individual showjumping gold after a dramatic final.
Skelton, 58, triumphed in a six-man jump-off with Big Star after going clear in two straight final rounds to take his second career gold medal at a record seventh Olympic Games.
Britain’s other competitor Ben Maher reached the afternoon session after knocking down just one fence in the first round, but three dropped poles and a time penalty saw him finish 25th in the final.
Lutalo Muhammad had to settle for silver in the men’s 80kg taekwondo final after the Ivory Coast’s Cheick Sallah Cisse clinched gold with the final kick of the contest.
Leading 6-4, Muhammad couldn’t defend a last-gasp attack from the Ivorian with the 25-year-old eventually losing 8-6.
Muhammad, who won bronze at London 2012, had been in sparkling form all day until that point.
On the athletics track, Team GB’s quartet of Asha Philip, Desiree Henry, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita stormed to an Olympic bronze medal with a superb performance in the women’s 4x100m relay final.
They won in a British record of 41.77 seconds to secure Team GB a podium spot alongside gold medallists USA, who ran 41.01 for the second quickest time ever, and silver medallists Jamaica.
Bronze marks Team GB’s fifth athletics medal of Rio 2016 and the first for the nation in the women’s 4x100m relay at the Olympic Games since Los Angeles 1984.
There wasn’t such good news for the men’s 4x100m relay team as Richard Kilty, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, James Ellington and Adam Gemili finished fifth in the final in a time of 37.98.
In the women’s pole vault final, Team GB’s Holly Bradshaw also finished in fifth and in the women’s 5,000m final, Eilish McColgan put in a gutsy performance to finish in 13th place in a world class field.
In the women’s 4x400m relay heats Emily Diamond, Anyika Onuora, Kelly Massey and Christine Ohuruogu secured their spot in the final as the latter comfortably anchored the team home in second place behind Jamaica.
In the men’s 4x400m relay, the quartet of Nigel Levine, Delano Williams, Matt Hudson-Smith and Martyn Rooney were initially declared winners of their heat but they were disqualified minutes later for starting outside the takeover zone.
Over in Riocentro in the boxing, after storming back from losing the opening round to see off Kazakhstan’s Ivan Dychko in the semi-final, Joe Joyce set up a final clash with familiar foe Tony Yoka for Olympic gold.
Joyce impressed throughout the semi-final, constantly moving forward and testing the increasingly tiring Dychko and the 30-year-old knew he had the stamina to outlast the 6ft 9in Kazakh.
Liam Heath closed in on a second medal at Rio 2016 after impressing in the heats and semi-finals of the K1 200m canoe sprint at the Lagoa Stadium.
The women’s K4 500m quartet of Jess Walker, Rebeka Simon, Rachel Cawthorn and Louisa Gurski also reached the A final, finishing joint second in their semi-final.
Team GB’s Charley Hull remains in the hunt for an historic golf medal after finishing day three tied for fifth place after a solid round in blustery conditions.
The medal hunt looks over for Team GB’s other woman in the field Catriona Matthew who finished with a round of 77 to lie on +1 for a share of 27th place.
Team GB duo Kate French and Samantha Murray improved to secure top-ten finishes as the women’s modern pentathlon competition came to a close in Deodoro.
Tom Daley is going in search of absolute perfection after opening his campaign in diving’s blue-riband men’s 10m platform in impressive style.
Daley, the Olympic bronze medallist in the event from London 2012, posted the best score of the preliminary round at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, 571.85.
That bettered the efforts of defending champion Qiu Bo by over seven points with Daley surpassing 90 on three occasions, 100 once as well as seeing some coveted tens.
Image courtesy of ODN via YouTube, with thanks.
