PARIS - Spain celebrated their first gold medal in Olympic women’s water polo by fending off Australia 11-9 on Saturday to erase galling defeats in finals at the Tokyo and London 2012 Games.
Maica Godoy put the Spaniards 11-7 up with a goal late in the fourth quarter and though Australia clawed two back their rally was cut short by the clock in front of a packed house at La Defense Arena.It was third time lucky for Spain, three years after being trounced 14-5 in Tokyo and 8-5 in London by the United States, who also won the title in 2016.”We weren’t settling for another silver, we wanted the gold,” Spain wing Anni Espar told reporters.”We fought and finally achieved (it). I’m grateful for being able to live this.” Australia, inaugural champions at Sydney 2000, missed out on a first gold in 24 years but took their first medal since bronze in London.For the Spanish, they dodged their bogey team when Australia upset the U.S. in a shootout in the semi-finals.The U.S. missed out on the medals altogether for the first time, with the Netherlands’ Sabrina van der Sloot scoring with less than a second left to claim a thrilling 11-10 win and the bronze.Van der Sloot’s winner capped an incredible fightback by the Dutch who trailed 9-6 in the final quarter but racked up five goals to topple the champions.
NEW ZEALAND’S LYDIA KO WINS WOMEN’S GOLF GOLD
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won gold in the women’s Olympic golf competition with a final score of 10 under par on Saturday, completing her medal set after silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo. In a tense finish at Le Golf National south of Paris, Ko held off a late charge from Germany’s Esther Henseleit, who claimed silver two strokes behind the New Zealander.China’s Lin Xiyu was a further shot back to take bronze.
Ko, who started the final round as co-leader with Morgane Metraux of Switzerland, was cruising towards victory as she advanced to 11 under after her front nine holes to establish a five-stroke lead over Henseleit.But a wayward shot on the 13th saw her hit the water en route to a double bogey, opening the door to Henseleit who cut Ko’s lead to as little as one stroke.
Playing in the final group, two-time major winner and former world number one Ko kept her nerve with a string of par putts before slotting in a birdie on the 18th green to bag gold.Gold for South Korean-born Ko will also bring her the remaining point she needed to enter women’s golf LPGA Hall of Fame. Metraux slumped from her overnight co-lead to tied 18th at two under par, failing to recover from two bogies and a triple bogey in her first five holes.Finishing on the same score as Metraux was France’s Celine Boutier, who had thrilled home fans by taking a first-round lead on Wednesday.
Playing alongside Boutier, defending champion and world number one Nelly Korda of the United States fell out of medal contention during the final round to end at one under par in tied 22nd position.
NORWAY’S KOANDA WINS WOMEN’S 81KG WEIGHTLIFTING GOLD
Norway’s Solfrid Koanda put in a dominant performance to win the new 81kg weightlifting title at the Paris Games on Saturday, hoisting aloft a combined total of 275kg to give her country only its second Olympic title in the sport. The 25-year-old took gold 52 years after compatriot Leif Goran Jenssen became Olympic light-heavyweight champion at the 1972 Munich Games. Koanda narrowly missed taking the lead in the snatch after Ecuador’s NeisiDajomes lifted an impressive 122kg on her third attempt to finish just one kilo higher. Egypt’s Sara Ahmedlifted an impressive 151kg in her second attempt of the clean and jerk to finish with a total of 268kg and grab the silver. Dajomes took bronze with a total of 267kg after failing her third attempt in the clean and jerk due to a fainting episode on the stage, however, she quickly recovered.
Meanwhile, China’s world champion Liu Huanhua put in a superb performance to win the 102kg weightlifting title with a total of 406kg at the Paris Game. Liu lifted an impressive 186kg in the snatch to put himself in a good position, but Armenia’s Garik Karapetyan matched that on his third attempt to put pressure on the Chinese lifter. Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan took silver with a total 404kg after only registering on his first clean & jerk with 219kg. Belarusian YauheniTsikhantsou won bronze with 402kg.
FRANCE CRUSH POLAND TO WIN BACK-TO-BACK GOLDS IN VOLLEYBALL
France beat the world number one ranked side Poland 3-0 to win the Olympic men’s volleyball gold on Saturday, defending their title from the Tokyo Games but this time on home soil inside a rocking South Paris Arena 1.
France are only the third country to win back-to-back golds in men’s volleyball after the former Soviet Union and the United States. The U.S. had beaten world champions Italy in straight sets on Friday to take the bronze medal. Jean Patry led the way for the hosts with 17 points and Trevor Clevenot had 11 while Antoine Brizard chipped in with crucial blocks at the net as France claimed a 15th gold medal at their home Games with a 25-19 25-20 25-23 victory. “It’s incredible. Right from the start we’ve been pushed by the fans. The crowd was crazy,” Clevenot said. “Everyone did well to beat a team like Poland. We will party tonight. We won’t finish early!”