RIO DE JANEIRO: Mo Farah sealed a rare distance double-double in a pulsating final evening of track action in Rio on Saturday as he won a thrilling 5,000m race to earn the first consecutive 5,000m-10,000m doubles in 40 years.

Farah was pushed hard before he kicked home in the final straight to become the first man since Finnish great Lasse Viren in 1976 to retain two Olympic distance titles.

“This is the most satisfying win of the four, it is incredible,” said the 33-year-old Somali-born Londoner.

On a sparkling final night of athletics, Matthew Centrowitz won a shock 1,500m gold for the United States to become the first American to take gold in the event in more than 100 years.

The nation also won both 4x400m relays to stretch their winning margin in the track and field medal count.

Caster Semenya cruised to victory in the women’s 800m, Germany’s Thomas Roehler won the javelin and 37-year-old high jumper Ruth Beitia won Spain’s first Olympic gold in women’s athletics.

Semenya, who became the first South African woman in 64 years to win Olympic gold in athletics, has been at the centre of a raging controversy because of her naturally occurring condition, hyperandrogenism, which causes elevated testosterone levels.

Rival runners want authorities to revisit rules limiting the amount of testosterone allowed in competitors.

China won their third Olympic Games women’s volleyball gold with a 3-1 victory over Serbia. Only the former Soviet Union — with four golds — has been more successful in Olympics women’s volleyball than China.

Chinese diver Chen Aisen grabbed the gold in the men’s 10 metre platform event while Serbia beat Croatia 11-7 to win the country’s first Olympic gold in men’s water polo.

South Korea’s Park In-Bee won the first women’s golf Olympic gold in 116 years by a commanding five strokes, and the US routed Spain 101-72 in the women’s basketball final for a sixth straight title.

Russia came to Rio under a doping scandal shadow and missing its key track and field stars.

But they snared four golds on Saturday — in women’s handball, rhythmic gymnastics, modern pentathlon and freestyle wrestling.

Russia won their first Olympic gold in women’s handball with a 22-19 win over France in the final while Margarita Mamun claimed the individual all around gold in rhythmic gymnastics.

Alexander Lesun notched up 1,479 points en route to gold in the modern pentathlon with compatriot Abdulrashid Sadulaev beating Selim Yasar of Turkey 3-0 to win gold in the men’s 86kg freestyle wrestling.

Taha Akgul of Turkey beat Iran’s Komeil Ghasemi 3-1 to take gold in the men’s 125kg freestyle wrestling.

Two talented young boxers who could wind up being the future stars of the sport faced off in the bantamweight gold medal bout.

Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba won in a split decision over American Shakur Stevenson in an entertaining match in front of a fired-up, pro-Cuban crowd.

And Britain’s Nicola Adams became the first woman to retain an Olympic boxing title in the flyweight division.

In taekwondo, Azerbaijan’s Radik Isaev won gold in the men’s 80kg event and China’s Shuyin Zheng was the winner in the women’s 67kg category.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2016