Rio 2016 | Usain Bolt wins 200m gold, Ren Qian becomes Rio’s youngest medallist in diving on Day 13
Usain Bolt stormed to his third consecutive gold in the men’s 200m race and eighth overall Olympic gold medal on Day 13, as he aims to conquer the 4X100 relay gold for the third time in as many Olympic finals. In men’s hockey, Argentina beat Belgium 4-2 in the final to claim the gold medal.
Usain Bolt claimed his second gold at Rio and eighth overall as he finished the men’s 200m race in 19.78 seconds while Canadian sprinter Andre de Grasse claimed the silver at 20.04 seconds. France's Christophe Lemaitre and Britain's Adam Gemili clocked the same time at 20.12 seconds, but Lemaitre claimed the bronze in a photo finish. The Jamaican now looks to defend his 4X100m relay gold to make it 9 out of 9 golds in all the events he ever participated in the Olympics.
Chinese diver Ren Qian became the youngest medallist at Rio by claiming the gold in the 10m platform diving event. Aged 15 years and 180 days, Qian took an unassailable lead in her fourth dive with a superb inward three-and-a-half somersault leaving compatriot Si Yajie, and Canada's Meaghan Benfeito to claim the silver and bronze respectively. Sadly, she is not the youngest medallist of all-time as Dimitrios Loundras of Greece, who won the bronze in the 1896 Olympics, remains the youngest at the age of 10 years and 218 days .
In hockey, the Argentine men’s team won their first Olympic hockey medal as they defeated Belgium in the final held at the jampacked Olympic Hockey Centre. Though Belgium took an early lead in the opening quarter, Argentina replied in a emphatic fashion making it 3-1 by halftime. Belgium wasted two penalty corners in the final quarter in a desperate attempt to equalise, but Argentina sealed the victory with fifteen seconds remaining after a Belgian interception gifted them the fourth goal. Nevertheless, this is Belgium’s best finish in their 96-year history, with their last medal in hockey - a bronze- coming in the 1920 Olympics.
American decathlete, Ashton Eaton retained his gold medal in the men’s Decathlon event with a record-equalling 8,993 points, thus becoming the second athlete after Britain’s Daley Thompson to defend a decathlon title. The 28-year old who was the overwhelming favorite to win the event, beat France's Kevin Mayer and Canada's Damian Warner to the gold in the multi-event saga. With this win, Eaton remains undefeated at the top of decathlon since 2011 World Championships.
Meanwhile, Ryan Crouser of USA won the gold medal in the men’s shot put event, by breaking a 28-year old Olympic record, throwing a distance of 22.52m in his fifth attempt. He beat fellow American, Joe Kovacs, who settled for a silver with a throw of 21.78m, and New Zealand's Tomas Walsh who took bronze with 21.36m.
The United States also reached the 100 mark in the medals table with 35 gold medals, 33 silvers and 32 bronze medals while Great Britain (22 gold medals) and China (20 gold medals) own the second and third spots respectively.