Eliud Kipchoge produced a marathon masterclass and therefore the USA edged China at the highest of the Tokyo Olympics medals table because the curtain fell on the most important sports event since the pandemic on Sunday.
After Kipchoge’s marathon win for Kenya, the us scored victories in volleyball, track cycling and basketball to top the tally with 39 gold medals, only one before China.
The 339th and final trophy visited Serbia’s men’s athletic game team, capping a Games that were in serious danger of cancellation after they became the primary postponed Olympics last year.
Thirty-three sports are contested across 16 days in largely empty stadiums, with fans barred over coronavirus risks and athletes living in strict biosecure conditions.
“Some were already speaking of ‘Ghost Games’,” Olympics chief Thomas Bach told a world Olympic Committee session before the closing ceremony on Sunday.
“What we’ve seen here is that on the contrary the athletes have brought soul to the Olympic Games.”
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The Olympics were suffering from low Japanese support over fears they might become a super-spreader event but officials maintained that a record haul of 27 gold medals, putting Japan third on the table, has won hearts.
“We believe our athletes’ earnest spirit and all-out performance moved people,” said Tsuyoshi Fukui, chef de mission for the japanese team.
Britain finished fourth with 22 golds and therefore the Russian Olympic Committee, the team for Russian athletes after Russia were banned for systematic doping, were fifth with 20.
Tokyo Olympics close with USA topping medals table:
For the remainder of the medal count, go here.
‘Once during a lifetime’
A succession of massive names have did not perform in Japan, where new sports skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and karate have brought young new stars to the fore.
But marathon record holder Kipchoge showed his class, kicking within the closing stages and clocking 2hr 08min 38sec to retain the title he won in 2016.
“I know there have been tons of individuals against holding this Olympics thanks to the coronavirus,” said a flag-waving, 47-year-old fan on the marathon route who gave his name as Tsujita.
“But i’m glad it happened . This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everybody .”
The marathon, moved north to Sapporo to avoid Tokyo’s summer heat, was one among the few events to permit spectators.
Sunday’s closing ceremony got underway at an Olympic Stadium barren of spectators, rounding off a unprecedented Games conducted mostly for a worldwide viewing audience of billions.
Fears of a serious outbreak among the mostly vaccinated Olympic athletes and officials proved unfounded and 430 cases were picked up during the Games, including 32 within the Olympic Village.
But athletes had the added pressure of strict ‘bubble’ conditions and were instructed to follow orders to wear masks unless competing, training, eating or sleeping.
Victory celebrations are low-key, with lonely laps of honour and sparsely attended medal ceremonies. But the emotions of the competitors are on full view.
Trans athletes, ‘twisties’
Superstar gymnast Simone Biles provided the foremost jaw-dropping moment when she abruptly pulled out of competition over a bout of the “twisties”, a disorientating block .
Biles, widely acknowledged because the greatest gymnast in history, recovered sufficiently to return for the ultimate event, the beam, claiming a redemptive bronze.
Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the primary openly transgender woman to compete at the Games and Canada’s Quinn became the primary openly transgender Olympic medallist, with gold within the women’s football.
In other highlights, the US men’s team won their fourth consecutive men’s basketball crown and US swimmer Caeleb Dressel assumed the mantle of Michael Phelps with five gold medals within the pool.
Among the ultimate events on Sunday, Canadian cyclist Kelsey Mitchell took gold within the women’s sprint while Jason Kenny won the men´s keirin to become the primary Briton to win seven Olympic titles.
The Americans started the day two golds behind China but the women’s basketball and volleyball titles and US track cyclist Jennifer Valente’s omnium victory put them top of the ultimate table.
Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov beat US fighter Richard Torrez within the super-heavyweight boxing final, while Britain’s Lauren Price and Ireland’s Kellie Harrington also boxed their thanks to gold.
The Olympic flag will now pass to 2024 hosts Paris. But the Olympic circus will reconvene in only six months when Beijing, faced with boycott threats and a renewed coronavirus emergency, holds the Winter Games in February.
