TOKYO: The all-conquering US women’s basketball team outclassed Serbia to reach their seventh consecutive Olympic final on Friday as American sprint great Allyson Felix became the most decorated female Olympic track and field athlete of all time.
On day 14 of the Tokyo Games, Poland’s Dawid Tomala won an astonishing 50km walk gold despite only completing the distance once before and Cuban heavyweight Julio la Cruz triumphed in the boxing ring.
With less than three days of competition before Sunday’s closing ceremony, China top the medals table on 34 golds, with the United States four behind and host nation Japan third on 22.
Double-doubles from Breanna Stewart and Brittney Griner led six-time defending champions the USA to a 79-59 win against Serbia, setting up a final against Japan or France.
“Offensively, I just thought we put enough points on the scoreboard to win. It wasn’t as clean and fluid as we would like,” said US coach Dawn Staley.
“But at this stage of the game you’re going to have to win a lot of different ways and we found a way to win.”
Cuban boxer La Cruz, who was shot during a robbery just a few years ago, won his second Olympic gold with victory in the heavyweight boxing final.
The 31-year-old defeated Russia’s Muslim Gadzhimagomedov on unanimous points to add the Tokyo title to his Rio 2016 light-heavyweight crown.
Poland’s Tomala earlier kicked off the action in punishing heat in Sapporo, the revised venue for the race walks and marathons intended to avoid Tokyo’s high summer temperatures.
It was an incredible win by the 31-year-old, given he only completed his first 50km race walk this year in Slovakia, finishing fifth.
“This was only the second 50km in my life and I win it,” he said. “It is crazy, right?”
April Ross and Alexandra Klineman beat Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy to win the women’s beach volleyball, securing USA’s fourth title in the event.
Records continued to tumble at the Izu Velodrome, with gold medals to be decided in the women’s madison and the men’s sprint.
Elsewhere, Shaunae Miller Uibo and Faith Kipyegon retained their titles as Felix sparkled in the penultimate session at the Olympic Stadium.
Felix’s landmark moment came when she took bronze behind a dominant Miller-Uibo in the 400 metres.
The 35-year-old American’s 10th medal spread over 17 years saw her move to 10, one ahead of retired Jamaican sprint legend Merlene Ottey.
“It’s just joy,” said Felix, who has suffered ups and downs in the sport after a difficult pregnancy.
“This one is very different and very special. It’s my first bronze medal, it’s hard to describe. All the other ones, I was so focused on the performance and this one, it’s so much bigger than that.”
Miller-Uibo made it a remarkable Bahamian double as her male team-mate Steven Gardiner had won the men’s one-lap title on Thursday.
Jamaica’s female successors to Ottey celebrated their national independence day with gold in the 4x100m relay in a national record time of 41.02sec, giving Elaine Thompson-Herah her third title in Tokyo after the 29-year-old had completed the sprint double-double earlier in the Games.
