Olympics final day wrap: Lavreysen seals cycling hat-trick, US win basketball

There were medals in cycling and women's basketball and volleyball on Sunday's final day of the Paris Olympics:

Cycling: Dutch great Lavreysen seals golden hat-trick, Andrews makes NZ history

Harrie Lavreysen cemented his status as the king of men's track cycling with the Dutchman completing a golden hat-trick as the curtain came down on seven days of fast and furious racing at the Olympic velodrome on Sunday.

The 27-year-old had already emulated his sprint and team sprint titles from Tokyo but this time the man nicknamed The Beast went one better as he pedalled to victory in the keirin as well.

With an army of orange-clad Dutch fans roaring him on, he poured on the power as the bell rang for the final lap and held off Australia's Matthew Richardson.

“It's incredible, this was my biggest dream to go for gold three times,” Lavreysen, who cloaked himself in a Dutch flag before kissing the wooden boards, said of his feat.

“I felt really strong the full week. This morning, I thought, 'It is possible' — but I needed to ride the perfect final, and I was really close (to perfect) until the end.”

Lavreysen was not the only rider to add to their gold collection on a frenetic final day of action.

Ellesse Andrews continued rewriting New Zealand cycling history as she became the nation's first Olympic track sprint gold medallist, adding to her gold in the keirin.

American Jennifer Valente retained her Olympic omnium title, having also been part of the US team pursuit triumph.

Lavreysen's heroics meant the Netherlands finished top of the track cycling medals table in terms of golds won with three, followed by New Zealand and the US with two apiece.

Britain, for so long the dominant force on the boards, won the most medals, eight, but only one gold — the lowest number since they also managed one in Sydney in 2000.

Lavreysen missed out on a hat-trick in Tokyo when he could only finish third in the keirin. When he qualified behind Richardson in the first semi-final on Sunday, some of his fans might have feared history would repeat itself.

Come the final, however, it was business as usual for the former BMX rider as he emulated British sprint greats Chris Hoy (2008) and Jason Kenny (2016) by winning all three sprint golds on offer at a single Games.

He is also the first male Dutch athlete to win five Olympic golds with only speed skater Ireen Wust (6) ahead of him.

Lavreysen's hat-trick moment was overshadowed by crash involving Malaysia's Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, Japan's Shinji Nakano and Britain's Jack Carlin, who were all sent tumbling across the track, though all walked away.

Australian Matthew Glaetzer grabbed the bronze.

If Lavreysen has dominated the men's events, New Zealand's Andrews reigned supreme in the women's.

She comfortably beat Britain's world champion Emma Finucane in the semi-final and then outclassed German favourite Lea Freidrich in the final — winning both matches 2-0.

“It's been a huge week, and I'm just so proud of how I've managed to carry myself to the end of the competition,” Andrew, whose keirin gold on Thursday was the first Olympics track title in 20 years for New Zealand, said.

Finucane beat Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw for bronze — the 21-year-old becoming the first British woman to win three medals at one Games since Mary Bignal-Rand in 1964.

“I left my heart out on the track,” Finucane, who powered Britain to its only gold in the team sprint, said.

Valente was dominant across the multi-discipline omnium, winning the scratch and elimination races and having a comfortable cushion ahead of the points race.

“I don't think an omnium race is ever under control, a lot of things can happen,” the 29-year-old said. “I just took each race as a stand-alone and came out swinging for each one.”

Poland's Daria Pikulik ended with the silver medal and New Zealand's Ally Wollaston was third.

Modern Pentathlon: Gulyas takes women's gold for Hungary

Hungary's Michelle Gulyas won women's Modern Pentathlon gold at the Olympics on Sunday with a world record points haul in the sport's last final featuring horses before a switch to obstacle courses.

France's Elodie Clouvel took the silver, after starting the final laser run with a 13-second advantage but then suffering a series of agonising misses in the target shooting.

South Korea's Seong Seung-min collected the bronze. Gulyas finished with 1,461 points, nine more than Clouvel, whose time in hitting all the laser targets during four shooting stops in the 3,000 metre run was by far the slowest of the field.

With a sizeable crowd making plenty of noise, particularly for Clouvel, Gulyas held her nerve with a steady arm and firm gaze on a hot and bright afternoon.

“During shooting I was trying to focus only on myself,” the 23-year-old told reporters. “So I was like, 15,000 people, who cares?

“But of course I cared about it because during running it was helping me a lot.

“Because of the crowd, I always knew where Elodie was, because depending on which side she was running on, the crowd was so, so loud there. So I didn't even have to look back.”

Gulyas was the first Hungarian women's gold medallist in Modern Pentathlon since Zsuzsanna Voros in 2004, while Seong was the first Asian woman to medal.

Clouvel's silver added to the one she took in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and she was thrilled.

“It was a hell of a challenge,” she said. “This season I've really had some highs and lows — a loss of confidence, I thought I couldn't do it any more, it was panic.

“Today I kept my head and my arm ... I'm so happy to have this medal, my second Olympic medal. It's crazy.”

French hopeful Marie Oteiza's chances had disappeared in the opening show jumping round when she fell and hit the bars as her horse, Babouchka de la Bride, refused a fence.

Spaniard Laura Heredia suffered three refusals on dollar US D'Ecly and was also eliminated from the round. Britain's reigning champion Kate French had withdrawn earlier due to sickness. Her absence opened the door for Germany's Annika Zillekens as reserve.

The equestrian round, taking place in the open air with the glorious Palace of Versailles as a backdrop, marked the last appearance of horses in the event. Zillekens played a part in that change when she competed under her maiden name of Schleu in Tokyo in 2021 and was a favourite for gold until her horse repeatedly refused to jump.

German coach Kim Raisner then struck the horse with her fist, an incident that put the focus on equine welfare and raised questions about the involvement of animals in sport.

Zillekens had a clear round in the jumping on Sunday.

Basketball: US survive French fright to win gold medal thriller

The US won a 67-66 thriller over France in the women's basketball final on Sunday, claiming a historic eighth consecutive Olympic crown while denying the hosts the golden finish to the Paris Games that had seemed within their grasp.

With LeBron James sitting courtside wearing the gold medal the US men won by beating France on Saturday, the American women completed the golden hoops double and extended their winning streak on Olympic hardwood to a remarkable 61 games — a stretch of domination that goes all the way back to 1992.

But the US had to dig deep to repel the scrappy French, who led by 10 in the third quarter and had looked poised to pull off one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history when Gabby Williams drained a clutch three to leave Les Bleues down one with five seconds left.

The drama was not over.

With the clock hitting zero, Williams threw up a desperation shot that banked in off the backboard and appeared to tie the game at 67-67 as the buzzer sounded.

A video replay, however, showed Williams was inside the arch good for two points, leaving the US celebrating a breathless one point victory and the fearless French stunned.

“I'm sad for them because they fought, they've been working hard for two months,” said French coach Jean-Aime Toupane. “When you see what they showed tonight, it's quite remarkable, I tip my hat to this team.

“They gave so much, it came down to small things but that's how sport goes.”

The win not only gave the American women the record for longest Olympic gold medal streak in a traditional team sport but put the US top of the overall medal table.

The final medal to be awarded was the US' 40th gold of the Games, tying them with China but taking top spot with more silver — 44 to 27.

A’ja Wilson had a game high 21 points for the US while Kelsey Plum and Kahleah Copper each chipped in with 12.

Williams led France with 19.

Volleyball: Italy crush US in straight sets to win women's gold

Top-ranked Italy dominated the US to win the Olympic women's volleyball final on Sunday, crushing the defending champions in straight sets to claim their first gold medal.

Italy came into the Olympics as the Volleyball Nations League champions and did not lose a match en route to gold, dropping one set in the pool stage and none in the knockouts.

As Italy sealed a 25-18 25-20 25-17 victory, Paola Egonu was the star of the show after the 25-year-old, one of the top scorers in the tournament in Paris, finished with 22 points and four blocks.

The Americans had won a medal at the last five Olympics and the silver was their seventh overall — more than any other country in women's volleyball — but they were no match for Italy on Sunday.

Egonu gave Italy a blistering start, with the 6-foot 5-inch opposite heavily involved in every rally on both defence at the net and in attack, forcing the Americans into an early timeout as they fell behind.

Though the US staged a comeback, Egonu sealed the opening set with a spike that gave American Chiaka Ogbogu no chance of recovering.

The second set was neck-and-neck at the start before a kill from Myriam Sylla and monster blocks from Anna Danesi and Sarah Fahr gave Italy a lead to build on.

The US fought their way back again, but Egonu made no mistake on set point to make it 2-0, dealing a huge psychological blow to the Americans, who made errors in the third set.

Italy, meanwhile, continued to impress at the net with 11 blocks in total while the Americans failed to make a single block in the match.

As Italy celebrated every point, their victory seemed inevitable and the gold medal came when Jordan Thompson's spike went wide as the Italian substitutes stormed the court and hugged their teammates who fell to their knees.

On Saturday, Brazil denied Turkey a first Olympic medal in women's volleyball when the South Americans won the bronze medal match 3-1.

Water Polo: Serbia win Balkan battle for another water polo gold

PARIS, Aug 11 (Reuters) — Serbia extended their reign over Olympic water polo by beating Croatia 13-11 for a third successive gold in the men's event in front of a roaring crowd at La Defense Arena.

The Balkan battle was spirited and physical, with both teams committing a slew of fouls and occasionally putting an errant hand onto an opponent's head.

In the end, the Serbians were too strong though, leading for all but a handful of minutes on their way to another Olympic triumph.

After the final whistle, track-suited Serbian staff jumped into the pool to celebrate with the players.

They all sung a victory song and a Serbian flag was hung from the crossbar of the Croatian goal.

The US earlier won the bronze medal playoff in a shoot-out against Hungary to claim their first medal in the men's event in 16 years.