SUNDAY’S OLYMPIC WRAPUP
London (AP) — A rocking night of performances by Annie Lennox, Eric Idle, George Michael and others inside the Olympic Stadium on Sunday marked a triumphant end to the London Games, where the United States topped the medals chart and host country Britain surpassed expectations.
The last American gold of the Olympics did not come easily, as a U.S. basketball team that included LeBron James and Kobe Bryant at one point were behind Spain on the final afternoon of Olympic sport.
The U.S. basketball gold was the Americans’ last of 46, for a total of 104. That put them well ahead of No. 2 China, which won 87 medals, including 38 golds. Britain won 29 golds, third-most of any nation, and 65 medals overall — good for fourth in that category behind Russia, a winner of 82 medals, 24 of them gold.
The games ended with a huge party in the main stadium that began with a shout-out to Winston Churchill and a celebration of the Union Jack. It including rock ’n’ roll rickshaws, dustbin percussionists, an exploding yellow car and a marching band in red tunics.
Later in the ceremony, London organizers handed the Olympic flag to organizers of the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Earlier in the day on the basketball court, James scored 17 points to help the Americans a 107-100 win in a replay of the 2008 final at the Beijing Games. Bryant scored 17 points.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We didn’t want it easy,” James said. “A lot of teams have won gold easy. We didn’t want it that way.”
In the bronze final, Alexei Shved scored 25 points and Russia won its first Olympic medal in basketball, 81-77 over Argentina.
Earlier, in the first of 15 gold medals presented on the final day of the games, it was the marathoners who got to see London at its best. Under sunny skies for the fifth day in a row, the runners left from The Mall near Buckingham Palace and took a route along the River Thames past the Tower of London and circled close to Big Ben.
At the end of their 42-kilometre tourist jaunt, it was Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda who crossed the finish line first in a time of two hours eight minutes one second. Abel Kirui of Kenya was second, 26 seconds behind, while another Kenyan, Wilson Kipsang took the bronze.
“People didn’t expect Uganda. They thought Kenya, Ethiopia,” Kiprotich said. “Being unknown, now I’m known.”
At Hadleigh east of London, world champion Jaroslav Kulhavy of Czech Republic won a two-man sprint to claim the men’s mountain bike gold medal. Kulhavy made the most of a final steep ascent on the technical circuit in the English countryside to move ahead of Nino Schurter of Switzerland and then sprinted to the line.
British boxer Anthony Joshua won the super heavyweight gold in similar fashion, rallying from a third-round deficit to beat defending champion Roberto Cammarelle of Italy in another tiebreaker.
It was Britain’s 29th gold medal of the games, leaving the hosts third behind the leading U.S. total of 46 and China’s 38.
Elsewhere, Croatia won its first Olympic gold in men’s water polo, getting two second-half goals each from Miho Boskovic and Maro Jokovic to pull away from Italy for an 8-6 win. France beat Sweden 22-21 on to win its second consecutive gold medal in men’s handball.
Russia won its fourth consecutive gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics group allaround while its male volleyballers came from two sets down — saving two championship points — to beat Brazil in five sets.
In the 302nd of 302 medals decided early Sunday evening, Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania used a strong running performance in the final event to win the women’s modern pentathlon.