Alistair Brownlee and Jade Jones proved completely unstoppable and Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark finally clinched Olympic victory on day 13 of the Games to take Team GB’s gold medal tally at Rio 2016 to 22.
Alistair Brownlee became the first man to win consecutive Olympic triathlon titles after storming to gold on the Copacabana with brother Jonny completing a Team GB one-two.
With Alistair repeating his feat from London 2012, the silver medal is an upgrade for Jonny who came home in third four years ago.
Both Brothers finished the 1500m swim in the front group before heading a charge of ten bikes for the 40km ride.
France’s Vincent Luis broke clear with the Brownlees at the start of the 10km run before Alistair’s pace dropped both Luis and then his brother as he claimed gold. South Africa’s Henri Shoeman completed the podium line up with bronze.
“Obviously it’s very special to retain the title. I’ve trained as hard as I can this year and executed it on the day,” said Alistair. “Maybe the enormity of it all will sink in over the next few weeks but I’m just pleased I turned up and Jonny did it as well.
“I can’t remember which one of us said it, but it was very much ‘we’ve done it’. We’ve trained so hard together so this and it’s fantastic. There’s nothing like doing it at the Olympic Games and that’s what we’ve done today.”
Jonny added: “Alistair was too strong for me and these hard races suit him a bit better than me. A bit of me thought ‘here we go again’ but I was confident I’d hold onto second but he got his gap and it just stayed.”
Jade Jones was imperious as she retained her Olympic featherweight crown at Rio 2016 to land Team GB’s first taekwondo medal of the Games at the very first opportunity.
The 23-year old completed the defence of her Olympic crown with four dominant performances, becoming the first Brit to win multiple Olympic taekwondo medals with her result.
Her best performance came in the final, landing four head kicks across the three rounds to secure a 16-7 victory over Spain’s world silver medallist Eva Calvo Gomez.
Jones’ gold is Team GB’s 22nd of the Games in Rio and took the number won on day 13 to six following successes in canoe sprint, badminton, triathlon and sailing earlier in the day.
“It feels surreal to be honest,” said Jones. "It still doesn’t feel real that I won in London so to have done it again is just crazy. I’m so proud of myself because I didn’t realise how much pressure I would feel coming into these Games.
“I started crying before the semi-final because I was just so nervous and felt so much pressure but I pulled it off when it mattered so I’m just so happy.
“I know inside I’m the best but you can still lose so it’s such a scary feeling. You’ve trained for four years of your life, six hours a day, and when it pays off it just feels amazing.”
Team GB topped the sailing medal table after Saskia Clark and Hannah Mills wrapped up the gold medal in the 470 class.
All they needed to do was finish the medal race, which they did with ease, to beat the same New Zealand pair who triumphed over them in London four years ago.
Clark and Mills finished ten points clear of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie to take Britain's second sailing gold of the week.
“Rio is such a challenging venue but as a British sailing team we’ve been so well prepared for it and I think that’s really helped us feel at home. I love sailing here, it offers everything for us," said Mills.
Home nation Brazil helped out in Team GB's bid to top the table, winning the final gold of the day in the women's 49er FX to deny the Kiwis the top spot.
In that race, Britain's Sophie Ainsworth and Charlotte Dobson sealed eighth place overall in the regatta.
Men's 49er pair Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign went into the medal race with a chance of reaching the podium, but two minor catastrophes saw them finish last in the race.
First their boat hit one of the gates before later they almost capsized as they went all-out to gain places in the fleet, leaving them fifth overall.
And the men's 470 crew finished fourth at the end of the tournament, which Luke Patience and Chris Grube admit was some feat, having only started sailing together eight months ago.
“I think in the short time we had available this had been a great finish," said Patience.
“Chris and I teamed up eight months ago having both our previous partnerships end for one reason or another and our competitors have eight, ten, some of them 15 years together.
“We are but a grain of sand in the timescale of all of is. Of course we do it for medals but what we have pulled together is just something we can walk away with our heads held high."
Liam Heath and Jon Schofield went one better than their London 2012 exploits by winning silver in the men’s K2 200m canoe sprint at the Lagoa Stadium.
In the shadow of Christ the Redeemer, the Team GB pair got their noses in front of third place Lithuania and stayed there until the end, facing a nervy wait until their final position was shown on the big screen.
Spanish duo Saul Craviotto and Cristian Toro surged to victory, but Heath and Schofield beat several former world champion pairs to claim second spot on the podium after bronze at London 2012.
“In that field no-one expects anything too much. We all went into that race knowing it’s a clean slate,” Schofield said.
“The Hungarians have been world champions; the Serbians have been world champions. Everyone in there thought they could win a medal, but we just concentrated on our own race."
Heath, who turned 32 on Wednesday, added: “[Since London] it’s taken focus in the gym, we’ve got our diet under control a little bit as well and keeping in touch with the rest of the world.
“All you know is that you’re in the best form possible when you go into the Games. You’ve then just got to make sure you execute what you’ve been doing in training and I think we did that."
Rachel Cawthorn was the only other Brit to compete on Thursday, finishing seventh in the B final of the women’s K1 500m sprint.
Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis won Team GB’s first ever Olympic men’s doubles badminton medal as they completed a superb Rio 2016 campaign with bronze at Riocentro.
Ellis and Langridge edged the first set against Chinese pair Chai Biao and Hong Wei, and despite losing a tight second, completely dominated the third to win an historic bronze in Rio.
The Brits were 21-18, 19-21, 21-10 winners for Team GB’s maiden Olympic men’s doubles badminton medal and the first in any event at the Games since Athens 2004.
“The way the game unfolded we could have easily folded after the second set after being so close to actually taking it. I am very proud of how we came out in the third, we fought our way to a good lead and when we were 7-1, 8-1 up we could really relax,” said Ellis.
“As soon as someone is on the back foot in the third set and chasing, you are in the driving seat. We played the game better than they did and I think we were better than them. We are not just proud of ourselves but proud that we have managed to do it for our sport.”
Langridge added: “On the day we are dangerous. We both believe we are good and you have to believe you are good to achieve things. Most of the time the pressure is on our opponents because we are lower ranked.
“We know that there are almost no pairs in the world we can’t beat and we showed that in this tournament. On our day we are so dangerous and I am so glad we could show it. People have noticed us because we are fighters and never give up as a team.”
Fourth is often described as the worst place to finish at an Olympic Games and no one felt that more than sprinter Adam Gemili in the 200m final.
After a strong second half, Gemili was given the same time as bronze medallist Christophe Lemaitre, 20.12 seconds, but a photo-finish confirmed the Frenchman as one thousandth of a second in front after an anxious wait for the pair.
The race, won by the unstoppable Usain Bolt for his eighth Olympic title, couldn’t have been closer for third spot with Churandy Martina of the Netherlands in fifth, just a hundredth of a second off a medal.
“It is probably the worst way to go out when you finish in fourth,” said Gemili. “I knew it was me and a couple of other people who could get it but I saw his name come up and I just fell to the floor.
“It went down to one thousandth of a second, which is hard to take. I gave it so much and I know I can run faster but is not about the times, it is about medals.”
Earlier in the evening, Lynsey Sharp looked in fine form in the 800m semi-final, going second quickest overall to qualify for Saturday’s final with a time of 1:58.65 minutes, and the 26-year-old doesn’t plan on just making up the numbers.
“There is nothing to lose in the final,” said Sharp. “There are only going to be eight girls on the start line. I feel very confident in myself and I believe in the plan we set out before the race so I am in great form.”
Shelayna Oskan-Clarke was unable to join her however after she finished fifth in her 800m semi-final. Elsewhere, Eilidh Doyle finished eighth in the final of the 400m hurdles while Charlie Grice made it through the men’s 1500m semis with a fifth0place finish. It wasn’t to be for Chris O’Hare though as his Rio 2016 came to an end as he came in tenth in his 1500m semi-final.
World and defending Olympic champion Nicola Adams came through a tricky semi-final in the women’s flyweight division to book her spot in the gold medal match.
In a rematch of the Olympic final from London 2012, the 33-year old defeated three-time world champion Ren Cancan of China after a unanimous decision.
Adams will face France’s world bronze medallist Sarah Ourahmoune in Saturday's final, with the Brit knowing victory would make her the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic crowns.
“It’s not just been about me and Ren in the draw," said Adams. "To get to the finals, you’ve got to face a few people before that so I was looking at everyone.
“She [Sara Ourahmoune] is a good competitor but I’m hoping I’ll come away with a victory in the final. The first fight here I was a little ring rusty but I’ve got that out of the way and now it’s onwards and upwards.”
Charley Hull moved into bronze medal position on day two of the first Olympic women’s gold tournament for 116 years and she admits enjoyment is – and will be – key to her success.
Hull carded a round of 66 second time around the Olympic Golf Course to move to -8 and from tied seventh to tied third with Brooke Henderson of Canada with two rounds to go.
Inbee Park of Korea is the new leader two shots in front of Hull but going into the penultimate round of Rio 2016 the Brit isn’t getting her hopes up, determined just to have fun on the course.
“I enjoy it, it is a lot of fun, I just approached this week as any other week though. I feel like I have prepared quite well and played quite well coming into it and I am just having fun this week” she said. “I feel like I have had some really good rounds [recently]. At the British Open I felt like I played pretty well. I feel like I have been playing good I just probably haven’t been scoring as I would have wanted to but I think I am playing decent. I just want to keep going with the flow.”
Teammate Catriona Matthew is just three shots behind Hull in tied 13th after the 46-year-old ended the day -5 for her round and the tournament in total.
Tonia Couch brought her third Olympic Games to a close with a 12th place finished in the women’s 10m platform final.
Having progressed from the semis on 318.00, the 27-year old from Plymouth improved again to finish on 323.70 in the final at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre.
Couch also competed in the synchronised 10m platform in Rio, finishing fifth with Lois Toulson earlier in the Games.
And the Brit insisted making the final had been her target for the individual event, having targeted the majority of her training on synchro.
“I focused so much on synchro with Lois that going up there without her next to me felt like I was on my own,” said Couch. “I think I gave everything I could into that and didn’t leave enough for my individual so I’m a little bit gutted.
“Everybody stepped it up in that final and I just stayed steady. I’ve scored over 320 and that used to be my best a couple of years ago but now I’m upset to score that low.
“I know I can do a lot better but I’ve made the final which was my main aim so I have to take something good away from that and I can definitely look back positively on my synchro experience as well.”
All four Team GB athletes were in action as competition got underway with the fencing ranking round – Joe Choong leading the way after placing eighth.
Choong notched 22 victories against 13 defeats in the fencing ranking round for 222 points, placing him eighth overall, 16 points off the bronze medal position after one event.
Teammate Jamie Cooke ranked 28th while in the women’s fencing ranking round Olympic silver medallist from London 2012 Samantha Murray was 31st and Kate French 19th.
Murray and French will return on Friday to complete the next four events – swimming, showjumping and combined running and shooting – before the men follow suit the day after.
And Choong said: “I am in good stead for Saturday. It will definitely give me confidence because if I look at my results beforehand I have not fenced this well, as long as my planning goes well I will definitely be close to the medals. “I am disappointed for him [Jamie] obviously. We hang out all of the time, we live next to each other but at the end of the day when you are competing you don’t watch each other are. I am loving it [in Rio], I am smiling like a little child.”
Quarter-final exits for Liam Phillips and Kyle Evans ended Team GB’s hopes of a first Olympic BMX medal on the second day of action at Rio 2016.
Evans, competing in his first Olympic Games, finished seventh in his quarter-final with only the top four progressing to the semis while Phillips’ campaign was cut short after a crash left him needing medical attention.
The 2013 world champion was leading going into the first bend, only to crash with Latvia’s Maris Strombergs, the two-time defending champion, and Switzerland’s David Graf.
Phillips escaped with a precautionary check-up and coach Grant White admitted crashes come part and parcel of BMX.
“That’s just our sport sometimes,” said White. “He wasn’t the only one in challenging conditions with Olympic medals on the line. It comes with the territory of our sport and the riders love the sport. It doesn’t make it any easier but they get used to it.
“He’s faced equally challenging situations in the past but I’m sure this will be pretty raw for a while. He’s in the best shape of his life and I’m sure he’s got plenty of years ahead of him. Kyle performed super well. Had held his own and this will be great experience for him for the future. He’s on an upwards curve.”
Team GB at Rio 2016: Day 14 Preview
Day 14 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is the Team GB’s women’s hockey outfit’s day of destiny as they bid for a first ever gold medal in their first ever final at Rio 2016.
See our full preview here.