Rio de Janeiro
Brazil won its first Olympic gold medal in men’s soccer Saturday with a dramatic penalty kick by Neymar to defeat Germany, sending the nation into a frenzy. The Brazilians won the tiebreaker, 5-4, after a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes of play.
Before the decisive shot, Neymar picked up the ball and kissed it before placing it on the penalty spot. He calmly sent the shot into the top corner and fell to his knees before being mobbed by his teammates.
“That’s it,” Neymar said. “We made history.”
It was a victory that was about more than soccer for a nation that desperately needed something to celebrate. The country had been battered by recession, political scandal, health scares over polluted water and the Zika virus and questions over whether it could pull off hosting the Olympics.
But all the troubles were forgotten when Neymar’s kick sailed into the net.
As the team stood atop the medal podium, gold draped around their necks, tears streamed down the faces of fans as all of Maracana Stadium joined in belting out the national anthem.
The victory comes two years after an embarrassing 7-1 home loss to Germany’s senior team in the World Cup semifinals two years ago. Brazil was also coming off a demoralizing elimination in the group stage of this year’s Copa America and struggled in early group play in the Olympics.
More for Mo: Great Britain’s Mo Farah became the first runner in 40 years to win back-to-back long-distance doubles at the Olympics by taking gold in the men’s 5,000 meters.
Farah already won the 10,000 meters at the Rio de Janeiro Games to go along with his two gold medals from the same events in London four years ago. The last man to win both distance races in consecutive Olympics was Finnish great Lasse Viren at the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Games.
Farah won in 13 minutes, 3.30 seconds. Paul Chelimo of the United States took silver, and Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia got bronze.
Semenya’s Superior: South Africa’s Caster Semenya won the women’s 800 meters, fighting from behind to overtake Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba on the final bend before cruising home.
Semenya won in a South African national record 1 minute, 55.28 seconds, while Niyoinsaba was 1.21 seconds behind. Kenya’s Margaret Wambui took bronze in 1:56.89.
Semenya has become the unwilling face of the controversial debate in track and field over women with very high levels of testosterone being allowed to compete. She is believed to be one of several female athletes at the Olympics with a condition called hyperandrogenism.
Centrowitz a Winner: Matt Centrowitz of the United States ran from the front and held off Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi at the line to win the gold medal in the men’s 1,500 meters.
Centrowitz won the silver medal at the 2013 world championships and took fourth at the 2012 London Games. His last lap on Saturday was 50.62 seconds. Nick Willis of New Zealand took bronze.
The last American to win the men’s 1,500 was Mel Sheppard at the 1908 London Olympics.
Serbia Owns the Pool: Dusan Mandic scored four times and Serbia beat Croatia, 11-7, to win the gold medal in men’s water polo.
Serbia was the favorite coming into the Rio Games, increasing the pressure on the players to bring home the country’s first Olympic title in perhaps its favorite sport.
The former Yugoslavia won three gold medals and Serbia and Montenegro lost in the 2004 final in Athens, but Serbia finished third in each of the previous two Olympics.
Another Russian Penalized: A Russian athlete has been stripped of the silver medal in the women’s shot put from the 2012 London Olympics after testing positive in a reanalysis of her doping samples.
The International Olympic Committee said Saturday that Evgenia Kolodko was retroactively disqualified after tests on her stored samples came back positive for two banned substances.
The IOC asked the IAAF to modify the results and consider any further sanctions against the 36-year-old Kolodko, who could face a two-year ban.
Aisen Wins Platform: China’s Chen Aisen won men’s 10-meter platform, giving the Chinese their seventh title in eight diving events at the Rio Games.
That equals China’s best performance at the Olympics. The diving superpower also won seven of eight golds at the 2008 games in Beijing.
Aisen totaled 585.30 points. He was perfect on his last dive, earning all 10s for a back 2 ½ somersaults with 2 ½ twists to close the contest on Saturday night.
German Sanchez of Mexico earned silver at 532.70.
Defending champion David Boudia of the United States took bronze at 525.25.
China’s Qiu Bo, the silver medalist four years ago in London, finished sixth.
Britain’s Tom Daley, the bronze medalist in 2012, had failed to make the final. He finished last among 18 divers in the semifinals.