France claimed their first Olympic women’s handball title, beating the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) team 30-25 in the final at the Tokyo Games on Sunday.
France secured gold following a dramatic, high-paced showdown between the two sides in which they had the upper hand at the break before the Russians pulled level at 16-16.
But then France shifted gears to take a decisive advantage at 20-16 in the 43rd minute of a tight contest in which the lead had not crossed more than three points up until then.
The ROC had won their previous meeting with France by a solitary goal in the group stage at Tokyo despite trailing at halftime but their efforts were in vain in the final.
The victory meant France emulated their male counterparts in bagging the gold medal, marking the first time since Los Angeles 1984 that both men’s and women’s handball teams from the same country have triumphed at the Games.
France beat Denmark to win a record third gold medal in men's handball on Saturday, avenging their defeat by the Danes in the final at the 2016 Rio Games.
A low-scoring contest came down to the wire, with Denmark having the opportunity to score an equalising goal with 45 seconds remaining that would have sent the game into extra time.
But the ball was fumbled and France recovered, with Ludovic Fabregas launcing into an empty net to seal a 25-23 victory.
Earlier, Spain defeated Egypt 33-31 to clinch bronze.
France's first volleyball medal - and it's gold!
Elsewhere, France made sure its first Olympic volleyball medal would be gold, beating the Russians 25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 15-12 Saturday night in a breakthrough win for a country that had no history of success.
France had qualified for the Olympics four times before this year and made it as far as the quarterfinals only once in 1988.
But after a slow start that began with a 3-0 loss to the United States and a 2-3 record in pool play, the French knocked off Pool A winner Poland in a five-set quarterfinal before sweeping Argentina in the semis and beating the Russians in a dramatic final to earn gold.
Just when France seemed poised to blow the match, it mustered up enough energy to pull it out at the end. Jean Patry delivered a kill and an ace on back-to-back points to put the French ahead for good at 13-11.
US men pip France to basketball gold
NBA All-Star Kevin Durant hailed his team for overcoming adversity Saturday after pouring in a game-high 29 points to lead the United States past France 87-82 for a "beautiful" fourth straight Olympic men's basketball gold medal.
The Americans started slowly but earned a 22-18 lead after the first quarter and were 44-39 ahead at halfway, then survived some nervous late moments to prove the doubters wrong.
Australia took the bronze medal as Patty Mills scored an impressive 42 points in a 107-93 win over Slovenia.
Gregg Popovich's US team had headed to Tokyo after defeats to Nigeria and Australia in lead-up exhibition matches, sparking questions around their global dominance.
They then crashed to seventh-ranked France in their opening group game, their first defeat at an Olympics since the 2004 edition in Athens.
But spearheaded by Durant, they steadied the ship and began gelling, and a French team led by NBA stars Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum were unable to repeat their feat in the final.
Durant was once again the US backbone as he joined Carmelo Anthony as a three-time title-winner, after being part of the triumphant teams in 2012 and 2016.
He had already reinforced his stature by surpassing his fellow great during group play to become their all-time leading Olympic points-scorer.
India celebrates first athletics gold
Indian companies and governments promised cash and gifts worth more than two million dollars to javelin star Neeraj Chopra after he won India's first ever Olympic athletics gold medal.
The 23-year-old, who two years ago underwent surgery on a career-threatening elbow injury, threw 87.58 metres in the Tokyo Olympic stadium on Saturday to send his country into raptures.
Chopra led India's most successful Olympics ever with a gold, two silver medals and four bronze. He will also lead a cash bonanza for the winning athletes.
The government in his home state of Haryana said it would give a 60 million rupee ($800,000) bonus to Chopra.
Other state governments offered another $400,000 between them and a leading education company promised $270,000.
