Paris Olympics: Sifan Hassan completes her mission impossible

Sifan Hassan completed her mission impossible with a gruelling women's marathon win on the sun-baked streets of Paris on Sunday, the final day of the 2024 Summer Olympics in the French capital.

With China and the United States grappling for dominance at the top of the medals table, fourteen golds were on offer on the last day of what is widely seen as a successful Olympics.

Dutchwoman Hassan had taken on what many considered to be a crazy gamble, competing in the 5,000m, the 10,000m and the marathon -- the last two events just two days apart.

But in a thrilling sprint finish, Hassan overhauled Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa to take gold by three seconds in an Olympic record of 2hr 22min 55sec.

On Friday she had taken bronze in the 10,000m in the Stade de France after coming away with a bronze in the 5,000m.

She fell to the ground on the blue carpet in front of the golden dome of the Invalides memorial complex in the heart of Paris before grabbing a Dutch flag to celebrate an extraordinary achievement.

"It was not easy," said Hassan. "It was so hot, but I was feeling OK. I've never pushed myself through to the finish line as I did today."

It was a sensational ending to an Olympics athletics programme that saw US sprinter Noah Lyles win the 100m by just five thousandths of a second.

The US dominated the athletics and are going for gold in the last event of the Games, as their women basketball stars hope to add to the men's title against hosts France.

An eighth straight triumph would give them the record for most consecutive golds in any team sport at the Olympic Games -- breaking a tie with the US men, who won seven basketball titles in a row from 1936 to 1968.

"I think the gold medal is the standard," US forward Alyssa Thomas said. "No matter where we are in the world, it's our goal and that's what we came here for."

Wrestling, weightlifting, water polo, volleyball, modern pentathlon, handball, and track cycling are the other sports to crown Olympic champions on the last day.

Old rivals Serbia and Croatia meet for gold in men's water polo in what could be a feisty affair.

Helped by a clean sweep in diving and table tennis, China lead the medals table with 39 golds, one ahead of the US, but the Americans have more gold shots on the final day.

Meanwhile, Serbia extended their reign over Olympic water polo by beating arch-rivals 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.

"It's incredible. This is the power of unity," said Serbia's veteran defender Dusan Mandic, who collected a third gold.

"This is the team spirit. This is defence, defence, defence until the end, sacrificing for each other."

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

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