MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A total of 22 medals in athletics, cycling, boxing, gymnastics, diving, fencing, shooting, golf, sailing, tennis, wrestling and weightlifting were awarded to Olympic athletes on Sunday. US athletes remained at the lead, with total awards coming to 69, 26 of them gold. The Russian team went up to fourth place, with a total of nine gold medals and 30 medals overall.
Russian Gold
Russian tennis players Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova became the country's first to win gold in the women’s doubles tennis event after beating Swiss rivals Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky, beating them 6:4 in two sets.
Greco-Roman wrestler Roman Vlasov came on top in the 75 kilogram category competition, repeating his London 2012 success. Vlasov defeated rivals from South Korea, China, Croatia and Denmark on the first day of the competition.
Gymnast Aliya Mustafina won her career's second gold medal after beating all rivals in the uneven bars final with a score of 15.9. US gymnast Madison Kocian won silver, while Germany's Sophie Scheder got bronze.
Silver
Gymnast Maria Paseka won the silver medal in women's vault, scoring 15.253. The gold was claimed by her US rival Simone Biles. Switzerland's Giulia Steingruber came third with 15.216 points.
Shooter Sergey Kamenskiy came second in 50 meter rifle shooting in three positions after falling behind Italian rival Niccolo Campriani in the finals.
Bronze
Russian competitive sailor Stefania Elfutina won the country's first Olympic medal in sailing in 20 years after coming third in women's RS:X windsurfing. She was beaten by Charline Picon of France and China's Peina Chen.
Track cyclist Denis Dmitriev competed for bronze after losing to his UK rival Jason Kenny in the semi-finals the day before. On Sunday, Dmitriev took home Russia's first medal in men’s sprint since 1988, while Kenny was awarded with gold and his teammate Callum Skinner won silver.
Other Highlights
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt proved to be the world's fastest man for the third consecutive Games after running 100 meters in 9.81 seconds and beating his US rival Justin Gatlin. Gatlin, who previously faced two disqualifications over doping, was booed by the crowds ahead of the race, but came close second in 9.89 seconds. Canada's Andre De Grasse won bronze, completing the race in 9.91 seconds.
A world record was set by South African track and field sprinter Wayde van Niekerk, who ran 400 meters in 43.03 seconds, taking the gold medal.
China's Meng Suping took the women's over-75 kg gold in weightlifting, lifting a combined total of 307 kilograms, one kilogram ahead of North Korean weightlifter Kim Kuk Hyang.
UK golfer Justin Rose became the first Olympic champion in golf since 1904, with the sport finally back in the Games.
Klishina Crisis
Russian long jumper Darya Klishina is set to be Russia's only athlete in the Rio Games after the Court Of Arbitration For Sport (CAS) overturned a recent International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decision to ban her from taking part.
"The CAS Panel in charge of this matter heard the parties and their representatives today between 11am and 3pm. At 1:00am today, the parties were informed that the application was upheld and that the Athlete remained eligible to compete in the Olympic Games in Rio," the CAS said early on Monday.
On July 24, the IAAF prohibited all Russian athletes from taking part in international competitions, including the upcoming Rio Olympics, except Klishina, who trains in the United States. The federation later changed its mind over alleged additional findings of the World Anti-Doping Agency investigation into doping allegations against Russian athletes.
