Tokyo Olympics: Egypt win gold and silver on historic day

Egypt won its first gold and silver medals of Tokyo 2020 on Saturday to secure its most successful Olympic Games in terms of overall medals.

Feryal Abdelaziz won gold in the women's kumite karate (+61 kg) to secure Egypt's first Olympic medal of that colour since the 2004 Games.

The 22-year-old, who beat Kazakhstan's Sofya Berultseva 5-4 in her semi-final earlier on Saturday, shed tears of joy after she beat Azerbaijan's Iryna Zaretska 2-0 in her final in Tokyo on Saturday evening.

Earlier in the day, Abdelaziz's compatriot Ahmed Elgendy became the first African to win an Olympic medal in the modern pentathlon as he took silver behind winner Joe Choong of Great Britain.

Egypt have now won a total of six medals - one gold, one silver and four bronze - in Tokyo, beating their previous best tally of five, which they achieved in 1936, 1948 and 2004.

In both 1936 and 1948, Egypt won two gold medals, a tally which the nation has not matched in Japan.

Elgendy, a rising star at the age of just 21, built on his successful showing at the World Pentathlon Championships in June, which Egypt hosted.

Having won bronze two months ago, he improved by one place after showing he will be a force to reckon with in the coming years.

In an event that comprises fencing, swimming, riding, shooting and running, Elgendy stormed up from 13th place to achieve his historic feat.

"I feel great about this victory," the Egyptian said afterwards. "It was a dream and it came true. It was hard work and here I am with the silver medal at the Olympic Games. The medal is very heavy. I never expected it to be this heavy."

He then explained why he took up the sport that has made him an Olympic hero in the first place.

"When I was young, my mother took me to a club to join the swimming team because I had allergies and my doctor recommended that I start swimming to enhance my breathing. But my mother really liked the idea of doing five sports and encouraged me to join!"

With one day of competition left, Kenya - which took a 1-2 in the women's marathon thanks to Peres Jepchirchir and Brigid Kosgei - top the medals table for Africa (lying 24th overall), with three golds, four silvers and two bronzes.

Like Egypt, Botswana had a day to put down in the Olympic history books as the men's 4x400m relay team won only the country's second Olympic medal ever.

Nijel Amos took the first in 2012, when winning silver in the men's 800m, but on this occasion four men combined to take the bronze.

After a strong start from 35-year-old Isaac Makwala, Baboloki Thebe, Zibane Ngozi and then Bayapo Ndori ran an African record to finish behind the USA, who won gold, and the Netherlands, who won silver.

"We feel so happy, we've been working hard for this, and finally we got it," Makwala told BBC Sport Africa.

"It is a big achievement for us and we are going home with a bronze medal despite COVID-19 and training not going so well. We planned to break (the African record) today and knew that if we broke it, we were going to medal."

Makwala added that while he may compete in next year's Commonwealth Games, he has said farewell to the Games in the best possible style.

"This is my last Olympics. It is something I am really proud of. I have been working hard for this. Finally I got it and I am really happy about it."

In the first track race of the day, Ethiopia's Letensebet Gidey - the women's 10,000m world record holder - had to settle for bronze despite leading for much of the race.

The 23-year-old, who set the world record two months ago, finished behind the Netherlands' Sifan Hassan with Bahrain's Kalkidan Gezahegne taking silver.

Both Hassan, who also won the 5,000m and took bronze in the 1500m, and Gezahegne are Ethiopian-born athletes who have switched nationalities.

Gidey, who concentrated on just the 10,000m in Tokyo despite also being the world record holder over 5,000m, was caught some 100 metres before the line as Hassan and Gezahegne both finished with superior power.

Kenya's Hellen Obiri, who won silver in the 5,000m behind Hassan, could only finish fourth despite running a personal best while Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba came fifth. She won 800m silver in Rio before being forced to change distance because of her overly-high testosterone levels.

Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot, 25, went one better than Gidey in the men's 1500m, as he took silver behind Norwegian winner Jakob Ingebrigtsen and finished a fraction ahead of Britain's Josh Kerr, who won bronze.

Cheruiyot, the 2019 world champion, had won his previous ten races against Ingebrigtsen but lost the eleventh - and the one that really mattered - as the European delivered on the biggest stage.

Kenya's Wilson Kipsang also ran a personal best in his final, one which was only good enough to secure fourth place.

Egypt missed out on a fifth bronze medal on Saturday morning after losing 33-31 to Spain in handball.

The North Africans trailed by one goal with just 34 seconds left, only for Spain to score with seven seconds to play to finally settle a pulsating tie.

The first African team to have ever contested an Olympic handball semi-final, Egypt - who went behind in the opening stages - briefly led between the 7th and 11th minutes after which Spain never trailed again.

Yet the Europeans could never stretch clear as Egypt, who lost to France in the semi-finals, continually responded to going behind by repeatedly drawing level as they dug deep.

"I'm sure this is not the last time you will see us in the semi-final," Egypt's Yahia Omar had said prior to the game. "I feel that this will be our level for the next few years.

"We have a lot of young players who will show much more - I'm sure this is just the start for our team. We are so much bigger than just a national team. We're friends outside and I really love (my team-mates) so much."