Dina Asher-Smith, Asha Philip, Desiree and Daryll Neita win bronze in 4x100m
By Andy Charles
Last Updated: 20/08/16 10:09am
Great Britain secured a bronze medal in the final of the Olympic Games women's 4x100m relay to end a frustrating run of near misses on the track.
Asha Philip, Desiree Henry, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita came home in 41.77s to finish third behind the United States and Jamaica, with Elaine Thompson therefore missing out on a third gold medal.
The victorious USA quartet of long jump champion Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Tori Bowie were only in the final after a reprieve following their disqualification from the semi-finals.
They had to start from lane one after officially qualifying as one of the fastest losers but it made absolutely no difference as Bowie anchored the team to a comfortable victory in 41.01s.
Thompson, who won the individual 100m and 200m titles, tried to close the gap on the final leg but she had to settle for silver alongside Christania Williams, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Great Britain had mixed results in the semi-finals of the 4x400m relays, where the women's quartet eased through to the final by finishing second behind Jamaica.
But the men were disqualified - no reason has yet been forthcoming - after winning their semi-final with an appeal against the decision being thrown out.
There was a major shock in the final of the women's 5,000m where Almaz Ayana was unable to follow up her 10,000m gold medal despite at one point building a big lead.
She faded badly in the closing stages and eventually claimed bronze behind Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot and Hellen Obiri - Britain's Eilish McColgan finished back in 13th.
Holly Bradshaw narrowly missed out on the medals in the women's pole vault, where she finished fifth behind Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece.
Bradshaw cleared a season's best 4.70m but Stefanidi won the gold with a success at 4.85m, taking the title on countback from America's Sandi Morris.
And there was history in the men's hammer where Dilshod Nazarov gave Tajikistan a first Olympic Games gold medal since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
"The reaction back home is going to be hard to imagine. I've got hundreds, maybe thousands of 'likes' on my Facebook account, so I think the country were behind me tonight," said Nazarov.
Slovakia's Matej Toth won gold in the men's 50km walk, while the women's 20km walk title went to China's Hong Liu.
