15 gold medals on London Olympics’ final day, then rockin’ closing ceremony

LONDON – Cheerio London, thank-you. Over to you Rio de Janeiro.

The handover of the Olympic flag from London’s mayor to his counterpart in Brazil’s Carnival city for the next games in 2016 will take place Sunday night during the closing ceremony. But first, there were a few things to settle at these games — 15 gold medals — with the first, on the streets of London.

It was the lucky long distance runners who got to see London at its best Sunday. Under sunny skies for the fifth day in a row, the marathoners left from The Mall near Buckingham Palace and took a route along the River Thames past the Tower of London and circled close to Big Ben.

At the end of their 42-kilometre (26-mile) tourist jaunt, it was Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda who crossed the finish line first in a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, 1 second. Abel Kirui of Kenya was second, 26 seconds behind, while another Kenyan, Wilson Kipsang took the bronze.

The Kenyan team was running in memory of their countryman Sammy Wanjiru, who four years ago in Beijing captured the country’s first Olympic marathon gold. But he died last year after a fall from a second-floor balcony during a domestic dispute.

“That is very challenging for us,” Kenyan runner Emmanual Mutai had said ahead of the race and the difficulty of trying to win for Wanjiru.

“Everyone was saying, ‘You marathoners are going to save us because you are the last to compete.’ They are giving us a lot pressure.” Mutai finished 17th.

In other early results Sunday, Italy beat Bulgaria 3-1 to clinch the bronze medal in men’s Olympic volleyball. The later gold medal final had the 2016 host country Brazil attempting to complete a sweep of the men’s and women’s tournaments by beating Russia

Italy capitalized better on its opportunities in the matchup of surprise semifinalists to prevail 25-19, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21.

Elena Rublevska of Latvia won 25 out of 35 fencing bouts to lead the women’s modern pentathlon after the opening event.

A 2004 silver medallist , Rublevska earned 1,000 points to lead Adrienn Toth of Hungary by 24 points. Top-ranked Laura Asadauskaite of Lithuania was third with 952 points.

At Hadleigh Farm, two-time defending Olympic champion Julien Absalon wants to make it three in a row in the mountain bike race, four days before celebrating his 32nd birthday.

“It is not being able to obtain a third Olympic title that motivates me. It is above all to win the best race in the world that exists in our discipline,” Absalon said.

Later, the star-packed U.S. men’s basketball team led by Lebron James and Kobe Bryant played Spain in the gold medal final, a repeat of the Beijing final four years ago.

Close matchups are expected in the men’s handball when Sweden takes on France, in the water polo’s men’s final between Croatia and Italy.

The host nation is guaranteed at least two silver medals on the final day of the boxing tournament. Freddie Evans takes of Serik Sapiyev of Kazakhstan in the welterweight final and Anthony Joshua fights Italian Roberto Cammarelle in the super heavy weight at the ExCel arena.

The Olympic Stadium witnessed one final night of amazing competition Saturday, including Usain Bolt winning his third gold of the games by leading Jamaica’s 4×100 relay team to victory in world-record time and British runner Mo Farah completing a long distance double by winning the 5,000 metres.

By Sunday night, it will be transformed for the closing ceremony, when artists including The Who, Spice Girls and Annie Lennox will power through a play list of great British music past and present. Then, the flag handover and the extinguishing of the Olympic flame.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has questioned some of the judging at the London Olympics, specifically in boxing and weightlifting.

Mutko pointed to Irish lightweight Katie Taylor’s 10-8 win over Russia’s Sofya Ochigava in the women’s boxing final on Thursday.

“How can you give such scores? You’d have to be blind,” Mutko was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

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Mike Corder contributed to this report.