Olympic daily wrap, day 8: Kim Brennan delivers, Michael Phelps signs off with gold medal number 23

A roundup of what went down on day 8 in Rio: Kim Brennan delivered gold, Cate Campbell’s meet had a silver lining, while Michael Phelps signed off with yet another triumph.

Anna Meares claimed a spirited bronze in the Keiren for her sixth Olympic medal in four Games.

THE AUSSIES MAKING THE NEWS

Kim Brennan has delivered the gold medal a nation has been waiting for. The raging hot-favourite in the women’s single sculls final absorbed the weight of expectation and pressure to secure Australia’s first gold medal in rowing in eight years.

And in a romantic and fitting subplot, Brennan is the first Australian to claim Olympic rowing gold since her husband Scott, who won gold in the double sculls at the Beijing Games.

Brennan fulfils destiny with gold

Cate Campbell has overcome what she called “probably the greatest choke in Olympic history” to help Australia win relay silver with a masterful anchor leg.

Just 45 minutes earlier Campbell had been left devastated by her fifth place in the 50m freestyle final in 24.15s, just 0.08s off the gold medal, but not enough to even stand on the podium.

It meant she had failed to medal in both the 50m and 100m freestyle events for which she had come to Rio as the overwhelming gold medal favourite.

But she combined with Emily Seebohm, Taylor McKeown and Emma McKeon to ensure the Dolphins ended their campaign with reason to smile.

Campbell’s silver lining after “choke”

Cate Campbell, Taylor McKeown, Emily Seebohm and Emma McKeon celebrate with their silver medals. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers was the star as he helped the men’s 4x100m medley relay clinch a bronze medal.

Chalmers pulled off a heroic final leg, taking the team from fourth to third, as Michael Phelps brought down the curtain on his glittering Olympic career when he helped the USA to victory.

Phelps took the lead in the third leg, the butterfly, before Nathan Adrian brought it home as the United States won ahead of Britain and Australia.

The win took Phelps’ personal tally of Olympic gold medals to 23.

Chalmers powers Aussies to relay bronze

Michael Phelps celebrates with his 23rd Olympic gold medal after helping the US win the 4x100m medley relay. Picture: Alex Coppel

Anna Meares has added yet another chapter of history to her stunning track cycling career with a bronze medal in the keirin in Rio.

Meares said she was crying “tears of joy” after the race when she finished third behind Dutch rider Elis Ligtlee and Great Britain’s Becky James.

Meares grabs bronze in thrilling Keirin final

Aussie long jump hopefuls Fabrice Lapierre and Henry Frayne failed to get among the medals as US star Jeff Henderson edged out South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga in a thrilling finale.

Lapierre fouled two of his three jumps with his one legal jump — 7.87 — not good enough to get through to the final eight. Frayne advanced to the final stages with a leap of 8.06m but couldn’t improve and finished seventh.

Lapierre fails to fire as hand costs US star gold

Henry Frayne finished seventh in the men’s long jump event in Rio.

Australia’s remarkable Opals have done it again with another comeback from the clouds.

The Opals overhauled Belarus from 13 points down late in the third term against a desperate opponent attempting to win a quarterfinals berth.

The 74-66 victory helped smoothed the Opals’ path to an eventual gold medal clash against America by topping their pool after an impressive week of achievements

Aussie Opals stand tall against Belarus

The Hockeyroos are through to a knockout quarter-final against New Zealand — but need to rediscover their firepower to win an elusive Olympic medal.

Australia won their third game of the pool series with a 2-0 win over Japan, with Mariah Williams and Emily Smith the goalscorers. Smith’s second-quarter intercept set up Williams’ quick slap shot, with Australia recovering after losing their first two pool games.

Hockeyroos need to fire up for tough Kiwi test

Marcus Fraser admits he’ll need star Swedish golfer Henrik Stenson to be off his game to be in with a chance of winning the first Olympic golf medal. Or the Australian could hope Stenson keeps trying to poke alligators on the Rio course, as the Open Champion did in bizarre scenes on the third day of action.

The world no. 5 shifted up into second behind outright leader Justin Rose — with Fraser dropping to third — but the strangest moment came when Stenson decided to prod a caiman during his round.

Golf invader! Stenson v alligator on Rio golf course

THE BIG PICTURE

Cape Verde's Davilson Dos Santos Morais is floored by Britain's Joe Joyce in the ring.

THE RIO LOWDOWN

Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first ever Olympic gold medal when she defeated Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the women’s tennis singles final.

The 22-year-old Florida-based Puig defied her ranking of 34 to get the better of the world number two and Australian Open champion.

Puig wins first gold medal for Puerto Rico

Athletics world body, the IAAF, has banned long jumper Darya Klishina, Russia’s only athlete allowed to take part in the Rio Olympics. Klishina made an immediate appeal to the court against the order.

The International Association of Athletics Federations banned Russia because of an investigation which said there had been “state-sponsored” doping in Russia. Klishina was originally allowed to compete in Rio because she was based in the United States and had regular testing outside Russia.

Model athlete? Russia’s Klishina kicked out of Rio Olympics

Britain’s Mo Farah overcame the shock of a mid-race fall to take a second straight Olympic 10,000m title and extend his remarkable record at global championships.

The 33-year-old produced a trademark surge over the last 100 metres to time 27min 05.17sec in the 25-lap race.

Kenyan Paul Tanui won silver in 27:05.64 with Ethiopian Tamirat Tola third in 27:06.26.

Farah tumbled in the 10th lap after being clipped by American training partner Galen Rupp.

But he brilliantly recovered to accumulate a second 10,000m title to add to the 5,000m gold he also won in London four years ago.

Legendary Farah overcomes fall, claims gold

Britain's Mo Farah fell early on but recovered to win the men’s 10,000m race.

Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson stormed to victory in the women’s 100m to end the Olympic reign of compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Thompson, 24, got off to a flying start and quickly surged to the front to cross in 10.71sec, punching the air and embracing training partner Fraser-Pryce at the finish.

Tori Bowie of the United States took silver with 10.83sec while Fraser-Pryce claimed bronze in 10.86.

Thompson snaps Fraser-Pryce stranglehold

Rio organisers are taking the “radical measure” of replacing more than three million litres of water to get rid of the vibrant green diving pool that admit has been an “embarrassment” for the Games.

The process of draining the diving pool and replacing it with water from one of two training pools at the Maria Lenka Aquatic centre.

Extreme measure to clean Olympic pool

THE SOCIAL SCENE

Hats off to the girls they know us too well 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/N9xgcXzN1M

— Owain Doull (@owaindoull) August 13, 2016

Henrik Stenson pokes an alligator during #Golf at #Rio2016!

Has he not seen Happy Gilmore? https://t.co/9gXomrqYpa pic.twitter.com/GI5PIsBUur

— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) August 13, 2016

Monica Puig won #tennis Women's Singles and Puerto Rico joined Vietnam, Kosovo, Fiji and Singapore at #Rio2016 first ever gold medal club

— Roman Solovyov (@croulmane) August 13, 2016

Ahhhh Australians #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/EgyKGq47hK

— Angus W (@evilkud) August 13, 2016

THE QUOTE

“You can’t just go out there for a cup of tea and biscuits.”

Anna Meares explains that a final in an Olympic cycling event is no place to come over all timid and indecisive. She won a bronze medal in the Keirin today.