Olympics

Men's boxing

Joshua roars back for Britain

With a low rumble and high-pitched screams, Anthony Joshua's hometown fans stood in unison before the final round of the final bout.

Joshua faced a three-point deficit to the defending super heavyweight champ, a daunting deficit in amateur boxing, and had just three minutes to somehow finish these wildly successful British games atop the podium.

And just like so many British athletes in these remarkable home Olympics, the north Londoner got it done.

Joshua roared back to win a tiebreaker over Italy's Roberto Cammarelle, grabbing Britain's third boxing gold medal. He managed to keep his eyes dry on the medal stand, but the imposing brawler from Finchley acknowledged he needed some hometown help to rally for the upset.

"I felt the hearts of all these people around this nation," Joshua said. "That medal represents my journey, and the support from the team. It's much more than a gold medal. It's a life experience."

Men's volleyball

Russia mounts big comeback

Dimitriy Muserskiy, a 7-foot-2 middle blocker, had 31 points and the Russians won their first gold in 32 years by rallying for a five-set victory.

Brazil had two chances at match point in the third set, but Russia marched back for a 19-25, 20-25, 29-27, 25-22, 15-9 victory.

Men's water polo

Croatia does it with defense

Croatia defeated Italy 8-6 for the gold, with goalkeeper Josip Pavic anchoring a sparkling defense and Miho Boskovic and Maro Jokovic both scoring twice in the second half.

Croatia went 8-0 during the tournament.

"We played amazing the whole tournament," Boskovic said. Now the real work begins. "For sure, we will not sleep the next two or three days," he said.

Usain Bolt

A Jamaican party, then cricket?

Usain Bolt broke a record then spun some records. The Jamaican sprint great hotfooted it from Olympic Stadium on Saturday night to a party nearby in East London and turned DJ to entertain the packed crowd.

"He came on stage and grabbed the mike," DJ Manny Norte said. "The energy went up tenfold. It was electric. Everyone was very excited to see him."

Bolt later told Australian media he's considering an offer to play Twenty20 cricket in Australia's Big Bash League next season. Bolt played junior cricket in Jamaica and has expressed a love for the sport.

Medal count

U.S. leads the gold rush

Most medals, most gold medals. The U.S. got what it wanted from these Olympics.

So did Britain, riding the wave of home-field advantage for its best Olympic showing in over a century.

The final numbers: 104 medals for the United States, 46 of them gold, its highest total at a "road" Olympics. China won 87 medals, 38 of them gold, down from what they did as the home team in 2008. Britain won 29 golds, third-most of any nation, and 65 overall — fourth in that category behind Russia's 82 medals, 24 gold.

Grenada had its first gold medalist, and six other nations sent athletes to the Olympic podium for the first time. In all, 85 nations won something in London, from the U.S. to Tajikistan and dozens of points in between.

ELSEWHERE

• France's lead was trimmed to one on three occasions in the men's handball title match, and it responded each time. The French became the first team to win consecutive Olympic titles when it edged Sweden 22-21.

• The Russians won their fourth consecutive gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics group event. Russia has won both rhythmic titles at every Olympics dating to the Sydney Games in 2000.

• World champion Jaroslav Kulhavy of the Czech Republic won a two-man sprint to take the gold in the mountain bike race. Kulhavy made the most of a final steep ascent on the technical circuit to move ahead of Nino Schurter of Switzerland and then sprinted to the line.

Seattle Times news services