Elisa makes a point

Italian star fencer medal winner Elisa de Francisca made an emotional call for a stand against terrorism and wore the European flag in tribute to the victims of the Paris and Brussels attacks as she collected her silver. “Europe exists and is united against terrorism. I took the European flag onto the podium for the victims of Paris and Brussels. We cannot let terrorism win,” said the 33-year-oldafter the medal ceremony late Wednesday. “We should try to stay united and to love each other,” Francisca added..

Douglas ‘sorry’

US gymnast Gabby Douglas has apologised for failing to put her hand on her heart during the American national anthem at an Olympic gold medal ceremony. As her four teammates — Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Madison Kocian and Laurie Hernandez — stood at full attention with their hands over their hearts, Douglas looked almost dejected with her hands casually in front of her.

Plastic problem

Lars Grael, twice an Olympic bronze medallist for Brazil, feared that sailors would encounter garbage and plastic bags in races at the Guanabara Bay sailing venue on Friday.

All for Kohei

Japan on Friday celebrated gymnast Kohei Uchimura’s all around gold medal at the Rio Olympics with banner headlines, endless reruns of his final routine, and the sale of commemorative stamps for which hundreds queued in downtown Tokyo. On Wednesday, early on Thursday in Japan, Uchimura became the first man to claim back-to-back all around titles in over 40 years.