Croatia's Kolak wins women's javelin gold, South Africa takes silver

Croatian Sara Kolak won the Olympic women's javelin final on Thursday, dashing Czech Barbora Spotakova's dreams of becoming the first woman to win three consecutive gold medals in the same individual athletics event.

Kolak, who also broke the national record in the qualifying rounds, secured victory ahead of South Africa's Sunette Viljoen with a gold-winning throw of 1.26m.

Kolak won bronze at the European championships but few expected her to challenge for honours before the Games in an event where the focus was on Spotakova's attempt to make history.

But the 35-year-old winner of London and Beijing Games had to settle for bronze with a best throw of 64.80m.