Rio 2016: 5 things we learned from Day 15

1- So you’ve just cemented your place in history as the greatest ever Olympic sprinter in the Rio games – what to do to celebrate? Go out on the town with your teammates, have a few exotic cocktails and samba the night away? Or maybe you go and take the opportunity to throw the javelin in an empty Olympic stadium, in front of a few volunteers – well, that’s what happened in the case of Usain Bolt. His last throw (which he insisted on being measured) went 50 metres which is annoyingly good, seeing as this isn’t his event and he hasn’t even been practising. It’s just not fair.

2- It was time for Mo medals for Great Britain on the track last night (yep, that’s awful, even by my standards) as Mo Farah ran a brilliant race to become only the second man in Olympic history to retain the 5,000 and 10,000 metre titles. The last person to accomplish this incredible feat was (looks up Wikipedia) Finland’s Lasse Viren in the Munich 1972 and 1976 Montreal Olympics. Farah had already done the World Championship ‘double double’ last year in Beijing, which makes him arguably the greatest British athlete of all time. All hail the Mo.

3- When all is said and done, the thing closest to every Brazilian’s beating heart is the game of football. Last night saw Brazil given the chance to exorcise the ghosts of the last World Cup which saw Germany hand the host nation a 1-7 thrashing in the Semi-Final of the World Cup two years ago. A close game was always on the cards, and after 120 minutes of normal, then extra-time it all came down to penalties. Germany (yes, I know Germany) missed, yes missed one of their series of spot-kicks, giving poster boy Neymar the opportunity to write his name into the history books, which he duly did by calmly slotting his penalty kick. Pandemonium ensued as 78,000 fans inside the stadium, not to mention an entire nation celebrated long and hard into the night.

4- So you’ve dedicated yourself to the cause for years, abstaining from all the things which are good and a bit naughty in life – rich food, booze, and goodness knows what else - in the quest to become Olympic champion. But what to do once you’ve “medalled” or even won that exclusive, prized gold, to celebrate? The majority of athletes have played it safe by visiting one of the 30 national hospitality houses (Denmark House, Portugal House, Austria House – you get the picture) where they’re free to let their hair down and party on in safety without (God forbid) any danger of meeting ordinary members of the public or experiencing any of the rich Rio culture. Welcome to the bubble.

5- It’s been a memorable games for muscular canoeist Liam Heath who yesterday won gold for Great Britain in the K1 200m sprint (which involves some very, very fast paddling, indeed). This now gives Heath a complete set of Olympic medals after winning silver earlier in the week alongside Jon Schofield in the K2 event, to add to the bronze he won in London four years ago, making him Great Britain’s most decorated and dare I say it, celebrated canoeist. “Salutes”.