The Rio Farce, End of Day 14: High Drama

• Tajikistan has won it's first Olympic gold medal, and the ninth nation to win their first gold medal in Rio (Kosovo, Fiji, Jordan, Bahrain, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, and Kuwait (through the Independent team)).  Men's Hammer Throw, Dilshod Nazarov. 
• And now #10!!!  The Ivory Coast has also won their first gold medal in Olympic competition.  Cheick Sallah Cisse defeated Lutalo Muhammad of Great Britain 8-6 in taekwondo.  Cisse scored a three-point head kick in the last second of the match to snag gold. (Inside the Games daily blog)
• Not much closer you can get than the end of the women's pole vault.  Greek Ekaterini Stefanidi won at 4 meters 85 cm and fewer misses than American Sandi Morris, whose knee barely brushed the bar on the way through at 4.90 on a gold-medal final attempt.
• The re-race for the USA women worked out well.  They won the 4x100m final (from lane 1) by a significant margin over Jamaica.
• TRIPLE-TRIPLE for Usain Bolt.  All most felt Jamaica needed was to get it to him in the 4x100, and they were right.  USA were third to Japan and never really a factor.

But again, that's not why you're here...

• Doesn't look like much more news on the Lochte-gate front tonight...  One of the other swimmers, just returning to the United States, says Lochte is full of it and a lot of it.
• Patrick Hickey of Ireland is now seen as a high-grade security risk and heading to one of the worst maximum-security prisons in Brazil, Inside the Games reports.
• Massive changes have been reported to this year's Paralympics.  It is insisted that all 22 disciplines will be contested, but at least three will have to be moved, and up to 10 countries will not be able to participate even if late money (payments already at least three weeks late) is found to aid the Paralympics.  (Inside the Games)
• Three more Russians disqualified after Beijing retests.  Silver medal to be yanked from the Russian 4x400m relay team for Anastasia Kapachinskaya testing positive for stanozol and turinabol.  Alexander Pogorelov tested positive for the latter -- finishing 4th in the decathlon.  Ivan Yushkov was 10th in the shot put, and was on both substances Kapachinskaya was on plus oxandrolone. (Insider the Games daily blog)
• And I guess that leaves us to the table and the race for second.  BMX, Water Polo and relays give the USA 38 golds and 105 in the total.  
• Golds:  Second is Great Britain with 24, third is China with 22, Germany fourth with 14, Russia fifth with 13.
• Total:  Second is China with 65, Great Britain third with 60, Russia fourth with 48, Japan fifth with 41.  Germany (35) is seventh behind France (37)
• 82 nations now have medals (one nation is still on the table with only a medal which is to be stripped for doping).  That's down three from the 85 in London.
• A burst of new nations in the last day or two has put the gold-medal nation count at 56 -- two MORE than London 2012.
• Still no cash-ins on the "Urine Luck" campaign.  No UK silvers to a Russian, so no Paddy Power bet repeats.