By Lori Ewing
PARIS (Reuters) -Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam won her third successive Olympic women’s heptathlon gold medal as Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson battled to the silver on Friday.
Thiam, the first multi-event athlete in Olympic history to win three titles, scored 6,880 points, overtaking Johnson-Thompson with a huge javelin throw and taking a lead of 121 points on the Briton into the 800m, which was the equivalent of an 8.6-second advantage.
Twice world champion Johnson-Thompson needed the 800 race of her life for gold and although she clocked a career best two minutes 4.90 seconds, it was only enough to finish with 6,844 points.
Belgium’s Noor Vidts claimed bronze with a score of 6,707.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Ed Osmond)
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