Canada won the men’s Olympic 4x100m relay for the second time on Friday after hot favourites the United States messed up a changeover yet again and were disqualified.
Andre de Grasse ran a superb last leg to bring the Tokyo silver medallists home in 37.50 seconds for a second gold in the event following their 1996 success.
Akani Simbine, the nearly man of the individual 100 metres, also ran a terrific last leg to get South Africa silver in an African record 37.57, as did Zharnel Hughes to earn Britain bronze in 37.61.
Canada, running in the outside lane, were led off well by Aaron Brown. Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney kept them in contention with slick changeovers, regularly honed under respected coach Glenroy Gilbert who was a member of the victorious 1996 squad.
However, once all the last leg runners had the baton in hand, it was Japan leading from Italy, who had used Tokyo 100m champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs on the second leg.
De Grasse, the Tokyo gold medallist over 200, Simbine, who has an incredible six fourth or fifth place finishes in individual global 100s, and Hughes, all tore past them, with Canada doing just enough to win the race.
Crossing the line way behind was individual bronze medallist Fred Kerley, who was involved in the botched changeover that saw them fail to make the final at the last Olympics.
He was not the guilty party this time, however, as the damage was done much earlier.
Christian Coleman gave the US a great start but ended up virtually colliding with Kenny Bednarek, the 200m silver medallist, at the first handover.
The US failure was the latest in a long series in an event they have won 15 times - 13 more than any other nation - but not since 2000, when they have only one silver medal from 2004 to show for their efforts.
Since 1995, in the Olympics and World Championships, the US have now had 11 dropped batons, disqualifications or bans.
Hughes and third-leg runner Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake were in the British team that finished second in Tokyo, but were later stripped of the medal due to a doping offence committed by teammate CJ Ujah.
US win women's relay as Britain botch final handover
The United States raced to the gold medal in the Olympic women's 4x100 metres relay, capturing their 12th title in the event thanks to three smooth handovers as Britain made a mess of their final baton exchange.
The US team of Melissa Jefferson, Twanisha Terry, Paris Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas and Sha'Carri Richardson clocked 41.78 seconds after getting the baton around the track with no major mishaps.
Britain were not so lucky.
Excellent legs by Dina Asher-Smith, Imani Lansiquot and Amy Hunt had Britain leading the US, but Hunt struggled to get the baton into Daryll Neita's hand in pouring rain at Stade de France. Neita lost all her momentum, leaving Richardson with nothing but open track to the finish line.
Richardson let out a roar she crossed the finish line and again when the scoreboard, which briefly had Britain on top, corrected the finishing order.
Neita still brought Britain home in 41.85 for silver and Germany claimed bronze in 41.97.
Silver was particularly sweet for Asher-Smith and Neita, who both had agonising near misses earlier in the Games. Asher-Smith was fourth in the 200m and Neita fell short of 100m bronze by four hundredths of a second.
Kenya's Chebet completes golden double
Kenya's Beatrice Chebet surged to the Olympic women’s 10,000 metres gold medal in 30 minutes 43.25 seconds to add to her 5,000 title at the Games.
Italian Nadia Battocletti took silver in 30:43.35 and Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, the gold medal winner in Tokyo, finished third in 30:44.12.
World record holder Chebet did her share of the early pace-making and when the pack broke into a sprint with one lap remaining she pulled away on the final turn to deliver Kenya's first gold medal in the event.
Battocletti, who finished third in the 5,000m but had her bronze medal taken away when Kenyan Faith Kipyegon's disqualification was overturned, made sure of her podium spot in the longer race.
Germany's Ogunleye wins women's Shot Put on final throw
Germany's Yemisi Ogunleye won the gold medal with her final throw of 20.00 metres in the women's shot put, edging a thrilling duel with New Zealand's Maddison-Lee Wesche.
Wesche looked as though she had the podium wrapped up with a terrific personal best 19.86 on her fifth throw but had to settle for the second spot on the podium as China's Song Jiayuan (19.32) claimed bronze.
It was the first German victory in the event since Astrid Kumbernuss in 1996 and Ogunleye strode around the Stade de France with the German flag draped around her shoulders after ringing the victory bell.
The podium was made a bit more accessible when double World champion and hot favourite Chase Jackson crashed out in the heats but Ogunleye still had a decorated field to overcome in order to overcome to add to her World indoor silver title.
Early rain turned to clear skies as Ogunleye took the lead with her second attempt of 19.55 but Wesche overtook her immediately with 19.58 before upping her level on the penultimate try.
With only one more chance to take gold, Ogunleye got the crowd on her side, leading them in a slow clap before steeling herself in the circle for several seconds.
The crowd gasped as she launched the put and she held her hands to her face in a quiet prayer waiting for the results to post. Wesche tried to catch her on her final throw but could only get to 19.68.
Song confirmed her place on the podium on her fourth attempt as her compatriot, the Tokyo champion Gong Lijiao, finished in fifth place.
Canadian World silver medallist Sarah Mitton (17.48) was one of the hot favourites to watch but had a disastrous night, finishing last, while the Tokyo silver medallist Raven Saunders (17.79) of the United States was 11th out of 12.
Spain's Diaz unseats champion to win Triple Jump gold
Spain's Jordan Diaz won gold in the men's Triple Jump, securing his country's first ever Olympic medal in the event by defeating defending champion Pedro Pichardo of Portugal, who had to settle for silver.
Pichardo and Diaz were neck-and-neck after two attempts, with Diaz jumping 17.86 metres, two centimetres ahead his rival.
Pichardo thought he had beaten the Spaniard with his last attempt, but when the result came out - 17.81m - he threw himself to the ground in disappointment.
It was a stunning Olympic debut for the 23-year-old Diaz, who shook the sport this year by leaping 18.18 metres in June, the third best jump of all time and only 11cm short of the World record.
Italy's Andy Diaz Hernandez took bronze with 17.64 metres.
Dominican Republic's Paulino wins 400m gold with Olympic record
The Dominican Republic's Marileidy Paulino surged to victory in the 400 metres to add Olympic gold to her World title and said she hoped her achievement would inspire youngsters in her country.
Paulino had been unbeaten over the distance at four consecutive meets this year and stormed to a comfortable lead halfway through the lap before finishing in 48.17 seconds on a track still wet from earlier rain showers.
Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser took silver and Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek earned the bronze.
The Dominican had a slower start than her rivals but demonstrated her racing prowess by reeling in the early front-runners with a powerful kick that powered her to break the Olympic record set in 1996 by France's Marie-Jose Perec.
Paulino, who comfortably won last year's World Championships, also led Dominican Republic to a silver in the 4x400m mixed relay in Tokyo.
Before the Olympics Kaczmarek had the fastest time this year amongst the eight finalists but she could not respond to Paulino on the night. Kaczmarek was the first Polish woman to medal in the 400 since 1976 when Irena Szewinska won gold in Montreal.
Rhasidat Adeleke finished fourth but still made history as the first woman from Ireland to reach an Olympic 400 final.
Naser, who clocked her season's best of 48.53, said: "I'm ecstatic and overwhelmed with joy and gratitude."
Double Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo was not in the final to defend her title, as the Bahamian athlete struggled with injuries and failed to make it through qualifiers.
Thiam wins third straight Heptathlon gold
Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam won her third successive Olympic women's heptathlon gold medal on Friday, all but securing victory with a big javelin throw to deny Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson who battled to the silver.
Thiam, the first multi-event athlete in Olympic history to win three titles, scored 6,880 points, overtaking Johnson-Thompson in the javelin to move ahead of the Briton by 121 points going into the final 800m, which was the equivalent to 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 as the Belgian ran a career-best 2:10.62.
Belgium's Noor Vidts claimed bronze with a score of 6,707.
Thiam trailed the 31-year-old Johnson-Thompson by 45 points before she unleashed a huge 54.04 metres javelin throw in the penultimate event.
Johnson-Thompson had been the overnight leader of the seven-discipline event after getting off to a dream start with a big shot put personal best and 1.92m in the high jump.
She struggled, however, in Friday's long jump event, aborting her first effort at take-off and giving up a precious 34cm on take-off on her second before posting 6.40m on her third.
Thiam, whose career best javelin is some 13 metres better than her British rival's, hurled a season's best 54.04m as Johnson-Thompson could only manage 45.49.
Johnson-Thompson's medal was her first in four Olympics after finishing 13th in London in 2012 and suffering major disappointment in coming sixth in 2016 despite a huge high jump that would have earned her gold in the individual event.
Benjamin finally outmuscles Warholm to win men's 400m hurdles
Rai Benjamin finally got the better of great rival Karsten Warholm to win the Olympic 400 metres hurdles title, continuing the United States’ athletics gold rush and foiling the Norwegian’s bid to be the second man to retain the title.
Benjamin, second behind Warholm in the Tokyo final and twice adrift of him when collecting two silvers and a bronze in World Championships, always looked in control and equalled his season’s best 46.46 seconds.
World record holder Warholm, who has struggled to hit those stratospheric levels this season, battled all the way home for silver in 47.06.
Brazilian Alison dos Santos, who took bronze in Tokyo but made Friday’s final only as a fast loser, got the bronze again in 47.26 as the three quickest men ever to run the event filled the podium.
"I can't believe I actually finally did it," the 27-year-old Benjamin told reporters.
"It just happened at the right moment. My family is here, my friends are here. To do it in front of them means so much to me. I'm just so excited."
Benjamin's gold took his country's Paris athletics tally to 10, with another 10 silver and eight bronze.
That is in stark contrast with France. The presence of local favourite Clement Ducos in the field cranked up the volume as the home fans were desperate to see a first French athletics medal, but he fell short in fourth, leaving them only Saturday's final session to try to break the drought.
