Olympics-Athletics-Belgian Thiam wins third straight heptathlon gold

Paris 2024 Olympics - Athletics - Women's Heptathlon 800m - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France - August 09, 2024. Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium in action during heat 2. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

PARIS (Reuters) -Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam won her third successive Olympic women's heptathlon gold medal on Friday, producing a huge javelin throw to hold off 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.