Boxer DeGale gives Britain a 19th gold before the handover

Sunday, August 24: A scrappy victory for Londoner James DeGale in the middleweight boxing tournament gave Team GB a 19th gold medal to take into the final day of the Beijing Games. As a result, Britain sit fourth in the
medals table with 19 golds, 13 silvers and 15 bronzes - a total of 47 medals, overtaking their pre-Games target of 41.

DeGale beat Cuba's Emilio Correa by 16 to 14 points to become the first British middleweight champion at any Olympics since Chris Finnegan took gold at the Mexico Games in 1968. Afterwards it emerged that Correa had bitten DeGale on the chest in the first round and that a two-point penalty imposed on the Cuban had proved crucial.

At the post-fight press conference, DeGale showed off a faint set of teeth marks in his chest. "It was flowing and everything," he complained. "I was getting into my southpaw style when he got me in a hold and bit my chest."

Through an interpreter, Correa denied doing it purposefully "He came into me and I had my mouth open ­ to him it must have seemed like a bite."

The main event this morning - before the closing ceremony and handover to London - was the men's marathon, run in soaring heat. It proved too much for many of the favourites, including defending champion Stefano Baldini of Italy who could manage only 12th place.

Sammy Wanjiru won gold - the first ever for Kenya in the men's marathon at the Olympics - and, despite the punishing heat, broke the Olympic record with a time of 2 hours, six minutes and 32 seconds. Morocco's Jaouad Gharib won silver and Ethiopia's Tsegay Kebede took bronze. Dan Robinson, the only Briton in the marathon, finished 24th.

With the closing ceremony in sight, the host nation met its target of beating the United States in the gold medals table by 51 to 36. Russia narrowly beat Britain into third place with 23 to Team GB's 19.

FIRST POSTED AUGUST 24, 2008