Olympics: Italy win men's 4x100m relay to add to record medal haul

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 6 - Italy won the gold medal in the 4x100 meters sprint relay at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Friday to add to the nation's record medal haul.
    The quartet, Lorenzo Patta, Marcell Jacobs, Eseosa Desalu, Filippo Tortu, beat Britain into second place by a hundredth of a second to claim Italy's 10th gold of the Games with a time of 37. 50 seconds.
    Jacobs, who was not a big name before Tokyo 2020, is now a double Olympic champion after winning the individual 100m race and taking Usain Bolt's crown as the world's fastest man.
    While the whole team were exceptional, a special mention should go to Tortu, who chased down Britain's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake on the last leg to clinch victory by the smallest of margins.
    Italy had already set a new record for its medal haul at an Olympics on Friday when Luigi Busà took gold in the men's 75 kilos karate event to notch the nation's 37th medal at Tokyo 2020. Busà beat Azerbaijan's Rafael Aghayev.
    Earlier on Friday Antonella Palmisano won the women's 20km walk to complete a golden double in the sport, after Massimo Stano's triumph in the men's event on Thursday, and notch Italy's 36th medal, equaling the previous record tally set at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles and in Rome in 1960.
    Italy is now sure to finish in the top 10 of the medals table.
    At the time of writing, Italy was seventh in the medals table with 10 golds, 10 silvers and 18 bronzes.
    On the basis of the programme for the last days of action, Italy cannot be overtaken by 11th-placed New Zealand or 12th-placed South Korea.
    Italy is in a competitive state of grace after the national teams' victory at Euro 2020 last month and Rome rock group Maneskin's triumph in the Eurovision Song Contest. (ANSA).