1ST LEAD Farah in repeat distance double; Semenya crushes 800m field By John Bagratuni, dpa

Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Britain‘s Mo Farah stormed into the pantheon of distance running on Saturday by clinching repeat Olympic 5,000/10,000m doubles at the Rio Games.Farah won the 5,000m on the night to become only the second man to achieve this double double at the Olympics, the other being Finland‘s Lasse Viren who won both races in 1972 and 1976.South African Caster Semenya meanwhile outclassed the 800m field to highlight an ongoing debate around athletes with hyperandrogenism.Semenya is believed to be among several athletes with such an intersex condition with high testosterone levels.The United States got its first men‘s 1,500m gold medallist in 108 years in Matthew Centrowitz; and the dominant athletics nation of the Rio Games also topped both 4x400m relays, with Allyson Felix bagging a women‘s record sixth career gold as part of the women‘s relay team.Ruth Beitia won a first ever women‘s high-jump gold for Spain at age 37, and Germany‘s Thomas Roehler beat the world and Olympic champions for men‘s javelin gold.But Farah stood out yet again as the athletics stadium events concluded - with the men‘s marathon on the streets of Rio completing the programme Sunday.Farah took the lead shortly after the halfway mark and fought off all challenges with an astonishing final lap of 52.83 seconds to triumph in 13 minutes 3.30 seconds.Paul Chelimo took silver on appeal after initially being disqualified for a lane infringement. Ethiopia‘s Hagos Gebrhawit got bronze ahead of 41-year-old American veteran Bernard Lagat.Somalia-born Farah not only emulated Viren, he also has successive doubles at world championships (2013 and 2015), and is now unbeaten in nine global races since getting 10,000m silver at the 2011 worlds."It‘s every athlete‘s dream but I can‘t believe it," he said. "It shows I didn‘t just fluke it in London, to do it again is incredible."Semenya meanwhile ran away from her rivals on the home stretch for a victory in a personal best of 1 minute 55.28 seconds. Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi took silver in 1:56.49 and Kenya‘s Margaret Wambui earned bronze in 1:56.89."I dedicate this to my team. They‘ve done a fantastic job. It‘s a great feeling. Just fantastic. I couldn‘t believe it. Just fantastic," Semenya said.Semenya won the world title in 2009 but was then the subject of gender tests. The results were never released but she is believed to be intersex.She has been running fast times again this year after the Court of Arbitration for Sport last year suspended a ruling from the athletics body IAAF under which the testosterone level of intersex athletes was capped.Centrowitz shocked all the favourites when he clinched a first United States Olympic 1,500-metre gold since Mel Sheppard triumphed at the 1908 Games in London.Centrowitz was leading at the bell, fought off a challenge from three-time reigning world champion Asbel Kiprop of Kenya on the back straight and then refused to let the 2012 Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria pass on the home stretch.He crossed the line in 3 minutes 50.00 seconds, with Makhloufi earning silver with 3:50.11 and New Zealand‘s Nicholas Willis taking bronze in 3:50.24. Kiprop had to settle for sixth."There‘s nothing like it. It doesn‘t compare to anything else I‘ve won in my life," the winner said. "Doing my victory lap, I literally kept screaming to everyone I know ‘Are you kidding me?‘"The win by Centrowitz and the two relays cemented the US dominance of the athletics events in Rio with 31 medals, 13 of them gold, far ahead of Jamaica who got half of their six golds from the third straight sprint treble from superstar Usain Bolt.The Olympic events took place without Russia whose athletes were banned in connection with doping practices in the country. The only exception was US-based long jumper Darya Klishina.