ROC's Mariya Lasitskene rises above the competition to win women's high jump gold

ROC's Mariya Lasitskene has won the women's high jump gold medal after producing a huge jump of 2.04m in the Olympic final. Lasitskene was the only athlete to clear the mark, with Nicola McDermott of Australia jumping 2.02m to claim silver and Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh taking the third spot on the podium with 2.00m.

In a nail-biting competition that went right down to the wire, Lasitskene wrested the lead from front-runner McDermott to earn the title of Olympic champion - and the first gold by an ROC track and field athlete at the Games.

It marked a fitting end to what has been a thrilling track and field competition that has seen records broken, surprises struck and athletes from across the world win the greatest prizes in sport - Olympic gold medals.

This was not Lasitskene's first taste of Olympic glory. Some 11 years ago, the ROC athlete won gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore with a jump of 1.89m. However, this title will represent an even sweeter victory for a bonafide champion who has also won the last three world titles in a row.

When the competition ended, Lasitskene spoke about the range of emotions she went through on the journey to the gold medal.

"I don't remember anything at all," she said. "There is a fog in my mind, a real fog. You are making mistakes, you are telling yourself you don't have the right to be here. How are you even here? But then you go on and continue jumping. You try to line up with your plans. You feel greed. You tell yourself I won't give it up, I don't want to, I can, I must. 

"There must be nerves. There must be fear. I was deadly afraid. At some moments I was shaking, at some moments it felt like my arms were falling off, and then my head started spinning. It was a real horror...

"But maybe all those challenges were thrown at me so that I could overcome them."