RIO DE JANEIRO: Dilshod Nazarov handed Tajikistan its first ever Olympic gold medal when he won the men's hammer on Friday.
Nazarov, world silver medallist in Beijing last year, heaved a best of 78.68 metres to finish ahead of Belarus' convicted doping cheat Ivan Tsikhan (77.79m).
Poland's Wojciech Nowicki claimed bronze with a best of 77.73m.
"The reaction back home is going to be hard to imagine. I've got hundreds, maybe thousands of 'likes' on my Facebook account, so I think the country were behind me tonight," said Nazarov.
"Everything was very good but I am so tired after the competition.
"The heat wasn't a problem, because in my country it is almost the same, it is normal."