Rio Olympics 2016, Day 11: Usain Bolt strikes again as Marta`s Brazil suffer football blow

Rio de Janeiro: Usain Bolt stepped up his quest for a third straight Olympic sprint sweep on Tuesday as Brazilian heroine Marta was left in tears by a bitter football defeat.

Brazil, whose captain Marta is considered the world`s best player, slumped to defeat by Sweden on penalties in the semi-finals of the women`s tournament.

Bolt, who easily won the 100m title on Sunday, eased into the 200m semi-finals as he coasted home in 20.28sec, easing up long before the line.

Bolt said a relatively long rest before the semi-finals and final meant he would "have enough energy left to definitely try" to beat his 2009 world record of 19.19sec.

American rivals Justin Gatlin and LaShawn Merritt also qualified for Wednesday`s semi-finals, with the final on Thursday.

In the men`s triple jump, America`s Christian Taylor set a season`s best of 17.86 metres with his first leap, good enough to beat compatriot Will Claye in a repeat of their one-two finish in London four years ago.

"The job is done," said Taylor. "Back to back, it`s very special."

Sandra Perkovic of Croatia also won a second straight discus with a mighty 69.21m, easily beating France`s Melina Robert Michon (66.73m) and world champion Denia Caballero of Cuba (65.34).

Long-jumper Darya Klishina, the only Russian allowed into the track and field, starts her competition late Tuesday. The 25-year-old had to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overcome a late suspension imposed by the IAAF over doping suspicions.

The Rio oranisers also slammed home fans who booed French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie late on Monday when he lost to Brazil`s Thiago Braz.

"As citizens of Brazil and as sports fans we don`t think booing is the right attitude, even when you are in a one-to-one competition and a young Brazilian has the chance to beat the world champion," said organising committee spokesman Mario Andrada.

He said a social media campaign would be launched "to make sure that we behave as fans in a proper and elegant manner, without losing the passion for sport."

But Brazil also suffered in women`s football as Sweden ended Marta`s dreams of the country`s first ever football gold with a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win.

Sweden also beat defending champions the United States in their previous match and they will now play Germany in Friday`s final.

Brazil thrashed the Swedes 5-1 in the group stages, but were held to a third consecutive 0-0 draw in front of a 70,000-plus crowd. As in their quarter-final win over Australia, they were forced to go through the agony of penalties.

Five-time World Player of the Year Marta converted from the spot, but was reduced to tears as her team lost the shootout.

"There is no way to describe the feeling of frustration," said Brazil coach Vadao.

In cycling, Laura Trott became the first British woman to win four golds with a victory in the omnium event -- her second straight team pursuit and omnium double. Her boyfriend Jason Kenny won the men`s keirin and Britain narrowly missed a third.

"It`s down also to the backroom team who have put up with me being stroppy at times," Trott said after beating American two-time omnium world champion Sarah Hammer for the second time in a row.

Kenny`s race was twice restarted because of false starts. Matthijs Buchli of the Netherlands won silver with Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia took bronze.

Germany`s Kristina Vogel edged Becky James of Britain by just four-thousandths of a second to win the women`s track cycling sprint gold, despite losing her saddle in the process.

In wrestling, Serbia`s Davor Stefanek added Olympic greco-roman gold to his 2014 world title when he defeated Armenian Migran Arutyunyan in the 66kg final. It was only Serbia`s second ever gold at the Olympics.