Day four dawns and everybody’s talking about drugs. In particular, Team USA’s newest gold medallist Lilly King is talking about drugs. And she is Not Happy about it.
We’ll have all the comments, reactions, tears, wins, losses and more on the day four live blog. But first: a catch-up of all you need to know about the action so far and what’s still to come.
The big picture
“I showed you can still compete clean and win.” That’s US swimmer Lilly King after her golden win in the 100m breaststroke. In silver? Yulia Efimova, the Russian who served a doping ban and was facing expulsion from these Games before a last-minute reprieve. A tearful Efimova – roundly booed as so many Russian competitors have been this year – said she’d aim for gold next time.
But King didn’t stop there. What about Justin Gatlin – twice banned and now back in Team USA, she was asked after her win:
Do I think someone who has been caught for doping should be on the team? No, I don’t.
Swimming goliath Michael Phelps is also having none of it:
I think it’s sad that we have people in sports today who are testing positive not only once, but twice, and still having the opportunity to swim at these Games.
More drug-related recriminations – and a dollop of sledging too – as China’s Sun Yang took gold in the men’s 200m freestyle, and pretty much the whole of China continued to snipe at Australia after its own 400m gold medallist Mack Horton called Sun (who served a three-month ban in 2014) a drugs cheat.
Today’s award for pettiness, however, goes to Russian state TV, which decided that Phelps’ (admittedly peculiar) cupping practice brings him benefits “not unlike those of meldonium” – a banned substance. I’m not sure that poor effort is going to get them past the early heats in the tit-for-tat tournament.
But don’t get too despondent. According to Usain Bolt, things can only get better:
We have had to go through a rough time before the good times. But in a few years the sport should be clean and I look forward to that.
And your thought for the day: Efimova is met with boos, but it is Fina who deserve opprobrium, says Andy Bull.
Push your way past the drug haze and there was some splendid sporting on day three. Australia’s women sealed the deal in the rugby sevens final, beating New Zealand 24-17 and lodging Team Aus in third position in the overall medal table.
Team USA took six medals in the pool and stand ahead of China at the top of that league table.
For Team GB it was all about the bronze for Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow in the synchronised diving. Or rather, for some, it was all about Tom Daley and, if you really insist, some other bloke. The Times celebrated the duo’s success with a strapline about “Daley and synchronised partner” – and it’s not as if they could argue that it’s snappier – but at least they managed to remember both men. The Telegraph and the Daily Mail pictured only Daley on their front pages, prompting a miffed response from Sharon Goodfellow, mother of The Other One, who tweeted that the snub was “insensitive”. Not to mention baffling: who exactly did they think Daley was synchronising with?
Picture of the day
Colombian weightlifter Óscar Figueroa retires in style: clinching a gold in the men’s 62kg and symbolically leaving his shoes on the stage.
Diary
Find the full schedule in your timezone on this link. Here, all times are local to Rio: add four hours for UK, add 13 hours for eastern Australia; subtract one hour for east-coast US and four for west coast.
There are 15 golds up for grabs today.
- Equestrians get things started at 10am with the eventing team jumping final: Australia currently tops the standings, but Team GB – which has won a team medal at every Games since 1996 – is lagging far behind.
- Then at 2pm it’s the eventing individual jumping final, with Australia’s Chris Burton in pole position. Britain’s hopes are slight, with William Fox-Pitt way back in 22nd so far.
- At 3.10pm, Britain’s David Florence will be eyeing a medal in the men’s canoe single (C1) final.
- At 4pm Simone Biles and Team USA will be the ones to watch (and beat) in the women’s gymnastics team final.
- Golds being dished out at 4pm in the women’s synchronised 10m platform diving final; at 4.15pm in the women’s 25m pistol shooting; at 4.30pm in the women’s -63kg judo final; at 5.20 in the men’s -81kg judo; and at 5.45pm there’s a fencing gold bout in the men’s epee individual.
- Plus weightlifting finals for the women’s 63kg and men’s 69kg.
- Four golds in the late-night swimming: at 10.19pm it’s the women’s 200m freestyle (where it’s Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström v Team USA’s Katie Ledecky, with Australians Bronte Barratt and Emma McKeon also in contention).
- Then at 10.28pm it’s the men’s 200m butterfly (oh hi, Michael Phelps).
- And at 11.29 the women’s 200m individual medley – Hungary’s Katinka Hosszú is the one to beat, but Team GB’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor qualified fastest in the semis, and threats could also come from Team USA’s Madeline Dirado and Melanie Margalis. Australia’s Alicia Coutts is in the running too.
- At 11.38pm it’s the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay. The USA are favourites, but GB and Australia will be pushing them hard.
- The men’s 100m freestyle heats begin: watch out and cheer on Rami Anis, the Syrian swimmer competing in the refugee team.
- Plus women’s football group matches continue, with Australia v Zimbabwe at 4pm and Colombia v USA at 7pm, among others.
Team GB roundup
Another bronze came GB’s way on day three, with Ed Ling taking third place in the men’s trap shooting, his first Olympic medal, in a contest won by Croatia’s Josip Glasnovic. But it was a foot-stampingly frustrating day in the men’s gymnastics and women’s rugby sevens, where Team GB fell – literally, for poor Louis Smith – agonisingly short. Smith’s slip from the pommel at the close of the men’s all-around team final left Britain in fourth, pipped by China to a medal. Russia scored silver and a breathtaking Japanese team soared away with gold.
It was fourth place too in the women’s rugby sevens, in a scrappy third-place playoff against Canada in which three British players were dispatched to the sin-bin.
Paul Drinkhall was ousted 4-2 in the fourth round of the men’s table tennis by Belarussian Vladimir Samsonov, so he will not become the first British player to reach an Olympic table tennis quarter-final.
Today’s a big one for equestrian fans: Team GB is, untypically, currently not looking too jaunty in either the team or individual eventing, which conclude today, but never write off a Brit on a horse.
- Barney Ronay on how Daley and Goodfellow secured their bronze.
- Windsurfer Nick Dempsey is off to a strong start in clear waters.
- Lawrence Okolie and Antony Fowler fall to Cuban and Kazakh boxing class.
- Adam Peaty accepts life is going to be very different as Rio 2016 hero.
Team USA roundup
An extraordinary night in the pool, with six swimming medals – two gold, one silver, three bronze – to add to a bronze for David Boudia and Steele Johnson in the men’s synchronised 10m platform diving. And that all adds up to a top-of-the-medal-table position going into day four.
Tuesday night’s men’s 200m butterfly final is all about Michael Phelps (when isn’t it?) and Operation 20 Gold Medals as he faces Hungarian duo László Cseh and Tamás Kenderesi. Team USA is also looking good (when isn’t it?) for the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay later on.
On day three, the men’s basketball team pounded Venezuela to finish 113-69 – they’ll now face Australia on Wednesday.
- What is Michael Phelps listening to on his trademark Olympics headphones?
- Ghostbusters’ actor Leslie Jones is on her way to Rio (to tweet).
Australia team roundup
Let’s skim over the pool action, where Mitch Larkin and Emily Seebohm both missed out on medals in their swimming finals. That gold in the women’s rugby sevens lifted the team back into third position in the overall medal table, closely behind – can you guess? – the US and China.
Chef de mission Kitty Chiller’s verdict on the team’s first three days?
Pretty bloody good, I’d say.
Also pretty bloody good is news that cyclist Melissa Hoskins is out of hospital following the pursuit team crash in a practice session. Officials said she was “bruised but still smiling” – and there are reports that she could still try to make the team pursuit qualifying on Thursday.
Before that, Team Aus will certainly fancy its medal chances in the equestrian eventing, sitting on top of the team and individual – thanks to Chris Burton – rankings with the jumping finals coming up on day four.
Underdog of the day
Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first woman to represent Team USA wearing hijab (which ought not to be a big deal, but these are Donald Trump days), lost in the individual women’s sabre, but will be back fencing later this week in the team sabre. And she’s got plenty to say:
A lot of people don’t believe that Muslim women have voices or that we participate in sport. And it’s not to just challenge the misconceptions outside of the Muslim community but within the Muslim community.
I want to break cultural barriers. I want to show girls that it’s important to be active, that it’s important to be involved in sport.
Tweet of the day
In what’s being hailed as the first athlete engagement of Rio 2016 (no, I didn’t fact-check all 11,000 competitors), Brazilian rugby sevens player Isadora Cerullo accepted a marriage proposal from her partner – and Rio volunteer – Marjorie Enya. (Brazil didn’t win the rugby, but that’s not the point of the story.)
other best rugby moment: Isadora Cerullo of #BRA says Yes as her partner (& #Rio2016 volunteer) Marjorie proposes pic.twitter.com/l10F2GcXqr
— Stephanie Nolen (@snolen) August 9, 2016
If today were a diss track
It would be Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood. Play nice, people.
And another thing
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