That’s it for day 12. Day 13 follows right after, as if it were meant to be. Follow it all live here:
More on that German victory – their first in women’s beach volleyball – over Brazil. Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst beat home favourites Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas 21-18, 21-14.
Ludwig told reporters afterwards:
We worked on how to be self-confident even with this crowd. The Brazilians were really loud, even I had goosebumps, it was really special.
There was a storm coming and I thought let’s take this storm and make our own storm.
(That’s metaphorical and literal: it was very windy at Copacabana.)
Ágatha said she and her teammate had lost to the better team:
It was not good for us when the wind started. They deserved the gold medal today.
Here are Conger and Bentz leaving the police station. They’ll be back later on Thursday.
PHOTO: American swimmers Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, leave the police station at Rio's airport early Thursday pic.twitter.com/bq7oI3k7uP
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) August 18, 2016
Here’s that US Olympic committee statement, from spokesman Patrick Sandusky:
Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were detained Wednesday night shortly before their flight was scheduled to depart from Rio.
They were released by local authorities with the understanding that they would continue their discussions about the incident on Thursday.
James Feigen is also communicating with local authorities and intends to make further statements regarding the incident on Thursday as well.
We will continue to provide updated information as it is appropriate.
US swimmers released
Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz have been released, the US Olympic committee says, but will be re-interviewed by authorities tomorrow.
Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald has picked up comments by British former cyclist Victoria Pendleton about Team GB’s velodrome success under a “why Australia flopped” headline:
I know that pre-Sydney 2000, the Australian Institute of Sport in particular had a lot of funding and support because it wanted to have a successful Games. And it did. But it did not continue that level of funding. So basically it is now being asked to produce the same results in a moving, shifting landscape, without any additional resources.
In the UK, the continued success of riders allows the funding to continue. It is like a virtuous circle …
But cheating? Absolutely not. People talk of ‘financial doping’ and ‘kit doping’. And the kit in Rio clearly delivered a huge performance gain. But ‘doping’ implies cheating. It is a poor choice of word. There are no engines on the bike. No one takes drugs.
Updated
Associated Press has some more details about the detention of two US swimmers who were attempting to return home from Rio after an incident in which they were reportedly robbed:
US Olympic committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky confirmed Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were detained but had no other details.
Representatives from the US consulate arrived at the airport shortly after the swimmers were held.
The investigation intensified Wednesday as the swimmers started heading home to the US, and a Brazilian judge ordered the seizure of Ryan Lochte and Jimmy Feigen’s passports.
The office of Judge Keyla Blanc said in a statement that there were discrepancies in Lochte and Feigen’s statements.
The US Olympic committee said police went to the athletes village to try to collect the passports, but the swim team had already moved out.
Lochte has already returned to the US, and Conger and Bentz boarded a plane later Wednesday only to be removed by the authorities.
Feigen’s whereabouts are not known, though he told the San Antonio Express-News he was still in Brazil.
Britain’s Adam Gemili went through to the men’s 200m final as a fastest loser after running 20.08 sec behind Bolt and De Grasse, but teammates Danny Talbot and Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake, who both ran 20.25 sec in their semi-finals, failed to make it.
Gemili said:
It was a tough watch waiting for that last heat but I’m happy to have made the final. I thought I ran a good bend: I came off it level but then I started tightening up badly, so those guys got into their running and I didn’t.
But hopefully I can get myself in the mix, because there were some big names that went out in that third semi-final, so I’m OK, I’m good.
It’s always open as long as you run your own race and that’s something I didn’t do there. I really tightened up – I’m in a lot better shape than 20.08 – I was really disappointed seeing that.
But that’s a good thing, I suppose, that I’m not satisfied with that and I will go and push on. I’ll probably not get the best lane but I’ll make it work.
Kristi Castlin, who completed that astonishing US 1-2-3 in the women’s 100m hurdles, has told reporters:
I would like to dedicate this medal to victims of gun violence.
Did we catch this earlier? China’s men’s team have won that table tennis gold, beating Japan 3-1.
That’s a clean sweep for China at the table tennis table in these Games, with all four golds – and two of the silvers, too.
Updated
German pair Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst have won the women’s beach volleyball gold medal on the sport’s spiritual home of Copacabana against reigning home champions and home favourites Bárbara and Ágatha, triumphing 21-18, 21-14.
The reigning European champions have never finished higher than fifth at the world championships or Olympics but only dropped one set en route to winning gold and totally overpowered their Brazilian opponents.
The first set was close but the second was a bit of a non-event, in truth, for all that Bárbara and Ágatha (am now thinking cop duo in shortlived 70s serial rather than pop outfit) tried their best to get back into it.
There was to be no revenge for the 2014 World Cup semi-final massacre that still sends an involuntary shudder through all Brazilians, as Ludwig and Walkenhorst refused to let the hostile booing and whistling get to them.
By the end it was the handful of Germans in the crowd who were waving their flags and celebrating to the blaring PA.
Tomorrow night it’s the turn of the men to see if they can go one better, with Brazilian pair Alison and Schmidt taking on the Italians Nicolai and Lupo.
Germany wins gold in the women's beach volleyball!
They’ve won the second set 21-14 to take it from Brazil.
It’s 17-13 to Germany in the second set of the women’s beach volleyball final, and Brazil have some work to do and, you know, speedily.
Team GB member held up at gunpoint in Rio
While we puzzle over the Ryan Lochte “robbery”, my colleague Sean Ingle has an exclusive report that a member of the British Olympic team in Rio has been held up at gunpoint while enjoying a night on the town:
The news has caused deep shock among British athletes and officials – many of whom were looking forward to enjoying Rio’s nightlife after finishing their competitions.
It has also led to an unprecedented warning to Team GB members that it is “not worth the risk” to leave the athletes village because of of fears they might be targeted if they are seen wearing a British kit.
Details at this stage are sketchy but news of the incident, which happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning, spread quickly among athletes in Rio. It is understood the person in question was in shock but was not seriously hurt.
On Wednesday night British track and field officials responded to the news by sending an email to athletes warning them that if they left the village they would do so at their own risk.
The letter told athletes that “following a significant security incident overnight”, they must follow a number of protocols, including not wearing Team GB kit out of the village and not taking taxis, for their own safety.
First blood to the German pair Ludwig and Walkenhorst in the first set of the women’s beach volleyball final at a rocking Copacabana at way past midnight.
It was nip and tuck all the way, but the Germans finished the stronger to win 21-18.
What a bonkers spectacle this is, melding incredible athleticism with crowd pleasingly entertaining rabble rousing antics. Above all, it’s great fun.
The Germans don’t seem to be affected by the incredibly partisan capacity crowd – not an empty seat to be found tonight in the stands high above Copacabana – who are resolutely and rather hearteningly refusing to take seriously the daily stern, disapproving lectures from the IOC about not booing the opposition.
Have to hope Ágatha and Bárbara take the next set, not least to prolong the entertainment.
Germany has taken the first set against Brazil in the final of the women’s beach volleyball, 21-18.
Game over! Australia’s men’s basketballers will face Serbia in the semi-final after all.
The only bad news is that the Boomers will be playing that match at 4.30am on Saturday AEST.
It was a close-run thing but Serbia held off Croatia with a series of clutch free throws to take a 86-83 win after much professional fouling in the final minute of this quarter-final. For fans of 80s/90s NBA, Vlade Divac was on the sidelines cheering them all on.
If you’re looking for a Bogut-Delly-Mills encomium, we’ve also got you covered:
Updated
Every time I type this it changes, but Germany currently lead Brazil 15-13 in the first set of in the women’s beach volleyball final.
Canadian Andre de Grasse, who finished with bronze in the 100m on Sunday, hinted that Usain Bolt might not have it all his own way by running him close enough to chat to him as they crossed the line in their 200m semi-final.
Bolt finished in 19.78 sec, the fastest time of the year. De Grasse was second, just 0.02 sec behind. But the last 20 metres of the race the pair were focused more on talking to each other than anything else.
The hugely likeable De Grasse said he was merely enjoying himself:
Racing the fastest man in the world, ever, and Justin Gatlin, these guys are spectacular. I’m speechless. They’re probably jumping up and down screaming back home in Canada.
The big surprise was that Justin Gatlin, who has been struggling with an ankle injury all year, failed to qualify for the final, having been run out of his heat in fourth:
My ankle is giving me a lot of problems. I can’t run properly and I had a tight turn in lane three.
Bolt, meanwhile, knows he will have to go faster – and he believes he will:
I definitely think I can try for my world record of 19.19 sec, I definitely feel that.
I need to run efficiently and get into the straight and run the perfect race. If I can run a little more efficiently on the turns. I will be hoping for lane six or seven maybe to be able to run as smooth as I can.
Updated
I’m at the beach volleyball on Copacabana where home favourites Ágatha and Bárbara (not a 70s pop duo but the reigning world champions) are getting some raucous backing from the green and yellow stands.
Bednarczuk and Seixas will play Germans Ludwig and Walkenhorst. After the American duo Walsh Jennings and Ross beat the other Brazilian pair, Franca and Antunes, in the bronze medal match they are desperate for some home success.
But my German colleague, the excellent Thomas Kistner, tells me that Germany have had a bit of a so-so Olympics and could do with a gold themselves.
Let battle commence – to a camp soundtrack and with an American commentator bellowing instructions, naturally.
For those following the progress of Australia’s Boomers basketballers, it’s looking increasingly likely that they’ll play their semi-final against Serbia, who lead Croatia by four points with five minutes remaining in the last quarter-final.
The good news? The Boomers beat Serbia by 15 points in their preliminary game.
After their disappointment at losing to Brazilian pair Ágatha and Bárbara last night, the USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross have salvaged themselves a bronze medal in the third-place beach volleyball playoff.
That match, against the (before the Games, at least) top-ranking Brazilians Larissa and Talita, ended 2-1 to the USA.
The final is up shortly and it’s Brazil v Germany.
Updated
Thanks to Tom for the baton/buck passing. This is Claire Phipps, retaking the blog from Sydney, where we’ve just seen a slightly huffy Usain Bolt interviewed after that semi-final – the fastest he’s ever run, we’re told.
Bolt was not, however, thrilled about that:
It was not needed. De Grasse, he just did that unnecessarily. It wasn’t cool but it’s just one of those things.
I was asking him, what is he doing? He said, oh, I had to put on some pressure and I’m, like, why? It’s the semi-finals!
He’s young, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯*
[*artist’s impression]
And with that, I’ll take a Lochte style exit and hand you over to Claire Phipps. Good night/morning/afternoon(?).
And South Korea have struck an early blow (pun kind of intended, it’s late), in the taekwando [FULL DISCLOSURE: I HAVE A YELLOW BELT IN TAEKWANDO SO AM AN EXPERT). This from AP:
South Korea claimed the first taekwondo gold medal of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Wednesday, restoring some pride to the country that invented the sport.
Seventh-ranked Sohui Kim defeated Tijana Bogdanovic of Serbia in a tight final where both fighters struggled to find their form. Kim won 7-6.
“I never expected to be the Olympic champion,” Kim said. “I feel like I’m on cloud nine.”
And here’s more on the women’s long jump from our Bryan Graham at the Olympic Stadium:
Here’s the latest on the increasingly weird Lochte storyline:
Updated
USA's Tianna Bartoletta wins gold in the women’s long jump
Tianna Bartoletta of the United Stateshas captured gold in the women’s long jump, leaping a personal best of 7.17m in the penultimate round to deny team-mate Brittney Reese a historic second straight Olympic gold medal.
Reese, who was looking to become the first ever woman to capture back-to-back Olympic titles in the event, settled for silver with a jump of 7.15m after fouling on three of her first four attempts, giving the Americans a 1-2 finish. Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic took bronze with a national record of 7.08m.
It’s a second Olympic gold for Bartoletta, who led off the 4x100m relay team when they broke the world record at the London Games.
Updated
Brianna Rollins wins gold as USA sweep 100m hurdles
Next up is the 100m hurdles. We have three Americans - Nia Ali, Brianna Rollins and Kristi Castlin - and two Brits - Tiffany Porter and Cindy Ofili - in this one. But Rollins is the huge favorite in this, she’s over 0.10 seconds faster than the rest of the field this year. And it’s her birthday tomorrow. Rollins wins, Ali is second and ... Castlin wins bronze. That’s a US sweep - not country has ever done so in this event. Rollins win was never in doubt but Castlin inched Ofili by 0.02 secs.
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Elaine Thompson wins the 200m to add to her 100m gold!
And we’re off. Thompson gets a great start and leads as we round the curve. But here comes Schippers, she bearing down on Thompson, wills he catch her though? No! She lunges at the line but Thompson holds on. Bowie gets bronze. Thompson wins in 21.78sec. It takes a few seconds for the result to be confirmed and Thompson’s face crumples with amazement and delight.
Updated
Here come the athletes for the 200m women’s final. So much talent in this one from the Dutch world champion Dafne Schippers to the Olympic 100m champion Elaine Thompson. Schippers was the fastest qualifier. USA’s Tori Bowie is also in with a good chance of picking up a medal - a gold is probably beyond her (she’ll win now).
STAT-GEDDON! China have beaten Japan to table tennis men’s team gold. That’s every team table tennis gold in Olympic history won by China (six).
Updated
Meanwhile, the Lochte mystery deepens. We’ll have the full story soon:
BREAKING: Brazilian police stopped U.S. swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger from boarding flight home from #Rio2016: O Globo newspaper
— Reuters Sports (@ReutersSports) August 18, 2016
Russia will not get a track and field medal after all. The country’s sole representative, Darya Klishina, managed a leap of 6.63m in the long jump final after three attempts but it was not enough for her to progress, with the top eight competitors getting three more jumps.
Russia’s entire 68-strong track and field team was banned from Rio 2016 because of the revelations about a state-sponsored doping programme. But Klishina appealed to the court of arbitration for sport and, only days before the starts of the Games, the court ruled in her favour on the grounds that she had been based in Florida since 2011.
On qualifying for tonight’s final she said: “It is very hard being the only Russian as normally we are a very big team with big support, and I am all alone.”
Justin Gatlin is into the 200m final ... no, he’s not! He looks over as he crosses the line and the movement slows him down. A bad, bad mistake from a veteran runner.
Updated
Over at the handball, Poland are through to the semi-finals. They beat Croatia 30-27. Which means they can sit down and celebrate by watching Usain Bolt destroy the field in his semi-final - it’s taking place right about ... now. And, yep, Bolt wins the semi but he’s pushed all the way to the line by Andre De Grasse - the two smile at each other as they cross the line. It says everything about their abilities as athletes that they can joke around while the rest of the field struggle to stay in contact.
Updated
The first semi-final of the 200m is up. The former 400m Olympic champions LaShawn Merritt is in this one, along with the talented Mexican Jose Carlos Herrera and the Briton Daniel Talbot. The French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre will be a threat on the outside line. The first two are guaranteed a place in the final: Merritt and Lemaitre are the men who take them. The American is in control all the way through while Lemaitre’s late surge sees him through too. Talbot finishes third, which gives him an outside chance of continuing his challenge.
Usain Bolt is on the warm-up track ahead of his 200m semi-final. This, of course, is his favourite race - where his average start comes into play a little less. Like Wayde van Niekerk in the 400m the other day, Bolt seems to be getting faster at the end of the 200m as others athletes cramp up.
Feeling tired? Imagine how the poor decathletes feel, they’re on their fifth event of the day now - the 400m. The two main contenders for the gold - Ashton Eaton and Damian Warner - are in the final heat. Remember how spent the specialists looked after running round a track full pelt the last few days? These guys are doing it after running, jumping and throwing at an elite level. Eaton, by the way, is close-ish to world record pace over the events so far today. Eaton has a big lead coming into the final 100m and takes the race in 46.07, ahead of Germany’s Kazmirek. Warner comes home in third but quite a distance behind his friend and rival. The American increases his lead going into the second day.
And on that bombshell, it’s over to Tom Lutz who’ll be bringing you finals in the women’s long jump, 200m and 100m hurdles – along with all the taekwondo you can handle.
Let’s hear it for taekwondo. Bronze medal matches are under way: flyweight Patimat Abakarova (Azerbaijan) has beaten Yasmina Aziez (France) 7-2.
Updated
The competitors have just been introduced for the women’s long jump final. A few did a bit of terpsichorean diplomacy by dancing along to the samba band, earning cheers from the crowd. This is Russia’s sole chance for a track and field medal. Darya Klishina won her appeal to the court of arbitration for sport against the blanket ban on Russian athletes on the grounds that she has been based in Florida since 2011.
A small observation from Twitterland about Iran’s earlier volleyball quarter-final against Italy.
Women banned from stadiums in Iran but present at #Rio2016 for @Iranvolleyball, #watch4women cc: @FIVBVolleyball pic.twitter.com/VIxb8KOQp9
— Omid Memarian (@Omid_M) August 17, 2016
And its half-time in the handball. Poland lead Croatia 18-14.
Kristi Castlin came first in the last 100m semi-final with Britain’s Cindy Ofili second. Ofili’s big sister, Tiffany Porter, qualified as one of the fastest losers. So that’s three Americans and two British runners in the final, although both the Brits were born in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Updated
Nia Ali of the USA and Phylicia George of Canada were the automatic qualifiers from the second 100m hurdles final. But it was heartbreak for the fancied Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico who clattered the antepenultimate barrier and never recovered, trailing over the line well behind the field.
Brianna Rollins of the USA crossed the line first in 12.47sec in the first 100m hurdles semi-final. She qualifies automatically along with second-placed Pedrya Seymour of the Bahamas. Britain’s Tiffany Porter was fourth.
The boxing tournament throws up yet more intrigue, according to this report from Inside the Games.
Russian boxer Vladimir Nikitin, who controversially defeated Ireland’s Michael Conlan in yesterday’s Olympic quarter-final, will not fight in the semi-final, it has been announced. He was scheduled to take on America’s Shakur Stevenson in the semi-finals tomorrow, but has pulled out “due to injuries sustained in his opening two wins.”
The last dark day for USA basketball came 12 years ago in an Athens arena. That was when Argentina beat them in an Olympic semi-final that marked a massive restructuring for the American national team, and a vow to never return the shock defeat. And for the next two Olympics the US dominated just as the US should. But then came the last week and three near losses to Australia, Serbia and France.
Read more …
The evening would hardly be complete without a little handball action. Croatia and Poland are tied 3-3 after five minutes of their men’s quarter-final.
Next up on the track will be the women’s 100m hurdles semi-finals, with GB’s American-born Tiffany Porter running in the first race, while men’s javelin qualifying is about to get under way. A throw of 83m will get you into the final.
In the main Olympic Stadium Canada’s Derek Drouin is being presented with his gold medal for last night’s victory in the high jump.
USA men defeat Argentina and will face Spain in basketball semi-final
It’s all over at the Carioca Arena 1. USA ended up romping home 105-78 winners over Argentina. Relive it as it happened with DJ Gallo:
Updated
Contrasting reactions to Germany’s semi-final football victory over Nigeria. Germany coach, Horst Hrubesch: “Is there anything more beautiful than playing an Olympic final at Maracanã against Brazil? It is amazing, fabulous.” Nigeria captain Mikel John Obi: “We didn’t play well. We don’t deserve to be in the final.”
A little more on the case of Pat Hickey, the president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, who was arrested in connection with alleged illegal resale of tickets, Reuters reports. The OCI’s acting president, William O’Brien, said the body would “defend ourselves to the hilt” after Brazilian police arrested Hickey in a dawn raid on his hotel on Wednesday.
Hickey was admitted to nearby Samaritano hospital for chest pain after his arrest. Speaking outside the hospital, O’Brien said: “His medical condition has been checked. He is stable at the moment and it will be monitored over the next 24 hours so there will be nothing happening here over the next 24 hours.
“He has made no comment because as you can understand... he’s having all sorts of tests so he has made no comment to us about the allegations.”
In the basketball the USA go into the start of the fourth quarter leading Argentina 87-61.
Italy’s men look in ominous form ahead of a volleyball semi-final against the USA. After a very hard-fought first set in their quarter-final they dispatched Iran 31-29, 25-19, 25-17. Should be a thriller.
Another wrestling gold for Japan
Meanwhile, freestyle wrestling continues to be a gold mine for Japan. Sara Dosho has beaten Russia’s Natalia Vorobieva 3-1 in the 69kg final.
Updated
The men’s team table tennis final is under way beaten China and Japan. I’ve got a little feeling for the Chinese in this one. The last time a table tennis gold medal – men’s, women’s or team – went anywhere other than China was in 1992, during the first George Bush presidency, when the English Premier League was still plain old Division One and compact discs were the hot new way to listen to music.
The men’s decathlon high jump has ended with the USA’s Jeremy Taiwo going highest at 2.19, moving up from ninth to third overall in the process. After four events Ashton Eaton retains the lead on 3616 points, followed by Canada’s Damian Warner on 3548 and Taiwo on 3547. Next up for the decathletes later this evening will be the 400m.
Want to read the story of the GB women’s team’s best performance in Olympic hockey history? Read on:
It’s half-time at the Carioca Arena 1 where the USA men’s basketeball team lead Argentina 56-40. Details here.
US women make water polo final
The US women’s water polo team have beaten Hungary to reach the finals where they will look to become the first women’s squad to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the sport. Hungary went ahead 2-1 in the first quarter but the world champions regrouped and used tight defence and superior firepower to secure a 14-10 victory. They play Italy, who beat Russia 12-9, on Friday for the gold.
Updated
Canada’s Damian Warner has put pressure on Ashton Eaton in the decathlon by clearing 2.04m in the high jump. Eaton has just failed at the same height, giving an opportunity for those chasing to nip away at his lead.
A rather miserable postscript (unless you’re French) from the men’s 3,000m steeplechase. Kenyan great Ezekiel Kemboi has been disqualified in his last race, losing the bronze medal he won on Wednesday before he announced his retirement. A jury decided Kemboi stepped off the track after clearing a water jump during the final at the Olympic Stadium. The decision was made after a protest by the French team, and France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi was awarded the bronze after finishing fourth.
Tonight’s US-Argentina basketball game might be played in Brazil but there are several thousand Argentinians who have fled the arena here and are singing and dancing and roaring on every basket. As has become customary for the Americans at these Olympics they are struggling to handle the crisp, beautiful passing of another opponent that plays well together and has fallen down early.
And since the Brazilians in the stands have little use for Argentina’s team they have turned to rooting for the US. Safe to say we are hearing our first “USA USA USA” chants from Brazil residents at these Olympics.
At the end of the first quarter USA have fought back to finish the first quarter 25-21 against Argentina. DJ Gallo has the play by play.
Plenty going on right now, not least on the volleyball court. Italy have now taken the second set 25-19 against Iran for the right to face the USA in the semi-finals.
Well that’s all from me, thanks for reading. I will hand over to Chris Taylor to take you through the rest of the evening’s action in Rio. Enjoy!
Elsewhere in Rio right now: in men’s volleyball, Italy and Iran are locked in an entertaining quarter-final which the Italians lead 19-16 in the second set after an extremely tight 31-29 win in the first. In the Olympic Stadium, the men’s decathlon has got under way with the first event, the high jump. Reigning champion Ashton Eaton of USA jumped 1.98m for 785 points, but four competitors jumped 2.10m including his two compatriots, Jeremy Taiwo and Zach Ziemek. A long way to go, of course.
For those in the UK, here is the moment Britain reached their first women’s Olympic hockey final:
It’s been a fine evening for Japan so far, who have climbed to sixth in the medal table with their eighth and ninth golds. The latest comes courtesy of Kaori Icho who adds a fourth shiny one to golds in Athens, Beijing and London with victory in the 58kg final moments ago – what a stunning achievement.
British coach Danny Kerry gives a calm team-talk telling the players not to celebrate too hard – they haven’t finished the job yet. Scorer Kate Richardson-Walsh speaks: “I thought we were so resilient, we had to ride out some serious storms, and we defended like our lives depended on it.”
WE ARE GOING TO THE OLYMPIC FINALS FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 17, 2016
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻#BringOnTheGreat #Rio2016 #Hockey pic.twitter.com/QNLFIagN5n
Great Britain reach women's hockey final!
A historic moment in British hockey as their women reach the Olympic final for the first time after a convincing 3-0 victory. New Zealand will go into the bronze medal match for the second Games in a row, where they will face Germany, while Netherlands await Great Britain.
Great Britain have held on to their 3-0 advantage despite plenty of New Zealand pressure and, with only two minutes remaining, are closing in on the women’s hockey final...
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Japan are about to go for another wrestling freestyle gold, this time in the 58kg final, with the three-time Olympic champion Kaori Icho. She takes on Valeriia Koblova of Russia.
Another penalty stroke for Great Britain in the women’s hockey semi-final! Alex Danson slams them into a 3-0 lead and with less than nine minutes left, surely they have booked a spot in the final.
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The British sailors Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark will have to wait one more day to claim gold after officials decided it was not windy enough to run the women’s 470 Olympic final. The full story:
Helen Richardson-Walsh fires the ball home and Britain lead New Zealand 2-0 with less than 13 minutes to play.
A huge moment in the women’s hockey semi-final as Britain are awarded a penalty stroke...
If you’d like to follow the USA beating Argentina in their men’s basketball quarter-final, we’ve got it covered right here:
In another boost for the British team the injured Georgie Twigg, who took a ball to the face earlier, is back in action.
New Zealand have been piling on the pressure in the second women’s hockey semi-final but Britain have held on to their 1-0 lead and will take it into the final quarter.
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For those readers in the UK, here is the winning moment in the women’s 48kg freestyle wrestling final. Japan’s Eri Tosaka beat Maria Stadnik of Azerbaijan in the last few seconds, managing to grasp Stadnik’s leg and bring her to the floor. Her success takes Japan to eighth place on the medal table:
Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, described the home crowd’s treatment of the pole vault silver medallist Renaud Lavillenie as “shocking” and “unacceptable” after he was booed for a second successive evening at the Olympic Stadium in Rio. Here’s more:
The women’s hockey semi-final between New Zealand and Great Britain is as tight and tense as expected. Britain still lead 1-0 but they have received a blow with an injury to Georgie Twigg, who took a deflected ball to the face moments ago. She walks away to take treatment and play goes on with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.
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Confirmation of British boxer Savannah Marshall’s defeat in the women’s boxing middleweight quarter-finals and the defending champion Claressa Shields’ victory:
Germany reach men's football final!
They didn’t have it all their own way but eventually Germany saw off Nigeria 2-0 through goals by Nils Petersen and Lukas Klostermann. They will play Brazil at the Maracanã in a mouth-watering gold medal match two years on from that famous 7-1 thrashing in the 2014 World Cup.
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In the men’s football semi-final, Substitute Nils Petersen turns a team-mate’s shot into a cross to score at the back post and Germany are going to the final! They lead Nigeria 2-0 with only a couple of minutes of added time remaining.
Britain’s women lead New Zealand 1-0 at half-time at the Hockey Arena. The Black Sticks have had the better chances but they haven’t been clinical enough in front of goal. Plenty of time for all that to change, of course.
Updated
Tosaka’s gold pushes Japan back up to eighth in the medal table:
In a very close affair, Japan’s Eri Tosaka has won the women’s freestyle wrestling 48kg gold with victory against Maria Stadnik of Azerbaijan. The celebrations are up there with the very best of these Games:
Wow! 3X world champion Eri Tosaka (Japan) becomes an Olympic champion with a last sec TD over Mariya Stadnik (AZE) pic.twitter.com/l5gn8U5m7J
— Trackwrestling (@trackwrestling) August 17, 2016
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Back to the hockey, where Great Britain have taken the lead in the women’s semi-final! Alex Danson reacted quickest to the rebound from a saved penalty-corner to poke the ball home and the deadlock is finally broken.
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Although the hockey and football are the main stories in Rio right now, there are some medals up for grabs in the women’s freestyle wrestling. Yanan Sun of China and Elitsa Yankova of Bulgaria have both secured bronze, and there are gold medal matches coming up shortly...
It’s 0-0 at the end of the first period between New Zealand and Great Britain. The Black Sticks have had the better of the opening exchanges but have nothing to show for it as they return for the second.
An hour gone in the men’s football semi-final and Germany have regained some control from Nigeria. Arsenal’s impressive Serge Gnabry is set through on goal with the chance to put Germany 2-0 ahead... but the offside flag goes up to deny him.
In the second women’s hockey semi-final, New Zealand have gone close twice in the first period but have been a whisker wide on each occasion. Now Britain have a penalty corner – Crista Cullen snaps a shot away but it’s well saved.
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They are back under way at the Corinthians Arena in the men’s football semi-final where Nigeria have begun the second half brightly, with Imoh Ezekiel causing problems through some direct running at the German defence. Germany still lead 1-0, with a place against Brazil in the final at stake:
Daniyar Yeleussinov has secured Kazakhstan’s third gold medal of these Games in the men’s boxing welterweight final with a comfortable victory over Uzbekistan’s Shakhram Giyasov.
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It’s a huge game at the Olympic Hockey Centre now, as New Zealand and Great Britain come together in the second semi-final. They met in the bronze-medal match in London where Team GB came out on top, and the winner this time will win a place against Netherlands in a match for gold, who won a penalty shootout versus Germany earlier in the day.
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The men’s triathlon takes place tomorrow and Britain’s Brownlee brothers are the ones to beat again:
Half-time in the men’s football semi-final and this is certainly a closer contest than Brazil’s 6-0 hammering of Honduras earlier. Germany lead Nigeria 1-0 through Lukas Klostermann’s tap-in and have dominated the game, but Nigeria created a few chances in the final 10 minutes to give their opponents something to think about at the break.
The latest from the opening round of the women’s golf competition where it has been a good day for the British Open champion Ariya Jutanugarn:
It has been a sun-baked scorcher on the first day of the women’s golf, with almost all the leading players in the world participating. The front-runner (possibly not the best description given the overall pace of play has been funereal) after the opening round is the 20-year-old Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, who shot a six-under-par 65 to lead by a shot from Korea’s Inbee Park. GB’s Charley Hull is three shots off the pace after an encouraging round of 68, with Catriona Mathew recording a level-par 71.
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In boxing, the men’s welterweight final is scheduled to get going imminently between Uzbekistan’s Shakhram Giyasov and the 2013 world champion, Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan. Both countries have two golds so far in Rio.
The immovable cloud over these Games persists. Here is the latest before the Paralympics:
The Rio Paralympics next month look set to be watched by crowds more usually associated with county cricket and non-league football after the organisers revealed that only 12% of the tickets have been sold.
The International Paralympic Committee had been hoping to build on the huge success of London 2012 but there are now major fears the Rio Games could set the movement back.
Rio 2016’s organising committee is nearly three weeks late in paying travel grants to the participating nations and has been in crisis talks with the IPC, the Rio mayor Eduardo Paes and the Brazilian government all week to find a solution to its budget shortfall.
This week the IPC president, Sir Philip Craven, described the situation as “precarious” while the British Paralympic Association chief executive, Tim Hollingsworth, said there were “obviously serious challenges”.
In the men’s football semi-final, Nigeria are enjoying a foray forward into Germany’s half. Jon Obi Mikel finds space in the box and lashes a shot towards goal but the captain is quickly closed down. Better from the Nigerians who are trailing 1-0 after half an hour.
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This read comes highly recommended – Andy Bull on Caster Semenya:
Even when she had finished the race Caster Semenya did not stop running. After winning her heat she paused to catch her breath, then set off again in a brisk walk past the TV cameras, radio microphones, and outstretched dictaphones of the assembled press, all waiting for her, all wanting a comment.
After seven years of intense, invasive and often ill-informed coverage Semenya has no desire to answer any more questions. She is unbeaten over 800m this year and in that period has run three of the four fastest times over that distance in the world. The best of them, 1min 55.33sec, is almost a second clear of the second-fastest competitor and two seconds clear of the third. She is in such fine form that the hardest challenge for her this week may well be the press conference she will have to give if she wins.
You can read the full piece here:
The 400m gold medalist Shaunae Miller has explained her diving finish to beat American Allyson Felix in Rio. Miller said she had not planned to dive but felt her legs give out in the final moments of the race. ‘Those [people] that are involved in the sport, they understand it. It’s not like the first time it’s happened,’ she said of the incident:
More on the judges that have been suspended by the Aiba boxing federation:
I’m now hearing six judges have been suspended from the boxing tournament - but not, incredibly, the Colombian Armando Carbonell, who officiated in the now notorious Tischenko bout on Monday - and gave all four rounds against Hartlepool middleweight Savannah Marshall in her losing quarter-final against her Dutch nemesis, Nouchka Fontijn.
Plus ca change, as they say in the favelas.
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Nigeria’s goal is under siege in the second men’s football semi-final as they scramble desperately to keep the Germans at bay, who lead 1-0. It’s one-way traffic at the Corinthians Arena.
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And Tom Lutz has more on one of the stranger stories from these Games, that of Ryan Lochte’s alleged mugging:
It appears Lochte is definitely in the US. Probably. Anyway, that’s what his dad Steve says. “I’m just happy he’s safe,” the elder Lochte told AP. “It was an unfortunate experience for him and the other three. I don’t know what all the controversy is. They were basically taken out of the taxi and robbed. The main thing is he’s very lucky that he’s safe and that all they got was his cash and wallet.” Steve Lochte said his son was hoping to but a new wallet to replace the one he says was stolen from him at the weekend. Stay tuned for more Lochte news - we have a feeling this one has a while to run.
Summary
If you’ve just joined, here are some of the top stories from the day in Rio:
- A New Zealand and US athlete have been praised for embodying Olympic spirit after they stopped to help each other up after falling together midway through their race
- The US Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte left Brazil shortly before a judge ordered the confiscation of his passport, local media reported on Wednesday, amid a growing mystery about his alleged “mugging” in Rio de Janeiro last week
- Irish Olympic head Pat Hickey has stepped down from his role after his arrest over alleged ticket touting
- Kenya’s Kipruto wins gold in the 3,000m steeplechase setting an Olympic record with his run of 8min 03.28sec
- The Aiba boxing federation has dropped a number of judges and referees at the Rio Olympics after a review of decisions at the Games. After 239 Olympic bouts, the federation said “less than a handful” of the decisions were not at the level expected
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More from the women’s boxing and the seemingly unstoppable Claressa Shields:
Claressa Shields became USA’s first ever female Olympic boxing champion when she won gold at London 2012. Since then her form hasn’t been too bad - she’s unbeaten in four years. That run continued on Wednesday when she beat Russia’s Iaroslava Iakushina in their middleweight bout. That means Shields is guaranteed at least a bronze but it would be a surprise if she doesn’t take gold.
Germany are already ahead in their men’s football semi-final against Nigeria, after only nine minutes. Serge Gnabry slips a clever first-time pass into the path of the captain Max Meyer who squares for Lukas Klostermann to tap home at the back post. A Germany v Brazil final is brewing.
An update from the boxing arena by Kevin Mitchell:
There were no Conlanesque expletives from Savannah Marshall after she lost for the fifth time in six bouts against her Dutch rival Nouchka Fontijn, falling just short of a middleweight medal. “I thought it was really close,” she said later, “but I didn’t even get a round.”
She threw a lot of punches, but took a few visible ones in return. The Guardian had it two rounds apiece over four.
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Nigeria get the semi-final game under way. It is an under-23 competition, but three over-23s are permitted – captain Jon Obi Mikel of Chelsea is Nigeria’s only older member. German have the brothers Sven and Lars Bender as their over-aged squad members, but Arsenal’s Serge Gnabry has been the star of their show so far with six goals, scoring in every match. He almost does so in the first few moments here, but is closed down at the last moment.
Kick-off
Brazil are about to find out who they will play in the men’s football final as the second semi-final between Nigeria and Germany gets under way.
Spain are closing in on victory in their men’s basketball quarter-final against France, leading 79-51 in the final quarter. Here’s Tom Lutz with an update on the favourites for the women’s competition:
The unstoppable dreadnought that is the US women’s basketball team feared they might have become slightly less unstoppable when their captain Sue Bird said she heard her knee “pop” against Japan. But a scan has revealed there is no serious damage, and she should be able to play again this tournament. “Obviously I felt a huge relief.” Bird said in a statement provided by USA Basketball. “The hardest part is waiting and not knowing. So, to finally get the thumbs-up from the doc that everything was OK was incredibly relieving and exciting, and obviously I’m very happy.”
Tom Lutz reports on the men’s volleyball competition:
The 2008 champions USA are through to the semi-finals of the men’s volleyball with a straight sets victory over Poland. It’s a good comeback for the Americans, who lost their first two games to Canada and Italy. Since then they’re rattled off four wins a row and are well-placed to win their fourth gold in this event.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark have been dallying in the harbour as they wait for a bit more wind that will get their medal race under way. They are running out of time and probably only have around 45 minutes left in which to get started. A frustrated Mills told the BBC a moment ago: “We had a marathon long week so far, conditions have been wacky and tricky and to have no wind today is really tough. Limbo is a good word to describe it, we can’t just wait for it to be completed.”
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Great Britain are still waiting to add their 20th gold medal, as the women’s sailing 470 medal race (in which Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark simply need to turn up to win) has been delayed. Here is the latest medals table:
Disappointment for the home fans as Brazil’s Iris Sing loses her taekwondo -49kg quarter-final comprehensively 14-4 against Mexico’s Itzel Manjarrez.
Whatever works for you:
How to train like an Olympian: https://t.co/YG4IZXsx0f pic.twitter.com/FM1cKwWb4g
— Guardian US sports (@GdnUSsports) August 17, 2016
Nouchka Fontijn has seen off the challenge of Britain’s Savannah Marshall in their women’s boxing quarter-final, and that is at least a bronze medal secured for the Netherlands. Fontjin joins Li Qian (China), Dariga Shakimova (Kazakhstan) and Claressa Shields (USA) in the final four.
In the women’s golf competition, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn is setting the pace, on five under par through 15 holes (along with Inbee Park from South Korea who is in the clubhouse after round one also on -5). The 20-year-old won the women’s British Open two weeks ago and is bringing that form to Rio.
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Fontijn wins round one with a 10-9 lead on all three judges’ scorecards. They stand and trade blows at the start of the second round and Marshall is coming back into the fight, landing several jabs to the side of the head. The fight is paused momentarily as the Briton’s head guard slips off, before she goes on the attack again at the bell. Her positivity is rewarded with one 10-9 score but she loses the round in the eyes of the other two judges, and has a lot to do in these final two rounds.
Next up in the boxing is the women’s middleweight quarter-final between Savannah Marshall of Britain and the Netherlands’ Nouchka Fontijn. The winner will guarantee themselves at least a bronze medal but that is not the only thing at stake: these two have a long-standing rivalry and both are said to be desperate to come out on top this time.
Brazil’s star player Neymar scored 14 seconds into the men’s football semi-final against Honduras. Injuring himself in the process, Neymar snatched the ball from the defender before clashing with the goalkeeper to see the ball over the line. If you are in the UK, here’s the video for you to enjoy:
Kevin Mitchell reports from a subdued boxing arena:
After the Guardian’s background to some of the dubious judging at the fisticuffs, AIBA have responded like bee-stung elephant: a little slowly but with effect.
This morning - nearly 24 hours after Michael Conlan let the world know what he thought of them - they said, “less than a handful of the [239] decisions were not at the level expected” and, “the concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate” at this tournament. Well, that’s fine and dandy.
They won’t say who or how many (they have families, and they might be upset, is what I am led to believe) but, if we assume “the concerned officials” were those in Conlan’s bout and that of the heavyweight Evgeny Tischenko - surely the luckiest Russian since Laika got a free space ride 49 years ago - there will be some hastily packed bags heading for Brazil, Sri Lanka, Poland,Colombia, Algeria and *gulp* Ireland some time today. Unless, of course, AIBA have spotted transgressions lost on the rest of us - or will allow the accused to finish their trip. It is extremely nice in Rio today, and there is plenty of beach volleyball left to see.
The women’s K-1 500m sprint final is set to be a fierce battle as five previous Olympic medal winners made it through. New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington won her heat this afternoon and is the favourite:
Double Olympic gold medalist Carrington, fresh from her win on Tuesday in the women’s K-1 200m, faces no clear path to victory in the K-1 500m, up against Hungary’s fearsome quadruple medalist Danuta Kozak.
The others who will be battling it out on Thursday are Germany’s triple medalist Franziska Weber, Maryna Litvinchuk, a member of Belarus’ 2012 bronze medal-winning K-4 team, and five-time Olympic medalist Inna Osipenko-Rodomska of Azerbaijan.
“Emotions are running really high and this is very draining,” said Osipenko-Rodomska, reflecting on the bronze medal she won on Tuesday in the K-1 200m.
The race will cap off four canoe sprint finals on Thursday, including three men’s medal events: the K-2 1000m, C-1 200m and K-2 200m. Brazil’s Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos, who claimed hearts and headlines after winning his country’s first medal in sprint canoe with a silver in the men’s C-1 1000m, will compete in the men’s C-1 200m event.
In the men’s basketball, Spain and France are doing battle in the Carioca Arena for a place in the semi-finals. In the second quarter the Spanish are in control with a 36-25 lead, the 6ft 10in (2.08m) Nikola Mirotic racking up 13 points.
Did you know that Guardian sport has an Instagram page? You do now. Sport doesn’t get much prettier than the Olympics.
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An update from the badminton where Germany have secured a bronze medal at the expense of South Korea:
South Korea ended their Rio adventure without a men’s team medal for the first time in eight years, after they were defeated by Germany in the bronze medal match on Wednesday.
Playing through an injury that forced him to take a time out during the doubles set, Germany’s Timo Boll clinched the deciding fourth singles set against South Korea’s Joo Sae-hyuk, finishing up the tightly fought 3-2 match that saw each team yield alternate games to each other.
Germany and South Korea took the silver and bronze medal respectively in 2008 and switched podium spots four years later in London. Defending champion China, who have swept three out of the four gold medals available in the tournament so far, will play final against Japan later on Wednesday.
Brazil reach men's football final!
Luis Miguel Echegaray has the details:
Game over: The score is 6-0 as Neymar scores a stoppage-time penalty after Luan gets “brought” down in the box. To be honest, there really was no need to give that pen as the Brazilian fell pretty easily. This added a large amount of insult to injury.
Brazil are through and will play the winner of Germany and Nigeria. Brazil v Germany Final? In Brazil? I smell a telenovela brewing...
Olympic diver Jack Laugher says he is relaxing in Rio on Wednesday after winning a gold medal in the Men’s synchronized 3m springboard and silver for in the springboard diving for team Great Britain. Laugher says he will spend some time with his friends and family to enjoy the Olympic atmosphere after his achievements.
We are still waiting for the women’s 470 medal race to get going. Here’s more from Helen Pidd in Rio:
Still not breezy enough for the final of the women’s 470 race out in Guanabara Bay. Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are set to win gold, just as soon as the wind picks up beyond the requisite four to five knots. I’m bobbing about on the media boat with colleagues from the i, Sun and Daily Mail, enjoying the view of Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer and getting increasingly anxious about this race getting going in time for first edition. Hasn’t the Brazilian breeze heard of deadlines? If there’s not enough wind by 4pm the whole thing will be postponed until tomorrow.
Here’s a heartwarming story. Following Irish boxer Michael Conlan’s controversial defeat, a five-year-old boy from County Dublin has written a letter offering his hero his school medal:
Very warming message from this young lad, if anyone knows who he is, could they please tell him I hve a gift for him pic.twitter.com/0SQJ63TvEr
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) August 17, 2016
The men’s football semi-final is nearing full-time, but Brazil aren’t letting up in front of their home fans as Luis Miguel Echegaray reports: “5-0. Luan scores a questionable goal (offside?) and it’s amazing that Neymar is still on the pitch.”
Hickey steps down as Olympic Council of Ireland president
Ian Prior has the details of this breaking story:
Pat Hickey has stepped down as President of the Olympic Council of Ireland on a “temporary basis” following his arrest in Rio this morning, the organisation confirmed in a statement. Hickey, 71 and Europe’s most powerful IOC official, faces charges of ticket touting, forming a cartel and illicit marketing. He could be forced stay for several months in Brazil as the judicial process unwinds, making his continued stewardship of Ireland’s Olympic movement impractical.
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Junhua Yin does indeed see the fight through despite the pretty nasty tactics of her Finnish opponent. The Chinese fighter – who is ranked fifth in the world – has booked her place in the women’s light gold medal bout where she will face reigning champion Estelle Mossely of France.
Drama in the women’s light boxing semi-final: Finland’s Potkonen had won the second round, but in a scrappy third she became frustrated and head-butted her opponent, Yin from China. It was spotted by the referee and a point has been deducted. Yin has gone on to win the round and is closing in on a spot in the final.
Confirmation that Australia are through to the men’s basketball semi-finals after upsetting fancied opponents Lithuania 90-64:
The first women’s light boxing semi-final has started. It is between Mira Potkonen of Finland and China’s Junhua Yin, and the Chinese boxer has edged a pretty helter skelter first round of swirling fists. They have just come out for round two – confusingly, Potkonen is in red and Yin is in blue.
Indonesia have won their first gold medal in Rio! It comes after a comprehensive victory in the badminton mixed doubles:
Indonesia’s Ahmad Tontowi and Liliyana Natsir stomped on Malaysia’s dreams of a maiden Olympic gold medal at the badminton on Wednesday by hammering Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in the mixed double final.
Roared to the title by dozens of feverish home fans, the world number three pairing pounced all over the Malaysians from the first point at the Riocentro and never dropped the pressure in the 21-14, 21-12 win.
Tontowi and Natsir captured their delegation’s first gold of the Rio Games and seventh in Olympic badminton, closing out the match when Goh netted the last shuttlecock.
Malaysia have waited 52 years for an Olympic champion but their hopes of breaking the drought were extinguished in just 44 minutes by the rampant Indonesians.
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Another goal in the men’s football semi-final, reports Luis Miguel Echegaray. No prizes for guessing which team’s got it:
Brazil lead 4-0 with Marquinhos scoring from a corner and the smart money would now be to take Neymar off and wrap him up in bubble wrap.
And here is more from Alan Smith on the questions from Team GB’s cycling rivals over Britain’s extraordinary Olympic success in the velodrome:
The British middle-distance runners Laura Muir and Laura Weightman have questioned whether the result of the women’s 1500m final at Rio Olympic Games can be trusted, with Muir saying “I have my doubts, let me say that.” Here’s more from Sean Ingle:
What’s coming up over the next couple of hours? Well in sailing both the women’s and men’s 470 medal races are due to begin shortly, and the women’s light boxing semi-finals are also about to get under way. More on those as they begin – for now here is the day’s schedule:
Shaunae Miller, the women’s 400m champion who stumbled/fell/dived over the line to win gold from Allyson Felix, has said she “got a good laugh” out of her triumphant moment doing the rounds on social media:
Among the images online were photoshopped pictures appearing to show her taking part in the diving competition in the famously green Olympic pool. “You know I saw a few of the memes and things that they had on social media and I just got a good laugh out of it,” Miller told Reuters in an interview on winning her first major title.
“The good thing about it is that those that are involved in the sport, they understand it. It’s not like the first time it’s happened, it’s happened so many times. We understand that sometimes you just can’t control it. It’s a practice point. I don’t let things get to me so I was just like, it’s whatever. I got my gold medal so I’m happy with it.”
Miller said the dive was not part of her race plan, but an instinctive reaction as her legs grew heavy in the last 40m and she lost her balance as she started dipping for the finish.
“I see a lot of people that are saying ‘Oh, she dove for the line,’” she said. “It’s not like that, ‘cause I wouldn’t have thrown my body down to catch all these bruises and cuts. But you know it happened, I lost all control of my legs, and I ended up falling. So I figured, why not fall across the line instead of falling backward to the left. And you know, it just worked out in my favour.”
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In hockey, the women’s semi-final between the Netherlands and Germany was locked at 1-1 at the final hooter and went to a penalty shootout to decide who would go through to the final to play either Great Britain or New Zealand. Who doesn’t love a shootout? Germany were the unlucky losers, going down 4-3.
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Here’s something fun: musical inspiration behind Olympic triumphs. Ever wondered what song Laura Trott listens to before a race? Well Rhodri Marsden has more:
Headphone-toting American swimmer Michael Phelps regularly finds himself fielding questions about his pre-race listening habits. It is seen as a secret ingredient to his success: what could be propelling the most decorated Olympian of all time to gold medal glory? Collections of great political speeches? Mahler’s First? Röyksopp? Earlier this week, he finally revealed a few items from his current motivational playlist, including Promises by Nero and Skrillex and No Beef by Afrojack and Steve Aoki. That aggressive combination of jabbing synths and pounding kick drum is pretty standard for Phelps; in the past, he has dropped names such as Young Jeezy, Eminem and Lil Wayne. But while Phelps’s teammate Ryan Lochte is reported to get similarly fired up by Lil Wayne’s rhetoric in The Sky Is the Limit (“Cos the sky is the limit / The sky is the limit / And if you look high, you see that I’m gonna be in it”), the collective playlist of 2016’s Olympians is a more multi-dimensional musical beast. To a point.
You can read the full piece here:
Hello world! First up, another update from the men’s football semi-final between Brazil and Hondorus, from Luis Miguel Echegaray: “Gabriel Jesus scores his 2nd goal of the game & Brazil lead 3-0. I feel for Honduras as this doesn’t reflect their past performances in Rio 2016. Game is all but done.”
I’m clocking out, so I’ll leave you with this tweet from GB’s medallist Callum Skinner, and in the capable hands of Lawrence Ostlere, who will guide you through the next few hours of day 12. Bye!
@LeaveEUOfficial @TeamGB thanks the the support 😊 but I wish you wouldn't use my image to promote your campaign. 🇪🇺🇬🇧
— Callum Skinner (@CallumSkinner) August 16, 2016
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The organisers of the sailing finals in Guanabara Bay have just said that the women’s 470 final should get cracking at 14.10 local time. Unless they sink or get disqualified, Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark will win gold, exorcising their London 2012 demons when the came second to New Zealand. The race for the silver and bronze medals remains wide open, however. Going into the final the Kiwi duo of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are in second, but one point behind them are the Team Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha. The French and Dutch women are not far behind.
Gabriel Jesus, Brazil’s striker/next big thing who is bound for Manchester City, has just given Brazil a 2-0 lead in the men’s semi-final. It is one-way traffic for Brazil, which is hardly surprising considering that there is only one Honduras player that doesn’t play in his native land, and that one player plays in the Spanish second tier. Honduras are dishing out some hefty challenges, they’re lucky not to be down to 10 men actually.
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In sailing, the 470 women medal race, which was due to start about 20 minutes ago, has been delayed. The Guardian’s ears on the ground/water, Helen Pidd, says that it will get underway at 2.10pm local time. Great Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark only have to avoid disqualification and finish the race to clinch gold, bettering the silver medal they won at London 2012.
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For those that are just joining us, the Irish Olympic head Pat Hickey has been arrested in an alleged ticket touting inquiry. Here’s a video explainer:
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Turns out it was Jerry Palacios, brother of Wilson, that made the mistake for Honduras. Neymar has recovered from his injury, it seems he was only winded in the collision with the goalkeeper. 1-0 to Brazil, 14 minutes gone.
That was quick. After 14 seconds, Neymar scores after a horrible mistake by Honduras’ backline as they carelessly back pass it to their keeper. Neymar, however, injures himself in the process. Has to be carried out.
Luis Enrique and Barcelona are not going to be happy. Brazil lead 1-0.
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Did you know that Guardian sport has an Instagram page? You do know.
Or if you want to see our picture of the day, selected by the Guardian’s picture desk, you can do so here.
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Update: it appears the Brazilian judge’s order to confiscate Ryan Lochte’s passport is a tad late, as the US swimmer has already returned to the States, according to his lawyer. Jonathan Watts has more here.
After witnessing Marta and the Brazilian women’s team bowing out of Rio against Sweden yesterday, all the focus is now on the men’s as they hope to make the final for the third time in their history. In addition, this is the only Fifa tournament that Brazil has never won. All the more incentive as they look to regenerate some much-needed energy and give their fans something to cheer for.
Personally, the bigger story is with Honduras and their charismatic manager, Jorge Luis Pinto. Call it a cliche but this truly has been a Leicester City-esque campaign as Los Catrachos have been showing the world the true meaning of team cohesion by playing like a well-organized unit.
Pinto and the players have already made it clear: their victories are to there inspire the Honduran people and they are doing everything in their power to reach the final for the first time ever. This, by the way, is only the fourth time they have appeared at the Olympic Games. The furthest they have ever made is the quarter-final stage back in 2012 in London.
Watch out for 22-year-old Bryan Acosta. During the game, you’ll see the midfielder EVERYWHERE.
More coming out from the story about the New Zealand and American runners Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D’Agostino, who helped each other recover from a fall in the 5,000m semi-final – a quite lovely show of Olympic camaraderie. Nick Alpers has alerted me to the news that D’Agostino has torn her ACL and meniscus and strained her MCL. Both athletes were included in the 5000m final on Friday after protests from their teams, but this news will surely confirm that D’Agostino will withdraw from that.
Fancy yourself for Tokyo 2020? Here are some top tips.
Badminton now, and Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen is up against GB’s Rajiv Ouseph in the men’s quarter-finals. Axelsen is 6ft4in so Ouseph is trying his best not to give him too many smashes, but it’s not working particularly well: the Mandarin-speaking Dane has just won the first set 21-12.
Following this match, we’ll have the mixed doubles final between Indonesia and Malaysia. “Greetings from Jakarta,” writes Pangeran Siahaan. “Today Indonesia will be brought into a standstill as our mixed badminton double, Tontowi Ahmad/Liliyana Natsir is in the final v Malaysia’s Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying. Coincidentally, today’s our Independence Day. Our last Olympic gold was in Beijing 2008, also from badminton. No pressure there, really.”
Great Britain’s Liam Heath, who has a near-identical voice to The Guardian’s Barney Ronay, and Jon Schofield win their canoe sprint semi-final and they will have a good lane for tomorrow’s final. It’s Liam Heath’s birthday today, but he’ll have to put the celebrations on hold.
“We didn’t stretch ourselves fully in that semi-final, and we’ll be going back to the hotel tonight to get ready for the final”, said Schofield after their race.
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With all that’s happening with Aida and judges and “decisions that were not at the level expected”, have a read of this timely piece from Kevin Mitchell on a sport that remains in an unedifying limbo.
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My mistake, thanks to Mark Dougherty for this clarification:
“Your comparison of distances thrown by men and women in the hammer ignores the fact that the weight of the apparatus is not the same. The men’s hammer is 16 pounds whereas the women’s hammer is 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds). Interesting that the men’s is defined in imperial units but the women’s in metric.”
Here’s our report on the Lochte/Feigan fiasco.
Gold for Kenya's Kipruto in the 3,000m steeplechase!
Kipruto made light work of the now 35C conditions, setting an Olympic record with his run: 8:03.28.
Could he have gone sub eight minutes without all that showboating at the end? We’ll never know.
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But as Jager enters the last lap, he starts to fade and the Kenyans Conseslus Kipruto and Ezekiel Kemboi kick on ahead of him. Kipruto looks the stronger and he leaves his compatriot and the American behind, hurdling the barrier and the water in one leap, and raising his hand in celebration to the crowd, still with 100m to go. But here comes Jager, overtaking Kemboi, and he grabs the silver! But that run was all about Kipruto – another gold in the 3,000m steeplechase for Kenya.
Oooooo the Ugandan Jacob Araptany goes down hard, tripping on a steeplechase and hitting his head on the inside of the track. The rest of the pack simple hurdle over him and Araptany gets to his feet in a bit of a daze. He’s shaken, but looks OK. Jager takes the lead with three laps to go. He’s looking strong! What will Kipruto and Kemboi make of this?
The 3,000 men’s steeplechase is underway! The Kenyans have a stranglehold on this event, winning the gold and the bronze in 2012 – can the USA’s Evan Jager cause an upset? Conseslus Kipruto is a big favourite here as well as Ezekiel Kemboi, two time Olympic champion in 2004 and 2012. Kemboi is a fierce sprinter at the end, so watch out.
Half-time in the men’s basketball quarter final between Australia and Lithuania, with the Boomers 48-39 up. This is the first of the four quarter-finals today, with Spain v France, USA v Argentina and Croatia v Serbia.
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Ouch.
Rio 2016 spokesman confirms that only 12% of tickets have been sold for the Paralympics. Worrying.
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) August 17, 2016
“Re: swimming,” emails the Guardian’s Toby Moses, “why do they have the different strokes? Should be all freestyle, apart from individual medley. We don’t have running around the track backwards/with a silly walk/like a crab - why do they swim in other, slower ways?”
@numb15 @michaelbutler18 Just combine all sports into a Hunger Games style survival of the fittest. One Gold medal.
— Ben Collinge (@notpopebenedict) August 17, 2016
“Re. Toby’s comment that there isn’t a Silly Walks version of other sports in the way there is in swimming, has he not seen the dressage event?” asks David Hopkins.
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In the golf, Chinese Taipei’s Candie Kung sends her birdie putt wide at the 12th, but cleans up nicely for her par. She is currently joint leader on -4, alongside Spain’s Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Muñoz.
Here is the full statement from Aiba, regarding the news that they have dropped a number of boxing judges and referees at the Rio Games after a number of “decisions that were not at the level expected.”
Following recent judging decisions and after carrying out a thorough examination by the relevant Commission, Aiba has decided to take immediate and appropriate actions.
Since the beginning of the Olympic Games, Aiba has conducted 239 bouts. The AIBA R&J Commission has reviewed all decisions and determined that less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected and consequently it has been decided in accordance with the Aiba R&J evaluation committee that the concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In accordance with AIBA Rules the result of all the bouts will stand.
Aiba represents 200 National Federations and has continuously sought to evolve the sport of boxing and continuously strive to ensure a level playing field. AIBA will not shy away from its responsibilities and is fully committed to a zero tolerance policy towards fair play in boxing, always acting in the boxers’ utmost interest. The Olympic Games represent the pinnacle of all sports and Boxing has been part of this since 1904. It is essential AIBA stands to the values of respect, sportsmanship, excellence and remains committed to a fair and transparent sport.
With regard to corruption, we would like to strongly restate that unless tangible proof is put forward, not rumours, we will continue to use any means, including legal or disciplinary actions to protect our sport and its R&J community whose integrity is constantly put into question. The organization will not be deterred by subjective judgements made by discontented parties. We welcome all parties to come forward and provide evidence in order to take appropriate and immediate action.
More breaking news from Reuters: a judge in Brazil has issued an order to prevent US swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen from leaving the country on the grounds they gave conflicting accounts of their robbery outside the Rio Games on Sunday, a Brazilian newspaper said on Wednesday.
Lochte, one of swimming’s most decorated Olympians, had already returned to the United States ahead of the court ruling, the newspaper quoted Brazilian police as saying. It was unclear if Feigen had also left the country.
Officials from the U.S. Olympic Committee and a lawyer for Lochte could not be immediately reached for comment. After the decision by Judge Keyla Blanc, of the Special Tribunal for Fans and Major Events, authorities requested a search and arrest warrant for the swimmers with the aim of finding Feigen’s cellphone in order to identify exactly where the swimmers were on Sunday night, O Globo reported. Civil police agents visited the U.S. delegation building on Wednesday and spoke to the head of security there, but neither of the swimmers was present, the paper said. Police sources have told Reuters in recent days they have been unable to find the taxi driver allegedly involved in the incident or to corroborate any details provided by the swimmers
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That’s fascinating, although Aiba are frustratingly vague. How much is a handful? How much is “less than a handful?”
We will follow Michael Conlan’s Twitter feed with interest: he tweeted Putin yesterday …
Hey Vlad @PutinRF_Eng
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) August 16, 2016
How much did they charge you bro?? @AIBA_Boxing #Rio2016 😘
BREAKING: boxing judges dropped by Aiba, but past results to stand
The Aiba boxing federation has dropped a number of judges and referees at the Rio Olympics after a review of decisions at the Games. After 239 Olympic bouts, the federation said “less than a handful” of the decisions were not at the level expected.
“The concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games,” the body said, adding that the results of all the bouts would stand.
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Caster Semenya goes next in the second heat, the controversial South African 800m runner. For those that don’t know about the 25-year-old, here is some excellent background info on Semenya, who has sensationally returned to the sport after a removal of an upper limit for women’s testosterone levels.
This, by Donald McRae, also is well worth a read.
Semenya wins her heat, with the USA’s Ajee’ Wilson second. Great Britain’s Shelayna Oskan-Clarke comes third, and she will have to hope for a fastest loser spot.
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Great Britain’s Lynsey Sharp qualifies for the 800m semi-final, finishing ahead of Serbia’s Amela Terzic. Only the top two from an eight-strong field qualify automatically, and Sharp completely controlled that race, lingering on the shoulder of Romania’s Florina Pierdevara until the 500m mark, before assuming the lead, which she never looked in doubt of losing.
More bickering.
.@michaelbutler18 @numb15 But there's more medals available in judo (14), shooting (15) & freestyle wrestling (12) than track cycling (10)..
— Lucien Georgeson (@l_georgeson) August 17, 2016
Rob Evans has also emailed his 2p:
“# medal events in track cycling - 10, which boils down to men and women doing a sprint event, a team sprint, a team endurance event, a multi-event and keirin
# medals in pool - 32”
No, really.
Butchart, who has some of the whitest teeth I have ever seen, finishing in fifth to qualify automatically for the final. Great run in 33C heat from the 24-year-old Scot, who was the pacemaker in that heat and was only overcome by the front four in the home straight. The USA’s Paul Kipkemoi Chelimo finished first, Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris second, Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel third, Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew fourth, and Butchart fifth.
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One lap to go, and Great Britain’s Andrew Butchart still leads the field in the men’s 5,000m second heat! Can he hold on? Gebremeskel on his heels!
“Hello Michael,” emails Jaime Vázquez. “Your predecessor this morning, Adam, talked about an email which had a hypothetical medal board if swimming didn’t existed to take out USA from the lead. Why would someone make that one and not the one in which cycling wasn’t an Olympic sport? There seems to be there a lot of medals there too for just being “people in lycra riding around in anti-clockwise circles “as Barry Glendenning said on Monday.”
Yep, Jaime is not the only one that has made that point, which is a valid one …
@michaelbutler18 how about we draw up a cycling free Olympic medal table? Too many medals in cycling too, not just swimming.
— Ian O'Flynn (@numb15) August 17, 2016
… although @Adogcalledshep tweets that GB have won gold medals in more sports (11) than USA (8) or China (7).
Now time for the second heat of the 5,000m. The first heat was quick, and because of that, those hoping to finish as a fastest loser will have to go sub 13.30. Look our for South Africa’s Elroy Gelant, who has ran 13.04 this year and of course Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel, who finished second behind Farah in the 5,000m final at London 2012. Great Britain’s Tom Farrell and Andrew Butchart also go in this one.
Farah qualifies for the 5,000m final
He finishes in third. But my, that nearly-fall was close to ending his double double Olympic dream. Hagos Gebrhiwet wins the heat, Albert Kibichii Rop second, Mo third, Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei fourth, and Bernard Lagat, all 41-years of him, claiming the final automatic qualification spot.
“I haven’t recovered from the 10,000m final as well as I wanted,” Mo says after the race. “I need to put my feet up, chill in my room. Thanks for all the support, on Instagram with ‘Go Mo!’ I was a little emotional at the end of my final, but now I’m ready. “
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Farah makes his move down the back straight, and wait – oh, so nearly a fall! Farah trips, stumbles, slows down, and sends the American, Hassan Mead, crashing to the deck behind him! Farah looks for a moment as though he’s also going down, but somehow regains his balance, stays in the lane, and carries on, with a quick backward glance. He’s safe, but only just!
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Farah is becoming a little bit boxed in as we enter the final lap. He’s going to have to go the long way round, around the outside if he is going to get in the first five!
Gebrhiwet now takes the lead with Bahrain’s Albert Kibichii Rop, and Farah is happy to let them pass, although wary of the five or so athletes that surrounds him. He does not want another fall, as he suffered in the 10,000m final.
Four laps to go, and Farah makes his move to the front of the makeshift peloton. He now leads the field, alongside the Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet. They are plodding along at about 65-seconds per lap, which is quick for a heat, but not particularly speedy for the final.
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Remember, the first five in each heat qualify automatically and the next five fastest across the two heats also advance to the final, which is on Saturday.
And Mo Farah is off in his 5,000m heat. It’s 30°C out there in the stadium, and the Brit will be doing all he can to safely qualify but conserve his energy for the final. Kota Murayama of Japan leads the field with 10 laps to go, with Germany’s Richard Ringer second. Farah is tucked nicely in a big cluster of athletes maybe 10 metres behind the German.
Elsewhere in the stadium, the men’s hammer qualifying has got off to a gentle start. Of the 11 athletes that have thrown so far, nobody has topped Slovakia’s Marcel Lomnicky 74.16m. Again, to put that in context, that is nowhere near the throw that won the women’s event – admittedly a world-record 82.29m by Anita Wlodarczyk. Great Britain’s Sophie Hitchon won bronze with 74.54m on Monday and would currently top the men’s field here.
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The USA’s Ashton Eaton, the decathlon defending champion and world record holder, is next up in the fourth heat. He’s widely expected to retain his title this year. But no, he’s beaten in the 100m dash, with Canada’s Damien Warner running 10.30 – that’s an Olympic best! Wow. Eaton managed 10.46 seconds. Warner leads the field after the first event.
Mo Farah is getting ready in a drab-looking Olympic Stadium concourse – sticking his lane number to his thigh, chatting to Bernard Lagat next to him. Both Farah and the 41-year-old (!!!) will go in the first heat of the men’s 5000m qualifying shortly, in about five or 10 minutes.
In answer to my canoe sprint question earlier:
“They use what’s known as a J Stroke,” tweets Alan C. Smith. “You flick the paddle at the end of the stroke to keep the canoe straight.”
The men’s decathlon 100m heats are under way. Granada’s Kurt Felix takes the first one down but of course the points are awarded on time, not place across the four heats. Algeria’s Larbi Bourrada posts a season’s best in the second heat to take the lead: 10.75 seconds. The official Rio website also displays a fascinating stat, the reaction time off the start gun: Bourrada needed just 0.153 seconds to get going. To put that in some kind of context, Usain Bolt took longer – 0.155 seconds - in the 100m final earlier this week.
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As Sam Waller points out, Yorkshire seem to be doing pretty well again this year, with Nicola Adams and the Brownlees still to come...
Yorkshire & Yorkshire-based Olympians continue to shine. Congratulations on making us soooo proud! #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/TD4ud4hyJi
— Welcome to Yorkshire (@Welcome2Yorks) August 17, 2016
That would put them 11th on the medal table at present, in front of Spain and hosts Brazil. More county-based fun in this quiz, including the question: which English county would have placed 12th in the medal table at London 2012 if it were classed as an independent country?
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We’re underway in the men’s canoe single 200m heats. Spain’s Alfonso Benavidez Lopez de Ayala wins the first heat, and is one of five to progress to the semi-finals. Brazil’s Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos, who has already won a silver in the men’s canoe single 1000m, goes in the second heat, he places second behind France’s Thomas Simart.
As I tuck into my second biscuit of the day, it looks awfully hard work. I have to admit, I’m not an expert in this sport. Anybody have any idea how they keep the canoe straight if they are just canoeing on one side? Must be a rudder.
Irish Olympic head Pat Hickey arrested
Breaking news, courtesy of Owen Gibson.
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After watching Justin Rose’s sun-kissed victory, maybe Rory McIlroy is feeling a bit silly, too. In the women’s first round, Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen has raced into an early lead: she’s -3 after four holes.
It may not be the lasting image that many take from Rio, but for those that stayed up to watch Andy Murray’s men’s singles final against Juan Martín del Potro the other night, the picture of the two players slumped exhausted in their respective chairs, Murray crying tears of joy, DelPo balling into his towel at defeat, was a measure of how much an Olympic medal meant to these athletes. It’s poignant, too, that these are two athletes that earn ALOT of money, and compete in tournaments that could be considered as more important to their legacy. But still, they came, they sweated, they cried and the world marvelled.
Some sports stars turned down the chance to come to Rio – world No4 Simona Halep for example, and you can read Jacob Steinberg’s take on what he thinks about that right here.
#prayforRio
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As the debate about Rio’s empty seats rumbles on, the question over what Rio will do with the venues after everyone has packed up and gone home is growing.
A colleague over in Rio describes local bars with TVs all pointedly tuned out of the Olympics, unless it is for Brazil’s participation in the football tournament. Which principled stand I admire hugely. In their city, the varying degrees of scandal that attend every major modern sporting event could not be more infuriatingly obvious. The sporting industrial complex isn’t pretty at the best of times in booming first world locations. In Rio it plays out like a particularly hallucinogenic question in Family Fortunes. We asked 100 people in Rio to name something they wanted, to which the answers were obviously things like “sanitation” and “food”, but the imbecilic contestant hazards: “A canoe slalom venue?”
In contrast, it has been an underwhelming Games for Ireland, save for the O’Donovan brothers and Annalise Murphy’s silver in the sailing yesterday. Not least, because allegations of corruption continue to taint the boxing competition, where Irish world champion Michael Conlan and Katie Taylor have been subject to early exits.
Meanwhile …
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Fifteen medals, five days to go. Can Team GB surpass their London 2012 total? It would be a seismic effort, considering this is already the best medal haul GB has ever had away from home. If they do, a lot of credit will rightly fall upon these two, Laura Trott and Jason Kenny. Engaged to be married, they are the most successful Olympic couple ever.
Hello world. Women’s golf is the only thing live at the moment – and France’s Gwladys Nocera has just walloped her drive off the first tee straight into the bunker – so send your hopes and dreams to michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet me @michaelbutler18.
And on that note I am checking out. It’s Michael Butler taking you through the Rio morning. I’m pretty sure that’s my last scheduled stint on the Rio 2016 blog as well. Not to get sentimental or anything, but it’s been... Olympic. Thanks for your company.
Sam Waller has emailed in some excellent number fudging.
“I was very surprised when my friend pointed out last night that the US have won 16 gold medals in swimming alone. I know there has been a lot of chat about there being too many medals on offer in swimming, which I’d probably agree with. So in the interests of making Team GB look even better, in a swim-free Olympics the medal table would currently look as follows:
1. GB (18 golds)
2. China (16 golds)
3. USA (12 golds)
4. Russia (12 golds)
5. Germany (11 golds)“
That, I think you’ll find, is numberwang!
More emails to pop through before I hand over in about a quarter hour from now. Tom Wisdom’s written. “Ey up Adam.” Hello Tom.
“Talking of which countries are and aren’t doing as well as expected; there has been less bleating on about how well Yorkshire are doing this time around. I haven’t spotted any China-esque remarks from the official news agency the Yorkshire Evening Post about it being a disappointing games, perhaps only a matter of time. After their success in London you really would have thought they would have had a funding increase.”
I’d want some independent verification that the White Rose lot aren’t doing as well as they did in London before backing it in. Or they’ll be after me, you know. Their rivals in Lancashire going alright with Jason Kenny though; a Bolton boy.
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Breaking news out of Rio. A lot more to come on this through the day.
IOC member and Irish NOC chief Pat Hickey has been arrested at the IOC hotel, according to the excellent @JamilChade https://t.co/CmgtZoxyXz
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) August 17, 2016
What were you doing when you were 16? Not winning Olympic medals while knocking over your school exams at the same time, I’m tipping. Amy Tinkler, the youngest member of Team GB who came third in the women’s floor comp last night behind Simone Biles, goes home now to find out how she did in her GSCEs. What a delight.
After the result was announced, she broke down in tears and told the BBC: “I just love competing in front of big crowds, it’s just incredible, I’m just so shocked.” She will find out how she has done in her exams when she flies home next Thursday.
Did you know? Guardian Sport has an instagram account now. And it’s pretty great. Give it a follow.
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We’re actually on ten minutes away from action on day 12, due to the women’s golf tournament beginning today. As with the men last week, a Brazilian (Miriam Nagl) will lead out the field off the first tee. A nice touch.
There top four favourites are:
- Lydia Ko (New Zealand). World number one. 19 years old. Revelation.
- Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand). British Open winner earlier this year.
- Stacy Lewis (USA). Former world number one. 31 years old. Major winner.
- Lexi Thompson (USA). 21 years old. Major winner. Turned pro at 15. As you do.
And here’s a ready-reckoner on the tournament courtesy of Golf Digest.
Nearing 7am in Rio and it is already 20 degrees out, heading towards 32. That’s more like it. Celsius that is, of course. This is the time when I usually tell you, and will today once more, to study up on the results and medals guide. Again, this is a title that doesn’t quite capture the full extent of the product. If you keep this open all day, you won’t miss much. I promise.
At the top of the hour we’ll start pacing through what day 12 should bring. But before that, one more plug for Claire Phipps daily briefing that will leave few questions unanswered about the day that was yesterday, and a taste of why today is worth emotionally investing in.
You know who aren’t going so well? No, this isn’t another pop at Australia’s struggles. That’s been well documented and will surely be the subject of an inquiry when this is all over.
China. Their official news agency (gotta love that) have been getting pretty punchy on the tweet the last couple of days, culminating in this ‘Worst Olympics flop’ headline.
China is facing its poorest Olympic showing in two decades after a succession of disappointments in sports such as badminton, diving and gymnastics. The country currently trails both the United States and Great Britain in the medals table, with Team GB taking 19 gold medals to China’s 17. The US has 28.
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David Hopkins on the email taking my earlier attempt at a bit of Corbyn lolz and running with it:
“I’m not sure Jeremy Corbyn would prefer a return to one gold medal per games. Rather, he’d deny that winning medals is really the point, then head to another stadium entirely and claim that the applause from the crowd there means that he’s won really.”
More positive to offset my earlier negative: Matt Clearly on how Rugby Sevens just... worked.
Sevens athletes range from amateur to semi-professional. They are among the fittest people at the Games. They mix sub-optimal endurance with high-octane effort. They need mental clarity under high fatigue. They train so hard they vomit. They run and run and run.
Les Carpenter has the story of Adeline Gray, the American wrestler competing this week, inspired by the example UFC phenomenon (and 2008 Olympic medallist) Ronda Rousey. And it’s a good’un.
Until Rousey stormed from Olympic judo bronze to the top of the UFC, fighting women didn’t have a powerful mainstream voice. To the 25-year-old Gray, a 75kg medal hope who wrestles on Thursday, it felt like strong women didn’t have a forceful voice. Rousey gave the nod that said it was OK to be tough, to fight and be proud of the feminine identity that now comes with that notion. Until Rousey, she might not have come to Rio thrilled with the strength she feels in her shoulders. Before she wore her doubt everywhere. Did she look too muscular? Did she seem too big? What did people think?
I’ve focussed on a lot of not very nice things this morning. But, as Simon Darvill rightly says, there was a lovely little moment that shouldn’t be lost, and certainly won’t be forgotten.
He says: “Let’https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2016/aug/16/nikki-hamblin-helps-abbey-dagostino-finish-5000m-after-fall-videos forget the claims of less than honest judging in the boxing, the machine like ruthlessness of the GB Cycling team and the unsportsmanlike crowds, what we should be talking about is the Womens 5000m qualifier and the fate of the US and New Zealand runners who fell. I know its mentioned in the round up but I think its something that should be shouted from the roof tops. Their reactions to it and their actions after it happened are the definition of the Olympic Spirit? To spend all the hard hours preparing for the race, to see your hopes disappear but to ignore all that to make sure the other person can finish, that to me is perhaps one of the finest examples of that nebulous concept, sportsmanship.”
Here’s the story and the clip.
Speaking to New Zealand’s Breakfast radio host Mike Hosking, Hamblin said the moment of kindness wasn’t what she expected when she prepared for Rio. “When I look back on Rio 2016, I’m not going to remember where I finished, I’m not going to remember my time … but I’ll always remember that moment.
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Tony Brennan has written in as well. To talk about something I probably should have raised earlier. So thanks for that.
“Just catching up on the last few hours...”
Let me cut you off there, Tony. Simply to say that if you are catching up, there is no better way than devouring Claire Phipps daily briefing. Read today’s. Then subscribe.
Right. Now I’ve done that, Imma let you finish:
“I saw the quote by the German gold medal cyclist saying she doesn’t know how the Brits do it. Perhaps having a set-up which ensures that your saddle doesn’t fall off mid-race is part of it? More power to her for winning despite this, but if that’s the competition it’s no wonder the Brits do well.”
This was interesting, ay. The quote in question from Kristina Vogel reads a little bit ‘you’re all on drugs’ to me. Not very nice. See it in full, and the GB’s response to these kinda suggestions, in the below story from Helen Pidd in Rio.
Let’s work through a bit of corro. First, James Taylor. No, not that one. And no, not the other one either. Another one. Hi James.
“Firstly thanks to you and your colleagues for the live blog every day. Even though we have a TV in the office I always keep it open to follow anything the Beeb may be missing and to catch what your other readers are saying.”
Thank you, James, for your company.
“As a grizzly forty plus year old what strikes me most about GB’s success is that it’s expected and demanded these days. Gone are the times when an athlete reaching a final was seen as a great result for the team. I noted that Muir’s performance in the 1500m was described as ‘very disappointing’ on the radio this morning- 20 years ago we’d be almost celebrating 7th place. I’m sure there are some out there that would see this ruthlessness as somehow not very ‘British’ but keep it coming, I say.”
Interesting point. Not sure if anyone prefers the alternative from 20 years ago with a single gold? Maybe Jeremy Corbyn; the romance of the honourable defeat and all that. Is someone going to punch me for saying that? I think someone is going to punch me.
What I would refer you all to is Owen Gibson’s piece about why it is happening. Or five reasons, at least. Some tangible (cold hard cash), some less so (team spirit). I’m sure this’ll be equally interesting reading for other Australians. Not working out so well for us.
Another from last night that I feel compelled to read every word about. Simone Biles, the 19-year-old American gymnast, won her fourth gold. This time on the floor. Emma Johns had the pleasure of being there to write the story, which includes (embedded) some video of the routine.
If Biles could not complete a much-mooted clean sweep of five gold medals – her bronze on the beam was a whispered reminder of her mortality – then she is still a wonder of the sporting world. With her extraordinary power-to-height ratio, she packs more tumbles into a single traverse than anyone alive, catapulting her 4ft 8in body into the air is if there are jet packs hidden in the soles of her feet.
While you were probably sleeping. If British, that is. Your guys added another medal before stumps, Jack Laughter collecting 3m springboard silver to go with his synchronised gold from this time last week. A handy campaign for the 21 year old. Robert Kitson has the skinny from the Aquatic Centre.
With a gold and now a silver, Laugher has also outdone Daley’s creditable brace of bronzes in London and Rio. From the outset he looked confident and composed, with only his fourth dive failing to win the judges’ universal approval. He established himself early on as Cao’s closest rival and challenged the remainder of the field to try and play catch-up.
Callum Skinner has tweeted back at the Leave Lot (can probably delete their account now, right?), unhappy to have his image linked to their... oh, whatever it is when it isn’t a campaign anymore. And he chucked a little EU flag emoji at the end. For that alone, you better believe they’ll take you out of the video...
@LeaveEUOfficial @TeamGB thanks the the support 😊 but I wish you wouldn't use my image to promote your campaign. 🇪🇺🇬🇧
— Callum Skinner (@CallumSkinner) August 16, 2016
Blue riband. What do we think about the term? Do you know people who call it blue ribbon? Is that acceptable now as well, language evolving as it does? Why should the 100 and 1500 get the gong and not, say, the 400? Tell me why!
Blue riband to the back teeth is that 1500 metres on the track, the women’s final taking place overnight. Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon pulled out something special , a 58 second final lap to flummox world champ and world record holder Genzebe Dibaba from Ethiopia.
One for the Londoners. Tom Daley is being urged to stand up for a pool in Barnet and protect the diving board from demolition. I’ll make this bold prediction: if the GB no. 1 gets over the line and captures that elusive gold in the platform later this week, this’ll be a problem that quickly vanishes.
Daily indulgence: the pictures are in. Day 11 in all its photographic glory. My favourite, probably the shadowy hurdlers. The Seb Coe cuddle of Renaud Lavillenie will be remembered for a while as well. Anyone else catch that medal ceremony? All a bit unpleasant. And yes, I know what he said after the event - not good either. But still.
Also, what to make of this? The Ryan Lochte robbery story continues to be contested. Admittedly, from officials who aren’t putting their name to the comments. Think I’m just going to pop up the link, leave it at that and get back to what we’re here for.
In related news from the ring, Les Carpenter’s report details similar sentiment from the father of American fighter Gary Russell to Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan, also at quarter final stage. His old man called it “fucked up” while Floyd Mayweather Jr said his countryman was clearly robbed.
On a day when the US should be celebrating another boxing medal with Shakur Stevenson winning at least a bantamweight bronze, the conversation was about a loss that puzzled most who watched it. Russell appeared to knock Gaibnazarov across the ring, especially in the last two rounds and yet the judges awarded the first two rounds, and the fight, to the Uzbek. This immediately set off outrage among an American contingent that had just finished questioning Russian Vladimir Nikitin’s victory over Ireland’s Michael Conlan less than an hour before Russell’s loss. Conlan later said “amateur boxing stinks from the core right to the top.”
Stinky business.
Changing gears (see what I did there?) to some less-ideal bits and pieces. We have our report in from the boxing overnight. Ireland’s Michael Conlan had a right frolic after losing out to Russian Vladamir Nikitin in the quarters. “They’re fucking cheats,” he said. And plenty else along these lines. It’s all contained in the piece, alongside officials acknowledging corruption is still “alive and well” in the sport. What can you say, really?
Conlan added: “I’ll never box in this competition again. If people watch thisOlympic Games and they see some of the decisions … I think boxing is dead. It’s about whoever pays the most money. Whoever has the biggest [influence] wins.”
More on the cycling. Here are the (UK only again, sorry) highlights of the final night of competition. And fair enough if you didn’t catch the Keirin live given the two false starts. Quite enjoyed BBC repeatedly saying they would cut to their 10pm news bulletin after the race. Only for it to crack on till well after 11pm. Live sport, gotta love it.
Barney has a piece up. The night, and week, that was for Team GB in the velo, capped off some perfectly last night via Trott and Kenny doing as they do. We’ll talk more about the latter’s Keirin final as the morning goes on (what scenes!). But first, this broader brush:
Even the manner in which the British riders eased through the heats in mid-afternoon was striking. From warm-up to breasting the line this was an act of sporting intimidation. Trott in particular has a genuine star presence about her now, an unignorable quality even as she prowls the pits. Preparing to compete against this focused, ruthless, quietly menacing collection of blue lycra champs it looks to be a genuinely oppressive experience for the rest of the field.
Highlights! Get ‘em! (If you’re in the UK, that is). Begins with the last bit of Simone Biles gold medal winning floor routine. It was her final performance of the Games, where she claimed four Olympic championships. Doubt I’ll ever forget her work over the last week. What an utter genius.
Updated
Okay, let’s do this. Old money: Adam.Collins.Freelance@theguardian.com. Short and sharps: @collinsadam.
Make sure whatever you do first thumb through Claire Phipps tip top daily briefing to begin. Then pick something out of all that, form a view, and send it to me. We’re better when we talk.
Good morning world, London calling
Yes that’s right, the blog is back from Guardian HQ ready for the 12th day and in these the Games of the XXXI Olympiad. Oh it feels so good to say it like that.
It’s Adam Collins with you again for the stretch of the day where there is no sport, so we make our own fun. We also share with you the best of what happened yesterday so you’re feeling informed and Olympic by the time they wake up in Rio.
Some less than ideal advertisements for Olympism yesterday, whether they be accusations of judges on the take, officials making it up as they go along then some dog whistling hot takes on who might be on drugs.
But that was more than balanced out by some superb performances on the track, in the velo and everywhere in between. If you’re a Brit and went to bed early: that Jason Kenny fella is now your nation’s most prolific Olympian, alongside Chris Hoy. Oh, and his fiancee Laura Trott is the first Team GB woman to ever net four Olympic golds. That’s ten between the couple. Get out out of it.
Day 12 briefing
It’s day 12 and the finals are piling up. Catch up, Bolt-style, with our briefing and then stay with the pack as the live blog steers you through another day of Rio action. It’s all here.
The big picture
Perspective is a funny thing. For China, third position in the medals table is, according to state media anyway, “the worst Olympic flop”. For Britain, second place and a pleasingly round 50 medals make Rio the team’s most successful away Games. It’s not all about the cycling, though it is quite a lot about the cycling:
Katy Marchant getting bronze means every GB track rider who took to the velodrome in Rio has won a medal. An amazing achievement.
— Simon Richardson (@SRichardsonCW) August 16, 2016
But day 11 had its low points, too, not least the booing of French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie as he received his silver medal behind home winner Thiago Braz Da Silva. The weeping Frenchman had to be consoled by athletics chief Sebastian Coe and IOC president Thomas Bach, who accused the crowd of “shocking behaviour”. Spectators had already been asked to curb the hostilities, especially as – foolish Jesse Owens comparisons aside – Lavillenie’s only crime was to compete in a pole vaulting competition. Which is, you know, his job.
Boos too, and perhaps more justified, came the way of boxing officials, who face accusations of corruption following some eyebrow-raising decisions. “They’re fucking cheats,” was the verdict of Ireland’s Michael Conlan, who was judged to have lost his bantamweight quarter-final to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin, and had an idea who to blame:
Hey Vlad @PutinRF_Eng
— Michael Conlan (@mickconlan11) August 16, 2016
How much did they charge you bro?? @AIBA_Boxing #Rio2016 😘
The father of US boxer Gary Antuanne Russell also thought he’d been “robbed” of a light middleweight quarter-final win over Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov. US swimmer Ryan Lochte, on the other hand, might not have been.
And it was impossible to overlook the big upset of day 11 (well, night: it was a one-minute-to-midnight start), as Team USA’s three-time Olympic gold medallist Kerri Walsh Jennings and partner April Ross were ruthlessly dispatched 2-0 by Brazil’s Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas de Freitas in the women’s beach volleyball semi-finals. The former gold hopes now scrap for bronze against another Brazilian couple, Talita and Larissa, on Wednesday evening. They, helpfully, were in fact Brazil’s top-seeded pair.
You should also know:
- Jamaica’s Omar McLeod clinches gold in 110m hurdles.
- Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon makes late charge for Olympic 1500m gold.
- New Zealand and American runners help each other after collision in women’s 5,000m.
Team GB roundup
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2016 is going to be a nightmare, I tell you. On day 11, Laura Trott became Britain’s most successful female Olympian with her fourth gold. Jason Kenny equalled Chris Hoy’s record of six golds. Jack Laugher’s silver made him Britain’s most successful Olympic diver (although probably not yet the most famous). Giles Scott made sure Britain kept its monopoly in the Finn class sailing with another gold.
There were two more bronzes – for Nile Wilson (men’s horizontal bar), and Team GB’s youngest competitor, 16-year-old Amy Tinkler (women’s floor exercise) – in gymnastics, for heaven’s sake. Tinkler gets her GCSE results next week and Durham high school for girls can expect more press interest than usual. She’ll definitely be able to pull off one of those leaping-clutching-results photos.
Joshua Buatsi leaves with a bronze from his light-heavyweight boxing bout, and super-heavyweight Joe Joyce will get at least the same from his upcoming semi-final.
Masterful dives from China’s Cao Yuan kept Laugher in silver but weren’t enough to lift his country ahead of Team GB in the overall medal table: Britain stays second with a medal haul already ahead of the pre-Games target of 48. Which of course has prompted some hang-on-a-minute moments. German cyclist Kristina Vogel, who took gold ahead of Britain’s Becky James in the women’s sprint, definitely 100% wasn’t casting aspersions on British bike success but merely wondering aloud:
I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything, but it’s certainly questionable … I have no idea how they do it.
Have a read of this, and this, if you’re doing a bit of idle wondering yourself.
- Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark on brink of striking 470 sailing gold.
- Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis plan ‘something special’ to win badminton bronze.
- Nicola Adams makes rusty start in defence of her Olympic boxing title.
- British riders stumble and scupper bid to retain showjumping team title.
- Marathon swimmer Jack Burnell angered by ‘ridiculous’ disqualification.
Team USA roundup
A double whammy in the men’s triple jump – gold for Christian Taylor and silver for Will Claye – prompted Claye to propose to his partner, hurdler Queen Harrison, and a congratulatory tweet from Michelle Obama:
Congratulations to @Taylored2jump and @WilliamClaye for bringing home gold and silver medals for @TeamUSA in the triple jump today!
— The First Lady (@FLOTUS) August 16, 2016
Simone Biles took to the floor and took off from the floor to win that fourth Rio gold, Aly Raisman completing another US one-two. They got a surprise visit from actor Zac Efron. That’s some competitive congratulating, Team USA. Let’s just hope Donald Trump doesn’t get any ideas.
Surprise!! #Rio2016 #Gold #FinalFive pic.twitter.com/yUswjZeHsa
— Zac Efron (@ZacEfron) August 16, 2016
Two twos from Danell Leyva, who scored silver in both the men’s parallel bars and horizontal bar, were complemented by another second spot for Sarah Hammer in the women’s omnium. Bronzes came for Caleb Paine in the men’s Finn class sailing, and for Jennifer Simpson in the women’s 1,500m, on an athletics evening that was not one for the highlights package.
That women’s beach volleyball semi-final will be, though, defeat or no defeat: Kerri Walsh Jennings had lost only two sets in her entire Olympic career before the 2-0 loss to Brazil.
Australia team roundup
That’s (a bit) more like it. A gold and a silver, both in the sailing, appropriately enough for the team whose home is girt by sea. Tom Burton swiped gold – the country’s seventh – in the Laser final; Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin took silver in the Nacra 17 behind Argentina. It still leaves Australia ninth in the overall table, but ends the two-day medal drought in splashing style.
Elsewhere: hmm. Cyclist Annette Edmondson faded to eighth in the women’s omnium, beaten by Britain’s Laura Trott and co despite a win in the 500m time trial and second place in the flying lap. Alyssa Bull and Alyce Burnett came in last in the women’s kayak double 500m final.
Top qualifier Murray Stewart came fourth in the men’s kayak single 1,000m finals; Dani Samuels finished in the same not-quite-medal spot in the women’s discus. Brandon Starc stumbled in the men’s high jump, weighed down in 15th spot by the burden of Game of Thrones jokes.
Wincing injury of the day was a tie between Kim Mickle’s dislocated shoulder mid-javelin launch, and the men’s marathon swim. That was led by Jarrod Poort for 9km of the 10km before a late surge by, well, everyone else left him third from last:
My balls hurt, but my arms hurt more … Not sure what to ice first. Layed [sic] it all out there today, took a massive risk and went for it, but it didn’t pay off. But hey that’s sport. I had fun.
But the big shock was in the women’s basketball, where the previously undefeated Opals, who have taken home a silver or bronze from every Olympics since 1996, were shunted out by not-favourites Serbia 71-73. The men’s team face Lithuania in the quarter-finals at midnight AEST.
Picture of the day
And today’s logistical issue you’d never thought of: how to keep marathon swimmers hydrated (because it’s not osmosis). At four points in the 10km splash, coaches stretch out feeding poles – who says sport is glamorous? – holding bottles of energy drinks. National flags on the sticks ensure competitors don’t grab a rival’s drink. Every day’s a school day in the Olympics briefing.
Diary
All times below are local to Rio: here’s the full timetable tweaked for wherever you are. Or add four hours for UK, add 13 hours for eastern Australia; subtract one hour for east-coast US and four for west coast. Only 16 golds going today.
- First up, it’s round one of the women’s golf from 7.30am.
- Four finals in athletics, with the men’s 3,000m steeplechase at 11.50am, the women’s long jump at 9.15pm, the women’s 200m at 10.30pm (could Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson get the double?), and the women’s 100m hurdles at 10.55pm.
- The morning session gets off to a speedy start with the men’s decathlon 100m heats from 9.30am; Mo Farah is back for the men’s 5000m heats from 10.05am. And the men’s 200m semi-finals start from 10pm, with Britain’s Adam Gemili up against Usain Bolt in the second.
- At 12.30pm it’s Indonesia v Malaysia in the badminton mixed doubles final. Ahead of that, at 11am, Britain’s Rajiv Ouseph takes on Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in the men’s singles quarter-final.
- A super-late start – only technically day 12 at 11.59pm – for the women’s final in the beach volleyball, where it’s Germany v Brazil. Brazil’s second pair will play the USA for bronze at 10pm.
- Two semi-finals in the men’s football: Brazil v Honduras at 1pm, and Nigeria v Germany at 4pm.
- In the women’s hockey semi-finals, Britain take on New Zealand at 5pm, after the Netherlands face Germany at noon.
- Critical eyes on the boxing and the men’s welterweight final at 4.30pm. It’s Uzbekistan v Kazakhstan in that one.
- Equestrian continues from 10am with the team show jumping finals. Britain, the 2012 champions, won’t be there.
- Sailing sees the women’s 470 final at 1.05pm – in which Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are almost certain to take gold ahead of New Zealand and the US – and the men’s at 2.05pm, in which Croatia and Greece currently lead Australia’s Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan.
- The men’s basketball quarter-finals start from 11am: first up is Australia v Lithuania; the USA play Argentina at 6.45pm.
- The men’s team table tennis final comes at 7.30pm. I wouldn’t bet against China here. Sorry, Japan.
- Day one of taekwondo begins at 9am and concludes with two finals: the women’s -49kg at 10pm and the men’s -58kg hot on its heels at 10.15pm.
- Wrestling dishes out three golds in the women’s freestyle 48kg, 58kg and 69kg.
Underdog of the day
The winner of Brazil’s first Olympic gold in boxing, in day 11’s lightweight final, Robson Conceição has been a national and world champion, so is hardly an unknown. But he has a hell of a backstory. Born in a tough neighbourhood in Salvador, he was taught to scrap by his street-fighter uncle. Too poor as a child to pay for the bus fare to the boxing academy 10km from his home, he’d run there and back. Ahead of his medal-winning bout he said: I’ve been through so many different things in my life to survive … I do what I need to keep going.” And he did.
Tweet of the day
Another instalment in the popular Olympics series: why you should always meet your heroes.
12 yr old @LauraTrott31 wearing Wiggins' 2004 Athens gold. 12 yrs later she has 4 of her own. Incredible. #gold pic.twitter.com/TZjnSYXsIl
— sophieraworth (@sophieraworth) August 16, 2016
If today were a 1980s classic floor-filler
Honestly, I’ve been trying to avoid using this one. But this time it works. I apologise.
If Spandau Ballet aren't the wedding singers at the Trott / Kenny nuptials there is something seriously wrong with the world #Gold
— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) August 16, 2016
And another thing
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