That’s about all from Australia – as the United Kingdom awakes it only seems fair to hand over to Nick Ames, in London, continuing the 24/7 cycle of Olympics coverage: all the time, all the sports, forever.
You can follow all the action from day two, here.
To recap on the medals that have been awarded so far:
There have been twelve gold medals handed out (four in swimming, two for judo and shooting, one each for cycling, archery, fencing and weightlifting), with thirty-eight of any hue finding beaming new owners.
But before you crow or fret about your country’s relative performance, ponder this – there will be 2,102 medals awarded before these games are concluded. Yikes.
And for those among you whose outlook is more regional, the official Rio Olympics site even has a breakdown by continent. Asia has won 47% of the medals thus far, ahead of Europe (24%) and the Americas (21%). Don’t hold you breath for Antarctica.
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That final beach volleyball game has now finished, with the US duo Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross making short work of Australian pair Nicole Laird and Mariafe Artache del Solar, winning in two sets, 21-14, 21-13.
Walsh-Jennings and Ross were opponents in the London 2012 gold medal match, but have now combined their powers at Rio. With that pedigree, and in this kind of form you would argue they’re probably one of the favourites. Watch this space.
Hungary are eighth in the all-time Summer Olympics medal count and while Katinka Hosszu’s record-breaking 400m individual medley swim may have set tongues wagging, it wasn’t the only gold the European nation picked up on day one.
Emese Szasz stunned two-time world champion, Italian Rossella Fiamingo, in the women’s epee after trailing at one stage by four points, marking what my colleagues inform me was a day of big surprises at the fencing-drome.
Incidentally, Szasz is one of the more satisfying last names to type. Go on, try that one at home.
Some impressive upsets over in the field hockey, with 5th ranked USA defeating gold medal contenders and world no2 Argentina, 2-1. That was the same score elsewhere as 7th ranked Great Britain upset the highly fancied and world no3 Australian side, with Lily Owsley and Alexandra Danson grabbing the goals.
In the mens, Argentina played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with the Netherlands, while favourites Australia edged antipodean rivals New Zealand 2-1.
But it was Belgium with arguably the shock result of the day, putting Great Britain to the sword, 4-1, while India survived a scare from Ireland, and Spain and Germany were comfortable winners.
An interesting development over at the official Team USA twitter account, where silver appears to have risen in the precious metal stakes.
#ICYMI: Here's your daily medal recap! #TeamUSA is off to a great start! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/MVM4eq8NtL
— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) August 7, 2016
Very cute.
Amid one of the bleakest years for human migration the Refugee Olympic Team has already buoyed the hearts of many around the world.
You’ve no doubt already seen the sparkling smile of Yusra Mardini, but as Robert Kitson reports poolside, her remarkable swimming story just continues.
And if you missed the latest at the football, a remarkable result to close the day’s play in the women’s competition.
Five-times world player of the year Marta may have carried the Olympic flag for Brazil, but she’s also continued to carry the hopes of the host nation, with a brace during her side’s emphatic demolition of Sweden, 5-1.
No slouches, the Scandinavians, they’re ranked 6th in the world – two above Brazil – but that might very well change after this result.
Brazil, USA and Canada are the teams to have confirmed their passage to the knockout rounds at this stage.
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And from the boards to the beach, China have beaten Switzerland in the women’s beach volleyball, two sets to one, after earlier wins to the Netherlands, Brazil, Spain and Australia.
Good coastline nations, those.
In the men’s, Spain have overcome a first set hammering to best Austria, joining Poland, the Netherlands, USA, Brazil and Italy as today’s winners.
I’ve not trod the beaches from Swinoujscie to Gdansk – can anyone confirm there is sand and not pebbles there? Unless perhaps that’s what gives the Polish their edge. Rugged business.
There is of course one last game happening in the beach volleyball where the US duo Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross currently lead Australian pair, Nicole Laird and the excellently named Mariafe Artache del Solar, 1-love.
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Some results in the basketball, Serbia have accounted comfortably for Venezuela in the men’s Group A match 86-62, joining Australia and USA as first round winners.
In the women’s Group A, Japan have edged Belarus 77-73, to join France and Australia in the winner’s circle. An upset there? I’d hazard perhaps, yes.
Hello Stockholm, this is Australia calling, and what a time to pick up the liveblog.
Two golds in quick succession in the pool, courtesy Mack Horton and the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, has catapulted Australia to the head of the medal tally – drink it in, fellow antipodeans, it may not remain like that.
And as the beaming smiles of sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell, alongside team-mates Emma McKeon and Brittany Elmslie smile down upon us from the dais, there was also another salvo in the ongoing Mack Horton-Sun Yang war of words.
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Day one so far
I’ll be handing over to Richard Parkin now, but here’s a round-up of some of the day’s top stories:
- Thrasher wins first gold medal of Games for USA in 10m air rifle
- All Russian athletes to be banned from Paralympics
- Peaty sets world record in 100m breaststroke heat
- Van Avermaet grabs gold amid the carnage in road race
- Carli Lloyd’s goal gives USA 1-0 victory over France
- US men’s basketball team crush China 119-62
- Mack Horton stars as Australia win two golds in the pool
- Katinka Hosszu smashes world record in women’s 400 individual medley
And here’s the medal table:
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Here’s more on that Venus Williams exit:
Away from the pool, something for the hosts to cheer: in the women’s soccer, Brazil have just scored a fifth against Sweden. Jogo bonito!
So that’s it for the swimming this evening. Gold medals for Japan, Hungary, and Australia (twice). Three silvers for USA, and new world records in the 400m women’s IM and the 4x100m women’s freestyle relay.
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Hugs all around, and two fabulous swims from Bronte and Cate Campbell. Another swimming gold for Australia!
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Australia win women's 4x100m freestyle relay gold!
Brilliant from Cate Campbell, and a new world record! USA second, and Canada third!
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Great leg by Bronte Campbell, and Australia lead at 300m by 0.42. Campbell v Ledecky for the anchor leg!
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USA still ahead at 200m, by 0.61sec from Australia, and Sweden third.
After 100m, it’s USA, just, from Australia and Canada.
This should be wild. And we’re off!
Now time for the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay final. Australia are favorites, but USA and the Netherlands have eyes on medals.
Peaty posted 57.62 – not enough to lower his record, but still the second fastest time in history. What a swimmer Peaty is!
Adam Peaty wins, Codey Miller of USA in second, and van der Burgh in third. No new world record for Peaty this time, but he looked dominant.
And now Peaty goes in the second semi: he’s in lane four. Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa in six is another on to watch.
In the first semi, it’s Koseki of Japan, Cordes of USA and Gomes of Brazil, 1,2,3 – all slower than they were in the heats. Jake Packard of Australia was fourth, and Ross Murdoch of Britain faded to finish sixth.
Adam Peaty is back in the pool after setting a new world record earlier in the day. It’s the semi-finals of the men’s 100m breaststroke, and Peaty goes in the second semi.
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Now this is an interesting wrinkle. Australia’s Mack Horton beat Sun Yang to win the 400m freestyle, and, as AP reports, what happened after the race was even more dramatic.
Horton grabbed the lead for good on the next-to-last lap and held off the hard-charging Sun, the defending Olympic champion. But the bad blood between the two was on display for all to see as Horton celebrated after the race without even acknowledging the runner-up.
In fact, they climbed out of the pool side by side without so much as a passing glance.
After the prelims of the men’s 400 freestyle, Horton was asked about a reported incident between the two at the practice pool earlier in the week. The Aussie said Sun “splashed me to say hello, and I didn’t respond because I don’t have time for drug cheats.”
Sun served a three-month suspension for using a banned stimulant in 2014.
That’s Hosszu’s first ever Olympic medal. She won in 4:26.36 – DiRado was second in 4:31.15.
That was incredible. Hosszu broke the world record by two seconds! Hannah Miley was just beaten out by Belmonte for that bronze medal.
Hungary's Katinka Hosszu wins gold in the 400m individual medley!
DiRado silver, and Belmonte of Spain bronze!
Hosszu is going to smash the world record – she’s almost five seconds clear! DiRado is second, and Hannah Miley in third!
Good backstroke leg from DiRado, but Hosszu is almost three second clear! What a swim from the Hungarian.
And they’re away. After 100m, Hosszu is quite a way clear, with Shimizu in second and Belmonte in third.
DiRado goes in three. Britain’s Aimee Wilmott and Hannah Miley are in two and six respectively, and Elizabeth Beisel of USA will swim in seven. Sakiko Shimizu (1), Katinka Hosszu (4), Mireia Belmonte Garcia (5) and Emily Overholt (8) complete the set. Hosszu will be one for DiRado to watch.
Next up it’s the women’s 400m individual medley final. Maya DiRado going for gold for USA.
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A couple of results away from the swimming: New Zealand beat Colombia 1-0 in the women’s soccer, and Australia lost out 8-7 to Brazil in the men’s water polo.
The US swim team captured their first medal of these Olympics when Chase Kalisz won silver in the 400m individual medley behind Japan’s Kosuke Hagino in a gripping race.
The 22-year-old Marylander, who swam the fastest time in Saturday’s prelims, trailed by nearly three seconds at the halfway point but came back strongly on the breaststroke leg to push Hagino to the limit. But the frontrunner held strong to win in 4:06.05, becoming the first Japanese swimmer to win gold in the sport’s toughest event. His countryman Daiya Seto won the bronze.
It marks the first time since 1992 that an American didn’t win gold in the 400m IM. Yet in taking three seconds off his personal best to win a medal in his first Olympic final, Kalisz suggested he will be a force for years to come.
Dwyer was fourth, Jaeger fifth, and James Guy faded to finish sixth. So that’s a first gold medal for Australia!
Australia's Mack Horton wins 400m freestyle gold!
By a fingertip! Sun Yang in second, and Detti of Italy in third!
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After 300m, it’s Guy, Horton of Australia and Sun Yang in third. Close!
Guy still leading the way for GB after 200m.
James Guy ahead after 100m, Pothain of France in second, and Dwyer in third. Sun Yang biding his time.
Now it’s time for the men’s 400m freestyle, and China’s Sun Yang, the Olympic record holder, is the favourite, but watch out for Australia’s Mack Horton too. Conor Dwyer of the US is also in the mix – he posted his fastest time ever in prelims – and James Guy of Britain goes in seven.
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Sjostrom wins in a new Olympic record time of 55.84, with Emma McKeon of Australia second, and Penny Oleksiak of Canada third. Chen Xinyi gets the eighth qualifying spot, which means Kelsi Worrell is out.
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Now the second semi, and we’ll see world record holder Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden in action. She’s racing every single day in Rio.
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The first semi-final of the women’s 100m butterfly, and Rikako Ikee of Japan wins from Dana Vollmer and Jeanette Ottesen. USA’s Kelsi Worrell in fourth, and she faces a wait to see if that’s good enough for the final.
Venus Williams knocked out by Kirsten Flipkens!
Flipkens prevails 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5), and Williams’s singles is over.
Chase Kalisz speaks: “I knew he was going to be ahead at 200, and I tried to bring it home, but it wasn’t enough this time.
“I think the time was great, but that’s an American event, with a deep history, and I wanted to continue that history.”
Max Litchfield of Britain was fourth, incidentally.
That was such a good swim from Hagino, four years after he won bronze as a 17-year-old in London. He got out early, and held off a late challenge from Chase Kalisz. Daiya Seto won bronze, so a great start for Japan in the pool.
Kosuke Hagino wins 400m individual medley gold!
Kalisz second, Seto third!
This is quite a race: Hagino first, Kalisz +0.74 behind, and Seto just behind him. One hundred freestyle to go!
Hagino swimming strongly – he’s ahead after 2oom, Seto in second and Kalisz up into third.
And we’re off! Seto ahead after 100m of butterfly. Hagino second, Fraser-Holmes of Australia third.
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We’re missing Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in the 4oom IM final – Phelps doesn’t swim it any more, and Lochte was only third in US Olympic qualifying. Look out for Daiya Seto in lane five, and the No1 qualifier Chase Kalisz, in his first Olympics, in four. We’re almost set.
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The GB women have beaten Australia 2-1 in the hockey, Alex Danson with the winning goal.
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We’ll keep you up to date with what’s happening in the tennis and the hockey, but we’re going to concentrate on the swimming for the time being: we’re almost ready for the first medals in the pool.
Katie Ledecky will anchor the US team in the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay final tonight.
The current world record holder in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m frees had only been expected to compete in Saturday afternoon’s prelims, but after swimming the team’s fastest split at 52.6 – nearly a full second faster than any of her team-mates – the Maryland teenager was tabbed on Saturday evening for the final.
That sets up a high-profile showdown with Cate Campbell, world record holder in the 100m free, who will swim the anchor leg for Australia. That pair together is favored sweep the individual freestyle events in Rio.
The unexpected choice now means the 19-year-old Ledecky could win as many as five golds at these Olympics, a tally no American woman has ever accomplished. But the US team will be a considerable long shot against the Aussies tonight: as Nick Zaccardi points out, if you combine all eight swimmers’ best times from this year, the Australian team would win by 3.16 seconds.
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Thailand's Sopita Tanasan wins weightlifting gold!
What a way to make an entrance. Here’s the AP report:
In her Olympic debut, Sopita Tanasan came away with gold. The Thailand native won the women’s 48kg category Saturday in the first weightlifting event at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Tanasan snatched 92kg and lifted 108kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 200kg. It was her first time competing on the world level at that weight class.
Sri Wahuni Agustiani of Indonesia won silver and Hiromi Miyake of Japan took bronze.
This Williams-Flipkens match has been so hard fought. Williams is serving for the match at 5-3 in the third, but she’s down 30-40. We could yet be here a while.
We’re about half an hour away from the men’s 400 IM final, and it looks like USA or Japan will be battling for gold: Chase Kalisz, who posted the fastest time in qualifying, goes up against Dalya Seto, who was second quickest. It’s a 10.03pm start.
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A Commonwealth clash in Pool B of the women’s hockey: Great Britain are taking on Australia: they’re locked at 1-1, into the third quarter.
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In the women’s soccer, New Zealand are currently leading Colombia 1-0. They’ve played about an hour.
Les Carpenter was watching the US men’s basketball team at the Carioca Arena. Here’s his match report:
Venus Williams, who of course won gold in Sydney in 2000, is into a third set against Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, but she’s a break up. Three-one in the third.
You might have already seen the gruesome video, but French gymnast Samir Ait Said suffered a sickening injury earlier in the gymnastics arena after landing awkwardly on a vault. He was taken to hospital with what was thought to be a broken tibia.
French team leader Corrine Moustard-Callon didn’t have many details on Said’s injury, but lamented the terrible way his Olympics ended after years of hard work. “He made a technical mistake,” Moustard-Callon said. “He is in the hospital with a doctor now. We will give more news when we have it. We don’t know what happened, except that it was his tibia. We will do more exams to see if it is just the bone.”
Germany’s Andreas Toba also tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the floor exercise.
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We’re about an hour away from what should be a gripping first night in the pool. Four medal races – the men’s 4oom individual medley final, the men’s 400m freestyle final, the women’s 400m individual medley final, and the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Plus Adam Peaty, who posted a new world record earlier today, is in action in his 100m breaststroke semi. Watch out for the magnificent Katie Ledecky, too, who is set to anchor the USA team in that 4x100m freestyle relay: she swam a brilliantly quick split earlier in the day. As David Marsh, the US women’s swimming coach, said: “She’s not Superwoman, but she’s pretty darned super.”
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And here’s the report on the Matildas falling agonisingly short of victory against Germany:
US men's basketball team beat China 119-62
It’s finished at the Carioca Arena, and USA have beaten China 119-62. Yep, that’s a 57-point margin of victory. Here’s how it went down:
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This is funny, and sweet: Vanderlei de Lima, the marathon runner who lit the Olympic torch on Friday, was told an hour beforehand that his services would be required. An hour! Here’s the tale from AP:
The 46-year-old de Lima told the story to a group of Brazilian sports journalists who accidentally ran into him buying beer at a gas station after the show ended in Rio de Janeiro. He was still wearing his Rio 2016 outfit.
“I never thought that I could be that person to light the cauldron,” he said.
It came 12 years after his hopes of winning Olympic gold were ended by an Irish spectator wearing a kilt, knee-socks and a beret tackling him while leading the Athens marathon. Instead of gold, he fell back to take bronze.
Long since retired from top-level running, De Lima wasn’t destined to be the focal point of the first Olympics in his homeland.
Brazil soccer great Pele was the preferred choice of organizers to light the cauldron but left them in the lurch.
“We prepared special help for him if he needed it during the ceremony. We also decided to wait until the last moment to decide which the plan was, allowing him more time to improve his condition and to get medical authorization,” Rio organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada.
Australia very nearly pulled off a huge shock over Germany in the women’s football tournament. The Matildas led until the late stages of the game when Germany equalised through Saskia Bartusiak. The game ended 2-2, you can read the report here:
What’s that? You want more Australian glory? Will a bronze medal do? They whizzed into third place in the women’s team archery, beating China. But China will win another 8,000 medals anyway so sure they won’t miss a bronze here or there:
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We’re in the final quarter of USA v China in the men’s basketball and to the surprise of absolutely no one, the US are winning by 98-52 with around seven minutes less, China playing the role of the Philadelphia 76ers in this little encounter. This is a US team without LeBron James, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook and a host of other big names remember. You can follow it in more detail here:
What would the Olympics be without a healthy dose of shocks now and again? USA’s Jack Sock was the first seed to lose in the men’s tennis earlier today, although he had a decent enough excuse as he was suffering from pneumonia. The women’s No4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska didn’t have any catastrophic respiratory ailments as far as I know but still went down to Zheng Saisai.
Novak Djokovic has been in action today, in the men’s doubles, and he came through, with Nenad Zimonjic: 6-2 6-2 over Marin Cilic and Marin Draganja of Croatia.
In music news:
The DJ at USA men's hoops is absolutely killing halftime. Mixing Fat Man Scoop with Journey "Don't Stop Believing." Fiyaaah!
— Jesse Washington (@jessewashington) August 6, 2016
Owen Gibson has more on the suspicious package that was found during the men’s cycling road race. A bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion after reporters heard a loud noise on the press tribune and felt the ground shake as the cyclists had about 70km to go on Saturday.
Australia won their openers in both men’s and women’s basketball, incidentally. Liz Cambage scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and Australia rallied from a 12-point deficit in the first half and to Brazil 84-66, while Andrew Bogut scored 18 as the men beat France 87-66.
Here’s some more on Russia’s first gold medallist, Beslan Mudranov, who triumphed in the men’s -60kg division final. Asked to describe his emotions after winning gold, Mudranov said: “I don’t know yet, but right now I’m very happy. I don’t understand what I’m feeling right now. Today I felt OK, so I am at the peak of my career.”
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A result in the women’s football: Australia drew 2-2 against Germany – but it could have been so much better, had Saskia Bartusiak not equalised with two minutes to go. That late goal makes Australia’s task to progress pretty difficult now: they must thrash Zimbabwe in their last game, and hope Canada beat Germany.*
*Update: forgive me, but I neglected to mention that two third-placed teams go through, so a win against Zimbabwe should be enough for the Matildas.
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USA are all over China in the men’s basketball: they’re 52-24 up in the second quarter.
All in all, it was a good day for boxing and a triple-successful one for Great Britain. There had been concerns about the judging (as revealed exclusively in the Guardian last week), but there were surprisingly few aberrations as the tournament set out on its two-week marathon of slugging.
Galal Yafai, the youngest of the Birmingham boxing dynasty, opened the tournament with a unanimous win over Cameroonian brawler Simplice Fotsala, which leads him into the waiting arms of the light-fly world champion, Johanys Argilagos, on Monday. Yafai is up for it, though, claiming he should have got the verdict when they met during the World Series of Boxing season. A win over the Cuban, in this setting and with so much hanging on it, would be immense for Yafai.
Joe Cordina, at lightweight, got a 2-1 call over Charly Coronel, the Uzbeki judge handing the Welshman all three rounds, but the other two officials were not quite as convinced. It was a tough one.
In the final bout of the evening session, Dagenham psychology student Lawrence Okolie was too smart for Poland’s Igor Jakubowski over the full distance. Okolie was bullied at school for being fat (19st at 17 years of age six years ago) but has slimmed down to a solid lump, and punches his weight. It was a rough and tumble affair, but the British boxer deserved to shade it.
Okolie, who made his international debut in January against the equally interesting American, Cam F Awesome (who changed his name by deed poll and wants to be a stand-up comedian), qualified for Rio in April, beating the 10th, 8th and third best in the world after only 25 fights. He has made the most of his late run.
And here’s a match report of the US women’s victory over France, where Hope Solo ignored the “Zika” chants to record another clean sheet.
In the women’s tennis, Venus Williams is in action against Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium. They’re currently at 3-3 in the first set.
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And a big result in the field hockey: the US women have beaten Argentina 2-1. This report from AP:
The United States has claimed one of the biggest wins in its Olympic women’s field hockey history, defeating world No2 Argentina 2-1 in its opening match.
Argentina’s Agustina Albertarrio appeared to break a scoreless tie two minutes into the third period on Saturday, but the goal was nullified. Three minutes later, USA’s Katie Reinprecht slipped one under the goalkeeper to give the Americans a 1-0 lead.
Michelle Kasold scored for the USA on a penalty corner with 10:26 to play. Delfina Merino scored for Argentina with 3:27 remaining, but he Americans held on.
The Americans haven’t medaled since 1984, when they claimed bronze in Los Angeles. The United States gained momentum this summer by placing third in the Champions Trophy event in June, and its No5 world ranking is its highest slot ever.
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The US men have just got under way against China in the basketball. The starting lineup for the US: Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving. Follow DJ Gallo for more here:
Hello and welcome to the evening session! We’ve got football, volleyball, basketball and boxing this evening, but the big action is in the pool: four golds to be won, including in the men’s 400m freestyle final. Should be fun – we’ll be keeping a close eye on all the action here.
Day one so far
That’s all from me, thanks for reading. I will hand over to Tim Hill to take you through the rest of day one’s action. Here’s a reminder of some of the top stories from the day:
- Thrasher wins first gold medal of Games for USA in 10m air rifle
- All Russian athletes to be banned from Paralympics
- Bomb squad investigate blast after suspicious package found
- Serbian rowers sink in ferocious conditions on Rio waters
- Angry fans miss events on Rio’s shambolic opening morning
- Peaty sets world record in 100m breaststroke heat
- Van Avermaet grabs gold amid the carnage in road race
- Mardini delights with butterfly heat win for Refugee Team
- USA settle for silver in men’s archery as South Koreans clinch gold
And here’s the latest medal table:
Women's football: USA beat France 1-0
“The US edge to victory thanks to a Carli Lloyd tap-in and they now need a single point from their final game to progress,” reports Tom Lutz on USA v France in the women’s football. “But they’re all but through anyhow. Not a vintage performance but it should be remembered that they beat the No3 team in the world tonight. The US were excellent just after half-time but they had Hope Solo to thank as sloppy defending nearly cost them the victory in the final 15 minutes.”
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Australia’s women’s rugby team are having a far easier time, thumping Fiji 36-0 after only 20 minutes. Here is Andy Bull on rugby’s historic return to the Olympics:
There is an entertaining clash going on in the Carioca Arena where Brazil and Australia meet in the women’s basketball group stage. The Australians currently have the edge, leading 57-51 in the third quarter.
A couple of stories from day one to point you towards. First, Rob Kitson on the Syrian teenage swimmer Yusra Mardini:
And here is more on South Korea’s victory over USA in the men’s archery:
And here is :
Here’s more from Barry Glendenning with reaction from a dramatic men’s road race earlier today:
While none of the Team GB riders were prepared to talk to the media after as disappointing performance in the road race, their head coach Rod Ellingworth did front up.
“It was exactly what we thought: pretty full-on all the way,” he said of the race most riders appear to have agreed was brutal. “That [early six-man] break was a really strong group, but we knew it wasn’t enough riders to go all the way. The quality of that group was fantastic. You can’t disrespect that. Until we hit the final circuit they rode the perfect race. We had bad luck with Ian - he broke his bike - and on the cobbles there were a few little problems. There were lots of crashes, punctures and that all the time. You had a few little issues.”
Speaking about Steve Cummings, a late replacement for Peter Kennaugh, Ellingworth had this to say: “Steve did a great job bringing the lads into that first climb,” he said of the rider who was calling for his head just over a month ago. “We wanted it to be hard, it was hard. G put himself in the bike race perfectly. Adam came round. He had a really bad time at the beginning of that first circuit and then he rode himself in, so that was good. In general, great teamwork. The way the lads wanted to race is how they actually raced. Just unfortunate about the crash at the end. I knew from the test event that descent was going to perhaps be a deciding factor in the race. And it was. When you think about how many riders crashed round there it was pretty mad really.”
Ellingworth went on to say that THomas was “all right” despite a heavy fall that ruined his chances of getting a medal. “Looking at Geraint there he was proper, proper disappointed there,” he said. “He knew that was a proper gold medal chance.”
A quick look back to the equestrian action earlier today and William Fox-Pitt’s impressive showing in the individual eventing, as Hannah takes up on email: “He suffered a serious head injury while competing last October and was in an induced coma for over a week. It was doubtful he’d return to competing at all, so the fact that he’s sitting in gold medal position after the first day of competition is nothing short of remarkable.” Here’s our report on Fox-Pitt’s comeback:
In the men’s light boxing, Britain’s Joe Cordina has narrowly beaten Charly Suarez of the Philippines in their round of 32 bout. Here’s more from the day’s boxing action:
“Carli Lloyd is the world women’s player of the year, and she shows why she is so dangerous,” reports Tom Lutz on the women’s football clash between USA v France. “After a quiet game – for her – she opens the scoring with a tap-in from close range. 1-0 to the defending champions.”
Fancy a spot of basketball? DJ Gallo is bringing you China v USA, live! It should be a humdinger.
This from Reuters on Vietnam’s first ever Olympic gold, and Brazil’s first medal of the Games courtesy of the defeated Felipe Wu:
Xuan Vinh Hoang secured Vietnam’s first Olympic gold medal in any sport, winning the men’s 10-metre air pistol event after holding off crowd favourite Felipe Wu of host country Brazil. Wu, a 24-year-old competing in his first Olympics, won Brazil its first medal of the Games, on the first day of competition, and its first in shooting since 1920.
He and the 41-year-old Hoang took turns at the top before the Vietnamese eked out a 0.4 of a point advantage to win with 202.5 points in 20 shots. Both are members of their countries’ armed forces. “In the last shot, all I was trying to do was finish it off,” said Hoang, a two-time Olympian who also won his country’s first medal in shooting.
At the Deodoro Shooting Centre, the mostly Brazilian crowd whooped and whistled the national anthem for Wu and created quite a bit of noise at crucial moments of the competition. Wu said he was not bothered by it. “It is just perfect,” Wu said of his conquest for Brazil. “I hope that the sport of shooting becomes more popular in Brazil.”
He also noted the difficulties of training in Brazil, a country in the midst of its worst economic crisis in decades, and the high cost and long delay associated with importing ammunition. “Sometimes I have to wait for a year to get my ammunition,” Wu said.
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“Canada has a men’s hockey team? Did they show up with their ice skates?” emails Kevin Smith, “(a Canadian who finds field hockey baffling, especially when they could have road or roller hockey in the games).” Canada sure do play field hockey, Kevin, and they are currently 2-1 down against the third ranked country in the world, Germany (Canada are 15th, incidentally).
Hungary’s Emese Szasz has won gold in the women’s fencing épée, beating Rossella Fiamingo from Italy, and adding to a distinguished list of Hungarian champions in the discipline.
A few team contests have just got under way: Germany v Australia in the women’s football first round; Canada v Germany in the men’s hockey pool stage; and USA v Colombia in the women’s rugby sevens pool round.
Earlier we reported that Yusra Mardini, a swimmer and Syrian refugee competing under the Olympic flag, won her 200m freestyle heat. “I was only thinking about water and the last competitions and where I am now,” the teenager said after the heat. “I left swimming for two years so now we are working to get back to my level. It was quite hard to think that you are a swimmer and you might end up dying in the water. It was really cool and everything was amazing and everyone welcomed us. It was really amazing and an incredible feeling to compete here in the Olympics and I am happy and glad for that... I’m really happy to be here and to see all of the champions and other swimmers here. This is not difficult because all of those people want to show everyone what I’m doing...and that we didn’t stop our refugee trip and it continues. I’m really excited for the 100 freestyle and I hope I’m going to swim better.”
You can read more about the Refugee Olympic Team here:
Bad news for Australia’s Richie Porte, though not surprising after his heavy fall during the men’s road race earlier:
Confirming @richie_porte is at unfortunately at hospital, after his crash in men's road race, with suspected broken collar bone #OneTeam
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) August 6, 2016
“It’s 0-0 in the France v USA game as the world No1 takes on the world No3,” reports Tom Lutz. “There have been moments of excitement but mainly from the French. The US have done well on free-kicks but Hope Solo has kept the defending champions in it with a great save as the half wound down.”
That, by the way, is Russia’s first gold medal of these Games.
Here’s some fun: the men’s 60kg judo final has gone to golden score (for those not in the know, a little like a golden goal in football, where one single score ends the contest). Russia’s Beslan Mudranov and Kazakhstan’s Yeldos Smetov have cancelled each other out for five full minutes of regular time... but during golden score one little mistake from the latter allows Mudranov to foot sweep his opponent to the floor to take the gold! A bit of thriller from those two, and that is gold for Russia.
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The women’s fencing épée gold medal match will get going shortly. Italy’s Rossella Fiamingo will have a joust with Emese Szász of Hungary, after Sun Yiwen (China) claimed the bronze a little earlier.
Argentina’s Paula Pareto has won her country’s first medal of the Games with gold in the women’s 48kg judo final, beating Jeong Bokyeong of South Korea. Kazakhstan’s Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh won the bronze.
Congrats to @GregVanAvermaet , @jakob_fuglsang & @majkaformal 👍🏅
— Chris Froome (@chrisfroome) August 6, 2016
Hope all those with injuries heal up soon! #Rio2016 #CyclingRoad
Thanks Rob. Did anyone miss the men’s road race? If so, you can catch the highlights right here (providing you are in the UK; apologies to everyone else):
Lawrence Ostlere is back from his lunch break, so I’ll pass you back to him. Goodnight!
After 22 minutes of hot football action in Belo Horizonte, it’s USA 0-0 France. Tom Lutz has the latest.
Korea win gold in the men's archery
That was an astonishing performance from Korea - they hit 15 tens out of 18, with Ku Bon-chan managing six out of six. The final score is an undeniable Korea 6-0 USA.
America must win the next two sets or the gold will go to Korea. Ku Bon-chan makes it five tens out of five, and it’s 29-29 after the first round of the third set.
It’s now Korea 4-0 USA in the men’s archery final after the Koreans took a brilliant second set 58-57. Ku Bon-chan has been perfect so far, with four tens out of four.
Who knew the British tennis feed was run by Kenickie fans?
Get in! @HeatherWatson92 battles into the #Rio2016 2nd round after beating Peng 6-4, 6-7, 6-3! #BackTheBrits #Tennis pic.twitter.com/v60owCfgWp
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) August 6, 2016
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Korea take the first set 60-57, which gives them a 2-0 lead. The only man on either side who did not hit 10 both times was Jake Kaminski; that’s an astonishing standard, it says here.
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The men’s archery final is under way, and Korea have made a scorching start with three tens in a row. The US respond with 29 points from their three shots. Do you call them shots? Whatever they are, they keep going in the circle marked ‘10’ – Korea now have six tens out of six in the first set.
Cyclists moaning about brutality of road race course don't know they're born. Press room ran out of (over-priced) food hours ago #rio2016
— Barry Glendenning (@bglendenning) August 6, 2016
There’s some live football to follow, should you be so inclined: the US are facing an excellent France side, with Hope Solo winning her 200th cap. Tom Lutz is providing updates through the medium of banter.
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It’s not me, it’s Wu.
Host nation's first #Rio2016 medal: Felipe Wu of #ShootingSport wins silver in Men's 10m air pistol for #BRA pic.twitter.com/4ysvkYfm4Z
— Rio 2016 (@Rio2016_en) August 6, 2016
Hello, Rob here. Let’s have a look at the early medals table, shall we? The USA will be eyeing another gold in the men’s archery, having seen off China 6-0 in the semis. They will face South Korea, who beat Australia by a similarly soul-destroying score.
Day one so far
I’m going to take a break and hand over to my colleague Rob Smyth for a while. Before I go, here’s a reminder of what’s happened so far today:
- Virginia Thrasher wins first gold medal of Games for USA in 10m air rifle
- All Russian athletes to be banned from Paralympics
- Bomb squad investigate blast after suspicious package found
- Serbian rowers sink in ferocious conditions on Rio waters
- Angry fans miss events on Rio’s shambolic opening morning
- Adam Peaty sets world record in 100m breaststroke heat
- Greg Van Avermaet grabs gold amid the carnage in road race
The men’s archery semi-finals are under way in the Sambódromo. USA and China are doing battle in the first semi-final and the Americans have taken a commanding lead, winning the first two sets to take a 4-0 lead (it’s two points for winning a set, and the first team to six points ends the match).
Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet has just won the men’s road race in cycling and was considerate enough to do so just in the nick of time for the Observer’s first edition. It was a thrilling race that looked to be Vincenzo Nibali’s to lose until he crashed horribly with Colombia’s Sergio Henao on the final descent just 11 kilometres from the finish. Geraint Thomas also came a cropper while looking good for a medal, but remounted to finish 11th and has since gone to hospital for a check-up. Poland’s Rafal Majka did well to avoid the carnage and was left in front, but was collared by Van Avermaet and Jakob Fugslang (Denmark) with just shy of two kilometres to go. Majka settled for bronze and let the other two duke it out for gold in a sprint that Van Avermaet won. Back among the also-rans, Ireland’s Dan Martin described the race as quite the ordeal. “It was the hardest day I’ve ever had in my life on a bike,” he said. “It was a brutal, brutal, strange old race.”
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In the women’s 48km judo semis, Argentina’s Paulo Pareto and Jeong Bo Kyeong of South Korea have earned their places in the final. They will battle for gold at 5pm in Rio (9pm BST).
In the Olympic Arena, Britain’s gymnasts Max Whitlock and Louis Smith have put themselves in the pommel horse final with two brilliant displays with scores of 15.800 and 15.700 respectively. France’s Cyril Tommasone is their closest challenger with 15.650.
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Britain’s Heather Watson has finally overcome her gritty Chinese opponent Peng Shuai, after closing out the match 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in over two-and-a-half hours to reach the second round of the women’s tennis singles.
Some came, some didn’t, some maybe wish they hadn’t. Jack Sock, the bustling young American tennis player, was desperate to be in Rio - even though his Tour buddy, the volcanic Australian Nick Kyrgios, didn’t make it. On day one, however, Sock lost to the Californian Japanese player, Taro Daniel, broken in each of the two sets it lasted. Turns out he had a decent excuse: something called walking pneumonia. Sock said later, “First, credit to him. He played a great match, and I don’t want to take anything away from him.” (They sort of have to say that, if they’ve got an injury or illness - tennis protocol). He went on: “I’ve had the cough going and I felt something in my lungs, and I thought it would get better, but it didn’t. So I went in the night before I came here to the doctor, and he said I had walking pneumonia.” Jack’s still here, though, and primed for the doubles. He marched in the opening ceremony on Friday, as well. “I was going to come down and experience it no matter what... It was the coolest think I’ve every been part of. You walk out there and it almost feels like you’re in a video game... Maybe after this, I’ll take the necessary precautions.”
Brazil have secured their first medal of the games, Felipe Almeida Wu winning silver in the men’s 10m air pistols. Vietnam’s Hoang Xuan Vinh fired his way to gold.
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French gymnast Samir Aït Saïd was stretchered off after suffering a stomach-turning leg injury on the vault during men’s gymnastics qualification at Rio Olympic Arena. The 26-year-old mistimed his landing and appeared to break his leg around the mid-shin area, waving to the crowd as medical staff carried him into the tunnel. It’s a cruel blow for Aït Saïd, who sustained three fractures to his right tibia after falling from the vault during the 2012 European Championships, an injury that sidelined him for six months and kept him out of the London Olympics.
Halfway through the first men’s basketball game of the day Australia are leading France 36-33. Australia has been killing France inside and running beautiful pick-and-rolls resulting in dunks and easy layups. Andrew Bogut has hit all four of his shots including one thunderous dunk that sent an excited roar filtering through the crowd. Tony Parker has 16 for France. The game is being played in the main basketball facility, Carioca Arena 1, which is...very green. The trim around the court is dark green, the walls that divide fans from the court are a lighter green and most of the seats are either green or blue. There is also a large green carpet running from the court to the stands. It is certainly the greenest place in which I have seen a basketball game.
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In the women’s tennis singles, Britain’s Heather Watson is in the midst of a titanic battle with China’s Peng Shuai. Watson has just broken serve in the third set and now leads 4-2 as she looks to close out the match played in stifling afternoon heat.
Terrible pictures are emerging from the gymnastics arena, where French gymnast Samir Ait Said has suffered an horrific leg-break on the vault.The 26-year-old’s left leg snapped after landing awkwardly, and he then looked down to realise just how serious the damage was. Wishing him a speedy recovery.
World record smasher Adam Peaty speaks: “Hopefully tonight I’ll get a better performance, hopefully I can give the confidence to the other swimmers: don’t be scared, it’s just two lengths of a pool, it’s what you’ve done all your life. It’s really great to push the rest of the swimming team, but the job’s not done until the medals around the neck.”
“If there is any event that beats that one for drama, then it will have to be very good,” emails Adam Hirst after the men’s road race. “What a race. I need lie down in a dark room, so no idea how the riders must feel.”
The men’s road race champion Greg Van Avermaet speaks: “This is the best title you can have, Olympic champion. I had a great day and everything went perfect in the final 15km. Lots of guys crashed trying to take risks. I just kept it safe, stayed focus, I knew I had a good sprint. I caught (Rafal) Majka, and I knew I had the best sprint of the final two.”
During that thriller on the roads of Rio, a reminder that Britain’s Adam Peaty smashed his own world record in his 100m breaststroke heat in the Rio pool. Yes, in a heat! Here’s more:
Greg Van Avermaet has an excellent track record of one-day races and Classics wins, and wore the yellow jersey during the Tour de France for a few days last month, but this is his first impact on the Olympic stage. What a brilliant day for the 31-year-old Belgian, and for his team-mates who were pictured in tears at the finish.
Britain’s Geraint Thomas, who crashed on the descent and was pictured lying on the side of the road in difficulty, clearly dusted himself down and he comes into the finish with a gentle roll, which is great to see. Behind him, Chris Froome and Dan Martin enjoy a mini sprint finish.
Belgium's Greg Van Avermaet wins men's road race!
The streets are packed as the leading three line up for a sprint finish. They eye each other, and Greg Van Avermaet attacks! Fuglsang chases hard but can only take silver for Denmark, with Poland’s Majka having to settle for bronze.
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Van Avermaet and Fuglsang bridge the gap and Majka tags on to their wheels as the trio enter the final kilometre of the men’s road race together. Who will grab gold?
This must be brutal on Rafal Majka’s legs. He glances back, then grimaces and kicks on again. The thought of a gold medal is the only thing keeping the Polish rider going. Less than 2km to go and Van Avermaet and Fuglsang barely 5secs back...
He might not you know ... Rafal Majka’s lead is being slashed as Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium) and Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) close in. They are just 12secs back with 3km to go.
Poland’s Rafal Majka has a 25sec lead with five pretty flat kilometres to go in the men’s road race. Can he see this through?
How Vincenzo Nibali will rue this missed opportunity. Did he simply push too hard in an effort to get away from his pursuers, backing his descending skills too heavily? We will hear plenty more at the end of this race. Let’s hope he, Henao, Thomas and the others that have crashed out are all OK.
Geraint Thomas crashes out of the road race too, falling in a separate incident on the same descent! What a chaotic finish to this race, and the big beneficiary from the disarray is Rafal Majka, who is out in front on his own. The Polish rider has been presented with a brilliant opportunity to become the Olympic champion with 8km remaining.
Nibali and Henao crash in men's road race!
Drama at the front: Vincenzo Nibali cranked up the pace on the final descent but seems to have gone too far and the Italian crashes out! The Colombian rider, Sergio Henao, is in a heap on the road beside him and their challenge is over in a flash.
Adam Peaty breaks 100m breaststroke world record!
A stunning heat from the favourite for the 100m breaststroke, Britain’s Adam Peaty, who sets a ridiclous time of 57.55s. What a statement.
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Chris Froome hasn’t been able to close that big gap to the front, while his fellow Britain Geraint Thomas has also fallen away from the leaders. This trio of Nibali (Italy), Henao (Colombia) and Majka (Poland) have gone clear and are positioning themselves for the podium, but their advantage over the nearest group of chasers is only around 15secs.
15km remaining in the men’s road race and Vincenzo Nibali continues to crank up the pressure. Colombia’s Sergio Henao grabs on to the proverbial coattails with an iron grip and Rafal Majka of Poland also gives chase. Nibali looks over his shoulder and decides to let them come – these three are out in front right now.
Over in the tennis, Britain’s Heather Watson is at the business-end of the second set against China’s Peng Shuai level pegging, having won the opener in tough conditions on a hot day in Rio.
Despite Nibali’s aggression there are still seven riders taking on this final climb at the front with gritted teeth, including Van Avermaet (Belgium), Henao (Colombia), and Zeits (Kazakhstan). Excitable fans run alongside them, flapping flags, snapping selfies and generally being a good-natured nuisance as the leaders begin the final 4km of climbing.
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Chris Froome has tagged on to the wheel of the struggling Adam Yates, his GB team-mate, who jumps into action once more in an effort to drag Froome back into contention with 20km remaining. Up ahead there’s chaos as Vincenzo Nibali ups the pain with a searing attack. Britain’s Geraint Thomas is desperately trying to stay in touch with the Italian.
Back in the main chasing pack of the men’s road race, Chris Froome attacks! He leaves Valverde, Mollema and Bardet all behind – the British Tour de France winner is attempting to make one big push to join the leaders 30sec up the road.
Fabio Aru injects some pace into this final climb, standing in his seat and powering away from the rest of the leading group. Several try to stay in touch but one struggler is Adam Yates, and the 23-year-old who finished fourth in the Tour de France is running out of steam here.
Giampaolo Caruso has finally blown up after pumping hard on the front of the race, and the Italian leaves Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali to finish the job. Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates are the British representation in the leading pack; Denmark (Fuglsang), Colombia (Henao), Poland (Majka), Belgium (Van Avermaet) and Kazakhstan (Zeits) are all up there in the front, too.
25km remaining in men's road race!
And 10 riders lead the way: Aru, Caruso, Fuglsang, Henao, Majka, Nibali, Thomas, Van Avermaet, Yates and Zeits. But they are now only 38sec ahead of a pack of chasers led by Spain’s Alejandro Valverde and the Swiss, with Chris Froome tucked in that group.
Here is Helen Pidd on Brazil’s beach volleyball stars, Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt, and their perfect start on the beach:
@LawrenceOstlere @ESPNHDLIDER coverage of Rio cycling in Mexico has ended with 45km to go - switched to football. Now I need a new telly.
— Satch of Bridgend (@SatchofBridgend) August 6, 2016
Terrible timing! Stick with us, sir.
There are 30km to go in the men’s road race and the dynamic has changed after the penultimate descent. Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali has made a huge effort to join up with the leading group, and several riders have gone with him creating a big pack at the front which features Geraint Thomas, Fabio Aru of Italy and Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara. Adam Yates is also there meaning two from Team GB, against three from Italy. Spain continue to front the peloton a minute back down the road, where Chris Froome’s chances of Olympic gold are fading.
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The video you’ve all been waiting for (if you’re based in the UK – apologies to those elsewhere who can’t watch this one):
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A crash in the men’s road race! Richie Porte lies in a heap on the side of the road beside his bike clutching his shoulder, mud stuck to his jersey. He looks distraught after more bad luck compounds his difficult Tour de France and season in general. At least one other rider was also involved in an incident which has almost certainly ended Porte’s involvement.
At the Olympic Arena the men’s gymnastics are well under way. Britain’s Max Whitlock is one of those going for a medal and he has made an impressive start in the men’s floor exercise.
Naomi Goldberg emails with gripes from what is becoming a pretty tough opening day in Rio: “Took us 3 hours to get from botofago to Barra to see the tennis. Now in a queue for drinks for 45 mins in the sun and I reckon there will be at least another 30 mins. I think the biggest danger in Rio is going to be heatstroke.”
Day one so far
As the men’s road race nears what should be a thrilling conclusion, here is a look back at some of the key moments of day one in Rio so far:
- Virginia Thrasher wins first gold medal of Games for USA in 10m air rifle
- All Russian athletes to be banned from Paralympics
- Bomb squad investigate blast after suspicious package found
- Serbian rowers sink in ferocious conditions on Rio waters
- Angry fans miss events on Rio’s shambolic opening morning
In the men’s road race, the peloton remains in catchable distance of the leading group, and includes some strong climbers with Vincenzo Nibali, Chris Froome and Adam Yates among them. Adam Hirst emails from Rio with his suspicions over some funny-business, something our man on the ground Barry Glendenning reported earlier: “Not sure about Froome & Thomas, but I saw some blatant drafting from a few others off the back today. When the cameras aren’t around…”
The breaking news story following the controlled explosion near the finish of the men’s road race:
A key moment in the men’s road race with 45km to go: Russia’s Pavel Kochetkov can give no more to the brutal charge at the front, and he slips back to leave Poland’s Michael Kwiatkowski all on his own. With the leader exposed, Geraint Thomas and his chasing crew have been able to close the gap and now there are a group of six riders up front, including Colombia’s Henao and Belgium’s Van Avermaet, as they reach the penultimate summit and descend again.
Without wishing to the bearer of thoroughly negative news, here is the latest on a messy start to the Games which featured queues outside near-empty arenas:
And in a separate incident away from the controlled explosion at the men’s road race, it is being reported that a military bullet entered the media tent at the equestrian centre earlier today, landing at the feet of photographers. Nobody was injured.
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A Rio 2016 spokesman confirmed: “The security services found a suspicious package close to the cycle road race finish line in Copacabana and as a precaution decided to perform a controlled explosion. There is no impact to the race, which is ongoing.”
Eyewitnesses have confirmed that a controlled explosion took place near the finish line of the road cycling race. One official said that they were suddenly moved out of the way for the bomb disposal squad. All now calm as photographers and volunteers mill around waiting for the finish. The offending item was believed to be a small bag. One officer present told bystanders the detonation was simply a precaution.
50km remaining in men's road race
The leading duo of Russia’s Pavel Kochetkov and Michael Kwiatkowski from Poland remain 20sec clear of their chasers as they take on the second of three gruelling climbs in searing heat, before the flat run to the finish. Britain’s Geraint Thomas fronts the chasing pack which includes Colombia’s Sergio Henao, Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet, Italy’s Giampaolo Caruso and Estonia’s Rein Taaramae. Chris Froome continues to plug away in the peloton another 30sec back down the hill – it’s all to play for.
And an update from the women’s volleyball:
@LawrenceOstlere Major upset at Women's volleyball where China loses with 2-3 to The Netherlands.
— GraduatesofDemocracy (@democracygrads) August 6, 2016
Men's hockey: Belgium 4-1 Great Britain
A terrible opener for Team GB, who carry medal hopes having finished fourth in 2012, but have got off to the worst possible start with a thrashing at the hands of the impressive Belgium.
Swimmer Yusra Mardini, a member of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, has won her 100m butterfly heat. It doesn’t look like she will progress to the next round as it is measured by times recorded, but what an achievement. Here’s more on the teenager:
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A loud bang has been heard near the finish to the road race, and Reuters are reporting that a bomb squad have carried out a controlled explosion. More details if and when they come through.
In the men’s road race, this gruelling first climb of three before the finish has taken plenty of victims including the Dutchman Wout Poels who performed so strongly for Chris Froome and Team Sky during the Tour de France. A chasing group including Geraint Thomas, Sergio Henao and Greg van Avermaet are around 20sec from the two leaders, Russia’s Pavel Kochetkov and the former world champion from Poland, Michael Kwiatkowski, with 66km to go. Things are simmering away nicely for a very competitive finish: Chris Froome, Adam Yates and plenty of other notable names are well-placed in the peloton.
In the men’s hockey, Britain continue to trail to Belgium and they are fast running out of time; there are less than six minutes remaining in the final quarter and the Belgians lead 3-1.
Adam Hirst emails with a roadside update on a cheery atmosphere at the men’s cycling: “As beautiful as Rio could be out there but 34degC and it will be Last Man Standing by Copacabana. Crowds sparse but good humoured. After the initial comments from people complaining that it was ‘sacanagem’ (piss-take) that they had to walk another 100m to the crossing point as the road was closed until 4pm. For the main part though, everyone gets a cheer, the police motorcyclists through to the broom wagon. Great fun.”
Hello, and it’s straight over to the men’s road race where Britain’s Steve Cummings has finally fallen away off the front after putting in a belting shift. Following the furore over his original non-selection for the Games, he has surely justified his eventual inclusion. The peloton remains around a minute behind the leading clutch, with a demanding 72km remaining, and Chris Froome is well positioned in that main bunch.
Handing over now to the good man Lawrence Ostlere, who will take you through the next few hours and, for that matter, the next few medals. I’ll see you all – yes, all – again early tomorrow. Take it away, Lawrence...
It’s been an eventful men’s road race for Chris Froome so far. He could have been disqualified after forgetting to sign on at the start, only to be reminded by a pair of BBC journalists who heard his name being called over the PA. More recently, he changed bikes and was paced back to the peloton by his trusty lapdog Geraint Thomas. The pair were quite clearly drafting behind cars as they made their way back to the bunch, a practice which is illegal. Race officials will sometimes turn a blind eye, if the cyclist drafting has been involved in a crash, but Froome wasn’t, he just changed bikes. If he gets a medal, we could hear more about this.
The Belgians have pulled well ahead in the hockey with two goals; it’s now 3-1. Plenty of time for Great Britain’s men to respond – there are 11 minutes left in the third quarter.
McKenzie, who fought so gamely in the judo, was visibly emotional in his interview afterwards. “Four more damn years,” he said, before being consoled by the BBC’s interviewer. That’s what the Olympics can do, isn’t it? All that blood, sweat, tears, and before you know it, it can be over. Have to admire the people who make these sacrifices.
Possible controversy in the cycling? I’d had my eye off the specifics, but John Davis emails:
“Some polemica regarding Froome and Thomas getting back to the bunch by drafting behind motor vehicles. No officials around to make them desist. We’ll hear more of this...”
Brazil’s men are in beach volleyball action and, while it’s noisy on the Copacabana, it’s far from a full house, which I find surprising for this. Perhaps it’s the queues we heard about earlier. The hosts are a set up against Canada, and 18-18 in the second.
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Many empty seats at Olympic venues with two exceptions: gymnastics and places where medals are at stake today. Less interest for the rest.
— Mauricio Savarese (@MSavarese) August 6, 2016
A sign of the fortnight to come, do we think?
The swimming heats begin in earnest around now, starting with the men’s 400m individual medley. Could be a big evening in the pool much later on, of course with 100m breaststroke favourite Adam Peaty tipped for great things in the early hours...
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100km to go in the road race! The business end is around the corner, and we’ll soon start getting a fine idea of what’s what. Chris Froome has just stopped for a bike change, and has a bit of chasing to do, but looks calm...
The rowing action is coming thick and fast. Great Britain’s Peter Chambers, Jono Clegg, Mark Aldred and Chris Bartley are through to the semi-finals in the men’s lightweight four, finishing second behind Denmark. There are still murmurings and mutterings, here and there, about the racing conditions.
Meanwhile, Great Britain can see exactly what they’re up against in the women’s sevens – Canada have just trounced Japan 43-0.
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A British casualty – or pair of casualties, I suppose – in the tennis. Colin Fleming and Dom Inglot have lost 6-3, 6-0 to Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela. That was, needless to say, in the men’s doubles, and it took just 51 minutes.
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Good save from Great Britain’s goalkeeper, George Pinner, from close range in the men’s hockey. It’s still 1-0 to Belgium. I was at school with Pinner and can confirm he was always good at hockey, if that reassures anyone.
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McKenzie is out of the judo; as expected, Smetov was just too strong for the Commonwealth champion and won by one yuko point.
More hockey now, and Great Britain’s men are off and running against Belgium. Or limping, more accurately, as they’re a goal down early on and not really keeping hold of the ball.
I delved below the line, expecting Rio-esque waters, and instead pulled out some crystal clear, pH 7 rugby analysis.
Chris Froome's media relations not always the best but BBC's @Natpirks saved his backside by reminding him to register for race today
— Ian Prior (@ianprior) August 6, 2016
The road race continues for another three hours or so, but for Froome it could have been over before it began...
Ireland now3-1 down to India in the hockey by the way. I should have learned from last time, but I haven’t, so I’ll say that is probably them done.
Because @NickAmes82 asked about our office views. pic.twitter.com/6vTtWMP0Uj
— Beau Dure (@duresport) August 6, 2016
Not quite sure this is going to make for varied entertainment, but I’ll give you this one. You’re not getting a view of mine; a small element of mystique must remain.
Full-time in the sevens, 29-3 to Great Britain, job done in a reasonably convincing way. Next they play Japan this evening (UK time), and Canada tomorrow. Those two will face each other shortly.
There’s all kinds of excitement in the still-packed media marquee for the men’s road race. An unknown journalist sitting across from me has just purchased a large plastic bowl of over-priced leaves and what look like very small hard-boiled eggs, which he is currently attempting to negotiate with a plastic fork that doesn’t appear up to the task due to a lack of rigidity.
Meanwhile out on the course, there’s about 125 kilometres to go and the six-man breakaway lead the bunch by 4min 35sec. Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia), Michael Albasini (Switzerland), Pavel Kochetkov (Russia), Simon Geschke (Germany), Sven Bystrom (Norway) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland) are the men in the escape party.
Great Britain starting to run a few tries in now, over at the sevens. It’s now 24-3, which gives things a rather better complexion.
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I’ve just arrived at the end of a path at the end of a track, over a bridge, under another bridge, across a field, up a sandy incline, past a small hamlet, down an endless straight boulevard at the end of a two-and-a-half-hour journey from central Rio, at what is surely the most distant of all these Olympic venues. Behind the doors there are other doors. And at the end of it all, beneath a searing sun, accompanied by a few other haunted looking pilgrims, there’s the Olympic shooting, and next up the men’s 10m final at 3.30pm Brazil time.
The first medal of the games has already been won here. America’s Virginia Thrasher got the gold in the women’s 10m air rifle. She’s talking to the press right now looking utterly elated. Next to her Du li, who got the silver, looks devastated.
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Tidings from the lake: GB men’s double sculls pair John Collins and Jonathan Walton have finished fourth in their heat, so will be relying on the repechage to reach the last four. It was a fun race, though, New Zealand beating Azerbaijan on a photo finish.
Brazil are giving Great Britain a game in the rugby sevens; it’s currently 7-3 to Team GB. There’s slightly more positive news for Ireland in the men’s hockey, meanwhile – they’ve pulled one back against India and are 2-1 down in the third quarter.
More from the boxing. The Italian lightweight, Carmine Tommasone, the first of three professionals admitted to the tournament, was the fourth bout up on day one of what is going to be a gruelling fortnight for the world’s best “amateur” boxers. After three entertaining rounds of no little skill, Carmine got the nod over a disappointed Mexican, Lindolfo Delgado. The middle round, which went against popular sentiment and to the Italian, was the only contentious spell.
For those who trust AIBA’s president, Dr Wu, this is supposed to be the future of boxing, with all participants, fully paid, partly paid and hardly paid at all, drawn under the same umbrella. Critics ask, what’s the hurry? The decision was sprung on the sport only a few months ago (Chris Eubank Jr expressed an interest in putting on a vest again, only to be told Antony Fowler, the Great Britain captain had already taken the spot he was after).
Meanwhile, on goes Tommasone. If he ends up on the podium, Dr Wu will no doubt take a bow, too.
Full story from Sean on that early drama in the rowing – really interesting read, this:
Rugby sevens action! Great Britain are now in action against Brazil in the women’s competition. I’ll be having a good look at this. GB could definitely use an early win against theoretically far inferior opponents, although they’ve been a bit scrappy so far and it’s scoreless.
The IOC is apparently going to investigate reports from last night that Lebanese athletes blocked their Israeli counterparts from getting on the same bus to the opening ceremony. More when – and if – we get it....
News on that earlier incident in the lake:
Official ruling from rowing executive committee: sunken Serbians will be allowed to enter repercharge. Normally a DNF means you are out
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) August 6, 2016
The view from Russia House. Must have been hard to decide on numbers for catering purposes. pic.twitter.com/PtKuby7nd8
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) August 6, 2016
More good news for followers of British rowing. Kath Grainger, the remarkable 40-year-old who is defending a double sculls title, is safely through into the semi-final along with her partner Vicky Thornley. Could a fifth Olympic medal be on the cards for Grainger?
Heather Watson should be playing Shuai Peng in the women’s tennis in the next hour – we’ll have a beady eye on that.
Ireland 2-0 down to India in the men’s hockey now. Do get involved here, with your emails and such. Anything grabbed/thrilled/concerned you early on day one?
Keeping an eye on the road race, which still has four hours – 147km to be precise – or so to go. Currently heading through a wooded, hilly area with a good sprinkling of people shouting encouragement from the side.
More rugby sevens is happening, and it won’t surprise you that New Zealand’s women are 21-0 up against Kenya at the break.
From the rowing: British men’s pair Stewart Innes and Alan Sinclair have finished second in their heat, securing a place in the semi-finals. The French ran away with it, though.
There’s some judo news too. Team GB’s Ashley McKenzie, competing in the men’s -60kg, is through to the last 16 after beating Turkey’s Bekir Ozlu. Next up for him though ... it’s only the world champion, the Kazakh Yeldos Smetov.
Some early boxing news. Birmingham’s Galal Yafai, the youngest of three fighting brothers, is through in the light-fly division, impressive in a unanimous win over a willing Cameroonian, Simplice Fotsala. That’s the good news. The not-so-great news is Yafai’s next opponent will almost certainly be a Cuban.
The view from back of press centre at mens road race. Not bad. #rio2016 pic.twitter.com/nJbhVImQDA
— Barry Glendenning (@bglendenning) August 6, 2016
How’s the view from your office?
That first men’s hockey match has finished Argentina 3-3 Holland, and a belter it was.
In the hockey, Argentina have just been penalised for having too many players on the pitch ...
Ireland’s men are also playing hockey. They’re a goal down to India.
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Full story on Virginia Thrasher’s historic moment:
Meanwhile in the men’s rowing...
Serbia have capsized! Never seen that at an Olympic Regatta before. Conditions look extremely difficult #Rio2016 #rowing
— Laura Winter (@lauracwinter) August 6, 2016
Did I say Holland seemed to have done the job at 3-1 against Argentina in the men’s hockey? I did, and I was very silly indeed. It’s now 3-3, and this match keeps on giving.
Worth paying good attention to Barry’s update below for some excellent colour from the cycling. Meantime, I have the women’s rugby sevens match Andy mentioned in front of me. It’s currently 24-7 to France and the fast-moving nature of proceedings is certainly enthusing a boisterous-sounding crowd.
The media centre at the road race is packed, with a lot of excitable Colombians here jabbering into microphones for the benefit of the folks listening to the radio back home. Alternatively, it may just be the same two Colombians wandering around different places to jabber into microphones. They seem to be everywhere. Out on the course, the early climbs seem quite attritional and there’s worse to come later. The riders have just picked up some much-needed refreshments and the peloton seem fairly unconcerned by the six-man breakaway. Ian Stannard is doing a good tow on the front of the bunch for Team GB, while Chris Froome is also up there along with Geraint Thomas.
There’s a long stretch of cobbles to be negotiated on each circuit of the Grumari and one of the Turkish riders came a nasty cropper on the first circuit. I don’t know if he continued to race, but last time I saw him he was flat on his back, covered in dust, looking very sorry for himself and getting treatment for a cut on his cheekbone. Steve Cummings seems to be many of the British journalists’ idea of a dark horse. That’s the same Steve Cummings who was a late replacement for Peter Kennaugh, and who – as recently as a month ago – was calling on Team GB coach Rod Ellingworth to resign due to a conflict of interest over his role with Sky. Cummings, who rides for Dimension Data, felt he was originally overlooked for a place on Britain’s Olympic team because Sky riders were getting preferential treatment. Considering his excellent form this year, it’s difficult to disagree with that assessment.
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Exclusive – all Russian athletes banned from Paralympics
Big story here from Owen Gibson:
Hardly anyone turned up this morning to see Austrians Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst lose 2-0 to the Italians in the beach volleyball. The 12,000 capacity grandstand was no more than 10% full when the men christened the sand in the Copacabana arena at 10am local time. Brazilians are not known for their timekeeping — they have a special phrase they deploy when they actually want you to turn up at an anointed hour: English Time. But maybe they didn’t fancy paying R$100 (£24) to watch a sport they can see for free on the beach outside any day of the week.
That the grandstand is standing at all is reason to celebrate. Five weeks ago not oneseat had been installed, with unseasonably cold weather and high winds causing waves to crash in from the Atlantic right onto the construction site. The builders hadonly just left on Friday night when police were called amid reports of a bomb threat, which saw robotic bomb detection devices used to establish there was nothing to worry about.
With the Brazilian duo and 2015 world champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar-Schmidt about to take to the court for their first round match, the arena is now approaching half-full. If it’s empty when the women start at noon, something has gone very wrong with the ticketing.
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A little bit of Olympic history at the Deodoro Stadium, where the first ever women’s Olympic rugby match has just kicked off. France are playing Spain. There are around 200 people here. They were treated to a reset scrum in the very first minute, the intricacies of which will, I’m sure, have won over many new fans.
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Holland now lead Argentina 3-1 in the hockey, which should be enough for them.
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Now that some medals are on the board, you’ll not want to let this out of your sight:
Women’s handball result: Brazil 31-28 Norway. Cheers and smiles everywhere.
There are hugs, soft words, tears. Thrasher came from nowhere there. “It’ll take a while,” she says, presumably referring to the sinking-in process. What a lovely way to start Rio 2016 off.
Virginia Thrasher wins the first gold medal of Rio 2016!
What a performance from the unheralded 19-year-old American in the women’s 10m air rifle! She sees off Du Li, who had been brilliant in qualifying, and makes an indelible mark on Rio 2016. Congratulations to her – that’s a genuine surprise from the world No23.
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Not sure about the background music while the competitors shoot. Can’t help, can it? Certainly hasn’t done anything for Yi Siling – she has to settle for bronze and is Rio 2016’s first confirmed medalist!
Thrasher is just 19 and it’d be quite something to beat the Chinese pair here. And that’s the trio who will shoot out for gold: Thrasher, Du Li and the champion Yi Siling. We have our medalists; now who will be our first winner?
Nope, Vdovina is out of the 10m – dropping all the way to fifth. We now have a confirmed top four, with the USA’s Virginia Thrasher in the lead.
Huge queue of maybe a kilometer to get into beach volleyball this morning. Empty seats in venue. Brazil play in 30!! pic.twitter.com/FviMFgg4cu
— Stephen Eisenhammer (@SEisenhammer) August 6, 2016
An early teething problem or two perhaps. This isn’t one the locals will be keen on missing.
After 10 shots, Russia’s Daria Vdovina leads the 10m air rifle. We couldn’t see an early shock here, could we?
@NickAmes82 Netherlands 1 - 1 Argentina : Half-Time
— GraduatesofDemocracy (@democracygrads) August 6, 2016
Some really good early matches between big names in the team sports, so far.
Norway really are keeping Brazil honest in the women’s handball; it’s 21-19 to the hosts at the moment.
The women’s 10m air rifle final shouldn’t be far away. Defending champion Li Siling only just scraped it this far, I gather, while compatriot Du Li set the first Olympic record of Rio 2016!
@NickAmes82 Netherlands 1-0 Argentina In Field Hockey
— GraduatesofDemocracy (@democracygrads) August 6, 2016
Another event that’s underway – the London 2012 men’s silver medalists off to a good start in their first game.
“Greetings from the men’s road race media centre at Forte Copacabana, a fortified (obviously) sticky-out bit of headland on the intersection of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, with two big eff-off guns pointing out to sea and protecting the harbour.It’s hot but not too hot here, there’s a nice sea breeze and the scenery is absolutely stunning.
“Colombia’s Jarlinson Pantano has thrown down the gauntlet early doors and is in a breakaway group of five riders that have opened a gap of 7min 55sec on the peloton. Tom Dumoulin has already dropped out, unable to go for long with his fractured arm. Bad news for him, but good news for Chris Froome’s time trial chances.”
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Beach volleyball is that most Rio-ish of sports and it’s underway here. Currently on my screen is Austria v Italy in the men’s event. Once again the location is impossibly pretty, right on the Copacabana. The Italians lead 13-9 at the moment.
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Serbia levelled up the water polo right at the end! 13-13. Serbia will be relieved, although they’d been expected to win. Hungary may kick themselves, having been leading for most of the game against the favourites. From the chunks I watched, that was really rather entertaining. Next up in this competition: USA v the Olympic champions, Croatia!
Dumoulin’s retirement was planned to give him the best shot possible for the time trial, I am told – he’s well favoured for that. Thanks to those who’ve fleshed that one out for me.
Half-time in the handball – Brazil are 17-16 up, though it’s tight. The game has gone off at a nice pace. Always nice to watch more of sports like these, which (I personally find) are essentially pretty enjoyable but rarely seen over here, at the Games.
An early casualty in the road race, regrettably – Holland’s Tom Dumoulin had to retire a few minutes ago. He’d been struggling with a fractured wrist.
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The water polo is a bit of a thriller, Hungary looking as if they’d get away, Serbia clawing them back before the Hungarians edged 11-9 up with one of the four quarters to play. These two big hitters are serving up an early treat.
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These Games’ first gold medal, by the way, will be awarded in that women’s 10m air rifle event. It begins in about half an hour.
The women’s handball is underway and Brazil are 8-6 up over Norway in front of a perky crowd. I found myself at a live handball game in Iceland a few months ago. My conclusion: wouldn’t want to be a goalkeeper.
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Thanks very much to Adam Hirst, who has just emailed me his own run-through of the road race course. He’s Rio-based and clearly knows a thing or two, so it’s well worth a read.
Sadly, Jen McIntosh is out of the 10m air rifle, finishing 15th with a score of 414.7. It must be a strange feeling, that – being eliminated pretty much as soon as the Games have begun. Not scoffing, just observing; not sure many of us will ever be 15th best in the world at what we do.
As an addition to this – she does get a bite of the 50m cherry on Thursday ... so all’s not lost.
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The breeze in the cycling is an offshore one, apparently, which should lessen the severity of those climbs a bit. They’re currently going along at sea level, though, adjacent to golden sands peopled by a sprinkling of sunbathers. King’s Cross is almost as nice this afternoon.
Hungary 8-5 up in that water polo, by the way. On a similar but less watery note, the Brazilian women’s handball team will shortly get that competition underway against Norway. There’s table tennis in a bit, too, and it’s starting to feel like an Olympics – where you dabble, pick, mix and feast upon a mixture of excellence and curiosity.
And off they go! It’s quite a sight and, again, some backdrop. We’ll keep you up with developments.
Barry is there too, and they’re about to get going...
Three minutes to go. 247.5km the distance with 14 climbs.. It's hot pic.twitter.com/DG5f08u2yz
— Barry Glendenning (@bglendenning) August 6, 2016
Steve Cummings, Ian Stannard, Geraint Thomas and Adam Yates are the other Britons taking part, by the way – Froome is certainly not the only show in town, and although an individual race this is very much a team effort in which the bigger guns are given careful support.
I say “focus on” – we’ll be going back and forth, of course, as the road race doesn’t exactly get sorted out within minutes. It’s 247.5km long and, over a similar distance at London 2012, was won by Kazakhstan’s Alexander Vinokourov in five hours, 45 minutes. So if you’re in Rio, that’s a finish at 3.30pm-ish; in London, tune in around 7.30pm for the conclusion.
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In situ for the cycling – which we’ll focus on once it’s begun.
There are worse spots for a finish line. pic.twitter.com/oNptmNAG9D
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) August 6, 2016
There is British interest in the women’s shooting, by the way, with Jen McIntosh competing as we speak. Can she finish in the top eight of qualifying and progress? She was 24th early on, so it’s not looking great, but I’ll let you know if she rallies.
I never really liked swimming much at school, but tolerated it whenever we were allowed to play water polo at the end – probably because it was the nearest thing to football that you could do in a pool. Serbia v Hungary is already pretty entertaining, the Hungarians taking an early 3-2 lead and pressing for another.
Campbell wins his heat! He’s through to the quarter-finals and that is very much an early case of Job Very Well Done.
Now for Alan Campbell’s rowing heat as he makes his piece of history. It’s underway ...
While that race develops, check this out as it’s great – our virtual audio tour of Rio to take while you’re on the go. Pokemon is so last month:
Some water polo is about to start, meanwhile. It’s the men’s competition and Serbia, highly fancied for gold, face regional rivals Hungary. Keeping half an eye on it for you.
Hannes Obreno, of Belgium, has won that third rowing heat by the way.
More rugby sevens reading for you here – this, from Martin Pengelly on the challenges facing the US team, is worth your time:
We’ve already had a first Iraqi men’s single sculler in these heats; now there’s a Libyan debut in heat three, with Alhossen Qanbor racing.
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Drysdale won that heat by a long way, incidentally. I’m sure we’ll be seeing and hearing plenty more of him as this competition develops.
Really think rugby sevens could be a surprise hit at these Games. Here's a piece with the GB women's team. https://t.co/LYBt5OBUjV
— Owen Gibson (@owen_g) August 6, 2016
Make sure you read this from Owen. The sevens start at midday Rio time for Team GB, with the small matter of a game against Brazil.
New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale, the Olympic champion, is currently stretching out in the second heat. The lapping of water, the golden early morning Rio light, it’s a highly pleasant start to proceedings here.
The first winner of ... errr ... anything at Rio 2016, then, is Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez, who came first in that men’s single sculls heat, pursued by rowers from Mexico and India. Don’t be alarmed – Campbell wasn’t in this one.
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Twenty-two of the 32 competitors in this event are making their Olympic debuts. That’s something, no? The first three from each heat go into the quarter-finals; the next three enter a repechage.
Action!
And they’re off in the first rowing heat – the Games have begun! Have to say, the setting is spectacular; water backed by verdant mountains, what’s not to enjoy? Of course we don’t quite know what lies beneath.
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Team GB’s representative in the upcoming men’s single sculls will be setting a record. Alan Campbell will become the first sportsperson from Northern Ireland to take part in four Olympics – can he emulate, or improve on, his own bronze from London 2012? We should get an indication shortly.
The tennis starts in around two and a half hours’ time, by the way. No Andy Murray today but Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson will be in action, with Watson also playing in the doubles with Johanna Konta and another pair, Dom Inglot & Colin Fleming, also out on court later.
Have you read this yet? William Fotheringham sets the scene nicely for Froome’s medal bid this afternoon:
There has been no course this tough for an Olympic road race in recent memory. The limitations of the host cities tend to mean truly demanding climbs are impossible to include. The profile of the Rio course is different. The eight short steep climbs of Grumari and Greta Funda will do some damage early in the 237.5km but the decisive moves will be made on the eight-kilometre ascent of Vista Chinesa, tackled three times in the final 80km.
The Rio course looks comparable with one-day Classics such as Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but not quite as tough as a major mountain stage of the Tour de France, while the 12km flat run-in to the finish in Fort Copacabana will favour anyone with either sprinting ability or tactical nous who can get over the climbs.
Also in a quarter of an hour or so: the qualifiers for the women’s 10m air rifle. The gold medallist at London 2012 was China’s Yi Siling.
Afternoon all. John’s warmed you up beautifully there for the first sport of the Games – discounting the football, of course – so let’s crack on. First up, in 20 minutes’ time or so, are some heats in the men’s single sculls – that’s rowing of course. So we’ll be right up with the best news from that, but the big early story will be the men’s cycling road race at 9.30am Rio time (1.30pm UK ), in which Chris Froome makes an appearance. What are you looking forward to this afternoon? There are 12 golds on offer today, all in all.
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Right, time for a change here. I’m stepping away and Nick Ames will take you through the rest of the morning in Rio – he’ll be delivering the first of the action but remember the blog continues throughout the day, taking in everything from day one of the Games.
Today's schedule
With Rio beginning to wake up it’s probably a good time to remind you of what is coming up today:
Today’s medal events (all times are Rio):
Archery 5.07pm Men’s team event; Cycling (road) 9.30am Men’s road race; Fencing 5.45pm Women’s épée individual; Judo 5pm Women’s -48kg, 5.20pm Men’s -60kg; Shooting 10.30am Women’s 10m air rifle, 2.30pm Men’s 10m air pistol; Swimming 10.03pm Men’s 400m individual medley; 10.30pm Men’s 400m freestyle; 10.49pm Women’s 400m individual medley; 11.24pm women’s 4x100m freestyle relay; Weightlifting 7pm Women’s 48kg
And the full schedule is here:
You’ll be pleased to hear our team in Rio is attempting to get to the bottom of what nobody is calling KayakSofagate. If they discover anything, we’ll let you know.
Cracking stuff here from Les Carpenter on the Russell family’s final Olympic hope:
Inside a little house on Omaha Street, not far from the border of Washington DC, a father still clutches his Olympic dream. Gary Russell is a boxing man who wanted a family of boxing men who would win a pile of Olympic medals. And so he and his wife Lawan had six sons and he named them all Gary Russell because a great boxer, George Foreman, named his children after himself. Only their middle names distinguished them. Then he trained them to be fighters, coaching them all in the basement of the house on Omaha Street because they were Russells and they didn’t need gyms with rings and punching bags to win. They had each other.
He gave their boxing family a name: “Enigma.” It fit them, he thought. They would be different than everyone else. Nobody was going to figure them out.
The BBC in the UK are currently showing a replay of the opening ceremony. You can relive it by reading Tom Lutz’s minute-by-minute report:
How are Team GB’s Super Saturday trio going to get on in Rio? Sean Ingle presents Super Saturday II: the Quickening. (Which as a tagline, only really works for Mo Farah and for a couple of Jess Ennis-Hill’s events. “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water” would be rather apt for Rio if only they competed in some sort of aquatic event …).
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There hasn’t been a great deal to gladden the heart in the buildup to the Games, but here’s a feelgood story you may have missed: how the kindness of strangers got Darrell Hill’s dad to the Games:
One of the more intriguing overnight rumours from Rio is the report of a kayaker being capsized after hitting a submerged sofa during training. No one has been able to verify the story, though of course that hasn’t prevented the creation of a Rio Kayak Sofa Twitter account.
The first medal dished out at the Games will be the women’s 10m air rifle. Who’ll be the first to top of medal table? China in all likelihood, with Yi Siling, the 2012 winner, and Du Li among the favourites. Andrea Arsovic could give Serbia an early spell in the spotlight – she won the European Championship this year.
Fancy some more reading as we wait for Rio to wake up? We’ve got you covered:
Residents of Mangueira, a favela overlooking the Maracanã Stadium in Rio, had a decent view of the Olympic Games opening ceremony fireworks:
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Team GB’s big hope today comes in the men’s road race. Much of the focus is on Tour de France winner Chris Froome but a one-day race is a very different beast to a stage race. Today’s spin around the roads south of Rio will be more akin to a spring Classic. It even has a few cobbles thrown in. So Steve Cummings, Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas will all fancy their chances of getting a medal – Thomas has said they’ll decide on a de facto team leader during the race. Given the parcours I’d suggest any member of that trio actually has a better chance of success than Froome.
The route – hilly enough to persuade Peter Sagan to try his hand in the mountain biking instead – will suit Alessandro Valverde and Vincenzo Nibali, who have both been targeting this race, and I have a sneaking suspicion Wout Poels will be to the fore. The top climbers will look to ramp up the pace on the climbs to eliminate the one-day dangermen – riders like Dan Martin, Phillippe Gilbert and Zdenek Stybar – before the flat section at the finish.
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As you would expect, there are some staggering images of last night’s opening ceremony. Here are a few of the best:
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I should point out that Guardian live blogs over the course of the Olympics will be a 24/7 affair. Every day of the Games will be covered live for 24 hours by our offices in London, New York and Sydney, with a new blog launching at 7am BST each day. For some of the bigger events we’ll be running separate blogs – for example, our US team will be covering USA v France in the women’s football and USA v China in the men’s basketball later today – but in general these daily live blogs will be your key calling point for all our Olympic coverage.
A slightly unusual thing to look out for in the swimming later today (the first heats begin at 1pm in Rio, 5pm BST): the world’s elite swimmers will be watched over by lifeguards. “It is a Brazilian law that any public pool over a certain size has to have lifeguards,” Ricardo Prado, the sport manager for aquatics, told Reuters. “We wish we didn’t have them either [at the Games] but we have to have them.”
Given that it’s 4.30am in Rio, you’ve got time to catch up on some of the things you might have missed yesterday.
- Wada is unimpressed by Brazil’s decision to stop testing their athletes
- A Cypriot weightlifter and an unnamed Greek competitor have been expelled from Olympics after drugs tests
- 279 Russian athletes have now reportedly been cleared to take part in the Games
- And there’s disappointing news for meme-fans as the IOC cracks down on short social media clips.
The Olympics, of course, brings to the forefront a few sports that the world tends to be less than familiar with. Handily our video team are here to explain all, kicking off with beach volleyball:
Owen Gibson and Jonathan Watts were also in the stadium to report on the ceremony and the final day of buildup in Brazil:
If you missed last night’s opening ceremony, you can watch some video highlights here (UK only):
Or let Barney Ronay paint you the picture with words:
And so we’re off. Eight years, two discredited presidents and an endless smear of negative publicity in the making, Rio 2016 finally juddered into life with an opening ceremony that was at times delightful, at others a little rickety and home-made.
Let’s face it, nobody likes opening ceremonies. Even Danny Boyle’s wonderful pageant of decline and whimsy and creative nostalgia at London 2012 was basically a lot of things going on for a long time before some sport was allowed to happen, albeit redeemed on that occasion by the genuinely rare achievement of not being brain-achingly mundane, facile, or clogged with schmaltz.
On a clammy night in the Maracanã Stadium, Rio 2016 did what it could. Best of all the ceremonials were agreeably short, coloured at the edges by a minimum of hectoring cant about saving the world and believing the children are our future. As the lights dipped and the air turned a lovely cool ocean blue, the big screens showing images of an oddly cloudless surf and happy smiling favela kids, there was even something deliciously seductive about feeling the drip of bad news, the obstacles and outrages fade away for a moment.
The best bit came at the start when Samba great Paulinho Da Viola appeared in a gleaming blue suit and strummed the national anthem, like the world’s most impossibly handsome super-patriotic gameshow host.
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Today's schedule
It’s finally here. After the interminable, sometimes chaotic, buildup, it’s time for the sport to take centre stage (which it has been for a day or two if you’re a footballer, but anyway …) Today their are actual real-life medals up for grabs, the first of which will come in the women’s 10m air rifle at around 10.30am (2.30pm BST).
Today’s medal events (all times are Rio):
Archery 5.07pm Men’s team event; Cycling (road) 9.30am Men’s road race; Fencing 5.45pm Women’s épée individual; Judo 5pm Women’s -48kg, 5.20pm Men’s -60kg; Shooting 10.30am Women’s 10m air rifle, 2.30pm Men’s 10m air pistol; Swimming 10.03pm Men’s 400m individual medley; 10.30pm Men’s 400m freestyle; 10.49pm Women’s 400m individual medley; 11.24pm women’s 4x100m freestyle relay; Weightlifting 7pm Women’s 48kg
And the full schedule is here:
Day 1 briefing
Welcome to day one of the Games, with Rio having just drenched us in all in the trademark colours, sights and sounds you’d expect of a South American opening ceremony, but also, rather more awkwardly, a long and rather bleak lecture about the perils of climate change. In a fascinating bait and switch move, the Brazilian organisers promised us MacGuyver but served up an entirely different kind of American hero: Al Gore.
There was a lot to take in but we did our very best.
The big picture
Such are the myriad sobering realities facing both Brazil and the world at large right now, you’d suppose we all would have felt a little guilty completely giving over to the Eurovision-on-HGH shlock that is your average Olympic ceremony. And yet Rio kept it both fun and real, shooting fireworks past our ears and dancing up a storm but also occasionally muting the sound system, yanking the TV remote out of our hands and flicking it onto National Geographic for a while.
Samba great Paulinho Da Viola strummed his way through the national anthem in a shiny blue suit and there was plenty of gaiety, with music from Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and Anitta, but then Judi Dench dropped by to read a poem about global environmental disaster. Barney Ronay put it best:
We’re sorry, Dame Judi Dench. We’ll try not to drop litter, or massively multiply as a species, or exist as captive consuming proles. All of which seems to annoy you.
In a four-hour scramble through Brazil’s history, City of God director and opening ceremony creator Fernando Meirelles had plenty of tricks up his sleeves but also gave it to us straight. For every bit of kitsch fluff like Gisele Bündchen’s catwalk stroll there was a deeper moment to ponder, like the entrance of the specially-created team of refugees or the emotional appearance of the man who lit the Olympic cauldron: Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, the marathon runner denied victory at the Athens games when he was assailed during the race by a defrocked Irish priest.
Elsewhere, there was the not-inconsiderable matter of 279 Russian athletes now being cleared to compete in these Games, down from the original team of 389 but still far more than we’d expected. Among them is four-time world champion breaststroke star Yuliya Efimova.
You should also know:
- An Uber driver has made it to see his son compete thanks to a passenger’s kindness
- Marina Hyde says Fifa is awful, but the Olympics take the gold medal for sleaze
- Robert Kitson has cast his eyes over the likely stars in the pool
Picture of the day
There was some spectacular visual effects throughout the course of the opening ceremony and they were captured no better than in this Tom Jenkins picture of smoke and lights descending on the Maracana like a magical pink jellyfish.
Diary
All times are listed are Rio times: add four hours for UK, add 13 hours for eastern Australia; subtract one hour for east-coast US and four for west coast. If that has given you a headache, let the internet do the work for you.
- Shooters and rowers have the honour of getting the Games under way on day one, the 10m women’s air rifle qualification and the first heat of the men’s single sculls kicking off a busy opening day at 8:30am.
- An hour later, all eyes will be on the men’s cycling road race, with three-times Tour de France champion Chris Froome among the favourites for gold once 150 miles of tarmac have been eaten up.
- Medals are also up for grabs in archery, fencing, judo, shooting and weightlifting.
- And in the pool, an exciting day of action awaits with plenty to look forward to from the very specific time of 1:08pm, including Britain’s Adam Peaty, US sensation Katie Ledecky, the legendary Michael Phelps, and Australia’s Campbell sisters.
- Otherwise, the tennis, rugby sevens, hockey, basketball and beach volleyball competitions are among those to get up and running, while women’s football continues, with gold medal favourites the US meeting France, Australia’s Matildas playing Germany, and hosts Brazil v Sweden among the highlights.
You can find the full event schedule for day one here.
Team GB roundup
In case there was any doubt, Team Great Britain has its sights set on gathering a lot of excess luggage in the form of medals in the next two weeks. Owen Gibson reports on that and the team’s “grammatically suspect” slogan for these Games: Better Never Stops.
Among the boffins with their virtual medal tables, Gracenote has predicted that Team GB will hit third with a haul of 56. At Wolverhampton University, Professor Alan Nevill’s mathematical formulae has predicted they will fall just short of their target with 46.
Team USA roundup
As Team USA move through the final moments of preparations and the Games get under way, Bryan Armen Graham ponders what kind of relief this Olympic fortnight could provide for such a divided and unsettled country.
These Games of the XXXI Olympiad may never have come at a more desperately necessary time for the United States. Not since Mexico City 1968 has the US team left behind a country in deeper turmoil and division – and a population more in need of 17 days of respite.
Australia team roundup
Proudly bopping along to the music in their seersucker jackets, the 103 Australians who took part in the opening ceremony appeared to avoid any major pratfalls. Not so reigning 50km walk gold medalist Jared Tallent, who has pulled out of the 20km event after feeling “a niggle” in his hamstring. He’ll still seek to defend his 50km title.
Underdog of the day
Well you can hardly look past Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, can you? Speculation leading into to the opening ceremony suggested that Pelé might get the nod for cauldron-lighting duties, but after his heart-breaking moment at Athens 2004, instead it was the former marathoner who held the opening-ceremony-watching-world’s undivided attention.
Tweet of the day
There was a surprising lack of controversial tweeting from attending athletes but it’s pretty hard to go past this fashion gambit from the New Zealand team, whose flag-bearers channelled Game of Thrones and delighted the world in the process.
The Lords of Winterfell!! #OpeningCeremony 🏅 pic.twitter.com/ByTUIwbvjG
— Lilian Klemz (@liliklemz) August 6, 2016
If today were a movie or TV show
It would be City of God... kidding! We’re not going to resort to lazy stereotypes here. In actual fact, with all of that talk of impending environmental doom, at times the opening ceremony was a little like attending a human rights film festival. We nodded, we shook our heads ruefully, and now as we walk through the theatre lobby and discard our popcorn boxes, it’s back to the equally sobering reality of remembering where we parked our gas-guzzling cars.
And another thing
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Updated
Prerty impressed with the GB team, very fast, good handling, fitness levels must be through the roof, which is presumably why Brasil folded in the second half. Giving away two tries to self taken penalties suggests fatigue.