Day five in Rio (even if they’re not awake yet) means a new live blog. And it’s just over here.
Thanks for your day four company and comments.
In case you missed it earlier, it’s been something of a red-letter day for athletes of a certain vintage in the equestrian competition. Not only did Australia’s 51-year-old Stuart Tinney win bronze in the team eventing competition, America’s oldest Olympian at these Games, Philip Dutton – a year older at the age 52 – joined him on the third step of the podium in the individual jumping event.
An impressive achievement, yet the pair may not even end up the oldest medal winners in Rio – and perhaps not even the oldest winners in their own sport – with Australia’s Mary Hanna, 61 (sixty-one!), still to go in the dressage event.
And all three have a long way to go before they top the current record held by Oscar Swahn, a Swedish shooter who competed in the 1920 Games at the age of 72. He won silver.
Well, it’s one theory for the green pool (and if he’s right, perhaps we should just be grateful it wasn’t yellow):
Diving competition pool here in Rio. Possibly dyed green to show national pride 😋 #Rio2016 #Olympics #diving pic.twitter.com/mZ1D9oCQ1K
— Roland Schoeman (@Rolandschoeman) August 10, 2016
Let’s not forget Katinka Hosszú, the Hungarian swimmer who’s picked up three golds in four days.
At a news conference after her win in the 200m individual medley, she said:
I would have been OK grabbing any colour.
(Gold’s a bit better than “OK”, we reckon.)
Hosszú went on:
I honestly can’t believe I have three golds … I don’t think I had my best race, but this is what we’ve been working for the last four years.
Having just one gold would have been unbelievable for me. Having three is really just a bonus.
She is still due to take to the pool again for the 200m backstroke and the 200m butterfly.
Michael Phelps has just finished his press conference following his victories in the 200m butterfly and the 4x200m freestyle relay, which has taken his Olympic gold medal tally to 21.
He was particularly happy about his victory in the 200m butterfly:
On the podium I was going through the last 16 years. That event was my bread and butter and this was the last time I will ever swim it.
Having that come to an end is crazy to think about. But there wasn’t a shot in hell I was losing that tonight.
I didn’t know I only won by 0.04 seconds until the awards ceremony, but just seeing the number one next to my name just one more time in the 200m fly – I couldn’t have scripted it any better.
Now on the 2am bus back to Guardian HQ in Copa, a full report will be with you shortly.
Katie Ledecky was a little chattier than normal after winning the 200m freestyle on Tuesday night. When asked how she felt about being close to winning the 200, 400 and 800 in a single Olympics, as only one woman has done before – fellow American Debbie Meyer in 1968 - she said:
It’s meaningful. Usually I don’t think about history like that but I think I’m just honored to be a part of the tradition of America and American freestyle swimming and I want to make them proud.
I know Debbie and she told me she wanted me to do it and I don’t want to let her down.
The 200 is such a stressful event for me – more than the 800 because I can’t really settle into my rhythm, so just one mistake and you’re done.
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It wasn’t looking good as Sonny Bill Williams was taken to hospital in an ambulance partway through New Zealand’s opening Olympic rugby sevens game against Japan, but it’s now confirmed that he’ll be out for up to nine months with an Achilles injury.
Japan beat NZ in a shock 14-12 result, just to add to the Kiwi woes.
Would you like a stamp bearing the image of gold medal-winning Australian swimmer Mack Horton? Who wouldn’t? Apart from, perhaps, fans of Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, who turned on Horton after his comments about his rival, who served a doping ban.
You’d wonder if Australia Post was trolling China, although the duller truth is that it seems they’re making the “sheetlets” for all the gold medallists.
Purchase the sheetlet of the Rio 2016 @Olympics gold medal winner Mack Horton: https://t.co/N7K93AeQrK #OneTeam pic.twitter.com/1tetRPtXfN
— Auspost Collectables (@stampsaustralia) August 10, 2016
How did Team USA’s Katie Ledecky feel about winning her second individual Rio gold?
That was a really tough race and it hurt really badly.
Pretty sure that’s the closest I’ve come to throwing up in the middle of a race. I’m just so glad I got my hand on the wall first.
A mixed night for Australia in the pool, with the highlight bronze for Emma McKeon in women’s 200m freestyle:
I was a bit unsure but my coach just said pretend it’s just trials … That’s what I tried to do tonight. I think it’s just about being tough.
Here’s your roundup:
An early meeting between two Rio winners. And a reminder that in sporting years, Phelps, at 31, has been doing this for a long, long time.
10 years ago: A 9-year-old named Katie Ledecky gets an autograph from Michael Phelps (Credit: Ledecky Family) pic.twitter.com/oOOPns5mor
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 10, 2016
Phelps receives his 21st gold
The USA men’s swimmers are back on the top step of the podium, which is now formally designated as Michael Phelps’ official place of residence. He’s got three others with him, of course – Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Francis Haas – and they’re all doing that respectful swaying to the anthem that looks as if they’re trying to suppress a jubilant jig.
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In the final individual swim of her three Olympic campaigns, Australian Alicia Coutts finished out of the medals in the final of the women’s 200m individual medley, touching in fifth place before tearfully signing off:
I just went out there and did the best job I could.
It felt like it was faster … I’m just excited I could go out on my own terms after shoulder injuries … I’m proud of my achievements.
Claire Phipps here, picking up the live blog from Sydney. Cheers here for Australia’s bronze courtesy of Emma McKeon in the women’s 200m freestyle, and frustration for the fourth-placed finish for the men in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
But a good night for the Plucky-Brits-at-the-Olympics narrative, with two swimming silvers: the men in that 4x200m relay, and a stonking run for Siobhan-Marie O’Connor in the women’s 200m individual medley.
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I will hand you over to the safe hands of Claire Phipps now. Tonight’s conclusion: Michael Phelps still has it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is top quality analysis.
Michael Phelps’s mom is doing some finger pointing - and she can because she helped raise the greatest swimmer in history. Another brilliant night for Phelps in the pool, with a little help from his friends. Odds on seeing him at Tokyo 2020?
USA win the 4x200m relay - Phelps's 21st Olympic gold medal, GB are second
Australia are fading and GB are into third with Japan in second. Phelps looks comfortable with James Guy bringing GB back into it. Phelps’s lead is too large to lose this. He will bring the US home but who will get silver? James Guy’s brilliant anchor leg wins GB silver with Japan in third.
Ryan Lochte has the third leg for the US he keeps on to the lead, it’s only Phelps on the anchor leg. With 200m to go, it’s still USA, Japan and Australia. Michael Phelps‘s swimming cap ripped and he has had to borrow one!
After 400m the US look in complete control. Britain are working their way back in but it’s Australia and Japan second and third.
Australia take the (very) early lead over the first 100m with USA and Japan in second and third. USA come back to lead after 200m with GB lagging badly.
Australia, USA and Britain are the favorites for the 4x200m freestyle favorites. Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps are back together for the US - they have a combined age of 943, you know. And we’re off!
Katinka Hosszú can make it her third medal of the Games if she wins the 200m IM now. She is the favorite too. Hosszu is first and O’Connor of GB is second after the first 100m and Hosszu is under WR pace. O’Connor comes back in the breaststroke 50m - it’s her speciality - but the Hungarian is still in the lead. And she holds on to win, O’Connor is second and Dirado of the US third.
Phelps is shown giving his son, Boomer, a kiss in the crowd. Boomer doesn’t look too bothered. He’s playing it cool.
The women’s 200m IM final is next. It starts 26 minutes after the first semi of the men’s 200m breaststroke. Not 30 minutes but 26 minutes. Someone sat down and figured out it would take 26 minutes to get through the races, give Phelps his medal and then get the next swimmers on the blocks. Who is that person? Do they have an assistant?
Michael Phelps gets his 20th gold on the podium. He kisses the medal - does that make the others feel left out? He’s having a little cry. He can have his cry, he deserves it. He deserved it 19 gold medals ago.
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Kevin Cordes has a huge semi-final in the second men’s 200m breaststroke final. Or he does over the first 150m when he’s ahead of world record pace but swimming faster than anyone in history will tire you out, and Britain’s Andrew Willis comes back to win with Cordes in second.
And while the US has Katie Ledecky, China has Fu Yuanhui. Watch the video and try and not become a fan, you will find it pretty tough:
This from the USOC:
“Ledecky is only the third woman and sixth swimmer to win gold in both the 200 and 400 freestyle at the same Olympic Games. The other two women were Debbie Meyer of the United States in 1968 and Australia’s Shane Gould in 1972.
“The men who have achieved the double are Yevgeny Sadovy of the Unified Team in 1992, Danyon Loader of New Zealand in 1996 and Australia’s Ian Thorpe in 2004.”
It’s the men’s 200m breaststroke semi-finals next. In the meantime, Katie Ledecky receives her gold. She’s used to all of this now, of course, but still looks proud.
In all that excitement, I have neglected the women’s 200m butterfly semi-final. How many of you can swim 50m of butterfly, let alone 200m? Australia’s Groves wins this one.
Exactly:
Bolt v Phelps? Let's settle this with a biathlon before the closing ceremony. Swim and run. Then Ping-pong if it's a dead heat.#Olympics
— Richard Hinds (@rdhinds) August 10, 2016
Phelps looked pumped before that race and no one was going to beat him. Maybe a a shark would have beaten him. Or a trout on a good day. But you get my general idea.
Yes, yes, Katie Ledecky won another gold medal, but if you’re looking at that 200m freestyle from an Australian point of view, it was good news for Emma McKeon. The Australian has been on a rollercoaster in this Games so far, having won relay gold on day one but following it up with the nationally-televised devastation of finishing out of the medals in her butterfly final. This time around it’s pure joy and she’s much happier to stay for an interview, having claimed the bronze with a final time of 1:54.92
“I’m so proud,” McKeon tells TV crews beside the pool. “I’m so happy. After last night I was a bit unsure but my coach just said pretend it’s just trials...That’s what I tried to do tonight. I think it’s just about being tough.” And tough she was was, hanging on for third in a mad scramble at the end. Veteran team-mate Bronte Barratt is beside her and finished out of the medals, but she’s still ecstatic with a PB in this her third Olympic campaign.
That’s a 20th gold for Phelps. He still has the 4x200m relay at the end of the night. What a ridiculous man.
Phelps wins gold in the 200m butterfly
Hungary’s Cseh is in first place after 50m - how dare he! - with Phelps second. But the vetean storms back to lead at 100m over Cseh and Le Clos. 150m and Cseh has faded and it’s Phelps then Le Clos. And Here comes Le Clos! But he fades with 25m to go ... badly. But Phelps has to fend off an unexpected surge from Sakai of Japan. But Phelps holds him off. What a race!
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Here comes Phelps. In the men’s 200m butterfly. He’s going for his 20th Olympic gold, which is still amazing reading after all the years of achievement. Phelps will be up against his, um, rival Chad Le Clos who has the name of the jock villain from a teen movie
What a victory for Ledecky. She has still never lost in a major final - she should try her luck on the track. She beat an awesome in Sjostrom in that final too, adding even more weight to her victory.
Katie Ledecky wins gold in the 200m free
And we’re off. Sarah Sjöström is more of a sprinter and Ledecky is the longer distance specialist. Ledecky has the edge over her rival at the halfway point, and the Swede has the finishing speed. Ledecky still in the lead at the turn for home ... and Sarah Sjöström is coming back! But Ledecky wins, Sjöström is second and Emma McKeon of Australia is third.
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How’s the quality for the women’s 200m freestyle final? Not bad. The two favorites are Katie Ledecky and Sarah Sjöström who won have both won gold and broken world records at this Games. Most say it’s a toss up between the two. Ledecky has never lost in a major final. That could end tonight.
GB’s Scott, and Chalmers of Australia are the contenders in this one. I mean, they’re ALL contenders but you know what I mean. Kyle Chalmers and Condorelli of Canada come in No1 and No2. It was an incredibly tight finish.
The second semi-final is up now. The USA basketball team get a roar as they are shown on the screens. Draymond Green, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson are all there. Jimmy Butler is scared of water, not sure if he made it.
It’s close after the first 50m, with McEvoy and Dressel behind Mostovoz of Russia. But Nathan Adrian of the US comes from behind in Lane 1, ahead of McEvoy and Dressel. Adrian had struggled in the heats too.
It’s the men’s 100m freestyle semi-final up first in the pool. Cameron McEvoy of Australia and Caeleb Dressel of the US are among the guys to watch in this one.
Cameron ‘The Professor’ McEvoy is out of the Australian men’s 4x200 metre freestyle relay final team after coaches decided he was better off focusing his attention and energies on an individual swim in the 100m freestyle semis.
The latter will take place in around 15 minutes. The problem is that there’s only a 90 minute gap between that swim and the relay final, so team officials were worried by the prospect of McEvoy being flat when there’s a medal on the line. He’s been replaced by David McKeon in a move that has raised one or two eyebrows. Another Australian, Kyle Chalmers, qualified fastest for those 100m individual semis.
Mario Andrade, the Rio2016 spokesman said three journalists suffered minor injuries when the windows of their bus were shattered, but the cause remains unknown.
“We don’t know yet if it was stones or bullets. The police are investigating,” he said. Foreign reporters on the bus, which was travelling from Deodoro to the Olympic Park, are reporting two gunshots. Sheryl Michelson, a retired US air force captain who is working for a basketball publication told Reuters she could heard the report of a gun.
Images of one panel of glass also seemed to show a bullet hole. However, a journalist for the domestic news agency Globo who was on board says rocks were to blame. Police have not yet given their version of what happened.
But currently, nothing can be ruled out, particularly as this incident follows the discovery of a stray bullet at a tent in the equestrian centre on Saturday. Officials subsequently speculated that the shell came from drug traffickers who had fired at a surveillance balloon.
That’s all from me. Tom Lutz will be your guide through this evening’s action in the swimming pool and elsewhere.
Pic of the shattered windows of Olympic media bus under fire https://t.co/bpTL0ritmK
— Jacquelin Magnay (@jacquelinmagnay) August 10, 2016
Reuters reports on the attack on the media bus.
A bus carrying journalists at the Rio Games was hit by gunfire on a highway between Olympic venues on Tuesday, witnesses said. No one was seriously injured in the incident.
The bus was making its way from the Games basketball venue to the main Olympic park when, according to passengers, two shots were heard hitting the vehicle. Windows shattered and flying glass left two people with minor lacerations.
“We were shot at. I mean we could hear the report of the gun,” said Sherryl “Lee” Michaelson, a retired US air force captain who is working for a basketball publication in Rio.
Brazilian police were not immediately available for comment.
Violent street crime in Rio has left its mark on South America’s first Olympic Games. On Saturday, a bullet hit the equestrian centre, missing journalists there by just a few feet. That bullet was suspected to have been fired by a gang member trying to shoot down a police blimp or drone, officials said.
Nadal and López have taken the first set 6-3 against Austria’s Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya in the men’s doubles quarter-finals.
In a thrilling weightlifting competition China’s Shi Zhiyong edged out Turkey’s Daniyar Ismaylov to win gold in the men’s 69kg class, but just failed in his attempt to set a new world record of 198kg.
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France beat New Zealand 3-0.
Colombia scored a dramatic late equaliser with another free-kick to draw 2-2 with the USA. Read Tim Hill’s liveblog as it happened.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2016/aug/09/olympic-womens-football-colombia-usa-live
A media bus has had two windows smashed after being shot at while travelling between venues at #Rio2016.
#Breaking A media bus has had two windows smashed after being shot at while travelling between venues at #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/vvy2D8xogb
— PA Sport (@pasport) August 9, 2016
Kevin Mitchell saw Britain’s No 1 Jo Konta score a memorable win over Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Tennis Arena.
With less than 10 minutes to go, the US women’s soccer team lead Colombia 2-1 and it’s New Zealand 0-2 France.
The full lowdown on Serena Williams’s shock elimination by Elina Svitolina.
Want to read more about the USA’s triumph in the women’s team gymnastics earlier this evening? Look no further. Bryan Armen Graham has the full story:
Over at the tennis stadium they’re getting ready for Rafael Nadal who’ll be taking on Austria’s finest in the doubles with Marc López.
The big men have been in action in the boxing ring. Superheavyweight Clayton Laurent of the US Virgin Islands has beaten Germany’s Erik Pfeiffer on a split decision.
A hockey result from a little earlier: Great Britain’s men beat Brazil 9-1 in Pool A.
In the women’s doubles the Spanish pairing of Muguruza and Suárez Navarro have beaten the Belgians Flipkens and Wickmayer 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.
Svitolina looks absolutely delighted, as well she might after her 6-4, 6-3 victory. The Ukrainian, who is coached by Briton Iain Hughes, lapped up the adulation from the crowd. Williams, the reigning champion, had long since left the court to reflect on a disappointing Olympics.
Svitolina wins! Williams tenaciously saved two match points but hit a forehand long on the third. The women’s No 1 is out.
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Serena Williams is fighting for her life against Elina Svitolina. At 3-5 down in the second set she’s serving to star in the Olympics.
France’s women lead New Zealand 1-0 at half-time in Salvador in the football group stage.
Brazil’s men’s football coach, Rogério Micale, has defended his misfiring captain. Neymar, who has been heavily criticised for poor performances and lack of leadership.
“Neymar will become the best player in the world, we need to respect him,” Micale said. “He is young. I know that at times he behaves in a way that we may not like, but at his age, wouldn’t we do the same things that he does, having everything that he has?”
Hang on, what exactly has he been doing, and can we have a go?
“Things will be different when the ball starts going in,” Micale observed sagely.
In the women’s doubles the Belgian pair of Kristen Flipkens and Yanina Wickmayer have won the second set against the Spaniards Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro. They’re currently 2-1 up in the decider.
Normal service resumed as the USA have equalised against Colombia. It’s 1-1 with half-time approaching.
Serena not looking so serene as she drops her serve to trail 1-2 in the second set to Elina Svitolina having lost the first set.
Black and blue and bronze. The Belgian Olympic committee says judo competitor Dirk Van Tichelt was hit in the face during celebrations of his bronze medal performance on Copacabana beach, AP reports.
It said that his phone was stolen late on Monday on the popular strip and that he was hit as he was chasing the local thief.
Van Tichelt was taken to hospital for observation but needed no further treatment. He appeared with a black eye at a media event on Tuesday.
It ain’t over until the doping control retests. Reuters reports that Ukraine’s Oleksandr Pyatnytsya was today stripped of his London 2012 Olympics javelin silver medal after he tested positive for banned substances in retests conducted by the International Olympic Committee. The IOC said the athlete had tested positive for turinabol and had been disqualified.
And bad news for the US women’s national team as Hope Solo has let a Catalina Usme free-kick through her legs. 1-0! Details here:
A possible upset brewing at the tennis centre, where top seed Serena Williams has just lost the first set 4-6 to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
Pelé latest: the football great hopes to appear at the Olympic closing ceremony after missing the opening because of poor health. The great man tweeted: “I am continuing my physiotherapy and focused on joining you for the closing festivities on August 21. I love you! #olympics.” The 75-year-old Pelee had hip surgery recently.
In the tennis Angelique Kerber has beaten Samantha Stosur 6-0, 7-5, while Serena Williams is 3-3 against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the first set.
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In the boxing ring, US middleweight Charles Conwell lost a unanimous decision to India’s Krishan Vikas. The Americans had a disastrous London 2012 with no medals in the ring, so that will have done little to lift their spirits.
A big night ahead in the swimming pool but plenty of action in the meantime. The US women’s soccer team are in action against Colombia. It’s 0-0 after 5 minutes and you can follow it with Tim Hill here:
And that is about me - Chris Taylor will take you through the next part of the day, which includes lots of fun in the pool. Thanks for your company and comments.
It’s taken a while, but Angelique Kerber has finally disposed of Samantha Stosur, winning the second set 7-5; Great Britain now lead Brazil 4-1 in the hockey.
Let’s have some reports of the day’s enjoyments:
Fiji have beaten Argentina 21-14, and what a great day it’s been in the sevens, so far the hit of these games. Or Games.
Meanwhile, in the tennis, Kerber and Stosur are back on serve in the first set.
And this is a great try from your Fiji, pace, trickery, offloads and ilk. Under the posts, conversion, 21-14.
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Kerber is now serving for the match against Stosur, who’s earned herself a breakpoint. Meanwhile, back in the rugby, we see an Argentina fan crying and Fiji score in the corner, then nail an incredible conversion. That’s 14-14.
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And have Argentina powered their way through the middle for a try? Yes they have! Alvarez stretches over under the posts, it’s converted, and that’s 14-7.
Laurie Hernandez is an Olympic champion. Don’t forget, we were with her way before the hype turned into fact.
GB now lead Brazil 3-1 in the hockey, while in the rugby, it is 7-7 at the end of the first half. Really good game, this.
In the women’s tennis, Angelique Kerber of Germany leads Sam Stosur of Australia by a set and a break - she’s currently serving at 4-3 in the second.
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USA have beaten Brazil 26-0 in the men’s rugby sevens; Fiji, the world champions, and Argentina, so impressive against USA this morning, are about to get going.
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And this is Brazil’s men, pipping Spain a little earlier.
#BRA derrota #ESP no #Basquetebol: Pau Gasol sentiu na pele a pressão da torcida tupiniquim #UOLnaOlimpiada pic.twitter.com/TKlOKpxdbP
— UOL Esporte (@UOLEsporte) August 9, 2016
Earlier this evening, Brazil’s basketballing women lost 65-63 to Belarus.
USA win team gold in the women's gymnastics! They are astonishing!
Russia are second, China are third. Japan and GB are fourth and fifth.
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Biles has taken that one off the set. USA have won the goal - tbc, but they have - and we’re waiting for confirmation of silver and bronze. Russia, China and Japan wait nervously.
Barry Middleton has given Great Britain the lead in the hockey.
Aby Raisman has just nailed her floor exercise, and here comes Simone Biles. She’s got some chill.
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Adam Dxon has just equalised for GB in the hockey, drilling home after a long-range shot was saved at the near post.
Brazil have taken the lead in their men’s hockey match against Great Britain; there are eight and a half minutes left of the first period.
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“The media transport buses have - rightly - taken a kicking from journalists in Rio. Too often they don’t show or are ridiculously late, which is not ideal when it’s 1am in the morning and there’s only one every hour. But even by the standards of the past week, this supposedly one-hour trip from Guardian HQ to the Media Press Centre is some epic: the bus arrived 50 minutes late and so - unsurprisingly got stuck in rush hour traffic. And now our driver, having taken a wrong turn, is lost and trying to find his way back. Not easy given we are barely moving. It’s now two hours 30 minutes and counting ... although on the plus side, at least the Wifi is good enough to watch the gymnastics live.”
Oh I say! Park gets the next hit, and the next! He was 9-14 down, but he’s taken six points in a row and is Olympic champion! He goes absolutely mad, and has every right to go absolutely mad!
Imre is now a point away in the fencing, but goes looking for it and Park nabs him! 14-13!
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Imre now has a three-point lead and it’s not looking good for Park. Hungary weren’t actually in the top 16 in the world, a prerequisite for qualifying, but because there was no African team, the place went to the next European team. Imre won the world title last year at the age of 40.
“At last some solace for NZ, who have beaten the Kenyans 28-5 at the end of a wearisome day. To make matters worse there are fears that the great Richie McCaw, currently in Rio, is proving a bit of a curse. The World Cup-winning All Black captain watched the sevens defeat to Japan and also witnessed the Kiwis’ women’s hockey team, including his fiancee Gemma Flynn, lose 2-1 to Germany. ‘I might have to leave’ he told TVNZ.”
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Getting tense in the fencing - it’s 9-9 with 1.45 to go.
Uvver fings which ave come to pass: Canada have beaten Germany 2-1 in the women’s football;, that’s the tenth-ranked team beating the second-ranked team, a team they’ve never beaten before. and without Christine Siclair, their best player; Australia have beaten Zimbabwe 6-1.
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New Zealand lead Kenya 21-5 in the rugby, and it’s 6-5 to Imre in the fencing.
And you can follow the final bit of gymnastics here.
Imre takes the early advantage, leading 2-1...
The final final for this session is about to start: Geza Imre of Hungary will take on Park Sang-young of South Korea in the men’s épée individual final.
In the gymnastics, USA are clear and China are second - those places are set - but Japan, Russia and Great Britain could all win bronze, moving round to the final rotation.
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New Zealand now lead Kenya 14-5, and will be feeling much happier about life.
Stevens takes Khalmurzaev down, he’s reversed, on his back, “and that’s nothing short of absolutely fabulous!” says the BBC commentator of the ensuing ippon. Gold for Russia, silver for USA.
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“Japan’s rugby sevens players will forever dine out on the story of their stunning victory over NZ but it turns out they are mortal after all. They could not quite beat GB in the evening session, going down 21-19 after missing a last-gasp conversion. Still, at least New Zealand couldn’t lose to Kenya as well, could they? Er, maybe. The Kiwis are 5-0 down after 3 mins...”
It’s now 7-5.
Not going well for New Zealand in the rugby - they’re 5-0 down to Kenya.
Takanori Nagase has won the bronze for Japan in the 81kg Judo, which means it’s time for the final: Travis Stevens of USA v Khasan Khalmurzaev of Russia.
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“To quote New Order ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre. I’m there now on the murky trail of the suspect water. Venue officials are liaising with the organising committee to try and find out what the problem is. It seems clear, however, that it wasn’t turned from blue to green intentionally - as was initially suggested by a FINA official - to deliberately reduce the glare. Still, they haven’t got the best reputation for transparency.”
Jo Konta has beaten Svetlana Kutnetsova in the tennis!
What a match that was. She will play Angelique Kerber or Sam Stosur in the third round.
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The kick is missed! Team GB beat Japan 21-19.
Already this tournament is an absolute jazzer, and it’s only going to get better.
For some reason, GB chose not to hoof the ball downfield when they might have done ... AND JAPAN SCORE! CAN THEY CONVERT FROM CLOSE TO THE CORNER!
And Japan move the ball across the face of the England line and an ankle tap gives Japan a penalty...
Japan briefly achieved parity in the rugby, but GB scored again, converted it, and now lead 21-14 with time up - Japan have one play to score a converted try and nab a draw.
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Tina Trstenjak of Slovenia has absolutely pasted Clarisse Agbegnenou of France in the final of the women’s 63kg judo. She chucked her down onto her side, then held her on her back for the ippon.
“The Olympic Council of Ireland has confirmed that middleweight boxer Michael O’Reilly is no longer contesting his provisional doping ban and is officially out of the Olympics, after he admitted he may have unintentionally taken a supplement containing a banned substance.
‘The OCI can today confirm that Michael O’Reilly is no longer contesting the provisional suspension imposed on him on the 4 August 2016 and will not compete for Team Ireland at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. No further communication will be made on the matter,’ it said in a statement.”
Women's team gymnastics final after two of four rotations:
USA 93.365
CHN 89.339
RUS 88.923
JPN 87.306
GBR 86.831
GER 84.774
NED 84.699
BRA 83.731
And now the Americans head into their two strongest events. Oh dear.
Rugby sevens news: Great Britain are 14-0-up on Japan, who, lest we be permitted to forget, shocked New Zealand earlier today.
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“Brazilian fans in the very empty Sambódromo found it easy to pick sides in one archery match this afternoon, when Iran’s Zahra Nemati lined up against Russia’s Inna Stepanova. Nemati uses a wheelchair after losing both of her legs in a car accident, and was a Paralympic gold medallist in London.
The few hundred present in a venue famous for hosting Brazil’s annual carnival greeted greeted the Russian’s first winning set with near silence. Then they cheered the Iranian wildly when she won the second set with an eight and two perfect tens.
Alas, it wasn’t to be, and Stepanova won three sets to one. Afterwards, Nemati said it felt different from the Paralympics: ‘The difference is the stress that I had here. The Olympics are more stressful.’ Asked what message she would like to send to other people with disabilities around the world, she perked up: ‘Don’t let disability defeat you.’”
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Tonia Couch and Lois Coulson stretch, leap, and one of them doesn’t extend properly into the water. So, China take gold, Malaysia silver and Canada bronze.
And Canada produce! There’s a long wait ... but 80.64 is a good effort, and Great Britain need 82 for the bronze. They prepare their inward 3.5 somersault from the tuck position.
North Korea falter! They do not dive well - well, one does and one doesn’t - and 61.44 means that they are done. Canada and Great Britain have a great medal chance now, one pint splitting them.
Malaysia dive ... and it’s not bad. they’re not in perfect time, and there’s some splash, but it’s still a goodun. They need more than 80 - and it’s 82.56, which takes them into second. They’ve a good chance of staying there.
Gerbi wins bronze for Israel in the 63kg judo.
China, Malaysia, North Korea, Canada, Great Britain are all competing for medals in the diving, and China are about to go ... and China nail it! That’s gold, gone.
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But Gerbi is 11-0 up, with just 1.11 to go.
Yarden Gerbi’s coach has been sent-off in the judo. I am amazingly unsurprised.
In the women’s synchronised diving, gold is not as obviously Chinese as anticipated. We’re about to start the fifth round, and there will soon also be a statement on the greenness of the pool.
Back in the tennis, Konta couldn’t hold, and Kuznetsova has three points for 5-5; what a great match this has been.
“Giles Scott, Britain’s gold medal favourite, was a little rueful at the end of a difficult day out on the marina. He’s tenth after the first day, but has dominated this field so profoundly most expect him to surge away from the pack at some stage. In the mixed zone Scott was asked if he could show the same fighting passion in adversity as Ben Ainslie, previously a bitter rival and now his employer and pal. He laughed a slightly frightening laugh and said “I’d better try hadn’t I?”. Otherwise no sign as yet of any floating effluent, railway sleepers, condoms, severed hands, cadavers and all the rest. Although the word locally is what you really want to look out for is the dead dogs. They tend to float just below the surface.”
The women’s 63kg judo bronze medal match is almost upon us - Gerbi of Israel v Tashiro of Japan.
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“A fall from Ellie Downie on the beam has just distanced Britain’s hope of a team medal in the women’s gymnastics. There was a gasp from the British section of the crowd as she lost her footing, and there was shock on her face too. But Claudia Fragapane, under pressure next up, survived a couple of wobbles to stay on and earned a huge ovation from team mates.”
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Khasan Khalmurzaev has just beaten Sergiu Toma in the 81kg judo throw - he’ll face yerman Travis in the final. His parents must be big Scorsese fans.
Konta, by the way, managed that break, and is now serving for the match, hitting a brilliant winner at 15-40 down, a chop angled across Kuznetsova. And a murderous forehand gives her deuce!
“I’m letting the pictures do the talking there,” says the diving commentator. Er...
In men’s rugby sevens news, Australia beat Spain 26-12; South Africa lead France 19-0 just before half-time.
Talking of Konta-Kuznetsova, , Konta has two break points for 5-3 in the final set.
“While we’re waiting for Konta-Kunetsova to finish on a glorious, warm winter’s evening (seriously: all winters should be like this), time to reflect on the second big shock of the tournament...
When the 22-year-old Puerto Rican Monica Puig spoke about coming to the Olympics recently, she told Excelle Sports: “I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.”
Bet she’s glad she came. After beating Polona Hercog and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets to become the first player from her country to go this deep at the Olympics, she shocked the French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday to reach the quarter-finals.
Puerto Rico has sent 40 athletes in 15 sports. “We’re all friends,” she said. “It’s so nice, I know everyone going, and we’re going to have lunches together, dinners together, slumber parties with the girls. It’s going to be a lot of fun,”
Puig, surely, most have been the happiest of them all on day four. She is 33 in the world and might yet be more celebrated than her nation’s other tennis star,
GiGi Fernandez, who won two Olympic golds, but represented the United States.”
Travis Stevens of USA has just ipponed himself into the final of the 81kg judo and accordingly, he beats his breast like the wedding guest. The other semi is about to begin.
Anna Korakaki of Greece has won gold in the women’s 25m pistol event, beating Monika Karsch 8-6. That will go nicely with the silver she snaffled earlier in the week.
Malaysia synchronise themselves into medal contention with a very smart dive.
Like father, like son. #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/optbLOAgiH
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 9, 2016
“Boos at the gymnastics as the 16 year old Brazilian Flavia Saraiva, whose complex beam performance wowed in qualifying, receives only 14.833 here in the team final. It’s a routine that requires not one, not two but three consecutive blind leaps and a small wobble on the last may have resulted in a deduction, but to receive so much lower than her 15.133 qualifying score has not gone down well with the home crowd.”
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Gymnastics update from our liveblog:
“Mustafina put up a big number: 15.933. That gives Russia 46.166 total, 0.7 behind the USA’s 46.866 but staking an early claim for silver. China are up next on the vault, though.
To paint the picture here: We have eight teams and four disciplines. Four teams go at a time. So China has not yet started on vault, while the U.S. gymnasts are sitting around rather bored.”
We have some finalists in the women’s 63kg judo. Clarisse Agbegnenou of France has beaten Miku Tashiro of Japan; she’ll grapple and scramble with Tina Trstenjak of Slovenia in the final.
It appears my ears, for all their faults, are still hearing properly. “Are you watching the gymnastics?” asks Sam Reisman. “That Japanese girl just did her floor routine to a klezmer version of Kol haolam kuloh, gesher tzar meod! Stick that in your blog and smoke it.”
“Rafa a popular winner over Seppi on Centre Court: 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 48 minutes. That’s a little longer than most two-set wins this week, but he does grind them out still. He won three of eight break points and saved two.
Still close on Court 1 as the sun begins to set (it drops like stone here, not that far from the equator), and Konta still very much in it v Kuznetsova, and leads 2-1 on serve in the third. I’m thinking the Russian’s stamina might let her down.”
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Meanwhile, in the synchronised diving, China are storming ahead.
Do my ears deceive me or has a Japanese gymnast jut performed to Hebrew folk song, Kol Ha’olam Kulo? Somewhere out there, Ofra Haza will be very happy.
More tennis: Madison Keys ghs beaten Carla Suarez Navarro in three sets.
“Women’s soccer: As the USWNT prepare for Colombia this afternoon it’s important to acknowledge the clear differences between men and women’s soccer in South America and when it comes to equality and opportunity, there’s still a long way to go.”
Rafael Nadal beats Andrea Seppi 6-3. 6-3
And eases into the third round.
AND THEY’RE GOING MAD AT THE BASKETBALL! BRAZIL HAVE STOLEN IT FROM SPAIN AT THE LAST!
What a ball game that was! Tight all the way, and settled in the final few seconds thanks to Marquinhos’ tip-in. 66-65 the score.
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Simone Biles is running up to vault, two-and-half-twists, miniscule hop at the end. The Guardian jury declares that to be ridiculous.
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Meanwhile, Spain have closed the gap in the basketball - and actually, have just taken the lead against Brazil. It’s 65-63.
The women’s synchronised platform diving final is under way, and we’ve also got some judo hotting up.
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“Jo Konta breaks Kuznetsova to stay in the tournament. They’re a set apiece. The Russian has been in good touch lately, but so has Konta after a mid-season dip. She only just failed to break into the top 10 last month, mucking it up against a qualifier in Montreal. A win over eighth-seed Kuznetsova would do a lot to repair some of the damage from that little blip.
On Centre Court, Nadal is a set and a break up at 4-2 against Seppi. The Spaniard’s looking pretty good. If his left wrist holds up, he could do some damage here.
More on Novak, who has pulled out of the Cincinnati Masters - the only ATP 1000 he hasn’t won: speculation that it is a shoulder problem. He might even miss the US Open. What a daft season that would make for the brilliant Serb.
And, with Federer out for the season, Wawrinka missing here through injury and Rafa still working his way back to full fitness, Murray would be the obvious favourite in New York.”
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Brazil’s tennis players basically play in knockoff football tops; why do their basketballers play in lime green? Which has got me thinking of caipirinha, so, now that you ask, my extensive research when in Brazil taught me that Sanhaçu is the finest cachaça.
Right, it’s time for one of the highlights of the fortnight: the women’s team gymnastics final. Simone Biles might just be the best athlete in the world, and any opportunity to see her is well worth taking. I’ll be updating, and there’s a live apparatus-by-apparatus, rotation-by-rotation blog, right here.
Could the Olympics be over in a week if high-fiving was outlawed?
It’s looking like it could be a good night for Brazil in the basquete - their women lead Belarus 28-18.
Johanna Konta has just played a delectable drop-shot chop to give her set point against Svetlana Kuznetosova, at 5-6, advantage. And Kuznetsova goes long on the forehand! That’s a set apiece.
“Obviously it went catastrophically wrong,” says David Florence to BBC. Ouch.
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In the basketball, Brazil have ramped up their advantage over Spain - it’s 57-48, with 7:17 to go.
“The Olympic Arena is just starting to fill up for the women’s team final, which is said to be the hottest ticket of the day – even the Team GB press officer doesn’t have a spot and is having to perch on the concrete in between two seats. The stadium announcer knows it’s a special event, but perhaps not why. ‘The teams are so well matched,’ he said, ‘it’s going to be an incredibly tight competition.’ The USA qualified a humungous 10 points ahead of their nearest rival and no one’s expected to be able to touch them.”
Denis GargauD Chanut of France wins gold in the C1!
Benus of Slovakia takes silver and Haneda of Japan gets bronze.
It’s not enough! Tasiadis is 5th.
Tasiadis of Germany has lost time at the top of the course, but he might just wangle a bronze...
Elosegi has a fairly unsmart descent, and he’s another who’l not be troubling the florists.
Here comes Gargaud Chanut, and he’s into the lead! Just two to come!
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Gargud Chanut of France is doing nicely, very smooth down the course - and, it is said, this is the kind of style that is suitable, rather than a muscular, aggressive assault.
“The US women’s team beat Spain earlier today in a replay of the London 2012 final, which the US also won. It was a tough day for the USA coach Adam Krikorian, whose brother Blake died at the age of 48 last week. Adam Krikorian left to be with his family last week before rejoining his team on Monday.
‘Leaving the village was one of the hardest things to do, because you leave your team and your family here,’ he said. ‘Arriving back at home was probably the hardest thing to do, just to see the family for the first time, and then leaving again, home, where your family is.’
USA’s goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson became the first black woman to represent the US at an Olympics. ‘I don’t really think about it a lot, but it feels great to be an example for other black people to try the sport and pursue higher levels of the sport,’ she said.”
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Gebas of the Czech Republic inserts himself into third place in the C1. I was more than a little surprised to learn that there’s also a C2 - what place does Victoria to Parliament Hill have in the Olympics?
Bubba dropping nugget that he shares a hometown with Justin Gatlin: Pensacola, Flor. Says he's pulling for Gatlin to take down Bolt.
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) August 9, 2016
Or, put another way...
FYI.
New Order to release their own beer: https://t.co/WJS0w70N9k pic.twitter.com/uGyBwPM4ik
— FACT (@FACTmag) August 9, 2016
But what should they really call it? Temptation? Or Regret?
Haneda of Japan has put himself in the silver medal position in the C1, but his run was not so special that others look unlikely to pass it.
“David Florence will not be winning a medal in the canoe slalom. Fourth out of the gate, the Briton has had a shocker, incurring four penalties and completing the course in over 109 seconds. He’s already 13.98 seconds behind the clubhouse leader Matej Benus from Slovakia and looks likely to finish last.”
Monica Puig has handled Garbine Muguruza, 6-1, 6-1.
Johanna Konta has a break in the second set - she leads Kuznetsova 4-2, though trails by a set.
The US basketball teams are staying on a cruise liner at the Olympics (because why not) even though one of the men’s players, Jimmy Butler, is scared of water. The US men’s coach Mike Krzyzewski was asked if this meant his team was missing out on the Olympics experience. According the the News and Observer, Coach K denied this and cited “the boat friends” he and the team now have. Everyone needs boat friends:
“We’re not the only people on the boat. There are other people on the boat that we see, that we say ‘good morning’ to, ‘hello.’ We’ve actually made friends on the boat. I never knew I would have boat friends. In fact now that I’m talking about it, I might go buy a boat. And put it in my — I’d have to have a bigger swimming pool. It’s a place to stay and we’re here to play basketball.”
Butler was a little less enthusiastic: “I just do what I’m told. I’m told to sleep on a boat, so I sleep on a boat,” he said.
Read more here.
Here goes David Florence of GB, the best canoeist in the world and general scourge of the canoeing community. But he makes a huge mistake! He’s going upstream! Oh, and there’s another mistake! Florence has won everything, he’s world champion, but there’ll be no verbing from him tonight. He grits his teeth, looks resigned, and he’s 13.98 second off the lead. Oh dear.
But he has a chance for redemption later in the week, in the C2.
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Benus is right happy with that, and so he should be, 4.67 seconds inside the previous leading time, and it’ll take a serious piece of run to beat that.
Benus of Slovakia, Puerto as he’s known on the circuit, has started really nicely, and he is serious contender.
Meanwhile, in the basketball, there’s increasing excitement as Brazil now lead Spain 38-33.
Carvalho of Portugal is not having a nice run, four penalties in addition to general dawdling meaning there’s be no rostrumming for him.
Eichfeld has four penalties, he’s down in 9.69 and a-whoopin’ an’ -hollerin’, but he’ll not be “podiuming” this time.
Right then, eyes down for the C1 canoeing final. Eichfeld of USA gets us underway, the chaps going down in reverse order of time from the seh-mye.
It’s rare that you know a sporting event is going to be awesome. But the women’s team gymnastics final is going to be awesomest. And you can follow it here.
In men’s basketball, Brazil lead Spain 34-31, er, at the half. The opportunity to use that phrase has greatly excited me, I’m ashamed to admit.
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“Quite a few sports don’t exactly “need” the Olympics (tennis, soccer, golf, ice hockey) but there’s nothing like a gold medal,” tweets Kevin.
I’m inclined to agree, but it’s more than that, even - an experience you’re getting nowhere else, grab it.
Nadal takes the first set against Seppi, 6-3.
“Why should competitors like Rory McIlroy legitimise the farcical inclusion of golf at the Olympics?” asks Zach Eaton-Rosen. “That’s just working for free - and making a ton of money for the IOC while it happens.”
I get that, but that doesn’t seem like the reason they’re not going. I’m just surprised that they don’t fancy two weeks hitting a ball about in the best city in the world in the best country in the world.
An update and a big thank you from me to all of you on my website (Dutch and English) > https://t.co/yVQTIqMUEy
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) August 9, 2016
“I’m not suggesting there should be no rules,” retorts Matt Dony. “Obviously lane discipline would be important, and they would be unable to aid themselves with the floor or anything. There would probably be rules governing turns (hey, I’ll leave the finer points to the experts. I’m no swimmer, surprisingly...) Just like other sports have rules and penalties. Seriously, though, handicapping a swimmer with a stroke that is demonstrably not as fast as other strokes seems like an odd concept, and one that you don’t really see in other disciplines. It’s the same with speed walking. Yes, it’s impressive, but it’s not as fast as running. Faster, higher, stronger, and all that. It might be harsh on specialist backstrokers, but, well, life is tough, I guess. They should have learnt a faster stroke.”
I fear for the triple jump.
Rafael Nadal is 5-2 up against Andrea Seppi; Monica Puig is 6-1, 5-1 up against Garbine Muguruza, seriously; Svetlana Kuznetsova is 6-2, 2-3 up on Johanna Konta.
“I subscribe to the theory that sports should only be in the Olympics if it is or would be the pinnacle of their sporting calendar,” emails Sam Reisman. “As such, golf shouldn’t even be there. I think when those who were get together afterwards with those who weren’t, it will make for a reasonable anecdote but not much more.”
I don’t mind golf not being there, just that seeing how it is, I find it strange that golfers aren’t all over going. But there are plenty of other Olympic staples - boxing and football, say - where the competition has a rich history, despite not being anything close to the ultimate.
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“Something is not quite right with Superman.
Seven months ago, after beating Andy Murray to win the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic was justifiably regarded as favourite in every tournament in which he played thereafter. Indeed, that had long been the case - on pretty much every surface. The most dominant world No 1 in the history of the ATP rankings went on to win the French too - finally - and seemed in good shape for Wimbledon. But his early exit there, withdrawal from Serbia’s Davis Cup against Great Britain last month and his early defeat here - in singles and doubles - were compounded on Tuesday when he withdrew from the Cincinnati Open ahead of the US Open.
For his sake, it is hoped it is only his tennis that has gone missing. Djokovic was mentally fragile early in his career but had built up an impressive psychological wall in recent years, winning easily when on top, getting out of impossible situations as well, and handling the odd defeat with good grace. However, he has rarely looked as emotional as when he blubbled on court here after losing to Juan Martin del Potro.
The US Open could be an intriguing tournament.”
The USA’s Nate Ebner, whose day job is with the New England Patriots, with whom he won the Super Bowl in 2014, is playing for his country in the rugby sevens – but has not been forgotten by his team-mates back home it seems. The Patriots coaches have been wearing USA rugby jerseys in practice.
Patriots coaches are wearing shirts supporting Nate Ebner ahead of USA Rugby's olympic matchup today. pic.twitter.com/y7y5KQDLpU
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) August 9, 2016
Ebner was granted time off to chase his Olympic dream in Rio, with the USA playing their first games against Argentina and Brazil today.
“It’s a great opportunity for him to follow his passion, participate in the Olympic Games,” coach Bill Belichick said in late July. “We’re pulling for him to bring back something around his neck.”
Ebner’s USA team lost 17-14 to Argentina in their first game and they play Brazil at 10pm this evening.
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More woe for New Zealand’s rugby sevens team. Following their shock defeat by Japan earlier, they have confirmed that their star player, Sonny Bill Williams, has ruptured an achilles tendon and will play no further part in the Olympic Games.
“Now, I don’t want to be a negative Nancy,” negative Nancies Matt Dony, “but most events are simply based around ‘Who can do this the best.’ The fastest runner, the furthest jumper, etc. The number of different swimming strokes goes against that. Oh, you’re very good at covering the pool in breaststroke? Well done, but that freestyle fella is much faster. So he should win the medal. It’s the equivalent of having the Backwards 100m race, or the Wrong-hand javelin. Any swimming medal should be given to whoever covers the prescribed distance the quickest. End of. And, yes. I am fun at parties...”
So what about canoeing, say, or show-jumping? Whoever gets round the fastest, regardless of how they do it? I could get on board with that, and I’d be keen to hear your views on impressionistic judging.
Brazil and Spain are just underway in the basketball - Spain, next best after USAUSAUSA need a win after losing to Croatia earlier in the week. Currently, they trail 7-6.
Email! “For no other reason than to satisfy my curiosity, do you know what it is that makes the noise that the signals the start of a swimming race?” asks David Wall. “It’s obviously not a starting pistol, as in the track events, but sounds a bit like the noise made by the kind of old computers you’d get in IT class in the 90s when you pressed a key after they had frozen. Did Fina just not update their computer hardware for the last 30 years?”
I assumed it was a seal being tickled, but I might be wrong.
In the pool, the heats of the men’s 200m freestyle relay have just begun - the South African, Chad Guy Bertrand le Clos is sitting this one out, conserving energy for staring at Michael Phelps later tonight. His boys are leading without him.
Oh, and who’s that? Why it’s Rafael Nadal, warming up with Andrea Seppi, yet more proof that when the golfers who didn’t bother talk to the golfers who did, regret will be experienced.
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“Team GB’s David Florence is safely through to the final after finishing a fairly unimpressive 7th in the semi-final of the canoe slalom. He posted a time of 99.36 seconds, compared to semi-final winner Sideris Tasiadis’s 95.63. FLorence will need to do a lot better in the final if he’s to make the podium for a third consecutive Olympics. If he does post a fast time in the final, he’ll have an anxious wait to see if it’s beaten by any of the six paddlers who go out after him.”
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The women’s tennis is livelying up itself - Johanna Konta, last night part of a doubles team which lost eight straight games from a set up, is now a break up on Svetlana Kuznetsova, serving for 3-1; Garbine Muguruza and Monica Puig have just started; and Serena Williams starts in an hour or so.
“A nice bit of cross-discipline camaraderie from US basketball star Paul George. George saw the gymnast Samir Ait Said’s horrific injury on television earlier in the Games and can honestly say he has felt the Frenchman’s pain - George suffered a compound leg fracture while playing for USA in 2014.
‘At some point I’m going to go over there and have a chat with him, sit down with him, try to be an inspiration to him,’ George told ESPN. ‘I know what it’s like going through it. Hopefully any words I can give is useful for him.’”
Back to men’s hockey, Netherlands lead Canada 3-0 in the second period.
Florence is 1.43 outside the fastest time, but he’s in the final. He has won everything but the Olympics, and will be hoping to address that later this evening.
David Florence is out of the gate in the C1 semi, and he’s not started well, two seconds down on the fastest so far - but still fast enough to qualify, provided he incurs no penalties.
Recently finished: men’s hockey, in which Ireland were pipped by Where were the Germans and frankly, who cares, to the tune of 3-2.
A game I sometimes play with myself: how many members of GB’s 1988 gold medal winners can you recall?
Ian Taylor, Kerly, Sherwani, Potter, Bachelor, Barber, Dodds.
Facundo Olezza Bazan of Argentina wins the first race in fin sailing
Turkey’s Alican Kaynar is second, with Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia coming third. He’s may yet earn some Keks and Amarena.
For those interested, Giles Scott, of Great Britain, came 17th.
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And that’s game, set, match Murray. After a tricky first set, he breezed though the second - geddit? - and is still set fair to retain his title. And, when it comes to it, he looks sartorially better than he does on the circuit.
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As you may have heard, Japan cleansed New Zealand in the men’s rugby sevens - and here’s Rob Kitson’s report.
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In the pool, the heats are just underway in the men’s 200m breaststroke.
Hedwig of Poland is currently heading down the course. He must get this a lot.
“The semi-final of the canoe slalom is under way at the Estadio de Canoagem Slalom, where a total of 14 competitors will be whittled down to 10 ahead of the final later today. Great Britain’s Tim Florence is slated to go out 12th of the 14 competitors and negotiate the eddies, waves, stoppers and gates at 6.03pm BST and it will be a major shock if the double Olympic silver medalist from Scotland doesn’t make it through to the final. Sadly, like so many other Olympic events, this one is fairly sparsely attended ... a state of affairs almost certainly not helped by the fact that it’s being staged in a venue built on the side of a motorway in the middle of nowhere.”
Gebas is still leading the way in the canoeing, but a Elosegi of Spain has just sent down a very impressive run, gathering speed at the end - unusual, apparently.
Murray is now 4-1-up, but dearie me, the state of his garms. A Cromwell’s Bazaar special, the kind of thing that if you see in the pub, you know there’s a fine chance of leaving with a burst mooth.
If I heard this correctly, and I think I did, Katinka Hosszú, the sensation of the swimming so far, has binned the 200m butterfly heats to concentrate on tonight’s 200m medley, where she faces a serious threat from GB’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor.
In finn class sailing, Argentina’s Facundo Olezza Bazan currently leads, with Denis Karpak of Slovenia second. And, talking of Slovenia, Ljubljana is home to perhaps the finest ice cream I’ve tasted.
The C1 canoe slalom semi-final is currently led by Gebas of the Czech Republic, but only two other competitors have gone. Great Britain’s David Florence, the current best in the world, is third last to go.
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Aaaaanyway, Andy Murray has taken the first set against Monaco of Argentina. Monaco of Argentina! Oooh giggle! Titter! And Murray is also a break up in the second set, so should be for the off sooner rather than later.
Afternoon all - feel free to get in touch via email, daniel.harris.casual@theguardian.com, or Twitter, @DanielHarris.
That’s my lot for today. I’ll hand you over to Daniel Harris for the next five and a bit hours … and he will bring you sailing, canoe slalom, shooting, tennis and much more.
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Andy Murray doesn’t normally have a problem with wind. He slaughtered Tomas Berdych and tamed Novak Djokovic in minor gales at Flushing Meadows when he won his first major in 2012. However, he is struggling a little to get his serve clicking here in a whippy breeze on Centre Court against Juan Monaco, starting with a double fault and chucking in another in the seventh game before subduing the Argentinian to take the first set 6-3 with his fourth ace in 40 minutes.
And the award for worst national anthem singing of the Games, goes to …
The Irish hockey team are having no luck with the anthem at #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/eA7pAkUxHw
— Mikey Stafford (@me_stafford) August 9, 2016
Michael Phelps v Chad le Clos is only going to get better, isn’t it? Look at the stare from Phelps below, whose ludicrously oversized headphones, some might argue, are as annoying as the South African’s shadow boxing.
News just in: Because of the high rankings cut in the mixed doubles tournament, Andy Murray and Heather Watson, may actually miss out. They are two out from the cut behind Serbia’s Ivanovic and Zimonjic. So, no more tennis for Heather unless two teams pull out.
Andy Murray breaks again and now leads 4-2.
So, Heather Watson finally gets to play mixed doubles with Andy Murray in the Olympics. Great Britain’s tennis leader, Iain Bates, announced the pairings on Tuesday morning, and Watson – out of the singles and doubles – will be heartened after having missed out on the opportunity to play with Murray in London four years ago, the Scot preferring the power of Laura Robson to her athleticism. They won silver. Konta will play with Jamie Murray.
“We are excited nominate two very strong teams for the mixed doubles,” Bates said. “The ranking cut off for the event is very high, with some of the best players in the world competing here and we expect one team to make the cut.
“Jamie and Johanna will combine excellently to form an extremely competitive doubles team. Johanna is in the form of her career right now and Jamie’s doubles record, at world number one and Grand Slam winner, speaks for itself.
“The singles event is very much Andy’s focus in Rio, however given the opportunity he is keen to play the event, and in Heather we have a world class mixed doubles player and reigning Wimbledon champion in the event.”
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It’s 1-1 at the break between Germany and Ireland in the hockey.
I may have jinxed Andy Murray, because Monaco has held his serve and then broken back. It’s now 3-2 and the Scot is furious. Suddenly half of Argentina has poured into the court and there is some friendly rivalry between them and Brazilians.
Want to keep track of all the results and schedule? Here’s your one stop shop
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That, by the way, was Japan’s first ever sevens win over New Zealand – you could tell by the celebrations.
One of the great results in #rugby history...and awaiting word on Sonny Bill Williams' injury..looks big worry to me pic.twitter.com/k1MIizyjuT
— robert kitson (@robkitson) August 9, 2016
Back in the hockey, Ireland have equalised against Germany thanks to a belter from Eugene Magee – it’s 1-1 with five minutes to go in the second period.
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Andy Murray looks sharp and assured. He has broken Monaco and leads the opening set 3-0.
Japan have beaten New Zealand 14-12
Sonny Bill Williams, New Zealand’s star man, came off with the game at 7-7 but that’s no excuse – especially considering they took a 12-7 lead seconds later. Well done Japan, who fought back and converted Kameli Soejima’s try with more than a minute to play to complete one of the big surprises.
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In the women’s individual archery, Britain’s Naomi Folkhard is down to the final eight after a 6-0 defeat of Japan’s Kaori Kawanaka. Folkhard, 32, who is competing in her fourth Olympics, will now face Brazil’s Ane Marcelle Dos Santos in Thursday’s quarter finals. The Kidderminster-dwelling archer has already surpassed her performance in the London Games, when she came 17th.
Japan and New Zealand are tied 7-7 at half-time in their Pool C game in the rugby sevens.
Murray is serving first in his match with Monaco.
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Germany lead Ireland in the men’s hockey thanks to Moritz Furste, the captain, with two minutes remaining in the first period.
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Reports from Australia say some of their athletes have lodged complaints about early morning knocks at the door from drug testers.
Ireland’s men’s hockey team are looking to win their first game after two defeats against the impressive Germany. It’s still scoreless six minutes into the first period, but now Murray and Monaco are taking to the court … so let’s keep an eye trained on that for a while. There is a big crowd in, mostly supporting Murray, though I can eye a couple of Argentinian shirts and flags too.
France take team eventing gold
Burton gets halfway through the course with everything looking good but then his horse, Santano II, knocks one over with his hind legs. And – oh dear – the second last hurdle also topples over. France win, Germany move into silver and Australia take bronze. The individual jumping final takes place later this afternoon.
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The equestrian team contest is going down to the wire: Christopher Burton of Australia must complete a clear round to give his team the gold. If not it will go to France.
Madison Keys is into the quarter-finals of the women’s tennis after a three-set win (6-3, 3-6, 6-3) over Spain’s Carla Suárez Navarro. Next up on the centre court is Andy Murray and Juan Monáco … after Keys milks the celebrations. She is rightly very pleased.
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The full story on Geraint Thomas’ inclusion in tomorrow’s cycling time trial.
Full-time at the rugby sevens. Great Britain have beaten Kenya 31-7. Quite straightforward for GB against a team that were tipped by many to have a strong tournament.
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In the rugby sevenseseses, Phil Burgess, Dan Bibby and Mark Bennett have crossed for tries. Great Britain lead Kenya 24-0 at half-time. Impressive.
I am at the canoe slalom course, which is next door to the BMX course. This pedaling and paddling complex is ostensibly in Deodora but quite literally in the middle of nowhere. British canoeist David Florence is competing in the canoe slalom today and hoping to add gold to the two silvers he’s won in previous games. A pair of intrepid British reporters, who I won’t name, have just got a massive bollocking from some Olympic wonk for straying into forbidden territory as they “walked the course”. I haven’t walked the course, but I have looked at it. It can confirm it’s downhill and full of water that looks quite clean.
Oh look, it’s the men’s rugby sevens. Great Britain have started their campaign against Kenya and Dan Norton’s early try has put the team in red in front.
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Well, this is rubbish.
Bins at #RioOlympics2016 give the impression of being recycling-friendly.
— Tim Peach (@TimPeachBBC) August 9, 2016
Both sides go into the same bin bag. pic.twitter.com/nupA4um6X9
Beach volleyball, it turns out, is not a young man’s game. The US have four of the six oldest men’s athletes (ranging from 36-40) in the competition but are still doing pretty well. The US team of Dalhausser and Lucena have just closed out a two set victory over the Mexican team of Virgen and Ontiveros in the preliminary round. The American pair are unbeaten so far and face Italy on Thursday.
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No reprimand for King
The USOC chairman, Larry Probst, told the Guardian on Tuesday morning that he did not hear swimmer Lilly King’s denunciation of American track star Justin Gatlin the night before. King, who has been outspoken about her Russian swimming rival Yulia Efimova’s previous doping suspensions, was asked if Gatlin should not be on the US team because he was once served a one-year doping ban. “Do I think someone who has been caught for doping should be on the team? No I don’t,” she said. Aside from saying he did not know of her comments, Probst did not say anything further about King, but USOC officials said they would not reprimand the 100m gold medalist for her criticism of Gatlin.
The things you'll see when an Olympic athlete is from Evansville pic.twitter.com/FuLwNToKVN
— Hannah Simmons (@hpsimmons) August 9, 2016
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There is some good action to come in the tennis later on. Both Andy Murray (12.15pm) and Rafa Nadal (1.45pm) are in action in the men’s draw, against Juan Monaco and Andreas Seppi, respectively. The women’s highlights include Serena Williams v Elina Svitolina (3.15pm) and Svetlana Kuznetsova taking on Jo Konta (12.30pm).
I’m at the Marina Gloria for the first glimpse of Giles Scott, who goes in the Finn, isn’t Ben Ainslie and will be trying to win gold in an event Britain has aced in some form at every Games since 2000. So no pressure. Some early weirdness here as sailors competing today are made to wait outside in the sun at a queue for what appears to be the only entrance, behind hacks, wonks, volunteers, Olmypic odd-jobs and so on. They’re all very good about it, although a Canadian going in the Finn starts to grumble a bit after ten minutes or so. Finally after some complaints (ahem, no charge for this service IOC) the security people create a preferential lane and athletes are ushered through.
I’m looking forward to seeing the crystal waters of the much-derided marina. One British rowing official suggested yesterday the water was actually fine, and it was “almost good enough to drink”. Going outside now to test this theory with a plastic cup and a straw. If you don’t hear from me again, well, it’s been fun… tell them… tell them… I tried to do my best.
From the equestrian centre, a minor piece of history:
The first Zimbabwean rider to compete in an Olympic equestrian event cleared a difficult cross country course that trapped many more experienced riders.
Camilla Kruger, 29, grew up on her family’s farm in the Southern African nation riding race horses but moved to England to finish school and train. She hopes to win a medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“Riders that I really look up to were having problems ... so I thought we’ve got nothing to prove right now. Just get the horse home, take alternate routes, be safe,” she said of Monday’s course that 18 horses and riders failed to complete. That left her with time penalties, but only three riders of 65 managed to finish the 5 km obstacle course in the time allowed and several fell off trying.
Kruger, who competes in a helmet covered with the colourful Zimbabwean flag, had two rails down in the third and final show jumping phase of eventing on Tuesday, but gave her horse Biarritz a hearty pat on the neck as they finished to loud applause. Biarritz is owned by investors in a syndicate.
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Chris Hoy has an ominous warning
Men's TP up for a flying effort. All the other nations' coaches stopwatches appear out their pockets.. #flying pic.twitter.com/01cg4JBIxQ
— Chris Hoy (@chrishoy) August 9, 2016
Geraint Thomas, after falling off his bike in Saturday’s road race, has been confirmed fit to ride in tomorrow’s time trial.
There is now a break in the equestrianism and on the UK feed I’m watching the commentators think their microphones are off. They’re not and anybody tuned in can listen to their nattering – they’ve moved from complaining about a rider falling off and it being shown repeatedly to learning how to samba. Let’s hope nothing below the belt is muttered, for their sakes.
Michael Rotich, the Kenyan track and field team manager who was sent home from the Olympics, has been arrested, and prosecutors are asking for him to be held in custody because they think he will interfere with investigations.
He was sent back to Kenya on Saturday when it emerged he had been secretly filmed by undercover reporters who claimed he asked for a bribe to give prior warnings of anti‑doping tests.
Cavendish's take on Armistead
Mark Cavendish has weighed in on the Lizzie Armitstead whereabouts controversy.
“Did she dope? No and I don’t believe she did. Was it an administrative error? Yes it was, absolutely? Was it her fault? Yes it was, absolutely,” Cavendish told Sky Sports. “I know from personal experience how difficult the whereabouts system can be,” the Manxman said. “But I have an alarm on my phone every night at 6pm and my wife has one on her phone and she makes a habit of when we talk every night she will ask me: ‘Have you done your whereabouts?’”
Full story here.
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To the equestrian jumping arena, which looks less than a third full, there is still some confusion surrounding an appeal from the Brazilian team because of a DQ in yesterday’s competition. They appear to have won that appeal and are back in the competition but there may now be a counter appeal and we are bordering on farce.
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What a race in the opening men’s lightweight fours semi-finals. Italy have pipped France, with New Zealand in third. Great Britain run out of steam towards the end to trail in fourth.
A quick blast of la Marseillaise around the Future Arena from the raucous French fans and reigning Olympic champions France have beaten Qatar 35-20 in their handball pool match.
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Quote of the day alert: John Collins, who has made it into the men’s pairs final with Jonathan Walton, is so happy he has just told BBC that: “If I get hit by a bus today, I’ll die a happy man.”
Olympic controls on freedom of speech have been challenged by a Brazilian judge who has ordered Rio 2016 organisers to allow peaceful protests inside stadiums.
The preliminary ruling on Monday night came after several spectators were expelled from Olympic arenas for displaying anti-government banners and T-shirts that highlighted the country’s ongoing political turmoil.
Read the full story here.
You’ve seen those weird bruise-like marks on Michael Phelps and others in the past couple of days, right?
Here’s an explainer on “cupping”, a type of Chinese therapy that apparently helps ease tiredness. Does it work or is it a placebo?
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And in the women’s pairs, Britain’s Grainger and Thornley have turned in a good performance in the second women’s pairs semi to finish second to Poland, with France coming third. And Australia and New Zealand, big favourites, have been eliminated.
Update: full results
Semi-final A/B 1: 1 Greece 6mins 51.99secs, 2 Lithuania 6:52.46, 3 USA 6:52.92, 4 New Zealand 6:52.97, 5 Germany 6:58.70, 6 China 7:05.31.
Semi-final A/B 2: 1 Poland 6mins 50.63secs, 2 Great Britain 6:52.47, 3 France 6:54.34, 4 Australia 6:55.37, 5 Belarus 6:57.64, 6 Czech Republic 7:03.79.
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More from the rowing: some results from the men’s pairs, where New Zealand were the fastest across both semis but the top three in the first race were quicker than Great Britain, who finished second in the second.
Semi-Final A/B 1: 1 Italy 6mins 24.96secs, 2 Australia 6:25.25, 3 France 6:26.10, 4 Netherlands 6:26.94, 5 USA 6:33.95, 6 Romania 6:48.17.
Semi-Final A/B 2: 1 New Zealand 6mins 23.36secs, 2 Great Britain 6:26.37, 3 South Africa 6:27.59, 4 Hungary6:29.12, 5 Serbia 6:31.00, 6 Czech Republic 6:32.85.
Is there a worse feeling at the Games than finishing fourth? Britain’s women’s sevens team looked absolutely distraught after losing their bronze medal match to Canada last night and the players are still evidently upset. Check out this mea culpa:
Thank you for everyone's support throughout our/ my journey . pic.twitter.com/iynUU1cOGV
— Heather fisher (@Hfisher2012) August 9, 2016
Full-time in the women’s water polo, Hungary have beaten China 13-11 in a high quality group B game. Both teams will fancy their chances of progressing on that evidence.
The eventing team final is just getting underway, so we will place some attention on that for a bit from now. It is the first gold event of day four, after all. Belgium are the very early leaders.
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Victoria Pendleton, the former British cyclist turned amateur jockey, has been on UK radio discussing the Brazilian crowd’s treatment of certain athletes. “I disagree wholeheartedly with the idea of fellow athletes booing at the Olympics,” she said. “Don’t cheer, fine, but don’t boo.”
Hungary lead China 12-9 after three periods in the water polo now, and here are some more rowing results (again the first three from reach race advance to Thursday’s semi-finals) …
Women’s single sculls quarter-finals
Race one: 1 E Twigg (NZ) 7mins 31.79secs, 2 M Topinkova Knapkova (CZ) 7:37.04, 3 K L Alanis (Mex) 7:44.11, 4 Y Kim (Kor) 7:51.80, 5 G Mosqueira (Par) 7:54.49, 6 S Rafa’ee (Sin) 7:56.00.
Race two: 1 G Stone (US) 7mins 27.04secs, 2 J Gmelin (Swi) 7:29.66, 3 M Lobnig (Aut) 7:35.37, 4 A M Svennung (Swe) 7:38.07, 5 F Chow (Tri) 8:02.53, 6 N Negm (Egy) 8:25.75.
Race three: 1 F Udby Erichsen (Den) 7mins 33.00secs, 2 M B Thornycroft (Zim) 7:34.00, 3 C Zeeman (Can) 7:34.00, 4 M Pearson (Ber) 7:34.00, 5 C Ukogu (Ngr) 7:54.00, 6 A Rouba (Alg) 8:21.00
Race four: 1 K Brennan (Aus) 7mins 26.86secs, 2 J Duan (Chn) 7:27.88, 3 E Karsten (Blr) 7:28.03, 4 S Puspure (Irl) 7:28.68, 5 L Saltyte (Lit) 7:38.39, 6 L Palermo (Arg) 7:56.61.
Annemiek van Vleuten, the Dutch cyclist who suffered that horrible crash in the women’s road race on Sunday, is up and about again – but showing some nasty bruising. She also has a number of fractures.
Thanks for all the messages. Hard to deal with my disappointment but also proud about our performance #teamNL pic.twitter.com/9uRaRniFV6
— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) August 9, 2016
In the women’s individual archery, Britain’s Naomi Folkhard is into the last 16 after a sudden-death win over Indonesia’s Ika Rochmawati. Folkhard hit a nine to Rochmawati’s seven having led 4-0 after two sets only to bring the duel into a shootout with her final arrow in the fifth to make it 6-6.
Report from the early rowing action, via Reuters.
New Zealand rower Mahe Drysdale scored a huge psychological victory over his friend and arch-rival Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic in the Olympic men’s single sculls quarter-final, overhauling him in the final section on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon.
The two have one of rowing’s great rivalries and for them to meet at this stage of the competition was a treat for fans.
Drysdale is the reigning Olympic champion and Synek has claimed all of the world championship titles in this Olympic cycle.
Synek took an early lead and was still ahead at the halfway point but in the third Drysdale made a massive push and passed the Czech at about the 1,500 metres mark before winning by a length.
Among those joining them in the semi-finals are Cuban Angel Fournier Rodriguez, who has stated his intention of becoming the world’s best, and Belgian Hannes Obreno, a surprise winner over Drysdale at Henley.
Drysdale, nicknamed Grandpa, is holder of the world’s best time of 6 min 33.35 sec, set at the 2009 world championship in Poznan, Poland.
I’m at the Futures Arena to see Qatar play France. The former came second in the world championships in Doha amid much controversy about their “league of nations” side naturalised from around the world. The latter won gold in Beijing and London. Will be an interesting day for Bertrand Roine, the Qatar full back who won a world championship with France in 2011 and switched nationality in 2013. Might be a bit awks during the anthems, in particular.
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China v Hungary in group B of the women’s water polo is turning into a belter. Hungary currently lead 4-3 late in the second period having been 3-2 down two minutes ago.
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Action
Some early day four results:
Rowing: men’s single sculls quarter-finals (first three from each race progress to Thursday’s semis)
Race one
1 A Fournier Rodriguez (Cub) 6mins 51.89secs, 2 R Grant (Aus) 6:55.14, 3 N Jakob Hoff (Nor) 6:57.94, 4 M Memo (Ido) 6:59.76, 5 D Kim (Kor) 7:05.69, 6 S Kholmurzaev (Uzb) 7:09.99.
Race two
1 M Drysdale (NZ) 6mins 46.51secs, 2 O Synek (CZ) 6:50.51, 3 S Shcharbachenia (Blr) 6:55.19, 4 B Rosso (Arg) 7:03.23, 5 A Kelmelis (Lit) 7:04.67, 6 R L Garcia (Per) 7:30.91.
Race three
1 H Obreno (Bel) 6mins 48.90secs, 2 J C Cabrera (Mex) 6:50.04, 3 A Elbanna (Egy) 6:50.82, 4 B Petervari-Molnar (Hun) 6:52.80, 5 SAli Boudina (Alg) 7:13.59, 6 A Rivarola Trappe (Par) 7:17.12.
Race four
1 D Martin (Cro) 6mins 44.44secs, 2 A Campbell (GB) 6:49.41, 3 N Wegrzycki-Szymczyk (Pol) 6:53.52, 4 D Baban Bhokanal (Ind) 6:59.89, 5 J Esquivel (Uru) 7:40.27, 6 M Al-Khafaji (Irq) 8:29.76.
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In the US there is inevitable overlap between the election and the Games. Observers reckon Hillary Clinton paying for adverts during live broadcasts are giving her an advantage over Donald Trump, who has not aired a single commercial yet.
The Democratic presidential nominee is airing $13.6m in campaign commercials during the Games, seeking to reach the millions of television viewers who can’t skip past the commercials as they watch live coverage of the Olympics.
She has the audience to herself, as Trump has yet to air his first paid TV ad of the general election campaign.
It’s a striking change from four years ago, when then-cash-strapped Mitt Romney and his allies scrounged up the estimated $18m needed to match what President Barack Obama was spending to advertise during the three weeks of the London Games.
(via the Associated Press)
And there is a battle between the electronic giants Apple and Samsung, too, as reported by Reuters.
Apple is threatening to crash Samsung’s expensive Olympics party. Samsung is mobile phone sponsor of the Rio Games and sells its handsets exclusively to hundreds of thousands of visitors flocking to Olympic venues – but Apple is tempting some of them outside with its own unofficial Games merchandise.
It is using an Apple Store about six miles from the main Olympic park as the sole outlet for special-edition Apple watch bands. Some buyers, including top athletes, have been proudly advertising their new bands on social media.
The watch bands do not feature the iconic Olympic rings logo or the word “Olympics”, which are for the exclusive use of sponsors like Samsung. Instead, they come in a choice of 14 national team colours, including the United States and Canada. A Brazil-themed nylon band was close to selling out this week.
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This is fun – take a virtual audio tour of Rio’s marathon route with our slick app.
How did Sun Yang win gold in the 200m freestyle? ( By swimming faster than the rest ). Check out this interactive breakdown of a thrilling race.
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While we wait for the action to properly kick-off – rowing in a few minutes! – a personal highlight of the Games so far was this interview from Gary and Paul O’Donovan who won their lightweight double sculls heat yesterday. Listen to their answer to the wind question! Fantastic.
Hello there. Rio is waking up and play is about to begin on the tennis courts. We also have some early rowing, a bit of water polo. And an hour from now there will be fencing, archery and shooting too.
But what are today’s highlights?
- At 10am Rio time, there’s the showjumping team final.
- At 4pm, the women’s all-round team final in gymnastics gets going
- At 4.30pm, Brazil take on USA in Pool A of the women’s volleyball tournament.
- At 6pm, the hosts’ men’s hockey side take on Great Birtian.
- And there are also several swimming finals to round the day off.
In total there will be 19 medals given out! How excited are you?
The clock has reached midday in London (8am in Rio) and that means it is time for me to tag out and hand over to my colleague Alan Smith. Here’s a reminder of the headlines so far with a couple of handy links … Woop.
- Yulia Efimova, the convicted Russian doper who won 100m breaststroke silver behind Lilly King hits back at critics, including King: ‘I thought cold war was long in the past’.
- That was after King’s ‘victory for clean sport’ after Sun Yang, another much criticised convicted doper, won 200m freestyle gold.
- The Dutch gymnast Yuri van Gelder has been expelled from the Olympics after a night of drinking in Rio.
- Great Britain are developing a rather unwelcome habit of finishing fourth – James Guy joining the men’s gymnastics team, the women’s GB seven team, Hannah Miley and Richard Kruse.
- And a number of British newspapers have caused quite the stir by seemingly airbrushing Dan Goodfellow from history.
That’s all from me. Cheerio!
Some interesting cycling news from Mark Cavendish …
Mark Cavendish will not get chance to ride Team Pursuit in Rio unless team mate becomes injured. Says TP the only reason he left Tour early.
— Orla Chennaoui (@SkyOrla) August 9, 2016
Mark Cavendish says disappointed to not get to ride the Olympic Team Pursuit, but "Brad wants the glory", referring to Wiggins' Olympic goal
— Orla Chennaoui (@SkyOrla) August 9, 2016
Isn’t that a sight for sore eyes?
Here Comes The Sun doo-dn-do-dooo. Here Comes The Sun. It's alright at #Lagoa Stadium #RowingInRio @Rio2016. pic.twitter.com/YuaRRCjLrN
— Rob Curling (@RobCurling) August 9, 2016
There is, of course, a football competition going on at the Olympics but the host nation Brazil are in danger of going out in the group stage of the men’s tournament. Barney Ronay reports …
Sem jogo, sem gol e sem amor” was the verdict in O Globo on Brazil’s latest Olympic horror, the 0-0 draw with Iraq in Brasilia. No game, no goal, no love. Just an oddly familiar kind of angst and the latest significant staging post in the theatre of pain that has become Brazilian tournament football. In Brasilia the home fans cheered the opposition, chanted the name of Marta and generally continued the theme of domestic meltdown that has gripped this serial host nation in the last two years. Welcome back, o jogo collapsico.
Brazil may be ambivalent about some aspects of this Olympics, torn in some sections about the sense of something plonked down among them. But football? That is a little different. The peculiar obsession with capturing the Olympic title, the one honour to evade them so far, has been well documented. Brazil picked a powerful, well-stocked squad for these home games. Neymar is, on the numbers, arguably the biggest star at the Olympics. No other player of his stature, no other £30m wonderkid signing – enter Gabriel Jésus, newly of Manchester City – will be detained at this late stage in the pre-season with events in Salvador, São Paulo and Rio.
Here’s a spot of news for you from the media desk …
Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow’s bronze medal victory drew a peak UK audience of almost 8 million – the biggest live TV audience for any event at the Rio Olympics so far.
Daley and Goodfellow’s medal-winning performance in the 10m synchronised diving competition, secured by the slimmest of margins over Germany on the pair’s final dive, attracted a five-minute peak audience of 7.7 million viewers to BBC1 on Monday night.
Here’s a reminder that live action begins with the rowing in just a little over an hour with fencing, archery, shooting and water polo all due to begin at 9am.
Which 🚴 great has been giving the 🇬🇧 men’s 🏉 a team talk?https://t.co/pkLpZLEqA1#RoadtoRio pic.twitter.com/BtSa18fh7y
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 9, 2016
Sir Chris Hoy, that’s who.
Should be of American allegiance – or perhaps even if not – this is for you.
More now from the mother of Dan Goodfellow whose alleged airbrushing from history following his 10m synchro diving bronze with Tom Daley has caused quite the furore.
The mother of diver Dan Goodfellow said he was “happy to stay in the background” after he and more famous partner Tom Daley won bronze at the Olympics. The hashtag Where’s Daniel Goodfellow trended on Twitter after some newspapers showed a photo of Daley alone celebrating the win at the Rio poolside.
Goodfellow’s mother Sharon said: “Daniel doesn’t mind. He’s quite happy to stay in the background.” Goodfellow, 19, achieved the success at the 10-metre synchro event with Daley, 22, on day three of the Rio Olympics. Speaking on TV show This Morning, Ms Goodfellow said she was still “quite in shock”. She watched the competition unfold from the family home near Cambridge.
“I was going to just watch the first two dives but then I thought if they have a bad dive I will switch off,” she said. While there were “one or two that weren’t up to his usual success” the pair clinched bronze on the final dive. His Olympic honour follows more than a year battling back from a shoulder injury which left him unable to raise his arm fully.
The former Cambridge Dive Team member had suffered an elbow injury in the build-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow before sustaining a separate injury to the long thoracic nerve, which affected his shoulder. He was able to return to training following an operation, but the doubts meant his mother had not bought tickets to Rio. “Daniel had a very serious injury,” she revealed. “We weren’t quite sure if he was going to make it to Rio.”
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Time for a recap of today’s gold medals on offer, courtesy of my colleague Claire Phipps’ exhaustive briefing earlier.
Diary
Find the full schedule in your timezone on this link. Here, all times are local to Rio: add four hours for UK, add 13 hours for eastern Australia; subtract one hour for east-coast US and four for west coast.
There are 15 golds up for grabs today.
- Equestrians get things started at 10am with the eventing team jumping final: Australia currently tops the standings, but Team GB – which has won a team medal at every Games since 1996 – is lagging far behind.
- Then at 2pm it’s the eventing individual jumping final, with Australia’s Chris Burton in pole position. Britain’s hopes are slight, with William Fox-Pitt way back in 22nd so far.
- At 3.10pm, Britain’s David Florence will be eyeing a medal in the men’s canoe single (C1) final.
- At 4pm Simone Biles and Team USA will be the ones to watch (and beat) in the women’s gymnastics team final.
- Plus weightlifting finals for the women’s 63kg and men’s 69kg.
- Four golds in the late-night swimming: at 10.19pm it’s the women’s 200m freestyle (where it’s Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström v Team USA’s Katie Ledecky, with Australians Bronte Barratt and Emma McKeon also in contention).
- Then at 10.28pm it’s the men’s 200m butterfly (oh hi, Michael Phelps).
- And at 11.29 the women’s 200m individual medley – Hungary’sKatinka Hosszú is the one to beat, but Team GB’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor qualified fastest in the semis, and threats could also come from Team USA’s Madeline Dirado and Melanie Margalis. Australia’s Alicia Coutts is in the running too.
- At 11.38pm it’s the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay. The USA are favourites, but GB and Australia will be pushing them hard.
- The men’s 100m freestyle heats begin: watch out and cheer onRami Anis, the Syrian swimmer competing in the refugee team.
- Plus women’s football group matches continue, with Australia v Zimbabwe at 4pm and Colombia v USA at 7pm, among others.
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This is just excellent …
Bottle flipping, Olympic edition @ieuanlloyd1 #HeadInTheGame 🎥:@danwallace93 #TEAMGB #BringOnTheGreat pic.twitter.com/AkVxHR1wzu
— Adam Peaty (@adam_peaty) August 8, 2016
I’m just going to post this below and go and get a coffee … back shortly.
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More now on a war of words that is showing absolutely no signs of dying down. The Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, a convicted doper who finished second to Lilly King, has hit back at the American gold medallist …
I understand the people who didn’t congratulate me because the media was full of fake stories about me. But on the other hand I don’t really understand the foreign competitors. All athletes should be above politics, but they just watch TV and believe everything they read. I always thought the Cold War was long in the past. Why start it again, by using sport?
Just two and a half hours to go until some live sport! And first up will be the rowing and another bumper day on the lake after all of Sunday’s action was lost to wind. As a result it’s a sport which feels like a bit of a slow burner but there are a number of quarter-finals, semi-finals and repechages today.
- In the men’s scull, Great Britain’s Alan Campbell – officially the most tired man ever to appear on TV after his London 2012 bronze – is in action.
- The imperious New Zealanders Eric Murray and Hamish Bond go in the pair, as do Great Britain’s Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes.
- Katherine Grainger, in pursuit of a fifth Olympic medal, goes in the women’s double sculls with Vicky Thornley.
- Kath Copeland and Charlotte Taylor go in the repechage of the women’s lightweight double sculls after a finishing last in their heat.
- And the British quartet of Chris Bartley, Mark Aldred, Jono Clegg and Peter Chambers are in the men’s lightweight four semi-finals.
It’s a valid question and DJ Gallo has the answer …
Amusing …
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Some really rather sad news from the weightlifting now …
A celebratory occasion for a Thai Olympic bronze medal winner’s family has turned somber the athlete’s grandmother collapsed and died minutes before he won the third place in the 56-kg weightlifting category in Rio.
A mourning ritual was being held Tuesday at the home of Sinphet Kruithong, whose grandmother was among scores of family and friends watching his event live on a big television screen set up for the occasion in his village in northeastern Thailand.
Amid the festive atmosphere Monday with villagers cheering and clapping as Sinphet heaved the weights up 82-year-old Subin Khongthap collapsed. She did not live to see her grandson win his medal.
Sinphet, 22, was the second Thai to win a medal at the Rio Games, following Sopita Tanasan, 22, who won a gold medal for weightlifting in the women’s 48 kilogram category on Saturday.
Great Britain have developed an unfortunate habit of finishing fourth so far in Rio. The men’s gymnastics team along with Richard Kruse, Hannah Miley and James Guy have all finished just outside of the medal places.
The good news is that there are plenty of opportunities to put that right today and perhaps the best of them is David Florence, the British slalom canoeist and one-time aspiring astronaut who once lost out on a job to Tim Peake (not the British Gymastics press officer, the other one).
He won C-1 (individual) silver in Beijing, C-2 silver (with Richard Hounslow) in London where he was favourite for gold in the individual event but fluffed his lines somewhat. He posted the best score in the first run of qualifying and opted against a second run which appears to be a popular tactic among the Brits in the canoe slalom. His semi-final begins at 1:30pm.
Other British medal hopefuls include Siobhan Marie O’Connor in the women’s 200m IM and the men’s 4x200m freestyle quartet – both events are in the evening swimming session.
Updated
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Doping is an issue that not even the Usain Bolt circus is immune from. There was however a Norwegian journalist on hand to wrap to the Jamaican sprint king and declare his love for him. Sean Ingle was there to bear witness.
To the Cicada des Arts, a sprawling cultural complex in Barra, to join the sweaty throng for Usain Bolt’s pre-Olympic press conference. Or, more accurately, 20 minutes of softballing questions from the hundreds of the world’s media, in which the Jamaican sprinter was told “Your way of dealing with the pressure makes Brazilian people want to marry you a little more,” and rapped to by a Norwegian journalist, who also told Bolt he was in love with him.
At the finale Bolt was joined on the stage by scantily clad Samba dancers, who he danced along to in perfect time. His sponsor’s, Puma, had chosen the venue – a large theatre – well.
What did we learn? Two things. First, that Bolt believes the drug problems that have cast a thick cloud over his sport are thinning, and could even evaporate. And that he still believes that he could one day break his 200m world record of 19.19 sec, set in Berlin seven years ago.
And here’s another one of those snazzy interactive graphics for Sun Yang’s 200m freestyle gold medal …
A quick reminder for those of you just joining me that the headlines from Tuesday night in Rio centred around Lilly King’s 100m breaststroke gold medal and the subsequent shots fired at convicted doper and silver medallist Yulia Efimova. Sun Yang, another convicted doper, won the men’s 200m freestyle to fan the flames further.
A bit too much Dutch courage …
Dutch gymnast Yuri van Gelder has been expelled from the Olympics for “gravely” violating team rules by going out for a night of drinking in Rio after qualifying for the finals of the rings event, the Dutch team said.
The 33-year-old left the Olympic village on Saturday evening and spent the night celebrating before he returned in the early hours of Sunday morning, violating rules concerning alcohol consumption and leaving the team base.
“It’s terrible for Yuri, but this kind of behaviour is unacceptable,” Dutch team chef de mission Maurits Hendriks said in a statement on Tuesday. “In sports terms this is a disaster, but we had no other choice given the violation of our values.”
Van Gelder, the rings world champion in 2005, has a previous instance of violating rules at a major sporting event. In 2009, he was suspended from the Dutch Gymnastics Union for taking cocaine three days before the national championships.
The Dutch team has imposed strict living conditions on its athletes. According to media reports, they are forbidden from entering Rio for safety reasons, while athletes who have completed their events must return home to avoid distracting team mates.
Updated
Now Lilly King’s comments about Yulia Efimova and indeed her USA team-mate Justin Gatlin sent shockwaves through the pool but it was Australia’s Mack Horton who lit the touch paper at the swimming venue so to speak with his comments about China’s Sun Yang, who hit back with his 200m freestyle gold on Tuesday.
The IOC took umbrage with Horton’s comments but the Australia has given any attempts to silence him particularly short shrift.
Updated
Here are some of the best pictures from day three in Rio …
This is bordering on parody …
A quick word on Great Britain now and as you’ll see from the video, the women’s rugby sevens team missed out on the medals, losing their bronze medal match and ending up fourth. Indeed, four has become the not so magic number for Great Britain with James Guy and the men’s gymnastics team joining Hannah Miley and Richard Kruse in finishing just outside the medals.
Thankfully, Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow bucked the trend but a number of British newspapers were criticised for seemingly airbrushing Goodfellow out of history. Read more about that here.
Updated
If you prefer pictures to words, I have just the thing for you. It’s our latest highlights package, featuring Lilly King’s 100m breaststroke gold and the first ever Olympic rugby sevens medals.
Back to doping …
… do be sure to have a read of this excellent piece from Andy Bull, who lays the blame square at the door of swimming’s world governing body, Fina, for the continued doping controversy.
In the long history of the Games there can’t have been many sadder silver medalists than Yulia Efimova.
It wasn’t the race, or that she finished second. She said herself that it was “the best I can do right now”.
It was the fact that winning it meant she finally had to talk to the press. And everything else she has been through too; the boos she has heard every night in the pool, and the blunt opinions expressed by her fellow competitors.
Not least the one who beat her, the USA’s Lilly King, who said over and again that Efimova shouldn’t have been allowed to swim here, and refused to congratulate her after the race was over, because Efimova had twice failed drugs tests.
Golf interlude
As a quick aside, good news for the Argentina golfer Emiliano Grillo, who has been reunited with his golf clubs after they went missing in transit. American Airlines mislaid his clubs en route to Brazil and Grillo was not too happy about it, tweeting: “AmericanAir delays, rerouting and 20+ calls can’t find my golf bag. I am going to miss my chance to compete in the Olympics. Rio2016. AmericanAir seriously, find me a human in JFK, MIA, or Sao Paolo that can physically look for my bag and confirm where it is and send it.”
But there was a happy ending on Tuesday morning as Grillo tweeted a picture of himself hugging his recovered bag. “I am never letting you go again... Until next flight...” he wrote.
I am never letting you go again... Until next flight... 😆
— Emiliano Grillo (@GrilloEmiliano) August 9, 2016
Nunca más te dejo ir...
Hasta el próximo vuelo... 😝 pic.twitter.com/neeXxiHzo4
As I say, doping dominated in the pool last night with Sun Yang and Yulia Efimova, convicted dopers who won gold and silver in their respective events, attracting considerable heat.
Here’s what the France swimmer Camille Lacourt has had to say. Spolier alert: he doesn’t hold back: “Sun Yang, he pisses purple … When I see the 200m podium I want to be sick. I am very sad when I see my sport getting like this. I have the impression I am looking at athletics, with two or three doped in each final.”
Updated
Hello world! Thanks very much to Claire for that exhaustive briefing – I’m fairly sure I had some sleep last night but reading that it feels like I didn’t miss a thing.
Stay tuned for even more reaction from a dramatic night in the pool where doping dominated again while we’ll also be building up to today’s action, which gets under way at 8:30am at the rowing venue.
How about a feel good story to kick things off?
Updated
Day four briefing
Day four dawns and everybody’s talking about drugs. In particular, Team USA’s newest gold medallist Lilly King is talking about drugs. And she is Not Happy about it.
We’ll have all the comments, reactions, tears, wins, losses and more on the day four live blog. But first: a catch-up of all you need to know about the action so far and what’s still to come.
The big picture
“I showed you can still compete clean and win.” That’s US swimmer Lilly King after her golden win in the 100m breaststroke. In silver? Yulia Efimova, the Russian who served a doping ban and was facing expulsion from these Games before a last-minute reprieve. A tearful Efimova – roundly booed as so many Russian competitors have been this year – said she’d aim for gold next time.
But King didn’t stop there. What about Justin Gatlin – twice banned and now back in Team USA, she was asked after her win:
Do I think someone who has been caught for doping should be on the team? No, I don’t.
Swimming goliath Michael Phelps is also having none of it:
I think it’s sad that we have people in sports today who are testing positive not only once, but twice, and still having the opportunity to swim at these Games.
More drug-related recriminations – and a dollop of sledging too – as China’s Sun Yang took gold in the men’s 200m freestyle, and pretty much the whole of China continued to snipe at Australia after its own 400m gold medallist Mack Horton called Sun (who served a three-month ban in 2014) a drugs cheat.
Today’s award for pettiness, however, goes to Russian state TV, which decided that Phelps’ (admittedly peculiar) cupping practice brings him benefits “not unlike those of meldonium” – a banned substance. I’m not sure that poor effort is going to get them past the early heats in the tit-for-tat tournament.
But don’t get too despondent. According to Usain Bolt, things can only get better:
We have had to go through a rough time before the good times. But in a few years the sport should be clean and I look forward to that.
And your thought for the day: Efimova is met with boos, but it is Fina who deserve opprobrium, says Andy Bull.
Push your way past the drug haze and there was some splendid sporting on day three. Australia’s women sealed the deal in the rugby sevens final, beating New Zealand 24-17 and lodging Team Aus in third position in the overall medal table.
Team USA took six medals in the pool and stand ahead of China at the top of that league table.
For Team GB it was all about the bronze for Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow in the synchronised diving. Or rather, for some, it was all about Tom Daley and, if you really insist, some other bloke. The Times celebrated the duo’s success with a strapline about “Daley and synchronised partner” – and it’s not as if they could argue that it’s snappier – but at least they managed to remember both men. The Telegraph and the Daily Mail pictured only Daley on their front pages, prompting a miffed response from Sharon Goodfellow, mother of The Other One, who tweeted that the snub was “insensitive”. Not to mention baffling: who exactly did they think Daley was synchronising with?
Picture of the day
Colombian weightlifter Óscar Figueroa retires in style: clinching a gold in the men’s 62kg and symbolically leaving his shoes on the stage.
Diary
Find the full schedule in your timezone on this link. Here, all times are local to Rio: add four hours for UK, add 13 hours for eastern Australia; subtract one hour for east-coast US and four for west coast.
There are 15 golds up for grabs today.
- Equestrians get things started at 10am with the eventing team jumping final: Australia currently tops the standings, but Team GB – which has won a team medal at every Games since 1996 – is lagging far behind.
- Then at 2pm it’s the eventing individual jumping final, with Australia’s Chris Burton in pole position. Britain’s hopes are slight, with William Fox-Pitt way back in 22nd so far.
- At 3.10pm, Britain’s David Florence will be eyeing a medal in the men’s canoe single (C1) final.
- At 4pm Simone Biles and Team USA will be the ones to watch (and beat) in the women’s gymnastics team final.
- Golds being dished out at 4pm in the women’s synchronised 10m platform diving final; at 4.15pm in the women’s 25m pistol shooting; at 4.30pm in the women’s -63kg judo final; at 5.20 in the men’s -81kg judo; and at 5.45pm there’s a fencing gold bout in the men’s epee individual.
- Plus weightlifting finals for the women’s 63kg and men’s 69kg.
- Four golds in the late-night swimming: at 10.19pm it’s the women’s 200m freestyle (where it’s Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström v Team USA’s Katie Ledecky, with Australians Bronte Barratt and Emma McKeon also in contention).
- Then at 10.28pm it’s the men’s 200m butterfly (oh hi, Michael Phelps).
- And at 11.29 the women’s 200m individual medley – Hungary’s Katinka Hosszú is the one to beat, but Team GB’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor qualified fastest in the semis, and threats could also come from Team USA’s Madeline Dirado and Melanie Margalis. Australia’s Alicia Coutts is in the running too.
- At 11.38pm it’s the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay. The USA are favourites, but GB and Australia will be pushing them hard.
- The men’s 100m freestyle heats begin: watch out and cheer on Rami Anis, the Syrian swimmer competing in the refugee team.
- Plus women’s football group matches continue, with Australia v Zimbabwe at 4pm and Colombia v USA at 7pm, among others.
Team GB roundup
Another bronze came GB’s way on day three, with Ed Ling taking third place in the men’s trap shooting, his first Olympic medal, in a contest won by Croatia’s Josip Glasnovic. But it was a foot-stampingly frustrating day in the men’s gymnastics and women’s rugby sevens, where Team GB fell – literally, for poor Louis Smith – agonisingly short. Smith’s slip from the pommel at the close of the men’s all-around team final left Britain in fourth, pipped by China to a medal. Russia scored silver and a breathtaking Japanese team soared away with gold.
It was fourth place too in the women’s rugby sevens, in a scrappy third-place playoff against Canada in which three British players were dispatched to the sin-bin.
Paul Drinkhall was ousted 4-2 in the fourth round of the men’s table tennis by Belarussian Vladimir Samsonov, so he will not become the first British player to reach an Olympic table tennis quarter-final.
Today’s a big one for equestrian fans: Team GB is, untypically, currently not looking too jaunty in either the team or individual eventing, which conclude today, but never write off a Brit on a horse.
- Barney Ronay on how Daley and Goodfellow secured their bronze.
- Windsurfer Nick Dempsey is off to a strong start in clear waters.
- Lawrence Okolie and Antony Fowler fall to Cuban and Kazakh boxing class.
- Adam Peaty accepts life is going to be very different as Rio 2016 hero.
Team USA roundup
An extraordinary night in the pool, with six swimming medals – two gold, one silver, three bronze – to add to a bronze for David Boudia and Steele Johnson in the men’s synchronised 10m platform diving. And that all adds up to a top-of-the-medal-table position going into day four.
Tuesday night’s men’s 200m butterfly final is all about Michael Phelps (when isn’t it?) and Operation 20 Gold Medals as he faces Hungarian duo László Cseh and Tamás Kenderesi. Team USA is also looking good (when isn’t it?) for the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay later on.
On day three, the men’s basketball team pounded Venezuela to finish 113-69 – they’ll now face Australia on Wednesday.
- What is Michael Phelps listening to on his trademark Olympics headphones?
- Ghostbusters’ actor Leslie Jones is on her way to Rio (to tweet).
Australia team roundup
Let’s skim over the pool action, where Mitch Larkin and Emily Seebohm both missed out on medals in their swimming finals. That gold in the women’s rugby sevens lifted the team back into third position in the overall medal table, closely behind – can you guess? – the US and China.
Chef de mission Kitty Chiller’s verdict on the team’s first three days?
Pretty bloody good, I’d say.
Also pretty bloody good is news that cyclist Melissa Hoskins is out of hospital following the pursuit team crash in a practice session. Officials said she was “bruised but still smiling” – and there are reports that she could still try to make the team pursuit qualifying on Thursday.
Before that, Team Aus will certainly fancy its medal chances in the equestrian eventing, sitting on top of the team and individual – thanks to Chris Burton – rankings with the jumping finals coming up on day four.
Underdog of the day
Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first woman to represent Team USA wearing hijab (which ought not to be a big deal, but these are Donald Trump days), lost in the individual women’s sabre, but will be back fencing later this week in the team sabre. And she’s got plenty to say:
A lot of people don’t believe that Muslim women have voices or that we participate in sport. And it’s not to just challenge the misconceptions outside of the Muslim community but within the Muslim community.
I want to break cultural barriers. I want to show girls that it’s important to be active, that it’s important to be involved in sport.
Tweet of the day
In what’s being hailed as the first athlete engagement of Rio 2016 (no, I didn’t fact-check all 11,000 competitors), Brazilian rugby sevens player Isadora Cerullo accepted a marriage proposal from her partner – and Rio volunteer – Marjorie Enya. (Brazil didn’t win the rugby, but that’s not the point of the story.)
other best rugby moment: Isadora Cerullo of #BRA says Yes as her partner (& #Rio2016 volunteer) Marjorie proposes pic.twitter.com/l10F2GcXqr
— Stephanie Nolen (@snolen) August 9, 2016
If today were a diss track
It would be Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood. Play nice, people.
And another thing
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