Men’s 50km walk: Tomala has increased his lead, but we’re not getting a time or distance on it. But with that, I’m going to bid you farewell because tomorrow’s blog is here; Tom Lutz will get that away and take in the end of this race. Ta-ra!
Men’s 50km walk: Yeah, Tomala is pulling away now, nine seconds in front at 30km.
Men’s 50km walk: Diniz has stopped again and he sits on the kerb, hat thing pulled over eyes. We see tap of him stopping, raising arms, and I’m afraid this looks like it for him. But he’s been great to watch until this point, something I’m certain will give him profound satisfaction. Tomala still leads and he’s gradually turning it up, a few metres in front now.
Updated
Women’s golf: The third round is now underway. Nelly Korda, whose name I just read as a spoonerism, leads on -13, with Nanan Madsen Koerst of Denmark, Aditi Ashok of India and Emilt Pedersen of Denmark tied second on -9.
Aussie Aussie Aussie and so on and so forth.
Men’s 50km walk: Tomala, the defending champion, still leads but only just, from Dunfee of Canada. But there are 21 members of the leading group, and we learn that Jesus Garcia of Spain is in his eighth Olympics. Wow! He’s 51.
Updated
No, not Olympics, but I hope Pierre de Coubertin would approve.
We want to give you a free season ticket if you're unemployed or on a low income.
— Motherwell FC (@MotherwellFC) August 5, 2021
We want everyone to feel part of our club, and enjoy the excitement and community spirit football brings.
Come and join us at Fir Park.
Men’s 50km walk: Diniz is a one. He stops again, has a chat with someone manning the drinks station, takes his hat off, replaces it, and sets off again. This being able to stop is quite helpful – I imagine, imagine being the operative word, that I would also prefer to pause and catch up than stay at a constant pace. And as I type that, Diniz receives a warning.
Updated
Men’s 50km walk: Like he’s at the bar in Spoons, Diniz is barged off the drinks table and stops again, then rejoins the leading group.
Updated
I’m hoping to wrap my peepers around some karate, especially as we might never get to again – in the Olympics at least
This was one of my favourite moments of yesterday.
These #Tokyo2020 "athlete moments," where Olympic #Athletics champions get to talk to their friends and family, are simultaneously so lovely and depressing.
— Fast Women (@fast_women) August 5, 2021
Here Belgium's Nafi Thiam greets her loved ones after winning the heptathlon gold. pic.twitter.com/vBPZhl5J82
50km walk: Goodness me, Diniz is almost back with the leading group. He is having a day out. Tomala now leads after close to 20km, and they’ve been going for 1:49.18.
50km walk: Luo has been swallowed up like Jonah, but he’s still in amongst it. Toth, the Slovakian defending champion, leads from Tomala of Poland.
Yes! Ian Whatley returns! “50km racewalkers refer to the 40km point as the halfway mark, because the last t10 km are often done dehydrated, chafed, blistered, sunburnt and with with glycogen depleted, having to still maintain focus on technique. Glycogen is the muscle energy store that runs out when runners ‘hit the wall’ in a marathon.
Expect to see some of the walkers finish making the “50” hand signal: arms crossed in front of the chest with left hand open and right fist closed. It is a protest against World Athletics removing the 50km for the sprint event of a mere 35km. A 42km would have made more sense because it would allow runners to understand just how fast these blokes are walking.
There are eight judges out there around the 2km loop, but because it’s out and back, that means they are only about 100 meters apart. The yellow paddles are like a high jumper brushing the bar. They let the racewalkers know they are close to getting a red card. Red cards are like knocking the bar off. Each judge can give only one red card per athlete and it takes three reds to get a time penalty of five minutes. After the time penalty, a fourth card will lead to being pulled from the race by the chief judge with his dreaded red paddle of doom.
Feed stations are so important in the 50km that there have been several major sport nutrition studies done in Australia over the last few years that brought in big groups of international racewalkers as subjects. That’s why so many of the walkers know one another well. The findings have been a big influence on training diets for endurance athletes in many sports.
Marathon runners take about 170 to 180 steps per minute for around 125 minutes while 50km racewalkers take about 210 steps per minute for around 225 minutes.”
Brilliant, thanks so much for that.
50km walk: Luo still leads, but to his left is a large posse – or maybe it’s a massive, I’m not sure – that looks ready to rush him.
50km walk: Diniz really is on a frolic of his own, as N v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police would put it. He nips off for a drink, having a little break.
Hi again and thanks Will. Diniz is now ploughing after the second group and it is believed he’s god ice cubes in his headgear.
50km walk: They are just over a quarter of the way through the race and there is an anticipation the enter competition could take over four hours. Luo is out in the lead.
50km walk: There is a big discussion of how a number of the competitors are in their 40s and that walking is “not a young man’s game”. Still time for me to makes the Olympics.
A little reminder of what happened earlier.
Righto, I’m off for a little break; Will Unwin will guide you through the next little bit.
50km walk: Bernardo Barrondo of Guatemala has been shown the red card for losing contact with the ground. But his brother Erick is still out there, and won silver at Rio in the 25km walk.
I’m absolutely loving Galal Yafai, whose final is on Saturday. I’d not be missing that if I were youse (which, for avoidance of doubt, I’m not).
Updated
50km walk: Apparently the athletes have personal refreshment stations. They measure and analyse their sweat to see how much water they lose and have to replace, along with how salty it is and whether they need some of that too.
50km walk: At 8km, Luo leads from Toth of Slovakia and Haukenes of Norway, both of whom have ice collars around their necks. The gap is about 20m.
This is interesting – I’ve enjoyed the climbing even if it made me annoyed that squash isn’t involved.
Diniz just veered off in the wrong direction. In commentary, they think he might be seeking a medical tent, but whatever it is he doesn’t seem in great shape.
Diniz has nipped away for a slash – hopefully he’s ok, because that doesn’t seem a good sign at this point. In Rio, he collapsed at 37km and still finished eighth, while in London, he was disqualified for taking drink outside of drinks station. Luo is back in front.
Ian Whitely returns – I asked him if he’d be so good as to clarify what constitutes a cyclical skill as per his earlier email: “A skill like pole vaulting is a chain of skills from the approach, pole placement and so on, through a complex and powerful series of motions to get over the bar and land safely. In contrast, a cyclical skill is one that repeats. Think of a swimming stroke with each one leading into the next.”
Got it, thanks.
Diniz has breezed by Luo, but more importantly, check out his headpiece.
Yadong Luo still leads, but Yohann Diniz of France, the former world champ, has closed to 100m with another big clump not too far behind him. Diniz is 43, which is great as it means there’s yet hope for me.
Updated
I guess this doesn’t apply to presidential elections, then?
Luo of China has got himself a lead of about 20m, and he looks in the flow.
The more I watch and think about competitive walking, the more I think about how insane this is: the mental strength it must take not to lift your foot for four hours. What if it gets itchy, or the lace slips under the sole?
Yes, Ian Whitley! He emails to let us know that: “Racewalking is an endurance event for people who can learn cyclical skills. The tough bunch who excel at triathlon, marathon swimming, road cycling, or cross-country skiing are good candidates, but anyone can get started. Here’s a four minute ‘How to’ video that I put together for USA track and field. Feel free to share. or try it yourself!”
I love this game!
This might be the last 50km Olympic walk; I hope not, because there’s something special about schlepping yourself so far.
Matej Toth of Croatia, gold medalist in Rio, leads the field to the line and they’re off!
The lads are doing 25 laps of a 2km circuit in Sapporo where it is, you’ll be shocked to learn, “velly yumid” as my gran would’ve said. It’s a shame that they don’t get to do a route through and around Tokyo then into the Olympic Stadium to be greeted by an adoring crowd, but at this point in human history all sport feels like a convincing W.
Live coverage has started! For those of us in the BST timezone, this is an absolute treat.
I hope you didn’t miss Carl Lewis. After watching the USA sprinters botch their relay heat, he had tiiiime.
Ah, I missed this, but we were talking about it just a little earlier.
The key events for tomorrow, via our daily briefing.
(All events are listed in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for Belfast, 13 hours for New York and 16 hours for San Francisco.)
Modern pentathlon (2.30pm-7.30pm)
You’ll never convince me that the sports making up the modern pentathlon weren’t drawn out of a hat in 1912 when someone asked people to write down things they thought a 13th-century French knight would be able to do, but it is undoubtedly compelling viewing. The women today go swimming from 2.30pm, fencing at 3.45pm, do a bit of showjumping at 5.15pm and then finish it off with a combined cross-country hike and a bit of laser-shooting where you don’t get penalised for misses, but the faster you can hit five targets the faster you can get running again. Unmissable stuff 🥇
Race walk (5.30am and 4.30pm)
Yes, that’s 5.30am in Sapporo for the men’s 50km race walk. The women race walk 20km in the afternoon. Imagine having to get up for a 5.30am start 🥇
Golf (7.30am)
Two hours after the men start the 50km race walk, it’s a leisurely 7.30am start for round three of the women’s golf
Hockey (10.30am and 7pm)
Team GB’s women go for bronze against India in the morning, then Argentina and the Netherlands hockey it out for the gold in the evening 🥇
Basketball (1.40pm and 8pm)
Women’s semi-finals. The US have an approximately 1,057-year long winning streak and face Serbia in the first match. The hosts play France in the evening.
Water polo (3.30pm and 7.50pm)
There are some placing matches as well, but the real meat is the men’s semi-finals. Greece v Hungary in the afternoon, and Serbia v Spain in the evening. Expect fireworks.
Track cycling (3.30pm-7.15pm)
Highlights include the women’s madison final at 5.15pm and the men’s sprint finals at 6.35pm 🥇
Sport climbing (5.30pm, 6.30pm and 9.10pm)
It’s the climax of the women’s event in three sessions with the medal at the end 🥇
Artistic swimming (7.30pm)
It is the team technical routine.
Table tennis (7.30pm)
There’s a bronze match earlier at 11am, but in the evening it is the men’s team gold medal match. Can Germany stop China making it a fourth straight win since this event was introduced in 2008? Probably not 🥇
Athletics (7.50pm-10.55pm)
There is only one session in the stadium and it is mostly finals: the women’s javelin, the men’s 5,000m, the women’s 400m, the women’s 1,500m – which will feature Lisa Muir and the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan – and it then ends with the women’s and men’s 4x100m finals 🥇
Football (9pm)
The rescheduled women’s final between Sweden and Canada 🥇
How does one realise one has a talent for competitive walking? Anyone know, please do holler to the email or Twitter above.
In 25 minutes, we will have SPORT! Tom Bosworth repped for Great Britain in the 20km walk, and though I’m not sure he found it enjoyable, I daresay he was happy to get out there.
Updated
It’s easy to see why this hadn’t happened, but I’m surprised it’s taken this long for it to happen.
So is podiumin’.
Incredible scenes @AlexScott. What a class act. https://t.co/YPcMxierhz pic.twitter.com/ekxgqJjfaB
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) July 31, 2021
Here’s a roundup of GB’s recent activities.
In other news: Pep Guardiola has finally found himself a tricksy midfielder.
This week’s Classic YouTube has a little digest of Olympic fun, along with lots of other joy.
Eesh.
One of the things I enjoy most about the Olympics is the age-range of the competitors. Nevin Harrison is 19.
OK Boomer Boomer KO.
Back to today yesterday earlier:
We are an hour and 20 minutes from SPORT! The final of the men’s 50km walk – I’m far from certain there was a heat – heat, maybe but not a heat – gets going at 5.30am local time. There are 59 entrants, presumably now necking pasta and chozzing gels, at ten past four in the morning.
Updated
Jumping to something new, I enjoyed this on Harry Garside.
Garside has made a habit of doing things differently. He incorporated ballet into his boxing training, and his dancing feet can be seen on full display in the ring. ‘I’m not going to lie, I’d always wanted to try ballet,’ he recently said. ‘I say I do it for boxing, but really, I have always wanted to dance.’”
You’d’ve took it.
Here’s the thing: nothing travels around the world – across borders, continents, cultures, religions, sexes, ages and orientations – like sport does. We’re blessed to have sportsfolk who realise this, and whether by campaigning or just being themselves, they’re making the world a better place.
Updated
I love listening to Dina Asher-Smith talk – I bet she’d be great on telly if she fancied doing that when she’s done on the track. But in the meantime, there’s work to do.
Ross Tucker has been writing about the science of sport for a long time – you can read some of his work on the site. Here, he notes that authorities have previously told us sport is clean because of random out of competition testing, and that stopped during the pandemic...
🗣️ 'It feels like humans have made a breakthrough in the last 18 months...'
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) August 5, 2021
🗣️ 'There's reason to doubt what we see.'
Ross Tucker considered the likelihood of doped athletes at these #Olympics | #OTBAM @GilletteUK #BestFaceForward
FULL VIDEO ➡️ https://t.co/xiL9SxLWmh pic.twitter.com/Y5tYufovLO
Everyone has a story and it’s great.
It has been a rapid rise for Australia’s fastest-flourishing women’s beach volleyball combination in some time. Artacho del Solar, a 27-year-old of Peruvian heritage who was born in Lima and moved to Sydney when she was 11, played at the 2016 Games with then partner Nicole Laird and did not win a match. Clancy, a 29-year-old Indigenous Australian who grew up more than 200km from the nearest beach in the rural Queensland town of Kingaroy, was also in Rio and made the quarter-finals with the now-retired Louise Bawden.”
Updated
Talking of Twitter, one of my little joys of these Games has been Elaine Thompson Herah’s @FastElaine handle. Like Ronseal, it does what it says on the tin.
If you never try, you'll never know. You are what you manifest. I had it all written down 📝 #hisplan#hiswillhiswaymyfaith#believeinyourself pic.twitter.com/u3fgQQwyvs
— Elaine Thompson Herah (@FastElaine) August 3, 2021
Sometimes, survival is about navigating the thin line between rage and joy
— Elaine Thompson Herah (@FastElaine) August 1, 2021
malebo sephodi
Happy Emancipation Day Jamaica 🇯🇲 pic.twitter.com/l6sh7QhRmd
This is so great, and watching Tom Daley grow up and find happiness has been too.
.@TomDaley1994 has finished knitting his Olympic cardigan and it's absolutely brilliant ✨ pic.twitter.com/TDIncSc3J1
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) August 5, 2021
But let’s now take it back to the start of the day, beginning with this.
Quinn and Canada’s manager, Bev Priestman, is both from County Durham and excellent.
But back to the football, if you’re not familiar with Quinn, the Canadian midfielder, you should be; they’re an inspiration.
And on which point:
On which point:
As such, the men’s bronze medal match has been brought forward to 6pm local time, with Sweden v Canada now scheduled for 9pm. If only they’d known in advance that it gets got in Japan at this time of year.
It’s less than two years until the next World Cup, to be held in Australia and New Zealand.
Grim, and one for whoever is the next genius to tell us that sport and politics don’t mix.
“Speaking of the pentathlon,” says Sammy Lopez, “my first neurologist, who obviously had a MD degree, also had a PhD degree; after googling, I discovered he was also an Italian modern team pentathlete and has an Olympic medal (bronze I think). I mean, overachieve much? Was a GREAT doc!”
I’ll bet, even if Piers Morgan would have no time for his Olympic achievement. But what he any good at Tetris, or chucking a shoe over a pub?
“No chance a XIIIth century knight would practice handgun shooting,” emails Olivier Bourassin. “Actually, the sport was invented by Pierre de Coubertin at the turn of the last century to feature various military competencies of the time: running, shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding. When first introduced in 1912, it was actually reserved for actual soldiers! It is a rare example of a sport invented completely out of the blue, very similar to biathlon in the winter sports, supposed to represent what a hunter would practice in winter.”
I’d be up for the eating, drinking and falling asleep part of that challenge. No idea why he omitted it from competition.
But let’s begin with a few suggestions to the urban pentathlon discussed below:
– Public transport jibbing
– Smoke in a storm with one Swan Vesta and no box lighting
– Hoody in a sauna wearing
– Jaywalking
– Train surfing
Updated
Thanks Paul and hi everyone. Believe it or not, we’re only three hours and 25 minutes away from SPORT! The men’s 50km race walk starts at 530am local time, but between now and then we’ll look back at what we’ve just seen and forward to what we’re about to see. Onwards...
Thanks for all your time and emails today. I’m off. My colleague Daniel Harris is taking over now. Enjoy the Games.
An email from David Wall, who has a new twist on the multi-sport event:
How about a target-pentathlon to see who is the sharpest shooter across a range of disciplines, and incorporating traditional and more modern Olympic sports?
You could start with archery, then trap-shooting, target javelin, the football crossbar challenge (higher points awarded for hitting it from greater distances), and finishing with basketball shooting from the free-throw line (you keep accumulating points until you miss). And to add an extra challenge, all the events are to be completed one after the other, with the whole event against the clock (time-penalties added similar to show-jumping). And you could get Jeremy Renner to present the medals for a bit of celebrity tie-in.
Our global environment editor Jonathan Watts has been writing about the hottest Games in history and how sport will have to change in a climate-disrupted world.
Olympic athletes and volunteers in Tokyo are being “tortured” by dangerous heat, meteorologists have warned. Temperatures hit 34C in the Japanese capital on Thursday with humidity of nearly 70%. Athletes and sports scientists say this combination of heat and moisture has led to “brutal” conditions, which must be avoided at future events.
This could limit the range for endurance sports in terms of geography, season and time of day. Pressure will grow for big events to be moved to cooler seasons, higher latitudes, morning and evenings. Many elite athletes, like many specialist species, will see their habitat shrink.
This Olympics has highlighted the risk of trying to continue with sporting business as usual. At least two tennis players retired mid-match with heat exhaustion – Zarina Diyas and Spain’s Paula Badosa, with Badosa taken off-court in a wheelchair. In the men’s singles quarter-final, Daniil Medvedev needed two medical timeouts. “I can finish the match, but I can die,” he told the umpire. “If I die, are you going to be responsible?”
After the game, Medvedev said he hadn’t been able to breathe, felt “darkness” in his eyes and “was ready to just fall down on the court”. World No 1, Novak Djokovic said the conditions were more brutal than anything he had experienced in a 20-year career
Thomas Hopkins has emailed with a suggestion for our new multi-sport event.
I strongly support Paul Haynes’s initiative of having a showcase of Olympics past, but can I lobby for the inclusion of the Plunge for Distance? The VAR possibilities alone would be delicious.
In case you’re unfamiliar with Plunge for Distance, it featured at the 1904 Games in Paris and is summed up in this short video.
The key events for tomorrow, via our daily briefing.
(All events are listed in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for Belfast, 13 hours for New York and 16 hours for San Francisco.)
Modern pentathlon (2.30pm-7.30pm)
You’ll never convince me that the sports making up the modern pentathlon weren’t drawn out of a hat in 1912 when someone asked people to write down things they thought a 13th-century French knight would be able to do, but it is undoubtedly compelling viewing. The women today go swimming from 2.30pm, fencing at 3.45pm, do a bit of showjumping at 5.15pm and then finish it off with a combined cross-country hike and a bit of laser-shooting where you don’t get penalised for misses, but the faster you can hit five targets the faster you can get running again. Unmissable stuff 🥇
Race walk (5.30am and 4.30pm)
Yes, that’s 5.30am in Sapporo for the men’s 50km race walk. The women race walk 20km in the afternoon. Imagine having to get up for a 5.30am start 🥇
Golf (7.30am)
Two hours after the men start the 50km race walk, it’s a leisurely 7.30am start for round three of the women’s golf
Hockey (10.30am and 7pm)
Team GB’s women go for bronze against India in the morning, then Argentina and the Netherlands hockey it out for the gold in the evening 🥇
Basketball (1.40pm and 8pm)
Women’s semi-finals. The US have an approximately 1,057-year long winning streak and face Serbia in the first match. The hosts play France in the evening.
Water polo (3.30pm and 7.50pm)
There are some placing matches as well, but the real meat is the men’s semi-finals. Greece v Hungary in the afternoon, and Serbia v Spain in the evening. Expect fireworks.
Track cycling (3.30pm-7.15pm)
Highlights include the women’s madison final at 5.15pm and the men’s sprint finals at 6.35pm 🥇
Sport climbing (5.30pm, 6.30pm and 9.10pm)
It’s the climax of the women’s event in three sessions with the medal at the end 🥇
Artistic swimming (7.30pm)
It is the team technical routine.
Table tennis (7.30pm)
There’s a bronze match earlier at 11am, but in the evening it is the men’s team gold medal match. Can Germany stop China making it a fourth straight win since this event was introduced in 2008? Probably not 🥇
Athletics (7.50pm-10.55pm)
There is only one session in the stadium and it is mostly finals: the women’s javelin, the men’s 5,000m, the women’s 400m, the women’s 1,500m – which will feature Lisa Muir and the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan – and it then ends with the women’s and men’s 4x100m finals 🥇
Football (9pm)
The rescheduled women’s final between Sweden and Canada 🥇
I really like this. Paul Haynes has suggested a new multi-sport event comprised of events that featured at past Olympics but are no longer included.
A showcase of Olympics past (individual and team):
Tug of war
Jeu de paume
Standing Jump
Croquet
Pelota
Cannon Shooting
GlidingIt might also take the pressure off the Olympics committee for getting rid of sports, knowing that they can include them in a future version of the showcase discipline.
Not only has Paul come up with a great idea there, but he’s also worked out how to persuade the IOC. Brilliant.
Updated
My colleague Martin Belam has just sent out his daily briefing on the Games. You can receive his daily epistle on the action every day at 5pm BST via email.
It’s the perfect place to hear about the day’s action – with sections devoted to Team GB, USA, Australia and the hosts – and it also serves as a great preview for what’s happening next in Tokyo.
Martin has included this great story in his email today:
Having finished second in their semi-final at the 1900 Olympics, Dutch rowers François Brandt and Roelof Klein figured the only advantage they could get for the final would be to ditch their adult cox for a smaller one, and recruited a random French kid to steer their boat in the final. They won, and that child is now believed to be the youngest Olympic champion ever – with a photo of the three of them together suggesting he may potentially have been as young as seven. Nobody ever recorded who he was, and the medals are now credited to the “mixed Olympic team” rather than the Dutch.
Read the email to see the picture of the seven-year-old champion.
Ralph Silva has emailed to suggest his own multi-sport event. He even has a name for it: the Urban Pentathlon
How about a 21st-century update to the modern pentathlon? Comprised of skateboarding, BMX freestyle, parkour, bouldering and an e-sport (though I doubt the IOC would welcome the last one).
I think there’s something in this. Thanks Ralph.
This is an interesting debate. Climbing has clearly proven popular at the Olympics. Social media and Google search data will tell you that much.
But, as a competition, is it fair? Or, as Tom Dart asks here, was the scoring system designed to drive everyone up the wall?
How does it feel to win an Olympic medal? Noah Lyles, bronze medallist in the 200 metres, has an answer.
Not going to lie getting an Olympic medal feels like catching a legendary Pokémon
— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) August 5, 2021
Does the Olympics need a new multi-sport event?
Matthew Pinsent – who, it should be said, only even won medals in one event – has had a brainwave. He wants a more varied event that would test athletes in all sorts of ways. He has suggested his own “weird octathon” – a name I like.
Pinsent has a point. The decathlon and heptathlon are variations on a few themes, and the triathlon only has three disciplines. So, which disciplines should be included in our new multi-sport Olympic event? Drop me an email and I’ll do all I can to ensure your suggestions are included at Paris 2024.
Idea - multi-sport event for an all-round test of Olympic achievement. I'll open with weightlifting, gymnastics beam, 50km race walk and omnium cycling. Day two windsurfing, open water swimming, showjumping and then a gentle marathon to finish. Weird octathlon! #superstars
— Matthew Pinsent (@matthewcpinsent) August 5, 2021
Updated
Who would want to learn life lessons from people who are both younger and more talented than you? Not me. But even I enjoyed this. And it’s true; this has been a spectacular summer for sport and its broader impact.
Updated
My colleague Tumaini Carayol was at the Budokan arena today to watch the karate. It sounds fascinating.
Tucked away in the heart of Kitanomaru park, built on ancient Edo period castle grounds and a leisurely walk from the Imperial Palace, the Nippon Budokan sits handsomely. The Budokan, as it is known, has had so many uses over the years, from Led Zeppelin concerts to Muhammad Ali’s famed hybrid rules fight with Antonio Inoki, that it is often difficult to keep track.
But in a world of failed Olympic legacies and discarded stadiums, its initial reason for existence remains relevant as ever. The arena was built just in time for the 1964 Olympics, when it was the first site of judo’s enduring presence in the Games. It has, in its time, become an iconic venue for martial arts. On Wednesday, it assumed a similar role as in 1964 by welcoming karate into the Olympic Games.
The island of Okinawa in Japan is where karate’s heart resides and its first Olympic showcase is a consequence of its popularity here. Over the final days of the Olympics two distinctive styles are on show. In the kata, as demonstrated in the early rounds of the women’s competition on Thursday morning, the karatekas choose from 102 predetermined series of techniques and then perform them with as much precision and dynamism as they can.
What seems difficult to follow in theory is relatively easy. The two outstanding performers were instantly clear, with the precision and speed of Japan’s Kiyou Shimizu instantly distinguishing her in her pool. She was joined in the final by the dominant power of Sandra Sánchez, the 39-year-old undisputed number one who is widely considered the greatest of all time in her category and who duly clinched the gold medal.
Lots of athletes win gold medals at the Olympics, but who other than Tom Daley could win an Olympic title while knitting a rather fetching cardigan?
It’s finished!
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
Check out the special @TeamGB cardigan Tom Daley knitted while watching diving action from the stands during #Tokyo2020.@TomDaley1994https://t.co/odmRSGrPxk
I meant to mention this fact about Kirani James – who won a bronze medal in the 400 metres today – but totally forgot about it amid all the excitement. Thankfully, Rakesh Nag has emailed and reminded me:
Kirani James won gold in London 2012, silver in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020. These are the only medals won by Grenada in the Olympics so far.
Alessandra Perilli has achieved a similar feat in this Olympics (winning all two of San Marino’s medals), but she won the silver in a mixed event – so does not have the 100% claim! San Marino now has the highest number of medals per capita – although being the country with smallest population to win a medal and then winning a second two days later, it was inevitable!
Thanks for that, Rakesh. Perilli won the team medal alongside her countryman Gian Marco Berti, who is a lawyer as well as a shooter. When asked about how his colleagues would react to his silver medal, Berti replied: “Lawyers are jealous people so they will probably not say anything about it.”
Some news that you might have missed earlier. The women’s football final between Sweden and Canada, which was meant to be played at 11am local time tomorrow, has been pushed back to 9pm local time. That’s 1pm in the UK.
The last line in our story is one of the most interesting: It is believed the 11am kick-off was picked at the behest of broadcasters in the US who were keen to show the final on prime time TV were the nation’s world champions to have reached the gold-medal match.
Argh. Him again. The loser of the US presidential election has attacked the team who won bronze at the Olympics.
Donald Trump, who spent significant portions of his presidency criticising athletes, has been strangely quiet during the Tokyo Olympics. But on Thursday he popped up to take aim at one of his favourite targets: the US women’s national soccer team.
“If our soccer team, headed by a radical group of Leftist Maniacs, wasn’t woke, they would have won the Gold Medal instead of the Bronze,” Trump said in a statement that failed to explain why Canada, whose team have spent much of the last week showing support for their non-binary and trans midfielder Quinn, are in the gold medal match.
This story is proving to be very popular on our website. USA did not qualify for the 4x100m relay final and Carl Lewis did not sympathise.
The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay. The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment.
This was a football coach taking a team to the Super Bowl and losing 99-0 because they were completely ill-prepared. It’s unacceptable. It’s so disheartening to see this because it’s people’s lives. We’re just playing games with people’s lives. That’s why I’m so upset. It’s totally avoidable. And America is sitting there rooting for the United States and then they have this clown show. I can’t take it anymore. It’s just unacceptable. It is not hard to do the relay.
An email from Nicholas Tilson, on a rare achievement for France.
France have managed to qualify teams in the men’s handball, basketball and volleyball finals. This is the first time this has happened since the Soviet Union did it in 1988. To add to that, the women’s handball and basketball teams play their semi-finals tomorrow.
A great spot from Nicholas. France will playing Denmark in the handball final, USA in the basketball final, and the ROC in the volleyball final. Chapeau!
Volleyball: Here are some results from the various volleyball events at the Games.
Indoor volleyball
France will play the ROC in the final of the men’s indoor event. France beat Argentina in straight sets today after the ROC had knocked out the defending champions Brazil. The final (and the bronze-medal match between Argentina and Brazil) will be held on Saturday.
The semi-finals of the women’s event will take place tomorrow: Brazil v South Korea and Serbia v USA.
Beach volleyball
The semi-finals of the men’s beach volleyball were played today. Norway beat Latvia, and the ROC beat Qatar. So, the final on Saturday pits Norway against the ROC, leaving Latvia and Qatar to battle it out for bronze.
The semis of the women’s beach volleyball were also played today. Australia beat Latvia, and USA beat Switzerland. Emma Kemp watched Australia book their place in the final ...
It has been a very good day for Australia, who are currently winning the battle for the top four in the medal table.
Your friend and mine, Gary Naylor, has been in touch about the toughest sports for commentators:
Hi Paul. Commentating on the Points Race in the velodrome can’t be easy – I’m not sure the competitors are entirely on top of what’s going on.
Congratulations to Australia, who have equalled their best ever performance at the Olympics with three days of competition still to come.
They’ve won 17 gold medals so far, the same as their total at the Athens Games in 2004. They’re now fourth on the medal table behind China (34 golds), USA (29 golds) and Japan (22 golds).
I’ll let you into a secret. I’m writing a big Olympics quiz, which we will publish early next week. One of the questions will be about the age difference between the youngest and oldest medallists at these Games. If you read this article by Martin Belam, you’ll probably get the answer right.
Want to contribute to my quiz? Send me an email with your best Tokyo 2020 trivia.
We were having a debate on the liveblog earlier this week about the toughest events at the Olympics. How about a slightly different question today: which event do you think would be the most difficult to commentate on?
I bring this up as I’m currently watching some Kata – one of the two types of karate at the Games – and it’s not easy to work out who is doing it well and who is doing it badly. They all look very impressive so I’m just going to assume they’re as incredible as each other.
Commentating on the swimming marathon must be tricky too. Not only because it’s hard to work out who is who in the water, but also because the swimmers are in the water for a long time without much changing. It has the drinks breaks to break up the action but, other than that, the commentator has to talk around the subject for extended periods. At one point during the women’s race the other night, one commentator segued into a discussion about his favourite sushi restaurants.
Have an opinion? Drop me an email at Paul.Campbell@theguardian.com
An exhausted, emotional and victorious Nafi Thiam has been describing how she feels after winning gold in the heptathlon.
I’m still in shock. it’s been two difficult years with a lot of up and downs and physical problems and in my head I wasn’t always in the right place. I’m happy, it’s paid off in the end and now I want to enjoy my holidays I think I need some time off. I’m just exhausted. I don’t really have the words right now.
Here’s a little trivia about Thiam: she studied geography at the University of Liège. This is what she said about her choice of subject: “I like climatology, I like geomorphology, I like a lot of subjects – like a heptathlon. Maybe that’s why I love it.”
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The best photos at the Olympics today. The hockey one is my favourite.
Dallas Oberholzer is a 46-year-old Olympic skateboarder who previously worked as Janet Jackson’s chauffeur and was once nearly eaten by a jaguar in the Amazon. If that doesn’t suck you in, we’re done here.
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Basketball: USA will play France in the final of the men’s basketball.
France have beaten Slovenia 90-89 to set up a final against USA on Saturday. They are now guaranteed at least a silver medal.
USA overcame Australia 97-78 earlier today, although it wasn’t as simple as it sounds. They were 15 points behind in the second quarter before storming back thanks to fine performances from Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Slovenia will play Australia for a bronze medal on Saturday.
Our reporter Kieran Pender watched USA win earlier:
Holly Bradshaw – who has gone from beans to bronze – has been talking to the BBC about winning an Olympic medal in the pole vault.
This is what I’ve worked for my whole career. I’ve had so many ups and downs. It’s something that I’ve wanted so bad and it’s finally happened. It’s not sunk in. I don’t know what to say. I’m almost emotionless because I don’t know what emotion this is that I’m feeling. It’s relief, pure enjoyment and excitement. I’m proud of myself for sticking with it. I knew I could get there one day and I just can’t express how grateful I am to be involved in this sport and to finally get an Olympic medal, I can’t believe it.”
I absolutely love this line: “I’m almost emotionless because I don’t know what emotion this is that I’m feeling.” That sounds like a great song lyric.
Alberto Ginés López wins climbing gold for Spain!
Alberto Ginés López has won the first ever sport climbing gold at the Olympics. The 18-year-old finished above Nathaniel Coleman of the US and Jakob Schubert of Austria. Narasaki Tomoa of Japan narrowly missed out on a medal.
Alberto Gines Lopez of #ESP is the first ever #SportClimbing Olympic champion!
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
He takes #gold in the men’s combined final!#StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | @ifsclimbing pic.twitter.com/zq1VhFdutX
Risako Kawai has won another gold for Japan!
Risako Kawai, the defending Olympic champion and three-time world champion, has beaten Iryna Kurachkina of Belarus 5-0 in the 57kg wrestling final. She becomes just the third female wrestler to have won multiple Olympic gold medals. Her sister, Yukako Kawai, won gold in the 62kg division yesterday.
Holly Bradshaw won an Olympic medal for her country today in Tokyo. A year ago she was training at home during lockdown with what looks like a tin of beans attached to a pole.
I don’t know who is laughing at the decathletes – not me – but Thomas Atkins – has emailed to defend them:
Everyone likes to laugh at the big lummoxes lumbering round the 1,500m at the end of the decathlon, but these people are running 1,500m at 3km/min pace (the max setting on most treadmills – a speed I can just about manage for about 30 seconds at a flat-out sprint) after having done nine other events to elite standard. It’s an absolutely astonishing piece of athleticism, endurance and sheer will.
I agree Thomas, 100%.
Men’s decathlon: Here are the full results for the medal winners.
1. Damian Warner, Canada (9018)
2. Kevin Mayer, France (8726)
3. Ashley Moloney, Australia (8649)
🚨 GOLD MEDAL FOR #TEAMCANADA 🚨
— Team Canada (@TeamCanada) August 5, 2021
Damian Warner wins 🥇 at #Tokyo2020, and is Team Canada's first ever Olympic champion in the decathlon 🥇🤩🎉👏
Get the details ➡️ https://t.co/dR851GE9PI pic.twitter.com/WwjtVv4HDJ
Damian Warner wins gold for Canada in the men’s decathlon!
That was brilliant from Damian Warner. Not only has he won gold but he has also set a new Olympic record and broken the 9,000-point barrier! 9,018 points!
This gold medal has been some time coming after winning bronze at the Olympics in Rio in 2016, as well as bronze (2013), silver (2015), and bronze (2019) in the World Championships.
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In case you were hoping to see Katarina Johnson-Thompson on the podium in the heptathlon, she had to pull out of the event yesterday due to injury.
The full story as Holly Bradshaw brings home another medal for Team GB.
Women’s heptathlon: Nafissatou Thiam retains her gold medal!
Thiam has won gold for Belgium (6791 points), with Anouk Vetter (6689) and Emma Oosterwegel (6590) – both from the Netherlands – reaching the podium.
Noor Vidts (6571) missed out on a bronze medal by just 19 points. Argh. That’s gutting for the Belgian.
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Athletics: We’ve also reached the last event of the women’s heptathlon. For the record, here are the seven disciplines.
100m hurdles
High jump
Shot put
200 metres
Long jump
Javelin
800 metres
With only the 800m to go, Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium is the lead.
Men’s decathlon: It looks as if Damian Warner will be winning gold in the decathlon. With nine of the 10 events gone, the Canadian has a handsome lead.
The last event – the 1,500m – is coming up in 15 minutes or so. In case you were wondering – I always forget during the Olympic cycle – the 10 events are…
100 metres
Long jump
Shot put
High jump
400 metres
110 metres hurdles
Discus
Pole vault
Javelin
1,500 metres
While we’ve been enjoying the men’s 400 metres, a few big events have been taking place elsewhere in Tokyo.
Beach volleyball: the first of the men’s semi-finals has begun at Shiokaze Park. Norway are a set up against Latvia. The second semi-final, between Qatar and ROC, will be coming up straight after as the teams compete for a place in the final on Saturday.
Handball: Spain and Denmark are currently competing for a place in the men’s handball final. Denmark have taken an early lead in that match. France beat Egypt 27-23 earlier in the other semi-final.
Indoor volleyball: the second semi-final in the men’s indoor volleyball has also begun. France are playing Argentina for the chance to face ROC in the final. They beat the favourites, Brazil, three sets to one in the other semi-final earlier today.
Wrestling: Kawai Risako of Japan and Iryna Kurachkina of Belarus are fighting it out for a gold medal in the 57kg women’s wrestling. The hosts will be hoping for another gold medal there.
It’s all go in Tokyo.
Men’s 400m: Here are the full results:
Steven Gardiner 43.85
Anthony José Zambrano 44.08
Kirani James 44.19
Michael Cherry 44.21
Michael Norman 44.31
Christopher Taylor 44.79
Isaac Makwala 44.94
Liemarvin Bonevacia 45.07
Just in case you were wondering, Wayde van Niekerk, who set a world record of 43.03 in the 400m final in Rio five years ago, was not in the final. He has struggled with a series of injuries since tearing his anterior cruciate knee ligament in 2017. He finished fourth in his semi-final, which wasn’t enough to reach today’s final.
Steven Gardiner, the reigning world champion, took gold. With Shaunae Miller-Uibo hoping to retain her women’s 400m title from Rio five years ago, the Bahamas could be on course for a spectacular double.
Kirani James had been the quickest semi-finalists with a very fast time of 43.88 – which would have been enough for a silver medal in the final – but he had to settle for bronze behind Anthony José Zambrano of Colombia.
The two Americans – Michael Cherry and Michael Norman – finished just outside of the medals.
Thanks Barry and hello all. Drop me an email at Paul.Campbell@theguardian.com or send me a tweet. It’d be great to hear from you.
Sayōnara everybody: After a fairly hectic few hours, it’s time for me to plunge myself into an ice bath. Thanks for your company and I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of Paul Campbell, who tells me he is feeling very Olympic today.
Men’s hockey: Australia suffered shoot-out heartbreak in their gold medal match against Belgium at the Oi Stadium. Kieran Pender was there for the Guardian.
Athletics: Steven Gardiner adds the Olympic 400m gold to his world title. Michael Norman made all the early running for the USA but faded on the run-in to finish fifth. His compatriot Michael Cherry ran a personal best in fourth place.
Men’s 400m podium
- Gold: Steven Gardiner (Bahamas) 43.85sec
- Silver: Anthony Zambrano (COlombia) 44.08sec
- Bronze: Kirani James (Grenada) 44.19sec
Steven Gardiner wins 400m gold ...
Athletics: The man from the Bahamas looked in trouble in the home straight but pulled a little extra out of the bag to win in a time of 43.85sec.
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Athletics: There’s barely a pause for breath as the competitors for the men’s 400m final are introduced and get on their marks.
Nageotte encouraging her rival when she is attempting a vault that could make her lose the gold medal. A very special moment. What a beautiful Olympic champion she is.
— Philippe Auclair (@PhilippeAuclair) August 5, 2021
Philippe speaks the truth. While Sidorova was preparing for her only attempt at 4.95m, Nageotte joined in the rhythmic clapping to help send her on her way up the runway.
Kudos to Katie Nageotte, who takes women's pole vault gold aftyer clearing 4.90, with ROC's Anzhelika Sidorova winning silver and GB's Holly Bradshaw takes bronze. They all look genuinely chuffed.
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) August 5, 2021
Nageotte wins women's pole vault gold
Athletics: With two faults to her name from earlier rounds, Sidorova fails with her only attempt at 4.95m. She has to settle for silver, while AMerican Katie Nageotte wins the gold medal.
Athletics: Bradshaw will take the bronze. She’s failed with her third attempt at 4.90m but looks delighted with her day’s work. Sidorova and Nageotte will contest gold and silver with the bar raised to 4.95cm.
Athletics: Bradshaw fails to clear 4.90m with her second attempt. America’s Katie Nageotte clears it to vault into the lead. Holly Bradshaw has been demoted to bronze for the time being. ROC’s Anzhelika Sidorova is the other athlete in the medal mix.
Bradshaw guaranteed a medal in the pole vault
Athletics: Great Britain’s Holly Bradshaw is currently in second place in the women’s pole vault, while Greek reigning champion Katerina Stefanidi has just gone out. Bradshaw is guaranteed a medal ... but what colour will it be? 4.90m is the height.
Confirmed! Belgium win men's hockey gold!!!
Jake Whetton misses his shot at redemption and the Autralians have been beaten. Belgium win the gold medal, Australia have to make do with silver. That was very exciting.
Belgium *don't* win men's hockey gold!!! Yet!!!
Jake Whetton gets to retake his penalty for an unintentional foul by Vincent Vanasch, who looks gutted.
Belgium win men's hockey gold!!!
Or do they? The European side beat their Antipodean rivals in the shoot-out ... but what’s this? There’s some dispute over Australia’s final missed “penalty”. Did Belgium goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch foul Jake Whetton?
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Men’s hockey: Belgium mniss with their thirtd attempt, with Aussie goalkeeper Andrew Charter pulling off a save. Australia fail to capitalise, with Joshua Simmons missing their fourth pen.
Men’s hockey: Belgium have the upper hand in the shootout against Australia, who missed with their first attempt. Belgium have scored their first two.
Skateboarding: A few minutes after he had finished skating in the Olympics, Dallas Oberholzer, 46, from Durban, South Africa, launched into a story about the time he was nearly eaten by a jaguar while he was travelling in the Amazon, writes Andy Bull. Read on ... because you have to really after an opening paragraph like that.
Men’s hockey: It’s all square between Australia and Belgium at the full-time hooter. Having scored one goal apiece, the gold medal match will be decided by a shoot-out. Five players from each team will have eight seconds to score against the opposition goalkeeper from a starting position on the 23 metre line.
Athletics: Josh Kerr and Jake Heyward have qualified for the final of the men’s 12,500m, with the latter running a personal best. Britain will have three runners in the final of 1,500m for the first time since 1984. Defending champion Matthew Centrowitz, from the USA, is out.
Men’s hockey: Australia and Belgium are contesting the final, where the score is 1-1 in the final quarter. Mopre news as we get it ...
Athletics: Holly Bradshaw has cleared 4m 70cm at her second attempt in the women’s pole vault. Quite a few of her big name rivals are struggling and only three have cleared that fairly routine height so far.
Athletics: Jake Wightman from Nottingham has won his heat of the men’s 1,500m with a commanding performance in a time of 3min 33.48sec.
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Athletics: The men’s decathlon is ongoing and after eight events, Canada’s Damian Warner leads with 7,490 points as he tries to improve on his third place in Rio. Australia’s Ashley Moloney is second with 7,269 and Canada’s Pierce Lepage is in third with 7,175.
An email: “I wonder with hindsight whether this was an Olympics too far for some of the team GB stalwarts?” asks Chris Bojke. “Given the investment in elite cycling and success of the new Olympians it seems hard to believe that there weren’t credible alternatives.
“It feels very harsh for those who have consistently delivered for us, but was this really the way for someone like Jason Kenny to bow out? I suppose he has a silver and joint record medal number, but he just seems so deflated and there is an opportunity denied to another Walls or Pidcock. The world has caught up since 2012 and we don’t have opportunity for golden farewells anymore.”
My understanding is that Kenny still has an event to go on Saturday and according to my old broadcasting mucker Bradley Wiggins, it will be no big surprise if he regroups over the next day or two and wins it. I’m not sure British riders have been particularly poor at Tokyo, it’s more that other countries who weren’t previously in the medal mix are finally catching up with them.
Superb last leg from Nicole Yeargin to get the British quartet through to the final. Proper grit that. #Olympics
— Kate Carter (@katehelencarter) August 5, 2021
Athletics: The USA, Jamaica and Great Britain qualify in first second and third from the second heat of the women’s 4x400m. Behind them, the Netherlands and Canada go through as fastest losers over the two heats.
Women’s football: Suzy Wrack was lucky enough to be at the Ibaraki Kashima Stadium to see the USA triumph over Australia by the odd goal of seven in a thriller of a bronze medal match. Here’s how she saw the action unfold ...
Women’s football: Bev Priestman is a fully paid-up subscriber to the view that fortune favours the brave, writes Louise Taylor. “The teams and players that do great things are courageous,” says the first English coach to guide a team into an Olympic football final for 73 years.
On Friday the 35-year-old from Consett in County Durham will lead Canada out against Sweden in Tokyo hoping to match George Raynor’s achievement at Wembley in 1948.
Athletics: The heats of the women’s 4x400m relay are under way. Over on the track, the women’s 4x400m first heat has begun. The first three in each heat and two fastest losers will advance to the final. Poland, Cuba and Belgium finish in the one-two-three in heat one. Great Britain will be represented by Emily Diamond, Zoey Clark, Laviai Nielsen and Nicole Yeargin in the second heat.
Athletics: Holly Bradshaw has got off to a decent start in the women’s pole vault, clearing 4m 50cm with her first effort, to soothe any early jitters. The reigning champion, Katerina Stefanidi from Greece, made an absolute dog’s breakfast of her first attempt, failing to reach the bar, let alone clear it.
Football: More on that change of schedule from Suzy Wrack at the Kashima Stadium. “The women’s Olympic football final is set to be moved to later in the day and possibly switched to a different venue due to heat concerns,” writers Suzy. “The match between Sweden and Canada was originally scheduled to take place in the main Olympic Stadium in Tokyo and kick-off at 11am local time on Friday.”
Football: It seems the organisers have buckled in the face of demands from the teams contesting the men’s and women’s football finals, who would rather not have to listen to their own skin crackle under the burning sun as they go for gold.
Understand the men's and women's Olympic football finals will be moved. Lot of unhappiness among players with heat and field of play issues
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) August 5, 2021
Athletics: For the first time in the 125-year history of the Olympics the podium was the same in an individual event for consecutive Olympic Games – with the same athletes sitting in the same spots after the shot, writes Sean Ingle at the Olympic Stadium.
Men’s cycling: It’s taken a while but Matt Walls, a 23 year old from Oldham, has finally won Great Britain’s first gold medal in the velodrome. Read on ...
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Athletics: There’s British interest in the athletics over the next couple of hours. Holly Bradshaw is in action in the women’s pole vault, while the women’s 4x400m heats begin at 11.25am (BST), with the British quartet running in heat two. At noon, Jake White, Josh Kerr and Jake Heyward will compete in the men’s 1,500m semi-finals and at 1pm (BST) we have the eagerly awaited men’s 400m final, in which Britons will be conspicuous by their absence.
Women’s football: The USA have won the bronze medal at the Kashimo Stadium, prevailing by the odd goal of seven after quite the white-knuckle ride against Australia. An Emily Gielnik shot from distance made for a nervy final few minutes for Team USA, but they hung on for the win.
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Athletics: With just the 800m to go, it’s tight at the top of the heptathlon standings. Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam leads with 5,912 points and Anouk Vetter from the Netherlands is second with 5,848. Just a single point separates the USA’s Kenell Williams (5,642) and the Netherlands’ Emma Oosterwegel (5,641) in third and fourth.
Cycling: Jason Kenny has been talking to Eurosport following his elimination from the men’s individual sprint. “It was really tough,” he tells their pit reporter Bradley Wiggins. “I am disappointed but I’ve not got some kind of mad ego that can’t accept I’m not going to be the best in the world every single day of the week.
“It’s just one of those things. I’m not where I want to be, I’m not as competitive as I want to be and I just have to accept that. I have been scrapping, trying to get as far as I can in the hope of getting some silverware but it just wasn’t meant to be today.”
Kon’nichiwa everybody. So, another gold in the bag for Team GB, after a splendid ride in the omnium, while in the boxing ring, flyweight Galal Yafai has guaranteed himself a silver or gold by qualifying for the final against Carlo Paalam of the Philippines. Britain’s Liam Heath has won a medal, taking bronze in the Olympic kayak.
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Matt Walls speaks: “I managed to get a good lead coming into the end, came into that points race with a lead that gave me a bit of breathing room. Yeah it was a good race. As for all his nearest and dearest back home in Oldham: “Thank you to all my family and friends, I wouldn’t be here without them, supporting me when I was growing up and travelling round the country racing. Have fun!”
And with that, I’ll hand the baton over to Barry Glendenning. Bye.
GB's Matt Walls wins men's omnium gold!
Cycling: Walls’s early cushion proves decisive, enabling him to put in a commanding composed ride to ensure top spot on the podium. Viviani, the Rio 2016 champion, is pipped to silver by a stunning ride from Campbell Stewart of New Zealand with a brilliant late effort in the sprints. Viviani takes bronze.
Cycling: It starts well for Walls in the omnium, and he picks up 20 points for gaining a lap with 80 remaining (as well as five for the sprint). This gives Walls breathing space to ride a controlled race. He’s 27 points ahead, on 139, after four sprints.
Football: It’s now 4-2 to the USA against Australia, Carli Lloyd adding the Americans’ fourth and Foord getting one back for the Matildas.
Cycling: The final, 100-lap points race in the men’s omnium is under way, with Matt Walls well placed for gold.
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Showjumping: A blow for GB as Scott Brash and his horse Jefferson will not be part of the bid for a showjumping team medal, PA Media reports. Team GB said that Jefferson suffered a minor strain during Wednesday’s individual final, when Brash finished equal seventh. The newly-crowned Olympic individual champion Ben Maher will spearhead the team’s challenge on Explosion W, being joined by Holly Smith and Denver, while Harry Charles now completes the trio aboard Romero 88.
Cycling: Nicholas Paul was sanctioned for straying fractionally from the sprinter’s lame in his second best-of-three men’s sprint race against Denis Dmitriev of Not Russia. So it’s 1-1 and they go to a decider, in which Dmitriev wins but he too might have infringed for getting too close and overlapping Paul’s wheel, almost bringing him down. It’s being checked, and Paul might yet go through here.
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Shanne Braspennincx takes gold in the women's keirin
Cycling: Brilliant, dominant ride from the Dutch rider, with Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand snatching silver and Canada’s Lauriane Genest taking bronze.
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Time for a roundup of some of today’s main developments:
Britain’s 4x100m women have set a national record in their heat, with Dina Asher-Smith targeting redemption for her individual sprint disappointments. The men have a glimpse of a medal too, advancing in second behind Jamaica as the USA crashed out.
Massimo Stano of Italy has won the men’s 20km walk race. He’s followed home by Yamanishi Toshikazu and Ikeda Koki. There was a creditable top-10 finish for Britain’s Callum Wilkinson.
The British flyweight Galal Yafai is through to the final where he will face Carlo Paalam of the Philippines in the final.
Britain’s Liam Heath has won Olympic kayak bronze.
China’s Quan Hongchen won gold in the women’s 10m diving
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Cycling: Carlin through, Kenny out. Jason Kenny is out in the men’s sprint quarters - he set the pace in his second best-of-three contest with Harrie Levreyson before getting reeled in on the final bend. Levreyson’s Dutch compatriot Jeffrey Hoogland is also through. In the third heat, there’s better news for GB as Jack Carlin records a magnificently controlled victory over Maximilian Levy of Germany, forcing his opponent out to the top of the track and denying him an opening before kicking for home in style. In the final quarter-final Nicholas Paul of Trinidad also advances.
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Football: in the carefree spirit of third-placed play-offs, the goals are flying in in the women’s bronze medal match, with three in the first 21 minutes. The USA lead Australia 2-1, with Megan Rapinoe scoring twice.
Wrestling: There’s been an upset with the USA’s Gable Steveson stunning the Rio champion Taha Akgul of Turkey in the quarter-finals of the men’s freestyle super heavyweight category on Thursday, Steveson winning 8-0.
Athletics: More on that KJT statement:
I don’t know where to begin in trying to explain how I feel. Only a handful of people understand what I have been through. An even smaller amount understand the mental and physical challenges I’ve faced trying to make it back in time through a pandemic after my Achilles rupture at the back end of December.
To make it to the line was a miracle, not only to do that but to be on my way to putting a decent score together is heartbreaking. I truly believed I was capable of winning a medal despite having up to half a year of missed training.
Cycling: Brilliant from Matt Walls in the gruelling men’s omnium elimination race, with its multiple sprints and last-rider eliminations. Walls stays composed and in the pack but gets himself boxed in for a while before hitting the front for a spell after the ninth sprint. Walls’ rival Larsen is out after sprint 13, and Walls himself survives a scare on sprint 15 but pips Benjamin Thomas and sends the Frenchman out. Walls hits the front with three riders remaining, and takes on Viviani in the last two, who takes the race with Walls second. This puts the British rider in the gold medal position. Cracking race, that.
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Cycling: In the women’s keirin semi-final, the world champion Emma Hinze of Germany has missed out, trailing in last in a race won by Shanne Braspennnincx of the Netherlands. The Canadians Kelsey Mitchell and Lauriane Genest of Canada and the Russian Daria Shmeleva advanced behind here
Football: Australia and the USA are about to start their women’s bronze medal match, and Emma Kemp is describing it in detail here:
Cycling: Jason Kenny’s reign as men’s individual sprint champion looks near to the end as Harrie Levreyson pips him in the first race of their best-of-three quarter-final, despite a strong late charge from the British rider. The old order changeth as the Dutch dominate. In the first heat Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands won from France’s Sebastien Vigier. Better news for GB comes in heat three as Jack Carlin brilliantly steals the lead on the last lap, beating Maximilian Levy of Germany.
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Boxing: Britain’s Galal Yafai is guaranteed at least silver after making it into the final of the men’s flyweight category after a narrow points win over Saken Bibossinov in a three-round firefight. Barney Ronay has more
Cycling: In the men’s omnium Van Schip of the Netherlands tops the leaderboard in the draining tempo race with Benjamin Thomas of France and GB’s Matt Walls third and well in contention.
Athletics: Katarina Johnson Thompson has released a statement about her injury struggles that derailed her heptathlon medal bid: “I don’t know where to begin to explain how I feel, I’d started the year in a wheelchair so was not willing to end my Olympic campaign in the same way. More than ever I’m proud I showed up and put myself out there and tried … It will take a lot of time for me to process this reality.” More on this later
Athletics: Some serious fallout from the USA men’s relay team’s earlier failure, with none other than Carl Lewis letting rip:
The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay. The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw.
Fancy a bit of arty Olympic photography? Then savour this gallery of Tokyo 2020 in sunshine and in shadow:
Cycling: in the men’s sprint repechage, a composed ride from the front by Jason Kenny takes him through.
Diving: Quan Hongchen takes women’s 1om platform gold! The teenage Chinese diver had established an unassailable lead and wins from her compatriot Chen Yuxi, who takes silver. China have now won six of seven golds in the diving this year. A brilliant final dive gives Australia’s Melissa Wu the bronze. Wu’s bronze medal is her first individual medal at her fourth Olympics, after she won silver with Briony Cole in the 10m synchronised platform event at the 2008 Beijing Games.
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Boxing: The Not-Russia boxer Albert Batyrgaziev has won men’s featherweight gold, holding off a late charge by the USA’s Duke Ragan to take the title. The 23-year-old Russian southpaw won on a split 3–2 decision.
Thanks Scott, and a cycling blow for GB in the velodrome, with Katie Marchant crashing out in the women’s keirin quarter-finals after a collision with the Dutch rider Lauren van Riessen. “Wrong place, wrong time, Marchant tells the BBC, but she has escaped largely unhurt while Van Riessen receives treatment on the track.
Women’s 10m platform final: is it possible to improve on perfection? Probably not but Chinese teen Quan Hongchan is giving it a fair old go. The 14-year-old is soaring (and descending) towards a gold medal, having almost executed another Perfect 10 with her fourth dive.
With that, I’ll hand you over to Tom Davies. Thanks for your company. See you tomorrow.
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Women’s 10m platform final: another devastatingly precise dive from 14-year-old Chinese Quan Hongchan, who third time around very nearly pulled off another perfect score. Hongchan is out on front, with countrywoman Chen Yuxi sitting second and Australia’s Melissa Wu clinging onto the bronze medal position.
The athletes get all the recognition at the Olympics, and rightly so, but an enormous amount of work goes on behind the scenes to make the Games the fortnight of fun, frivolity and fanfare that it is.
Take it away, Samantha Rajasingham:
Randomly woke up early and now watching skateboarding to start the day. Can we just give a shout-out to the studio director for the skateboarding park finals? The way they kept the sense of flow and the overall sense of space was everything for sport that benefits when you get a sense of the geometry and physics at play! Tldr… thanks director! You were awesome, as were the skatepark camerapeople.
Well said, um, written, Samantha.
In case you missed it, Keegan Palmer won men’s park skateboarding gold on another big day for Australia.
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Women’s 10m platform final: Quan Hongchan, the 14-year old from China, is the diver to beat after executing a perfect inward 3½ somersault to shoot to the lead after two dives. Australia’s Melissa Wu is right in the thick of it after commencing with two superb dives. An elusive individual Olympic medal could yet be hers.
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Women’s heptathlon: Belgian Nafissatou Thiam, the gold medalist in Rio five years ago, surged to the lead after taking out the long jump and javelin events earlier today, but her lead is a slender one with just the 800m remaining tonight. Team GB’s highly ranked Katarina Johnson-Thompson is out of the event after a day to forget yesterday.
- Nafissatou Thiam (BEL) - 5912 points
- Anouk Vetter (NED) - 5848 points
- Kendell Williams (USA) - 5642 points
- Emma Oosterweggel (NED) - 5641 points
- Noor Vidts (BEL) - 5592 points
Men’s basketball: If Team USA were lacklustre in the first half against Australia they were utterly dominant after half-time. It was a brutal show of strength by the best team on the planet. A 16th Olympic gold beckons.
Men’s decathlon: not much change at the top following the conclusion of the eighth event - pole vault - earlier today, with world champion Kevin Mayer still out of the medal positions with just javelin and 1500m to go.
- Damian Warner (CAN) - 7490 points
- Ashley Moloney (AUS) - 7269 points
- Pierce Lepage (CAN) - 7175 points
- Kevin Mayer (FRA) - 7129 points
- Garrett Scantling (USA) - 7026 points
More on the mysterious case of Belarus sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya.
Men’s basketball semi-finals: Team USA are through to the gold medal match after beating Australia 97-78 in the semi-final. The Americans took everything the Boomers could throw at them, coming from 15 points down in the second quarter to win with ease in the end.
Australia really did dominate much of the first half, taking a 45-42 lead into the long break, but the reigning Olympic champions lifted both offensively and defensively in the second half, putting the game to bed with a 32-10 third quarter. Kevin Durant (23 points) and Devin Booker (20 points) were standouts for Team USA, while Patty Mills had 15 points and eight assists for Australia.
So Team USA march onwards to another Olympics decider - against either Slovenia or France - where they will be shooting for a 16th men’s gold medal and fourth in a row. More heartbreak for the Boomers but they will still have a chance to win a first Olympic medal in the bronze medal encounter.
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Men’s basketball semi-finals: baskets are coming a little easier for Australia now after that wretched third quarter. But the game has opened up and they continue to come easy for Team USA. The Americans hold a seemingly insurmountable 86-68 lead and have called a time-out following a Patty Mills three-pointer with 5.23 remaining in the game. Kevin Durant (23 points) has mostly been rested in the fourth quarter but Devin Booker has picked up the slack to register 20 of his own. Too good, USA, too classy.
Time now for a quick round-up of Team GB action so far today, to service those readers just waking up.
- Athletics: Britain’s 4x100m relay women ran the fastest ever heat at an Olympics – and set a national record in the process; the men’s 4x100m team are through to the final; Andrew Pozzi finishes seventh in the 110m hurdles final
- Canoe sprint: Liam Heath won a bronze medal in the K1 200m
- Coming up: Galal Yafai goes for boxing gold in men’s flyweight final; track cycling continues; and Tom Bosworth is in the 20km race walk
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Men’s basketball semi-finals: Team USA have tightened up defensively, denying the room to move Australia had in the first half, and the Americans take a 74-55 lead into the final break - a remarkable 34-point turnaround after the Boomers led by 15 points during the second quarter. USA’s entire game has improved, breaching Australia’s defensive zone with increasing ease and now killing it on the outside - after missing their first nine three-pointers they are now 6/21 from the perimeter.
That was a 32-10 third quarter by Team USA. An incredible flexing of muscle. Devin Booker outscored Australia on his own in that stanza.
These are the Tokyo Olympics. They are also the Lisa Carrington Olympics. Take a bow, GOAT in a boat.
Men’s basketball semi-finals: Huge three-pointer by Patty Mills but then Devin Booker responds in kind and Team USA now lead Australia 59-50 as Australia call a time-out with 4.34 remaining in the third quarter.
Men’s basketball semi-finals: Team USA have started the third quarter as they ended the second - on top. Australia’s 15-point lead seems a long time ago and now the Americans lead 54-47 with six minutes remaining. Kevin Durant is doing it at both ends, denying Jock Landale a certain alley-oop and then following up with two baskets of his own to take his game tally to 23. KD is single-handedly taking this game away from Australia.
Men’s hockey: India have come from behind to beat Germany 5-4 and take bronze. A big upset and India’s first Olympic medal since 1980 - the nation can add a second when India’s women face Team GB in Friday’s bronze medal match.
#IND has done it!
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
They overcome a two-goal deficit against #GER to win their first Olympic #Hockey medal since 1980!@fih_hockey @WeAreTeamIndia pic.twitter.com/WAj5vVvHBu
Big run by Team GB in the women’s 4x100m relay heats earlier today - and Dina Asher-Smith has some unfinished business to attend to.
Men’s basketball semi-finals: Australia lead Team USA 45-42 at half-time in what was a breathless half of basketball. The Boomers led by 15 points at one stage in the second quarter before the Americans started to find their range from the three-point line - having missed their first nine shots - and also through Australia’s zone defence. The long break has come at a good time for the Boomers, who noticeably tired as the half wore on. But not only are they in this semi against the mighty USA, they are in front.
Patty Mills is giving America’s defence lots to think about but Dante Exum, who leads Australia’s scorers with 10, looks sore after coming down heavily on his hip or side during the second quarter. Kevin Durant is proving to be the main offensive weapon for Team USA with 15 points.
This has been some Olympic Games for Australia. And it’s not over yet.
Men’s basketball semi-finals: Kevin Durant is ploughing a lone furrow for Team USA, scoring 13 of his team’s 30 points, but the Americans are virtually absent from range, going 0/9 from the perimeter compared to Australia’s 6/11. Mills then hits a huge three-pointer to illustrate the point, making it 44-31 to Australia with three minutes to play.
But Booker then hits Team USA’s first three with the deficit now 45-34.
Men’s basketball semi-finals: a Kevin Durant two-pointer, plus one from the charity strip, reduces Australia’s lead over Team USA but Dante Exum then hits a nice jump shot and Patty Mills follows up with a bucket under heavy pressure to extend Australia’s advantage to 39-26 with five minutes to play in the second quarter.
Make that 41-26! Exum feeds Landale for an alley-oop and the Americans have called a time-out. Australia are executing perfectly here. Can they keep it up?
Women’s high jump: 1.95m was the height du jour at qualifying this morning and congrats to Australia’s Eleanor Patterson and Nicola McDermott, both of whom are through to the final. Team USA’s Vashti Cunningham and Team GB’s Morgan Lake also progressed but no such luck for Brit Emily Borthwick, whose PB jump of 1.93m was not enough.
.@NMcDermott201 will achieve her teenage dream today when she jumps in the #Tokyo2020 Olympic High Jump qualifiers at Tokyo Stadium 😍#TokyoTogether #Athletics #highjump @AthsAust pic.twitter.com/QPQkm4yI9P
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) August 4, 2021
And there could be have been a bit of US history made earlier too, following Ryan Crouser’s shot put gold medal.
WILD #Olympics history tonight according to historian @bambam1729: the Men's Shot Put at #Tokyo2020 seems to be the first time EVER in an individual event where is an exact repeat of the podium.
— Jeff D #TeamUSA 🇺🇸 (@JeffDLowe) August 5, 2021
2016 & 2020:#Gold: Crouser #USA#Silver: Kovacs #USA#Bronze: Walsh #NZL
Crazy! https://t.co/Dl2IOOE7vM
Basketball: the Australian Olympic team has sent a small cheer squad to the arena in Saitama – 800m hero Peter Bol and swimmer Cate Campbell are among a contingent clad in green and gold. It has been a tight, cautious first quarter so far and may well turn into a battle of attrition. But the Boomers lead 24-18 as the buzzer brings the first quarter to a close.
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Keegan Palmer’s skateboard gold has ensured the Tokyo Games will be at least on a par with Australia’s most successful – they have now equalled their tally of 17 golds won in Athens in 2004. And with the Kookaburras in action later tonight, plus hopes for Melissa Wu and in the women’s high jump, they could yet open up daylight on the Athens vintage.
Basketball: Dante Exum leaps, salmon-like, for a dunk on a fast break but he’s thwarted by Kevin Durant, who’s called for a foul. Possibly a dubious call, but Exum sinks the free throws and the Boomers open up a three-point lead with five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Basketball: We’re up and running in Saitama and there’s little to separate the two teams with about seven and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter. It’s a decent start from the Boomers, and they lead Team USA, the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016 gold medal winners, 7-6.
Basketball: how’s this for a semi-final match-up then? The mighty USA and Australia are about to tip-off in Saitama with a place in the gold medal match at stake. Here’s our man on the ground Kieran Pender with his match preview:
Keegan Palmer (AUS) wins men's park skateboarding gold!
Keegan Palmer makes history with gold in the inaugural Olympic skateboard competition! Pedro Barros of Brazil takes silver and Cory Juneau bronze for the US.
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Australia win men's K2 1000m gold!
It was a titanic battle over the last 500m, Australia and Germany going stride for stride, but Australia’s Thomas Green and Jean van der Westhuyzen called on their last reserves of strength to pull away from the world champions and make it another gold for Australia at the Sea Forest Waterway and the nation’s 16th in total at the Tokyo Games. The Czech Republic rattled home for bronze.
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Lisa Carrington (NZL) wins women's K1 500m gold!
It’s a triple treat! The stuff of legend is transpiring before our very eyes as Carrington brushes aside a top-quality field to claim a third gold medal of at Tokyo 2020, adding the K1 500m title to her wins in the K1 200m and K2 500m. Hungary’s Tamara Csipes was a brave second with bronze going to Denmark’s Emma Aastrand Jorgensen.
Carrington now stands above all other Kiwis, claiming her sixth Olympic medal here to overtake the five won by fellow kayakers Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald and equestrian star Sir Mark Todd.
ANOTHER gold for #NZL's Lisa Carrington!
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
She wins the women's kayak single 500m - an incredible third Olympic gold of #Tokyo2020!@planetcanoe #CanoeSprint @TheNZTeam pic.twitter.com/lAIQs5Z4xf
Pedro Pichardo (POR) wins men's triple jump gold!
Pichardo jumps an Olympic record of 17.98m to take gold from China’s Yaming Zhu (17.57m, PB) and Hugues Fabrice Zango (17.47m), whose bronze is Burkina Faso’s first ever medal at an Olympic Games (including as Upper Volta). Team USA’s Will Claye was just 3cm behind Zango in fourth place while Donald Scott jumped a season-best 17.18m but could do no better than seventh place.
Pichardo, the world No 3, is a regular star turn at Diamond League events and now has an Olympic gold to add to his European Indoor title.
Just back to Team USA’s astonishing flop in the men’s 4x100m relay heats, and Carl Lewis is not mincing his words. This is a fair old crack from a man who wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t right.
The USA team did everything wrong in the men's relay. The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership. It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw .
— Carl Lewis (@Carl_Lewis) August 5, 2021
Ryan Crouser (USA) wins men's shot put gold!
He is the world’s finest and Crouser throws an Olympic record 23.30m just to prove it. The American was already in gold medal position but Crouser’s final throw trumped his own OR throw of 22.52 in Rio and was a mere 7cm behind the world record (which, of course, is his).
Joe Kovacs made it a 1-2 for Team USA with a throw of 22.65, while New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh threw a seasonal-best 22.47 to win bronze.
But this was Crouser’s day. He is head and (very large) shoulders above the rest.
Nevin Harrison (USA) wins women's K1 200m gold!
The K1 world champion becomes the first Team USA woman to win an Olympic canoe or kayak title, comfortably claiming gold from Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Ukraine’s Liudmyla Luzan.
#USA's Nevin Harrison wins gold in the women's canoe single 200m with a time of 45.932!@planetcanoe #CanoeSprint @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/3e9ajkkqMa
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
Men’s shot put final: things are really heating up at the National Stadium - both literally and figuratively - with Team USA occupying the first two places during the fifth round of attempts.
Ryan Crouser has thrown an Olympic record 22.92m to sit in the gold medal position and might even fancy knocking off his own world record with his final attempt. Countryman Joe Kovacs (22.65) is in sliver medal position, with New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh (22.18) presently in third place.
Hansle Parchment (JAM) wins men's 110m hurdles gold!
Team USA’s Grant Holloway, the overwhelming favourite, led from lane four but he had no answer to the withering burst of Hansle Parchment, who stormed past to take gold in 13.09. The Jamaican finally has a gold medal after coming so close in major meets in the past. The tiring Holloway clung on for silver, just in advance of Ronald Levy - meaning two spots on the podium for Jamaica.
Team USA’s Devon Allen came a close fourth with Team GB’s Andrew Pozzi not far away in seventh.
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Men’s 110m hurdles final: one of the Games’ big-ticket events is just moments away. Team USA’s Grant Holloway is the man to beat, without question, but countryman Devon Allen and Jamaica’s Ronald Levy are definite medal hopes.
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Canoe sprint - men’s K1 200m final: wow, that was close - there was less than a second separating first and last - but gold has gone to Hungarian Sandor Totka and silver to Italy’s Manfredi Rizza.
Team GB’s Liam Heath, the Rio gold medalist in this event, was a whisker away in third place to grab bronze.
It's Olympic bronze for @Liam_heath!
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 5, 2021
Photo finish on the line and Liam has his fourth Olympic medal.#TeamGB #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/hJrqYG0oHn
Men’s 4x100m relay heats: both of today’s heats have just been decided. Here’s what happened:
- Jamaica, who have such a proud history in this event as dual defending champions, won the opening heat from Team GB and Japan
- In the second heat, Team USA were fancied to qualify and be a medal chance but they bombed out to tire into sixth place. The heat went to China, with Canada running second off the back of a sizzling Andre de Grasse leg and Italy, with 100m gold medalist Lamont Jacobs running the second leg, finishing third in national record time
The top three in each heat qualify for the final, plus the two fastest losers.
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I’m en route to Saitama Super Arena, about an hour from Tokyo, for the Boomers’ blockbuster semi-final clash with Team USA.
An Olympic medal has eluded the Australian men’s basketball team on so many occasions - they have played for bronze four times in the past four decades and lost in all of them, most recently by one point in 2016.
If the Aussies can beat the Americans this afternoon, they are guaranteed a medal and will play for gold this weekend. If they lose, they will have yet another opportunity to end their drought in the bronze medal streak. As someone who has covered Australian basketball for much of the past decades, I’ll admit I feel a bit nervous right now.
Men’s park skateboarding: an eventful fourth and final heat saw a shake-up of the leaderboard, with Brazil - headed by overall top qualifier Luiz Francisco - boasting three finalists, Australia two - Kieran Woolley and Keegan Palmer, who sealed his spot with a run of 77.00 in the final heat and Team USA one, with Cory Juneau sneaking into eighth spot courtesy of his closing 73.00 run. Juneau’s compatriots, Zion Wright and world No 1 Heimana Reynolds, both failed to qualify.
Finalists (in qualifying order):
- Luiz Francisco (BRA)
- Kieran Woolley (AUS)
- Pedro Quintas (BRA)
- Pedro Barros (BRA)
- Keegan Palmer (AUS)
- Steven Piniero (PUR)
- Vincent Matheron (FRA)
- Cory Juneau (USA)
Men’s park skateboarding final opponents take note: don’t get in Kieran Woolley’s way!
The perils of being a camera op at the #Skateboarding. 😅 pic.twitter.com/JoiOuxcD59
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
Wasn’t it a big run by Australia’s Peter Bol in last night’s 800m final? To set the pace and cling on for fourth was a performance of great merit. Top bloke to boot. Deserves everything good that comes his way.
Men’s triple jump final: early days at the National Stadium but setting the pace at this stage is world No 3 Pedro Pichardo of Puerto Rico with a hop, skip and a jump of 17.61m.
Team USA pair, world No 2 Will Claye (17.19m) and Donald Scott (17.15m), have found their groove early to be sitting in second and third spot respectively. But there is a long way to go in this event.
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Men’s park skateboarding: USA’s Zion Wright has joined compatriot, world No 1 Heimana Reynolds, on the scrapheap of this event after Pedro Barros became what is likely a third Brazilian to qualify for the final with a run of 73.00 in the final heat.
But in better news for Team USA, Cory Juneau has snuck into eighth spot with a first run of 71.08. Australia’s Keegan Palmer will have to do better than his first run of 64.04 but he has two more runs to remedy that.
Women’s beach volleyball: Australia are through to the final after a comprehensive straight-sets victory over Latvia in the semis at Shiokaze Park!
Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy have grown in confidence as the event has progressed and they were ruthless here, holding their nerve in a tight 23-21 opening set before blowing the Latvians away 21-13 in the second to book their spot in the gold-medal contest.
There they will face Team USA’s April Ross and Alix Klineman, who earlier today crushed Switzerland in straight sets.
Men’s park skateboarding: the quality just keeps getting better and better at Ariake Park and the third heat has seen a shake-up at the head of the leaderboard.
Brazil’s Luiz Francisco is now top of the tops with a run of 84.31, marginally ahead of Australia’s Kieran Woolley (82.69) in second. Woolley didn’t put a foot or wheel wrong in his very first run and is now assured of a spot in the final.
Spain’s Pedro Quintas is third, with Puerto Rico’s Steven Piniero, France’s Vincent Matheron and Spanish duo Danny Leon and Jaime Mateu close in behind. USA’s Zion Wright is clinging onto a final berth in eighth spot but the big news is world No 1, American Heimana Reynolds, is out of the event. His best run of 63.09 in the opening heat was nowhere near good enough.
South African Dallas Oberholzer, at 46 almost four times the age of yesterday’s women’s silver medalist Kokona Hiraki, is coming stone motherless with a best run of 24.08. But at his advancing years he deserves a medal just for participating. I’m 46 and can barely get out of bed some mornings.
Team USA’s Cory Juneau and Australia’s Keegan Palmer to come in the final heat.
Women’s beach volleyball: over at Shiokaze Park, Australia have taken a 1-0 lead over Latvia in their semi-final clash, taking a tight first set 23-21.
The two Australians, Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, have enjoyed a stunning Olympics and are now so close to gold medal contention they can taste it.
The score is locked at 11-11 in the second set.
Aussies take the first set!! Great fightback from Latvia but Mariafe and Taliqua take the first set 23-21. One set down, one away from an Olympic final !#TokyoTogether #beachvolleyball @ausvolley pic.twitter.com/peS9YQ8QPs
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) August 5, 2021
Women’s 4x100m relay heats: over at the National Stadium, both heats of this event have been run and won. Here’s what went down:
- Team GB set a new national record to win their heat in a time of 41.55. USA followed in behind with running Jamaica paying for a messy changeover to finish third.
- In heat two, Germany stopped the clock at 42.00, beating Switzerland and China.
But all the action was in the slick opening heat. The fourth and fifth there, France and the Netherlands, look set to progress as the fastest losers and, on this evidence, Team GB will be very hard to beat in the final.
✅Win your heat
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 5, 2021
✅New British record (41.55)
✅Safely through to tomorrow's final
Nice work @MissAshaPhilip @dinaashersmith @ImaniLara @daryllneita.#TeamGB #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/3O2VRnAzzM
Men’s park skateboarding: big, big run by Brazil’s Pedro Quintas to soar into the lead with a 79.02 effort with his final go in the second heat.
The second run of 72.24 by Danny Leon was enough to place the Spaniard in second place, one spot above compatriot, Jaime Mateu. USA’s Zion Wright is sitting in fourth, just ahead of Italy’s Alessandro Mazzara, meaning world No 1, American Heimana Reynolds, is now sixth place. With two more heats to go and just the top eight to go through to the final, Reynolds is in for an anxious wait.
Australia’s Kieran Woolley to come in heat three.
Thanks Tom and good morning/day/evening, all. Wowee, day 13 in Tokyo has got the lot. If you can’t find something today to get the juices flowing, you’re probably on the wrong blog. But many of you (myself included) will be counting the seconds until Australia face the might of USA in the men’s basketball semi-finals – there are about 15,300 to go, give or take, so not long to wait. But plenty – and I mean plenty – to keep us occupied until then, including Australia in the semi-final of the women’s beach volleyball. Which is just about to start. So let’s get cracking.
With the day in full swing, I’ll hand over to the cool head and typing fingers of Adelaide’s finest, Scott Heinrich. Enjoy.
Men’s park skateboarding: More Spanish brilliance! Jaime Mateu is now in second with a score of 69.18. Italy’s Alessandro Mazzara goes up into fourth after his run of 65.25. That pushes the world No 1, USA’s Heimana Reynolds, down into fifth place. And he faces a nervous wait to make the final...
Men’s park skateboarding: We have a new leader! Spain’s Danny León puts in a breathtaking, aggressive run in heat two for a score of 72.24. He has one more run to go – and there are another 10 skaters to come but he looks like a good chance to stroll into the final. USA’s Zion Wright and Heimana Reynolds are in second and third so far. The top eight over the four heats make the final.
Women’s beach volleyball: The US pair of Alix Klineman and April Ross are guaranteed at least a silver medal after beating Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré 2-0 in the semi-final. Next up are Australia’s Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy, They’ll be playing Latvia’s Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina.
Canoe Sprint Men’s K1 200m: GB’s Liam Heath has qualified for the final after finishing second in his semi-final. In fact, it was the second fastest time of both semi-finals, behind Hungary’s Kolos Csizmadia. Another Hungarian, Sandor Totka, had the third-best time.
“I just spent the last half-hour reviewing the Guardian “Olympic Pictures of the day” from Opening Ceremony to today,” says Marc Plaisant. “My view of the pandemic olympics has changed completely. First I could have cared-a-less, but since I’ve haven’t missed an opening ceremony since 1984 I watched the opening ceremony with a ‘keep the record going’ attitude. I ended up hooked and have not looked back. If you and your co-bloggers would, please remind your readers to review the daily pictures. So many emotions bubbled up (good and bad). My fave so far cyclist Kiesenhofer winning Womens Road race, all on her own and no backing team.”
I loved the skateboarding yesterday for the kids’ glee but the swimming was consistently excellent - particularly the tactics in the mixed relays.
Anyway, photos. Yes! A great gallery today from my colleagues on the picture desk:
Decathlon: The leader, Canada’s Damian Warner, steamed home in heat three of the 110m hurdles and increased his lead over the pack.
The standings are now:
1) Damian Warner (Canada) 5767 points
2) Ashley Moloney (Australia) 5605 points
3) Pierce Lepage (Canada) 5454 points
4) Kevin Mayer (France) 5327 points
5) Garrett Scantling (USA) 5309 points
The fast track may be helping those who do better in the sprints than the field events. But no matter, Warner is putting in a brilliant performance and will take some catching.
Men’s park skateboarding: Four heats of five skaters in the prelims with the top eight overall going into the final later today. So where you finish in your heat is not that significant - you could finish fifth and still go to the final if your score is good enough. Anyway, after two runs of heat one, the world No 1 Heimna Reynolds is struggling a little - with a 44.29 his best score, which won’t be good enough for the final in all probability. Let’s see what he does on his third run ... and he gets a 63.09 . Hmmm, the experts reckon anything over 75 as your best score from your three runs will get a skater into the final. The heat finishes with these top three:
1) Zion Wright (USA) - 67.21
2) Heimana Reynolds (USA) - 63.09
3) Andy Anderson (Canada) - 60.78
There are still 15 skaters to come and none of those men will feel assured of a place in the final.
Updated
Decathlon: The world record holder Kevin Myer puts on a strong showing in the 110m hurdles, winning his heat. The overnight leader Damian Warner goes in heat three, so we’ll see how things stand after his run.
Right. A few more events are about to start now. We have the decathlon 110m hurdles, Switzerland v USA in the women’s beach volleyball semi-finals and the qualifying for the men’s park skateboarding. The women’s event yesterday was one of my highlights of the Games so far. Not just because of the skill of the athletes, but because the kids – and they were mainly kids – looked genuinely happy for each other’s success. At their age, I’d have stormed off with my skateboard as soon as anyone did better than me (which would be very quickly). Here’s a little more on yesterday’s action:
“Morning Tom!” cries Jonathan Perry. “It’s before 9am here in Tokyo and I’m dripping with sweat after taking part in the less-than-Olympic event of putting the bins out.
“So here’s a question - is any action going to be taken against Tokyo for the obvious lie in their host city application about summer being ‘mild and sunny and perfect for sport’? Or against the IOC for taking the claim on face value and not bothering to google ‘summer temperatures in Tokyo’? I assume not, but surely there should be some kind of penalty for blatant untruths in ones application?”
Yeah, Tokyo may have been a little flexible with the truth in their application. But surely the rich dudes who run the IOC had been to Tokyo in the summer during one of their freebie trips? Although I imagine the aircon in their five-star hotel was excellent, so maybe they didn’t notice the heat.
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And here is what we can expect from Team USA in the hours ahead. Just a hunch, but I think they will win some medals.
10.05pm EDT: men’s shot put final
Ryan Crouser, the 28-year-old American who holds the world record in both indoor and outdoor shot put, has a great chance at his second Olympic gold. Crouser won the shot put competition in Rio de Janeiro, where he set an Olympic record, and at the US trials in June, he set a new world record with a 23.37m throw. Crouser had the best throw in the semi-final by a margin of more than half a meter. Two other Americans, Payton Otterdahl and Joe Kovacs, earned berths in the final, too, grabbing the last two qualifying spots.
10.55pm EDT: men’s 110m hurdles final
Both Americans competing in the men’s 110m hurdles won their respective semi-final races; Grant Holloway finished with just a slightly faster time than Devon Allen. Holloway is the reigning world champion in the event, and Allen made the US team for Rio and finished fifth in the event. Each has a solid chance to medal.
6am EDT: women’s pole vault final
Katie Nageotte, 30, is competing in her first Olympics after missing the team by two spots in 2016. She set an Olympic trials record with her vault in June, and Morgann Leleux Romero finished second behind her there and also secured a spot in the final in Tokyo. Sandi Morris, the American who won silver in Rio, won’t get a chance to defend her medal after she was injured when her pole broke in a qualifying round.
2.35am EDT: men’s featherweight boxing final bout
Duke Ragan defeated Ghana’s Samual Takyi on Monday to earn a spot in the gold-medal bout, where he’ll face Albert Batyrgaziev of Russia. Ragan, 22, is 4-0 as a pro, with one TKO; these are his first Olympics, and he turned pro in 2020. Batyrgaziev, 23, also turned pro last year and is 3-0 since. He’s won all three bouts in TKOs. Should Ragan take gold, he’ll snap the US’s streak of 17 years without a boxing gold at the Games.
4am EDT: women’s soccer bronze medal match
Yes, these Olympics have felt like a turning point for the USWNT, which lost their opening group stage game to Sweden, 3-0. The women coasted to a 6-1 victory over New Zealand after that, but in the three games since, the going’s been tough, and they ultimately lost, 1-0, to Canada in the semi-final Monday. In the bronze medal match, the US face Australia, the team they played to a 0-0 draw in the group stage. A win, and the women will salvage a medal.
Highlights for Australia on Day 13? Oh boy, do we have highlights for you. The Kookaburras go for gold against Belgium while the Boomers meet the mighty Team USA in the men’s basketball semi-finals and the Matildas also play the US in the women’s football bronze medal match. Basically, the best US-Australia tension since that thing with Johnny Depp and his dog.
More here (on the sport, not Depp. For the dog stuff, click here):
Niall O’Keeffe writes in: “Great excitement in Ireland as our boxer Kellie Harrington aims for gold at 6am UK/Ireland time,” he says. “Great story as she comes from the inner city of Dublin which is often in the news for the wrong reasons. But her hood and the entire nation are behind her! We don’t win many medals so big deal for us!”
In that case, I’ll print your email. Which I just did.
Women’s golf: Madelene Sagström of Sweden is -2 after two to start her second round and she tops the leaderboard on -7. In second, Aditi Ashok of India is one-under for the day and -5 overall. USA’s Nelly Korda, the reigning USA PGA champ, is in third on -4, but has yet to start her second round.
Men’s marathon swimming: And Germany’s Florian Wellbrock wins gold by a long, long way. A completely dominant swim - and he’s still only 23. There is more competition for silver though: Hungary’s Kristóf Rasovszky just holds off the 800m freestyle silver medalist, Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy, for second. USA’s Jordan Wilimovsky, the Netherlands’ Ferry Weertman (the 2016 champ), GB’s Hector Pardoe and Australia’s Kai Edwards all finish well down the pack.
Updated
Men’s marathon swimming: The swimmers are heading into the sun now in the final stretch. The only hope for Wellbrock’s opponents is if he is temporarily blinded and starts heading out to sea.
Men’s marathon swimming: Yep, Wellbrock said he was going to break early and he has broken, rather than is broken. He leads Hungary’s Kristóf Rasovszky by 16.3 seconds and the gold is all but his with 500m to go. He was up at 3am this morning to prepare, but looking at him he could have had more of a lie in.
Updated
Men’s marathon swimming: Wellbrock has led this race for pretty much the entire way, and the 23-year-old is starting to stretch away from the field. A magnificent performance in very warm conditions. Going full pelt for nearly two hours in what amounts to warm bath water can’t be too much fun - but think of the poor guys who don’t even get a medal. Gregorio Paltrinieri looks like he’s out of the medal race but he won silver in the 800m freestyle earlier in these Games, so will have a nice prize to take home.
Men’s marathon swimming: We are on the final lap and a little less than 1500m to go. Germany’s Florian Wellbrock leads Hungary’s Kristóf Rasovszky by 4.6 seconds. France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier, who won bronze in 2016, is in the same position this year and is 13.7 seconds behind with Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri 16.3 off Wellbrock in fourth. It’s Wellbrock’s race to lose now with only Rasovszky having a decent chance of catching him.
I am enjoying the fact that the TV graphics can’t fit in Marc-Antoine Olivier, so they just call him “Olivier” like he’s a Brazilian footballer or a concept artist.
Preamble
Hello out there. A busy day ahead in Tokyo - here’s my colleague Martin Belam with what may tickle your fancy...
Key events for Day 13
All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Cairns, subtract eight hours for Aberystwyth, 13 hours for Baltimore and 16 hours for Los Angeles.
🌟If you only watch one thing: 7pm Hockey – Australia and Belgium are going to battle it out in the final for gold. Australia last won it in 2004. Belgium have never won, but will be aiming to go one step better than their silver in Rio 🏑🥇
- 6.30am Marathon swimming – it’s 10km of open water for the men, and I’m still tired from watching the women swim it late last night/early this morning 🥇
- 7.30am Golf – day two of the women’s competition.
- 9am-10.50am and 9pm-10.50pm Beach Volleyball – the women’s semi-finals are in the morning, the men’s semi-finals are the late night session.
- 9am-3.05pm and 7pm-9.45pm Athletics – the main attractions in the stadium include the men’s triple jump final and men’s shot put final in the morning, when we also get the men’s 110m hurdles final at 11.55am. In the evening session, it is the women’s pole vault final and the men’s 400m final is at 9pm. Throughout the day there’s more heptathlon and decathlon, and those conclude with the women’s 800m heats and the men’s 1500m which round off the day 🥇
- 9am-12.30 Skateboarding – the men go in the park event 🥇
- 9.30am-1.05pm Canoe sprint – there are finals in the men’s kayak single at 11.42am, the women’s canoe single 200m at 11.57am, the women’s kayak single 500m at 12.29pm and the last race of the day is the men’s kayak double 1000m at 12.55pm 🥇
- 1.15pm and 8pm Basketball – the men’s semi-finals. Team USA v Australia to start with, then the evening game is Slovenia v France.
- 3pm Diving – the final of the women’s 10m platform 🥇
- 3.30pm-6.50pm Track cycling – Thursday’s action features the women’s keirin final at 5.45pm and the conclusion of the men’s omnium at 5.55pm 🥇
- 4.30pm Race walking – it’s the one where you end up shouting at the television: “Just run! Or walk! But not this! What even is this?” It’s in Sapporo to try to make it cooler for the men, who go over the 20km distance 🥇
- 5pm Football – USA v Australia for the women’s bronze medal 🥉
- 5pm and 9pm Handball – the men’s competition is at the semi-final stage: France v Egypt first then Spain v Denmark. It’s dead good. You should give watching it a go.
- 5.30pm, 6.30pm and 9.10pm Sport climbing – it is medal time for the men 🥇
You can find our full interactive events schedule here. As well as letting you find out what is coming up, it also gives you the currents scores of the sports currently in action.
As it stands
With five medals today for Team GB and three for Australia, you imagine that officials at both national Olympic committees must be pinching themselves to be above Not Russia in the emoji table this deep into the Games. Here’s how it stood at 10.50pm Tokyo time:
1 🇨🇳 China 🥇 32 🥈 22 🥉 16 total: 70
2 🇺🇸 USA 🥇 25 🥈 31 🥉 23 total: 79
3 🇯🇵 Japan 🥇 21 🥈 7 🥉 12 total: 40
4 🇬🇧 Great Britain 🥇 15 🥈 18 🥉 15 total: 48
5 🇦🇺 Australia 🥇 15 🥈 4 🥉 17 total: 36
6 ◽️ Not Russia 🥇 14 🥈 21 🥉 18 total: 53
7 🇩🇪 Germany 🥇 8 🥈 8 🥉 16 total: 32
8 🇫🇷 France 🥇 6 🥈 10 🥉 9 total: 25
9 🇮🇹 Italy 🥇 6 🥈 9 🥉 15 total: 30
10 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🥇 6 🥈 8 🥉 9 total: 23
