Today in a nutshell: no surprises as Team USA took the men’s basketball gold, Neeraj Chopra won India’s first ever athletics gold, there were wins in the boxing ring and modern pentathlon for Team GB, and Allyson Felix became the most decorated US track Olympian of all time.
Tomorrow’s key moments: the men’s marathon, track cycling, boxing, a host of team finals, and *gulp* then it’s the closing ceremony and we are done.
It’s been an up-and-down track and field Olympics for the US, with legend Carl Lewis decrying the men’s 4x100m relay team as a “clown show” at one point, but it was a dominant finish in the Olympic stadium as both the men and the women easily won their 4x400m relays. In the process Allyson Felix zoomed past Lewis as she won her 11th medal to become the most decorated US track Olympian of all time.
Galal Yafai claimed flyweight boxing gold for Great Britain with a win over Carlo Paalam of the Philippines. The 28-year-old from Birmingham floored his opponent in the first round and took the decision. Yafai spent his early-20s working in a Land Rover factory, shifting boxes and detesting his work, and said after the bout: “Six years ago I took up boxing and thank God it worked out for me and shows if you work hard you can reap the rewards.”
Team GB’s 20th gold medal came later in the men’s modern pentathlon. Joe Choong’s shooting accuracy and pace in the final section of the five-discipline event allowed him to hold off Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy in a dramatic laser run to equal Kate French’s win in the women’s event for Britain the previous day.
There was a second Olympic medal in the diving for Tom Daley. Despite saying he’d “made a bit of a dog’s dinner of that semi-final” in the morning session, Daley took bronze in the men’s 10m platform. China’s Cao Yuan won gold, compatriot Yang Jian claimed silver. In the eight diving events, China won seven golds and five silvers.
Neeraj Chopra made history as he won the men’s javelin and claimed India’s first ever athletics gold, and while Indian hockey teams have won gold before, it was only his nation’s second ever individual gold. Abhinav Bindra, who won the 10-metre air rifle event at the 2008 Games, said: “Our first individual gold might have taken over a century to come, but the comparatively minuscule time taken for your to bring home the second is a solid indication that we, as a sporting nation, are on the rise.”
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands added the 10,000m gold to her previous 5,000m gold medal and 1500m bronze in her unprecedented assault on the women’s distance races. I can’t be the only person feeling exhausted just watching what she took on. “I’m so happy and I cried during the medal ceremony,” she said. “I actually realised that I’m done, the Games are over. It’s not about how strong I am but how strong are the ladies I challenge. Now I’m happy, I’m done, it’s over.”
Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen and Michael Morkov added the Olympic title to their world title in the men’s madison in the track cycling. Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls of Team GB put in a late storming finish to win the final sprint and move above France into the silver-medal position. Hayter then managed to drop the f-bomb on the BBC’s Olympic show, which surely deserves an extra medal of its own.
Despite the 6am start, spectators came out to cheer on the runners in the women’s marathon, ignoring calls by organisers to stay home. They got to see a one-two for Kenya, with Peres Jepchirchir outduelling Brigid Kosgei in the final minutes and claiming her country’s second consecutive gold in the event.
Bronze medallist Molly Seidel of the US appreciated the support, saying: “It’s hard for a lot of athletes competing when there’s no one out there. Being able to see that support of the people of Sapporo meant a lot.”
The women of the Russian Olympic Committee took gold in the artistic swimming team free routine in the Aquatics Centre. China finished second with Ukraine third. The Russians have been untouchable in this event since 2000, and here the ROC scored 196.0979 out of a possible 200. Their team included Svetlana Romashina, the most decorated synchronised swimming Olympian of all-time, who said in an emotional press conference afterwards: “I can say that the sixth and the seventh medal were the most difficult in my life. I became a mother and it was very difficult to be mother and an athlete at one moment.”
The saga of Saint Boy, the horse that refused to jump for Annika Schleu in the modern pentathlon on Friday, took a darker turn as the sport’s governing body UIPM announced that German coach Kim Raisner had been thrown out of the Games for punching the horse, which had been randomly assigned to Schleu.
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The briefing’s picture of the day
Israel’s Linoy Ashram won the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics gold medal, including a Beyoncé medley in one of her routines. It breaks a winning streak for Russia in the event that goes back to 2000. “I’m so happy that I did it – I came here and did my best,” said Ashram, who sobbed as she was announced the victor.
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 Team GB update
Tom Daley’s poolside knitting hasn’t just been a social media hit, he’s used it as a charity fund-raising opportunity too, for the Brain Tumour charity in memory of his father. After his medal today Daley said: “I wish my dad was here to have seen me at these Olympics, winning two medals. He would be jumping up, he’d probably be in the pool by now!”
Josh Kerr was also in the medals today for Team GB, adding a bronze in the men’s 15oom behind Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kenya’s Tim Cheruiyot. Kerr’s late lunge at the line was just four hundredths of a second away from silver.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Team USA update
Nelly Korda survived a double bogey and a bogey in a weather-interrupted final round, shooting a two-under-par 69 to win gold. Mone Inami of Japan and Lydia Ko of New Zealand finished tied one shot behind, with Inami claiming silver in the ensuing play-off. Korda’s older sister Jessica finished 15th, and said of Nelly’s success: “This is just a dream season to have. I hope that it keeps continuing because it’s so much fun to watch it.”
Such is America’s dominance of men’s basketball that the quadrennial intrigue is not whether the US will win gold as whether they could lose it. France beat the US in their opening game of the tournament but fell narrowly short in the gold medal rematch on the last day. Kevin Durant scored more points and played more minutes than anyone on the court in a game that ended 87-82, the tightest winning margin in a men’s or women’s final since 1972.
The US dynasty in women’s water polo is alive and well too. The US won their third consecutive gold medal on Saturday, routing Spain 14-5 in the final. Hungary, who had never been on the podium before, claimed bronze with a gritty 11-9 win over Not Russia.
🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 Australia update
Kieran Pender writes for us today on how Australia’s athletics team have exceeded expectations in the track and field events, even if today was a quiet day on the medals front overall for the Australian team. Nicola McDermott – who Kieran interviewed here – jumped to silver in the high jump, behind Not Russia’s Mariya Lasitskene. McDermott, 24, produced the best performance of her life, with her 2.02m just agonisingly short of the top jump of 2.04m.
Australia’s men took bronze in the evening basketball match. The Boomers convincingly beat Slovenia 107-93.
🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵 The hosts and beyond
The men’s football honours went to Brazil, retaining the title they won at home last time out. An 108th-minute extra-time goal by Malcom – who I will never ever not spell Malcolm first time round – made it 2-1 against Spain.
The men’s volleyball title went to France with a three sets to two victory over Not Russia. An extremely tetchy volleyball match between Argentina and Brazil saw Argentina win out, allowing Facundo Conte to earn a bronze medal, just like his father did in 1988, a year before Facundo was born.
France’s men also won the handball with a 25-23 final victory over Denmark, and France’s women picked up bronze in the basketball, defeating Serbia 91-76. The US women’s team had won the gold in that on Friday.
Hosts Japan ended up triumphant in the baseball, with a 2-0 victory over the US at the Yokohama Baseball Stadium. The Dominican Republic ended up with bronze.
Christian Sorum and Anders Mol won gold in the men’s beach volleyball to give Norway its first medal in the sport. They beat Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy of Not Russia, while Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan finished third. “We have been working so hard and so long, and it’s been so many years,” Mol, 24, said afterwards. “We are trying to enjoy the moment, and we don’t plan anything for the future.”
Bao Shanju and Zhong Tianshi of China have escaped with a warning from the IOC after the cyclists wore Mao Zedong pin badges on the podium at the women’s team sprint medal ceremony.
The US saw Sweden took a wrecking ball* to the high hopes* of their equestrian showjumping team, who were left facing the darkness on the edge of town* after the Swedes jumped to gold in a thrilling jump-off. The US team included Bruce Springsteen’s daughter Jessica, which still doesn’t really justify me trying to cram three album titles into that first sentence, does it?
Did you know?
The handover of the flag from the mayor of Tokyo to the president of the IOC to the mayor of Paris in tomorrow’s closing ceremony is known as “the Antwerp ceremony”, because the idea was first introduced in the 1920 Games held in Belgium. They actually used the same flag from 1920 to 1988, though it has been replaced twice since then.
Key events for Sunday 8 August
All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for Liverpool, 13 hours for New York and 16 hours for San Francisco.
🌟If you only watch one thing: 7am marathon – it’s the men’s marathon in Sapporo. It’s a super-early start in Japan, which means it should be on the TV in the UK starting at 11pm tonight, and you can watch the finish and be safely tucked up in bed just after 1am 🥇
9am and 1.30pm Volleyball – the women’s bronze medal match is up first, Serbia v Not Russia, with the women’s final at lunchtime featuring the US and Brazil 🥇
9.30am-4.30pm Water polo – after two ranking matches and then the battle for the bronze, the final is at 4.30pm 🥇
10am-12.25pm Track cycling – the medal races start from 11.45am and feature the women’s sprint, the men’s keirin, and the women’s omnium points race concludes at all at 12.25pm 🥇
11am Rhythmic gymnastics – it is the group all-around final. There are two rotations before the medals are determined 🥇
11am and 3pm Handball – it is the sharp end of the women’s tournament. The bronze medal match between Norway and Sweden first and then the 3pm final featuring France and Not Russia 🥇
11.30am Basketball – it’s the women’s final, where Japan face a US team who have won their last 54 consecutive matches at the Olympics 🥇
1.40pm and 4.30pm Water polo – Hungary play Spain for the men’s bronze, and then it is Greece v Serbia for men’s gold 🥇
2pm-3.55pm Boxing – today’s session consists of four finals bouts – women’s and mens light, women’s middle and men’s super heavy to round it off. Team GB’s Lauren Price fights at 2.45pm 🥇
8pm closing ceremony – don’t dream it’s over.
You can find our full interactive events schedule here.
As it stands
Here’s how the emoji table stands with one day to go:
1 🇨🇳 China 🥇 38 🥈 31 🥉 18 total: 87
2 🇺🇸 USA 🥇 36 🥈 39 🥉 33 total: 108
3 🇯🇵 Japan 🥇 27 🥈 12 🥉 17 total: 56
4 ◽️ Not Russia 🥇 20 🥈 26 🥉 23 total: 69
5 🇬🇧 Great Britain 🥇 20 🥈 21 🥉 22 total: 63
6 🇦🇺 Australia 🥇 17 🥈 7 🥉 22 total: 46
7 🇩🇪 Germany 🥇 10 🥈 11 🥉 16 total: 37
8 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🥇 10 🥈 11 🥉 12 total: 33
9 🇮🇹 Italy 🥇 10 🥈 10 🥉 19 total: 39
10 🇫🇷 France 🥇 9 🥈 12 🥉 11 total: 32
Get in touch
I’m looking forward to the closing ceremony tomorrow, not because I’m looking forward to the end of the Games and a few days off – although that will be nice – but because I feel like the organisers will be able to be a bit freer to be joyful than the opening ceremony was.
Don’t get me wrong, there were bits of that opening ceremony I really loved, especially that routine bringing the pictograms to life, but it went through a very muted opening phase with the coronavirus pandemic hanging heavily across proceedings.
Thankfully, I’ve barely had to write about Covid in the newsletter, and the feared domino effect of positive cases among competitors has simply not materialised. By the time the Paralympics start on 24 August, the case numbers in Japan will show whether the Games have caused a rise in domestic cases. I hope not.
The Games have been brilliant, and I really hope they’ve been safe and that their legacy in Japan will be measured by the sport and not by Covid consequences.
Do let me know your favourite moments from the Games, I’d love to include your voices in my wrap-up on Monday, rather than me droning on. You can get in touch with me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
The last word
I was just thinking of my family – my grandad died a couple of years ago, he would have loved to have seen this. In 2019, I was in the form of my life – then the Games got delayed by a year, so it’s been on my mind for two years” – Joe Choong, modern pentathlon Olympic champion.
