Bong! Big Ben strikes midnight and with that this liveblog will be put out of its misery. A new one will grow in its place, and it will grow here:
And I, meanwhile, am off. Bye!
Rowing: Togo’s Claire Ayivon is going to win the women’s F final by a huge margin. Sudan’s Esraa Khogali is going to finish in her own sweet time.
Rowing: This is the first of 12 men’s and women’s single sculls races this [insert local time period here], which will end up with every competitor having a position. This is the Final F, and its winner will be 30th. A women’s Final F follows, followed by men’s and then women’s Final Es, then Final Ds and so on for about two hours, culminating in the Final As. There are 11 nations represented in the two final As, with only the Russian Olympic Committee in both.
Rowing: Riilio Rii was Vanuatu’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony. He is wearing less oil today.
Rowing: Compared with Alfadhel Riilio Rii is is Riili, Riili good. He’s up three boat lengths already.
Rowing: The final day of rowing starts here, with a men’s single sculls F final between Kuwait’s Abdulrahman Alfadhel and Riilio Rii or Vanuatu.
Golf: I’ve seen a few ways of spelling Jonathan in my time but Jhonattan takes some beating. Anyway, Jhonattan Vegas, the world No95, is on the tee.
Golf: We have action! Day is-it-six-or-seven-where-is-the-consensus-people? is under way! Should be a good ‘un. Perhaps my favourite line from Martin Belam’s daily briefing email was this one:
If you only watch one thing: 9am-9pm Athletics – in some ways it never feels like the Olympics have truly got under way until there ar...[snip]
So if you’re only going to watch one thing, it’s 12 hours of athletics. Wave goodbye to your Friday, folks.
Golf: Yesterday two of the first three-man group to start ended the day in the top three. Today the groups are the same, but the order different. Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini, Chile’s Mito Pereira and Renato Paratore are in the first trio. The first two are tied for 20th on 69, and Paratore a couple of shots back.
Sport ahoy! In the next half-hour action will get under way, with the second round of the golf starting at 6.30am Tokyo time, and the first rowing event 15 minutes later.
Here’s a timetable of Australians in action on Friday, when Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell will be going for gold in the swimming pool, while the Matildas seek a place in the semi-finals and the track and field competition begins:
Triathlon: The triathlon relay is not exactly tomorrow - it’s very much on Saturday if you’re in Tokyo (where it starts at 6.30am) or Australia, but for British viewers it starts late on Friday and in parts of the USA it’s mid-afternoon. Of all the events I’ve never seen before, it might be the one I’m most looking forward to. Teams of four, two men and two women, take it in turns to complete a course made up of a 300m swim, 6.8km on the bike and a 2km run. Each leg takes around 20 minutes, the whole race about an hour and 20. France start as favourites, having won the last three world championships, but Great Britain and the USA will be among those hoping to topple them. The action begins at 22.30 BST/17.30 NY/14.30 LA/ 07.30 Sydney. Here’s a Reuters preview:
Having collected two silver medals in the individual events, Britain can further cement their place as the most successful country in Olympic triathlon history by winning the Games’ first-ever mixed relay event on Saturday.
Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown’s second places in the individual events took the country’s overall medal haul to seven since the sport joined the Games in 2000.
Two of those were Alistair Brownlee golds and while his younger brother Jonny was unable to add to his silver and bronze after finishing fifth, he gets a final chance to stand on top of the podium as part of a formidable looking British squad.
With either uber-swimmer Jess Learmonth, ninth in Tuesday’s race, or 2016 bronze medallist Vicky Holland completing the quartet, the British will be the team to beat.
If Saturday’s race is anything like a repeat of the 2019 Tokyo test event, when France’s Dorian Coninx just held off Yee in a photo finish, then fans will not be disappointed. The French, world Champions in 2018, 2019 and 2020, look best-equipped to challenge Britain for gold, especially as their team has been boosted by the availability of Vincent Luis.
A United States team featuring a resurgent Katie Zaferes, bronze medallist in the individual event, will also want to ensure they are in the mix, especially on the men’s side after they again failed to make any impression in the search for that elusive first medal in the sport.
Australia also had a disappointing display in the individual races but the former triathlon powerhouse have the added benefit of a pool of six to select from. Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Germany and Switzerland also have plenty of quality and, given the often unpredictable nature of the short, sharp event, a medal is not out of the question for any of them.
“Relay leg selections are so important and is what makes the relay so exciting to watch,” elite coach Blair Cartmell told the tri247.com website. “I do believe GB have the strength and expertise to hold anyone off, but there has to be no mistakes and staying calm under pressure.”
Neither individual champion - Flora Duffy of Bermuda or Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway - will get a chance to add to their haul as their countries did not qualify.
Trampoline: The big question set to be answered tomorrow is: can Rosie MacLennan do it again? The Canadian won gold in 2012 and 2016 and is aiming for a the kind of triple glory that would make her an all-time legend of the bouncy platform world. There’s an interesting video on the Olympic website that I can’t link to (it’s here), but here are some highlights of her previous gold medal-winning performances:
We’ve updated the daily Olympics gallery with a few new photographs, which I would encourage you to check out at your earliest convenience. It’s so good that this can’t get in it.
Tennis: Marketa Vondrousova and Belinda Bencic will face each other in the women’s tennis singles gold medal match. Vondrousova, who toppled the second seed, Naomi Osaka, in the third round, continued to back up that big win by outplaying Elina Svitolina, the fourth seed, 6-3, 6-1.
“I was thinking that two or three matches would have been great, and then I beat Naomi so then I thought that I was playing well and that maybe I could even do better,” said Vondrousova, who is from the Czech Republic. “I’m now just happy to be in the final. It’s an amazing feeling. I can’t believe it. Maybe it’ll sink in later. This is amazing, even if it’s silver or gold, it’s amazing and I’m just very proud.”
Earlier in the day Bencic, the ninth seed, navigated her path into the final by defeating Elena Rybakina 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3, the first of two wins in another stellar day in Tokyo. She will now become the first Swiss player to win two Olympic medals in the same year after she also reached the women’s doubles final alongside Viktorija Golubic, beating Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani 7-5, 6-3. They will face the tops seeds, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
Much more here:
An email! “Hi Simon.” Hello Tim Bishop! “A review of the live feed suggests you haven’t mentioned Emma Wilson, the GB windsurfer who’s secured at least a Bronze Medal. with the possibility of a better result in the double-points Medal Race on Saturday. Just an oversight, I’m sure!”
Absolutely. A quick search of the news wires finds this from PA Media:
Windsurfer Emma Wilson is guaranteed to pick up at least a bronze medal for Great Britain on Saturday.
Wilson, the daughter of former Olympic windsurfer Penny Wilson, nee Way, has an insurmountable lead over fourth place going into the double-points medal race at the weekend. Her tally of 34 puts her four points behind China’s Lu Yunxiu and two points ahead of third-placed Charline Picon of France.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” said the 22-year-old, whose mother was a three-time world champion and represented Great Britain at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. “My coach told me on the rib and it’s an amazing feeling. I’ve watched the Olympics since I was a little kid and it’s always been a dream.”
Tom Squires will start sixth overall in the men’s medal race.
In the Finn, reigning Olympic champion Giles Scott made it four race wins in a row to sit top of the standings with four races left to go, while in the Nacra 17 John Gimson and Anna Burnet are up to second at the halfway stage of the competition.
Gymnastics: This was supposed to be the night that Simone Biles added yet another star-spangled page to the history books, by becoming the first gymnast to defend an women’s Olympic all-around title for more than 50 years. Instead a new American talent emerged from the shadow of greatness.
While Biles watched and whooped from the stands, 18-year-old Sunisa Lee held her nerve in an epic four-way tussle for gold. She had already made waves by becoming the first Hmong American to compete for Team US – and then again during a nerveless performance in Tuesday night’s team competition after Biles withdrew citing anxiety concerns. This, though, was a performance bursting with energy, boldness and power. And it also capped a story so remarkable and sweeping it could have been scripted by Hollywood.
Much more here:
A few days in the life of Anastasia Logunova - an illustrated story
Anastasia Logunova is a Russian basketball player. Here she is playing 3x3 basketball in Tokyo:
The ROC team did very well in the 3x3 basketball, eventually winning the silver medal after losing narrowly to the USA in yesterday’s final:
Whereupon they had to leave Tokyo sharpish, and today they arrived back in Moscow, where they were met at the airport by friends and family.
And there was yet more happy news for the Logunova family:
The end.
Updated
Gymnastics: Sunisa Lee, the new women’s Olympic all around champion, said that Simone Biles and her older teammates gave her some key advice in a tense moment shortly before her final, writes Tumaini Carayol.
“They told me to just go out there and not worry about anything else because I was starting to put a lot of pressure on myself,” she said. “I feel like people kind of put that pressure on me, that I had to come back with that medal. So I tried not to think about it and that’s what they told me to do, Just focus on myself and do what I want to do because that’s when I compete the best.”
Much more here:
Given the absence of supporters in Tokyo, and the fact that athletes are basically ordered to hotfoot it out of the country as soon as their event finishes, this seems a really good thing, allowing athletes to get a deserved ovation and the public to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
The Dutch have always known how to throw a party, and Holland House is always one of the must-visit places at the Olympics. On this occasion it’s actually in Holland. However much effort went into it was worth it just so that Annemiek van Vleuten’s mum could feel maximum nachas.
Swimming: Here’s a preview of Friday’s pool-based action, courtesy of Reuters:
Emma McKeon can add to Australia’s golden haul in a women’s 100m freestyle final packed with champions and record holders at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
After smashing the Olympic record in the preliminary heats with a personal best of 52.13sec, McKeon starts in lane four in pursuit of her fourth medal of the Games. Hong Kong’s 200m freestyle silver medallist Siobhan Haughey could be McKeon’s closest challenger, followed by Australia’s former world champion and triple Olympic relay gold medallist Cate Campbell. The field also features Canada’s defending Olympic champion Penny Oleksiak, Sweden’s world record holder Sarah Sjostrom and 2016 medley relay gold medallist Abbey Weitzeil of the United States.
Australia have so far won five golds in the swimming, four provided by women, but McKeon has yet to win an individual title. “She’s in good form,” Australia’s five-times gold medallist Ian Thorpe told Seven television. “But, of course, she’s up against Cate Campbell and the likes of the best competitors in the world. So that one’s a tough one to call, but I think she will medal in that.”
South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker has the world record in her sights in the women’s 200m breaststroke after qualifying close to the mark. “I wish had longer fingernails,” she told reporters after missing it by five hundredths of a second. Olympic 100m breaststroke champion Lilly King qualified only fifth fastest.
In the men’s 200m backstroke, Luke Greenbank was second fastest to Russian favourite Evgeny Rylov in the semis, as Britain enjoy their best Olympic swimming performance in 113 years. “There have been some inspiring performances and I really want to get in on that action and come away with a medal,” he said.
Compatriot Duncan Scott has his chance of individual gold in the men’s 200m medley, with China’s Shun Wang, Japan’s Daiya Seto and Michael Andrew of the United States his big opponents. A medal of any colour would keep Scott on course to become the first British athlete to win four at a single Games.
Fencing: Can anyone explain this?
Taekwondo: Sachin Nakrani has interviewed Lutalo Muhammad, who people seem very excited about. I don’t think the BBC are having a very good Olympics by their very high standards, but Lutalo has been a good thing. “It was towards the end of day one that I started noticing I was getting a significant amount of attention,” he says. “At first I thought it was just a reaction to people’s excitement at seeing taekwondo at the Olympics for the first time in five years, but as it went on I began to realise this was a little bit unusual.”
Much more here:
Every medal up for grabs tomorrow
Another cracking day lies in store tomorrow. Sure, there’s more dressage - nothing’s ever perfect, right? - but there’s also BMX finals, trampolining and the triathlon team relay. Here’s a list of every event in which medals will be won. My bold prediction is that Croatia will win the men’s doubles tennis, an event in which they have all four finalists:
Rowing
Women’s single sculls
Men’s single sculls
Women’s eight
Men’s eight
Swimming
Women’s 200m breaststroke
Men’s 200m backstroke
Women’s 100m freestyle
Men’s 200m individual medley
Judo
Women’s +78kg
Men’s +100kg
Athletics
Men’s 10,000m
BMX Racing
Men’s and women’s individual
Badminton
Mixed doubles
Shooting
Women’s 25m pistol
Archery
Women’s individual
Canoe Slalom
Men’s K1
Gymnastics
Women’s individual trampoline
Fencing
Men’s team epee
Triathlon
Mixed team relay
Tennis
Men’s doubles
Table tennis
Men’s singles
Updated
Hello world! Squash, then. It is, from where I’m sitting, the one glaring omission from the Olympic sporting roster, and there’s absolutely no logical explanation for it. Sure, the sport is currently dominated by one nation (Egypt), but the latest PSA rankings for men and women also include in their top 20s athletes from France, Great Britain, Australia, India, Belgium, Canada, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. It is played all around the world, and the Olympics would instantly become the pinnacle. It is played in, for example, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games without looking out of place.
It came this close to being included for London 2012, when the IOC picked it and karate from a shortlist of five (also including golf, roller skating and rugby sevens) to go to a final ballot, only for neither to get the required votes. Then golf and rugby sevens got approved to join the list in 2016, and climbing and skateboarding got the thumbs up for 2020, and squash kept getting ignored. Here’s a good piece from the squash player James Willstrop that followed that decision:
In three years time breakdancing - breakdancing, mind you - will be an Olympic sport. Squash remains sidelined. I have never seen a reasonable explanation. Please do email me one if you have one.
“Hello Adam.” Andrew Benton, hello to you. “There’s Olympic tennis, there’s Olympic badminton, but there’s no Olympic squash! Why so?” It’s a fine question. And one that I’ll hand to Simon Burnton, who strikes me as the type of guy who will be able to give you an answer steeped in history. Thanks for your company. Bye!
Another highlight of any Olympic day, is scrolling through the best of the photographs. Once again, this collection doesn’t disappoint.
Something we missed. Belinda Bencic, the world No9 tennis player from Switzerland, is having a busy and wonderful first week at the Olympics. Raeder Laura Rutishauser brings this to my attention: “Not only did she make it to the women’s singles, but also the doubles final, having now played five singles and four doubles on five consecutive days and a total of 17 hours. I thinks that’s proof of incredible grit and athleticism there and worthy of a mention.”
It sure is! Going through it, after defeating Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in the semi, Bencic’s opponent in the gold medal match is Markéta Vondroušová (CZE). In the doubles, with Viktorija Golubic, it will be the Czechs she again has to deny in the decider, specifically the pair of Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková. What a dreamy couple of days she might have ahead of her.
Belinda Bencic 🇨🇭 at #Tokyo2020
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 29, 2021
Women’s singles final ✅
Women’s doubles final ✅
Mastered the floating racket ✅ pic.twitter.com/ytp9Xp2eWR
The eagle has landed. By that, I mean the quite outstanding daily round-up email that Martin Belam is writing on all things Tokyo 2020 has arrived. I’d urge you to subscribe - it’s an exceptional bit of work. For now, get your teeth stuck into every last hyperlink.
Once again, the 100m freestyle lived up to the hype. We have been lucky in this blue riband event over the last three decades from when Alexander Popov and Pieter van den Hoogenband both went back to back, the only two to achieve this in the event since 1908. Fast-forward to 2012, Nathan Adrian touched James Magnussen out by one hundreth of a second. Five years ago in Rio, 18-year-old Kyle Chalmers came from the clouds, matched by this exceptional piece of commentary by my radio colleague Gerard Whateley. Today, he was denied by a fingernail as Caeleb Dressel held on gallantly.
Here was Tom Dart’s report at the pool - a wonderful Olympic final.
Jess Fox - what a story. At long last, it was gold for the Australian in in the canoe slalom, the first time it’s been on the Olympic programme. Kieran Pender was there to watch the mighty win.
Fox is paddling royalty. Her parents were slalom world champions – her father, Richard, won 10 world titles for Great Britain, while her mother, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, won eight world titles and an Olympic bronze medal for France.
Still only 27, Fox has been winning slalom events since she was a teenager, coached by her mother. Over the past decade, she has won just about all there is to win in the sport: four junior world champion crowns, eight under-23 world titles, a Youth Olympics gold medal, 10 senior world championships. Silver in London. Bronze in Rio. Bronze in Tokyo.
ICYMI: Team USA took gold in the All-Around event, even without Simone Biles, with Suni Lee putting in a masterful performance.
And with that, at 12:06am in Tokyo, day six comes to an end. Phew. Here’s how the medal table looks, with China taking the lead.
Updated
Volleyball: Team USA defeat Turkey! 25-19, 25-20, 17-25, 20-25, 15-12. They did it the hard way, but Jordan Larson’s side remain undefeated, certain to progress to the quarter-finals and a big chance to win their first gold after coming so close so often.
Updated
Volleyball: Boz misses down the line! That gives Team USA a couple of match points at 14-12. Larson to serve. Here we go.
Volleyball: Team USA’s turn! Jordan Larson, the captain, is fired up after blocking her team to 12-11. Make thart 13-11 with Haleigh Washington slamming home a fierce winner. Time out. USA to serve.
Volleyball: Stroke for stroke they go, to 8-8. Now it’s Dundar again, after her huge block, now with an unreturnable serve. ITurkey 9-8.
Volleyball: Eda Erdem Dundar! The Turkish captain says enough is enough, blocking the dangerwoman Andrea Drews to level this at seven each! A reminder that this deciding set is first to 15 (not 25).
Volleyball: Andrea Dreeeews! The left-hander slams home a winner down the line - there’s no blocker getting in the way of that. But Turkey complete a set-and-spike of their own. Next up, the Americans scramble their way to a point they had no right to win. Now it’s Drews again! Crosscourt this time! Bang! “She’s made a big impact since being brought on!” Team USA lead 6-2 with Zombie Nation playing around the empty arena as Turkey take a time out.
Volleyball: Here we go, the fifth set. USA veteran Kelsey Robinson has been benched by the coach Karch Kiraly. And they’re away with the second point, Haleigh Washington up high with a huuuge block. And another! That’s 3-0. Turkey need to regain their composure.
Volleyball: Here come Turkey! After earning a two-sets-to-love lead, the USA have lost the third (25-17) and fourth (25-20)! The commentator is foreshadowing big changes for the Americans in the fifth set with a number of players warming up on the bench ready to come on. The deciding set is tie-breaker format - a race to 15 points.
Updated
Can anybody beat Djokovic? Next up is Alexander Zverev (GER), the number four seed. If he makes it from there to the gold medal final, it’s Pablo Carreno Busta (SPA-6) or Karen Khachanov (ROC-12) - neither of whom have really come close to winning a Grand Slam.
🇦🇺 Australian Open 🏆
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) July 29, 2021
🇫🇷 French Open 🏆
🇬🇧 Wimbledon 🏆
🇯🇵 #Tokyo2020 ❓
Will Novak Djokovic continue his route to the elusive 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑺𝒍𝒂𝒎 by becoming Olympic champion? pic.twitter.com/cF5PoH4S3U
Volleyball: Turkey win the third set 25-17! Get those rally caps on, Turkish fans. “We’re going to find out what these world champions are made of,” says the TV commentator. “This is the Olympic stage.”
Call Me Maybe plays around the arena, which is straight from the London 2012 playlist. 17mil views! The US swimmers did well here.
Remember when I was going on about the brilliant table tennis commentator during the women’s final? I’m not surprised to learn that we have a Adam Bobrow feature on the site from 2019. What a guy. More importantly, what a fantastic ambassador for his sport.
Over the years, Bobrow has parlayed both his lifelong obsession with table tennis and endless, unabashed exuberance into viral fame, receiving millions of views on YouTube for goofy videos like “Enter the Snake: Twist of Fury” and “Excessive Ping Pong Celebration”. He’s also made a career out of it. As the official commentator for the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), the sport’s main governing body, Bobrow is known as the “voice of table tennis” to fans across the world. He travels with the ITTF’s annual world tour all year long, from Budapest to Japan to Australia, living out of a suitcase painted with illustrations of famous players. As far as he knows, he’s the world’s only full-time table tennis commentator.
Volleyball: As is usually the case, volleyball is the final live event of the night. Turkey’s have to win this third set to keep their match against the USA alive and are making a good fist of it, leading 19-12. The Americans were the world’s top team coming into Tokyo, but that was also the case in both London and Rio. Indeed, the US women have never won this event despite reaching the podium five times since LA in 1984. The 2012 Final, which I had the great privilege of witnessing at Earls Court, was one of the stranger shifts in momentum I’ve seen. After Brazil lost the first set to the US 25-11, they went on to dominate the rest of the match to win gold in four.
Updated
Basketball: Spain’s men remain undefeated in Group C, completing their easy win over Argentina, 81-71. They’re through to the quarter-finals with Slovenia, who they play in theri final pool game. There will be a fresh draw after the group games to determine the bracket for the elimination stage of the tournament. For Australian readers, the Boomers are through already but play Germany on Friday. Their quest for a medal in this event over the last, oh, six Olympics, has been one of the defining storylines of Australian sport. Watching this as a 12-year-old in my school library was a chastening experience.
Volleyball: The American women are in cruise control against Turkey, winning the second set 25-20. They are one set away from building on their unbeaten record in Pool B, making sure of their progress to the quarters. The Turkish team entered this tournament as the No4 rank but if they can’t fight back to win this in five, they will need to account for China and Argentina to make the last eight.
Hockey: Australia hold on after a big push from New Zealand in the final minutes. The Hockeyroos are four-from-four, certain to progress to the final eight stage, with the Kiwks are now 2-2, facing a must-win clash against China in their final Pool B game on Saturday.
Hockey: Australia lead New Zealand 1-0 in the fourth quarter of their Group B clash, the winner to guarantee progress to the quarter-finals. The Hockeyroos’ goal was scored by Emily Chalker in the 34th minute. Here’s the finish, if you are reading on from Australia.
“Hi Adam.” Hello to Rakesh Nag in Bangladesh. “Being the citizen of the most populous country with no Olympic medal, I am following this Olympics through Guardian Live Report with no expectation. In these Olympics, I saw Bermuda (Population of 72,000) become the smallest country to win a Gold Medal and San Marino (Population of 34,000) become the smallest country to win a Medal. Maybe some day, Cricket will be introduced in the Olympics (Brisbane 2032 perhaps?) and maybe then we can hope for an Olympic medal.”
Good news, Rakesh: from conversations I’ve been having in the cricket world, T20 is a strong chance for inclusion at LA in 2028.
Tennis: Novak Djokovic is through to the mixed doubles semi-finals. He and Nina Stojanovic have easily accounted for Germans Laura Siegemund and Kevin Krawietz. In the semi-final, they take on the pair representing the Russian Olympic Committee. Djokovic won a bronze for Serbia back in 2008 and has a chance to add two more medals over the next days, in this event and the men’s singles.
Updated
“An Onodi not a Noddy,” writes John Cox by way of clarification, in response to our earlier fun. “Named after the great Hungarian gymnast Henrietta Onodi, Olympic gold medallist in 1992. But you knew that, right?” I’m pleased that I do now!
Duncan Scott earns a chance to win a second gold. After anchoring Team GB’s 4x200 relay win in style yesterday (and taking silver in the 200m freestyle on Tuesday), he’s qualified for the 200 IM final. Tom Dart is at the pool for us, wrapping up the evening session.
Updated
Chen Meng secures gold in the women's table tennis!
Tough stuff from the world number one, winning the sixth game 11-9! In her first appearance at the Olympics, she is the champion! The gold/silver duo hold up the Chinese flag together. Brilliant.
Updated
Table tennis: The last gold medal up for grabs tonight, the women’s singles. Chen Meng won the fifth game but Sun Yingshais 7-6 up in the sixth. Are we getting the grandstand finish? I sure hope so. And sure does my commentator mate, who is now talking about lessons he took from geometry class in high school. I wish to be his friend.
Suni Lee wins the women's All-Around gold medal!
The fifth time an American has won this famous competition. Rebeca Andrade’s 13.666 on the floor wasn’t quite enough - she’ll finish with silver, Angelina Melnikova (ROC) claiming bronze.
Updated
Gymnastics: Rebeca Andrade has stepped out of the square on two occasions - “that will be costly.” It’ll sting, because the routine was a beauty other than those errors. She needs 13.8 to win. Stand by!
Gymnastics: Suni Lee is happy, 13.700 is the score, overtaking the Russian Melnikova. That’s enough to retain her spot for now. But it’s Andrade to finish, who can take it away with a perfect performance.
Updated
Gymnastics: Here we go, it’s the leader, Sunisa Lee, on the floor. She nails her first double lay-up - the commentators like her move to the floor. “She’s absorbing the pressure.” A twisting combination follows to finish - and yep, lands it. “It will be a medal but what colour?”
Updated
Table tennis: A thrilling finish building in the women’s singles gold medal match. Top seed Chen Meng responded well after losing the first game to take the next two, but world No2 Sun Yingsha claimed the fourth. It’s a best-of-seven decider between the Chinese pair. “Trying to predict the future is a great exercise in humility,” says the world feed commentator, who I can’t get enough of.
Gymnastics: A polite challenge from Andrade on her beam score, which the television commentators seemed to think was a fraction low. The judges saw fit to push it up a notch (a tenth of a point), moving the Brazilian into second. On to the final rotation!
“Hi Adam.” Hello, Bruce Jackson. “I was just watching one of the ROC gymnasts perform a great routine on the bar. One of the moves she included seems to be called a ‘Noddy’. I was wondering if anyone knew of any clips that showed Mr Holder performing the routine that led to that particular move being named after him?”
Musicians with gynmastics moves named after them would make for an interesting wikipedia entry. Alternatively, the Roy & HG model from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Simpler times, simpler coverage.
Team GB v Australia. The quarter-finals of the women’s football, that’s going to be big. Check out Suzanne Wrack’s preview.
Gynnastics: There’s a dedicated blog for the women’s All-Around, but nearing the final rotation to go it’s worth noting that Rebeca Andrade just nailed her beam routine. The Brazilian, who has floor to come, sits third. Sunisa Lee (USA) is in the gold medal position.
Table tennis: The gold medal game in the women’s singles competition is an all-Chinese affair, Chen Meng against Sun Yingsha - the first and second seed. Sun won the first game though (first to seven), and leads 5-4 (first to 11) in the second. If you’re following the broadcast, the world feed commentator is a gem, bringing 10/10 enthusiasm to his task. Just as it should for a contest like this. “It’s like chess and kung fu combined... with a racket!” Love him.
Updated
Russia's Olympic Committee take gold in the women's fencing team foil
Marta Martyanova, Larisa Korobeynikova, Adelina Zagidullina and Inna Deriglazova are Olympic champions, the latter holding her nerve after a late rally from the French quartet to triumph 45-34.
Tennis: Alexander Zverev, the German fourth seed, has served out the match against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, winning their quarter-final 6-4, 6-1. He’s booked a final-four stoush against the biggest name in the game, the seemingly unstoppable Novak Djokovic.
Fencing: Not Russia are moments away from gold in the women’s team foil event, leading the French 42-31 in their race to 45.
Thanks, Dan. Allo! It’s 9pm in Tokyo, which means there’s still plenty of time for what we’re all here to see on night six: medals. While the blue riband women’s All-Around event continues in the gymnastics arena, I’ll by keeping a close eye on the women’s singles tables tennis gold medal game, starting now. A grudge match in the hockey follows between Australia’s women and New Zealand. Then we’ll finish with America’s women on the volleyball court against Turkey as the beach volleyballers burn the midnight oil. Drop me a note any time. You can also ping me a tweet. This’ll be fun.
Righto my watch is over – Adam Collins is here to strike the pose and coax you through the next little bit. Ta-ra for now.
Tennis: Zverev now leads Chardy 6-4 3-1; should he see it out, he earns the rich reward of a defeat to Djokovic.
I say that, but if Zverev serves at his best – lots of firsts, very few seconds – he’s got a chance. If he doesn’t, he’s toast.
Good luck, boys.
Tennis: Marketa Vondrousova has beaten Elina Svitolina 6-3 6-1, so will play belinda Bencic in the finak. Svitolina will have to console herself with her recent marriage to Gael Monfils and husband who wears syoots of this extreme magnificence. She’ll be reet.
Married on Friday 💍🇨🇭
— ITF (@ITFTennis) July 20, 2021
Off to the Olympic Games on Sunday 🥇🇯🇵
Honeymoon on hold, @ElinaSvitolina admitted her delight at sandwiching two monumental life experiences so close together#Tokyo2020 | #Tennis
Gymnastics: Sunisa Lee of USA has put herself into second place behind Andrade, and this is shaping up into a decent row. She trails by 0.066, with the vault and asymmetric bars done and beam and floor to come.
I love the photo at the top of this, and Fox’s performance, going last chasing a tricky time and then pulverising it, was magical.
Volleyball: Brazil’s women lead Japan 2-0, but trail 13-11 in set three.
Gymnastics: Rebeca Andrade, in her first major international competition since suffering a serious knee injury in 2018, is firing! After two rotations, she’s looking absolutely nails.
Tennis: In the last eight of the men’s singles, Zverev leads Chardy 5-3, while in the last four of the women’s, Vondrousova leads Svitolina 6-3 5-1; the honeymoon from heaven isn’t quite going to happen.
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Tennis: Barty and Peers have seen off Sakkari and Tsitsipas 10-6 in the breaker to move into the last four.
That’s it with the swimming for day six. Tomorrow brings us finals in the women’s 200m breaststroke and 100m freestyle, and the men’s 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley.
Swimming: China, Australia, Italy is the 1,2,3 in the second heat of the mixed 4x100m medley relay.
Hockey: Netherlands have held on to beat GB 1-0 in their hockey pool match where’s Jane Sixsmith when you need her? They stay top, now 4 and 0, but GB, after losing their opening match in defence of their title, are improving. Maybe
Swimming: Wow, GB finished in 3:38.75, only just outside China’s world record of 3:38.41.
Swimming: Freya Anderson brings GB home, and with both Guy and Peaty, it’ll take something special to beat them. USA come second, Netherlands third.
Swimming: Heat 1 of the mixed 4x100 medley relay is away; Germany lead, but then James Guy hauls GB ahead with USA behind them.
Swimming: Kaylee McKeown of Australia has just recorded the fastest heat time in the women’s 200m backstroke. Rhyan White of USA qualified in second place.
Fencing: The gold medal match in the women’s foil team even is underway, ROC leading France 11-8.
Boxing: Yup, Chang saw off a spirited challenge from Davison, moving into the last eight with a 5-0 win.
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Swimming: Looking down the list of times for those men’s 100m butterfly heats, Dressel was one of only three to break 51s – his time of 50.39 was fastest, with Kristof Milak of Hungary recording 50.62 and Poland’s Jakub Majerski 50.97. Dressel will fancy himself for another gold.
Hockey: It must be hot as you like on the hockey pitch – as they break before the final quarter, you can see the players steaming Netherlands still lead GB 1-0.
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Boxing: Chang is bit too good for Davison, who’s fighting hard. She needs a huge final round to progress.
Tennis: Sakkari and Tsitsipas have forced a deciding set against Barty and Peers.
Boxing: Chang has taken the first round against Davison 10-9 and is getting to work in the second.
Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino - Pool/Getty Images
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Swimming: Caeleb Dressel has just won the final heat of the men’s 100m butterfly; he’s had an alright day, considering his earlier gold in the 100m free.
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Gymnastics: Simone Biles is in the crowd watching her mates compete, and really, she could not have handled this situation better. Those hoodies are well smart, too.
You can follow the all-around final here.
Boxing: Charley-Sian Davison of GB is just climbing through the ropes for her last 16 bout against Yuan Chang of China, who’s seeded two. Davison is a mother of three – goodness, imagine getting facety with her!
“A bagel?” asks Andrew Benton. “Why not a doughnut? Down with Americanisms!”
Excuse me! Bagels do not originate from the States, though they may have been made famous by them – they were first made by Polish Jews. Doughnuts are probably more American, though they came from the Netherlands originally.
Hockey: With 10 minutes left in the third quarter, Netherlands still lead GB 1-0.
GOLD! Aaron Wolf of Japan beats Guham Cho of South Korea by ippon the men's -100kg judo!
Things just get better and better for the hosts!
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Tennis: There’s a good little match brewing in the mixed doubles, with Barty and Peers of Australia leading Sakkari and Tsitsipas of Greece 6-4 2-3 (with a break).
Tennis: As if things weren’t going well enough for Novak Djokovic, Pablo Carreno Busta has just beaten Daniil Medvedev 6-2 7-6(5); he meets Khachanov next, whoile the winner of Chardy, v Zverev gets Djokovic.
Thanks Luke and hi again. On!
Daniel’s back from his break and ready for more Olympics action, of which there is certainly no shortage. Over to you Daniel.
Swimming: Titmus, who won 200m freestyle gold earlier, finished second in her 800m freestyle heat behind ROC’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova. Katie Ledecky is now leading the final heat in some style ... and of course she wins it.
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Don’t forget - if the women’s all-round gymnastics final is what you are particularly interested in, Bryan Armen Graham is live-blogging it right here:
Women’s hockey: With five minutes left in the second quarter, Team GB continue to trail the Netherlands by a goal to nil.
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Men’s tennis: Djokovic has mercilessly inflicted a dreaded bagel on Japan’s Kei Nishikori in their singles quarter-final. The Serb breezes into the semi-finals: 6-2, 6-0.
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Swimming: Summer McIntosh of Canada comfortably wins the second heat in the women’s 800m freestyle. Ariarne Titmus of Australia is up now.
Women’s hockey: The Netherlands have taken the lead against Great Britain. It had been coming: the Dutch had literally been camped in Team GB’s half for a good 10 minutes. Frédérique Matla gets the goal.
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A compilation of Olympics ink on display in Japan, via the Games’ official Twitter:
Tell us you are an Olympian without telling us you are an Olympian...#StrongerTogether #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/J1zvZKLEtr
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 29, 2021
Swimming: The women’s 800m freestyle heats have just begun, which I’ll be keeping an eye on. Shortly, GB’s James Guy is in the same men’s 100m butterfly heat as teammate Jacob Peters, and they will be racing against Caeleb Dressel.
Men’s tennis: Novak Djokovic, the current champion of everything, more or less, has taken the first set against the home hope Kei Nishikori, by a scoreline of 6-2.
He’s also raced in a 3-0 lead in the second set in double quick time, so the outcome of this one looks to be nailed on already.
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Thank you Daniel. Great Britain and the Netherlands are currently locked at 0-0 in the early stages of their women’s hockey encounter.
Righto, I’m off for a break, so Luke McLaughlin will guide you through the next little bit.
Hockey: GB and Netherlands are good to go. Netherlands top the pool with three wins from three, while GB lost their first match to Germany, also 3-0, then beat South Africa and India.
Coming up: at the hour, so in three minutes, we’ve got GB v Netherlands in the women’s hockey, and the swimming heats start then too; in roughly that amount of time, we’ve got the final of the men’s -100kg judo, between Aaron Wolf of Japan and Guham Cho of Korea; in just under an hour, we’ll bring you the final of the women’s all-around gymnastics; and in bang-on an hour, Charley-Sian Davison has her last 16 flyweight bout.
Shooting:Those of us old enough to remember Malcolm Cooper won’t be surprised that GB have won a shooting bronze, courtesy of Matt Coward-Holley.
Rugby sevens: What a match! What a comeback from NZ! From 21-0 down, they stormed back to win 26-21 and it’ll take a special effort to stop them seizing the gold. But that was a really good effort from GB, a team thrown together a few months ago, and they’ll know that if the they meet again, they’ve got a proper chance.
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Rugby sevens: NZ get it wide and because GB are down to six, Michaela Blyde is unmarked! She eases onto the gas and she’s gone! The conversion goes over, and NZ lead 26-21 with one play to come!
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Rugby sevens: This is extremely nervy now, GB still with a two-point advantage as time ticks; there’s just over a minute to go ... but Joyce tackles Woodman high and is sent off! GB will have to see this out with six!
Tennis: Djokovic leads Nishikori 4-2 in the first set, while Carreno Busta took his against Medvedev 6-2. He’s had better weeks.
Badminton: Antonsen accelerated away from Penty to win the second game 21-15. The number three seed moves into the semis.
Rugby sevens: We away again, and this should be a serious half ... and here come NZ already, a try under the posts, converted, giving us 21-19. GB are rocking!
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Gold! Shori Hamada of Japan beats Madeleine Malonga of France by ippon in the women's judo -78kgen's
What a Games the hosts are having!
Badminton: Antonsen looks to have just that bit too much for Penty, leading 19-15; he’s two points away from the semis.
Rugby sevens: Now then. Blyde streaks away and scores under the post; NZ have woken up, and Blyde scores again, but in the corner! Thie conversion his the upright, but at half-time GB lead 21-12 and we are cooking!
Rugby sevens: GB are all over NZ, and Jones goes over for Aitchison to convert ... and as I type that, Joyce screeches through a gap, under the posts, and what a start this is! Aitchison sticks the kick beteween the posts, and the highly-fancied Black Ferns trail 21-0!
Anyone else see the words 'Olympic Breakfast' and think of the Little Chef?
— John Brewin (@JohnBrewin_) July 29, 2021
Those unfamiliar, click here.
Rugby sevens: GB work the ball off the back of the scrum, spread wide to Rowland, and she staggers over the line then sticks a try under the posts. Through goes the conversion, and that’s 7-0!
Badminton: Penty is staying with Antonsen in game two, trailing 12-11.
Rugby sevens: New Zealand and Great Britain are out, both sides taking a knee before we get going.All black lives matter, people.
Swimming: We mentioned Caeleb Dressel earlier, but what a performance from Australia’s Kyle Chalmers to nab silver.
I had shoulder surgery seven months ago,” he said. “I’ve had 12 cortisone injections in my left shoulder just to get to this point. I’ve had PRP [platelet-rich plasma therapy] twice … I’ve had ankle problems, I’ve had three facet-joint epidurals in my back. I’ve had cortisone in my right shoulder. I’ve had three heart surgeries. And that’s just the physical side of things.”
Rowing: Incredible scenes from the regatta earlier, where Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy won Ireland’s first Olympic rowing gold.
Rugby sevens: In six minutes, we’ll have NZ v GB, while USA have just seen off Japan 17-7 and beat China 28-14 earlier.
Tennis: Nishikori v Djokovic is underway – imagine a capacity crowd for that one – likewise Medvedev v Carreno Busta. The men are playing last eight, while the women have already established that Bencic will meet Vondrousova or Svitolina in the final.
Badminton: Goodness me, these lads are hot, Antonsen in particular – you can see your face in his shirt. But he won game 1 21-10 and Plenty has it all to do. As I type that, our commentators note their surprise that Antonsen didn’t change at change of ends, but maybe the wetness is cooling him down.
“I don’t usually watch volleyball,” tweets Justin Horton, “but is it normal in that sport to play snatches of rock music between points? Maybe this is just me getting older but it’s outstandingly, incredibly annoying.”
It’s not how sport’s embedded in my psyche either, but ultimately I think my sentiments are governed by the choice of tune. I’ll never not want to hear Adagio For Strings, even if watching judo on a Thursday morning isn’t where I’d normally expect to welcome it.
I’ve got so many screens going I’ve not a clue where this is coming from, but someone, somewhere, is playing this:
I like to think it’s coming from the judo, held at Budokan where Bob Dylan once played, and turning down a succession of volumes confirms that it is.
This is really important, but just so no one misses it, here’s the key line courtesy of the IOC’s medical and science director Dr Richard Budgett:
Everyone agrees that trans women are women”.
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The stress of the Olympics x the stress of corona x the stress of this. Oof madone.
Badminton: Toby Penty of GB is underway in his round of 16 match against Antonsen and trails 10-7.
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This is great: Jess Fox, the new Olympic gold medalist, trains during lockdown.
Tennis: We’re meant to be unbiased here, but it’s so hard not to root for Svitolina. What a honeymoon this could be!
Let the journey begin 🥰 @Gael_Monfils pic.twitter.com/j2wvZwuHXm
— Elina Monfils (@ElinaSvitolina) July 17, 2021
Tennis: Bencic beats Rybakina 7-6(2) 4-6 6-3! Her hand goes over her mouth, her eyes well with tears, and she’s guaranteed a silver medal! On top of which, she’ll fancy herself against whichever of Vondrousova and Svitolina she meets in the final, just as they will against her.
“Emil Zatopek was indeed an exceptionally hard-working Olympic champion,” says Rob Marriott. “But I’d like to put forward Paavo Nurmi: in 1924, he won the 1500m, and the 5000m started less than two hours later – allegedly a plot to stop Nurmi winning both – and he won that too.
The following day was easy, he only ran (and won) a 3000m semi-final. The day after that, he entered the 10km cross country event; temperatures reached 45°C, the course circled a power plant which pumped out fumes right across the route, fewer than half the runners reached the end, and the Red Cross had to be called in to find missing athletes who’d collapsed somewhere along the way. Nurmi won that too, by more than a minute (and in doing so also won a team gold for Finland). Next day, Nurmi had the 3000m final, which he also won.
Great credit also goes to Nurmi’s compatriot, Ville Ritola, who finished second in three of those events, only skipping the 1500m. And Ritola had already won the 3000m steeplechase and 10000m earlier in the week. Now those are some hard-earned medals.”
Not bad. I remember the BBC made a brilliant doc about the 1500m and the different ways the greats trained to do it. I think Nurmi ran long distances, so the shorter one would seem easy, through to Coe, who ran 400m, rested briefly, then did it again and again.
Rugby sevens: And that’s how it finishes. Australia beat China 26-10 tow make it two wins from two – they beat Japan 48-0 earlier – and coming up in 40 minutes or so, we’ve got GB v NZ, both of whom also won their first match.
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Rugby sevens: China have just scored a second try and now trail Australia 26-10.
Golf: McIlroy and Fleetwood both dropped shots late in their rounds, so McIlroy is in the clubhouse on -2, Fleetwood on -1. Morikawa, the new British Open champ, is also -2, while Straka still leads on -8.
This has some of my all-time favourite Olympic action: the boxing from 1988 in Seoul.
Tennis: Khachanov beats Humbert 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3! He meets Carreno Busta or Medvedev in the last four.
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Rugby sevens: Australia lead China 12-5 at half-time.
I love this photo, which makes Ellen White look like she’s got four arms, even if the actual kit looks like it needs a bang on top to get the colours sharp. I have also learnt this week that one of Lucy Bronze’s middle names is Tough.
Here’s our report on Fox’s brilliant gold and Franklin’s nifty silver.
Talking of rugby sevens, I really enjoyed this.
Rugby sevens: Time’s up. A lovely team try from Australia, finished by Williams under the posts, means a simple conversion and a 7-5 lead.
Rugby sevens: Australia and China women are just underway in their pool match and as I type that, the latter’s Yang has just taken a tap penalty and flown over in the corner for 5-0. Earlier, France whacked Brazil 40-5.
Tennis: Khachanov has broken Humbert for 4-1 in the decider, while Bencic has broken Rybakina back for 2-2. Later, we’ve got Djokovic v Nishikori, Svitolina v Vondrousova, Carreno Busta v Medvedev and Zverev v Chardy. Don’t mind if we do.
Back to that Australia athletic situation, three members of the team – I don’t know which – were in close contact with Sam Kendricks. They’ve tested negative for corona, but are still isolating.
“Have been following your and your colleagues’ reporting from home in Nairobi,” emails Jean Newbery, “but haven’t seen the badminton mentioned once! Some thrilling games going on, including the red-hot home favourite Momota being knocked out in the men’s singles! Toby Penty is playing for GB later but will have a tough time against Antonsen. Hope you can keep an eye on it and update us!”
Absolutely – I can confirm Penty’s match, scheduled to start in roughly 15 minutes, is on the list sitting on my desk, made in a bid to make sure I don’t miss anything good.
Tennis: Rybakina has broken Bencic for 2-1 in the deciding set; she’s four holds away from an Olympic final against either Svitolina or Vondrossova. In the men’s competition, Khachanov also leads Humbert 2-1 in the decider, but they’re on serve.
Swimming: The last time an Australian man won a breaststroke gold medal at the Olympics was in 1964, when the Games were also held in Tokyo – until today, when Zac Stubblety-Cook found a last length for the ages.
Track and field: The athletics gets going tomorrow, and the women’s 100m looks like being the centrepiece of the meet.
Tennis: Humbert, who beat Tsitsipas in the last round, has taken the second set against Khachanov to force a decider, while Rybakina has done likewise against Bencic.
Boxing: We’re getting back underway, and closing the session is GB’s Charley-Sian Davison, who has a flyweight bout against Yuan Chang of China.
“Watching the athletes toiling hard for a medal(and the tennis players suffering from Tokyo heat),” emails Rakesh Nag, “a thought occurred. Which athlete had the most workload in a single Olympics? Four examples came into my mind:
1. Venus Williams (Sydney 2000) - 6 singles matches + 5 doubles matches, resulting in two golds.
2. Serena Williams (London 2012) - 6 singles matches + 5 doubles matches, resulting in two golds.
3. Andy Murray (London 2012) - 6 singles matches + 4 mixed-doubles matches + 1 doubles match, resulting in 1 gold & 1 silver.
4. Rafael Nadal (Rio 2016) - 6 singles matches+ 5 doubles matches, resulting in one gold.
Surely Nadal’s 11 matches is the most anyone has suffered to get 1 medal?”
I daresay the ghost of Emil Zatopek wants a word: at Helsinki in 1952, he won the 5000m, the 10000m and the marathon.
Golf: After a weather situation earlier, the first round of the men’s golf is back underway. Sepp Straka of Austria tops the leaderboard following an -8 round of 63; Paul Casey of GB is tied for seventh on -4 while Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy are -3 and -2 respectively through 16.
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Gymnastics: Being a superstar is tough. I’m sure it has its perks, but no one should ever feel like this – least of all someone of such integrity, life-force and leadership.
the outpouring love & support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics which I never truly believed before. 🤍
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) July 29, 2021
Swimming: In case you missed it earlier, Caeleb Dressel the figurehead of US men’s swimming, won the 100m freestyle in a new Olympic record.
Gymnastics: I’d not heard of the twisties – I guess it’s similar to dartitis and the yips, difference being there’s no chance of life-changing injury if a person is unable to release a dart or a cricket ball. Because gymnasts are so good, it’s easy to forget how dangerous it is to do what they do, and even if we ignore a person’s right to prioritise themselves however they see fit, it makes sense in Simone Biles’ case because to attempt what she does when not in the right frame of mind is asking for trouble. She deserves our respect and support.
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Coming up: The second sesh of judo starts in about 20 minutes, at the end of which we’ve got the women’s -78kg final and the men’s -100kg final; in 50 minutes, Australia meet China in the women’s rugby sevens after which New Zealand meet GB; in two hours 20, GB, the defending champions, meet Netherlands in the women’s hockey and the swimming heats begin; and in three hours, it’s the women’s all-around gymnastic final. Not bad, eh?
Australia's athletics team have been given the all-clear!
They’d been dragged into a situation after Sam Kendricks, the USA pole vaulter, tested positive, but it’s now all good. The relief must be up there with winning gold.
Canoeing: It’s been a long old schlep for Fox to get to here. Given parents who were both world-class canoeists, it’s been with her all her life, she won a silver medal in 2012’s K1 event, bronze in Rio, and bronze in Tokyo, but now she has her gold and in fantastic style too. What a feeling it must be to know that you can deliver under that kind of pressure.
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Gold! Jess Fox of Australia wins the women's canoe slalom!
That was more or less perfection! GB’s Franklin, who takes silver, really put her under pressure and she laughed at it! Herzog of Germany takes bronze.
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Canoeing: A little mistake at gate 16 loses her a second or so, but at 20 she’s more than four seconds inside Franklin! This is an absolute jazzer of a performance!
Canoeing: Here comes Fox and she’s flying, absolutely taking the first half off the set! She’s 2.45s inside Franklin!
Canoeing: This is very, very nervy now; this is what it’s all about! Mallory is guaranteed a silver, but Fox, both of whose parents were great canoeists themselves, is at the top of her run and HERE WE GO!
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Canoeing: Here comes Fiserova of the Czech Republic and immediately gets into difficulties; with every post-Franklin run, we see just what a good run it was. She took it fairly steadily in the top half, trying to avoid penalties, then went after it in the bottom and finished brilliantly. Fiserova can’t match her, and it’s only Jess Fox, the world number 1, to come!
Gold! Liptak of Czech Republic wins the men's trap shooting!
Kostelecky of the Czech Republic wins silver and Coward-Holley of GB takes bronze!
Canoeing: Satila of Brazil makes an early error and she can’t yank it back, getting hold by the stopper as her power drains away. She finishes 56.03s behind Franklin, who is now guaranteed at least a bronze!
Tennis: Khachanov has taken the first-set breaker against Humbert 7-4 and Bencic has done likewise against Rybakina, 7-2.
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Canoeing: Herzog of Germany gets within 2.5s of Franklin and takes the silver medal position. But Satila, Fiserova and Fox are still to come and were the fastest qualifiers....
Shooting: In the final of the men’s trap, Jiri Liptak and David Kostelecky of the Czech Republic are about to shoot-off for gold; assuming I’m reading things correctly, GB’s Matt Coward-Holley has taken bronze.
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Canoeing: Delassus of France finishes 7.25s behind Franklin, and the extent of her delight tells us how a decent target’s been set.
Canoeing: It was the second half of the run that allowed Franklin to nail that time, which speaks very highly of her ability to ride out pressure – she was able to ignore the two-second penalty she incurred and find her best gear. Australia’s Fox is the favourite and when she comes out last, she’ll know what she has to beat, but also that it’ll take something significant to make it happen.
Canoeing: Two touches threaten to put Franklin out of contention for gold but she recovers really well and produces her best run of the game so far! She finishes 10.73s ahead of Austria’s Weratschnig, and though the best of her rivals are to come, they’ve got a serious time to chase.
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Canoeing: Franklin, the 2016 world champ, is ready to go...
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Tennis: We’re at the business end now. In the first women’s semi, Bencic is serving for a first-set breaker against Rybakina; in the first men’s quarter, Khachanov is doing likewise against Humbert. The winner is essentially making a diary note to lose to Djokovic in the next round – though Djokovic plays Nishikori later, and you never know.
Canoeing: The final of the women’s slalom is underway; GB have got Mallory Franklin involved and yet to run, Australia Jessica Fox. Currently, Viktoriia Us of Ukraine leads, but only three of 10 have been.
Thanks Emma and greetings people. “Heat of the moment” racism; what is wrong with us?
It’s about that time. It’s Daniel Harris time. He is taking over the blog now and will take you through the next few hours.
The sporting director of the German cycling federation has been sent home from Tokyo after being caught on camera making racist remarks during Wednesday’s men’s Olympic road time trial, the German team says.
“The team leadership at the Olympic Games in Tokyo has decided that Patrick Moster cannot continue his work as national team leader cycling and will return to Germany,” the team said in a statement.
Moster had made the derogatory remarks during the road time trial event as he tried to urge on one of Germany’s cyclists, Nikias Arndt, who was chasing opponents Algeria’s Azzedine Lagab and Eritrea’s Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier. Moster later apologised and said he made the comments in “the heat of the moment.”
Australian athletics team gets all clear
Here is the full statement from the Australian Olympic Committee:
Members of the Australian track and field team in the Tokyo Olympic Village have been cleared to return to their regular routines after earlier isolating in their rooms as a precautionary measure.
The all-clear comes after three members of the team underwent PCR testing following a brief casual contact with a US track and field athlete who had tested positive to Covid 19.
All three tested negative after undergoing a PCR Test this afternoon, while teammates remained in their rooms in line with AOC Covid protocols.
The three, who are all vaccinated, self-reported once they heard news of the US athlete testing positive late this morning. All daily tests of the trio in the Village had also returned negative results.
All members of the Australian Team at the Tokyo Games are tested daily.
Fifty four (54) members of the track and field team (41 athletes and 13 officials) were later given permission to leave after spending a little over two hours in their rooms.
The three team members tested this afternoon are now in isolation and will be tested daily. They will be allowed to resume training, subject to strict protocols that restricts their contact with others. At this stage all athletes are expected to compete as planned.
Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the fact that Perilli’s shooting bronze is San Marino’s very first Olympic medal. The microstate, which has a population of about 34,000, debuted at the 1960 summer Games and have never been on the podium – until now. It is also the smallest nation to take home an Olympic medal.
Here is a take from a commenter on the Australian athletes in iso situation:
“So it seems like the new normal for Australia is to go into a kind of witness protection programme even when other people test positive for Covid. Their rugby league team is too scared to travel and if the price of playing the Ashes is not seeing your family for months England won’t be able to raise a team to go out there. Let’s see if the Australian Open tennis happens next year. What a crap life Australia has chosen for itself.”
Slovak Zuzana Rehák-Štefečeková has won the women’s trap gold medal. American Kayle Browning secured silver while the bronze went to San Marino’s Alessandra Perilli.
Australian Laetisha Scanlan fell one target short to finish fourth while Penny Smith placed sixth.
In the canoe slalom, Jess Fox has qualified fastest in the women’s C1. The Australian’s time of 110.59 was ahead of Czech Tereza Fiserova (113.23) and Brazilian Ana Satila (114.27). She is, of course, chasing that elusive gold medal after claiming bronze in the kayak. The final starts at 3.55pm local time.
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The Covid-19 athletics crisis has worsened with news Argentine pole vaulter Germán Chiaraviglio has also tested positive and is consequently ruled out of competition.
Bit happening in the sky over Kasumigaseki Country Club, which means nothing is now happening on the golf course.
Play has been suspended due to lightning and weather in the area. @collin_morikawa is -1 through 13 and @PReedGolf is -3 through 13. #TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/NgkTNc5aWU
— USA GOLF (@USAGolf) July 29, 2021
#Golf
— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 29, 2021
Play suspended due to lightning in the area ⛳
Through 12 holes@McIlroyRory - 1@ShaneLowryGolf LVL#Tokyo2020 #TeamIreland @GolfIreland_ pic.twitter.com/iYSRp9WzHL
AAP has a nice round-up of play before it was halted:
Austrian Sepp Straka has set a cracking pace as Australia’s medal hopefuls struggled to keep up during the first round of the Olympic men’s golf championship. Straka fired an Olympic-record-equalling eight-under-par 63 to seize a two-stroke lead at the Kasumigaseki Country Club before lightning in Tokyo forced the suspension of play on Thursday. The 28-year-old was bogey-free during his blistering round.
With his putter running hot, Straka rattled in birdies on the third, fifth, sixth and eighth holes to reach the turn at four under. No let up on the back nine, he collected another four more birdies in five holes coming home to leave the 60-man field playing catch up early in the 72-hole, no-cut event.
Big-hitting Belgian Thomas Pieters and Mexican Carlos Ortiz both carded 65s to be equal second at six under, with Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond also six under through 15 holes. Dane Joachim B Hansen was outright fifth a further stroke behind following a 66.
Australians Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith were seven and eight shots adrift of Straka respectively after enduring frustrating Games debuts. Leishman didn’t get going until reeling off three consecutive birdies from the 13th hole. But he also dropped shots on the second and 16th holes in his one-under round of 70 to be sharing 30th place.
Smith let slip a promising start with two bogeys on the back nine, including a sloppy six on the par-5 14th. He was in 46th spot when the horn blew, signalling the weather warning.
“Hello Emma.” Hi Kári!
“Matti Mattsson’s unexpected bronze in the 200m breaststroke was Finland’s first medal at the Tokyo Olympics. This means that Finland’s streak of medalling at every Olympics since 1908 continues. The only other country to match that streak is Sweden. And I think even the Swedes would agree that the Finnish streak is the more impressive, given that while Sweden mostly avoided all the nonsense that the 20th century threw at humanity, Finland was at the coal face of history.”
Bit of light competition never hurt anyone.
Kurt asks: “Will an American win the 100m dash in athletics?”
Potentially, yes. In the men’s blue riband event, somebody other than Usain Bolt will claim the crown for the first time since Athens 2004. That man could very well be American Trayvon Bromell. Last month at a meet he ran 9.77s, which made him the seventh-fastest man in history.
In the women’s 100m, Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is the quickest this year with 10.63 but she will be tested by compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah (10.71). An American who would have been one of the favourites for gold is Sha’Carri Richardson, but she won’t compete after accepting a one-month ban for testing positive for marijuana at last month’s US trials.
Updated
Any shooting enthusiasts out there? The women’s and men’s trap finals are happening shortly.
In the former, Slovak Zuzana Rehak-Štefančíková is quite literally a sharpshooter, having set a world record and topped the qualifying phase after breaking all 125 targets. Australians Laetisha Scanlan and Penny Smith have a challenge on their hands in the field of six. Scanlan finished qualifying in equal third after hitting 121 of 125 targets, while Smith ranked equal fifth after putting down 120 targets across her five rounds at the Asaka range.
Ryan emails in and he’s unhappy with suggestions that changing Australia’s 4x200m relay line-up negatively affected their performance. He has added some extra exclamation marks for emphasis.
“They swam a solid three seconds faster than the four in the heat, AND they broke Australia’s own world record!! Only Mollie O’Callaghan of the heat swimmers swam a time faster than any of the finalist swimmers and even then, she wouldn’t have made up the difference to the Chinese swimmers [assuming she swam the same time again, which was itself a junior Oceania record].
“Not to mention that the Australians could have been DQ’d had they not swam all the swimmers named for the event. The Chinese made two changes as well, and quite simply swam superbly [as did Ledecky]. There was no kind of “backfiring” whatsoever.”
This could potentially be catastrophic news for the Australian team, with all 63 track and field athletes being tested and nervously awaiting results. To recap, the athletics starts in less than 24 hours so there is not much time. Imagine Marschall in particular will be worried given the Australian pole vault champion was training with Kendricks.
It comes at a time when Australia’s athletics contingent look strong, with a number of genuine medal hopes.
Our reporter on the ground in Tokyo, Kieran Pender, wrote this before the Australian titles.
Confirmation from the AOC that its athletics team is in isolation
“Members of Australia’s track and field team at the Tokyo Olympic Games are isolating in their rooms as a precautionary measure following news of a Covid positive finding with a member of the US track and field Team.
“Members of the Australian track and field team are now undergoing testing procedures in line with Australian Olympic Team protocols.”
Updated
Some more Covid-related breaking news in. Seven is reporting that Australia’s entire athletics team are in isolation after Kendricks, the American two-time reigning world champion, tested positive.
It’s believed Australian vaulter Kurtis Marschall is the only close contact due to his having trained with Hendricks. The Guardian has contacted the Australian Olympic Committee and Athletics Australia for comment so I will bring you further news when it comes in.
The timing is not ideal given the athletics is due to start Friday and the men’s pole vault qualification on Saturday.
Updated
The reactions of China’s 4x200m relay team after winning gold in world-record time are something to behold.
Titmus spoke to Seven about Australia’s performance:
“It was really fast we were under our previous world record, so it was still a good swim from us. I would have liked to have done a bit more for the team. I feel like I should have been better nut it’s what you can do on the day and it’s been a big couple of days, so I’m happy to come away on the podium.”
Between a LOT of swimming and quite a few other sports I took a peek at the BMX, which really looked a lot of fun (if you are more proficient on a bike than I). Australians Saya Sakakibara and Lauren Reynolds are through to the semi-finals.
It was a turbulent opening day, with Lauren Reynolds also qualifying for Friday’s semis but Anthony Dean crashing early and then finishing last overall in his quarter-final heat to drop out of contention.
Sakakibara and Reynolds were in the same heat on Thursday at Ariake Urban Sports Park, where competitors were divided into heats of six riders and had three rounds of races.
While Reynolds cruised through the three rounds with a third, a second and a fourth placing, Sakakibara went off course and finished last in race one. She led early in race two, but faded to fourth and that left her equal-last on points with two other riders.
Kendricks won the world title in 2017 and 2019 and Olympic bronze in Rio 2016. His battle with world record holder Mondo Duplantis of Sweden was expected to have been one of the highlights of the athletics program, which begins on Friday.
His father and coach posted the news to Instagram before it was confirmed by officials, though appears to have taken the post down.
Breaking news: Sam Kendricks’ dad/coach is reporting that Sam has tested positive for COVID and will not be able to compete in the #Olympics pic.twitter.com/YSDJMFUEA6
— Pole Vault Power (@polevaultpower) July 29, 2021
Probably also a good time to relive this moment from Rio when Kendricks stopped mid-vault because he heard the US national anthem.
Sam Kendricks tests positive for Covid-19
The American world pole vault champion has withdrawn from the Olympics after testing positive for Covid, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee has confirmed.
“The health and safety of our athletes, coaches and staff is our top priority,” the USOPC said in a statement. “We are saddened to confirm that Sam Kendricks tested positive for Covid-19 and will not compete in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
“In alignment with local rules and protocols, he has been transferred to a hotel to be placed in isolation and is being supported by the USATF and USOPC staff. Sam is an incredible and accomplished member of Team USA and his presence will be missed. Out of respect for his privacy, we cannot provide more information at this time.”
The Australians lost their world record and an expected gold medal following a dominant performance from China. Katie Ledecky anchored the United States to silver, with Australia’s quartet settling for bronze.
In the relay final, having qualified fastest on Wednesday, the reigning world champions Australia underscored their formidable depth by sending out an entirely different team for the final.
But the change backfired when the Chinese and American teams overhauled a strong Australian start from Ariarne Titmus and Emma McKeon. The gold medal for China is the first time since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing that the Americans have lost the women’s 4x200m race - but a disappointing result for the Australians, who had been predicted to comfortably win the relay.
China win women's 4x200m freestyle gold
1. China
2. USA
3. Australia
The last change has just happened and Neale has work to do. She and Li are under world record time but the latter is in front. Ledecky is making some serious ground on the pair. Tick over 100m to go.
Tell you what, this isn’t exactly a walkover. China continue to push, briefly take the lead again before Australia return to the fore. Wilson is in the water and has half a body on Zhang.
McKeon has half a body length on her own team’s world record right now. Tang is cominf for her and Madden is third but well back.
Canada are in third, a smidge in front of the US. But Emma McKeon has just dived in and has passed China’s Tang to put Australia in the lead for the first time.
And they’re off! Titmus looks comfortable as she hovers off the shoulder of Yang at the 100m mark.
I’ll hop to other sports as soon as the last swimming final is done. It’ll be worth it, though, I promise. Relays are always fun to watch, and the women’s 4x200m freestyle is as entertaining as they come. The world record-holding Australians qualified fastest by three seconds ahead of the US team. The Aussie line-up is 200m and 400m champion Ariarne Titmus, 100m fly bronze medallist Emma McKeon, and Madi Wilson and Leah Neale, and they hold the world record.
It is a bit of a different quartet to the 4x100m relay one comprised of Cate and Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris who smashed their own world record in that event a few days ago.
The US challenge in lane five with Allison Schmitt, Paige Madden and the two Katies – Mclaughlin and Ledecky. And China’s Yand Junxuan, Tand Muhan, Zhang Yufei and Li Bingjie are in lane three.
Updated
The women’s 200m breaststroke semi-finals are done and dusted. South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker was the fastest qualifier in 2:19.33 followed by Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova (2:20.57) and American Annie Lazor (2:21.94). Lilly King is also in along with Team GB’s Abbie Wood and Molly Renshaw, but Australia’s Jenna Strauch has missed out by one spot after swimming significantly slower than in her heat and placing sixth in her semi.
I’m questioning whether Phelps has his eyes on the pool. Perhaps he has a sneaky second screen somewhere.
Love to see our man @MichaelPhelps cheering on the boys! pic.twitter.com/nRSkT8zymz
— USA GOLF (@USAGolf) July 29, 2021
For a golf update, Austrian world No 161 Sepp Straka has carded an eight-under 63 and is leader from Belgium’s Thomas Pieters (65). American Xander Schauffele and Brit Paul Casey are hanging around the top end of the leaderboard at four-under on the back nine.
Here is the latest on Biles.
Chalmers had this to say to the Seven Network.
“It’s half a second faster than I was in Rio. If it [the Games] went ahead last year I wouldn’t have been here swimming. So to be back swimming, and back swimming fast, the shoulder’s feeling good.
“I qualified in lane seven, it’s kind of a bit more challenging being on the outside – I have to swim my own race from start to finish and be breathing the other way on the way home. But I left everything in the pool, I gave everything I could. But to win gold in 2016, come back and win silver, it’s great.
“I did everything in my absolute power to win. Obviously life’s not always about winning, but it is nice.”
The legendary list of US men to win Olympic gold in the 100m free:
Caeleb Dressel
Nathan Adrian
Matt Biondi
Rowdy Gaines
Jim Montgomery
Mark Spitz
Don Schollander
Clarke Scholes
Wally Ris
Johnny Weissmuller
Duke Kahanamoku
Charlie Daniels
There is a reason Dressel is being called the new Michael Phelps. He was basically unbeatable, even though Chalmers came so, so close to doing so. Chalmers started a little back, made the turn in third and it was only in the final 20m or so that he overtook Kolesnikov and was stroke for stroke with Dressel. He touched the wall 0.06 seconds after the American and that time, 47.08, is actually equal to Chalmers’s personal best, so it’s hard to argue he could have swum faster.
Updated
Dressel wins men's 100m freestyle gold
1 Dressel – 47.02 (Olympic record)
2 Chalmers – 47.08
3 Kolesnikov – 47.44
Updated
It’s time for the blue riband event. It’s time for the men’s 100m free! It’s the two-lap dash, it’s the one where Aussies are watching defending champion Kyle Chalmers. But it’s also the one where Americans are watching rival Caeleb Dressell. They will both try to beat Russian Kliment Kolesnikov, who qualified fastest.
While the Aquatics Centre is, of course, largely empty, it’s far from quiet, with a few hundred officials and team members from various countries cheering on the swimmers from the stands. The US contingent is one of the biggest, most animated and loudest, with some of them banging noise-sticks and chanting U-S-A! U-S-A!
Even before Caeleb Dressel and Katie Ledecky dive in later in the session the Americans have had some medal success to shout about, with Bobby Finke winning gold in the men’s 800m freestyle and Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger taking silver and bronze respectively in the women’s 200m butterfly.
Zhang had that well in hand for the entire race but interesting stat on the US, which had won at least one medal in every Olympic swimming pool event since 2012 except the women’s 200m fly, in which it won a whole lot of nothing since Misty Hyman’s gold in 2000. And thus! Smith and Flickinger go silver-bronze to end the longest medal drought in US swimming.
Zhang (CHN) wins gold in women's 200m butterfly
1 Zhang – 2:03.86 (Olympic record)
2 Smith – 2:05.30
3 Flickinger – 2:05.65
Updated
Zhang has her hands in front of that world record line. She has a body on the US pair, with Smith the closest but not close enough on the final turn.
Right, there are more medals up for grabs at the pool, specifically in the women’s 200m butterfly final. China and the US are the ones to watch here, with Zhang Yufei and Yu Liyan facing off against Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger.
Quick hop back to the sevens because Team GB have narrowly accounted for Russia 14-12. It was a hard-fought victory led by captain and double try-scorer Abbie Brown, who was responsible for 10 of her country’s points.
Updated
Simon Biles has tweeted for the first time since making the difficult decision not to defend her individual all-around gymnastics title.
the outpouring love & support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics which I never truly believed before. 🤍
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) July 29, 2021
The US star also retweeted this.
From a gymnast friend regarding Simone Biles 🐐❤️ pic.twitter.com/4eWPIgi4yf
— Brandon Marino (@TheBatMarino) July 27, 2021
Meanwhile, in the men’s 200m backstroke semi-finals, GB’s Luke Greenbank didn’t wait around, winning his race in 1:54.98 ahead of American Rio 2016 gold medallist Ryan Murphy (1:55.38). Only Russian Evgeny Rylov qualified quicker with a first-semi time of 1:54.45.
Well Emma McKeon has nailed her semi-final, warding off world record holder Sarah Sjöström to qualify fastest for the final with 52.32, which was 0.08 faster than Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey who won the first semi ahead of Cate Campbell, who placed second with 52.71 and qualified third-fastest for the final.
Updated
Here is Kieran Pender’s first report from the Tokyo Aquatic Centre.
Australia’s rugby sevens Rio 2016 gold medal defence has begun in head-turning fashion with a 48-0 win over Japan. Emma Tonegato scored three tries and Demi Hayes and Maddison Levi two apiece, in a statement of intent that will have put world No 1 New Zealand on notice.
“Unbelievable. Lost for words, really,” Stubblety-Cook tells Seven. “Without [my family’s] support I couldn’t be here. But it’s been a tough five years, and I’m lost for words, to be honest.”
And on his fast finish.
“Made it entertaining, right? But, you know, that’s the way I train and that’s the way I race all the time. So at these Games I won’t try to change strength, not going to strange my strengths. It’s too late for that. I’m definitely just happy that the process pulled off.”
He was the youngest. But he was the fastest. On Thursday, 22-year-old Zac Stubblety-Cook won the first gold medal for Australia’s men at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, beating home a more experienced field to break the Olympic record in the 200m breaststroke final.
Stubblety-Cook started slowly, touching the wall in sixth at the first turn. But the Australian slowly reeled back fast-starting Dutchman Arno Kamminga, touching third at the final turn before a stunning last lap lifted Stubblety-Cook to the top step of the podium.
His win adds another gold to Australia’s burgeoning medal tally in Tokyo - with the potential for more to come later in the morning on Thursday.
Stubblety-Cook (AUS) wins men's 200m breaststroke gold
1 Stubblety-Cook – 2:06.38 (Olympic record)
2 Kamminga – 2:07.01
3 Mattsson – 2:07.13
Updated
Nic Fink got away to an excellent start and was in front by the 25m mark. Soon, though, he is overtaken by Arno Kamminga. Half of this field are under world pace. Stubblety-Cook has surged into third.
Finke is also the first US man to win an Olympic distance freestyle since 1984.
No time to blink, because it’s time for the men’s 200m breaststroke final. An open field and a tricky race. Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook qualified fastest and holds the second-fastest time in history; but will face competition from Arno Kamminga (Netherlands), James Wilby (Team GB) and Nic Fink (USA).
Tremendous race management from Finke. He sat back, he waited. He was in fourth until the final 50m, then it was go time. His arms are in the air in ecstasy, and so they should be.
Bobby Finke (USA) wins men's 800m gold
1 Bobby Finke – 7:41.87
2 Gregorio Paltrinieri – 7:42.11
3 Mykhailo Romanchuk – 7:42.33
Updated
McLoughlin has fallen back by about a body length of Romanchuk and Germany’s Florian Wellbrock.
Paltrinieri is employing some sort of tactic here. When he’s coming down one side of the pool he is swimming right up against the outside lane rope. Perhaps it’s to avoid allowing McLoughlin to drag off him. 500 down, and Paltrinieri’s lead isn’t quite as dominant as it was but he is still well in front. The chasing pack is relatively even, with only two seconds separating them from the leader.
Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk has qualified fastest. He finished eighth at the most recent world championships behind McLoughlin. After 100m the Australian is in second, but it’s Gregorio Paltrinieri who has had a blinder of a start and already has half a body on the rest of the field. The Italian is under world record pace.
At the Tokyo Aquatic Centre, Jack McLoughlin is about to contest the men’s 800m freestyle final. He is coming off the back of a silver medal in the 400m freestyle, which he lost to Tunisian youngster Ahmed Hafnaoui. His story is also cool, having come very close to retiring not too long ago.
Some serious swimming is about to happen ... but first! France have beaten Fiji 12-5 in the women’s rugby sevens and Canada have wiped the floor with Brazil, who found themselves on the wrong end of a 33-0 scoreline. Canada are top of Pool B.
Australia are about to open their title defence against host nation Japan in Pool C. The US have already defeated China 28-14 in the same pool.
Italy win lightweight women's double sculls
Valentina Rodini and Federica Cesarini have done it. Their first medal in this event and the best one on offer. The end of this final is edge-of-your-seat stuff.
The Dutch girls, still in front, look as if they are smiling behind their orange sunnies, though I feel sure it is a grimace as they pull away by half a boat. France and Great Britain and fatiguing and they are overtaken by France in the final 100m. But one of the Dutch catch an oar in the water. Wow! I didn’t see this coming. Italy have pulled something incredible out of their back pocket and pipped all rivals at the post. France take silver and the Dutch drop back into third position to claim bronze. Still, it was almost a photo finish, with only 0.14 seconds in it.
Updated
Quite some way, in fact, Dutch pair Marieke Keijser and Ilse Paulis lead. Italy now second and the British and French fighting for thirs.
Relatively even race this one, though the US and Romania have fallen back. The Netherlands are moving now.
Brits Emily Craig and Imogen Grant are still in front at the 500m mark. France in second and Italy third.
Italy have never won a medal in this event before but are in very good shape in lane four, the US haven’t done so since their bronze in 2000. The wind is picking up at the Sea Forest Waterway. Team GB have their bow in front as it stands.
Big congratulations to Ireland. That is just their 10th gold medal in Olympic history. The last was Katie Taylor in boxing in 2012. Before that the last one came in 1996.
The lightweight women’s double skulls final is about to get going.
Hello!
Emma Kemp will take you through the rest of the morning. Over to you Emma...
Ireland win their first gold of the 2020 Olympics!
It’s a hell of a battle for gold. Germany go ahead before Ireland fight back and they’re too strong in the final 100m as the Germans fade. Italy have bronze but Ireland have their first gold of the Olympics! They’re are the men’s lightweight double sculls champions (that’s a bit of a mouthful, but a glorious one).
Updated
500m to go and the Irish are into the lead! But they’re only just ahead of the Germans by 0.27 sec. Italy are way back in third.
The Irish pair look relaxed as we reach the halfway point. They’re up to second, 0.62 seconds behind Germany. Italy are third.
On to the men’s lightweight double sculls finals. It features Ireland, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Uruguay and Belgium. The Irish team have the world’s best time this year so keep an eye out for them. Germany get out to a quick start and lead Italy in second and Ireland, who lurk ominously in third, after 500m.
I’m at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre for another big morning of medal action in the Olympic swimming. In addition to a number of semi-finals, we have five gold medals on offer today:
Men’s 800m Freestyle - this event returns to the Olympic calendar for the first time in over a century. Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk qualified fastest. Also watch out for Jack McLoughlin in lane 7 - the Australian won silver in the 400m and will be hoping to go one better.
Men’s 200m Breaststroke - Next up we have an open field taking on this tricky race. Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook qualified fastest and holds the second fastest time in history; but will face competition from Arno Kamminga (Netherlands), James Wilby (Team GB) and Nic Fink (USA).
Women’s 200m Butterfly - China and the USA will go head to head in this one - China’s Liyan Yu and Yufei Zhang against American pair Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger.
Men’s 100m Freestyle - the blue riband event, the two lap dash, this will be one to watch. Defending champion from Rio, Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, is back to defend his crown. But he’s up against a rapid favourite, including USA’s Caeleb Dressell and the Russian Kliment Kolesnikov, who qualified fastest.
Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay - the morning of medals ends with a relay and it is hard to look past the Aussies here. They qualified three seconds ahead of the next-fastest team, USA, and will bring in some of their superstars, including Ariarne Titmus, for the final. The Australians hold the world record and may well break it at Tokyo 2020.
New Zealand win gold in the women's pairs!
New Zealand win gold! Once they were out front with 500m to go they were huge favourites and they finished so well. The Russians’ late surge won them silver past Canada and GB faded into fourth.
500m to go. New Zealand lead Canada and the Russians have ripped past GB into third.
The Kiwis have huge experience and they’re just behind Canada at halfway. Are they biding their time? GB lead the Russians, just, in third.
Back to the rowing. Canada, New Zealand and GB are the leaders in that order at 500m. The Kiwis have a very strong finish though, so watch out for them in the closing stages.
A result in the women’s sevens. France beat Fiji 12-5 in the opening game of the tournament. In beach volleyball, the US pair of Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil beat Kenya’s Gaudencia Makokha and Brackcides Khadambi0.
Team GB’s Helen Glover and Polly Swann go in the women’s pairs final next – they’re up against Canada, Greece, NZ, ROC and Spain.
Croatia win with ease despite a late surge from Romania in silver. Denmark just edge out Canada for bronze. The Sinkovic brothers are Olympic champions again after their gold at Rio 2016.
The Croatians’ only weakness is a tendency to fade in the last 500m but they have a big lead at the halfway stage. Denmark and Romania are second and third with the rest of the field two seconds back.
The men’s pairs final is up next. We have teams from Canada, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Denmark and Spain. Plenty of good teams here but the Sinkovic brothers in the Croatian boat are particularly strong. They are out to a strong start - as has been the case for them throughout the tournament. They lead from Denmark and Canada in third at 500m of the 2km course.
The wind is picking up at the Sea Forest Waterway for the rowing as we prepare for the medal races but no sign of any delays. Yet.
The women’s rugby sevens has started and the opening match features Fiji and France. The Fiji men’s team won the gold yesterday, let’s see if the women can get off to a winning start - it’s 7-5 to the French at the moment.
Austria’s Sepp Straka leads the men’s golf. He’s three under after six holes. Sami Välimäki of Finland and Joachim Hansen of Denmark are one shot back on two under. Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas of the US and Paul Casey of GB are on par and Australia’s Marc Leishman is one over but all four of those players are in the very early stages of their rounds.
Some rowing finals are coming up in the next 40 minutes. The men’s pairs final features duos from Canada, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Denmark and Spain. Team GB’s Helen Glover and Polly Swann go in the women’s pairs final – they’re up against Canada, Greece, NZ, ROC and Spain.
There are also medals up for grabs in the lightweight double sculls. The women’s final pits the USA and Team GB against France, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania. The men’s final features Ireland, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Uruguay and Belgium.
Meanwhile, we have some B finals. Australia won the women’s pairs ahead of Denmark and Romania.
As well as being an incredibly difficult sport, gymnastics is also dangerous - you don’t want to land on your neck after flying off a vault or somersaulting off a beam. And that’s another reason Simone Biles knew this week was not the time to compete. Our gymnastics correspondent Tumaini Carayol has more:
During her late-night press conference on Tuesday, Biles explained that she also had “twisties”, a word for a mental block in which gymnasts lose their spatial awareness in the middle of complex skills. It is a well-known, terrifying and dangerous sensation for gymnasts.
Among many others, Aleah Finnegan, a gymnast on the USA national team, was prompted to speak about the subject on Twitter. “I’ve had the twisties since I was 11,” she wrote. “I cannot imagine the fear of having it happen to you during competition. They have very limited equipment and mats in Tokyo to help something like this get fixed let alone within a day. You have absolutely no control over your body and what it does.”
So much of gymnastics is mental and where the sport differs from many others is that if gymnasts are not in the right frame of mind to execute their dangerous skills, they will not simply run slower or strike a ball into a fence. Each complex skill comes with the risk of serious injury, and it is something they are keenly aware of each day. By preserving her mental health, Biles is also protecting herself physically.
You can read the full article below, it’s an interesting read:
Some golf questions from reader Richard Hirst. “How come the US have four players competing and GB, for example, have two? And how come Rory McIlroy is shown as competing for Ireland when he is from Northern Ireland?”
Well, the qualification is based on the world rankings. The top 15 in the men’s and women’s world rankings qualified automatically, up to a limit of four players per country. And seeing as the US is so strong in golf that means four players for the American team.
As for Rory, players born in Northern Ireland can compete for either Ireland or Team GB (technically Great Britain and Northern Ireland). Rory chose Ireland. Here’s what he said in 2019:
“As a young boy it was always my dream to play for Ireland,” McIlroy explained. “I was very proud to put on that shirt or that blazer.
“It’s the same as like the rugby players, right? There’s players that play for Ulster but they want to play for Ireland. It’s seen as a whole island sport, just like hockey is, just like most of the sports are.
“So then obviously when you put the Olympics into the equation and there’s a choice to be made, you really have to start thinking, what are your beliefs and your values.
“I had an unbelievable amateur career – and I don’t mean that in terms of results – but I mean that in the experiences I had, the trips that I had, the friendships that I made and the friendships that I still have to this day. That was all because of playing for Ireland and getting close to some of those guys. I’m excited to be going to the Olympics. I’m excited to play for Ireland.”
It’s morning in Japan and morning in Australia too. Which means our Aussie readers have a full day of action ahead of them. And given the success of Australia so far it may end up being another day awash with precious metals (and bronze, not sure if bronze is more on the semi-precious end). Anyway, here’s what Aussies have to look out for. All times are AEST:
Golf
8:30am – men’s individual (Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith)
Swimming
11:30am – men’s 800m freestyle final (Jack McLoughlin); 11:44am – men’s 200m breaststroke final (Zac Stubblety-Cook); 11:53am – women’s 100m freestyle semi-finals (Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell); 12:04pm – men’s 200m backstroke semi-finals (Tristan Hollard); 12:28pm – women’s 200m butterfly final (Brianna Throssell); 12:37pm – men’s 100m freestyle final (Kyle Chalmers); 12:54pm – women’s 200m breaststroke semi-finals (Jenna Strauch); 1:08pm – men’s 200m individual medley semi-finals (Mitch Larkin); 1:31pm – women’s 4x200m freestyle relay final (Australia)
Rugby sevens
11:30am – women’s Pool C (Australia v Japan); 6:3opm – women’s Pool C (Australia v China)
Cycling BMX racing
11am – men’s quarter-finals (Anthony Dean); women’s quarter-finals (Lauren Reynolds, Saya Sakakibara)
Shooting
10:50am – men’s trap qualification and finals (Thomas Grice, James Willett); women’s trap qualification and finals (Laetisha Scanlan, Penny Smith); 10am – women’s 25m pistol precision stage (Dina Aspandiyarova, Elena Galiabovitch)
Sailing
From 1:05pm – Finn men race 5-6 (Jake Lilley); 470 men race 3-4 (Matthew Belcher, Will Ryan); 470 women race 3-4 (Monique de Vries, Nia Jerwood); Laser men race 7-8 (Matt Wearn); Laser radial women race 7-8 (Mara Stransky); 49er men race 5-6 (Will Phillips, Sam Phillips); foiling nacra 17 mixed race 4-6 (Jason Waterhouse, Lisa Darmanin)
Canoe Slalom
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3pm – canoe C1 women’s semi-final (Jess Fox); 4:55pm canoe C1 women’s final
Archery
10:34am – men’s individual eliminations (Taylor Worth v Alviyanto Prastyadi); 1:06pm (Ryan Tyack v Nicholas D’Amour); 3pm – David Barnes v Riau Ega Salsabilla); 11:09 am – women’s eliminations (Alice Ingley v Ksnenia Perova)
Tennis
From 4pm (third match on Court 2) – mixed doubles quarter-finals (Ash Barty and John Peers v Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas)
Water polo
7:20pm – men’s preliminaries Group B (Serbia v Australia)
Hockey
8pm – women’s Pool B (New Zealand v Australia)
The men’s golfers are out doing their golf at the moment. It’s very early days but Finland’s Sami Välimäki is leading at two under with Hoshino Rikuya (Japan), Sepp Straka (Austria) and Joachim Hansen (Denmark) on one under. But plenty of the big guns don’t tee off for a while.
Preamble
Hello! Another day, another opportunity to watch people doing sport good. Here’s my colleague Martin Belam with what’s in store today:
The BMX racing cycling gets under way Thursday, as does the golf. It feels like a slightly quieter programme before the athletics starts on Friday. There are medals available in the canoe slalom, fencing, judo, rowing, shooting, swimming, and table tennis.
All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for Leeds, 13 hours for New York and 16 hours for San Francisco. I’ve got to be honest, I’ve found it easier now to just have a clock set to Tokyo time on my desk at home.
🌟If you only watch one thing: 10.30am-1.20pm Swimming – It has been days now, but I still can’t quite get my head round the swimming having finals in the morning and heats in the evening. It was this way round in Beijing too, designed to suit TV times in the US. Which means the very first race on Thursday is the men’s 800m freestyle final. There are also medals to be had in the men’s 200m breaststroke (10.44am) and the men’s 100m freestyle (11.37am). Caeleb Dressel would have been many people’s favourite for this, but Not Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov posted a faster qualifying time and Australia’s Kyle Chalmers is in with a shout of gold too. For women, it’s the 200m butterfly (11.28am) and 4x200m freestyle relay final (12.31pm) 🥇
- 7.30am Golf – day one of the men’s individual stroke play at Kasumigaseki Country Club. If you are in the UK, that starts at 11.30pm tonight, and like the triathlon the other day, could act as a siren call to have you staying up all night if you aren’t careful.
- 9.00am-7.30pm Rugby sevens – the women’s competition starts on Thursday. The same format as the men, the 12 teams are in three pools of four, the top two in each pool qualify plus the two best third-placed teams. Defending champions Australia face Japan and China on day one. Team GB open against Not Russia and then face New Zealand at 6.30pm.
- 9.18am-10.10am Rowing – I’ve been loathe to list rowing times, as they’ve been constantly rescheduled during the Games due to weather conditions, but at the time of writing, we are expecting to see the medal races in the men’s and women’s pairs and the men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls in the space of an hour. The water may have other ideas 🥇
- 10am-11.45am Cycling BMX racing – the men and the women do three runs in the quarter-finals
- 10.50am-7.55pm Fencing – it’s the women’s foil team contest on Thursday 🥇
- 2.30pm-3.30pm Shooting – the trap competition reaches day two, with qualification rounds at 9am, and then the women’s final at 2.30pm and the men at 3.30pm 🥇
- 3pm Tennis – finally, a few days in, organisers have listened to the pleas of the players, and the sessions are being pushed into the afternoon and evening to avoid the worst of Tokyo’s heat. Not before, however, Spain’s Paula Badosa left the court in a wheelchair today because of its effects. The women’s singles reaches the semi-final stage on Thursday.
- 5pm-7.50pm Judo – there’s judo all day from 11am, but by the close of play we’ll have reached the business end of the women’s -78kg and the men’s -100kg 🥇
- 7.50pm Artistic gymnastics – with all the headlines around it, you’ve probably already clocked that it’s going to be the women’s all-around final 🥇
You can find our full interactive events schedule here, which during the day has live scores and results feeding into it as they happen. I had it open this morning trying to make sense of the men’s cycling time trial.
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