BONG! Big Ben has struck midnight and a fresh liveblog has been born. Tom Lutz is in charge of it, and you can find it here:
And so, with the marathon leaders about 20km into their race, my own is run. Enjoy the last day of the 2020/whatever Olympics, everyone. Bye!
Marathon: Meanwhile cameras catch Daniel Do Nascimento, the Brazilian currently leading the race, smiling and fist-bumping Eliud Kipchoge. For all the athletes struggling already, those two seem entirely relaxed.
Marathon: And as I type that Alemu Bekele becomes the third withdrawal, swiftly followed by Ukraine’s Oleksandr Sitkovskiy, Gabriel Gerald Geay of Tanzania and the 2012 gold medallist Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda.
Marathon: There are 63 athletes within a minute of the leader, 16 between one and two minutes back, and 14 between two minutes and three minutes eight seconds back. Six still have not reached 15km, so are more than 5min behind, and two are confirmed to have withdrawn so far.
Marathon: The leaders have now covered 15km, and the leading pack is now down to 43, all within 5sec of the leader. Britain’s Callum Hawkins is the last of those.
Marathon: About 13.5km in and Joohan Oh, the Kenya-born South Korean, is walking. He may also have a hamstring problem. His personal best is 2hrs 5min 13sec, a very decent time, and he won the Seoul marathon in 2018, 2016, 2015 and 2012. Australia’s Jack Rayner, who came 13th at the London Marathon in 2019, has stopped.
Marathon: Callum Hawkins, the leading Briton, has managed to hang on to the leading pack so far, but they are now dropping him. The other two Britons, Ben Connor and Chris Thompson, are around 1min 40sec behind.
Marathon: Kiprotich is currently walking. Conditions are clearly brutal for athletes of such standing to be falling already.
Marathon: The leaders have now run 10km, in 30min 53sec. 50 athletes are within 10sec of that time. Kiprotich’s demise has been somewhat exaggerated: he’s still going, but has been dropped by the leaders and is 41sec behind. Alemu Bekele, the Ethiopia-born Bahrainian, passed the 10km mark in the leading pack but has since stopped, restarted, and is now running slowly, well off the pace.
Marathon: Stephen Kiprotich, who won the marathon in 2012 and came 14th in Rio, has also stopped. “Now I say I can die a champion, I cannot die a useless man,” he said after his victory in London, and that at least can never be taken away from him.
Marathon: Shura Kitata, the Ethiopian who won the London marathon last year, has stopped running and is holding his right hamstring.
Marathon: I’m not entirely sure how Ivan Zarco Alvarez got here. His PB is 2hrs 18min 19sec, about seven minutes more than anyone else in the race. He was born in Barcelona, and got his place just last month after the US-born sprinter Melique Garcia failed to get a Honduran passport.
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Marathon: Suarez and Germany’s Amanal Petros are first at the 5km mark, but there are 51 others within six seconds of them. There are also 16 athletes who are already more than 45sec off the lead, including two Poles, two Britons, a pair of Estonians and with the Honduran Ivan Zarco Alvarez last of all, 1min 17sec back.
Marathon: Jeison Alexander Suarez is the early leader. Far too early for it to count for anything, obviously. His world ranking is 553.
Marathon: Seven minutes in, and the group is already quite strung out. It looks like Britain’s Chris Thompson might be bringing up the rear at the moment.
Marathon: Japan’s Suguru Osako, Galen Rupp, Lelisa Desisa and Eliud Kipchoge were the four two get special treatment. One of them is the big home hope, one of the others is Kipchoge, and the other two aren’t exactly obscure. Birhanu Legese, the Ethiopian currently ranked No1 by World Athletics, Evans Chebet, the Kenyan No2, and Mosinet Geremew, the Ethiopian No4, are among those missing from the line-up. Lawrence Cherono of Kenya is the highest-ranked competitor.
Marathon: Four of the athletes are introduced to the crowd, the crowd in question being the other competitors, who clap quietly. And then, they’re off!
Marathon: If anyone understands the logic behind the bib numbers, I’m all ears. They start at 1027 and end at 3965. There are not nearly 3000 competitors.
Marathon: The athletes are out and warming up. It is currently 26C in Sapporo, with 80% humidity, and is due to rise to 28C or so over the next couple of hours.
Marathon: The men’s marathon is just half an hour away. It starts and finishes in Odori Park, which according to the website of Sapporo’s tourist office “is called a park, but it’s really a street”. The word “odori” literally means “big road”. This sounds a bit rum, but then London gets away with having a big road called Park Lane (though that, to be fair, is next to an actual park). Lots of festivals are held in Odori Park, including Hokkai Bon Odori Dance, “a traditional and merry Japanese festival that is celebrated with dance and lively drum performances to welcome the homecoming of ancestral spirits”. This year’s Hokkai Bon Odori starts next Saturday.
Boxing: The final bout of this year’s Olympic boxing, due to start in about eight hours’ time, will be the men’s super heavyweight final between the giant Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan and the American Richard Torrez Jr. The two have met once before, in Ekaterinburg almost exactly two years ago, when the fight ended with this brutal knockout blow:
That fight has been the talk of the US boxing camp this week. “It’s been great motivation,’’ said Billy Walsh, head coach of USA Boxing. “When that happened in Russia two years ago, I said to him, ‘This moment will not define you. What will define you is how you come back from this.’” Torrez has the ultimate chance to redefine himself in just a few hours’ time.
Marathon: Favourite to win the men’s marathon, which starts in just under two hours, is Eliud Kipchoge, who is bidding to become the first person in more than 40 years to defend the title. Speaking earlier this week he didn’t sound too excited to be dealing with the heat of Sapporo though as he wisely said “all of us will be in the same frying pan”.
No Human Is Limited. #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/5ZYwmj2UKI
— Eliud Kipchoge - EGH🇰🇪 (@EliudKipchoge) August 7, 2021
The time has come for the best-of-the-Olympics listicles. Here are Tumaini Carayol’s:
So, what has he missed out?
PA Media have been hanging out at Heathrow airport while a plane full of Olympic athletes was touching down:
Team GB medal winners have been reunited with their loved ones in emotional scenes as they returned home from the Olympic Games today.
Canoeist Liam Heath and pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw were among those to touch down at Heathrow Airport on Saturday evening sporting medals following their success at Tokyo 2020.
Heath, who won bronze in the K1 200m, was reunited with his three-year-old daughter Sarah, who ran towards him as he arrived at Terminal Five. Other family members waved a poster that said “Welcome Back Daddy” as the Olympians were greeted with applause.
Heath, 36, from Guildford, told the PA news agency: “She [Sarah] looks so grown up. She grows every day but you don’t really see it when you’re with her 24/7. I think it’s the longest time I’ve actually been away from Sarah since she was born - nearing on a month. She’s a proper little person and I absolutely adore her. It was absolutely incredible to come back home and see her running towards me.”
Heath is Team GB’s most successful canoeist - with four Olympic medals won so far, including the bronze in Tokyo. His wife Emily said she was looking forward to much-needed family time with her husband and daughter. “You get used to them being gone all the time but at the same time you’re longing for their return and literally counting down the days,” she said. “We just made sure the closest lot were at the airport to greet him and then tomorrow we’ll just see what he wants to do. It’s important to have just a bit of time for the three of us.”
Bradshaw, who won bronze in the pole vault, described Tokyo 2020 as “special” despite a lack of spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She told PA: “I think every Olympics is different anyway but this has felt very different in that it’s all about the performance and not about going out and exploring or anything like that. You just trained and came home and you had to be super on it with hygiene. But I think it’s been a really, really good Games and Japan did a really good job to make it feel special even though there was no one there.”
Meanwhile, sailor Dylan Fletcher was greeted by cheers from a crowd of family members who waved Union flags and held up balloons. The 33-year-old won a gold medal in the men’s 49er alongside teammate Stuart Bithell. Fletcher’s mother Jane told PA she had been “shaking” with anticipation ever since his victory.
She said: “We didn’t stop shaking from 5.30 on Tuesday morning all the way through to now. And I think I’m still shaking now and it’s all going to rev up again. I’m so proud for them and of them. They’re phenomenal sailors and phenomenal athletes. Just fantastic.”
Fletcher returns home to busy wedding planning, as he and his fiancee Charlotte are set to get married in 20 days. His mother said: “There’s a lot to do. They’re going to come and chill out with us for a little while for a few days. No doubt we’ll have some champagne and I think there will be a big party on that wedding day when we get there. It will be wonderful.”
Team GB made it 20 golds in Tokyo on Saturday as boxer Galal Yafai and then Joe Choong in the modern pentathlon won their events. It guaranteed that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be Britain’s third-best gold medal haul since the 56 golds at the London Games of 1908. The team finished with 27 golds at Rio in 2016, and 29 at the London Games in 2012.
Birmingham’s 28-year-old Yafai claimed the flyweight title and Britain’s first gold in the ring. He floored Carlo Paalam of the Philippines in the opening round, then edged the split decision. Having spent his early 20s working in a Land Rover factory, shifting boxes and detesting his work, after the bout he said: “Six years ago I took up boxing and thank God it worked out for me and shows if you work hard you can reap the rewards.”
Much more here:
Football: There’s one British gold medal that hasn’t helped the nation rise up the medal table: the one taken home by the coach who took Canada to women’s football glory. Suzanne Wrack has the story of Bev Priestman:
A deadly serious Canada manager Bev Priestman admitted she knew her team would go on to clinch Olympic gold after their quarter-final penalty defeat of Brazil. The route ahead meant a semi-final with a team they had not beaten in 20 years, in the USA, and then likely a final against the tournament’s in-form team, Sweden, but she knew. And you didn’t doubt her.
“I’m so so happy to get that gold,” said the 35-year-old, with the medal dangling round her neck. “I knew it was coming. Probably from the Brazil game onwards I knew we had it if the players turned up and they believed, which they did.”
Priestman’s unwavering belief in the abilities of her players and the gameplan of the team has, without question, filtered into the players themselves.
Much more here:
Marathon: Coming up later today/tomorrow (depending on where you live) is the men’s marathon. At the age of 40 Chris Thompson will be one of three British competitors there and clinging to the hope of adding a second major championship medal to the European Championship 10,000m silver he won in Barcelona in 2010.
Earlier this year he “nearly lost my hand” after it was “completely sliced open” when it somehow ended up under the wheel of a removal van. The Olympic trials were nine weeks away. In between his son, Theo, was born. He won the trial in 2hrs 10min 50sec, 40 seconds inside the qualifying time and battering his personal best. He has also overcome potentially career-ending achilles injury, a broken back and, er, a nasty dog bite. “The woman came up to me saying, ‘Don’t worry, he doesn’t have rabies.’ I said, ‘I wasn’t worried about that, but I am now.’”
Chris Thompson celebrates winning the Olympic Marathon Trial at Kew pic.twitter.com/p3L3zIuPd8
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 26, 2021
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Football: As the final whistle blew at the end of 120 airless minutes, after six games in 17 days, and at the end of an 11-month season with barely a caesura of rest, the players of Brazil and Spain collapsed in contrasting states of delirium.
For Brazil’s men’s Olympic football team this was a night that ended in career-high joy for many of those present. The gold medal was secured via an extra-time goal from the vibrant, game-changing Malcom, who plays his football in the Russian Olympic Committee Premier League with Zenit Saint Petersburg.
Richarlison, who missed a penalty and assorted other chances, fell face down close to the centre circle. A huddle of coaches entwined their arms and bounced across the turf like a vast human beach ball. Flags were brandished as the gathered Brazilian media launched into chants and songs.
Much more here:
Water polo: I’m wagering that there hasn’t been a great deal of water polo coverage in today’s blog, and that is a situation that needs to be remedied. Because history will be made in the pool tomorrow, when unfancied outsiders Greece win their first ever water polo medal. But what colour will it be? They face defending champions Serbia in the men’s final and will be underdogs once again, though it doesn’t seem to bother them.
The Greeks are undefeated in Tokyo, though the only match they drew, in the preliminary round, was against the Italy side that Serbia comfortably beat in the quarter-finals. Since then they have routed South Africa 28-5, thrashed the USA 14-5, trounced Montenegro 10-4 and, in the semi-finals, beat nine-time champions and 12-time finalists Hungary 10-6, leading at the end of every quarter. The Greek coach, Theodoros Vlachos, has promised that his team will “fight like crazy” in the gold medal match, which is due to start at 8.30am local time.
“We beat Hungary in the semi-finals with self-sacrifice, heart, tactics, excellent defence, great goals and everything that a final needs because the game was a final for us. I have been waiting for years to guide the national team in the final. I’m very grateful and proud that we did this for Greece. We cannot stop here. We have to fight like crazy in the final. We want the gold, to raise the flag high, and to hear our anthem at the end. We will not waste this moment, and we will give our best.”
Athletics: In the minutes after the end of the very last event, an army of construction workers filed into the Olympic Stadium to start getting it ready for the closing ceremony. The athletes were still making their way out through the line of TV, radio and press interviews while the workers were marching past them, hauling palettes of stacked plastic matting to lay over the track and great rolls of fabric to unwrap. The Olympics are winding down, and the athletics is wrapping up. Looking back on what’s happened here in the last nine days, you can see the ways in which the Games have started to change.
The most keenly anticipated race of these Olympics wasn’t the men’s 100m but the women’s, and the biggest stars of the athletics championships were Elaine Thompson-Herah, who swept all three sprints, and Sifan Hassan, who completed an unprecedented treble when she followed her victory in the 5,000m and her bronze in the 1,500m with another gold medal in the 10,000m. And then there was Allyson Felix, who says she has enjoyed every minute of it.
“The women showed up,” Felix said. “I think we’ve been showing up on the track, off the track, in all of the ways. So to me I loved it, I love seeing it. It’s been a really special Games for women, in our sport, outside our sport, it’s been really inspiring for me to see performance after performance, women out there getting it done.”
Much more here:
Sayōnara from me for the final time in these Olympics, so thanks for your time and your company over the past couple of weeks. I’m off to screw my football head back on and will leave you in the very capable hands of Simon Burnton.
Athletics: American sprinter Allyson Felix met and defied every lofty expectation of her on the way to setting an impossibly high standard of excellence, writes Andrew Lawrence.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics Briefing ...
If you haven’t signed up for Martin Belam’s daily round-up of the comings and goings in Tokyo throughout these Games, you’ve missed out on a real treat. Here’s the latest instalment ...
Today in a nutshell: no surprises as Team USA took the men’s basketball gold, Neeraj Chopra won India’s first ever athletics gold, there were wins in the boxing ring and modern pentathlon for Team GB, and Allyson Felix became the most decorated US track Olympian of all time.
Tomorrow’s key moments: the men’s marathon, track cycling, boxing, a host of team finals, and *gulp* then it’s the closing ceremony and we are done.
Athletics: Sifan Hassan’s odyssey from refugee to one of the greatest athletes of this or any other era was confirmed in Tokyo as she became the first person to win three medals over 1500m, 5,000m and 10,000m, writes Sean Ingle, whose workload over the past two weeks made that of the subject of this article look comparatively lazy.
The last leg of the treble, after 5,000m gold and 1,500m bronze, came as the Dutch athlete sprinted clear of Bahrain’s Kalkidan Gezahegne to win the 10,000m in 29min 55.32sec, with the Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia, the world record holder, winning bronze.
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Athletics: Track and field’s most fascinating science experiment has ended in an Olympic 1500m gold medal for Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who has been training as a professional since he was eight, writes Sean Ingle from Tokyo’s Olympic Park. The 20-year-old has long been tipped for greatness after becoming the youngest man to break the four-minute mile at 16. On a muggy Tokyo night the Norwegian, who has been coached by his father, Gjert, since primary school, emphatically confirmed it. Read on ...
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Baseball: “As Japan cheered its first and perhaps last title it was time to bid farewell to an existential crisis dressed up as an Olympic sport,” writes Tom Dart at Yokohama Stadium. “Why are we here? Will we ever see each other again? If a Fan Cam scans the stands for people dancing to Uptown Funk, in a stadium without any fans, did anyone really bust some moves?” Read on ...
Tokyo: This is our senior sports reporter’s sledgehammer subtle way of pointing to his bosses and our readers that he’s still hard at it despite the fact it’s in the early hours of the morning on the final day of the Olympics. Oh ... and on top of all that, he’s getting wet. Wouldn’t your heart bleed for him? Poor Seanie.
Past midnight and still queues of people waiting to have a photo by the Olympic Rings. Although the heavens have just opened so etc and so on ... pic.twitter.com/1DqjDnO8aZ
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) August 7, 2021
Tomorrow: The Olympics draw to a close tomorrow, with the closing ceremony slated for noon (BST). Before that, there are a few more medals to be decided.
- Basketball: women’s gold medal match
- Boxing: Men’s light, men’s super heavy, women’s light and women’s middle.
- Cycling: Men’s keirin, women’s omnium and women’s sprint.
- Gymnastics: Group all-around rhythmic.
- Handball: Women’s bronze and gold medal matches.
- Volleyball: Women’s bronze and gold medal matches.
- Water polo: Men’s classification, bronze and gold medal matches.
Boxing: Kellie Harrington, a ridiculously upbeat and cheerful woman who has worked as a part-time cleaner in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin since the first lockdown, is fast approaching National Treasure status in Ireland. The 31-year-old fights in the final of the women’s light final at 6am (BST) tomorrow. Harrington is hoping to become only the third Irish boxer to win an Olympic gold medal, with Michael Carruth and Katie Taylor being the others. To achieve top spot on the podium, Kellie will have to overcome Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira. “Are looking forward to seeing her box, and in particular how she deals with the Brazilian?” asks Tom.
I am indeed, Tom. So much so thattomorrow morning will be the first time during these games that I will be settting my alarm for an early start. I must confess I know nothing about Ms Ferreira and had never actually heard of Harrington until about a week ago. As far as Irish amateur boxing is concerned, I am very much your archetypal glory hunter.
An email: “No mention of France’s wins for the Olympic gold in both handball and volleyball?” asks Christina. “Shame on you.”
Crikey. While I could swear I mentioned their win in the handball in a post illustrated by a large photo of them celebrating that victory, I am happy to bow to Christina’s superior knowledge. One more time with feeling: France beat Denmark 25-23 in the men’s handball final and eventually prevailed over the ROC by three sets to two in the volleyball. Allez les bleus!
Irish news: Having plummeted down the placings from fourth during yesterday’s women’s modern pentathlon after being paired with a less than co-operative horse who refused at several fences during a disastrous showjumping round, here’s hoping Natalya will not be reunited with Constantin for the closing ceremony or it might take even longer than usual.
CLOSING CEREMONY FLAGBEARER ANNOUNCED
— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) August 7, 2021
Modern Pentathlete and three time Olympian Natalya Coyle will carry the flag for #TeamIreland at the Closing Ceremony of #Tokyo2020 tomorrow!
⭐️ ☘️ 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/AVbVWrp0Y2
Boxing: Britain’s Galal Yafai says he feels ‘overwhelmed’ after becoming Olympic flyweight champion with an impressive victory over Carlo Paalam of the Philippines. The 28-year-old from Birmingham knocked his opponent down after only 90 seconds of a dominant first round and gained a 4-1 points decision at the Kokugikan Arena to secure gold. Team GB sent 11 boxers to Japan and are guaranteed six medals, their most at a Games since Antwerp in 1920, although they did win three golds at London 2012.
Gymnastics: Israel’s Linoy Ashram won the individual all-around final of the Rhythmic Gymnastics today, beating the ROC’s Dina Averina into second place and ending two decades of Russian dominance. Belarus’ Alina Harnasko finished third. The Russian Olympic Committee were not best pleased with the outcome. “The whole world has seen this injustice,” they tweeted.
Athletics: A nation of 1.3 billion erupted in joy on Saturday after Neeraj Chopra won the men’s javelin at the Tokyo Games to secure India’s first ever Olympic athletics gold post-independence,” according the Reuters bureau in New Delhi.
“Thirteen years after shooter Abhinav Bindra won independent India’s first individual Olympic gold in Beijing, 23-year-old Chopra obliterated the field with a best throw of 87.58 metres.
Expectations soared after the 23-year-old seized the lead with a throw of 87.03 on his first attempt and his second sealed India’s first Olympic athletics medal. The cricket-mad country stayed glued to television sets to follow Chopra’s progress, and social media was abuzz as anticipation of a medal grew.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was joined by President Ram Nath Kovind and several other ministers in paying tribute to Chopra’s success. “History has been scripted at Tokyo! What @Neeraj—chopra1 has achieved today will be remembered forever,” Modi tweeted. “The young Neeraj has done exceptionally well. He played with remarkable passion and showed unparalleled grit. Congratulations to him for winning the Gold.”
India is the most successful hockey nation in Olympic history with eight men’s titles but has largely been starved of individual success. The sports fraternity also lavished praise on Chopra who was described by local media as the ‘man with the golden arm’.
“The impact your victory will create on promoting your sport amongst the country’s youth is immeasurable,” Bindra said in a statement. “Also, welcome you to the club. It is not the most happening of places yet and needs more members, but I feel your entry is going to pave the way for many more deserving athletes.”
Former athlete PT Usha, who came fourth in the women’s 400 metres at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, also hailed Chopra’s achievement. “Realised my unfinished dream today after 37 years. Thank you my son @Neeraj—chopra1,” she tweeted, along with a photograph of her with the javelin thrower.
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Modern pentathlon: Germany’s modern pentathlon coach, Kim Raisner, was not part of today’s men’s individual competition at the Tokyo Olympics. Raisner struck a horse with her fist and urged rider Annika Schleu to ‘really hit’ the horse when it refused to jump during the women’s event on Friday.
Alfons Hoermann, president of the Germany Olympic Committee, confirmed the news and called for an overhaul of modern pentathlon rules. Competitors are currently allocated horses for the equestrian stage of the event in a random draw shortly before it begins.
“We were all in agreement that the coach will not be at the competition on Saturday,” Hoermann said. “We also consider that an urgent review of the incident is necessary, especially in terms of animal protection, and that the national and international federations draw their conclusions.”
Japan win baseball gold
Baseball: Japan have beaten the USA, a state of affairs I am assured by somebody who knows far more about these things than I do is “definitely” a shock.
Brazil win men's football gold!
Men’s football: The players of both teams drop to the ground with exhaustion on the final whistle. Spain’s are gutted and Brazil’s are quickly back on their feet and celebrating jubilantly after winning back to back Olympic golds. On a team comprised mainly of Under-23s, nobody looks happier than the 38-year-old Dani Alves. He is thrilled to bits.
Men’s football: In the final minute of added time, Brazil continue to lead by the odd goal of three. Pedri tries to restore parity for Spain but sends a tired cross/shot wafting high and wide of the angle.
Men’s football: Spain have a desperate penalty appeal for handball turned down at one end moments before Bruno pulls a shot narrowly wide at the other. Richarlison is substituted with six minutes left on the clock. Everton fans will be pleased to see him emerge from the Olympics unscathed.
GOAL! Brazil 2-1 Spain
Men’s football: Or does it? On as a substitute since the 91st minute, Malcolm is played in behind by Antony and finds the far corner from the edge of the six-yard box. His shot took a deflection off the foot of Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon but he couldn’t keep it out.
Men’s football: Little time is wasted during the changeover in extra time. Following a brief pause to allow everyone, including himself, to get fluids on board, the referee blows for the second half. It rermains all square at 1-1 between Brazil and Spain and the prospect of penalties looms.
Gallery: the best of Tokyo 2020 (Day 15) in pictures
Steven Bloor has been busy in his dark room, sifting through the best images of the penultimate day of competition in Tokyo.
Men’s football: Meanwhile in Yokohama, we’re approaching the end of the first half of extra time in the gold medal match between Spain and Brazil. Both sets of players look totally exhausted. Well , most of them do. Pedri, who is just 18, is still running all over the place despite the fact he’s playing in his 74th match of the season. And with Leo Messi on his way to Paris Saint-Germain, the Barcelona man is unlikely to get much of a rest in the season ahead.
Men’s handball: A shout-out to reader Alexandre Chesnau, who is watching handball and volleyball so that I can keep an eye on the football instead. “Just informing you that France won the gold in men’s handball by beating Denmark 25-23,” he writes. “The men’s volleyball team leads two sets to nil and 13-12 against Not Russia. We’re feeling pretty happy over here!”
An email: “Just a thought about the Dutch at the athletics tournament,” writes Johan van Slooten. “Before the start of the Games, the Netherlands had achieved 17 medals in athletics in total. In this tournement, they added seven medals - more than the Dutch won between the Games of 1952 and 2016, and the most in any Games (even more than six medals won in 1948, which included four golds by Fanny Blankers Koen).”
Diving: “There’s still a lot further to go, there are 10 countries competing at these Olympic Games where being LGBT is punishable by death,” said Britain’s Tom Daley after securing bronze behind two Chionese competiotrs in the men’s 10m platform. “I feel extremely lucky to be representing Team GB, to be able to stand on the diving board as myself with a husband and a son and not worry about any ramifications.”
Men’s football: The ref blows for full time, which means we’ll have 30 minutes of eatra time followed by penalties, if they are required.
Men’s football: It’s all square in the gold medal match between Brazil and Spain, with Mikel Oyarzabal having cancelled out Brazil’s opener shortly after the hour mark. We’re into the second of three minutes of added time. Richarlison tries to drill a cross from the left into the Spain box but his effort is blocked.
Athletics: And that, unless I am very much mistaken, concludes the track and field competition for these Olympics ... unless we’re counting the men’s marathon, which is slated to take place later tonight. And I’m not. Congratulations to all involved.
Athletics: Meanwhile in the men’s javelin, Neeraj Chopra made history for India earlier. The farmer’s son, aged 23, took gold with a winning throw of 87m 58cm. Czech chuckers Jakub Vadlejch and Vitezslav Vesely took silver and bronze. That’s India’s first ever track or field gold. Well done Neeraj!
HISTORY. MADE.
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 7, 2021
Neeraj Chopra of #IND takes #gold in the #Athletics men’s javelin final on his Olympic debut!
He is the first Indian to win an athletics medal and only the second to win an individual medal!@WorldAthletics | #StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | @WeAreTeamIndia pic.twitter.com/zBtzHNqPBE
Athletics: Mariya Lasitskene of the ROC has just won gold in the women’s high jump after Australia’s Nicola McDermott fails with her three attempts at 2m 04cm. Ukraine’s teenage jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh gets the bronze the medal. McDermott went tantalisingly close with her final attempt but couldn’t quite clear the bar.
Athletics: That’s a real turn-up for the books, with the Dutch taking over two seconds off their national record to finish second ahead of Botswana in third.
The USA wins men's 4x400m gold
Athletics: They win easily, while the Netherlands nicked silver from Botswana in the closing stages. Rai Benjamin ran a brilliant anchor leg for the USA.
Athletics: Team GB’s women finished fifth in the women’s 4x400m, by the way.
Athletics: Thoughts turn to the men’s 4x400m final, which the USA are expected to win doing handstands. You never know in the relay, which is a funny old game, so don’t rule out an upset.
Men’s basketball: Hats off to Australia, who have earned themszelves a spot on the podium after beating Slovenia in the bronze medal match. They won 107-93 and their star player Patty Mills finished the game with 42 points. “We’ve set the standard now,” he said after the game. The USA, who beat France in the final, might beg to differ although it’s probably fair to assume Patty was talking about setting the standard for Australian basketball. They’ve never won a medal at it before, so onwards and upwards in every sense of the word.
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Men’s football: With 54 minutes gone in the gold medfal match, Brazil lead Spain by the only goal of the game which was scored by Hertha Berlin’s Matheus Cunha.
Equestrianism: I’m not sure if whoever wrote this headline should receive some sort of award or be taken down to the river to pray ... for some sort of divine intervention and assistance.
Athletics: Australia’s Nicola McDermott has just failed at her first attempt at 2m 02cm in the women’s high jump. She was the first to attempt it.
USA win women's 4x400m relay gold
Athletics: Thanks to the weather, I’ve managed to miss the women’s 4x400m final, but my pictures return in the immediate adftermath of the race. Team USA have won in a time of 3min 16.85 seconds and were followed home by Poland (3min 20.53sec) and Jamaica (3min 21.24sec). Humble apologies for the brief but irritating loss of transmission.
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Weather: In slightly less good news, a torrential downpour of Biblical proportions in one corner of SouthLondon has rendered your reporter’s satellite feed temporarily (I hope) out of commission. If anything interesting or noteworthy is going on in Japan, feel free to keep me informed.
Athletics: In further good news for our Antipodean cousins who excel in the field of leaping, Australia’s Nicola McDermott has just cleared two metres in the women’s high jump, becoming the first in the competition to do so.
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Men’s basketball: The bronze medal match between Australia and Slovenia remains ongoing and Australia lead 75-66 with less than a minute left in the third quarter. Patty Mills is running the show for the Aussies, having notched up 36 points, three rebounds, five assists and one steal.
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Men’s football: It remains scoreless in the gold medal match between Brazil and Spain as the game approaches half-time. Brazil were awarded a spot-kick through the intercession of VAR earlier, but Richarlison blasted the ball over the bar.
Kon’nichiwa everybody. You join me mere seconds after Jessica Springsteen, daughter of blue collar, working class hero Bruce, has won silver as part of the USA’s showjumping team.
Sweden took the gold in a jump-off, with Peder Fredricson and his mount All In pulling a brilliant clear and quick round out of the fire to steal gold from under the noses of Jessica and her team-mates at the death. Belgium finished third.
That’s enough for me. There’s nothing like these Olympic days. Fare the well through the last few events, Barry Glendenning will be your guide.
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Recap: as of 9pm Tokyo time
It’s 0-0 in the men’s football final between Brazil and Spain. What else have we had in the past five hour?
- Sifan Hassan completes an unprecedented medal treble with the 10,000 metre gold
- Tom Daley’s second Tokyo medal, a bronze on the 10m platform behind a Chinese one-two
- Three golds in a row for the USA women’s water polo team
- Silver for GB in the men’s madison at the velodrome behind Denmark
- A brilliant gold performance for Israel’s Linoy Ashram in the rhythmic gymnastics
- Joseph Choong wins gold in the modern pentathlon
- Norway wins the men’s 1500 metres
High jump: Nicola McDermott goes into the gold medal spot! She clears 1.98 on her second attempt, and Geraschenko hits the bar on her first. She’ll get another shot at levelling McDermott though. Australia’s Patterson nearly makes it over too, but just nudges the bar.
Three more jumpers dropped out at 1.96. We’re down to nine in the comp.
Artistic swimming: The team free routine fin happened not long ago: Russia, China, Ukraine the order of the medals there.
Baseball: It’s still 1-0 after six innings in the USA Japan final... with Japan in the lead.
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Javelin: India is on track for gold here... Neeraj Chopra threw 87.58 on his second attempt, and no one has got within two metres of that with only a few throws remaining.
Gold for Sweden in the team jumps - or not yet
Equestrian: It goes Sweden, USA, Belgium in the end. The former two totalled 8 penalties across all three rides. But that means it’s a jump-off, even though Sweden had the better times.
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Gold for Norway in the 1500 metres!
Jakob Ingebrigtsen brings it home. A new Olympic record after two nights ago, three seconds faster in 3:28:32.
Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot was happy to go out fast, and McSweyn stayed with the two of them for the first couple of laps, but faded on the last. Josh Kerr sat back in the pack but put on a burst late. Kipsang tried to do the same, but Ingebrigtsen had enough left to put on the afterburners and pull away.
Cheruiyot hangs on for silver, Kerr doesn’t let Kipsang catch him for bronze.
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Basketball: Australia up 45-40 with a couple of minutes left in the half.
High jump: Nicola McDermott clears 1.96! On her second attempt. She’s currently in a bronze medal spot on countback.
1500 metres: The men’s 1500 is about to start. Two Australians in that field of 13: they are Oliver Hoare and Stewart McSweyn. Josh Kerr lines up for Great Britain, with Jake Heyward and Jake Wightm. Kenya’s Abel Kipsang is there, the Olympic record-holder from qualifying.
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High jump: Iryna Gerashchenko, the Ukrainian, clears 1.96. And Eleanor Patterson for Australia matches her! Both of them on the first attempt, neither has missed all night. That’s a season best for Patterson, and it starts to look like a medal-winning spot as the rest of the field hit the bar at their first attempts.
High jump: The 12 remaining women in the gold medal final have all got over 1.93 in the end, though some took their full three attempts to get there.
Equestrian: Ben Maher has withdrawn from the team jumps final. With no chance to win a medal, he decided it wasn’t worth risking anything happening to his horse. So that’s it for Great Britain. Germany’s Daniel Deusser has also pulled out.
https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/1423966498276708354?s=20
Basketball: Tight into the second quarter, about 9 minutes left and the Boomers are leading 25-24. Patty Mills tries a jumper for three but bounces out.
Gold for Sifan Hassan in the women's 10,000 metres
The medal triple for Hassan! Gold here, gold in the 5000, bronze in the 1500, all at the one Olympic Games. Truly, truly astonishing. No runner has ever achieved this, man or woman.
Kalkidan Gezahegne wins silver. Letesenbet Gidey, the world record holder in less oppressive conditions than this, was brave for bronze.
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10,000 metres: Sifan Hassan waits until the last 150 metres to make her move. Then when she makes it, Gidey has nothing left. Suddenly Hassan is on her shoulder. Then they come up behind a pack of slower runners, and Hassan is around the outside. Gezahegne goes with her at first, trying to hang on, and at 1000 metres out it looks like they might duke it out for the line. By 40 metres out Hassan is clear, clear, clear. She has just left everyone in her dust - no matter how well they ran, she is another species.
10,000 metres: What a kick from Hassan! This woman is unbelievable.
10,000 metres: Gidey starting to battle. Hassan thinking about when to kick. Gezahegne lurking. 400 to go.
10,000 metres: Gidey, Hassan, Gezahegne. Two laps to go. They’re sticking together, sweating dramatically in the Tokyo heat, singleminded determination.
10,000 metres: Gidey, Hassan, Gezahegne, as they pass 9k. They’re waaaay out there on their own.
High jump: The two Australian women, McDermott and Patterson, both clear 1.93 on their first attempt. No fails yet, and they’re played top three.
10,000 metres: Gidey for Ethiopia, Hassan, Gezahegne for Bahrain, are in a class of their own. Way out in front, they’re starting to lap the slower runners, and they’ve burned off Hellen Obiri of Kenya with about 8000 metres gone.
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Basketball: And another thing - the Australian Boomers are going for their first Olympic medal. Bronze contest with Slovenia has started. Australia up 6-2.
Javelin: The men’s gold contest starts. Neeraj Chopra sets the early standard for India, throwing 87.03.
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High jump: Nilsson is out, three strikes on 1.89, and the field reduces to 12.
High jump: Patterson and McDermott for Australia both make it over 1.89. This is a very interrupted program because the 10,000 metre race keeps coming through the middle of the run-up area. Can’t we get the high-jumpers a pedestrian bridge? Everyone clears 1.89 in the end except for Maja Nilsson for Sweden, who has clipped the bar twice.
Equestrian: Harry Charles clocks 8 penalties for Great Britain in the second round of jumpers in the team final. That leaves them second last on 24 penalties, with Ben Maher to come. France leads with 2 penalties, Sweden, USA and Belgium on 4.
Baseball: Japan score first in the gold medal match! 1-0 over USA. Murakami Munetaka hits a home run with no one else on base.
10,000 metres: At the track, the women’s race is underway. Sifan Hassan is the one to watch, the extraordinary Dutch runner. Bronze in the 1500, gold in the 5000 already at these Games.
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Gold for Joseph Choong in the modern pentathlon
Gold for Great Britain, as Choong wins the laser. Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy really threatened. He actually took the lead in the running race on the last lap, only for Choong to dig deep enough to retake it, and kick on to leave clear air between him and second place.
1482 total points is also an Olympic record for Choong. Jun Woongtae gets bronze for Korea.
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Great Britain’s Morgan Lake has withdrawn from the final.
Unfortunately, @morgan_a_lake has had to withdraw from the women’s high jump final.
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 7, 2021
Lake sustained a foot injury during a successful qualification round where she jumped a seasons best 1.95m to automatically qualify for the final.
Wishing Morgan a speedy recovery.#TeamGB pic.twitter.com/OIVoUYny4V
High jump: Not enough gold medals up for grabs? How about the women’s high jump final! Yep. Australia has Eleanor Patterson and Nicola McDermott in the field.
Patterson sails over 1.84 comfortably. McDermott passes.
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Modern pentathlon: Ok, everybody is in running gear, and they’re being allowed out of a gate in staggered formation. They run to a shooting range where they do some pistol shooting. Are those laser pistols? Maybe they are. Then having hit five targets, they go off for a fairly leisurely looking run around a big winding course.
And then... back to the shooting. Ah, that makes sense. The running gets harder each time you run around. And the shooting gets harder the more puffed out you are.
Modern pentathlon: Here we go. The horses have been put away, and we’re set for the last event in the men’s individual category: the laser run.
I deliberately haven’t researched this event, because I wanted to postpone the inevitable disappointment that it won’t involve athletes dodging lasers.
But bear with me, I’ll try to update those who do understand this sport.
Baseball: No runs yet, and only one hit apiece, at the top of the third inning.
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Equestrian: Great Britain trailing dead last in the team jumps, after Holly Smith clocked 16 jump penalties despite getting through in the allowed time. Only Argentina had a rider go over time, while logging 14 penalties. Sweden lead, USA second, France third.
Speaking of heavyweights, they don’t get much chunkier than KD and Team USA on the court.
Baseball: The gold medal match between Japan and the USA has just started as well. Battle of the heavyweights.
Equestrian: More horses. The team jumping gold event in the equestrian is getting underway. Ten teams to compete, three riders apiece.
Modern pentathlon: Any rate, three riders got around with perfect rounds of 300 points: Gustav Gustenau for Austria, Patrick Dogue for Germany, and Martin Vlach for Czechia.
Overall, Great Britain’s Joseph Choong still leads with 859 points, Korea’s Jung Jinhwa with 874, and Czechia’s Jan Kuf with 838. One more event to come late tonight.
Speaking of which... it’s routinely the humans who are the problem.
Modern pentathlon: I’m loving this. Not the sport, per se. Not really being a fan of people making horses do stupid things, there’s this great (in the circumstances) wrinkle that the pentathlon riders don’t bring a horse, they get allocated a horse for the day. So when they try to jump it over fences, they don’t have any chemistry together yet.
And watching this round, it is full of horses taking no shit from anyone. Horses refusing to do jumps. Horses turning around and going back the way they came. Horses just resolutely ploughing through fences, knocking the railings down one after another. It is penalty city out there, and I’m all for it. Horse expression hour.
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Phew. Time to take a breather and read about Tom Daley’s second medal of these games.
Handball: Bronze for Spain in the men’s handball, holding off Egypt to finish 31-33.
Gold for Linoy Ashram in the individual all-around final
Rhythmic gymnastics: The score takes minutes and minutes to come in... and it’s 24.000! A brilliant score, the highest in the ribbon apparatus, but just short by 0.150 for gold. Israel take the medal ahead of Russia.
An utterly brilliant final. The quality was so good, throughout. The competition was intense. Ashram set the standard through the first three rotations, then looked to have fumbled the fourth. Dina Averina had to deliver under intense pressure in the final routine of the night, and did so. And it still wasn’t quite enough.
Harnasko takes bronze, with Dina’s sister Arina coming in fourth.
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Rhythmic gymnastics: Perfect from Dina Averina. Power, grace, timing, not a single false move. What a beautiful performance.
Her music was La Cumparsita tango. Her work matched the drama and emotional intensity note for note.
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Rhythmic gymnastics: Alina Harnasko moves into the medals for Belarus, into second spot now. And now Dina Averina will decide the final standings.
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Rhythmic gymnastics: Here is the moment. Linoy Ashram can seal the gold if she gets through her routine without penalties. This is the ribbon. She has gone with a very Israeli approach, as opposed to her previous routines, having changed into a very blue and white costume for this final apparatus, and is using a dance version of Hava Nagila. She launches into things with full enthusiasm...
but there’s a drop. Just one, but that’s all it takes when separating the top two performers. The handle of the ribbon slips from her hand, on one pass.
She doesn’t know what to think afterwards. She has done so well today. Top score in every previous round. She beams and laughs and cries a little bit, all at the same time. Has the gold slipped away?
Or not? She scores 23.300!
Dina Averina will need 24.15, a huge score, to match her.
Handball: Very tight in the bronze men’s match, Spain leading Egypt 27 to 26.
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Rhythmic gymnastics: Oh, poor Onopriienko. She gets a penalty on her final routine for the apparatus going outside the permitted area. Looks very deflated, but still summons some smiles as her Olympic final comes to an end with a 19.700. Her Ukraine compatriot Khrystyna Pohranychna does better with 21.600 with an extremely hyperactive Balkan-style backing track.
Three gymnasts to come, including the two vying for gold.
Silver for Great Britain, gold for Denmark in the men's madison
Cycling: A real sprint on the final lap by Ethan Hayter to come through to the line, matching France on 40 points, but passing them into the silver spot by virtue of a better position on that last lap. Denmark could take it a bit easier, having already locked up gold with so many sprint points. France in bronze, and the long, long work of the 200 madison laps comes to an end.
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Madison gold: The winner gets 10 points, as well.
Madison gold: Denmark 41, France 36, Great Britain 30, inside the last 10 laps.
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Madison gold: Denmark pick up three points at the 20 laps to go mark! Out to 39 now. Can’t lose a medal, and they’re four points clear of France. GB third on 27, and also picked up a warning a few laps ago, I didn’t clock what for.
Madison gold: Only France out of the top three picks up points with 30 laps to go. They go to 35. One behind the Danes. Three sprints to go.
Madison gold: The Germans have crashed! Or one of them, anyway. Not sure if they’re getting back into the race. Several teams have dropped out already: Australia, USA, Ireland, Canada. The field has thinned, a bit less chaotic.
Inside 40 laps to go, Denmark have 36 points, France 33, Great Britain 26. The Brits need to win a couple of the remaining sprints and they’re a chance.
Rhythmic gymnastics: Wow. The ribbon can be the most fickle apparatus, and it has done for Arina Averina here. One of the favourites, the Russian scores only 19.550 and that could drop her out of the medals. She looks very unhappy with her routine as she came off, even before the scores came in.
Madison gold: France dominating now as they take the sprint with 60 laps to go. They have 32 points to Denmark’s 28 and Great Britain’s 24.
Basketball: France win bronze in the women’s b-ball over Serbia, 91-76.
Modern pentathlon: Oh, this brilliant stuff is back on. They’re doing the jumpy horse bit. This is the sport where you have to shoot a gun, ride a horse... paint a watercolour, make a scone, and give a dramatic reading of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The flowering of modern manhood (as per the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire).
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Madison gold: Great Britain drop to third. Denmark 25, France 24, Great Britain 23. We have 77 laps to go.
Madison gold: France wins the sprint with 90 laps to go, taking five points. Denmark second with three, Great Britain third with two. The latter two teams share the lead on 22 points, France on 19.
Rhythmic gymnastics: Dina Averina lodges 28.150. So she’s 0.850 behind Ashram in second place, leading into the ribbon rotation. This will be the fourth and final part of the event tonight. Arina Averina is third, Alina Harnasko fourth for Belarus.
Cycling: Great Britain have gone to the top of the leaderboard in the men’s madison: 18 points to Denmark and France on 14. We have 103 laps to go.
Rhythmic gymnastics: Linoy Ashram is blazing tonight! She produces another stunning routine, this time on clubs, and using a Beyoncé medley for good measure. Israel’s gymnast had the best score in hoop, equal best in ball, and the best in clubs so far with two gymnasts to come. Scores 28.650.
Dina Averina is yet to perform, but she’s now 29.000 behind, surely too much to make up in one routine. She’ll need to be perfect here and would still need to hope for an Ashram mistake on ribbon.
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Gold for the USA in women's water polo
They blew Spain out of the water early, and never let them back in. They win 5-14, and that’s three gold medals in a row for the US in this event.
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Rhythmic gymnastics: Viktoriia Onopriienko is my MVP of this event. She’s not being scored very high and I don’t know why, because I’m not a gymnastics judge. But - she’s had a great sense of humour in her work. Does her clubs routine to AC/DC Back in Black, wearing an all-black sparkly outfit and having fun with it. Scores 26.100 and gets up to fourth spot for the time being. More usefully, she’s ahead of two others who have done three apparatus so far.
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Cycling: The cute thing about the madison is how the riders sometimes stop to hold hands for a little while. I love you too, bro.
Cycling: France has 10 points on the leaderboard so far. Great Britain has five.
Cycling: How does the madison work? Look, I’m not really sure. It gets raced over 50,000 metres - yes. That’s 200 laps of the velodrome. Two riders per team, ten teams, a sprint every ten laps, points for those sprints, and points for other things. Basically it looks like a hot mess on the track, with riders all over the place, and we’ve already had one fall but the rider was quickly back on the bike.
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Basketball: Into the third quarter in the women’s bronze match, and France leading Serbia 51-60.
Water polo: The USA pulling away as time ticks down in the third quarter, the score is 4-10 over Spain.
Cycling: The men’s madison gold is coming up, having missed the last couple of Olympic Games programmes.
Handball: 2-2 in the grudge match, the old rivalry, the bronze medal bout between Egypt and Spain. Big night in the team sports for Spain: this match, the water polo, and the men’s football final later.
Rhythmic gymnastics: Arina Averina has asked for a judges’ inquiry into her score, and I think has succeeded in having the degree of difficulty altered. Her score for the clubs rotation is raised to 27.800. A very good score. For comparison, Anastasila Salos for Belarus is next and scores 24.950.
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Water polo: Get in there, you Spaniards. It’s 4-7 now, the water polo juices are flowing.
Water polo: Ooh, make that three for Spain! And a huge fist pump into the bargain.
Water polo: Spain finally score a second goal. Sadly for them the USA have six.
Rhythmic gymnastics: We’re onto clubs, where the first gymnast Arina Averina turns out to Bella Ciao - the Italian partisan’s song that was used to such great effect in the Spanish TV show La Casa de Papel.
She’s very unhappy at the end of her routine though, obviously doesn’t feel that she nailed it. Scores nearly a point lower than she did with that routine in qualifying.
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Rhythmic gymnastics: Dina Averina is the last competitor with the ball, and she scores a 28.300 after a routine with a supremely elegant beginning, set to Tchaikovsky. She goes up into second spot, ahead of her sister Arina by three quarters of a point, but trailing Linoy Ashram by 1.350. Innnteresting.
Water polo: The women’s gold match is into the second quarter, and the good ol’ US of A are making the early running. They’re up 4-1 over Spain. Plenty of dodgy stuff going on under the water, in classic polo style.
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Rhythmic gymnastics: A great routine from Linoy Ashram. She uses Big in Japan by Alphaville, a song that starts slow and melancholy, then builds up the pace, and she matched that crescendo in her routine. Scores 28.300 and goes back to the top of the board, passing Arina Averina.
Rhythmic gymnastics: Also a much better tracklist than most sports. The last two routines from the two Ukrainian competitors have used Smooth Criminal, then Toxic by Britney. Never a bad time for it.
Rhythmic gymnastics: This is one of the quintessential Olympic sports where you start off asking why people would do this, then quickly end up staring at the screen asking how in the hell people do this. Most of us couldn’t even throw a hoop 20 metres in the air and then catch it. Ok, now catch it unsighted, with your foot, while doing a cartwheel.
It is genuinely phenomenal what these athletes do.
Gold and silver for China, bronze for Tom Daley on the 10 metre platform
Diving: Cau Yuan the last competitor, and he just holds off his China teammate with the final dive of the day. A lower degree of difficulty means he can’t score as high, but he pulls off a near perfect dive nonetheless, back 2 and a half somersaults with 2 and a half twists, and it scores 102.6.
Enough for gold with 582.35 across his six dives, Yang so close behind with 580.40, demanding a hundred-plus dive from Cau. Daley in third tallies 548.25.
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Diving: Yang Jian lands a monster score with the second-last dive of the day: 112.75 his mark! Forward 4 and a half somersaults with pike. Degree of difficulty 4.1, and almost no splash at all.
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Diving: Tom Daley for Great Britain goes top with his final dive. A beauty. Still a few divers to come, he won’t finish with gold but he’s in contention for the dais.
His dives today:
98.60
91.20
91.80
80.50
94.35
91.80
Just that one slip on the fourth dive cost him.
Diving: We’re at the business end of the men’s 10 metre final. Some have completed their six jumps, some have one more to come. Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau nails his highest score of 88.80 on his final dive. Isn’t in medal contention, but that’s a good comeback after he didn’t land his first couple of dives.
Rhythmic gymnastics: We’ve had the first apparatus, which is the hoop, and now we’re onto the ball. Linoy Ashram of Israel led out of the hoop stage, with the Russian Averina sisters - Dina and Arina - second and third.
What's coming up?
In the next five hours that are my domain, here’s where I’ll be looking. Times in Tokyo.
- Right now: the diving gold for the men’s 10m platform and the rhythmic gymnastics all-around gold are both on.
- 4:30pm: Women’s water polo gold between Spain and USA
4:55: Cycling, the madison men’s gold - 5pm: Handball men’s bronze, Egypt and Spain men’s bronze
- 5:15: Men’s modern pentathlon equestrian
- 7pm: Baseball gold, USA and Japan gold
- 7pm: Equestrian gold, team jumps gold
- 7:20: Karate - the kumite (combat) medals begin
- 7:30: Artistic swimming gold - team freestyle
7:30: Wrestling medals begin - 7:30: Modern pentathlon gold - the men’s laser run
- 7:35: High jump women’s gold
- 7:45: 10,000 metres women’s gold
- 8pm: Javelin men’s gold
- 8pm: Basketball men’s bronze - Australia and Slovenia
- 8:30: Football men’s gold - Brazil and Spain
- 8:40: 1500 metres men’s gold
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Hello all! Thanks Scott for the last five hours of power. And welcome, Olympic obsessives, to what in Tokyo time is the last night on the track, the last night in the velodrome (a bit more tomorrow morning), and the last day for a lot of sports. It will be gold, gold, gold across the next few hours, as so many competitions reach their ends. My name’s Geoff, drop me an email if you like, and if my hands are not on fire then I may even have time to include it.
And that’s all from me today. I’ll now place you in the very capable hands of Geoff Lemon. Thanks again for your company. Enjoy the rest of the day’s action.
Diving: a good fourth dive by Team GB’s Tom Daley but not a great one - his armstand back 3 somersault in pike earns “just” 80.5 points and it provides an opening wide enough for China’s Cao Yuan and Yang Jian to overtake the Brit, who is now in bronze medal position. But with two dives remaining there are just 16 points separating the three divers. Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau had his best dive in that round to improve into ninth position.
Diving: big, big third dive by Team GB’s Tom Daley in the men’s 10m platform final. Already in gold medal position after the opening two dives, Daley scored 91.8 from a difficult forward 3½ somersault, with one twist, in pike position. China’s Cao Yuan and Yang Jian are snapping at Daley’s heels - Daley has less than a point to spare over Yuan, the Rio 3m springboard gold medalist, with seven points back to Jian. Team USA’s Jordan Windle has moved into fourth place but Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau is in last position and has it all to do.
Daley has already won gold in the synchronised 10m platform event in Tokyo and is looking to better the individual bronze he won in London.
What would Alan say? Ahaaaa, probably.
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Diving: the second round of dives have taken place in the men’s 10m platform final, and Team GB’s Tom Daley is performing with distinction in the early stages. The Brit leads the way with 189.8 points, marginally clear of highly fancied Chinese divers Cao Yuan and Yang Jian. Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau, and Team USA pair Jordan Windle and Brandon Loschiavo, are well off the pace at this stage.
What a start by @TomDaley1994 💥
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 7, 2021
🎥 @BBCSport | #TeamGB pic.twitter.com/jUcuyCoaCT
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Okay, let’s take stock and recap what has taken place on day 15 in Tokyo:
- Team USA were given a fright by France but did enough to win by five points and claim a 16th men’s basketball Olympic gold medal
- Nelly Korda won gold for Team USA in women’s golf, beating Japan’s Mone Inami and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko by one shot
- Galal Yafai beat Carlo Paalam to win boxing gold for Team GB in the men’s fly division
- Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir won gold in a 1-2 for Kenya in the women’s marathon
- Norway won their first beach volleyball medal, with Anders Mol and Christian Sorum beating ROC in straight sets in the men’s final
- There was no fourth Tokyo gold for New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington, with Hungary taking out the women’s K4 500m final
Diving: the men’s 10m platform final is under way and Team GB’s Tom Daley has executed a brilliant dive in the opening round, scoring 98.60 with a reverse 3½ somersault. Daley was outdone, however, by China’s Cao Yuan, the Rio 3m springboard gold medalist, who scored a near-perfect 102.00 with the same dive. Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau flopped with a first dive of 57.60 but he will have opportunity to improve on that.
In case you missed it, earlier today Team USA won yet another Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball. But they were really made to work for it by France.
The question should probably be asked: what has said volunteer been doing for the past 14 days?
I’m somewhat lost in the grounds of the Olympic Stadium. I approach a local volunteer, he explains it’s his first day and can’t help. ‘Good luck’ he offers cheerfully 😂😂😂 #Tokyo2020
— Kieran Pender (@KieranPender) August 7, 2021
Boxing: another gold medal has been won at the Kokugikan Arena, with Stoyka Zhelyazkova Krasteva of Bulgaria beating Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu by unanimous decision in the women’s fly.
Stoyka Zhelyazkova Krasteva's victory in the women's #Boxing flyweight category is also #BUL's second Olympic gold at #Tokyo2020! pic.twitter.com/mT7SPoEXV0
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 7, 2021
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Women’s golf: Lydia Ko is now the first female golfer to win multiple Olympic medals, her bronze in Tokyo adding to the silver medal she won in Rio.
Here’s a bit more on Ko, and another Kiwi Olympian who is partial to a medal or two.
We’ve been blessed with good weather (oppressive heat notwithstanding) for most of these Games, but the heavens have opened in Tokyo today. The rain is forecast to ease soon but there’s a high chance of thunderstorms later this evening.
I’m en route now to the Olympic Stadium. We have some big events scheduled for tonight, including the women’s high jump and men’s 1,500m - both featuring Australian medal prospects.
But the weather might have other ideas…
Women’s golf: Back to the course for the “minor medals” playoff and Japan’s Mone Inami needed only one hole to beat New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and win silver in the individual stroke play event. Both women carded a six-under 65 in today’s final round to put themselves in medal positions. They finished one shot behind gold medalist, Team USA’s world No 1 Nelly Korda. Australia’s Hannah Green shot a final-round 68 to finish in a tie for fifth, three shots adrift of Inami and Ko.
The full clubhouse scores can be found here.
Galal Yafai (GBR) wins men's fly boxing gold!
Galal Yafai laid the platform for this gold - Team GB’s first in the ring at Tokyo 2020 - with a devastating left that dropped Carlo Paalam to the canvas in the first round. Palaam fought back to claim the third round but the damage was done and the Philippines will have to wait a little longer for an Olympic gold medal.
Brilliant boxing by Yafai to lay down a marker in the first, take the points in the second and do enough to stay out of trouble in the third.
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Boxing: Better from Carlo Paalam in the second round of their men’s fly final after being knocked to the canvas by Team GB’s Galal Yafai in the first. He has connected with a couple of heavy lefts to the Brit and it looks like we might have a fight on our hands. Not that Yafai was absent there; he was still busy and landing blows of his own.
But the judges are again with the Brit, with four of the five handing the round to Yafai. He is now one round away from gold. He needs to stay calm, hold his nerve, box clever and not let Palaam in.
Updated
Boxing: Team GB’s Galal Yafai and Carlo Paalam of the Philippines are into the first round of their men’s fly gold medal bout.
And Yafai has dropped Palaam with a right jab and then a huge left! A knockdown in the first round! Brilliant start from Yafai. Palaam looks rocked and unsteady on his feet. The bell rings to end round one - and all the judges are with the Brit.
Updated
For those just waking up in Britain, in contrast to how yesterday ended, it’s been a relatively quiet day for Team GB so far today in Tokyo. But plenty to look forward to:
Women’s marathon: Stephanie Davis came in 39th, Stephanie Twell 68th and Jess Piasecki 71st
Diving: Tom Daley won through to the men’s 10m platform final
Boxing: Galal Yafai is about to step into the ring for his gold medal fight against Carlo Paalam of the Philippines
Modern pentathlon: competition is about to start with swimming; Jamie Cooke and Joe Choong go for GB
Cycling: action in the velodrome coming up, with Ethan Hayter and Oliver Wood in the madison, Jason Kenny and Jack Carlin in the keirin and Katy Marchant in women’s sprint
Athletics: It’s the men’s 1500m final featuring Jake Wightman, Jake Heyward and Josh Kerr; Morgan Lake leaps for gold in the high jump final; Eilish McColgan and Jess Judd go in the 10,000m and it’s the women’s 4x400m relay final.
Equestrian: Holly Smith, Henry Charles and Ben Maher go for gold in the team showjumping final
Updated
Some Covid news now, courtesy of Reuters:
A leading Olympic Games health adviser said on Saturday that Tokyo 2020 had shown the Covid-19 pandemic could be beaten and would provide data to help countries around the world battle the coronavirus.
The Olympics in Tokyo had shown that measures such as social distancing, mask wearing, hand sanitising along with testing and tracing worked when implemented as a package, Brian McCloskey, the chair of the Game’s Independent Expert Panel, said at a press briefing.
“We have shown it is possible to keep a pandemic at bay and that is a very important lesson from Tokyo to the rest of the world,” he said.
The Tokyo 2020 organiser earlier said that it had recorded 404 Games-related Covid-19 cases since 1 July. Health data collected during the two weeks of the Games, including inside the athletes village, would be analysed and published so countries could use it to help plan their responses to the coronavirus, McCloskey said.
Nelly Korda (USA) wins women's golf gold!
Women’s golf: The American taps home her final putt at the 18th to finish with a 69 and win by a shot to claim Olympic gold! Ko has to keep her nerve from a couple of feet to make par and force the silver medal place into a playoff with Inami. That’s coming right up!
1. Nelly Korda (USA) -17
2. Mone Inami (JPN) -16
2. Lydia Ko (NZ) -16
4. Aditi Ashok (IND) -15
Gold on the green. ⛳️ @NellyKorda claims the first medal in women's golf since 1900. #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/COnTtdWQth
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) August 7, 2021
Updated
Women’s golf: Inami, the 22-year-old Japanese, doesn’t make her put on the 18th and that’ll be a bogey for her, to fall back into a tie for second with Ko. But Hannah Green’s hopes of a medal end with a bogey – she ties for fifth with Kristine Emily Pedersen after the Dane ends with a three-under par 68.
Women’s golf: play is back under way at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama after that brief lightning break. We have joint leaders, with gold still very much up for grabs for three players after 17 holes: Japan’s Mone Inami and Nelly Korda of the USA lead by a shot from New Zealand’s Lydia Ko. India’s Aditi Ashok is a shot back, with Hannah Green of Australia in fifth, a further shot adrift.
Team USA win men's basketball gold!
France put up one heck of a fight, with a pair of free-throws reducing Team USA’s lead to three points with 10 seconds to play, but the Americans held their nerve to run out 87-82 winners and claim their 16th Olympic gold medal and fourth in a row.
See below for Beau Dure’s minute-by-minute report and all the reaction.
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Men’s beach volleyball: Norway have won their first beach volleyball gold medal, with Anders Mol and Christian Sorum beating the artist formerly known as Russia in straight sets - 21-17, 21-18. In fact, it’s Norway’s first Olympic beach volleyball medal full stop.
Earlier today, Qatar beat Latvia in straight sets to win the bronze medal.
It’s 3QT in the men’s basketball final.
The final stretch. Bring it home, fellas 🥇
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 7, 2021
END 3Q | 🇺🇸 71 🇫🇷 63#Tokyo2020 #Basketball pic.twitter.com/qXAwWmdqVv
Canoe sprint: that is all she wrote at the Sea Forest Waterway, with Germany taking out the final gold on offer in the final of the men’s K4 500m. Spain finished a very close second to grab silver with a gap to Slovakia in third. It wasn’t much of a final day in the water for Australia, who came in sixth of the eight finalists after missing out on a medal in the women’s K4 500m.
#GER wins gold in the inaugural men's kayak four 500m final after a nail-biting finish!@PlanetCanoe #CanoeSprint @TeamD pic.twitter.com/PStDOaIHvf
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 7, 2021
Women’s golf: aaaaaaagggghhhhh! Play has been suspended in the final round of the individual stroke play event because of ... lightning risk. Lordy, lordy.
As it stands, Team USA’s Nelly Korda holds a one-shot lead at 17 under through 16. But the big mover today is Japan’s Mone Inami, who is six under for the day to sit alone in second with two holes to play.
Australia’s Hannah Green has also had a good final round, putting aside a poor first nine to roar back with a sizzling back nine to be three shots off the pace. Green also still has two holes to play but she might end up paying for that front nine, and her 71 in the opening round, as there are two golfers one stroke ahead of her in bronze medal position.
I like your thinking, CC. If I had one wish, I’d ask Daley to knit me a replica gold medal - for best liveblogger in my family.
Men’s basketball: it’s half-time in the gold medal match and we have a game on our hands - Team USA are leading France 44-39.
But don’t take my word for it. Beau Dure has got you covered.
Canoe sprint: no fourth gold medal in Tokyo for Lisa Carrington with Hungary taking out the women’s K4 500m from Belarus and Poland. Carrington and her New Zealand teammates came fourth and Australia seventh of the eight finalists.
While Carrington’s incredible story will not be added to here, Hungary’s Danuta Kozák has now won her sixth Olympic gold medal following the two she collected in London and the three from Rio. Quite simply a remarkable paddler.
Women’s golf: Australia’s Hannah Green is ripping up the course on the back nine to return to medal contention in the final round of the individual stroke play event. Green has carded four birdies and an eagle turning in - with two holes to play - to be 14 under, three shots behind leader Nelly Korda of Team USA.
Women’s water polo: Australia have beaten the Netherlands 14-7 at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre to claim, erm, fifth place.
The Olympics is big on play-offs for positions way lower than third, and I get the reasoning for that, but perhaps the IOC should consider medals beyond bronze. Perhaps fourth could be pewter and 12th could be tin.
Actually scrap that idea. It’s horrendous. It makes monkey tennis as a concept for a television show look ingenious.
Diving: the semi-finals of the men’s 10m platform event have been concluded and it’s China who again hold the whip hand at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Coa Yuan, the synchronised 10m platform silver medalist, and Yang Jian were the top two qualifiers and are the men to beat. But the Chinese will not want for competition, with Team GB’s Tom Daley (fourth in qualifying), Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau (sixth) and Team USA’s Jordan Windle (ninth) and Brandon Loschiavo (10th) all hoping to be medal chances.
Canoe sprint: the aforementioned women’s K4 500m final - did I mention Lisa Carrington could win a fourth Tokyo 2020 gold medal today? - is just one of four deciders to be staged on the Sea Forest Waterway today.
Australia will be one of New Zealand’s opponents in the women’s kayak event and the Australians are also paddling for gold in the men’s K4 500m final.
The first gold medal of day 15 has just been won, with China’s world champion pairing of Sun Mengya and Xu Shixiao pulling away from Ukraine and Canada in the women’s C2 500m to claim the nation’s first medal in a women’s canoe sprint event.
It's gold for #CHN in the first ever women's canoe double 500m Olympic final!@PlanetCanoe #CanoeSprint pic.twitter.com/o0v3b5eITl
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 7, 2021
The men’s basketball final is just minutes away. There have been some ripping gold medal matches over the years - involving Team USA, of course - but which one is your favourite?
Okay, in the name of full disclosure, I’ve included the tweet below purely to sprinkle some MJ magic into this liveblog. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
🏀 The men’s #basketball final is always special. Which Olympics had the best gold medal match ever? 🤔
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 6, 2021
#StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/UbBxCfDwOr
Don’t forget our separate liveblog of this blockbuster final. Could France be on the verge of a big upset? We’re about to find out.
Updated
Caneo sprint: Lisa Carrington already has three gold medals this Olympic Games. She is already New Zealand’s most decorated Olympian. But she’s not done yet. New Zealand this morning qualified for the women’s K4 500m final, finishing second to Poland at the Sea Forest Waterway. This afternoon, Carrington - with Teneale Hatton, Alicia Hoskin and Caitlin Regal sharing the same vessel - will be aiming to become the first Kiwi to win four medals at one Olympic Games and the first paddler to win four canoe sprint medals at a single Olympics.
Thanks Bryan. Top of the morning, all. Or whichever juncture of the day you’re at. Big day of basketball, and quite a few other sports, but day 15 of the Games could end up belonging to one person: Lisa Carrington. More on the GOAT in a boat in a jiffy.
For now, why don’t you mosey on over to our separate liveblog of the men’s basketball gold medal match between Team USA and France? And then, of course, come right back here. Thanking you.
That’s it for me today. Our Scott Heinrich will take you through the next few hours.
Women’s golf: That took a quick turn. Ko bogeys the par-three 10th, Korda makes another birdie and all of a sudden the American is three shots clear of the pack with eight holes to go.
1 Nelly Korda (-17, thru 10)
T2 Lydia Ko (-14, thru 10)
T2 Aditi Ashok (-14, thru 10)
T2 Emily Kristine Pedersen (-14, thru 10)
5 Mone Inami (-12, thru 10)
Women’s golf: Nelly Korda has now made consecutive birdies on the 8th and 9th after double-bogeying the 7th to regain a one-shot lead over the field (-16) as she makes the turn at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
1 Nelly Korda (-16, thru 9)
2 Lydia Ko (-15, thru 9)
T3 Aditi Ashok (-14, thru 9)
T3 Emily Kristine Pedersen (-14, thru 10)
5 Mone Inami (-12, thru 10)
Updated
Australia: Sailor Mat Belcher will carry the Australian flag at Sunday’s closing ceremony after he added a second gold medal to his career haul earlier this week. Belcher, who won gold in the 470s with Will Ryan on Wednesday, is now Australia’s most successful sailor in Australian Olympic history. Crucially, he is also still in Tokyo, whereas some athletes have already departed as part of the fly-in-fly-out protocols in place due to Covid.
It won’t be the first time he has carried a flag at a Games ceremony – as a teenager he carried an Olympic flag as the Sydney Games in 2000 came to a close. “This has been a wonderful team that has achieved so much. To lead them into the closing ceremony means so much. I will be carrying the flag not just for those who are here but for all those now in quarantine back home or headed elsewhere. This will be for all of us.”
Women’s golf: After a double bogey that dropped her from her perch atop the leaderboard, Nelly Korda has just birdied the par-5 8th hole to join Aditi Ahsok and Lydia Ko back on top at 15-under for the championship. Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pederson (-14) and Japan’s Mone Inami (-12) are within touching distance as the final groups approach the turn. For now, the weather is cooperating.
A tip of the cap to Molly Seidel, the 27-year-old from Boston who captured an Olympic bronze in only her third ever marathon. Speaking to reporters of her pre-race expectations, she said: “I try not to have too many expectations. It is just to go out, stick your nose where it doesn’t belong and try and make some people angry. My goal today was just to go in and for people to think, ‘who the hell is this girl?’”
Mission accomplished.
Seidel, who works two jobs and shares a Boston apartment with her younger sister, became only the third American woman to reach the podium in the Olympic marathon and first since 2004.
“Truthfully, I wanted it as hard as possible,” she said of the sweltering conditions. “I wanted it hot and windy knowing a lot of these women run really fast in conditions that are very good. I think I thrive off a little bit of adversity. The course in Atlanta (at the US trials, her first career marathon) was a tough, hilly course. When the going gets tough, that’s my strong suit.”
I’ll have over to Bryan Graham now, and he’ll take you through some actual medals being won (hopefully). Bye!
Women’s water polo: The Canadians have maintained their lead over China, 7-5, in the seventh-eighth place playoff.
Women’s golf: Another birdie for Lydia Ko and she’s -4 for the round after just five holes! The New Zealander was five shots off USA’s Nelly Korda for the lead at the start of the day, and now that gap is just two. And now India’s Aditi Ashok hits a birdie, bringing her level with Ko. We could be in for a good finish here on the final day.
And the events are starting to come in thick-ish and mildly fast as the sun hits the sky in Tokyo. The women’s water polo seventh and eighth place final between China and Canada is underway – the Canadians are 2-0 up. In the women’s canoe sprint C2 500m the semifinals are done and the Chinese, Cuban, Hungarian, Moldovan, Ukrainian, German, Canadian and ROC teams make the final.
Women’s golf: New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is on a charge on the final day! She was five shots off the lead overnight but is three-under for the day through four holes ... and is now three shots off the leader, USA’s Nelly Korda. Three women are tied for third: India’s Aditi Ashok, Japan’s Inami Mone and Denmark’s Emily Pedersen.
There were some great photos from the men’s super-heavyweight wrestling final last night in Tokyo. Gable Steveson won in the final seconds and the look of disbelief on his face – and that of his opponent, three-time world champion Geno Petriashvili – are amazing.
You can tell just how shocked Steveson was from his quotes just after he won gold: “You saw that? Oh my God, wow. No way, ain’t no way,” Steveson said in disbelief. “I’m speechless, I’ve never done it before but today was the day. Damn! In those last few seconds, I knew I could fire it up, I tricked him and he bought it. I looked at the clock at it was 0.3 [seconds] left... It was the match of the century.”
Team USA gold medal winners take home $37,500. And how will he spend it? “I’ll probably go take my family out to eat,” Steveson said. “We all got to eat steaks back at home. Probably buy my mom a Louis Vuitton purse. She deserves it.”
Updated
Women’s golf: It’s the only event going on so far (things elsewhere start to crank up in around 20 minutes). The overnight leader, USA’s Nelly Korda, is still the leader. She -1 for the round through three holes and has a nice four-shot cushion over India’s Aditi Ashok and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko who share second at the moment on -12.
And now on to Team USA! USA! USA! Plenty of medals up for grabs for them on Day 15. Here are a few highlights:
10.30pm EDT: men’s basketball final
After stumbling in warm-up games before heading to Tokyo and also in the first matchup of the group stage of the tournament, the US men’s hoops team looks to be back on track. They’re undefeated in their past four Olympic games and have won those contests by an average of 35.5 points. Now, they’re set to face France, the talented squad that topped them in their first game in Tokyo, in the final, and the US will need to have learned from its mistakes. That said, France has won by slimmer margins en route to the gold medal match, and the US is gelling with their full roster finally accustomed to playing together, so odds favor the Americans.
3.30am EDT: women’s water polo final
Water polo may be the most grueling sport at the Olympics – though the 50k race-walk seems pretty brutal – and the US women are playing against Spain for gold. Women’s water polo debuted at the 2000 Games, and since then, Team USA has played in all but one final, and they’ve won the past two gold medals, topping Spain in 2012 and Italy in ‘16. They’re heavily favored in Tokyo and have won every major international tournament they’ve competed in since 2014, but they did suffer a loss to Hungary in group play, their first Olympic defeat since 2008.
6.35am EDT: women’s high jump final
Vashti Cunningham, the daughter of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham, was the lone US woman to make the high jump final, and she has a strong chance to medal. Cunningham, 23, has already won national championships and a world indoor title; in 2019, at the most recent world championship, she finished third in the high jump.
7.40am EDT: men’s 1500m final
Cole Hocker represents one of the final two chances for the US men’s track team to take an individual gold in Tokyo – and he has long odds to do so. Hocker, 20, is competing in his first Olympics, and he won the 1500 at the NCAA championship this spring. At the Olympic trials, he edged reigning gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz, who made the team but failed to reach the final.
6am EDT: men’s baseball final
Baseball, which was back on the Olympic schedule this year for the first time since 2008, won’t be returning to the in Paris in 2024, so Saturday’s action will mark a kind of ending, or pause – and there’s no better matchup to finish on than Team USA vs. Japan. The US hasn’t won gold since 2000, and Japan never has, but the two teams have been dominant thus far in Tokyo. They’ve already matched up once, on Monday, when Japan won 7-6 in extra innings, and if Saturday’s game is even almost that exciting, it’ll be one to remember.
There are a host of medal chances for Australia on the penultimate day of action. Nicola McDermott and Eleanor Patterson leap for high jump gold while Oliver Hoare and Stewart McSweyn are in the 1,500m final and the Boomers seek to win bronze against Slovenia. Here is your full rundown:
Updated
Want some lovely photos featuring athletes’ reflections (literal rather than philosophical)? Then here you go:
Women’s marathon: The Olympic marathon is supposed to be the ultimate test but that’s usually just because of the competition. The heat has been half the battle today. Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir streaks ahead to take gold, her teammate Brigid Kosgei, the world record holder, hangs on for silver. And it’s a brilliant bronze for USA’s Molly Seidel in just her third-ever marathon – she screams in delight as she crosses the line. If I don’t win an Olympic medal in my third marathon, I’m not going to be happy. The winning time is 2hr 27min 20 sec.
Women’s marathon: Brigid Kosgei has a personal best (and world record) of 2hr 14min. She won’t get anywhere near that today in this sweltering heat and she may not get the gold either: Peres Jepchirchir has dropped her Kenyan teammate! Kosgei looks uncomfortable now. She should still get silver but a lot can happen in the 1km or so to go.
Updated
Women’s marathon: Kenya’s Kosgei and Jepchirchir glance back as the runners go under some blessed shade in the campus of Hokkaido University. They’d have seen USA’s Seidel sliding into the distance. It’s between the two Kenyans for silver and gold now. About 1.6 miles to go.
Women’s marathon: And a big break! Kenya’s Kosgei and Jepchirchir have got ahead of the field. USA’s Seidel is maybe 10 seconds back in bronze, while Israel’s Salpeter has slowed to a walk. If her race isn’t over, her medal chances are. Two miles to go.
Updated
Women’s marathon: The temperature continues to climb in Sapporo as the morning wears on. The athletes are seeking the shady side of the road whenever they can. USA’s Molly Seidel is starting to fall of the leading pack now. Her inexperience may be coming into play now ...
Women’s marathon: Yep, Chumba is definitely dropping off the leading pack so we now have USA’s Seidel, Kenya’s Kosgei and Jepchirchir, and Israel’s Salpeter in the medal hunt. This is only Seidel’s third-ever marathon and she look pretty comfortable as the athletes grab drinks from the feeding station.
Women’s marathon: Just over four miles to go and the leading pack is down Bahrain’s Chumba, USA’s Seidel, Kenya’s Kosgei and Jepchirchir, and Israel’s Salpeter. But Chumba is starting to drift off. One of these women will be the Olympic champion.
Preamble
So, the end is nigh – and I’m not just talking about the collapse of the Gulf Stream. Yep, the Olympics are nearing their end – as is the women’s marathon as the athletes pound the streets of Sapporo (we’ve moved north to avoid the Tokyo heat. Although it’s hot in Sapporo too). We’ll have much more on the big race soon, but in the meantime here is my colleague Martin Belam with the Day 15 highlights.
All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Grafton, subtract eight hours for Bristol, 13 hours for Jacksonville and 16 hours for San Francisco.
If you only watch one thing: 7.35pm-9.50pm Athletics/track and field – there’s only one session in the stadium on Saturday and it is final after final. We get the women’s high jump and the men’s javelin. The women’s 10,000m final is at 7.45pm. The men’s 1500m final is 8.40pm. Then we finish the track events in the stadium with the explosive double whammy of the women’s and men’s 4x400m relay finals 🥇
- 6am Women’s marathon – held in Sapporo to try and avoid the Tokyo heat, the women will start at around 10pm UK time so you can settle in with your Ovaltine for a late night watching someone else run 26.2 miles to gold 🥇
- 6.30am Golf – it should be the fourth and final round of the women’s golf – weather permitting 🥇
- 9.30am-12.47pm Canoe sprint – there are four finals on Saturday, in the women’s canoe double 500m, men’s canoe single 1000m, and the kayak four 500m in both flavours 🥇
- 10am-12.20pm Beach volleyball – the men’s bronze match features pairs from Latvia and Qatar, followed by Norway and Not Russia serving for gold 🥇
- 10am and 3pm Diving – the men’s 10m platform semi-final and then the final 🥇
- 10am, 11.30am and 3.20pm Rhythmic gymnastics – the morning sessions are qualifications for the group all-around. The afternoon is the individual all-around final 🥇
- 11.30am, 4pm and 8pm Basketball – the programme is all topsy-turvy – possibly for the benefit of US TV audiences – but the morning starts with the men’s gold medal game between the USA and France. At 4pm, it’s the women’s bronze final (France v Serbia) with the men’s bronze medal match between Australia and Slovenia at 8pm 🥇
- 12pm and 7pm Baseball – first the bronze medal match between the Dominican Republic and South Korea, and then the final in the evening between Japan and the USA 🥇
- 2pm-3.15pm Boxing – four final bouts today in men’s fly, women’s fly, men’s middle and women’s welter weights. Britain’s Galal Yafai faces Carlo Paalam of the Philippines at 2pm 🥇
- 2pm-8.45pm Karate – featuring the men’s Kumite +75kg and women’s Kumite +61kg. The bronze medal bouts and the finals get going around 7.20pm 🥇
- 2.30pm-7.30pm Modern pentathlon – the men’s competition features swimming, fencing, show jumping and then the combined cross-country run interrupted by having to shoot at things. It is so great to watch 🥇
- 3.30pm-6.25pm Track cycling – races all day, but one final to look out for: the men’s madison final at 4.55pm 🥇
- 5pm and 9pm Handball – it is Egypt v Spain for bronze first, then France v Denmark for the gold in the men’s competition 🥇
- 7pm Equestrian – it’s the final day with the horses today, and it is the jumping team final 🐴🥇
- 7.30pm Artistic swimming – the team free routine final lights up Saturday on the final day of events 🥇
- 8.30pm Football – it’s the men’s final in Yokohama, featuring Brazil v Spain 🥇
You can find our full interactive events schedule here, which also acts as a live scoreboard during the day.
As it stands
Here’s how the emoji table stood at 11pm Tokyo time:
1 🇨🇳 China 🥇 36 🥈 26 🥉 17 total: 79
2 🇺🇸 USA 🥇 31 🥈 36 🥉 31 total: 98
3 🇯🇵 Japan🥇 24 🥈 11 🥉 16 total: 51
4 🇬🇧 Great Britain 🥇 18 🥈 20 🥉 20 total: 58
5 ◽️ Not Russia 🥇 17 🥈 23 🥉 22 total: 62
6 🇦🇺 Australia 🥇 17 🥈 6 🥉 21 total: 44
7 🇮🇹 Italy 🥇 10 🥈 10 🥉 18 total: 38
8 🇩🇪 Germany 🥇 9 🥈 11 🥉 16 total: 36
9 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🥇 9 🥈 10 🥉 12 total: 31
10 🇫🇷 France 🥇 7 🥈 11 🥉 9 total: 27
Updated
