The latest on the Tokyo Olympics. They are now under severe restrictions following a year-long delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
France beat Sweden to reach the Olympics women’s handball gold medal game
Grace Zaadi Deuna, France’s goalkeeper, scored seven goals in a win of 29 to 27 over the Swedes. The match was close until the final.
France remains in contention to win both the women’s and men’s handball tournaments at one Olympics, as it did so in 1984.
In Sunday’s final, the French women’s soccer team will face either Norway or Russia. In their final Saturday, the men will take on Denmark.
MEDAL ALERT
Harrie Lavreysen, a Dutch cyclist, has won the gold medal in the men’s bicycle sprint. He won the first two races, and took the gold medal after a defeat to Jeffrey Hoogland, his Dutch teammate.
This was a replay from the previous two world championships finals won by Lavreysen. Hoogland seemed to have won the race, and he was able to hold on to his win.
Lavreysen responded by racing around the outside of their second race, beating a drag-race up to the finish line and taking the photo finish. Lavreysen won the gold medal, but it was not really the decisive.
Britain’s Jack Carlin beat Russia’s Denis Dmitriev to win bronze.
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ALERT MEDAL
Antonella Palmisano, from Italy, has won the women’s 20-kilometer run walk to claim her first Olympic gold medal.
Palmisano won this race, which was one of the long-distance road events that were moved to Sapporo to escape the heat in Tokyo, in 1 hour 29 minutes and 12 second.
Sandra Lorena Arenas of Colombia was 25 seconds ahead, and Liu Hong of China was 45 seconds behind. Liu Hong is a 2016 Olympic gold medalist who has also won three world championships. She settled for bronze.
Palmisano won the Tokyo Games with nine seconds less than her time in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, when she was fourth and just missed the podium.
Five of the 58 race starters didn’t finish the race. It started and ended in hot, humid conditions. The temperature at the start was 88°F (31°C)
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The governing body of cycling has suspended a German official from the sport of cycling for using a racial slur in the Olympic men’s trial races.
According to the International Cycling Union (UCI), Patrick Moster was banned from the sport for comments that were “discriminatory and in violation of the basic rules decency.”
The slur was used by Moster, national cycling federation’s sports director, as a German rider chased rivals from Eritrea and Algeria during the July 28 race. This comment was broadcast on television.
According to the UCI, it “condemns any form of discriminatory or racist behavior.”
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Yang Jian, the world champion in platform diving for men of 10 meters, from China, showed that he is the favourite to win gold by leading prelims.
Yang scored 546.90 points in six dives, comfortably ahead of Cao Yuan’s 529.30 points.
Aleksandr Bondar, a world bronze medalist, was third at the Russian Olympic Committee with 513.85 point. Tom Daley, who won silver in 10-meter synchro with British colleague Matty Lee, was fourth with 453.70.
The semifinals were reached by the top 18 finishers from the 29-man field.
The final will be held on Saturday, and the 12 semifinalists will advance to the final.
American Brandon Loschiavo qualified as 11th and Jordan Windle as 15th, respectively.
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MEDAL ALERT
The British team of Laura Kenny & Katie Archibald won the Olympic debut of women’s Madison. They easily defeated Denmark and the Russian Olympic Committee duo to win the gold medal.
Madison allows two riders to ride simultaneously, but only one rider can be considered. They can tag one another at any time during the 120-lap event. Points are awarded at the end of each 10 laps.
From 2000 to 2008, the Madison was a men’s Olympic event. It was then dropped from the track cycling program. It was reunited with a female counterpart at the Tokyo Games for the first time.
The two-time world champions Netherlands were in an early crash that ended their chances. The same happened to the Italians who had won medals at two of their three previous worlds.
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Emma Terho, a medalist in Olympic ice hockey, has been elected to the IOC executive board.
According to the International Olympic Committee, Terho was elected by its athletes’ commission members as their chairwoman. This position comes with a seat in the IOC board.
Terho was facing Yelena Isinbaeva (pole vaulter world record holder), who was elected IOC member at Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016, at the height the Russian doping scandal.
Terho represented Finland in five Winter Olympics, and twice won a bronze medal.
On the IOC board, she replaces Kirsty Coventry, a swimmer from Zimbabwe.
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Greece won the Olympics’ first water polo gold medal. Now, the only question is whether silver or gold will be awarded.
Stylianos Agryropoulos Kanakakis scored four times, Emmanouil Zerdevas made seven saves and Greece beat Hungary 9-6 in the semifinals of the Tokyo Games.
Greece, which is playing in its 11th consecutive Olympics, improved its record to 6-0-1 after its fifth consecutive win. This was following a 6-6 draw with Italy during group play. It beat Hungary 10-9 in its Tokyo debut game on July 25.
The fourth place finish for Greece in 2004 was its previous best. Next up, the winner of Spain-Serbia’s semifinal.
Krisztian Manhercz scored 2 goals for Hungary and Viktor Nagy saved 8. Hungary has nine golds and is the most successful men’s waterpolo team. However, it has not won a medal in water polo since 2000 when it had three consecutive Olympic titles.
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According to the Brazilian Olympic team, Tandara Caixeta, a volleyball player, is being sent home by Tokyo after she was found guilty of doping.
Caixeta was a member Brazil’s Olympic gold medal winning team. She was scheduled to compete against South Korea in Friday’s Olympic semifinals.
Brazil’s Olympic Committee has declared that Caixeta has been temporarily suspended in light of a possible violation of anti-doping regulations.
This case involves a sample that was taken in Brazil in a preOlympic training camp.
Caixeta posted a message on Instagram stating that the athlete would speak about the case once it’s over.
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MEDAL ALERT
Julio Cesar La Cruz, heavyweight boxer from Cuba, has won the third gold medal in Cuban boxing at Tokyo Olympics. He displayed a masterful defensive performance in his 5:0 win over Muslim Gadzhimagomedov.
Gadzhimagomedov was determined to push forward throughout the fight, but La Cruz displayed his incredible footwork and elusiveness while peppering him with counter shots. La Cruz won the fight 30:27 by three judges scorecards, 29-28 by the other two. This completes a four-fight run through Kokugikan Arena in which he won 5 to0 twice and 4:1 twice.
After moving up to a heavier weight class, La Cruz and his teammates Roniel and Arlen Iglesias won their second career gold medals at Tokyo. Lopez won gold in the same class as La Cruz in Rio de Janeiro.
La Cruz won the eighth gold medal at heavyweight for the Cuban team. This was the first time since Odlanier Solis took the title in the glamour division in 2004. La Cruz joins Solis, Felix Savon and Teofilo Stephenson, three-time Olympic heavyweight champions.
David Nyika from New Zealand won bronze and Abner Teixeira from Brazil won bronze in heavyweight.
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After vengeance against a semifinal loss to Serbia five years ago, the United States women’s volleyball team reached the gold medal match for fourth time.
They easily defeated the Brazilian team that had denied them their chance at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro gold medal. They will face the winner of the Brazil–South Korea semifinal to win the gold medal match. Serbia will face the loser to win the bronze.
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Organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics say they will use the Eiffel Tower to unfurl “the biggest flag ever flown” on Sunday during the closing ceremony in Tokyo.
Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris organizing committee, spoke about the Tokyo plan to promote formal handover to the next Summer Games host on Sunday.
Two months ago, a giant flag flew from Paris’s iconic landmark. However, the reason for the flight was unknown.
Anne Hidalgo (Paris mayor) is visiting Tokyo to participate in the traditional handover at the closing ceremony.
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MEDAL ALERT
Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman have won the women’s beach volleyball gold medal.
The U.S. team beat Mariafe Artacho del Solar of Australia and Taliqua Clancy from Australia 21-15, 21-16 to win the Friday championship. Ross has won a third Olympic medal, along with a silver in London and a bronze in Brazil. Klineman is the first Olympian.
It was Australia’s first beach volleyball medal, since Natalie Cook and Kerri Potterst won gold at Bondi Beach in Sydney 2000.
The bronze medal match saw Anouk Verge Depre and Joana Heidrich of Switzerland win straight sets over Latvia.
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As Tokyo registers more than 5,000 cases of COVID-19-related Games infections in a single day, the number of Games-related COVID-19 infection has risen to 387. This is the highest level since the outbreak.
From July 1 to Thursday, Tokyo Olympics organizers added 29 new cases. The new cases do not include any athletes or residents from the Olympic Village.
The total of 387 contractors includes 207 foreign and domestic contractors who are participating in the Games.
Tokyo authorities announced Thursday that 5,042 cases were added daily.
Yoshide Suga, the Japanese Prime Minister, stated Thursday that “infections are expanding rapidly at a rate we have never seen before.” He also denied any connection to hosting the Olympics in a state of emergency.
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MEDAL ALERT
The bronze medal for women’s beach volleyball was won by Switzerland.
Anouk Verge Depre and Joana Heidrich of Switzerland won straight sets in their match for third place.
Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina were defeated by the Swiss 21-19 each in the first set. The Swiss then took a 5-1 lead into the second, and pulled away to win 21-15. This was their first Olympic medal for women’s sports.
April Ross and Alix Kulineman, both Americans, were to face Mariafe Artacho of Australia and Taliqua Clancy from Australia in Friday’s gold medal match.
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MEDAL ALERT
Dawid Tomala of Poland has won what might be the last 50-kilometer race walk at the Olympics.
Tomala won the gold medal in Sapporo in 3 hours, 50 mins and 8 seconds.
Jonathan Hilbert, a German citizen, was second. He was 36 seconds slower than Tomala at 3:50:44. Third was Evan Dunfee from Canada in 3:50,59. Due to Tokyo’s heat and humidity, the race walking events were moved from Tokyo to Sapporo.
The 50-kilometer walking distance has been removed from the Olympic schedule in Paris 2024. It may not be reinstated.
It was introduced for the first time at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Since then, it has been used at all Games except Montreal in 1976.
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The International Olympic Committee says it has removed two Belarus team coaches from the Olympics, four days after they were involved in trying to send sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya back to Belarus.
According to the IOC, Yury Maisevich and Artur Shimak were removed from their credentials.
According to the IOC, the men were asked to leave the Olympic Village “immediately and have done so in the interests of the well-being of the athletes.”
After the IOC connected them to Tsimanouskaya, Shimak and Maisevich maintained contact with Belarus athletes on Sunday.
Tsimanouskaya had previously criticized team coaches via social media. She is currently in Poland on a humanitarian visa.
According to the IOC, Shimaks and Maisevich will be given an opportunity to be heard by the disciplinary commission that is investigating the case.
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Laurine van Riessen, a Dutch Olympic track athlete, is currently in Tokyo Hospital recovering from a horrific crash at the Izu Velodrome’s keirin semifinals.
Van Riessen was briefly unconscious after colliding with Katy Marchant, a British rider at over 40 mph. Van Riessen was able to stay on the track’s apron for several minutes until doctors took her off the track and placed her on a stretcher.
She was taken to a Tokyo hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured collarbone, broken bones and a bruised lung.
Van Riessen’s spokesperson said that she is doing well, but couldn’t recall the fall. Van Riessen’s team doctor was with her, and she was able to tell her that her pain is mostly in her shoulder.
Shanne Braspennincx was Van Riessen’s partner. She won the gold medal in Keirin. This six-lap race is paced by a motorized bicycle, while the final three laps are free-for-all sprints to the finish.
