Getting off to a late start overshadowed by the global pandemic, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team is not having the year they were hoping for. The Russian women’s gymnastics team is coming on very strong, beating the U.S. women’s team in qualifying. The Associated Press has the story:
After a rough start this year, many U.S. teams and competitors are off to the worst start at the Olympics in 50 years
TOKYO (AP) — The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:
Simone Biles and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team are off to a rocky start in the team finals.
Biles bailed on her planned Amanar vault, opting for an easier one in mid-air and then struggling with the landing. The rare miscue by the Olympic champion allowed the gymnasts from Russia to open up a one-point lead after the first rotation.
Vault has long been a strong suit for the U.S. and Biles is the defending Olympic and world champion in the event. Yet the Russian athletes have made up considerable ground since the 2019 world championships. They have an opportunity to win their first Olympic gold since the Unified Team topped the podium in Barcelona in 1992.
The women’s gymnastics team final is underway, with the U.S. looking to secure a third straight Olympic title.
The team representing the Russian Olympic Committee stunned the Americans during qualifying, becoming the first team in 11 years to beat the U.S. in any portion of a major international competition.
The U.S. and the ROC will be paired together as they make their way around the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. The rivals will start on vault, followed by uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
Surfer Bianca Buitendag of South Africa has announced that she’s retiring from the sport, moments after accepting her silver medal at the Olympics.
The 27-year-old surprised many this week by winning match after match. She pulled off some of the biggest upsets of the week, particularly when she dethroned Australian Stephanie Gilmore, the most decorated surfer competing at these Games,
“I felt like this was the perfect opportunity for closure,” Buitendag said. “I’m ready for the next season of my life.”
Buitendag has been on and off the World Surf League since 2013, but has struggled to make her mark on the grueling professional tour.
She said she felt like the ultimate underdog and with zero expectations, she surfed strong and consistently all week. Several times, Buitendag won her match by capitalizing on wave selection priority, which is running out the clock before a competitor can find a good final wave.
MEDAL ALERT
Takanori Nagase has won Japan’s fifth gold medal in judo at the Tokyo Olympics, beating Mongolia’s Saeid Mollaei in the final of the men’s 81-kilogram division.
Nagase improved on his bronze medal in Rio de Janeiro with a strong performance all day at the Budokan. The 2015 world champion had a history of falling short on judo’s biggest stages, but he completed a waza ari 1:43 into golden score to claim the Olympic title.
Mollaei won his first Olympic medal two years after leaving his native Iran upon revealing that his national team coaches had ordered him to lose in the semifinals of the 2019 world championships in Tokyo to avoid facing Israel’s Sagi Muki in the final. Mollaei subsequently moved to Germany and then acquired Mongolian citizenship. Mongolia has three judo medals in Tokyo.
Belgium’s Matthias Casse and Austria’s Shamil Borchasvili claimed bronze medals. Austria hadn’t won a judo medal since 2008.
MEDAL ALERT
France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou has won her first Olympic gold medal in judo, beating Slovenia’s Tina Trstenjak in the 63-kilogram final at the Budokan.
Agbegnenou won silver in Rio de Janeiro, but the five-time world champion cemented her dominance atop the sport with a waza ari to finish Trstenjak. Agbegnenou, a dual citizen of Togo, also has won four European championships.
Italy’s Maria Centracchio and Canada’s Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard claimed bronze. Beauchemin-Picard came through with the second-ever Olympic medal for a Canadian woman judo player one day after Jessica Klimkait won the first.
Miku Tashiro lost in the round of 16, preventing Japan from winning a medal for the first time in seven weight classes of competition in Tokyo.
MEDAL ALERT
Kuo Hsing-Chun has won Taiwan’s first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a dominant performance in the women’s 59-kilogram weightlifting category.
In both the snatch and the clean and jerk, even Kuo’s first lift was higher than any other athlete managed in three attempts.
Kuo lifted a total 236 kilograms, beating second-place Polina Guryeva of Turkmenistan by 19kg, but failed on a final attempt to break her own clean and jerk world record.
Kuo’s chances were helped by the lack of an entry from China in the category and a doping ban for 2016 Olympic gold medalist Sukanya Srisurat of Thailand.
Japan took its first weightlifting medal of the Tokyo Olympics as Mikiko Andoh lifted a total 214kg.
MEDAL ALERT
American Carissa Moore has made history by winning surfing gold. The sport is making its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games.
Moore is a child prodigy from Hawaii who grew up to be the youngest world champion surfer. She persevered after struggling to gain momentum in the early heats at the Tokyo Games.
Moore beat Bianca Buitendag of South Africa, who won silver. The 17th-ranked Buitendag pulled off upset after upset to deliver some of the contest’s biggest moments in her path to the Olympic podium.
Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki took home bronze after handily winning her heat against American Caroline Marks.
MEDAL ALERT
Brazilian surfer Italo Ferreira has won gold in the last day of competition at the sport’s historic debut.
Ferreira won in the finals against Kanoa Igarashi of Japan, despite the Brazilian crashing off an air to land on a broken board.
The incident required a quick board switch near the beginning of the heat, which didn’t seem to rattle the man who had so little growing up that he learned to surf on a cooler.
By the time the clock ran out, Ferreira turned to the ocean, collapsed his hands together in a prayer and wept, nearly knocked over by his emotions and the waves crashing onto shore.
Igarashi, the hometown hero who surfed a career best earlier in the day, won silver.
Australian Owen Wright took home bronze after a close match against top-rated Gabriel Medina.
MEDAL ALERT
Germany’s Ricarda Funk has won a surprise gold medal in women’s kayak slalom. Heavy favorite Jessica Fox of Australia slipped to third when she touched two gates on the final run.
Funk took the lead from Spain’s defending gold medalist Maialen Chourraut of Spain with a time of 105.50 seconds on a clean run. Then she had to wait for Fox, who came to the Olympics as the favorite to win gold in both the kayak and canoe slalom events.
Fox, the top-ranked paddler in the world, struggled from the start when she touched the fourth gate of 25 for an immediate 2-second penalty. She was still ripping through the course and her splits were ahead of Funk until she again touched gate No. 24 to earn another penalty.
Fox finished 1.23 seconds off the lead and held her face in her hands at the finish line, knowing she had lost the gold medal. Chourraut took silver.
MEDAL ALERT
Yang Haoran and Yang Qian have given China a sweep in the first two mixed team shooting events, beating Americans Lucas Kozeniesky and Mary Tucker in 10-meter air rifle.
Yang and Yang won the gold medal match 17-13, giving China its eighth medal in nine shooting events at the Tokyo Olympics.
Russians Sergey Kamenskiy and Yulia Karimova won the bronze medal match 17-9 over South Korea’s Kwon Eunji Nam Taeyun.
The gold is Yang Qian’s second of the Tokyo Olympics after she won the women’s individual 10-meter rifle. Yang Haoran also took the bronze in the men’s individual event.
Pang Wei and Jiang Ranxin won gold in 10-meter air pistol mixed team earlier at Asaka Shooting Range.
Canada has won its first Olympic medal in softball, taking the bronze with a 3-2 victory over Mexico.
Canada won behind 2 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief from Danielle Lawrie, the sister of former major leaguer Brett Lawrie.
Lawrie, a veteran of Canada’s 2008 Olympic team and the 2009 and 2010 USA college player of the year at the University of Washington, relieved with runners at the corners in the fifth and retired Victoria Vidales on a groundout. Lawrie struck out four, fanning Brittany Cervantes to end it.
Kelsey Harshman broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth with a sacrifice fly for the Canadians, who went 4-2, finishing behind the U.S. (5-0) and Japan (4-1).
In a game played in intermittent light rain, Emma Entzminger put Canada ahead with a two-run single in the second off Danielle O’Toole (0-2). Mexico tied the score on RBI singles by Cervantes in the third off starter Sara Groenewegen and by Suzy Brookshire in the fifth against Jenna Caira.
MEDAL ALERT
Jolanda Neff has won the women’s mountain bike race at the Tokyo Olympics. She led a Swiss sweep of the medal stand while capping a long comeback from a career-threatening crash in the North Carolina mountains.
Sina Frei and Linda Indergand tried to chase down their countrywoman but never had a chance. They were left battling among themselves, at one point riding side-by-side, before Frei pulled ahead to take silver and left Indergand with bronze.
Neff took the lead when world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot crashed on a slippery section of rocks on the first loop in the mountains southwest of Tokyo. She soon built her advantage to more than a minute over a field that included France’s Loana Lecomte, the winner of every World Cup race this season, and reigning Olympic champ Jenny Rissveds.
Japan’s wildly successful judo team has finally missed out on a medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Women’s 63-kilogram judoka Miku Tashiro was eliminated by Poland’s Agata Ozdoba-Blach in the second round Tuesday at the Budokan. Tashiro is the No. 3-ranked player in her weight class, but she lost by ippon midway through her second bout.
The 33-year-old Ozdoba-Blach only earned her first major international gold medal two months ago at an IJF Grand Slam event in Russia.
Japan is the most successful nation in Olympic history in its homegrown martial art, and Japan has won more Olympic medals in judo than in any other sport.
Japan has won four golds, one silver and one bronze from the six weight classes contested over the first three days at its home Olympics.
Takanori Nagase is still in contention for Japan’s seventh judo medal after reaching the semifinals of the 81-kilogram division.
Two-time Olympic boxer Daisuke Narimatsu of Japan has dropped out of the lightweight division at the Tokyo Games due to injury after winning his opening bout.
The Olympics Boxing Task Force said Tuesday that Narimatsu wouldn’t be able to weigh in for his next bout, which is scheduled for Saturday. Narimatsu was slated to face Kazakhstan’s Zakir Safiullin in the round of 16.
Narimatsu beat Fiston Mbaya by unanimous decision in his opening bout at the Kokugikan on Sunday, but Narimatsu told Japanese media he injured his head in the bout.
The 31-year-old Narimatsu is one of Japan’s top amateur boxers. He competed at the Rio Olympics, winning his opening bout before losing to Carlos Balderas of the U.S.
Japan has won only five boxing medals in its Olympic history. Ryōta Murata won its only gold in London before moving on to a solid pro career as a middleweight champion.
MEDAL ALERT
China has won another gold medal in Olympic diving.
Chen Yuxi and Zhang Jiaqi won the women’s 10-meter synchronized platform, giving the diving powerhouse its second gold of the Tokyo Games.
Chen and Zhang totaled 363.78 points over five rounds on Tuesday. They received two perfect 10s for execution on their second dive.
Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell of the U.S. took silver in just their second competition as a pair. They totaled 310.80.
Gabriela Agundez Garcia and Alejandra Orozco Loza of Mexico earned bronze at 299.70.
China won its first gold in Tokyo in women’s 3-meter synchro springboard and earned silver in men’s 10-meter platform synchro.
Sebastian Coe says he supports a review of marijuana’s status as a doping substance after American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was banned ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
The president of World Athletics says a review is now sensible and “it should be” done.
Coe was at the U.S. Olympic trials last month when the 21-year-old Richardson won the 100 meters in 10.86 seconds. Her result was disqualified and she accepted a 30-day ban after she tested positive for a chemical found in marijuana.
Richardson said she had smoked to help cope with her mother’s recent death.
Coe says “I am sorry for her that we have lost an outstanding talent” from the Tokyo Games but adds the existing rules were interpreted correctly.
He says he has asked the independent Athletics Integrity Unit to work with the World Anti-Doping Agency on reassessing marijuana’s place on the prohibited list.
Coe says Richardson’s absence is “a loss to the competition” but he predicts “she will bounce back.”
Two superstar surfers have been dethroned at the Olympics, where their sport is making its debut.
Hometown hero Kanoa Igarashi of Japan landed an incredible 360 aerial reverse on the beach he grew up on. The nearly-perfect maneuver sent him flying for seven seconds above the water and scored him a 9.33, enough to defeat Brazilian Gabriel Medina, the world’s top-ranked surfer.
Bianca Buitendag of South Africa chose to wait out the clock again to pull off yet another major upset, this time against American phenom Caroline Marks, who simply could not catch a good enough wave.
The finals now come down to Igarashi and the dominating Brazilian Italo Ferreira, and Buitendag against American Carissa Moore, the reigning world champion.
The U.S. women have fallen to Japan 20-18 in their final pool-play game in 3-on-3 basketball.
Despite the loss, the Americans will head into the knockout round as the top seed after compiling a 6-1 record over four days. The semifinals and medal games for the sport’s Olympic debut are set for Wednesday.
With the score of Tuesday’s game tied at 17, Japan’s Mio Shinozaki made a 2-pointer to give her team the lead for good.
Serbia’s men were 6-0 coming into Tuesday and have locked up a spot in the semifinals.
The U.S. men did not qualify for the tournament.
UPSET ALERT
Japan’s tennis superstar is out of the Tokyo Olympics.
Naomi Osaka lost to former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 in the third round of the Tokyo tournament.
The second-ranked Osaka, who was born in Japan and grew up in the United States, struggled with her usually reliable groundstrokes.
The 42nd-ranked Vondrousova produced a series of drop-shot winners and other crafty shots that drew Osaka out of her comfort zone.
Osaka won her opening two matches in straight sets following a two-month mental-health break. But conditions were different Tuesday with the roof closed because it was raining outside.
Naomi Osaka has lost the opening set of her third-round Olympic tennis match against Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic.
Vondrousova won 6-1 against the host country’s superstar.
Osaka won her opening two matches in straight sets following a two-month mental-health break. But conditions are different Tuesday with the roof closed because it’s raining outside.
Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron in Friday’s Tokyo Games opening ceremony.
The 42nd-ranked Vondrousova was the 2019 French Open runner-up.
Source: AP
