And I guess that’s as good a place as any to call it a day. I know it’s only the UK where it’s about to strike 12, but we’ve got to change over somewhere and this is where we’re doing it. So it’s goodnight from me and good evening to Tom Lutz in New York, who’ll guide you through the next bit. Join him by clicking below, and ta-ra.
That talk of Olympic boxing minded of this from Seoul. There were simultaneous bouts in two rings, one using a bell and one a buzzer and one of the fighters, Chun Jim Chil, forgot which was in his.
Japan get their baseball campaign away tomorrow, against the Dominican Republic. I guess that’s yet another even that makes you think damn, that with a crowd, but it should be good nonetheless.
We’ve got a Guardian derby in the last eight of the women’s football – GB are playing Australia. That’s on Friday.
I enjoyed this on Caroline Dubois – of the Guardian – who won yesterday.
And, of course, yesterday this happened.
Meanwhile, Charley Davison is already into the last 16.
Lauren Price gets going tomorrow in the women’s middleweight division. She’s the number one seed and has also won football caps for Wales, world kickboxing titles, and Commonwealth boxing gold.
During my break, some kids were outside mine hanging out and playing tunes. In what, I’m afraid, was the daddest of moves, I shazammed one that I liked. This is it.
Titmus v Ledecky takes centre-stage, but there’s plenty other Australians in action tomorrow, er, today? I don’t know anymore, so just dig in here.
“Re Olympic football,” tweets Gary Naylor, go the other way. “Make it a tournament for over-25s without a cap and give them a day in the sun and us the delight of seeing near-misses, old warhorses and worthy causes play for Team GB. Imagine Michail Antonio’s face!”
Those rules in England’s Jake Livermore days, when none of the GB nations were anywhere near anything, would’ve been something.
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The cycling road races will be a proper highlight of tomorrow. For Geraint Thomas, it’s a fight for redemption.
Also catching my eye as I scroll down tomorrow’s menu is Jack Laugher and Daniel Goodfellow in the final of the men’s 3m springboard. Laugher won gold and silver in Rio, and the pair won gold on the Diving World Cup that was a test event for the Games. That gets going at 3pm local time, 7am BST.
I do, though, understand what this piece is getting at. Maybe they should make football slightly different – five-a-side, perhaps, and under-23.
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Looking through more of tomorrow, I’m interested to see how the Germany v Côte d’Ivoire men’s football matches goes. Germany need to win to progress, but they won’t find it easy to make that happen. And Spain v Argentina will also be worth a look-in – Argentina probably need to win that.
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Later in the day, Helen Glover – not that long back from retirement – continues her bid for a third gold medal in the semi-final of the pairs. She’s the first mother to compete for GB Olympic rowing team.
Rowing actually hands us some early finals – the women’s double sculls gets underway two hours and 18 minutes from now, the first of six over roughly an hour and a half.
Hi again. We are one hours and 13 minutes away from action! Day 5 kicks off with rowing, then we’ve got badminton, beach volleyball, handball, rugby sevens, shooting and volleyball. Oooh yeah.
Daniel is back from his break. I’ll hand back over to him now. Cheers!
“Hi Michael,” emails Simon McMahon. “Agree about the Rugby 7’s, that Argentina performance was one for the ages, and Team GB’s comeback victory against the USA was pretty good too. The taekwondo has been dramatic and intense, and all bets are off on Tom Daley being voted SPOTY, or signing up for Strictly. A word too for the GB women’s gymnasts after their team bronze earlier, and Simone Biles for bravely deciding her personal well-being is more important than anything else. A highly enjoyable Games so far.”
For reference, Team GB were 21-0 down to the USA in their match, but now face a semi-final against New Zealand.
SEVENS IS MAD #Rugby pic.twitter.com/9bujRqtrlV
— Jack Fallon (@JackFallon24) July 27, 2021
My favourite moment was the tremendous grace and decency showed by Duncan Scott standing next to Tom Dean when they were interviewed after the medal ceremony @michaelbutler18.
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) July 27, 2021
Scott, older and the favourite, must have been distraught, but he found joy in his friend's joy. Bravo!
There is something about the relentless pace of this (and any) Olympics that we don’t notice the smaller moments, as coverage swings from one sport and venue to the next. Compare this to say the Euros, where every interview or reaction is analysed to the nth degree.
I liked what Adam Peaty said on Monday, after his gold-medal swim in the pool: “We spend 99.9% in the dark, searching for a bit of light. But the 0.01% was that performance there.”
That is especially true for swimming, which is not given a huge amount of attention outside the Olympics. Now imagine the amount of training Duncan Scott has put in for that 0.01% of a performance, and consider the grace with which he handled the defeat to Tom Dean. Chapeau.
A reminder to check out our all-singing/dancing medal table. The USA have won four more medals than any other nation, but it’s golds that matter, so Japan sit top of the tree at the moment.
Hello world. What’s been your favourite moment of the Games thus far? It can be as obvious as coach Dean Boxall’s wild celebration after Ariarne Titmus beat Katie Ledecky on Monday, or something perhaps only you have spotted in the corner of your televisions. Mine was Argentina’s ridiculous win over South Africa in the men’s sevens rugby competition. The South Americans were 7-0 down and a man down to their opponents, but a remarkable comeback saw them run out 19-14 winners, despite finishing the match with five men! Tears all round at the end, the Argentinians wear their hearts on their sleeves.
Do email me for the next little bit: michael.butler@theguardian.com, or you can tweet @michaelbutler18.
Righto, I’m off for a little sit-down. Michael Butler will coax you through the next little bit.
I look forward to these every day.
“Physically demanding,” emails Andrew Benton. “It’s got to be the walk, hasn’t it? Not exertion-wise, but control-wise. The urge to run must be overwhelming.”
Ha! I daresay the urge to sit is equally so.
Ultimately, though, there’s just nothing like it. This is spectacular.
And here’s Peaty giving a different angle on the mental side of elite sport.
Adam Peaty has also spoken movingly about what it takes to be who he is. This is from yesterday’s blog:
I’m watching Adam Peaty on Eurosport. He’s proud to become the first Brit to defend an Olympic swimming title, but it won’t sink in until he’s home. The gold, he reckons, goes to all his family and his team, and he’s looking forward to the relays.
As for the race, he says you touch the wall and generally you know if you’ve won. He’s feeling a lot of relief, but the moment when you win, you release all the frustration of the five years leading up to it, a mixture of elation, adrenaline and pride. Talking about how hard he worked to make it happen, he says that “there’s not a tangible word for the amount of investment that’s gone into this swim,” and “if you think you’ve emptied the tank there’s another tank to empty”. He talks about a lot of bad moments getting ready for the Games, when he didn’t want to push further, but he did, then explains that having a son gave him a new perspective on the world. He’s a very emotional person and cried the second his wife gave birth; now he hopes his son can learn from him “to be resilient, to be committed, to take the emotional intelligence that sport provides”.
Swimming has taken a lot out of him – he’s not lost a race in seven years – so now he wants to rest and enjoy life. But he’s not yet swum the perfect race, so that’s a target for him now.
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Just a little earlier, we discussed the unfathomable pressure of being a sportsman and this, from my colleague Greg Rutherford, cleverly reveals another strand that might not occur to those of us who don’t experience it.
If I am being absolutely honest, I felt so much pressure after London 2012 because of some of the things that were said about me. I had a slight bit of imposter syndrome, possibly because I was made to feel that I didn’t belong as much as others.
Just like AJ Tracey.
I had to do it.
USA’s women footballers are having a strange time, but their basketballers are still doin’ the do.
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I’m sure these coats could be single-breasted.
Barney Ronay has written about the pressure we put on our best sportsfolk in the digital age, and he’s right: it’s unfathomably intense. Many years ago, I told my wife that I don’t read below the line because the idea that people I don’t know hate me is unsettling. She told me I was being ridiculous, then a few months later had a look after I’d written a piece critical of a football team and manager, coming back to me saying she got it. And I’m a nomark writer, not a young, global superstar of whom the world continually makes uncaring demands.
Without fans, we can’t have a vintage Games – and, if I’m honest, we might be struggling for epochal performances. But the excitement is off the chain and integral to that has been the form of the hosts, who retained their softball title yesterday/earlier today.
Just when you thought Tom Daley couldn’t get wholesomer, he gets wholesomest.
“For most physically demanding, the weightlifting has to be a shout?” tweets John Dalby. “Some of today’s competitors were on the brink of blacking out through exertion.”
Yup, that also looks fairly tricky. But I guess I’d lean towards something that prolongs the pain for a bit longer.
Who knows how it’ll finish up, but it’s been an unprecedentedly good start to the Games for Great Britain. Sean Ingle has more.
“Re Rakesh Nag’s question about the most physically demanding sport,” tweets Gary Naylor, “it’s the three-day event. But only for the horse.”
Too right, imagine taking orders off someone in a double-breasted blazer.
This week’s Knowledge takes on a topical topic.
“From your knowledge, a question arose in my head,” returns Rakesh Nag: “What is the most physically demanding individual event in the Olympics? Is it:
1) Triathlon
2) Lawn Tennis( 6 matches of at least 2 sets)
3) 50km walk
4) Equestrian
I’m not sure, but decathlon and heptathlon have to be up there.
And one more from Suzy: an interview with Leah Williamson.
And here she is reporting on a poor game between weakened GB and Canada sides. I said this a lot when Phil Neville was manager of England, but I wonder if there’s a better XI than the one Hege Riise has found. In particular, I wonder if Ella Toone might add a bit more imagination than we’re seeing currently.
Here’s Suzy Wrack on USWMNT’s draw with Australia.
It’s so surprising to see USA’s women described as though they were England’s men. And the Netherlands are a terrible quarter-final draw, with Vivianne Miedema, Lieke Martens and Danielle van de Donk in such ludicrous form. But they still look dodgy at the back and USA absolutely have the quality to trouble them. Friday is going to be special
A little bit of non-Olympics news.
Simone Biles, in extreme slow motion. pic.twitter.com/d43PPTg87O
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) June 5, 2021
This interview Simone Biles did with the NYT was so sad. On the physical toll the sport takes on her: https://t.co/Vtc97WYGBR pic.twitter.com/tsa614nq5e
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 27, 2021
For what it’s worth, I wrote something about that kind of thing when Kell Brook effectively stopped his own fight against Errol Spence. As the photo illustrates, sport is hard.
On Biles, I’m not sure people realise the extent of what she – and other gymnasts – do. Because they’re so good, we don’t conceive of it as dangerous in the way we do combat sports, but it is. So if your head’s not right – all the more so if you’re trying stuff so hard no one but you has ever pulled it off – you’ve no choice but to turn it in. In fact, turning it in is the brave decision, because the easy decision is to hope or assume it’ll be fine.
Back to Biles, Andrew Lawrence shares his thoughts on her vulnerability and resonance.
They really couldn’t. This is beautiful.
What an emotional interview!
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2021
"A dream we didn't think was possible". 😌
Team GB's women's gymnasts won their first medal in the team event for 93 years. 🙌 #tokyo2020 #bbcolympics
On the other hand, GB’s women won bronze in the team gymnastics all-around, and couldn’t have been happier.
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I hope, when she’s had time to reflect, Bianca Walkden will be properly proud of herself. But such are elite sportsfolk – talent isn’t the only thing that sets them apart from the rest of us.
Back to Simon’s oldest medal-winner question, Russell Turner reckons he’s got the answer: “Everard Endt, a Dutch-born naturalised American citizen, won a gold medal in Helsinki at the age of 59 as part of the US crew in the 6 metre class sailing competition.”
Ah yes, of course!
And just in: Tumaini Carayol reports that Biles will have a day off before seeing if she feels able to compete in Thursday’s all-around final.
Sadly, the biggest story of yesterday was Simone Biles, who pulled out of the women’s team gymnastics competition because she “freaked out in a high stress situation”.
She was already a hero for reasons that have nothing to do with gymnastics, and the open, candid way she discussed her mental health simply added to that.
“I don’t trust myself as much as I used to,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s age and I’m a little bit more nervous when I do gymnastics. I feel like I’m also not having as much fun. This Olympic Games I wanted it to be for myself but I came in and I felt like I was still doing it for other people. It hurts my heart that doing what I love has been kind of taken away from me to please other people.”
We are privileged to be living in her time.
I mentioned Titmus v Ledecky II just below. It’s going to be a jazzer, so get in the mood with Kieran Pender’s primer.
Rakesh mentioned Flora Duffy – read more about her wondrous behaviour here.
I’ve learnt so much general knowledge from watching the Olympics over the last 37 years – my first Games was LA in 1984 – most recently that someone from Bermuda is not a Bermudan but a Bermudian.
“I am from Bangladesh,” emails Rakesh Nag. “Being a citizen of the most populous country without any Olympic medal, today I saw Bermuda (through Flora Duffy) become the least populous country to win an Olympic gold. Our distant hope of getting on the podium vanished today with the elimination of Roman Shana in the archery round of 16. Still, he is the first Bangladeshi to win an Olympic match, so not all is lost! Now I can go back to being an unbiased viewer again – I am loving the Guardian coverage. In fact I am spending 16-17 hours per day in my mobile for the first time in my life to follow your coverage.”
Ah thanks Rakesh, that’s great to hear – especially during a brief run of no actual sport. Maybe one day we’ll get some T20 cricket, which would give your lot something to go at.
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“10m air pistol,” says Mark Dawson. “10 metres? I could hit stuff with a shoe at that range, and have.”
That’s nothing, I can throw a shoe over a pub.
Now let’s throw it forward to day five, on which we shall see:
– The women’s 200m freestyle final, aka Ledecky v Titmus II but with added Pellegrini, the men’s 200m butterfly final, the women’s 200m individual medley final, the women’s 1500m freestyle final and the men’s 4x200m freestlye final. That starts at 10.41am local time, 2.41 am BST.
– New Zealand v GB and Argentina v Fiji in the men’s rugby sevens semis, then the bronze medal match and final. That starts at 11am local time and 3am BST.
– Cycling’s individual time trials, women then men. They start at 11.30am and 2pm local time, 3.30am and 6am BST respectively.
– USA v France and ROC v China in the semi-finals of the women’s 3v3 basketball along with Serbia v ROC and Belgium v Latvia in the men’s, then the bronze medal matches and both finals. That starts at 5pm local time and 9am BST.
– The final round of group games in the men’s football tournament. That starts at 5pm local time, 9am BST.
– The men’s all-around gymnastics final. That starts at 7.15pm local time, 11.15am BST.
And much, much more.
First of all, let’s have a look back at day four, with Martin Belam’s briefing; do sign up.
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Thanks Simon, greetings one and all. It’s a little while till we get live sport – more of that presently – but in the meantime, there’s bare to say and bare to read, so we’ll see each other reet.
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Righty ho, I’m going to sidle away. Please send emails and information about old US Olympians in 1952 to Daniel Harris here. Bye!
Half-a-stat department: At the age of 56 the equestrian rider Steffen Peters today became the oldest US Olympic medalist since 1952. But who was the ageing Olympian in Helsinki? Any ideas, world?
Here’s some video from the US team’s post-gymnastics press conference a little earlier:
Here’s an Associated Press story on an athlete who’s already preparing for her next Olympics - in just a few months’ time:
The real work began for Jaqueline Mourao the moment she finished a muddy mountain bike race at the Tokyo Games. With her seventh Olympics behind her, the 45-year-old Brazilian planned to immediately swap her bike for her skis.
She is planning to compete in cross country at the Beijing Games in February, which would move her into a tie for the third-most Olympic appearances by any athlete and break the record by someone from her country.
“There’s a quick transition in little time,” said Mourao, who finished 35th of 38 starters in the mountain bike race held in the forested hills southwest of Tokyo. “In March we stopped [skiing], then I trained mountain bike in April, May, June and July. Now I will get back to muscle training to get that core strength back.”
Mourao, who was born in the mountainous Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, made her Olympic debut in mountain biking at the 2004 Athens Games. She also competed four years later in Beijing — she would also be the first athlete to compete at summer and winter Olympics in the same city in February — before stepping away from the sport for a decade. During that time, the woman from a sun-kissed, warm-weather nation lost her heart in the snow.
Despite picking up skiing at 29 years old, Mourao fell in love with everything so many of her compatriots disdain. That allowed her to take advantage of the fact few Brazilians participate in winter sports and qualified for the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. She was back four years later in Vancouver, added shooting to her repertoire and qualified for the cross country race and biathlon in Sochi, then was back to just skiing for the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang.
She’s not the only Brazilian to compete in her seventh Olympics this year. Soccer player Formiga, equestrian Rodrigo Pessoa and sailor Robert Scheidt also reached that benchmark in Tokyo. None of them is planning to compete six months later in Beijing, though.
“I came back to mountain bike much stronger after having lived as a cross-country skier,” said Mourao, who did not compete in the Olympics in her home nation in 2016. She was still focused entirely on skiing at the time. “It helps me a lot because it gives me much more joy to go biking. Before, I was on the bike for 12 months a year. Now, I ski in the winter and come back to mountain bike with a lot more joy. So it’s good mentally, too.”
Equestrian Ian Miller of Canada set the record with 10 Olympic appearances in 2012. Hubert Raudaschl of Austria took part in nine Summer Games in sailing and Afanasijs Kuzmins of the Soviet Union and Latvia the same in sailing.
“I’m enjoying every moment because I know that these will be my last Olympic Games in mountain bike,” said Mourao, who has two children cheering back home. “I’m feeling happy and accomplished. I was away from mountain bike for 10 years, between 2008 and 2018. When I decided to come back I became Brazilian champion, I won a medal at the Pan American Games — and now, the icing on the cake, ending my career with the Olympics.”
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It feels like it’s been at least 12 hours since someone wrote an extremely pessimistic USWNT update, so here’s another:
Perfection has long been the standard for the United States women’s soccer team, a burden embraced through the years. By that measure, the Americans were a shadow of themselves through the group stage of the Tokyo Olympics, losing their opener 3-0 to Sweden, and playing Australia to a dull, scoreless draw on Tuesday to advance to the knockout stage.
A cliché more grounded in realism, however, is one which US players have recited at past major tournaments: the group stage is just about getting through, and the ‘second’ tournament begins in the knockouts. The Americans are at phase two now, as they always are, but their gold-medal aspirations look far less certain than they did a week ago.
Most concerning for the US will not be the results, but the inconsistency in performances and the deviation from the core identity of a team which has won back-to-back World Cups.
Much more here:
Martin Belam’s daily Olympic briefing is here! You can get it by clicking on the link below, and you can get it every single day, gift-wrapped, tied in a bow and delivered straight to your inbox, by popping your email address in this box:
An email! “Has this been the greatest Olympics of all time so far?” asks Kurt Perleberg. Not from where I’m sitting Kurt. I think in the main it’s been an entirely average Olympics (which is to say, in a purely sporting sense, amazing). But it would have been better had it been held when the weather is less oppressive, and the absence of supporters, understandable as it is in the circumstances, has made a significant difference.
Important Tom Daley crocheting update: the diving ace has only gone and knocked up a medal-protecting thingamy:
Every gold medal decided today: part two
This exhaustive and in many ways ill-conceived series reaches its conclusion below. Enjoy!
Shooting - mixed team air pistol
Pang Wei and Jiang Ranxin defeated Russians Artem Chernousov and Vitalina Batsarashkina to earn gold in 10-meter air pistol mixed team. Pang and Jiang won the gold medal match 16 rounds to 14, each earning their second medal of the Tokyo Olympics after winning bronze in their individual 10m air pistol events. China has won seven medals in eight shooting events, including two golds. Ukrainians Oleh Omelchuk and Olena Kostevych beat Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec in the bronze medal match.
Shooting - mixed team 10m air rifle
Yang Haoran and Yang Qian beat 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.
Men’s surfing
Brazilian surfer Italo Ferreira won gold against Kanoa Igarashi of Japan, despite crashing off an air to land on a broken board. 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.
Women’s surfing
American Carissa Moore won gold in women’s surfing. She 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.
Swimming
Men’s 200m freestyle: Tom Dean captured the gold in 1 minute, 44.22 seconds, while teammate Duncan Scott picked up the silver in 1:44.26. The bronze went to Brazil’s Fernando Scheffer at 1:44.66.
Women’s 100m backstroke: Kaylee McKeown gave the Australian women another swimming gold medal. McKeown backed up her status as the world record-holder in the women’s 100-meter backstroke with a winning time of 57.47 seconds. That’s just off the mark she set this year of 57.45. The silver went to Canada’s Kylie Masse in 57.72, while former world record-holder Regan Smith of the United States settled for the bronze at 58.05.
Men’s 100m backstroke: Russian athletes swept the top two spots in the 100-meter backstroke, with Evgeny Rylov claiming the gold medal in 51.98 seconds and teammate Kliment Kolesnikov taking the silver in 52.00. The defending Olympic champion, American Ryan Murphy, settled for the bronze in 52.19. It was the first backstroke defeat for the US men at the Olympics since the 1992 Barcelona Games. They won 12 straight golds at the last six Olympics, including Murphy’s sweep of the 100- and 200-meter backstroke at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But the streak finally ended at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Women’s 100 breaststroke: Seventeen-year-old US high schooler Lydia Jacoby won gold, holding off teammate and defending Olympic champion Lilly King. Jacoby was the first swimmer from Alaska ever to make the US Olympic swimming team. Now, she’s heading back to Anchorage with a gold medal. South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker claimed the silver in 1:05.22, while King gave the Americans another medal by taking the bronze in 1:05.54.
Softball
Japan won its second straight Olympic softball gold medal, beating the United States 2-0 in an emotional repeat of their 2008 victory in Beijing that again left the Americans in tears. Yukiko Ueno took a one-hitter into the sixth inning five days after her 39th birthday. Japan snuffed out an American rally attempt with an acrobatic double play in the sixth inning that will long be replayed. Before 34,046 mostly empty seats in Yokohama Stadium the US offense sputtered as it did throughout the Olympics, totalling just nine runs. Earlier in the day, Canada beat Mexico 3-2 for softball bronze.
Taekwondo
Women’s -67kg: Milica Mandi of Serbia won her second gold medal in women’s 67-kilogram heavyweight taekwondo, beating Lee Dabin of South Korea 10-7 with a last-minute rally. Mandi also won Olympic gold in London but was eliminated in the quarterfinals in Rio de Janeiro. The fighters were tied 6-6 in a tactical bout with 35 seconds left but Mandi took the lead with a body punch and went up 9-6 on a body kick with 12 seconds left. She hung on to become Serbia’s second woman to win two taekwondo medals. Tijana Bogdanovic won silver in Rio and bronze earlier in Tokyo.
Althea Laurin of France and Bianca Walkden of Britain claimed bronze.
Men’s -80kg: Russian athlete Vladislav Larin won the gold medal in men’s 80-kilogram taekwondo with a 15-9 victory over Dejan Georgievski of North Macedonia in the final.
The top-seeded Larin maintained a lead throughout the second half to earn his first Olympic medal in the final bout of the four-day taekwondo tournament. The 22-year-old Georgievski fell short of gold but still earned North Macedonia’s second-ever Olympic medal and its first silver. Magomed Ibragimov’s bronze medal in wrestling from the 2000 Sydney Games was the only previous Olympic medal for the country that began competition in 1996. Rafael Alba Castillo of Cuba and In Kyo-don of South Korea won bronze.
Women’s triathlon
Flora Duffy won the Olympic women’s triathlon, earning Bermuda’s first Olympic gold medal and its first medal of any kind since 1976. Duffy is a two-time former world triathlon series champion. She was competing in her fourth Olympics and is one of just two athletes representing Bermuda in Tokyo. The start of the race was delayed 15 minutes because of storm conditions around Tokyo Bay. Duffy pumped her arms over her head as she finished the swimming, cycling and running course in 1 hour, 55:36 minutes. Great Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown won the silver medal and American Katie Zaferes won bronze.
Weightlifting
Women’s -59kg: Kuo Hsing-Chun won Taiwan’s first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a dominant performance in the women’s 59-kilogram weightlifting category. 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. Japan took its first weightlifting medal of the Tokyo Olympics as Mikiko Andoh lifted a total 214kg for bronze.
Women’s -64kg: Maude Charron of Canada lifted a total 236kg in the snatch and clean and jerk to beat Giorgia Bordignon of Italy by 4kg and win gold. Chen Wen-Huei earned Taiwan’s second weightlifting medal of the day with 230kg for bronze. The competition was left wide open without world record holder Deng Wei of China and the usually strong North Korean team. Charron’s winning total was the same as Taiwanese lifter Kuo Hsing-Chun, one weight class lower.
Every gold medal decided today
Over the next two posts I’ll tell you about every single gold medal decided today. I would have done it in just one post, but it was taking so long I was worried some of you might think I’d fallen asleep. Anyway, let’s get going...
Women’s kayak
Germany’s Ricarda Funk has won a surprise gold medal after the heavy favourite 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 with a time of 105.50 sec on a clean run. Then she had to wait for Fox, who came to the Olympics as favourite 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 two-second penalty. She was still ripping through the course and her splits were ahead of Funk until she again touched gate No24 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.
Women’s cross country mountain bike
Jolanda Neff won the women’s mountain bike race, leading a Swiss sweep of the medals 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.
Women’s synchronised 10m platform diving
Chen Yuxi and Zhang Jiaqi won the women’s 10-meter synchronized platform, giving China its second diving gold of the Tokyo Games. Chen and Zhang totaled 363.78 points over five rounds on Tuesday, receiving 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 with a total of 310.80. Gabriela Agundez Garcia and Alejandra Orozco Loza of Mexico earned bronze with 299.70.
Dressage
The German dressage team won its ninth dressage gold medal in the past 10 Olympics by beating the United States and Britain for the second straight time. Isabell Werth earned her seventh gold and equestrian-record 11th medal overall and had the second-best individual score in the competition, behind her teammate Jessica von Bredow-Werndl. Dorothee Schneider of Germany also rode well three months after a horse she was riding collapsed and died, leaving her with a broken collarbone. The Germans have 13 Olympic titles in team dressage since the event was introduced at the 1928 Amsterdam Games and have won medals in 16 straight Olympic team competitions. The United States edged Britain for silver five years after finishing third behind the Brits.
Fencing - women’s team épée
Estonia won its first Olympic gold medal in 13 years after Katrina Lehis sealed a tense 36-32 victory over South Korea in the final of women’s team épée fencing. Individual bronze medalist Lehis was up against No2-ranked Choi Injeong in the last bout with scores tied and won 10-6 to take the gold. The last time Estonia won an Olympic event was in 2008 when Gerd Kanter took the men’s discus. Italy beat China 23-21 to win the bronze.
Women’s team gymnastics
Angelina Melnikova, a celebrated gymnast from Russia, was gliding around the parallel bars when breaking news started rocketing around the world: her competitor, American superstar Simone Biles, was scratched from the competition. Melnikova stuck the landing. She clenched her fists near her heart. They weren’t yet halfway through one of the most anticipated events of the Olympic Games, and the result had become a near certainty: the team from Russia would soon dethrone the Americans, who just days before seemed unbeatable. In the end, they beat the Americans by 3.5 points, a significant margin in the sport. Their performance wasn’t perfect: two of them, back to back, fell off the balance beam. But they recovered and became the first team in 11 years to beat the Americans in any event.
Women’s -63kg judo
France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou 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 of 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.
Men’s -81kg judo
Takanori Nagase 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 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. Belgium’s Matthias Casse and Austria’s Shamil Borchasvili claimed bronze medals.
Tumaini Curayol has updated his story on the women’s team gymnastics after Simone Biles’ press conference:
Simone Biles was forced to withdraw from the women’s team final at the Tokyo Games on Tuesday, citing mental health concerns after struggling on her opening vault.
The four-times Olympic champion’s withdrawal leaves questions over whether she will be able to compete – and do so at a high level – for the remainder of the competition. When asked by reporters later what her goal was for these Games, Biles replied: “To focus on my wellbeing. You know there’s more to life than just gymnastics.”
Much more here:
There is only one event still ongoing: the women’s volleyball match between Kenya and South Korea, which Korea are currently leading 25-14, 16-12, so a set to the good and ahead in the second.
After Brazil beat Zambia 1-0 in the final match of the women’s football group stage, we now know the make-up of the quarter-finals, which will all be played on Friday. And it’ll look like this:
Kashima: Great Britain v Australia
Saitama: Sweden v Japan
Yokohama: Netherlands v USA
Rifu: Canada v Brazil
The winners of the first two games will meet in the semi-finals in Yokohama. The other two winners will play in Kashima, with both semi-finals scheduled for Monday. The men’s group stage concludes tomorrow.
Here’s a report on the dressage, in which Charlotte Dujardin became Britain’s most decorated female Olympian (a title she won’t keep for long, if Laura Kenny’s got anything to do with it):
Simone Biles has spoken to the assembled hordes of the media. I’ll post her quotes in full when I get them but Sean Ingle, our man on the scene, sends a snippet:
Even though it’s so big, it’s the Olympic games. But at the end of the day it’s like we want to walk out of here, not be dragged out here on a stretcher. I just don’t trust myself as much as I used to. And I don’t know if it’s age - I’m a little bit more nervous when I do gymnastics. I feel like I’m also not having as much fun and I know that.
Simone Biles: "I have to focus on my mental health"
Simone Biles has revealed that she has no physical injury, “just a little injury to my pride”. She’s due to compete again on Thursday, but she says “we’re going to take it a day at a time and see what happens”. “I have to focus on my mental health,” she says. “We have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do.”
The emotional reaction to victory of the day surely belongs to France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou, the five-time world champion and 2016 silver-medalist, whose victory in the women’s -63kg judo was not exactly unexpected:
Here’s how her employers, the French police force, reacted to the medal:
#Tokyo2020 🇯🇵
— Gendarmerie nationale (@Gendarmerie) July 27, 2021
✨Et c'est l'oooooooooooor !!! ✨
Félicitations à @Gnougnou25 pour sa magnifique médaille d'or en #Judo 🇫🇷🥇
La #gendarmerienationale est fière de l'adjudante #Agbegnenou 👮♂️👮♀️👍#JeuxOlympiques #equipedefrance #JOTokyo pic.twitter.com/OPB55TRruI
And here’s an interview (in French) with Agbegnenou’s mother, Pauline. Highlight: “I don’t know the first thing about Judo. Every time I see her on the floor I don’t know if she’s won or she’s lost.”:
🗣️💬 "Je lui tire mon chapeau. Clarisse écoute ses parents même si elle à 28 ans ! Elle écoute les conseils et les mets en œuvre. Je n'ai pas de mots : félicitations, c'est wahouuu !"
— RMC Sport (@RMCsport) July 27, 2021
La mère de Clarisse Agbégnénou félicite sa fille en direct sur RMC. #rmclive pic.twitter.com/DLYhjszHNp
Reuters have filed a one-sentence quote from Simone Biles, explaining her mid-tournament withdrawal from the US gymnastics team: “After the performance I did I just didn’t want to go on.”
Two very different reactions to the same colour medal. In the gymnastics, Britain got a an unexpected team bronze:
Absolutely ❤ this https://t.co/1Blwgedmjf #bbcolympics #tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/Xa18TiE1Uf
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2021
Meanwhile another Briton, Bianca Walkden, won a second successive Olympic bronze in the taekwondo, having led South Korea’s Dabin Lee by two points with one second remaining only for her opponent to produce an on-the-button three-point head kick. This is what she said afterwards:
I’m glad I came away with an Olympic medal but it was not the colour I trained for or expected. I feel a little bit dead inside and it’s killing me. It’s a medal, just not the colour I wanted. I might paint over it when I get it home, no-one has to know. I didn’t want to run around with the flag afterwards but I wanted to say ‘thank you’ to coach, the physio and all the people involved. It was really hard to do but it was for my friends and all my family. Deep down I was dying to cry.
Bit late to this, but the first of these images in particular is just great:
感染対策して観戦
— Tatsuya Tanaka 田中達也 (@tanaka_tatsuya) July 22, 2021
#Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/gp4JyoiVHz
Hello world! Lots of sport ongoing but no more medals will be won today, which makes it a particularly good time to peruse the medal table. Germany are the day’s big movers, as golds for the dressage team and for Ricarda Funk in the women’s canoe slalom have vaulted them into the top 10 at the expense of Kosovo.
I’m off to crack open a bottle of something special to celebrate that dressage medal.*
I shall hand you over to Simon Burnton. Bye for now.
*I’m not
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Updated
Dressage: Team GB win grand prix special mixed bronze!
It’s raining bronze for Great Britain right now. Germany win gold, as they always do, and the USA claim silver, with Great Britain third on the podium.
Final podium:
1) Germany 8178.0
2) USA 7747.0
3) Great Britain 7723.0
Updated
Men’s rugby sevens: Team GB, remarkably, recovered from 21-0 down against the USA to win 26-21 and set up a semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday.
As if that wasn’t enough drama for one day, Argentina then managed - somehow - to defeat South Africa despite having a man sent off in the first half. They were also down to five men at the end due to a late yellow card. I strongly recommend you seek out the highlights of that one, because Marcos Moneta scored a couple of astonishing tries for Argentina. They will play Fiji in the last four, who knocked out Australia.
Updated
Japan have retained their softball gold medal! USA take silver, Canada win bronze.
Live reaction here:
Team GB win bronze in the women's team gymnastics!
ROC win the gold, USA silver, GB bronze. Well done indeed.
Tears and hugs among the Russian Olympic Committee gymnasts - along with loud applause from the Russian press pack behind me - after it's confirmed that ROC win women's team gymnastics gold with 168.528 points. US second on 166.096. And GB take a shock bronze with 164.096.
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) July 27, 2021
“Great Britain reaches the podium for the first time since 1928, the first time women competed in gymnastics at the Olympics,” reports Bryan Armen Graham. “They become the first country besides the United States, Romania, China or the Soviet Union/Unified Team/Russia/ROC to reach the podium in this event since East Germany at Seoul 1988.”
Updated
A huge wrench for many athletes competing in the Tokyo Olympics is that, because of Covid restrictions, they are unable to have their friends and family cheering them on from the stands. Fortunately, in a connected social media world, they are able to see how much they are being supported from afar.
GB women's footballers top Group E!
Late drama and it’s good news for GB: Caroline Weir’s deflected goal with five minutes to go pegs back Canada, and the match finishes 1-1! Hege Riise’s side thus finish top of their qualifying group.
Updated
Men’s tennis: Liam Broady, the last Team GB singles player standing, pulled off the biggest win of his career by defeating Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, the world No 12, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the third round.
Hurkacz, of course, was the man who destroyed Roger Federer in straight sets at Wimbledon earlier this month. What a win for Broady.
Cycling: Switzerland’s Jolanda Neff is struggling to believe she won gold in the women’s mountain bike race earlier today. But she did.
Please tell me this is real!!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥇 pic.twitter.com/wXlZDNldlz
— Jolanda Neff (@jolandaneff) July 27, 2021
Updated
From Bryan Armen Graham, who is at the women’s team all-around final:
“Disaster for the US as Jordan Chiles goes out of bounds on a full-twisting double layout, then sits the double full-and-full on her second tumbling pass. The ROC now have a clear path to their first gold since the Unified Team at Barcelona 1992. Meanwhile, a couple of huge scores on the uneven bars from Jennifer Gadirova (13.566) and Alice Kinsella (14.166!) have pulled Great Britain very much within striking distance of the bronze.”
Follow it here!
Men’s judo: Japan’s Takanori Nagase won the men’s -81kg judo gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics by beating Saeid Mollaei of Mongolia in the final, extending the gold rush by Japanese judokas. The Rio bronze medallist Nagase’s victory marked a fifth judo gold medal for hosts Japan at the Games, edging them closer to their previous Olympic record of eight titles in 2004 in Athens.
When the judge confirmed his win, Nagase burst into tears. “That was the moment when my goal of winning Olympic gold was met, so I couldn’t help but shed tears,” Nagase said. (Reuters)
Dressage Grand Prix Special Mixed: This Danish horse can really dance, there is no question about that. “Lovely cadence,” says the Eurosport commentator, and who am I to disagree?
Updated
Women’s football: Seven minutes left for Hege Riise’s Team GB women to find an equaliser against Canada. They trail 1-0, and as it stands, Canada will top the group with GB second.
Men’s taekwondo: Rafael Yunier Alba Castillo, of Cuba, wins men’s +80kg bronze. You needed to know that, I assure you.
Dressage Grand Prix Special Mixed: I’m trying to work out what’s going on. I can tell you that the Netherlands are clubhouse leaders, but here come Denmark, who are expected to give the Dutch a run for their money. Feel free to email me me with your insights.
Updated
Softball: Japan lead USA 2-0 in the gold medal match. Follow it live, right here, with Hunter Felt:
Women’s football: Team GB’s Caroline Weir crashes a cross-shot, from a tight angle, off the crossbar and then the post! So close.
As it stands, Canada will win the group, with Team GB second.
Updated
Women’s artistic gymnastics: Simone Biles, as Barry mentioned, has pulled out of the team final competition.
Bryan Armen Graham has all the details here.
Official statement: "Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions."
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) July 27, 2021
Thinking of you, Simone! pic.twitter.com/QA1GYHwWTv
Updated
Women’s football: Canada lead Team GB by a goal to nil with just under 30 minutes remaining in their Group E encounter. Kim Little, the Arsenal captain, and Ellen White have just been introduced to the action.
Adriana Leon got the goal just a few minutes ago, with 55 mins on the clock.
55' GOAL! Adriana Leon with a well placed shot in the top corner from a cut back pass from Ashley Lawrence! #CANWNT 🇨🇦1:0🇬🇧 GBR#RiseHigher #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/dRHLxcDz5n
— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) July 27, 2021
Updated
Bianca Walkden wins taekwondo bronze for Great Britain!
She’s got it! Walkden lands a strong kick in the final round, to double her lead from 5-3 to 7-3, and she sees out the win! Kowalczuk is in tears, she is distraught, which is sad to see. A jubilant Walkden is joined on the mat by her coach, and they stand arm in arm and salute the handful of clapping team members in the stand.
Updated
Walkden stays in the lead, but by the barest of margins - the Liverpool fighter leads 4-3 after the second round. She will need to land a few telling blows in the third round if she is going to win this.
Walkden leads Poland’s Aleksandra Kowalczuk 4-2 after the first round. She fought smartly there and accrued single points with some big punches. Walkden’s coach tells her not to let her Polish opponent gather any momentum. It was job done for the Liverpool fighter in the first round, as far as that’s concerned.
Updated
Walkden lands a couple of very solid punches, and leads 2-0 in the first.
Grazie mille, Barry. Hello everyone. GB’s Bianca Walkden is now on the taekwondo mat for her bronze medal match.
Updated
Sayōnara from me. Luke McLaughlin is taking over.
Gymnastics: Bryan Armen Graham has reported that NBC have reported that Simone Biles’s coach has said the American did not withdraw from the women’s team event because of physical injury, but due to her mental health. We wish her well.
Taekwondo: Following her absolutely devastating defeat (final kick, in final second of final round) in the women’s +65kg semi-final, Bianca Walkden will fight for bronze in a little over 15 minutes at 1pm (BST).
Simone Biles has pulled out of the competition!!
Women’s team gymnastics. Sensational news from the Gymnastics Arena, where the best gymnast on the planet has withdrawn from the competition, presumably through injury. Oh no!
A quick recap of the day's highlights ...
- Swimming: Tom Dean wins the 200m freestyle in a Team GB one-two.
- Tennis: Naomi Osaka is knocked out of the women’s singles by Marketa Vondrousova.
- Women’s triathlon: Bermuda’s Flora Duffy wins ahead of Great Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown.
- Women’s taekwondo: Team GB’s Bianca Walkden suffers last-second semi-final heartbreak.
- Men’s rugby sevens: Great Britain overturn 21-point half-time deficit to beat USA in quarter-finals. Six-man Argentina stun South Africa in thriller.
- Surfing: Brazil’s Italo Ferreira wins gold in men’s shortboard final.
- Equestrianism: Gold looks beyond Team GB in team dressage final with one round to go.
- Gymnastics: Team USA in trouble in early stages of women’s team final.
Updated
Simone Biles is back after leaving for a few minutes with a coach. pic.twitter.com/1mQhIg8zvW
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) July 27, 2021
Women’s team gymnastics: Having posted a very low score on the vault, Simone Biles has left the floor and her American teammantes appear to be heading on to the uneven bars without her! What the diddly is going on?
Women’s team gymnastics: The Americans have vaulted their way into a spot of bother! “A bit of a rocky start for Team USA on the vault,” writes Bryan Armen Graham. “After Biles balked an Amanar during warm-ups, Grace McCallum starts things off for the US with a double twisting Yurchenko only to step forward and out of bounds on the landing (14.3). That’s a touch behind Angelina Melnikova’s DTY that opened the competition (14.6). Jordan Chiles, who struggled mightily during Sunday’s qualifying, comes out firing with a big, clean DTY (14.6), the highest score so far.
“Now it’s Simone time ... and uh-oh. Biles was meant to do an Amanar but instead did a Yurchenko one-and-a-half, nearly falling forward on the deep landing. The score is 13.766 and the US are officially in trouble.”
Women’s football: Team GB are already through to the knockout stages but play Canada in their final group game to see if they’ll go through as group winners or runners-up. Canada need a point to guarantee their progress to the knockout stages but could go through as one of the best third-placed teams in the event of defeat. After 12 minutes of the first half, it’s scoreless between the sides.
Women’s team gymnastics final: There’s all sorts going on in the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, where the women’s team final is currently the hottest ticket in Tokyo. Well, it certainly would be if tickets had been sold but sadly they weren’t. Bryan Armen Graham is there making sense of it all for Guardian readers ...
Equestrianism: The “vibe” coming from the Equestrian Centre is that the best Team GB can hope for in the Team Dressage is a silver medal, unless Charlotte Dujardin and Gio can pull something truly remarkable out of the fire. Germany seem to be bossing proceedings.
Swimming: Thomas Ceccon from Italy has qualified fastest for the semi-finals of the men’s 100m freestyle in the first event in a night of heats at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. American Caeleb Dressel qualified second, only two one-hundredths of a second off Ceccon. Defending champion Kyle Chalmers, from Australia, looked assured to qualify third fastest. Plenty more heat action tonight, including the first look at the men’s 800m freestyle, which is making its return to the Olympics after more than a century. The last time the event was included, it was the 880 yards. Australia’s Jack McLoughlin is among the favourites - who almost quit the sport last year to become an engineer.
An early take from our dressage correspondent: It seems Lottie Fry and Everdale have let the side down ...
A shattering round so far. The wheels have come off here
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) July 27, 2021
Already talk in the press seats of a root and branch review of British dressage. Should we copy the German model?
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) July 27, 2021
Equestrianism: While business in other arenas that are more my field of expertise (a term I use very, very advisedly) has precluded me from giving it much of a mention so far, the team dressage is on today and features eight teams made up of three riders and horses - a toal of 24 routines. Team GB won gold in London 2012 and silver in Rio. This year they’re represented by Carl Hester who rides En Vogue, Charlotte Fry on Everdale and Charlotte Dujardin on her new mount Gio. Hester was first up for Team GB, who were second in the standings after his round. Charlotte Fry and Everdale are due out any minute now.
Updated
One of the stories of the Games!
— Jason Mohammad (@jasonmohammad) July 27, 2021
Sensational! #RSAARG #bbcolympics #Rugby7s pic.twitter.com/GxWp9EcoRm
Men’s rugby sevens: Defending champions Fiji have beaten Australia 19-0 to advance to the semi-finals. They’ll play Argentina in the final four, while Team GB will face New Zealand. Those semi-finals will take place in the early hours, at around 3am UK time.
Women’s gymnastics: Bryan Armen Graham has one of the best seats in the house for an event that’s always a Games highlight - the women’s team all around, starring the peerless individual superstar that is Simone Biles.
Pure Argentinian passion! 🇦🇷
— Cian Tracey (@CianTracey1) July 27, 2021
Gaston Revol in floods of tears at the full-time whistle having been sent off in the first-half.
Emotional scenes all round. #Olympics pic.twitter.com/tsoNnG4Yss
Get in touch! We’d like to hear from you. No, really. So get writing!
Women’s football: It’s finished USA 0-0 Australia and New Zealand 0-2 Sweden in the final Group G games. Sweden and the USA advance automatically but the Aussies have almost certainly done enough to go through with them.
Men’s rugby sevens: Australia v Fiji kick off in the last of the quarter-finals. They’ll do well to top the previous game in terms of entertainment but I wouldn’t rule it out.
Six-man Argentina win!!!
Men’s rugby sevens: Despite losing one man to an early red card, another to a serious knee injury and a third to a late yellow card, Argentina finish the game with five men on the pitch but somehow hang on to beat South Africa and advance to the semi-final. What a game!!! That is an astonishing win!!!
Men’s rugby sevens: There’s another Argentinian in tears, as one of their number limps off with what looks like a bad knee injury. Despite having been down to six men since early in the first half, his teammates bounce back to pull further clear of South Africa. They lead 19-7 with just 30 seconds to go.
Oh no! Argentina concede a converted penalty try and have a man sin-binned. They’re down to five men but lead by five points in the knockings.
Men’s tennis: Team GB’s Liam Broady has advanced to the third round of the men’s singles, seeing off Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Men’s boxing: Great Britain’s Cheavon Clarke has been eliminated by Brazil’s Abner Teixeira, who will go through to the quarter-final of the men’s heavyweight division.
Men’s rugby sevens: Six-man Argentina take the lead on the stroke of half-time!!!
Men’s rugby sevens: As Gaston Revol openly weeps in the dug-out following his entirely justified dismissal, his side restore parity. Interesting.
Updated
Men’s rugby sevens: Team GB will play New Zealand in their semi-final at 3am (BST), while South Africa currently lead Argentina 7-0 after four minutes. The Argentinians have just had Gaston Revol sent off for a dangerous high tackle, so that one suspects is very much that for them.
Updated
Team GB come back to win in sevens!
Men’s rugby sevens: Team GB overturn a 21-point half-time deficit to beat the USA and advance to the semi-finals on the back of a tremendous second-half performance. They rode their luck at times and benefitted from some questionable refereeing decisions but they’ll take it. They’ll face New Zealand next.
Updated
Men’s rugby sevens: We’re into the final 27 seconds, which on the face of it is not such a long time in rugby sevens. Team USA trail by five points and Team GB have just called a scrum just outside their own 22.
Men’s rugby sevens: Alex Davies scores under the posts for Team GB, who convert his try to go level at 21-21 with just over three minutes left. Also a lifetime in sevens rugby. And what’s this? Team GB pull clear with another try from Dan Norton. He fails to convert, so it’s Team GB 26-21 USA.
Men’s rugby sevens: Team USA have a man sin-binned and Team GB immediately capitalise. It’s 21-14 to the Americans with five minutes to go - a lifetime in sevens rugby. Tom Mitchell is about to come back on too.
Men’s rugby sevens: The loss of their talismanic skipper Tom Mitchell has hit Team GB hard. They trail the USA 21-7 at half-time.
Men’s rugby sevens: New Zealand have just beaten Canada 21-10 in the first quarter-final of the rugby sevens and now the game between Team GB and the USA has kicked off and moments after the game begins British captain Tom Mitchell is forced off with injury after shipping a bruising tackle.
Updated
Men’s surfing: After winning the first ever Olympic medal awarded in the history of surfing, Australia’s Owen Wright said he felt like he was “walking on a cloud”. Five and a half years ago, he couldn’t even walk, writes Kieran Pender. Read on ...
Women’s football: It’s half-time in the women’s group game between Australia and the USA and the deadlock remains unbroken. In Group G’s other match, Sweden lead New Zealand 2-0 at the break. Emma Kemp has the latest from the Ibaraki Kashima Stadium.
Sailing: A tip of the hat to Irish sailors Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove, who kicked off their Olympic debut in the 49er class by winning their opening race this morning. Hailing, as I do, from the landlocked county of Offaly, I didn’t even know Ireland had a sailing team.
Our man at the dressage: Despite his regular ruminations on football, cricket and the general state of the sporting landscape, the spiritual home of Guardian chief sports correspondent has always been the dressage arena. Barney Ronay is at Tokyo’s Equestrian Park today and has sent some heartfelt dispatches from the front line.
Spain off first in the team dressage. Those who remember their wild, rabble-rousing display in Rio will be wary. Dressage doesn't need a repeat of those scenes
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) July 27, 2021
As a reminder - as if anyone needed one - the routine ended with a flamenco-style flourish, leading to controversy in the judging booth and unrest in the stands between Spanish and German dressage "ultras". Mercifully it was contained.
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) July 27, 2021
Swedish rider leaves the arena in tears after a disastrous round. Dressage is a cruel mistress
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) July 27, 2021
Updated
Men’s rugby sevens: Having won their opening two pool games without conceding a try, Team GB had their pants pulled down by reigning Olympic champions Fiji, who hammered them in diabolical conditions at the Tokyo Stadium. The Brits go through to the quarter-finals anyway, where they’ll face the USA at 10am (BST)|. First up, it’s New Zealand v Canada.
Women’s taekwondo: I can’t imagine how she must be feeling but I still can’t get over that last-second Bianca Walkden semi-final defeat. She needs to regroup and get her head back in the game for her bronze-medal match at 1pm. Good luck to her.
Women’s K1 canoeing: Australia’s Jess Fox has won just about all there is to win in the slalom. She has claimed 10 world titles during her career, plus 13 junior/youth/U23 world championship titles. But she has never won Olympic gold.
In London Fox - the daughter of two Olympians - won silver. In Rio it was bronze. This afternoon, in Tokyo, it was to be bronze again. The third-placing today in the K1 category will be devastating for the 27-year-old. Having qualified fastest for the semi-finals, and then fastest for the finals, she was the paddler to beat. But - impeded by time penalties - beaten she was, by Ricarda Funk. Gold in the K1 will have to wait until Paris.
Fortunately for Fox, she will have another opportunity in Tokyo, too. The paddler was part of a group pushing for gender equity in their sport; they have secured the addition of the women’s C1 event at Tokyo 2020 for the first-time. The C1 will be held on the same course, albeit in a different type of boat (a canoe, rather than a kayak - hence C1).
Tom Dean: The 21-year-old from Maidenhead won gold for Great Britain in the men’s 200m freestyle some hours ago. His mother invited what looks like several hundred of her closest friends around to the family homestead to watch him triumph on a big screen in her back garden. Here’s how they watched the closing stages of the race unfold ...
THIS is what the @Olympics means!! Friends & family of @ClubMaidenhead swimmer @tomdean00 cheer the new 200m Freestyle #Olympics CHAMPION home! GOLD!!! GOLD!! GOLD!!! #Tokyo2020 @BBCSport #Swimming @BBCSouthNews pic.twitter.com/wBtpR7Yba1
— Lewis Coombes (@LewisCoombes) July 27, 2021
"Tropical Storm you say dude? Bring it on!" - Gold Medal winner Italo Ferreira from Brazil pic.twitter.com/WF90Jt9YsY
— Emmet Riordan (@emmetrd) July 27, 2021
Women’s football: Australia are about to take on Team USA in the final group game in what is a fairly must-win game for Sam Kerr and her fellow Matildas. They’re up against it and Emma Kemp has the latest ...
Women’s K1 canoeing: Fox has to settle for bronze. Ricarda Funk wins the gold for Germany while Maialen Chourraut takes silver for Spain. Team GB’s Kimberley Woods finished last of the 10 finalists.
Updated
Women’s K1 canoeing: Fox incurs a two-second penalty early doors. Ricarda Funk currently leads and looks good for the gold after another mistake by Fox.
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Women’s K1 canoeing : Australia’s Jess Fox is currently contesting the final and is at the top of the course. She needs to complete the course in 105 seconds or fewer to win gold to add to the silve and bronze she’s already trousered at Rio and London. Here we go ...
Surfing: The waves rolled into Tsurigasaki Beach and the curtain came down on a high-flying Games debut for surfing as Brazil’s Italo Ferreira claimed the sport’s first ever Olympic gold medal.
The spectacular Ferreira, who headed to Tokyo sandwiched between compatriots Gabriel Medina and Filipe Toledo in a Brazilian top three on the World Surf League rankings, dashed local hopes in the final with a convincing win over Kanoa Igarashi.
The arrival of wet and windy conditions off the Japanese coast prompted organisers to bring forward the medal rounds by 24 hours to make the most of the bigger, if messy, waves on offer.
And it was Ferreira who coped better with the changeable conditions in the title decider, scoring single wave scores of 7.77 and 7.37 for a combined total of 15.14. A clearly frustrated Igarashi, who was born in Huntingdon Beach in California, failed to catch any meaningful rides and ended with a disappointing total of 6.60.
The scenes of Brazilian jubilation on the beach at the conclusion of the match were in stark contrast to the consternation in Ferreira’s camp when, after just one wave ride of the final, he snapped his board clean in half when attempting an aerial on a huge first wave.
Bianca Buitendag of South Africa and the USA’s Carissa Moore go head-to-head for gold in the women’s final, up next.
Boxing: There was some unpleasantness in the boxing ring at the Kokugikan Arena earlier, when Moroccan heavyweight Youness Baalla had a nibble on the ear of his Kiwi opponent David Nyika in round three. Baalla’s bite went unnoticed by the referee and Nyika avoided injury on his way to a 5-0 win.
Table-tennis: Table tennis player Jian Fang Lay has largely flown under the radar for the last ... three decades, but has marked a milestone at these Games by becoming only the second Australian woman to compete at six Olympic Games alongside equestrian Mary Hanna who, at 66, is the oldest on the team.
Jian moved to Australia from Wenzhou in 1994, retired, then embarked on a second coming that has taken her further than predicted in Tokyo. The 48-year-old mother of two was drafted into the team late because of a withdrawal and had to win a preliminary match just to make the first round.
Then the world No 156 got past Italy’s Debora Vivarelli before upsetting Poland’s world No.35 Qian Li. The curtain came down on Tuesday afternoon, when she was beaten by Germany’s Han Ying.
Bianca Walkden is gutted. The sweat-soaked Liverpudlian looks unbelievably forlorn and can’t believe her rotten luck but needs to put this defeat behind her to focus on her bronze medal match. Hats off to her Korean opponent, however, who won through to the final with an astonishing last-ditch effort.
Bianca Walkden loses in the final second ...
Taekwondo: Disaster for Bianca Walkden, who loses in the final second of the final round. Lee Da-Bin advances to the final by the skin of her teeth with a headshot in the very last second of the third round. “I’m literally lost for words,” says Lutalo Muhammad in the BBC studios. “Lee Da-Bin did the only thing that she could have done to win and she executed it perfectly.”
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Taekwondo: It’s 22-24 to Walkden with 04 seconds to go.
Taekwondo: We’re in the final round of the Walkden v Lee, with the Korean leading 19-14. Walkden needs to be careful, however, she’s racked up seven gam-jeoms (warning points) – another three and she’ll be disqualified. We’ve just had a very long break for a VAR intervention that cost Walkden two points.
Taekwondo: Handsome housewives favourite Lutalo Muhammad is on the BBC offering informed punditry, which can mean only one thing - there’s a Brit trying to kick and punch their way to glory in the taekwondo ring.
Who is it? It’s Bianca Walkden, who is in the middle of her +67kg semi-final against Korea’s Lee Da-Bin. It’s 14-10 to Walkden’s opponent at the moment.
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Kon’nichiwa everybody. If you’re just waking up in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in Europe, well … what time do you call this? The day is nearly over! While you were far away in the Land of Nod, the UK won another three medals in the Land of the Rising Sun and there could be more to come in the next few hours.
Team GB’s Tom Dean and his friend Duncan Scott recorded a one-two in the men’s 200m freestyle final, while Georgia Taylor-Brown survived a puncture in the bike leg of the women’s triathlon to finish second behind Bermuda’s Flora Duffy. The daughter of British parents, Duffy prompted scenes of unbridled jubilation in the island territory by winning their first ever gold medal.
Elsewhere in Tokyo, home favourite Naomi Osaka was knocked out in the third round of the women’s tennis singles, going down in straight sets to the unfancied Czech Marketa Vondrousova. There was better luck for Andy M urray and Joe Salisbury, who have just advanced to the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles. They beat German duo Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in straight sets.
And Irish readers may be interested to learn that Mona McSharry was pleased with her eighth place finish in the women’s 100m breaststroke final, while the Irish rugby sevens side have missed out on a place in the quarter-finals despite beating Kenya. They needed to beat the African side by eight points to earn themselves a crack at the knockout stages but only won 12-7. Ouch.
China win diving gold
Chinese pair Chen Yuxi and Zhang Jiaqi have won the women’s synchronised 10m platform. They are aged 15 and 17 respectively and were about as close to perfection as they might have hoped. An understated bow at the end is all they need to celebrate. The United States team of Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell moved quickly up the field to claim silver thanks to a strong back 2½ somersaults 1½ twist in their final dive. And Mexico’s Gabriela Agundez and Alejandra Orozco claimed bronze. British duo Eden Cheng and Lois Toulson recovered from a shaky start but finished seventh from a field of eight.
And with that, I’m going to hand you over to Barry Glendenning for the next few hours. Ciao for now.
Bianca Walkden is preparing for her taekwondo women’s +67kg semi-final against 2019 world champion South Korean Lee Da-bin. Watch her in action in about 20 minutes.
We’ve had a Mike Tyson moment in the boxing. In the men’s heavyweight round of 16, Moroccan fighter Youness Baalla attempted to bite the ear of New Zealand’s David Nyika. Nyika won via unanimous decision and was comfortable throughout, but the bout was overshadowed by Baalla’s conduct in the final round.
“He didn’t get a full mouthful,” Kyika said afterwards. “Luckily he had his mouthguard in, and I was a bit sweaty. But come on man, this is the Olympics, get your shit together.”
Morocco’s Youness Baalla tried to bite the ear of New Zealand’s David Nyika!!! #Boxing #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/N6LJIqjb6S
— Ben Damon (@ben_damon) July 27, 2021
Meanwhile, the women’s mountain bike cross country has started. Rebecca McConnell is representing Australia, The US have Hayley Batten, Erin Huck and Kate Courtney and Team GB Evie Richards, who is currently in second Switzerland’s Jolanda Neff.
The women's mountain bike race is underway with @bec_mcconnell looking for Australia's first Olympic medal in the sport! 🇦🇺
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) July 27, 2021
Watch LIVE: https://t.co/xTOlJttDXI#Tokyo2020 | #7Olympics pic.twitter.com/qJQagzc3jc
Fox is away in the kayak semi-final and my, those rapids are fast. So far it’s flawless. Many of the field struggled on this course but she is a picture of control. At first split Fox is already ahead of the pack. Same with the second. She finishes in 105.85, 3.33 seconds faster than her nearest competitor, Slovak Eliška Mintálová. The Australian qualifies first for the final. Team GB’s Kimberley Woods is there too, qualifying sixth.
Here’s that celebratory wave.
BRONZE FOR AUSTRALIA! 🥉🥳@RealOwenWright DOES IT, defeating two-time world champion Gabriel Medina in a fantastic Bronze Medal match! 🏄🇦🇺 #7Olympics | #Tokyo2020 | #Surfing pic.twitter.com/Z7LWo7S33x
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) July 27, 2021
Wright is out of the water now and the Australian contingent is at the shore to meet him. There’s a lot of congratulating going on. Now they’re in a huddle, Wright in the middle, for an “Aussie Aussie Aussie” situation.
This is pretty big for Australia. Medina was the form surfer coming into the Olympics.
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Surfing: Australia's Owen Wright wins bronze!
All the Australian had to do was block Medina from the 5.98 score he needs, but the latter looks as if he can’t get back out the back. He’s ducking and diving. There are 30 seconds to go and he’s still paddling. Wright is in chase. He just needs to wait it out. And he jumps on a wave to celebrate!
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Medina is somewhat frantically paddling away from Wright, who can use his priority to defence his score if he stays close. The Brazilian pops up on another wave, gets some serious air and then crashes. The wind might have had something to do with that. 1:40 on the clock.
The surf is soupy and decent waves are tough to come by. But come by one Medina does. It is a genuinely crap wave but he gives it a shot anyway, bounces along and turns it into a score of 6.00. That was class. Medina is still a smidge behind and needs 5.98 with just over three minutes on the clock.
Medina surfs his eighth wave of this match and it’s so-so. Nothing special but did the trick. It’s a 5.77. Wright replies with a more impressive ride. He floats along the top, dips and then rises again, before turning back on himself as the whitewash gets heavy. That was adjudged a 5.47, and I know I’m biased but it looked the better of the two. Wright has the priority now with a tick under eight minutes remaining and he’s still in front with a total 11.97 to Medina’s 11.20.
Medina has the right of way, meaning if both surfers go for the same wave Wright must stand down. The Brazilian double world champion is up and he has to egg himself forward to properly get onto the lip but once he’s there it’s go time, and he finds some nice air before coming unstuck. Wright is sitting on a total of 8.6 and Medina 6.53.
Owen Wright is up and away in his surfing bronze medal match against Gabriel Medina. Medina has been on two waves already for a total score of 1.77, so slow start.
American swim star Lilly King has criticised the media for allegedly distorting her words and said that her Australian rivals, who are currently equal with the United States in the swimming medal tally with three golds each, are “swimming just fine”.
King courted controversy before Tokyo 2020 when she expressed her belief that the American women could win every individual gold medal at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. With five individual medals race for the women held so far, the Australians have secured two golds, while the USA, Canada and Japan have one apiece.
But King dismissed a journalist’s question on Wednesday after she claimed bronze in the women’s 100m breaststroke.
“I feel like that quote has been twisted ... and I’ve commented on that since,” she said. “I said I believed that the Americans could win every single individual gold medal. All I was saying was that I believed in my teams and that I think we have a good shot at swimming well. But that was twisted. The Aussies are swimming just fine.”
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Happens to the best of us.
Just did a cross with @abcnews and referred to Owen Wright as Owen Wilson. Sorry @RealOwenWright - I'm sure you're a wonderful actor, but you're also bloody good at surfing. Good luck today - we're all watching.
— David Mark (@davymark1) July 27, 2021
It’s time to switch to the canoe slalom, where Australian Jess Fox is contesting the women’s kayak semi-finals and then, all going well, the final, as she hunts a full set of Olympic medals having won bronze and silver at past Games. The 27-year-old is 24th on the start order from a field of 24, so we have a little waiting to do before she’s up.
For the uninitiated, in the kayak, or K1, competitors sit in a cockpit and hold one paddle with a blade on each end.
Kiwi doctor Jane Nicholas has just completed her run and cost herself valuable seconds paddling back upstream to get through the gate. She finishes in 144.84, which is the slowest time of the four already done. Switzerland’s Naemi Brändle was quickest so far with 121.91.
Tennis: Naomi Osaka knocked out!
There is some serious giant-killing going on in the women’s tennis singles and the Japanese star is the latest to go after losing in straight sets to Czech third-round opponent Marketa Vondrousova.
Naomi Osaka is OUT of the Olympic games.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) July 27, 2021
Marketa Vondrousova wins 6-1, 6-4.
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The big stories so far today
- Flora Duffy won Bermuda’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in the triathlon
- For the first time since 1908, Great Britain won a swimming gold and silver in the same race thanks to Tom Dean and Duncan Scott in the men’s 200m freestyle
- Alaska’s first Olympic swimmer became its first Olympic champion in Lydia Jacoby’s 100m breaststroke gold
- Kaylee McKeown added to Australia’s gold tally in the pool with a stunning late run in the women’s 100m backstroke
- Australian surfers Sally Fitzgibbons and Owen Wright both fell short of the final but Wright will go for bronze against Brazil’s Gabriel Media
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In the men’s hockey, Germany have just scored a fourth goal against Great Britain to make it 4-1 with about eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter. It’s some turnaround for the Germans, who lost 3-1 to Pool B leaders Belgium yesterday. Barring something incredible from the Brits, this will be their first loss after two early wins against South Africa and Canada.
For the musically inclined, Lydia Jacoby, the unheralded Alaskan 17-year-old who won gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke earlier today, is a singer and plays double bass. Here she is doing both with the Snow River String Band at the 2018 Anchorage Folk Festival.
The only US swimmers younger than Jacoby to win an individual Olympic title in the last 20 years are Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin.
Naomi Osaka in trouble!
Upset alert: Marketa Vondrousova takes the first set 6-1 against Naomi Osaka at the Olympics.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) July 27, 2021
Sally Fitzgibbons has spoken to Seven about her quarter-final loss and says her “heart is shattered” after the most difficult defeat of her career.
“It hurts so bad ... always remember being the first surfing Olympians. Hopefully just goes from strength to strength. Our sport’s here to stay. I am going to work really hard and hopefully see you all in 2024,” she said through tears. I hope all the young groms can pick up a board for the first time, go out there with a smile on their face and ride waves. It brings the most joy in life. Every day it puts a smile on my face.
“Everybody’s going through super tough times. So, love and hope, thanks everyone. Go the Aussies in the rest of Olympics. To my family, I just want to say thank you so much. Thanks for the sacrifices. And thanks for just being in my corner all the way. I surfed every wave out there for you there. Thank you so much.”
"It hurts so bad... my heart is shattered."
— 7Olympics (@7olympics) July 27, 2021
All of Australia loves you, @Sally_Fitz ❤️ pic.twitter.com/hSnPBXtRRg
Ferreira is through. Wright just couldn’t get on a wave at the end there and because the Brazilian had priority he kept edging closer and closer to his opponent as a means of stopping Wright from claiming a wave and therefore defending his lead. That’s all she wrote for the Australians in the surfing. Ferreira will face Japan’s fifth seed Igarashi Kanoa for the gold medal. Wright will face Brazil’s Gabriel Medina for bronze. Action get under way in a little over an hour.
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This will go down to the wire. Wright is on a wave and makes a backhand turn, slides the tail and then throws that tail as he lands. He starts paddling immediately out the back because he is running out of time. Ferreira, meanwhile, just had to wait it out. One minute to go. Needs 6.7.
The Australian cheer squad loved that. They are hollering from their armchairs. It is WINDY out there and the surf a little messy. Wright seems to be eager to complete his waves consistently, while Ferreira is going big every time. Ferreira is back on for his 10th wave, looks to lose control just a little before recovering, to earn a score of 6.67. Wright is now on his sixth wave and scores a 6.47. The Australian is under pressure and needs 6.70 with five minutes to go.
Wright has just made a flat 6.00 via a first snap that set up the second with was a lovely back-hand vertical re-entry. It brings both competitors equal on 11.00 with just under 12 minutes to go.
If Wright wins this, he will contest the final against Kanoa Igarashi after the Japanese saw off Brazilian great Gabriel Medina in a thriller of a semi.
Hello! Let’s jump straight back into the surfing because Owen Wright is midway through his semi-final against Ítalo Ferreira. The Brazilian has just made some serious height but didn’t complete the move. Ferreira’s total is 11.00 and Wright needs 6.01 to take the lead with 18 minutes remaining.
Ok, now the pool’s over I can hand you on to Emma Kemp. Thanks for joining me today, enjoy the rest of the action.
Swimming: Kate Douglass (USA) wins the second semi-final of the women’s 200m IM. It’s a Great Britain 2-3 with Abbie Wood leading in Alicia Wilson.
The times mean Hosszu DOES sneak into the final in seventh place.
Surfing: The first men’s semi-final is absolutely unreal. Second seed Gabriel Medina (BRA) was flying, racking up 16.76 effortlessly. But just now fifth seed Igarashi Kanoa (JAP) found some incredible air to land a 9.33! He now leads with 17.00. Five minutes remaining.
Swimming: Alex Walsh (USA) wins the first women’s 200m IM semi from China’s Yiting Yu and Japan’s Jui Ohashi.
In her fifth Games, the Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu ended fifth and looks unlikely to reach the final.
Swimming: The last event in the pool tonight is the women’s 200m IM semis. In the first heat we have Hungarian legend Katinka Hosszu.
Shooting: 🥇
#CHN wins the inaugural 10m air pistol mixed team Olympic gold!#Shooting @ISSF_Shooting pic.twitter.com/A1eDdTSXZI
— Olympics (@Olympics) July 27, 2021
Silver for ROC, bronze for Ukraine.
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Rugby sevens: The men’s quarter-final line-up is now complete:
- New Zealand v Canada
- Great Britain v USA
- South Africa v Argentina
- Fiji v Australia
Surfing: The men’s semi-finals are underway. First up is Japanese fifth seed Igarashi Kanoa against Brazilian second seed Gabriel Medina.
In around half-an-hour from now it will be top-ranked Brazilian Italo Ferreira against Australian seventh seed Owen Wright.
Swimming: Hungary’s world record holder Kristóf Milák went out hard, kept going hard, and finished hard. He won by miles and will head to the final of the men’s 200m butterfly strong favourite. Leonardo de Deus (BRA) came in second, Federico Burdisso (ITA) third.
Milak’s 1.52.22 was nearly three seconds faster than any other semi-finalist.
Swimming: South Africa’s Chad Le Clos wins the first semi of the men’s 200m butterfly. He led from start to finish, but really tightened up in the final 40m, looking often to his left from lane eight. Tamás Kenderesi (HUN) came second, Honda Tomoru (JPN) third in a race that ended with seven swimmers separated by just 0.91 seconds.
Surfing: Sally Fitzgibbons is out, and Australia’s interest in the women’s surfing ends at the quarterfinal stage. Huge disappointment for Australian surfing with both Fitzgibbons and Stephanie Gilmore considered medal hopes before the Games.
Surfing: Fitzgibbons continues to trail Tsuzuki with just three minutes remaining.
Rugby Sevens: Good news for Australia with confirmation they have reached the quarter-finals as one of the best third-placed nations from the group phase. The bad news is they will face either New Zealand or Fiji at the start of the knockouts.
Surfing: Oh my. Fitzgibbons reclaimed the lead, only for Tsuzuki to snatch it straight back. The Australian is up against it with the Japanese ahead 13.27 v 11.67 with 13 minutes left in the heat.
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Swimming: That’s the last of the medal events in the pool for this session. It was another belter of a morning.
There is only one 50-meter pool in the state of Alaska.
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) July 27, 2021
Lydia Jacoby is the first @usaswimming athlete from Alaska.
Now, she's got a gold medal. #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/vv6eeRMekM
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Surfing: While that was going on, Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons was overtaken in the fourth quarterfinal by Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki. It’s currently 10.77 v 10.17 with 15 minutes of the heat remaining.
Gold! Women's 100m breaststroke - Lydia Jacoby (USA)
17-year-old Lydia Jacoby takes gold! The first Alaskan swimmer to win gold! Jacoby was in the mix throughout, alongside South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker (silver) and Team USA’s Lilly King (bronze).
Swimming: Andy Bull was poolside for a stunning 200m freestyle 1-2 for Team GB.
Swimming: The next event in the pool is the women’s 100m breaststroke final. South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker is up against Team USA’s Lydia Jacoby and Lilly King.
Surfing: Australian TV is now broadcasting Sally Fitzgibbons’ QF on both terrestrial channels. She has established an early lead over her Japanese opponent in what looks like the Humberside coast of the North Sea. It’s pretty tight though.
Swimming: If you questioned my transcription of Kaylee McKeown’s interview from earlier, here’s proof:
Kaylee McKeown drops the F Bomb right next to the Seebohm 🤣#Swimming #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/hj6P32uBVV
— Tim Rosen (@timrosen35) July 27, 2021
Surfing: Americans Caroline Marks and Carissa Moore are through to the semi-finals of the women’s surfing, alongside South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag.
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons is up next in the fourth quarterfinal against Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki.
Swimming: Kieran Pender was poolside for Kaylee McKeown’s magnificent gold medal swim.
Hockey:
FT | The @Kookaburras march on undefeated in Pool A and make it 17 goals in three games as they topple the Olympic Champions.
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 27, 2021
🇦🇷2-5🇦🇺 #ARGvAUS #Tokyo2020 #TokyoTogether
LIVE now on 7Plus: https://t.co/QFD9LVLbCJ pic.twitter.com/H4s5qMlHOF
Gold! Men's 100m backstroke - Evgeny Rylov (ROC)
It’s an ROC one-two! Evgeny Rylov pinches gold from Kliment Kolesnikov (ROC) by 0.02, just a shade outside the world record. Ryan Murphy (USA) the defending champion and world and Olympic record holder could only manage third.
Aussie Mitch Larkin came in seventh.
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Swimming: Now onto the men’s 100m backstroke final...
Swimming: More gold. “What would you like to tell your mum and your sister?” Australian TV’s reporter asks Kaylee McKeown. “F*ck yeah!” McKeown replies. Bonza.
“It’s something I’ve always dreamed of,” she also said. “Thankfully I have a really good support team.”
Gold! Women's 100m backstroke - Kaylee McKeown (AUS)
Gold for the world record holder! Another stunning late run for gold. What an exciting meet this is becoming. Kylie Masse (CAN) took silver, Regan Smith (USA) bronze.
At the turn, previous world record holder Masse led from another previous world record holder Smith, but McKeown stormed past to touch first in a new Olympic record.
Emily Seebohm came in fifth, Great Britain’s Kathleen Dawson sixth.
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Rugby sevens: Big comeback from New Zealand. They ease into the quarter-finals. Australia have some maths to do.
FT | Unfortunately couldn't sneak home. Now to the calculator for QFs...
— AU 7s (@Aussie7s) July 27, 2021
AUS 12 v NZL 14
📺 @7olympics @AUSOlympicTeam #TokyoTogether #Tokyo2020 #Aussie7s
Swimming: Stars galore next in the final of the women’s 100m backstroke. Australia’s recent world record breaker Kaylee McKeown, compatriot Emily Seebohm, previous world record holders Regan Smith (USA) and Kylie Masse (CAN), and considering their meet so far you can’t rule out Great Britain’s Kathleen Dawson.
Gold! Men's 200m freestyle - Tom Dean (GBR)
One-two for Great Britain! Tom Dean touches ahead of Duncan Scott for a superb victory.
Hwang Sun-Woo (KOR) led for most of the race, but tightened in the final 25m to finish seventh. Fernando Scheffer (BRA) snuck in to claim bronze.
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Australia’s hopes of landing a medal in the inaugural surfing comp are very much alive after Owen Wright stormed into the semi-finals, to be staged later today at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach.
Wright - the brother of twice women’s world champion Tyler - moved into a final-four clash with Brazil’s Italo Ferreira in difficult conditions on Tuesday morning, which he managed to navigate with a little help from dry land.
“It’s really tricky out there today,” he said. “I sat on the wrong spot right at the start. But then the team on the beach helped me and I got two good waves straight away. I’m pretty stoked on the coaching from the beach.”
Ferreira, the current world No 2 awaits, and is sure to be a difficult opponent to beat.
“I’ll just do the same, putting good points on the board, got those big airs in the bag, so I’m going to put it to the test, will be trying to do my best and put some pressure,” Wright said.
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Swimming: Onto the men’s 200m freestyle final...
Swimming: We’re in for a blockbuster 200m freestyle final. Katie Ledecky saw what Ariarne Titmus accomplished in her first semi and laid down a marker, leading from the front to win in 1.55.34. Barbora Seemanová (CZE) finished second, Italy’s incredible champion Federica Pellegrini powered home at the death to snatch third, beating out Maddy Wilson (AUS) and 14-year-old Summer McIntosh (CAN).
Wilson’s time was good enough to sneak into the final in eighth spot, but all eyes will be on another Titmus v Ledecky duel in the pool.
Rugby Sevens: Australia have taken a 12-0 lead over New Zealand approaching half-time in the Bledisloe-lite.
Swimming: Ariarne Titmus wins the first 200m freestyle semi in 1.54.82. The Australian was out slowly as Canada’s Penny Oleksiak took the first 50 in world record pace, but used all her 400m endurance to power home, pipping Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey on the line. Job done.
China’s Junzuan Yang came third, Oleksiak fourth.
Olympic record holder Allison Schmitt (USA) was fifth, New Zealand teenager Erika Fairweather eighth.
Swimming: Ok, time for some swimming. Ariarne Titmus is in the arena ready to kick everything off with the first semi in the women’s 200m freestyle.
Surfing: South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag, Steph Gilmore’s conqueror, is through to the semi-finals after outpointing Portugal’s Yolanda Hopkins in the first quarterfinal.
American top seeds Caroline Marks and Carissa Moore are in the next two heats, followed by Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons.
🥇
Israeli athletes next to Iranian athletes in the Olympics.
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) July 26, 2021
Islamic Republic of Iran wants Iranians to hate Israelis. But many ordinary Iranians & Israelis don't care about politics.
Iranian athlete Vahid Sarlak, member of #United4Navid, together with the Israeli Olympic Team pic.twitter.com/uCHAbO2B2d
Argentina-watch: I have two screens on the go, both featuring the stylish powder blue and white of Argentina. It’s good news for Los Pumas in the rugby sevens, they are hammering Korea 35-0 and on track for direct qualification to the knockouts from Pool A. But it’s not so good in the men’s hockey where Australia have surged into a 4-1 lead nearing half-time.
After all the US vs Australia chat, we are set for a US-UK duel in the pool shortly in the first final of the morning session here in Tokyo, the men’s 200m freestyle.
Kieran Smith, a 21-year-old, Connecticut-born, 6ft5in student at the University of Florida, took the bronze in the 400m freestyle on Sunday - the race memorably won by the underdog Tunisian teenager, Ahmed Hafnaoui. Smith is looking to add another medal in the 200m. Not bad considering this meet is not only his first Olympics but also his Team USA debut.
He swam the second-fastest time in qualifying, half-a-second behind Team GB’s Duncan Scott, the only man to go below 1:45. He goes in lane 5, sandwiched between Scott and another Briton, Tom Dean.
Yesterday was all about the youthful takeover of the Games, typified by the women’s street skateboard featuring a podium with a combined age of just 42.
But those whippersnappers are not having it all their own way, just ask 48-year-old Jian Fang Lay.
Most people won’t have heard of her, but 48-year-old Jian Fang Lay made it through to the 3rd round in the table tennis today. BUT more impressively this is her 6th #olympics, equalling the most ever by an Australian female 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/RqRw5ZBiAg
— James Mottershead (@mottersjames) July 26, 2021
Time for a baton change. Thanks Tom for a pacesetting lead off leg, and hello everybody from breezy Melbourne, Australia, on what is hopefully the final day of our latest Covid-related lockdown.
Time to train our focus again on the Tokyo Aquatics Centre where another gold rush awaits. Here’s what’s in store:
- 10.30am local time - Women’s 200m freestyle semis (Ariarne Titmus is in the first heat, followed by Katie Ledecky in the second. If those names don’t mean anything to you, catch up on yesterday’s incredible 400m freestyle final here.)
- 10.43am - Men’s 200m freestyle final 🥇 (Team GB’s Duncan Scott and Thomas Dean are in lanes four and six, with the USA’s Kieran Smith between them. After Adam Peaty dominated yesterday, hopes are high for more British success in the water.)
- 10:51am – Women’s 100m backstroke final 🥇 (Australia’s recent world record breaker Kaylee McKeown is a strong chance for gold, while compatriot Emily Seebohm is not out of the running of securing a medal at a fourth consecutive Games. Previous world record holders Regan Smith (USA) and Kylie Masse (CAN) occupy the middle lanes, while Great Britain’s Kathleen Dawson is another to keep an eye on.)
- 10:59am – Men’s 100m backstroke final 🥇 (The USA’s defending champion, and world record holder, Ryan Murphy, is up against Australian challenger Mitch Larkin)
- 11.17pm - Women’s 100m breaststroke final 🥇 (Can South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker hold off Team USA’s Lydia Jacoby and Lilly King?)
- 11.35pm - Men’s 200m butterfly semis (Running out…)
- 11.58pm - Women’s 200m individual medley semis (... of steam)
I’ll do my best to keep up with the other action around the Games, notably powerhouses Australia and New Zealand colliding in the rugby sevens, the quarterfinals of the surfing, some hockey, and doubtless more besides. Feel free to drop me an email or a tweet (see details at the top of the page) if you think something particularly noteworthy requires a shout out.
Fiji, the defending men’s rugby sevens champions, did not look great in their opening game against Japan but pulped a (usually) strong Great Britain team just now. Ben Harris scored GB’s only try as Fiji won 33-7.
Over at the men’s hockey, Argentina have taken an early lead against Australia. Leandro Tolini scored the opener from a penalty corner. Argentina 1-0 Australia.
Great Britain and Fiji, the defending champions, are playing in the men’s rugby sevens. Both teams have already qualified from their group so this is really about testing each other before the knockout stages. And it’s Fiji passing that test at the moment - they’re 19-0 up at halftime.
Updated
Another big morning of medal action awaits at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. First-up in just under an hour is the women’s 200m freestyle semi-final - round two of the Ariarne Titmus (Aus) v Katie Ledecky (USA) duel in the pool. Duncan Scott will then be Great Britain’s big medal hope of the morning, swimming from lane 4 in the men’s 200m freestyle final.
The most open final of the morning is the women’s 100m backstroke. The Olympic record has already been broken four times in qualifying for the final, by three different swimmers. There’s every chance the world record will fall in the final - with Kaylee McKeown (Aus), Kylie Masse (Canada), Regan Smith (USA) all in top form.
The men’s 100m backstroke final will follow - Ryan Murphy (USA) is in lane four, but will be battling Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia) and Mitch Larkin (Aus).
The women’s 100m breaststroke final is also an open race: Tatjana Schoenmaker (South Africa) qualified fastest, but American Lilly King was not far off the pace. There’s a bunch more semi-final action, too - men’s 200m butterfly and women’s 200m individual medley. It’s hard to keep up!
A result in the men’s rugby sevens. Canada have beaten the hosts, Japan, 36-12. Japan have lost all their games so far.
Sean Ingle was at at Odaiba Marine Park to witness a remarkable women’s triathlon. You can read his report here:
And Australia’s Owen Wright has won his surfing quarter-final. He will now face Italo Ferreira in the semis for a place in the final and a chance at gold. Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi and Brazil’s two-time world champ Gabriel Medina will compete in the other semi.
Australia’s Owen Wright is leading Lucca Mesinas of Peru 12.74-7.40 in their men’s surfing quarter-final. The winner will face Ítalo Ferreira of Brazil in the semi-final.
Flora Duffy’s gold medal was an amazing achievement in the triathlon, but Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown won silver after suffering a puncture (of her bike’s tyre, she was not punctured herself). She spoke to the BBC about her medal:
“I had a really good swim and I got out and we had 35 seconds and I thought this is perfect. The bike – we worked really well, I got a puncture coming out of the park with about 2k to come and I panicked – I didn’t know what to do so I just rode on the flat.
“I lost maybe 15 seconds on the group. The first lap of the run was panic mode. I think I definitely paid for it the latter part of the run but it paid off.”
Anyone in the market for some breathtaking photos of very fit people doing breathtaking things? In a breathtaking fashion? That will take your breath away? Then look no further than our gallery of the best photos from day three:
Flora Duffy, by the way, nearly gave up triathlon after the 2008 Games when she was lapped. She tells the BBC that today’s victory is an “incredible moment”. She is correct. Meanwhile, another Brazilian is through to the men’s surfing semi-finals: Italo Ferreira beat Japan’s Hiroto Ohhara.
One for our Australian readers (or anyone who likes Australian athletes). Here’s a handy guide to Aussies in action today at the Games:
A few other finishers in the women’s triathlon: Britain’s Jessica Learmonth and Vicky Holland were ninth and 13th respectively, USA’s Summer Rappaport and Taylor Knibb 14th and 16th and Australia’s Emma Jeffcoat came home in 26th. NZ’s Nicole van der Kaay was 29th.
Just to recap: Bermuda’s only previous medal was in 1976: a bronze in boxing. Expect a lot of babies (boys and girls) to be called Flora in Bermuda in the coming years.
Updated
Flora Duffy wins Bermuda's first-ever gold!
And Duffy passes the line as Olympic triathlon champion with a big grin on her face. The smallest nation to ever win an Olympic gold. She collapses to the ground with her hands over her face. She has the floor to herself for a while too as she has a huge lead over GB’s Taylor-Brown who wins silver. USA’s Zaferes wins bronze. A great silver for Taylor-Brown who suffered a puncture on the bike.
Duffy of Bermuda (population 72,000) now leads Taylor-Brown of Britain (population 66 million) and Zaferes (330 million) and is cruising towards her country’s first-ever gold.
It’s still very much Duffy’s race - and gold medal - to lose. She. Is. Not. Slowing. Down. Meanwhile, GB’s Taylor-Brown - who has recovered from that puncture on the bike – is about to catch USA’s Zaferes in silver. In fact, she just passed her. All three women are now on the last lap.
Duffy now has a 47-second lead over Zaferes with GB’s Taylor Brown five seconds back from the American. A first gold medal for Bermuda looks like a certainty! Germany’s Lindemann is another 30 seconds or so back in fourth.
The track has dried out at the triathlon and the runners are whistling round as the heat builds. Duffy continues to look comfortable out in front while USA’s Zaferes is looking a little heavy footed and GB’s Taylor-Brown looks she may be catching her for silver.
Some news from our man on the ground in Tokyo, Sean Ingle. Team GB say Georgia-Brown had a puncture, which explains why she slipped off at the end of the bike. She is already up to bronze on the run though. We’re at the end of lap one of the run and Duffy now has a 17 second lead over USA’s Zaferes in second.
And we have a break in the triathlon! Bermuda’s Flora Duffy has got some separation from USA’s Katie Zaferes. She looks pretty comfortable as she takes a decent lead. The British pair of Jessica Learmonth and Georgia Taylor-Brown are in third and fourth.
Bermuda have never won an Olympic gold medal, but they have a very good chance now and Duffy recently set a personal best in the run. Their last (and only) Olympic medal came in 1976 in boxing - it was bronze.
Updated
Another result in the quarter-final of the men’s surfing. Two-time WSL World Champion Gabriel Medina of Brazil has beaten France’s Michel Bourez and is through to the semi-final.
GB’s Georgia Taylor-Brown looks like she’s been dropped by the leading pack in the triathlon and is now 20 seconds back as they transition to the running stage. So it’s now Jessica Learmonth (GBR), Flora Duffy (BER), Laura Lindemann (GER) and Katie Zaferes (USA) out front and with a big advantage over the rest of the field. Australia’s Emma Jeffcoat is back in ninth and it would take a miracle for her to end up in the medals today.
We’re on the final lap of the cycling in the women’s triathlon and it’s still the same group of five with a big lead over the field: Jessica Learmonth (GBR), Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), Flora Duffy (BER), Laura Lindemann (GER) and Katie Zaferes (USA). Lindemann is the highest ranked of the leaders and is also a very good runner, so she’ll be slight favourite at the moment. But we saw the strongest runner, Alex Yee, beaten in the final stages yesterday, so form isn’t everything.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to [checks calendar] day four of the Tokyo Games. Plenty coming up today, including a big day in the pool. In the next couple of hours we’ll have the conclusion of the women’s triathlon, the quarter-finals of the women’s and men’s surfing, Argentina v Australia in the men’s hockey and a smattering of handball, rugby sevens and beach volleyball.
My colleague Martin Belam has prepared a more exhaustive list of today’s action, which you can peruse at your leisure below:
All events are listed here in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for Belfast, 13 hours for New York and 17 hours for San Francisco. Then email me to say that time itself is too complicated.
🌟If you only watch one thing: 7.45pm Artistic gymnastics – it is the women’s team final. A Simon Biles-led Team USA will face a strong challenge to defend their gold medal from Not Russia and from China 🥇
- 6.30am Triathlon – the individual women’s race takes place. Remember, this is a super early start in Tokyo again so if you want to watch it in the UK it is effectively on at 10.30pm tonight before you go to bed to enjoy sweet, sweet Olympic gold medal dreams 🥇
- 10am-9.45pm Taekwondo – it is the final day of taekwondo. There’s continued British interest with Mahama Cho in the men’s +80kg, and Bianca Walkden in the +67kg 🥇
- 10.30am-12.30pm and 7pm-8.59pm – the swimming is all topsy-turvy with the finals in the morning and the heats in the evening. There should be four fantastic finals in the first session on Tuesday between 10.34am and 11.17am: men’s 200m freestyle, women’s 100m backstroke, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 100m backstroke. Phew 🥇
- 3pm Cycling Mountain Bike – it is the turn of the women around the Izu MTB course 🥇
- 3pm Diving – it is also the women in the diving on Tuesday, with the synchronised 10m platform 🥇
- 5pm Equestrian – Germany will defend their Rio title as eight nations, including Team GB and the USA who finished in silver and bronze positions in 2016, go for the Dressage Team Grand Prix Special 🐴🥇
- 5pm-8.30pm Football – it is the final round of group games in the women’s competition. Team GB and Sweden are the two teams already guaranteed quarter-final spots. Two key match-ups are Japan v Chile at 8pm where the hosts probably need a win to progress from Group E. Before that at 5pm the USA face Australia. Now, I’m not suggesting this is a potential “Disgrace of Gijón” situation, but a draw would leave them both on four points and both almost certain to qualify.
- 5.30pm-7.00 pm Rugby sevens – after a final round of pool matches in the morning, and some placing games, the tournament reaches the quarter-final stage.
- 8pm Softball – Japan face the USA in the final 🥇
