Olympics Latest: Max Whitlock wins gold in pommel horse – Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) — The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:
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MEDAL ALERT
Max Whitlock of Britain defended his Olympic title in pommel horse.
Whitlock led off the eight-man final and posted a score of 15,583 points. That is the highest of any male or female gymnast on any event so far at the Tokyo Games.
His competitors didn’t really come close to catching him.
Lee Chih Kai of Taiwan took silver to earn the first-ever medal for his country in gymnastics.
Kazuma Kaya of Japan took the bronze to earn a second medal to go with the silver he won in the team competition.
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Fifth-ranked Alexander Zverev of Germany has won the gold medal in men’s singles at the Olympics.
Zverev beat Karen Khachanov of the Russian Olympic Committee 6-3, 6-1 for the biggest title of his career.
It follows a comeback victory for Zverev over top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
IOC president Thomas Bach watched his fellow German win the title.
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Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade has added a gold medal on vault to go with the silver she earned in the all-around.
Andrade put together a pair of soaring vaults to post an average of 15.083. The medals Andrade has won in Tokyo are the first and second ever for Brazil in gymnastics at the Games.
American MyKayla Skinner, who entered the competition after defending Olympic champion Simone Biles pulled out to focus on her mental health, captured the silver. The 24-year-old was an alternate on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team then spent three years at the University of Utah before returning to elite competition in 2019.
Yeo Seojeong of Korea took the bronze.
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Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark has won gold in the women’s one-person dinghy laser sailing event at Enoshima Yacht Harbor.
Rindom finished seventh in the medal race, but clinched gold with 78 points total.
It’s the first gold medal for Rindom, who won bronze in the same event in 2016.
Sweden’s Josefin Olsson crossed the finish line first but took silver with 81 points. Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands had to return to the start at the beginning of the race, but managed to win bronze. She won silver in London in 2012 and gold in Rio in 2016.
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MEDAL ALERT
Australian Matt Wearn has won gold in the men’s one-person laser sailing event at the Tokyo Olympics.
He finished second in the medal race, scoring four points, which was enough for the win. Australians also won gold in the event in 2012 and 2016.
Jean Baptiste Bernaz of France won the medal race at Enoshima Yacht Harbor, but his total score of 92 meant that he finished sixth overall.
Wearn scored a total of 53 points overall, while Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic took silver with 82. Stipanovic also won the silver medal in laser men in Rio in 2016.
Hermann Tomasgaard scored 85 to clinch the bronze, giving Norway its first medal in sailing since 2004.
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A group of about 10 people has been protesting across the street from the tennis venue where the men’s singles gold-medal match is being played.
The group is chanting in English with megaphones saying “No more Olympics” and “Stop playing games. Cancel the Olympics.”
One protester held a sign that said, “Stop playing the Games. People are suffering and dying! Save lives, not the Olympics!”
The chants could be heard inside the Center Court stadium where Alexander Zverev of Germany is playing Karen Khachanov of ROC. Play was not interrupted.
Police were intervening and moving the group away from the venue.
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MEDAL ALERT
Artem Dolgopyat won Israel’s first-ever Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics. Dolgopyat captured gold in the men’s floor exercise by edging Rayderley Zapata of Spain on a tiebreak.
Dolgopyat and Zapata were both awarded a score of 14.933 during the event finals. They both had matching execution scores during their routines. Dolgopyat earned the gold because his set was slightly more difficult than Zapata’s.
Xiao Ruoteng of China earned the bronze for his third medal in Tokyo. Xiao took silver in the men’s all-around and won a bronze during the team event last week.
The gold medal is just the second for Israel in any Olympic event. Gal Fridman won a gold in men’s sailboard at the 2004 Athens Games.
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The president of the Russian Olympic Committee says his team’s medals are the “best answer” to critics who questioned why Russian athletes were allowed to compete following doping scandals.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov says critics “supposed that as a matter of fact our athletes can’t compete without doping”, but that Russian athletes in Tokyo “proved the opposite not just with words but with their deeds and results.”
Russia is competing under the name of the ROC in Tokyo after a ruling which barred its name, flag and anthem from the Olympics and other major sports events. That followed a legal battle when the World Anti-Doping Agency said data from the drug-testing laboratory in Moscow had been tampered with.
Russian athletes have won 38 medals in Tokyo, 11 of them gold.
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MEDAL ALERT
The top-seeded Czech team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova has won gold in women’s doubles at the Tokyo Games.
The Czechs beat the Swiss team of Belinda Bencic and Viktorija Golubic 7-5, 6-1.
Bencic won gold in singles a day earlier by beating Czech player Marketa Vondrouova.
Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani of Brazil took the bronze in doubles.
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Tokyo Olympic organizers say they’re investigating an outdoor drinking party involving multiple athletes at the village where they’re staying.
Games chief executive Toshiro Muto says athletes and other team officials were drinking alcohol at the park within the village late on Friday.
The 11,000 Olympic athletes were warned before the games that drinking alcohol in groups was a breach of the so-called playbook rules to protect against COVID-19 infections. They can drink alone in their rooms.
In the most serious cases of breaking rules, athletes can be removed from the village and have their Olympic credential taken.
Muto says in translated comments “we are investigating the situation and based on the result we are to take appropriate action.”
He says police arrived at the village after Friday’s incident, though he was unaware of their response.
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MEDAL ALERT
Xander Schauffele has won the Olympic gold medal in golf in a tense finish.
Schauffele was tied for the lead with Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia with two holes to play.
The American made birdie from 6 feet on the 17th hole to regain the lead. Then after a bad tee shot that forced him to play short of the water, he hit wedge to 4 feet and made the par to win.
Sabbatini set an Olympic record with a 61 and won the silver. Hideki Matsuyama missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have secured him the bronze. He was in a seven-man playoff for the final medal.
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MEDAL ALERT
China’s Shi Tingmao has captured her second straight gold medal in women’s 3-meter springboard diving at the Tokyo Olympics.
Shi romped to an easy win over teammate Wang Han with 383.50 points. Wang took the silver in 348.75, while American Krysta Palmer grabbed the bronze in 343.75.
Shi and Wang also teamed up win the 3-meter synchro event.
Shi has now won four gold medals in her career, the latest in a long line of dominant Chinese divers.
The country is headed toward another Olympic rout with four golds and two silvers in the first five diving events.
The Americans are also having plenty of success in Tokyo with three medals.
Palmer became the first U.S. woman to take a springboard medal since Kelly McCormick’s bronze at the 1988 Seoul Games. It had been 21 years since the American women’s last individual diving medal: Laura Wilkinson’s platform gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
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Korean shooter Song Jong-Ho has been disqualified from men’s 25-meter rapid fire pistol for failing velocity testing at a post-competition check.
Song finished the first of two qualifying rounds in 22nd, but was red flagged after a chronograph measurement determined the average velocity of his ammunition was under 250 meters per second.
Under International Shooting Sport Federation rules, testing officers fire three cartridges from each athlete’s gun and record the muzzle velocity of each one. Testing below 250 meters per second six times leads to a disqualification.
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The Swiss Olympic team says a horse named Jet Set had to be euthanized after a leg injury in the team eventing competition.
The horse ridden by Robin Godel tore a ligament in its right foreleg landing a jump toward the end of the cross-country course.
The seriousness of the injury meant Jet Set was euthanized soon after.
The Swiss team says the accident was not the fault of Godel or the design of the Seaforest Cross Country Course.
The team will continue in Monday’s final jumping section of the eventing competition with the replacement Eveline Bodenmüller riding Violine de la Brasserie.
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Another American team is out at the Olympic beach volleyball tournament.
A Qatari pair that is ranked No. 1 in the world beat Nick Lucena and 2008 gold medalist Phil Dalhausser 14-21, 21-19, 15-11 on Sunday in the first round of knockout play.
The Americans reached the quarterfinals in Rio de Janeiro before losing to the eventual champions, Brazilians Alison and Bruno Oscar Schmidt.
Dalhausser and Lucena went 2-1 in round-robin play, losing only to a Dutch team that won the world championships in 2013. That left them with a tough matchup against Cherif Samba and Ahmed Tijan, who cruised through the preliminaries without losing a set.
The Americans scored four straight points in the first set to turn a 6-5 edge into a five-point lead and cruised to a 21-14 lead.
The U.S. women’s team of Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes also lost in three sets on Sunday after winning the first set.
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Tokyo Olympics organizers say they have banished six people, including two silver medalists from the country of Georgia, for breaking rules designed to protect against COVID-19 cases.
Toshiro Muto, the games chief executive, says it was a “clear and serious violation” of the so-called playbooks of health and safety rules for two Georgian judokas to go sight-seeing.
Vazha Margvelashvili and Lasha Shavdatuashvili were seen near Tokyo Tower on Tuesday, after their events were finished.
Muto says the Georgian embassy in Tokyo has apologized for the incident.
The other four were accredited contractors from Britain and the United States arrested for allegedly using cocaine before the Olympics opened.
Muto says there have been eight cases of games credentials being temporarily suspended.
In four cases, organizers collected a “signed pledge” from people suspected of breaking rules. Ten strict warnings were issued, Muto says.
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MEDAL ALERT
Australia’s Logan Martin capped quite a show in BMX freestyle’s Olympic debut, putting together a sterling first run to win gold at the Tokyo Games.
Britain’s Charlotte Worthington started the high-flying act by winning women’s gold and Martin followed with an equally-impressive performance.
The 27-year-old two-time world champion posted a 93.3 in his first ride and watched as the other eight riders failed to catch him. Martin went for a victory lap after the final rider made his second run, but cut it short after a hard landing on a jump.
Venezuela’s Daniel Dhers secured silver with a 92.05 on his second run and Britain’s Declan Brooks had a second-run 90.8 to take bronze.
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Simone Biles will not defend her Olympic gold medal on floor exercise.
USA Gymnastics says the six-time Olympic medalist has opted not to compete on floor.
She won gold in the event in Rio de Janeiro and placed second in qualifying last week. Jennifer Gadirova of Britain will replace Biles in Monday’s finals.
USA Gymnastics says Biles has not decided whether to participate in Tuesday’s balance beam final.
Biles is dealing with a mental block that in gymnastics is referred to as “the twisties.” She is having trouble figuring out where her body is in relation to the ground when in the air.
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Gong Lijiao of China has won her first Olympic gold medal in the shot put with a personal best of 20.58 meters.
The reigning two-time world champion produced two efforts over 20 meters on her last two attempts at the Olympic Stadium to cement her victory ahead of Raven Saunders of the United States, who took the silver medal with 19.79.
Veteran Valerie Adams of New Zealand won a bronze medal in her fifth and likely last Olympics. The 36-year-old Adams is a two-time Olympic champion and in Tokyo became the first woman to qualify for five Olympic finals in the shot.
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American Caeleb Dressel has won his fifth gold medal of the Tokyo Games, finishing off one of the great performances in Olympic history.
Dressel swam the butterfly leg as the Americans set a world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay with a time of 3 minutes, 26.78 seconds. That eclipses the mark of 3:27.28 they set at the 2009 Rome world championships in rubberized suits.
Ryan Murphy, Michael Andrew and Zach Apple joined Dressel on the winning team. That ensured the Americans closed out the swimming competition with another gold in a race they’ve never lost at the Olympics.
Earlier in the session, Dressel won the 50 freestyle for his third individual title of the games. He also won two golds on the relays.
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Emma McKeon has claimed her historic seventh swimming medal at the Tokyo Olympics with Australia’s victory in the women’s 4×100 medley relay.
The 27-year-old from Brisbane becomes the first female swimmer to win seven medals at a single games. The only men to do it are Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi.
Capping a brilliant performance by the entire Aussie women’s team, McKeon followed her victory in the 50-freestyle earlier in the session to take the butterfly leg on the relay. Cate Campbell closed strong on the freestyle, touching in an Olympic record of 3 minutes, 51.60 seconds to edge the two-time defending champion Americans.
Kaylee McKeown and Chelsea Hodges started things off for the winning Australian team.
Abbey Weitzeil touched in 3:51.73 to give the United States a silver. She anchored a team that also included teenagers Regan Smith, Lydia Jacoby and Torri Huske.
The bronze went to Canada in 3:52.60.
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Britain’s Charlotte Worthington put on a show in BMX freestyle’s Olympic debut, landing the first 360 backflip in women’s competition to knock off American Hannah Roberts at the Tokyo Olympics.
Roberts, a three-time world champion at 19, set the bar in her opening run, landing a backflip with a tailspin for a 96.1.
Worthington crashed on her first run, but pulled out all the stops in her second. The 25-year-old added a front flip to her 360 backflip and closed with another backflip for a 97.5.
Roberts, the top seed, had a chance to top the Brit, but landed hard off an early jump and waved off the rest of her second run.
Switzerland’s Nikita Ducarroz took bronze with an 89.2 in her second run.
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American Bobby Finke has won gold in the grueling men’s 1,500-meter freestyle race.
The American won his second gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with another strong finishing kick.
Just as he did in winning the 800-meter freestyle, Finke stayed closed throughout the 30-lap race and turned on the speed at the end. He touched in 14 minutes, 39.65 seconds.
Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk took the silver in 14:40.66, while the bronze went to Germany’s Florian Wellbrock in 14:40.91. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri faded to fourth in 14:45.01.
The top four were close nearly the entire race, often separated by less than a second at the turns. But that was right where Finke needed to be. After his closing lap in the 800, he knew he had the speed at the end to beat everyone else.
Finke has been perhaps the biggest American surprise at the pool. Relatively unknown before the U.S. trials, he become the first American male to win the 1,500 since Mike O’Brien at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
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Australia’s Emma McKeon has claimed the gold medal in the women’s 50-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics.
It is the sixth medal of the games for the Aussie star, who has one more chance to make it seven in the 4×100 medley relay.
McKeon completed a sweep of the 50- and 100-meter freestyle with an Olympic-record time of 23.81 seconds. The silver went to Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström in 24.07, while defending Olympic champion Pernille Blume of Denmark settled for bronze this time in 24.21.
American Abbey Weitzeil finished last in the eight-woman field.
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MEDAL ALERT
American Caeleb Dressel has won his fourth swimming gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a victory in the 50-meter freestyle.
Dressel cruised to a relatively easy victory in the frenetic dash from one end of the pool to the other, touching in an Olympic record of 21.07 seconds.
France’s Florent Manaudou repeated as the Olympic silver medalist in 21.55, while Brazil’s Bruno Fratus claimed the bronze in 21.57 — edging out American Michael Andrew for the final spot on the podium.
Dressel has one more shot at a gold in the 4×100 medley relay, an event the United States has never lost at the Olympics. He’ll swim the butterfly leg in a race that caps nine days of swimming competition at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
If Dressel claims a fifth victory, he would join Americans Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi, as well as East Germany’s Kristin Otto, as the only swimmers to win as many as five golds at a single Olympics. Phelps did it three times.
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Katie Ledecky is bidding farewell to the Tokyo Games after claiming four medals, two of them gold.
The American swimming star went on Twitter to post her thanks to the people of Tokyo and everyone who gave her “tremendous support this week and over the years!” Even though the stands were largely empty at the Olympic pool because of the coronavirus pandemic, Ledecky says she “could hear you all!”
Ledecky wasn’t quite as successful as at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she swept her three individual events and also won a gold and a silver in the relays.
But she did win gold in her two longest events, the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle, in addition to swimming a brilliant anchor leg that almost pulled out a gold for the United States in the 4×200 free relay.
Along the way, Ledecky became the first female swimmer to win six individual golds in her career, the first woman to win the 800 free at three straight Olympics, and one of just five American female swimmers to earn 10 career medals.
At age 24, Ledecky has no plans to stop swimming.
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UPSET ALERT
Americans Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes are out of the beach volleyball tournament after a three-set loss to Canada in the knockout round opener.
Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson beat the U.S. 22-24, 21-18, 15-13 at the Shiokaze Park venue. Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are set to meet Qatar in the afternoon session.
Claes and Sponcil entered the games as the hottest team in the world, winning the last two events of the pandemic-extended qualifying period to grab the second U.S. spot in Tokyo. In the process, they knocked out five-time Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings.
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