Current time in Tokyo: Aug. 02, 3:41 p.m.
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TOKYO — Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico won the women’s 100-meter hurdles on Monday morning, beating Kendra Harrison of the United States, the world-record holder.
Camacho-Quinn, a University of Kentucky graduate, was the favorite coming in on the strength of a perfect season and an Olympic record of 12.26 seconds in the semifinal. But Harrison had the experience and had gotten the best of her in their meetings over the years.
Camacho-Quinn broke fast, then powered away after halfway to win comfortably in 12.37 seconds. Harrison was second in 12.52, three-hundredths of a second ahead of Megan Tapper of Jamaica.
It was only the second Olympic gold medal for Puerto Rico, following Monica Puig’s win in women’s tennis at the 2016 Games. It was Puerto Rico’s first gold in track and its second medal in the sport, after a bronze in the men’s 400 hurdles for Javier Culson in 2012.
“I am pretty sure everybody is excited” in Puerto Rico, Camacho-Quinn said. “For such a small country, it gives little people hope. I am just glad I am the person to do that.”
Camacho-Quinn had hit a hurdle and failed to qualify from the semifinals of this event in 2016. Her brother, Robert Quinn, is a linebacker for the Chicago Bears.
Harrison had been a medal favorite in 2016 but failed to qualify at the Olympic trials that July, before setting the world record at 12.20 later that month. “I missed out in 2016, so to come here and get a medal for my country, I couldn’t be happier,” she said Monday.
Three more gymnastics event finals will also be contested at that time, with the potential highlight being Jade Carey of the United States in the women’s floor exercise.
A full plate of track includes the long jump and steeplechase for men, and the discus, 100-meter hurdles and 5,000 meters for women. The long jump and hurdles are Sunday night, U.S. time, with the other events in the early hours on Monday.
The U.S. beach volleyball team of April Ross and Alix Klineman, still undefeated in Tokyo, plays in a round of 16 match against Lidianny Echevarria Benitez and Leila Consuelo Martinez Ortega of Cuba on Sunday night U.S. time.
And the U.S. men’s baseball team faces Japan at 6 a.m. Eastern; the loser won’t be eliminated but will have a much shorter path to the gold medal.
Because of an editing error, the headline on an earlier version of this article misstated the soccer team that the U.S. women will play. It is Canada, not the Netherlands.
A Belarusian sprinter said on Sunday that she was under the protection of the Japanese police after her country’s Olympic Committee tried and failed to forcibly deport her after she criticized her coaches for registering her for the wrong event.
The sprinter, Kristina Timanovskaya, announced on Sunday night via Instagram that she had sought protection in Japan because she feared for her safety in Belarus, where the country’s strongman leader, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, in power for 27 years, has sought to stifle any dissent.
“I am afraid that in Belarus they might put me in jail,” Ms. Timanovskaya told the independent Belarusian news portal Zerkalo.io. “I am not afraid that I will be fired or kicked out of the national team, I am worried about my safety. And I think that at the moment it is not safe for me in Belarus.”
The Belarusian National Olympic Committee, which is run by Mr. Lukashenko’s eldest son, Victor Lukashenko, said on Sunday that it had withdrawn Ms. Timanovskaya from the Games because of her “emotional and psychological state” after consulting with a doctor.
Ms. Timanovskaya denied being examined by any doctors and said she was in good physical and psychological health. She said she had been forcibly removed from her country’s team because “I spoke on my Instagram about the negligence of our coaches.”
In a video taken at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, she asked the International Olympic Committee for support. In a statement, the I.O.C. said it was researching the situation.
“The I.O.C. has seen the reports in the media,” the statement said, and “is looking into it.”
Ms. Timanovskaya, 24, was to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time this summer in the 200-meter sprint. But she said was informed that she would be running the 4×400-meter relay race because some team members had not taken enough antidoping tests to qualify for the event.
The standoff over free speech between the International Olympic Committee and U.S. Olympic officials continued on Tuesday, as the I.O.C. grappled with what to do if the Americans refused to penalize an athlete for violating rules limiting demonstrations on the medal podium.
On Sunday night, Raven Saunders, a U.S. shot putter, delivered the first political demonstration on the podium at the Tokyo Olympics when she raised her arms and crossed them in the shape of an X shortly after receiving her silver medal.
She made the gesture as the ceremony concluded, during a session for photographers after the medals were handed out and the Chinese national anthem had been played for the winner, Gong Lijiao.
As Saunders left, she told reporters that her act was “for oppressed people.”
Mark Adams, the chief spokesman for the I.O.C., said on Monday that leaders of the two organizations and World Athletics, track and field’s international governing body, were in talks.
“We want to fully understand what is going on with the matter and take it from there,” Adams said.
Kate Hartman, the chief spokeswoman for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said the organization’s leaders had pointed out to I.O.C. officials that Saunders did not perform her demonstration during the awarding of the medals or the playing of the Chinese anthem.
“That is important to us,” Hartman said.
The I.O.C. and the U.S. Olympic Committee have conflicting rules and views regarding the exercise of free speech during the Games, and even how penalties should be meted out.
The I.O.C., which prohibits demonstrations on the podium or during competition, said on Sunday night that an athlete’s national Olympic committee is required to issue any required punishment. U.S. officials have said they will not punish any athlete for exercising the right to free speech that does not express hatred.
Sarah Hirshland, the chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said last week that international Olympic leaders “have the authority and the jurisdiction and a unique set of sanctions. We sit in a different seat.”
If the I.O.C. orders the Americans to punish an athlete and they refuse to do so, they would be in violation of the Olympic charter.
Also on Sunday, Race Imboden, an American fencer, went to the podium at a different venue after the United States took the bronze medal in foil with a circled X written on his hand. But Hartman said no one had complained about the episode.
Asked what would happen next, Hartman said, “Now we wait.”
By waiting, though, the U.S. Olympic Committee is behaving far differently that American Olympic leaders did in 1968 and 1972, when they moved quickly to punish Black athletes who demonstrated on the podium or did not behave according to the I.O.C.’s standards, forcing them to leave the Games.
World Athletics is also highly unlikely to discipline athletes because the federation does not have any rules against demonstrations on its books. Sebastian Coe, the federation’s president, said this year that he was “reluctant to discourage athletes from expressing their views, and I sense that the current generation is more willing to speak out than some previous generations were.”
U.S. officials are trying to eliminate the free speech issue before the Summer Games come to Los Angeles in 2028.
TOKYO — The U.S. women’s basketball team, the heavy favorite for Olympic gold, completed group play at a perfect 3-0 with a 93-82 victory over a stubborn French team on Monday.
A’ja Wilson remained the American star with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Breanna Stewart had 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
The U.S. team, made up of a full complement of top-tier W.N.B.A. stars, took some time to pull away, trailing by 3 after one quarter as France shot well from 3-points. The U.S. efforts to get the ball in to their bigger players were successful, but thwarted on several occasions by missed layups. The U.S. led, 50-44, by the half.
But France clung on tenaciously, continuing to move the ball well and benefit from some U.S. turnovers. The referees also seemed to show an occasional reluctance to call France for fouls against the U.S. post players like Stewart and Brittney Griner.
France took the lead by a point with nine minutes to play before a Jewell Loyd 3 put the United States ahead for good. For the rest of the fourth quarter, the U.S. depth and talent seemed to reassert itself, resulting in the final, reasonably comfortable 11-point margin.
France was led by 15 points by Endy Miyem.
The U.S. women have not lost a game at the Olympics since 1992, a run that stands at 52 games.
They advance to a quarterfinal game on Wednesday against an opponent to be determined.
YOKOHAMA, Japan — The U.S. baseball team will face off against top-ranked Japan in a battle of unbeaten teams at Yokohama Baseball Stadium on Monday night. On the mound will be a face that is very familiar to fans from both countries: Masahiro Tanaka.
After completing his seven-year, $155 million contract with the Yankees in October, Tanaka returned to his former team, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. He wanted to remain in New York and has said he has unfinished business in the United States (he never won a World Series). But the Yankees opted, in General Manager Brian Cashman’s words, to acquire two other pitchers — Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon — for the price of one.
So Tanaka, a two-time All-Star who posted a 3.74 earned run average with the Yankees, returned home. The right-hander signed a two-year deal with the Eagles. An added benefit: Because the Nippon Professional Baseball league takes an Olympic break, Tanaka was allowed to pitch for his country again. Major League Baseball doesn’t pause its season for the Olympics, nor does it permit players from 40-man rosters to participate.
“I didn’t come home because I wanted to participate in the Olympics, but I thought I would have a chance to participate if I’m in Japan,” Tanaka said in Japanese. “I wanted to be selected.”
He had many motivations. The 10th anniversary of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan — and specifically the Sendai area, where the Eagles play — is not lost on Tanaka. And the last time he was on Japan’s Olympic roster in 2008, he was 19, which was also the last time baseball was played in the Summer Games. Japan failed to win a medal then.
This time around, Tanaka, 32, said the experience has been very different. “I was the youngest, now I’m the oldest,” he said. “I feel the different roles I play.”
To win its first two games against the Dominican Republic and Mexico, Japan used two talented young pitchers — Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 22, and Masato Morishita, 23. Facing a tougher assignment against the United States, Manager Atsunori Inaba tabbed Tanaka, who knows a few of the opposing hitters, such as Todd Frazier, a former Yankees teammate.
Back in New York, where Tanaka was well liked in the clubhouse, teammates such as Gerrit Cole had kept tabs on his performance. Tanaka, who has a 2.86 E.R.A. in 85 innings with the Eagles this season, has done the same with the Yankees and the M.L.B. standings, including the play of Los Angeles two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, a leading American League M.V.P. contender.
Asked what he thought of Ohtani’s season, Tanaka answered in English before departing for the team bus: “amazing.”
Makiko Inoue contributed reporting
Here are some highlights of U.S. broadcast coverage on Monday, including beach volleyball quarterfinals, key track and field events and knockout rounds in baseball knockout. All times are Eastern.
BASEBALL The U.S. baseball team, featuring former M.L.B. players Todd Frazier and Edwin Jackson, will face Japan in the playoff round live at 6 a.m. on Monday on NBC Sports.
WOMEN’S SOCCER Australia takes on Sweden in one semifinal at 7 a.m. on Universo (and streaming on Peacock or NBCOlympics.com). A replay of the other semifinal game, a matchup between the United States and Canada, will air at 10 a.m. on NBC Sports.
WEIGHT LIFTING Finals in the women’s 87 kilogram weight class will begin at 6:50 a.m., and can be streamed on Peacock or NBCOlympics.com. USA Network will air the event at 9 a.m., with replays at 2:30 p.m.
GYMNASTICS Coverage of the men’s finals in vault and rings will air during NBC’s daytime coverage, which starts at 12 p.m.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL Jake Gibb and Tri Bourne of the United States play a round of 16 match against Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler of Germany, streaming live on Peacock at 9 a.m. and replayed on NBC Sports at 5 p.m.
TRACK AND FIELD The Americans Brittney Reese and Tara Davis contend for gold in the women’s long jump final, which starts live at 9:50 p.m. on NBC. In the men’s 400-meter hurdles, at 11:20 p.m., Rai Benjamin of the United States looks to get ahead of Karsten Warholm of Norway, the current world-record holder.
DIVING Qualifying in the men’s 3-meter springboard will air during NBC’s daytime coverage that starts at 12 p.m. The event’s semifinals will stream live on Peacock at 9 p.m.
EQUESTRIAN A replay of the team and individual jumping and eventing finals will air at 2 p.m. on NBC Sports.
In the men’s high jump, Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar matched each other all evening until both failed to clear 7 feet 10 inches on three straight tries. They were facing the equivalent of sudden-death overtime when one of the officials, citing an obscure rule, asked if they wanted to settle for a tie instead.
“Can we have two golds?” Barshim asked him.
Assured that they could, Tamberi and Barshim embraced, their bromance on display.
“He’s one of my best friends,” Barshim said. “We’re always together.”
Barshim was so excited, he broke his sunglasses.
“It’s OK,” he said. “I’ve got like 50 pairs.”
After missing the 2016 Olympics because of a leg injury, Tamberi kept his cast and wrote “Road to Tokyo 2020” on it. When the Games were postponed last year, he scratched out “2020” and wrote “2021.” On Sunday, he took the cast with him to the stadium as a reminder of his hard work.
Tamberi secured his gold medal minutes before his countryman Lamont Marcell Jacobs won gold in the men’s 100-meter dash. Jacobs said he had felt inspired. Only then, he said, did the goal of winning his race seem plausible.
“Olympic champions,” Jacobs said, “for us and for Italy.”
TOKYO — There is a new fastest man in the world.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs of Italy sprinted to Olympic gold in the men’s 100-meter dash on Sunday, finishing in 9.80 seconds. Jacobs, 26, was born in El Paso before moving to Italy with his mother as a young child.
Fred Kerley of the United States finished second in 9.84 seconds, and Andre De Grasse of Canada was third (9.89).
The event had long been dominated by Usain Bolt, who retired following the 2017 world championships after doubling as the 100- and 200-meter champion at three straight Olympics, from 2008 to 2016.
In a surprise, the field did not include Trayvon Bromell of the United States, who had the fastest lifetime best among the semifinalists: 9.77 seconds, which he had run in June.
But after struggling to a fourth-place finish in his opening-round heat on Saturday, he finished third in the second of three semifinals on Sunday, missing out on an automatic spot in the final by a thousandth of a second. The top four runners in the third semifinal were all faster than Bromell, knocking him out of the final.
The field was also absent another notable American: Christian Coleman, the reigning world champion, who is serving a suspension for a series of missed drug tests.
Reaction
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Time
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|---|---|---|---|
| 0.161 | 9.80 | ||
| 0.128 | 9.84 | ||
| 0.155 | 9.89 | ||
| 4 | 0.141 | 9.93 | |
| 5 | 0.148 | 9.95 | |
| 6 | 0.167 | 9.98 | |
| DNF | DNF | ||
| DQ |
There was no clear-cut favorite, and none seemed able to fill the enormous void left by Bolt, a luminous and charismatic presence on the track and an athlete who transcended the sport. But there was plenty of intrigue for the final on Sunday, in large part because no one had any idea who would win.
Before Sunday, an Italian man had never won an Olympic medal in the 100-meter dash in the Games’ 125-year history. Now, Lamont Marcell Jacobs is the first from Italy to hold the title of world’s fastest man.
Jacobs set a European record in the men’s 100-meter dash on Sunday, finishing in 9.80 seconds, to win the gold medal.
Jacobs, a 26-year-old sprinter and long jumper, was born in El Paso to an Italian mother and an African American father. When his father, a soldier in the United States Army, was transferred to South Korea, he and his mother moved to Italy.
His parents separated when he was an infant, but Jacobs reconnected with his father for the first time a year ago, according to The Associated Press. After his 100-meter-dash victory on Sunday, he said that finding his father was part of his mental preparation for the Games.
“I never saw my dad from that time,” Jacobs said. “But I started to speak with him one year ago for the first time. This helped me arrive here with a good mentality.”
Jacobs, whose Instagram handle is @crazylongjumper, a moniker he has inked on his body, along with the names of his three children and his partner, began competing in athletics at 9 years old, gravitating to sprinting and long jump, according to the Tokyo Olympics website.
He made his first impression at the national level while competing in long jump. In 2016, he won the Italian Athletics Championships in long jump with a distance of 7.89 meters.
In 2018, he claimed his first 100-meter-dash title and began closing in on the event’s difficult 10-second barrier. And this year, in May, he set the Italian record in the 100-meters with a time of 9.95 seconds and became the 150th person in history to finish the race in under 10 seconds.
With the Italian record secured, Jacobs set his sights on the Olympics. From the first time he stepped on the track, he told Corriere Della Sera, he dreamed of becoming an Olympian.
“On my bedroom wall I had the newspaper page of the famous Carl Lewis commercial with him wearing stiletto heels in the starting blocks,” he said. “But my idol as a child was Andrew Howe who, like me, is mixed race and half-American. I could identify with him.”
Tokyo 2020 organizers on Monday reported 17 new infections among people credentialed for the Games, bringing the total number of reported cases connected to the Olympics to 281, including 27 athletes. None of the new cases on Monday were athletes.
Tokyo and the rest of Japan are experiencing the worst surge of the pandemic. On Saturday, officials in Tokyo reported more than 4,000 new infections, the first time the city’s daily count had surpassed that figure.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on Friday that the government would expand a state of emergency to four areas besides Tokyo, and that the restrictions in the capital would be extended until the end of August — past the conclusion of the Olympics and into the start of the Paralympic Games.
With only 28 percent of the population fully vaccinated, the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus has taken root in Japan. More than three-quarters of cases in Tokyo are now being caused by the variant, according to the health ministry.
With two high-flying vaults that made complicated, gravity-defying moves look simple, Rebeca Andrade won the vault final on Sunday at the Tokyo Games, bringing Brazil its first gold medal ever in women’s gymnastics.
Her Olympics just keep getting better.
Last week in the all-around final, Andrade, 22, won the silver medal, finishing just behind the American Sunisa Lee. She dedicated that silver medal, the first Olympic medal of any color for Brazil in women’s gymnastics, to her country, her coaches and her medical staff, which had helped her get to these Games after yet another serious injury to her right knee.
Andrade won with a score of 15.083 points. MyKayla Skinner of the United States, who is retiring after these Olympics, finished second, for the silver medal. Yeo Seo-jeong won bronze for South Korea, and is the first medalist for South Korea in women’s gymnastics.
Result
|
||
|---|---|---|
| 15.083 | ||
| 14.916 | ||
| 14.733 | ||
| 4 | 14.716 | |
| 5 |
Russian Olympic Committee |
14.683 |
| 6 |
Russian Olympic Committee |
14.666 |
| 7 | 14.550 | |
| 8 | 12.416 |
In 2019, Andrade needed her third surgery in four years to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee and missed the world championships because of it. Without her, her Brazilian team did not qualify for Tokyo. And she only qualified for these Games just in June, as an individual.
That last-minute effort to compete in Tokyo was worth it: Andrade’s best performance at her last Olympics, the 2016 Rio Games, was 11th in the all-around.
Her first of two vaults was a Cheng, which is a roundoff onto the springboard, a half twist onto the vault, and a front layout with 1½ twists. Her second was an Amanar, which is a roundoff onto the springboard, a back handspring onto the vault, and a back layout with 2½ twists. She didn’t stick either landing, but her execution and height helped her get high scores.
With Simone Biles out of the competition with a mental health issue, Andrade’s toughest competition going into the vault were two Americans: Jade Carey and Skinner.
Carey, who finished second in vault qualifying last week, appeared to adjust her run-up to her first vault — which was supposed to be a Cheng, but she ended up bailing out of it and completed only a Yurchenko tuck, which is one somersault with no twists. Stunned and nearly in tears, she kept her composure long enough to perform a second vault, but that landing had one big step to it. Her overall score, 12.416 points, left her out of the medals.
Skinner was just as stunned, but in a the opposite way. Last week after qualifying, she thought her Olympics was over — and her career was over — when she finished fourth in the vault. Because only two gymnasts per country advance to the finals in the all-around and each apparatus, she was left out of the finals after Biles and Carey had finished ahead of her in qualifying.
In an Instagram post, Skinner, who is 24 and was an alternate at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, said she was heartbroken at how these Olympics turned out for her.
“This closes the book on my gymnastics career, and my only regrets were things outside of my control. So no regrets,” she wrote. “For now I will just try to fill the hole in my heart.”
But on Saturday, when Biles withdrew from the vault, Skinner gained the chance to dress in her competition leotard one final time and see if she could win.
She posted on Instagram once again: “Doing this for us @Simone_Biles. … It’s go time baby!”
At last, Skinner — whom Lee called the team’s “grandma” because she has so much experience on the national team — will go home to Arizona with a long-awaited Olympic medal around her neck.
Maggie Astor contributed reporting.
Nina Derwael of Belgium took advantage of her rivals’ mistakes and nerves during the uneven bars final on Sunday to win the gold medal in her specialty.
Derwael, a two-time uneven bars world champion, did not perform as well on bars as she had in qualifying last week, when she finished first, but her routine was good enough — and difficult enough — for her to win. Looking as if she were gliding in the wind, she soared above, under and between the bars and was given 15.2 points for her performance. After the announcer called her the winner, Derwael wrapped herself in the Belgian flag and flashed a huge smile toward her small cheering section in the mostly empty Ariake Gymnastics Center.
Anastasiia Iliankova of Russia was second on the uneven bars, with 14.833 points, to win the silver medal. Sunisa Lee of the United States won the bronze, with 14.5 points.
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Russian Olympic Committee |
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The Belgian winner was supposed to vie for the gold with Lee, who also is an uneven bars specialist. Lee usually has the hardest uneven bars routine in the world and is rewarded for it with a high score.
On Sunday, though, three days after she won the gold medal in the all-around, Lee performed a shaky routine and failed to connect several of her skills, which lowered her difficulty score. Her execution wasn’t as sharp as usual, either. Once she finished her routine, she began shaking her head with disappointment.
The day before the event, Lee admitted that she had felt pressure to win gold on the bars, particularly after winning the all-around title.
A silver medal in shooting from the 1900 Olympics in Paris recently sold for a mere $1,283.
Then there was a bronze medal from the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, that fetched $3,750.
But it was a first-place silver medal from the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 — there were no gold medals then — that commanded six figures on the eve of this year’s Games. It sold for $180,111, according to RR Auction, the Boston-based auction house that handled all three sales.
Even though their sentimental value may be priceless to the athletes who wear them around their necks, Olympic medals are finding their way to pawn shops and auction blocks from the podium, where collectors are scooping them up like rare coins, comic books and other sports artifacts like baseball cards.
“It’s a niche collectible,” Bobby Livingston, an executive vice president of RR Auction, which brokered the sale of the three medals and 18 others on July 22, said on Sunday. “The ones that have come to market in recent years, there isn’t a glut of them.”
One doesn’t have to be Caeleb Dressel, the American swimmer who won five gold medals in Tokyo, to collect medals.
Dozens of former Olympians have resorted to selling their medals over the years. Some have cited financial hardships, while others have said that they were motivated by raising money for charity.
Bill Russell, the Boston Celtics legend, will put his gold medal from the 1956 Olympics, when he served as captain of the U.S. basketball team, on the auction block this fall.
“I’ve decided to sell most of my collection,” Mr. Russell said in a video on the website of Hunt Auctions, the Exton, Pa., auction house that will handle the sale of his medal, some of his N.B.A. championship rings, a warm-up jacket and other memorabilia.
Mr. Russell says that some of the proceeds will go to MENTOR, a charity that he co-founded that promotes youth mentorship opportunities. A donation will also be made to a social justice initiative created by the Celtics.
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