- Simone Biles takes bronze in balance beam final
- Games schedule | Results | Medal table | Full coverage
- Email Barry, tweet or comment below the line
Denmark’s Frederik Rodenberg Madsen has explained why he ploughed into Great Britain’s Charlie Tanfield during the Olympics team pursuit.
“I was so tired at that point I didn’t know if he was 10 or 20 metres away from me” #Olympics #Tokyo2020https://t.co/NG3XuIjeoo
Open water swimming: It’s a subject that has gone – sarcasm alert – resolutely ignored in the mainstream press during lockdown, but open water swimming is quite popular. It’s also an Olympic discipline and in the next hour, Alice Dearing will become the first black female swimmer to have represented Britain at this or any other games. She has endured no shortage of trials, tributaries and tribulations to get this far. Read on …
Related: Team GB swimmer Alice Dearing : ‘At certain times, I have really struggled’
Equestrianism: A good one here. A life-sized sumo-wrestler on obstacle No10 on the showjumping course appears to have frightened a few of the horses participating in today’s individual showjumping event.
“As you come around, you see a big guy’s [butt],” said British rider Harry Charles.
“There’s a lot to look at,” Ireland’s Cian O’Connor added. “It is very realistic,” echoed Israel’s Teddy Vlock.
Martin Belam has been playing an absolute blinder throughout the Games, typing his finger to the bone to bring you his daily Tokyo 2020 Olympics Briefing – your one-stop shop for all the news that’s fit to print and a little that isn’t. If you haven’t signed up already (it’s free), you’re welcome to do so here.
In the meantime, Martin has figured out what is going on to tomorrow, so that I don’t have to.
I simply have a speck of dust in my eye …
What an amazing surprise, my family kept it a secret so I didn’t think they were meeting me at the airport!
Wow it feels good to be home pic.twitter.com/bdEWqbUbGz
Check out our exclusive interview with Kiwi golfer, Lydia Ko! ⛳#StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | #Golfhttps://t.co/WUDApUq8iA
Women’s basketball: The Opals must end their rivals’ 52-match unbeaten streak if they are to progress to the semi-finals in Tokyo, writes Kieran Pender, who is arguably the hardest-working man in Olympic showbusiness. (Caveat: other Guardian journalists are equally hard-working).
Related: Australia face old foes USA after great escape in Olympic women’s basketball | Kieran Pender
Simone Biles: The gymnast didn’t have to retake the beam to uplift her gender, empower survivors or to be that ridiculous phrase, ‘a credit to her race’, writes Andrew Lawrence. Read on …
Related: Simone Biles more than earned the right to win a medal for herself
Equestrianism: Jessica Springsteen, daughter of rock ‘n’ roll legend Bruce and his wife Patti Scialfa, was unsuccessful in her bid to qualify for the final of the Olympic individual jumping finals at Tokyo’s Equestrian Park today.
Making her Olympic debut, the 29-year-old and her mount Don Juan Van De Donkhoeve earned four penalty points for knocking down a rail during their round and failed to make the 30-strong final.
Related: Jessica Springsteen debuts at Olympics, misses individual jumping final
The Guardian view: It’s not often that a bronze medal becomes one of the biggest stories of an Olympic Games, writes Susanna Rustin. But the return of Simone Biles to the Ariake centre in Tokyo on Tuesday to take part in the balance beam final after withdrawing from five other events would have made headlines even had she not ended the session smiling on the podium, clutching medal and sunflowers.
Related: The Guardian view on Simone Biles: a beam of light | Editorial
Athletics: By 10pm the track was bare, the hammer cage was empty, the shot-put circle was deserted,” writes Andy Bull from Tokyo. “Mondo Duplantis had the Olympic stadium all to himself.
Duplantis, 21, had already won the gold, with a vault of 6.02m, a height well beyond the reach of most of the men he had already beaten but which, for him, is little more than a warm-up. Duplantis asked the officials to put the bar up again, all the way to 6.19cm, one centimetre beyond the world record he set in Glasgow last year. With his first attempt, he brushed the bar with his thigh on the way down, then he bailed out of the second, and well, read on …
Related: Mondo Duplantis fails to break world record but strolls to pole-vault gold
An email: “Can cliff diving be an Olympic sport?” asks Kurt Perleberg. Possibly, Kurt. Greg Louganis, a winner of four gold and one silver medal has called for them to be introduced.
“I think that the public is ready, they love it,” he said, in an interview with Rappler in his role as sports director for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. “I think we are. There’s so many athletes. I’m not sure if we’ll get into 2024 (Paris Olympics), but Los Angeles (2028 Olympics), we could have potential possibility.”
An email: “Would the mystery columnist who’s taking credit for Simone Biles’ bronze medal be the same one who said of silver and bronze medals that ‘no real champion would ever feel comfortable having one in their trophy cabinet’?” asks Daivd Mooney.
Simone Biles II: “I did it for me,” she says, although You Know Who may beg to differ.
Related: ‘I did it for me’: Simone Biles returns to Olympics to win bronze on beam
Simone Biles: The American gymnast has received many plaudits for overcoming her demons (and “the twisties”) to take bronze in the women’s individual beam today. Sadly, the real inspiration behind her triumph, the wind beneath her wings, does not seem to have been acknowledged and has been balling his fists, stamping his feet and crying accordingly.
“Of course, I was abused, vilified and shamed for having an opinion that differed from the weak, woke Twitter mob,” wrote a desperate, attention-seeking Daily Mail columnist last spotted scuttling out of a studio in a hissy-fit because he’d been taken to task over his strange obsession with the mental health issues of a different women by a weatherman. “That was to be expected as they despise the whole idea of mental strength. To them, only weakness and victimhood can be celebrated.”
Kon’nichiwa (こんにちは) everybody. It’s been a fun day in Tokyo and there are more days O’Olympic activity to come. We’ll look back on the past day’s action, peek ahead to tomorrow’s and see where the evening (other time zones available) will take us.
Thanks for your company today everyone. It’s been fun. I’m passing the blog over to Barry Glendenning now. You can drop him an email at Barry.Glendenning@theguardian.com or send him a tweet.
How does an Olympian feel a few days after they have won a gold medal, reaching their very own Everest after years of preparation, dedication and single-minded determination? That’s a question we asked the British rower Tom Ransley when he won gold in Rio in 2016.
The race itself flew by in a blur of perfection. I knew my crew were capable of big things but we had to do it on the day, when it really mattered. I share a common trait among the team: an obsessive eye for improvement. This unflinching commitment to ceaselessly perfect my rowing is compatible with the high-performance programme we follow. Every detail is torn apart and every performance analysed to yield the next speed gain.
This perhaps explains the strangeness I felt after the Olympic final. There was very little I would change about how we executed that race. The smallest of details that I did pick up on did not matter. We had won the big one. The one that mattered. The one that I had strived for over so many years. In an instance that machine-like process had stopped. I no longer needed to analyse or to perfect. The end product had been reached. The regimented and planned timetable of training no longer existed. I was free.
Related: Winning Olympic gold was incredible. But I wasn’t prepared for what came next | Tom Ransley
A round-up of a super day for Team GB as they won eight medals, bringing their total at these Games to 43.
For comparison’s sake, they won 67 in Rio five years ago (27 gold, 23 silver and 17 bronze).
Related: Keely Hodgkinson wins GB’s first track medal in day of thrills and drama
Men’s football is an awkward fit at the Olympics – as pointed out by my colleague Jonathan Liew last week – but it’s not all bad.
Dani Alves, now 38, has played every minute for Brazil as they have reached the final. I love him. He’s been winning trophies for nearly 20 years yet he is still motivated enough to stay in shape, captain his country and help Brazil as they go about retaining their Olympic gold.
Related: Dani Alves: ‘If you win without effort, you triumph with no glory at all’
Jessica Springsteen was in action in Tokyo today, no doubt prompting a lot of puns.
Related: Jessica Springsteen debuts at Olympics, misses individual jumping final
Sky Brown will be in action tomorrow. The 13-year-old is the youngest member of the Team GB squad and also the youngest Briton ever to compete at the summer Games. We spoke to her a few weeks ago.
Related: Teenage skateboard superstar Sky Brown: ‘I begged my parents to let me go with Team GB’
Googling yourself is usually a no-no, but fair play to Penny Oleksiak, a winner of seven Olympic medals.
I just googled “Canada’s most decorated Olympian” and my name came up. I want to thank that teacher in high school who told me to stop swimming to focus on school bc swimming wouldn’t get me anywhere. This is what dreams are made of.
The key events for tomorrow, via our daily briefing. (All events are listed in local Tokyo time. Add an hour for Sydney, subtract eight hours for Belfast, 13 hours for New York and 16 hours for San Francisco.)
• 6.30am Marathon swimming – 10km in the open water, that’s roughly two hours worth of swimming, easy-peasy. This is one of those incredibly early starts in Tokyo which makes it very TV-friendly in the UK. Settle down at 10.30pm and stay dry as you watch the 25 women thrash it out for the medal.
My colleague Martin Belam has just sent out his daily briefing on the Games. You can receive Martin’s daily epistle on the action via email every day at 5pm BST.
It’s the perfect place to hear about the day’s action – with sections devoted to Team GB, USA, Australia and the hosts – and it also serves as a great preview for what’s happening next in Tokyo.
Did you know? Over recent years the IOC has relaxed the rules on how close together events have to be held. Paris 2024 is taking full advantage. The sailing regatta will take place in Marseille, some 775km away from France’s capital. But they’ve really pushed the boat out for the surfing – the competition will be held in Teahupo’o, in Tahiti, the largest island of French Polynesia. It’s not even in the same hemisphere.
Related: Tokyo 2020 Olympics briefing: Biles beaming and the double-double
Our writer Barney Ronay was at the Olympic Stadium earlier today to see Ese Brume win Nigeria’s first medal of these Games.
Related: Brume provides Olympic relief for Nigeria after farce and failure
Beth Schriever won a gold medal for her country in Tokyo on Friday in the BMX racing. She is already back home in Finchingfield, in north-west Essex. Her garage is incredible.
Simone Biles on mental health, via our Instagram page.
Volleyball: we now know the line-up for the semi-finals of the men’s volleyball tournament. France beat the world champions Poland today to set up a semi-final against Argentina on Thursday, when Olympic champions Brazil will face the ROC.
Here are the results from the quarter-finals at the Ariake Arena today:
This is interesting. Andrea Vallauri, the designer behind the track at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, says it gives a 1-2% performance advantage to athletes, making it the quickest in history. Karsten Warholm can attest to that.
Related: Tokyo track designer reveals boost from new surface as records fall at Olympics
Emma Hoare has another suggestion for the toughest sport at the Games. I’m enjoying this debate – especially when it throws up an email containing the phrase “a headstrong little hellbeast”.
I’m going to throw modern pentathlon into the ring for this one. Partly because obtaining a level of competence across multiple disciplines is hard, but mainly because of the sheer terrifying, glorious chaos involved in the show jumping element, where competitors get drawn a random horse to ride 20 minutes beforehand. Will you strike it lucky and get something calm and obedient? Or will it be a headstrong little hellbeast who is determined to throw you?
All of this makes for a fantastic spectacle, but I can only imagine how daunting it is for the competitors, who can have years of hard work and preparation gone in seconds as various jumps come crashing down around them!
Our columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett has been writing about Mutaz Barshim, Gianmarco Tamberi and how their shared gold medal in the men’s high jump has upturned preconceptions about success.
Related: A shared Olympic gold defeats the ‘one champion’ narrative | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
Pole vault: Watching Armand Duplantis trying to break his own world record earlier reminded me of this article by Paul Gibson, which we published back in 2015.
It tells the story of how Sergey Bubka broke the world record in 1984 and then spent a decade edging it upwards at a rate that suited his sponsors. It’s a great read – as is Paul’s book The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee, which won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2018.
Related: The strange evolution of the pole vault world record: from Bubka to Lavillenie
Simone Biles has been talking about mental health.
Men’s football: Our report from the second semi-final, which Spain won in extra-time thanks to a lovely goal from Marco Asensio.
Related: Spain to face Brazil in men’s Olympic football final after Asensio sinks Japan
Paris Dickens has been in touch about the toughest sport at the Games. He makes some great points.
“I thought I would drop you a quick email to avoid work for five minutes. Basically the answer is wrestling because:
1: It is as old as the hills as a discipline and the standard increases incrementally every year.
Wrestling: This is a heartwarming story.
Tamyra Mensah-Stock has won an Olympic gold medal for the US and she’s going to give her mum the prize money so she can buy a food truck!
Related: ‘She’s getting a food truck’: Mensah-Stock to spend Olympic prize money on her mom
Damian Johnson has emailed about the toughtest sport at the Games:
Good question Paul. Got to be boxing – there’s a reason they don’t ask them to fight for bronze!
Boxing: Pat McCormack had to settle for a silver medal in the boxing earlier, which will come as a huge disappointment given that he came into the Games as a the favourite. But it’s worth remembering the calibre of his opponent.
Roniel Iglesias is not just a two-time Olympic champion. He’s also one of just 10 boxers in history to have won medals at three Olympic Games (bronze at Beijing in 2008, gold at London in 2012, and another gold today).
Related: Roniel Iglesias joins elite Olympic group after beating Pat McCormack to gold
Men’s basketball: here’s Kieran Pender on the Boomers, who are due an Olympic medal by the sounds of it:
For so long, an Olympic medal has eluded the Australian men’s basketball team, the Boomers. At four Olympics, spread across four decades, the Australians have reached the semi-finals only to lose and then lose again in the bronze medal clash. Most recently, at the 2016 Rio Games, the Australians lost out on bronze to Spain by one point following a questionable foul call.
At Tokyo 2020, a medal for Australia remains two matches and at least one win away. But the Boomers are now guaranteed another chance at a medal after beating Argentina in the Olympic quarter-finals on Tuesday night to book a blockbuster semi-final clash with the United States. If the Boomers can beat the reigning champions – who they defeated in a pre-Games warm-up in Las Vegas – they will play for a gold medal on Saturday. Lose to the Americans and Australia will face either France or Slovenia in yet another battle for bronze.
Related: Boomers beat Argentina to set up Olympic basketball clash with USA
Some of our favourite photos from Tokyo today. The javelin one is my pic of the day.
Related: Tokyo Olympics 2020: day 11 – in pictures
Climbing: Mickaël Mawem of France has qualified in first place for the inaugural sport climbing final on Thursday. He finished with 33 points. His brother Bassa has also reached the final.
Here are the eight finalists for the men’s event:
William Fotheringham has been writing about the end of the goldrush for Team GB.
On a day that looks to have marked the end of Great Britain’s dominance of track cycling at Olympic level, there were symbols aplenty that the world has moved on, beyond the bald facts of the medal table. Dramatic crashes involving the men’s and women’s team pursuit squads closed the run of Olympic Games when one British gold medal followed another in seamless style, the hallmark of the track action in Beijing, London and Rio.
In all the chaos, the sprinter Jason Kenny became Britain’s most decorated Olympian with his eighth medal in total, a silver in the team sprint, putting him level with Bradley Wiggins; Kenny remains level with Chris Hoy on six golds. While his wife, Laura, pushed her medal tally upwards with a silver in the team pursuit, Tokyo marked the end of her remarkable unbeaten Olympic run. It will be scant consolation for an athlete of her competitive spirit but it required an astonishing world record from Germany to deny her a fifth gold in five attempts.
Related: Crash-packed day marks moment the world slipped past GB on the track | William Fotheringham
On the subject of the toughest sports at the Olympics, T K Narayanan has been in touch via email …
This same thought has been running through my mind since the Olympics began. At first I thought sailing was tough because of the core strength required for 10 rounds. Then, seeing Simone Biles pulling out I realised that I can’t even hold on to a horizontal bar for more than five seconds. But seeing sports climbing today, I am confused. How about artistic swimming for the toughest sport? At the moment cycling and running looks easy.
Pole vault: Harry Coppell has been talking to the BBC about finishing seventh in the pole vault final and his experience in Tokyo:
It has just been amazing, I am still in a little bit of disbelief that I was in an Olympic final. But I went out and I jumped as well as I could. I am a little bit gutted to not get the PB because that would have put me in the fight for a medal but I am just so happy. It has been brilliant.
Kurt Perleberg has also sent me an intriguing question via email:
Who will win the most medals at these Olympics: China or America?
Related: Tokyo 2020 Olympics: full medal table
An interesting email from Ian McCourt, who asks:
Hello Paul. How are you? What, do you think, is the most difficult Olympic sport to master? Given I’ve the strength and flexibility of a space, I’d say anything to do with gymnastics. Thanks, Ian.
Men’s football: Spain are into the final after a 1-0 win over Japan!
Marco Asensio came off the bench and scored the only goal of the game in the 115th minute to set up a final against Brazil on Saturday. It was a nice goal. He collected the ball at the corner of the 18-yard box, swivelled and sent a shot past the Japan keeper and into the far corner.
Men’s football: Spain have taken a 1-0 lead in their semi-final against Japan. We are into injury time in extra-time.
Anita Wlodarczyk has won gold in the hammer!
Anita Wlodarczyk has made history in the hammer, winning her third gold medal in the event. She was the champion in 2012 and 2016, and has now retained her title again. Of the top 30 hammer throws in history, she owns 27 of them.
For the THIRD Olympics, Anita Włodarczyk of #POL wins women’s hammer throw gold!
She’s the first woman to win an individual #Olympics athletics event three times in a row! #Athletics@WorldAthletics | #StrongerTogether | #Tokyo2020 | #Gold pic.twitter.com/NTv6sRSdHH
Gymnastics: Simone Biles has been channelling Walter White after picking up a bronze medal in the beam final.
It wasn’t easy pulling out of all those competitions. People just thought it was easy, but I physically and mentally was not in the right head space and I didn’t want to jeopardise my health and my safety because, at the end of the day, it’s not worth it.
My mental and physical health is above all medals that I could ever win. So to be clear, to do beam, which I didn’t think I was going to be, just meant the world to be back out there. And I wasn’t expecting to walk away with the medal. I was just going out there doing this for me.
I think it should be talked about a lot more, especially with athletes, because I know some of us are going through the same things and we’re always told to push through it. But we’re all a little bit older now and we can kind of speak for ourselves. At the end of the day, we’re not just entertainment, we’re humans and there are things going on behind the scenes that we’re also trying to juggle with as well on top of sports.
Related: ‘I did it for me’: Simone Biles returns to Olympics to win bronze on beam
Men’s football: It’s currently goalless in the semi-final between Japan and Spain, who are into extra-time. This could be going to penalties.
They are competing for a place in the final against defending champions Brazil, who beat Mexico on penalties earlier today to reach their third consecutive final. Dani Alves, who is now 38, took the first penalty in the shootout.
Pole vault: Mondo Duplantis is trying to break his own world record of 6.18m. He’s had two attempts at 6.19m.
It looked as if he had done it first time round but he clipped the bar. He didn’t come close in his second attempt. Now for the third …
The full story as Elaine Thompson-Herah becomes the first woman in history to retain the sprint double.
Related: Elaine Thompson-Herah strikes second gold of Tokyo 2020 in 200m final
Pole vault: Mondo Duplantis wins gold!
Duplantis has won gold but he’s not done. He’s going for a new world record of 6.19m and has come so close in his first jump. The 21-year-old from Sweden flew over but caught the bar on the way back down. He has two more attempts and looks like he will get this.
The new British record holder in the women’s 800 metres.
@keelyhodgkinson @damekellyholmes #TeamGB pic.twitter.com/4C5MJ2mfET
Women’s 800 metres: the full story as Athing Mu becomes the first woman from the US to win gold in the 800m since Madeline Manning in 1968.
Related: Athing Mu races to gold in women’s 800m as Keely Hodgkinson takes silver
Women’s 200 metres: Elaine Thompson-Herah has run the second fastest time in history. Her Jamaica teammate, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, was fourth.
Here’s the full result.
Women’s 200 metres final: Elaine Thompson-Herah wins it for Jamaica. That’s two golds in Rio and two more in Tokyo.
Christine Mboma was second and Gabby Thomas third.
Women’s 800 metres: It’s worth noting that Keely Hodgkinson’s silver medal time of 55.88 beat Kelly Holmes’ national record, which had stood since 1995. Wow.
3 August – #Athletics – Women’s 800m
Athing Mu
Keely Hodgkinson
Raevyn Rogers#UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Olympics | #Tokyo2020
Women’s 200 metres: now for some speed.
Elaine Thompson-Herah beat Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m on Saturday and is hoping to do the double again, having won both races in Rio in 2016. She is aiming to become the first woman in history to win the 100m and 200m in back-to-back Olympics. Thompson-Herah matched her personal best of 21.66 seconds in the semi-finals, so is on form. She’s the woman to beat.
Women’s 800 metres: here are the times. Look at the gap between third and fourth. I’m so disappointed for Jemma Reekie.
1) Athing Mu (USA) – 1:55.21
2) Keely Hodgkinson (GBR) – 1:55.88
3) Raevyn Rogers (USA) – 1:56.81
4) Jemma Reekie (GBR) – 1:56.90
5) Wang Chunyu (CHN) – 1:57.00
6) Habitam Alemu (ETH) – 1:57.56
7) Alex Bell (GBR) – 1:57.66
8) Natoya Goule (JAM) – 1:57.66
Pole vault: Meanwhile, in the men’s pole vault final Armand Duplantis has cleared 5.92m on his first try. Duplantis, Chris Nilsen and Thiago Braz are guaranteed medals.
Harry Coppell has missed out on a medal. And Renaud Lavillenie is also out of the competition.
Keely Hodgkinson, the 19-year-old silver medalist, says: “That was such a good race. It was so open. I wanted to leave it all out there and I did that. I am so happy. I want to thank my amazing team and family.” She’s in tears. “I don’t cry!” she says. This is fantastic. Hodgkinson has set a new British record and she cannot believe it. “Thank you, thank you,” she says, tears running down her face.
Jemma Reekie, who finished fourth, says: “I wanted to win but sometimes you have to learn, and Paris is not too far away. I obviously wanted to do better. But I think I’ll look back in a few years’ time and realise how well I have done.”
Women’s 800 metres: the top five finishers all ran personal bests. Jemma Reekie will be gutted – she looked destined for a medal right until the final stride.
Women’s 800m: Athing Mu takes an early lead and tries to win this race from the front. She’s first after a lap and extends her lead on the final straight.
Mu wins gold! Hodgkinson takes silver. And Team GB just miss out on bronze. Jemma Reekie was third on the final straight but she lost out at the line to the American Raevyn Rogers.
Women’s 800m: Athing Mu, the 19-year-old American who ran 1:58.07, in her semi-final is the clear favourite.
She has the quickest time this year – 1:56.07 – and is aiming to win the US’s first medal in the event since 1988 and their first gold since Madeline Manning won gold in Mexico City in 1968.
Women’s 800m: For the first time in history, three British runners are competing in the women’s 800 metres final.
Keely Hodgkinson won her semi-final with a time of 1:59.12; Jemma Reekie came second in her semi-final with a time of 1:59.77; and Alexandra Bell’s time of 1:58.83 – the fastest of the three – guaranteed her place in the final.
Men’s 200 metres: We are in for a treat in the final
Erriyon Knighton. Remember the name. The 17-year-old won his 200 metres semi-final with ease. He spent the last third of the race looking around to see how his competitors were faring. That was very impressive indeed. He doesn’t turn 18 until January.
Thanks Geoff and hello all. Drop me an email at Paul.Campbell@theguardian.com or send me a tweet.
That’s me done. Paul Campbell is next in the relay. Head for home.
200 metres: Huge run for Andre de Grasse! He clocks 19.73 in getting the 200 done, with a great surge of speed down the straight. Still had a bit in the tank. Kenneth Bednarek of the USA comes second. And I think that Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago will sneak into the final with his 20.10 in third spot.
Pole vault: Lavillenie does come back and try to jump. Tries to clear 5.87. Doesn’t get it and looks in great discomfort and distress.
200 metres: The second men’s semi, a faster time than the first, and a very close finish between three on the line, I think it was Canada’s Aaron Brown with a late surge, longer strides, and a real push for the tape. He gets in first, Joseph Fahnbulleh for Liberia second, and Noah Lyles for the USA third, all in 19.99 with only milliseconds separating them.
Pole vault: Obiena gets to re-take his jump, but hits the bar. He’s out. Sasma of Turkey strikes out as well, with Oleg Zernikel of Germany. Lavillenie, the Frenchman, is still eligible, but I think he’s pulled out with his bad ankle. He was icing it before. Assuming which, there are seven jumpers left in the final, three with a perfect record so far.
Duplantis, Karalis, Lightfoot, Lisek, Nilsen, Thiago, and GB’s Harry Coppell.
They beat Germany 3-1, holding that lead. Lachlan Sharp was the final scorer. They’ll play Belgium on Thursday!
200 metres: The first men’s semi, and… Erriyon Knighton wins in 20.02. The 17 year old was checking on his opposition the whole way to the line, looking sideways repeatedly. Indicating he has faster times in him. Qualifies ahead of Rasheed Dwyer of Jamaica. Divine Oduduru runs third in 20.16, but only the top two go through automatically.
Water polo: The Australian women’s team goes down to Russia… 8 to 9! Engineered a comeback, but couldn’t quite get there in the quarters.
Pole vault: Another couple bite the dust, three failed jumps. Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany, and Ernest John Obiena of Philippines is protesting after he pulled out of jumping and ran under the bar – he said that the clock for his jump started while the bar was being moved. There’s a long discussion.
It doesn’t slow down, does it? Three heats, imminent.
“I can understand your problem understanding the bouldering,” writes Jerry Spring, “but as a climber I can promise you it was a great bouldering round. The four boulders were very contrasting – requiring different kinds of strengths, flexibility, dynamism, problem solving, etc. It’s set up a great lead round – some top names are at serious risk of failing to qualify now, especially because in lead you get no second chance – one slip, one misreading of the route and that’s it… I can’t wait!”
The no second chance thing is exciting. Moreso than a false start in the sprints, anyway.
5000 metres: Marc Scott, David McNeill and others will miss out. The second heat is the much faster heat, and all of the top ten finishers are faster than the second five from the first heat.
Spain – Mohamed KATIR 13:30.10
USA – Paul CHELIMO 13:30.15
Canada – Justyn KNIGHT 13:30.22
Uganda – Jacob KIPLIMO 13:30.40
Uganda – Joshua CHEPTEGEI 13:30.61
Ethiopia – Milkesa MENGESHA 13:31.13
Great Britain – Andrew BUTCHART 13:31.23
USA – Grant FISHER 13:31.80
France – Jimmy GRESSIER 13:33.47
Guatemala – Luis GRIJALVA 13:34.11
Pole vault: Over 5:80 at a first attempt for Armand Duplantis, Emmanouil Karalias (Greece), KC Lightfoot (USA) and Piotr Lisek (Poland).
Over on a second attempt for Christopher Nilsen (USA) and Thiago Braz.
Men’s 5000 metres: We’ve had the first heat of tw, while we’ve been at the pole vault. The top five from each heat qualify, plus the five other fastest across the two heats. The GB and Australian candidates are in that latter group. Here’s the top ten.
Kenya – Nicholas Kipkorir KIMELI 13:38.87
Canada – Mohammed AHMED 13:38.96
USA – William KINCAID 13:39.04
Uganda – Oscar CHELIMO 13:39.07
Burundi – Birhanu BALEW 13:39.42
Water polo: It’s the women’s quarter final over in the polo pool, too. Not far into the third quarter, and Russia lead Australia 6-4.
Hockey: Australia still leading Germany 2-1 in the final quarter of the semi. Tight game.
Sport climbing: The fellow we mentioned earlier, Bassa Mawem, won the speed climbing part earlier. What happens next is they do bouldering, which as far as I could tell consisted of hanging upside down off rocks trying to get onto the next rock. It looked extremely difficult and not very dramatic, in contrast to the speed climbing which looked extremely both. Basically trying to hang onto an almost vertical surface with your fingertips and one toe, that was the bouldering, and you get points for which rocks you touch.
Bassa Mawem bombed out in the bouldering, but his brother Mickael Mawem did really well, so France keeps the lead. At this point they combine the two results, and give everyone a standing, and then do another event called Lead which is basically climbing a wall with really small holds instead of really big ones. And it’s not about how fast you go, but how high you get.
Pole vault: Great Britain’s Harry Coppell and Turkey’s Sasma Ursu both get over the 5.70 jump on a second attempt. Piotr Lisek opts to pass after one fail.
So it’s onto third attempts, and Menno Vloom hits the bar, Netherlands now out of this competition. Bo Kanda Baehre gets over for Germany.
Pole vault: Five jumpers clear 5.70 on their first attempt in the pole, and Thiago Braz from Braz(il) gets it on his second. Armand Duplantis, the Swedish fave, doesn’t bother and conserves his strength. He’ll jump when it’s worth his while.
Boxing: Kári Tulinius emails in. “Hello Geoff, Finland’s Mira Potkonen will become the oldest boxer ever to win a medal at the Olympics, after beating Turkey’s Esta Yildiz in the Women’s Lightweight category. At forty, she’s over the age limit, but got special dispensation because of the year’s delay. She was already somewhat unexpectedly a bronze medalist at Rio 2016, making this achievement even more astounding. And she has a real chance of getting through to the final, too.”
Never too old to throw a few haymakers.
Volleyball: Argentina defeats Italy in an epic to go into the semi-finals, three sets to two. The inventors of Fernet are undone by the principal consumers of Fernet.
Athletics: Lavillenie with a baller move, comes in for his first jump and sails over 5.70. Apparently he has an ankle injury? Hence keeping his jumping to a minimum. He looks pretty pumped.
Athletics: Right then. Men’s pole vault final, anyone? They’re going for gold. A field of 14 competitors, and bad news for Australia early, because Kurtis Marschall has bombed out in straight sets. Three misses at his first height of 5.55 metres. He kept making it over the bar and then clipping it with his torso on the way down. Renaud Lavillenie of France passed up that first jump, and everyone else cleared it.
The team in gold will be playing for gold. Clinical on penalties, scoring four from four past Guillermo Ochoa, while Mexico miss their first two and struggle from there. It’s 4-1 in the end.
Gymnastics: Hashimoto Daiki takes it with a score of 15.066. Japan have had such a good Games, that momentum of a home team surging with them. Tin Srbic of Croatia gets silver, Nikita Nagorrny bronze for Russia.
An excellent effort too by Tyson Bull. Australia doesn’t get a lot of gymnasts into Olympic finals, so getting there and coming fifth is a big achievement.
HASHIMOTO Daiki has won the #gold medal in #ArtisticGymnastics – Men’s All-Around at #Tokyo2020 #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/Fwl8SI05RJ
Hockey: Men’s semi, Australia take the lead 2-1 over Germany. Blake Govers puts in the second.
Football: Going to penalties in the semi between Mexico and Brazil. It’s been an ordinary match through 12o goalless minutes.
Boxing: Defence up, going in, and McCormack is throwing what he can. But Iglesias is good enough to deny him the chance to get any combos going. Standing and slugging, McCormack, with a minute to go. Goes in with a few late swings, and Iglesias tags him one more time for good measure just before the final bell.
Third round goes to McCormack 4-1. But it’s a unanimous decision overall: gold for Cuba!
Boxing: Iglesias snags him with a hard left hand, and McCormack trips over his feet and hits the deck. He looks a little rattled, and ends up in a long clinch with Iglesias, then another. Just trying to buy time for breath? In real trouble here, McCormack, does little with the round aside from skip and sometimes tackle Iglesias into the ropes. Gets a couple of shots in right at the end of the round, including one good one into the body.
The round goes unilaterally to the Cuban.
Boxing: McCormack lands a couple of left-hand jabs in the early exchanges, drawing huge cheers from the crowd. He does the attacking through the first minute or so, then Iglesias goes on the offensive towards the end of the round, McCormack trying to stay out of reach. The judges score the round 4-1 for Iglesias.
Pat McCormack is up right now in the men’s welterweight division against Roniel Iglesias of… Cuba.
Boxing: Cuba forever. Why is Cuba so good at boxing and long jump and not much else, Olympically? Julio la Cruz wins through to the heavyweight gold bout, over Abner Texeira of Brazil.
Basketball: France beat Italy 84-75 in the men’s quarters. The Italy-Argentina volleyball game is in its fifth set. Did you know how long volleyball games went before this Olympics? They’re like Test cricket.
Hockey: First quarter of the semi-final between Australia and Germany men, and it’s 1-1. Brand for Australia, Windfeder for Germany.
Boxing: Australia’s Harry Garside wins through to a lightweight semi-final too, beating Kazakhstan’s Zakir Safiullin. That’s a bronze in the bag with the chance to go higher.
Here’s our other coverage on the women’s beam, in case this page wasn’t thorough enough.
Related: Tokyo Olympics 2020 gymnastics: Simone Biles takes bronze in women’s beam final – live!
Great Britain snags a medal in the men’s flyweight over Cuba’s Yosbany Veitia. “Great scrap,” is the pithy summary from my colleague Daniel Harris. He’s into the gold bout.
Football: Looks like we’re heading for extra time in the men’s Mexico-Brazil semi. Into injury time and it’s still 0-0.
Quarter finals: France is up by 6 points against Italy in the basketball, fourth quarter. Denmark beat Norway in the handball, and it’s two sets to one in favour of Argentina in the volleyball.
One and two for China, like they did in the men’s rings competition last night. The balance beam produces. Chenchen Guan finally cracks a smile as she is directed to look up at the scores. She has been impassive throughout, but realises eventually that she’s a gold medallist. Tang set the early standard.
Biles matches her result from Rio four years ago with bronze, after a few absurdly intense days for the American champion. It’s remarkable that she got herself right for tonight, and was still able to perform as she did. It was notable too that the dismount for Biles didn’t involve any twists, the thing she’s been having trouble with. It was a straight double-back pike, meaning it went in a straight line throughout. The hampered Elsabeth Black comes in fourth, also a commendable result.
Gymnastics: Final competitor on the beam! Chinese national champion at 16 years of age. Guan has a slight stumble though on her early aerial work which is a round-off layout, and looks hesitant through a couple of the connections thereafter, stuttering after a handspring front. High degree of difficulty though at 6.600, with a couple of complex series, and then a perfect dismount. That should be in the medals, and Biles beams while giving the teenager a big hug…
It’s gold. Yes, it is. 14.633, although her execution score isn’t as high as her teammate Tang’s, that difficulty multiplier takes her to the top.
Gymnastics: Flavia Saraiva is up seventh for Brazil, an excellent competitor… and she stumbles too! Nearly falls early in her routine after a back layout. Again a slip down the side, and has to put her hands down to save herself. That all but rules her out of a medal already, and she looks deflated as she has another balance check, then a dismount landing that isn’t very clean.
Saraiva scores 13.133. Tang and Biles are the two guaranteed medallists, with Chenchen Guan next to attempt to join them.
Gymnastics: Nobody has got through completely cleanly so far. Vladislava Urazova produces a dramatic end to her routine but had a three little hesitations or balance checks through the middle. The Russian scores 12.733. Tang is guaranteed a medal, with two gymnasts to come.
Gymnastics: Another little side-slip from the fifth gymnast, Ashikara Urawara, who also stays on and finishes her routine well. A lot of style in the dismont. It feels so cruel, this sport, just looking for tiny errors in astonishing human achievements. Her execution score is 7.833, meaning a final score of 13.733 and fifth place so far.
Gymnastics: Sunisa Lee follows Biles, her USA teammate. Winner of the gold at the all-around, such a special moment that was. She does an ambitious series of layouts… but stumbles! Almost loses balance off the side of the beam completely. She recovers it and stays on, but that will hurt her with deductions. Had to throw her back leg right up above head height to counterbalance and stay on the beam after her other foot had nearly slipped off the side. Afterwards, though, she’s still smiling under the mask. She’s done her best and had a wonderful Games.
13.866 places her fourth.
Gymnastics: Simone Biles up third, and she gets such an ovation. The beam is her least preferred event of the four where she regularly contends: vault and floor are where she exceeds everyone else, meaning the all-around can be almost a formality when she’s able to compete. But she puts together an outstanding routine tonight. Smooth as you like, only the one slight twitch for balance in her whole routine. She looks fluent and confident, but the huge embrace with her teammate afterwards tells you how much pressure she has been under, and how nervous they have felt for her.
Her score comes through as 14.000. Second place with five gymnasts to come.
Gymnastics: Xijing Tang of China is up second on the beam. Extremely graceful performance, with a bold mount and a perfect dismount. Scores a very strong 14.233.
Around the grounds: Men’s volleyball quarters, one set apeice between Italy and Argentina. Men’s basketball quarters, Italy and France 42-43 in the second quarter. Men’s handball quarters, Denmark lead Norway 23-19.
Gymnastics: Elsabeth Black of Canada is first up on the beam. She hurt her ankle in training a few days ago, had to withdraw from the all-around final, and is obviously struggling to even stay up there on the beam. But is determined to get through a routine. She scores a modest 13.866, but finishing it is what she really wanted. Does that bravely.
Football: The men’s semi-final as well. Nothing to report so far, 0-0 between Brazil and Mexico in the second half.
Gymnastics: The women’s beam final is about to start, and Simone Biles will be competing. She’s out there now getting ready.
On the below point, Guy Wilkinson emails in.
“Looks like 3 cyclists in a group have to be within 1 metre of the caught rider – whether this is 1st or last is unclear. UCI regulations 3.2.081: “A team is caught when the opposing team (at least 3 riders riding together) arrives at or within a distance of one metre of it.”
Cycling: Formally, there is still no result between Denmark and Great Britain in the men’s team pursuit. Denmark is apparently arguing that point catching the last rider means the end of the race. However, usually ‘catching’ them doesn’t mean putting them through the floor of the velodrome.
Silver again for Great Britain. They were never in that race, their three riders broke up almost immediately and that means they couldn’t help one another around the circuit. The Dutch moved as one orange menace. They burn through in a new Olympic record, 41:369.
Cycling: It doesn’t come together for Australia in the men’s team sprint final, with France taking the bronze medal. Nearly two seconds faster than Australia, and a second outside the world record. Huge French support in the stands as well, must be a lot of other athletes stopping by or something. Australia’s team broke up on the circuit.
Sports climbing: Thank you climbers! I have received approximately 36 emails telling me about the strappy thing. Now I can tell you. This is the wonder of the internet. The strappy thing is called an auto-belay. It retracts automatically as the climber ascends, so there is a very light tension but not enough to give them any lift. If they put weight on it then it rolls out the other way. And if it moves quickly, as when they fall, it locks off and holds them. It is very much a big giant boingy seatbelt.
So these human beings floating up a vertical 15 metre (not 50) fake rock face are floating entirely under their own steam.
Cycling: Another update from reader Thomas Atkins. “Chris Boardman said on the BBC that he believed the Danes had won as they had caught the rearmost GB rider just before they crashed, hence they won the race. You don’t have to finish the 4k if you catch the team in front.”
This is a new development. You can win a race by just torpedoing straight into the back of the next rider. That’s what you’d have to call a flex.
Another world record! They’re falling like pennies from heaven. The Germans faster than ever before: 4:04:402, over six seconds ahead of the British. They’ll have to settle for silver, but what a duel it has been all day. The Great Britain reign over this event comes to an end, they’ve dominated it since 2012, but there is now a different Olympic champion.
The parallel bars final for the men has a late twist, fittingly, as Lukas Dauser competes last and lands a 15.700 to take silver. Ferhat Arican is something of an anomaly as a Turkish gymnast, and he takes home a medal as well. But Jingyuan Zou’s routine was astounding: difficulty 6.9, execution 9.333.
Cycling: The UCI Track Cycling twitter account says that Denmark will ride for gold in the men’s team pursuit. Doesn’t say why, and there’s still no formal result on the Olympics website.
Men’s Team Pursuit First Round ✅
It will be Italy vs Denmark for the GOLD #Tokyo2020 | #Olympics | #CyclingTrack
Gymnastics: The men’s parallel bars final is well underway, China in gold and bronze positions so far.
Cycling: Women’s team pursuit, and Australia very narrowly beat Italy for fith spot.
Cycling: Thomas Atkins is watching a different broadcast to me. On his telly, regarding the men’s team pursuit heat with the crash, “they’re saying that the Danes would be recorded as the winners of the pursuit, but they’re in danger of being disqualified for riding into the back of the opposition (and, presumably, being berks about it afterwards). I’d be surprised if GB got to ride in the final here.”
There’s still no time recorded for either team by the IOC. But one team actually finished the race, the other didn’t, and one team caused the crash. Still waiting, even Kieran Pender at the velodrome has no word yet.
Cycling: The women’s team pursuit medals are about to be contested. USA and Canada for bronze, Germany and Great Britain for gold.
Sport climbing: Can someone who knows anything about this sport email and let me know: does the strap thing help pull them up at all? Is there any tension in it? Or is it slack and purely for safety? Like, it definitely retracts as they climb, but I can’t tell if it’s… boingy, for want of a better word.
Sport climbing: Bassa Mawem of France has basically sprinted up that vertical wall in 5.42 seconds. So maybe the wall is 50 metres but surely the whole climb can’t be 50 metres? Otherwise they’re climbing almost as fast as Olympic sprinters can run.
Ah, ok, they said fifteen metres. That makes much more sense. Otherwise these guys should be climbing on the athletics track.
Sport climbing: We’ve got a big wall. Apparently it’s 50 metres high. We’ve got a bunch of coloured plastic indoor-rock-climbing bits sticking out of it. And we’ve got athletes in harnesses attacked to some sort of strap to stop them falling down if they lose their grip.
And somehow, these human beings are going Spiderman up that wall in a time of… 6.19 seconds is the fastest so far. That’s absurd.
Sport climbing: <=== Now here’s one I’m excited about. My first look at this particular sport. It’s nice to come into something completely fresh. This is the men’s combined speed qualification. Let’s have some first impressions.
Cycling: And another Olympic record, as the Dutch go around in 41.431. So Netherlands and Great Britain will race for gold in the men’s team sprint, Australia and France for bronze. The Australians can’t take a trick.
Cycling: Records as well as riders keep tumbling, this time in the men’s team sprint. They’re racing to see who will get into the gold medal race later today. Australia set an Olympic record with 42.103 to beat Russia, but then Great Britain betters that record with 41.829 to beat Germany.
Cycling: Still no confirmation on that last race result, which dictates who will face Italy for gold. But the crash certainly wasn’t GB’s fault, they were just riding along in front, being well beaten. Madsen just didn’t look up, which velodrome cyclists rarely do for aerodynamics. But you’d think that having a look around once in a while mightn’t be a bad idea.
Cycling: This is extraordinary. The Danish team was absolutely flying. They were towelling up the Brits. Both teams had dropped down to three riders, and the third British rider had broken well off the back, lagging behind his teammates. The Danes were about to lap them, in the heats of the team pursuit. Presumably, Frederik Madsen didn’t know he was about to lap GB, because he ran straight up the back of Charlie Tanfield. Full speed, crashed them both to the deck. Then the Danish rider had a tantrum and yelled and stomped around, while the bruised and dirtied British rider got back on his bike and finished the lap. That means three British riders finished, and only two Danes – which only leaves one result, surely?
Cycling: Great Britain and Denmark are racing for a spot in the gold medal showdown, and there’s a collision! A rider from each team down.
Cycling: Another Olympic record, this time in the heats for the team pursuit for the Australian men. They had that crash yesterday that means they had to retake their race and come fifth in qualifying. This means the best they can do in the finals would be bronze, but they give themselves a good shot with 3:44:902.
Italy follow that up with a fierce ride against New Zealand, and that’s the world record! They fly into the gold medal race with 3:42:307, juuuust edging out the Kiwis with 3:42:397. So NZ would have had a world record in any other race at any other time in this event, but came up against a team that went a few hundredths better.
Cycling: An Olympic record for the Netherlands men’s team sprint riders in the qualifying for that event, coming in at 42.134 seconds. Great Britain qualify second, Australia third, then France, New Zealand, Russia, Germany, Poland.
Max Laugher collects third place in the men’s 3-metre springboard, holding his nerve near the end with his highest degree of difficulty for the finals: 3.9. He registered 87.75 points for that dive, 518 in total.
There was pressure on the eventual gold medallist next, as his compatriot Zongyuan Wang scored 102.6 with an incredible forward 4-and-a-half somersault dive, landed to perfection. But Siyi Xie performed exactly the same dive and registered exactly the same score with his sixth and final appearance on the board, and retained his overall lead to take gold.
Cycling: Ok, scrap that previous post, it’s already out of date. Things move fast at the velodrome. That’s kind of the point, but still. They’re handing out world records like Oprah cars. The old record, the 4:10ish mark that Great Britain set at the Rio Olympics and that got broken by the German women yesterday? That was bettered today by Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, Great Britain, Italy, and Germany.
The new world record from yesterday was 4:07:307. Team GB just beat that with 4:06:748, then the Germans took it back again in the very next heat with 4:06:159.
Thanks Scott, off we go again. The 3m springboard final is well underway for the men, and the velodrome is back in action. Let’s start with an update from Kieran Pender who is currently at the latter.
Australia’s women’s team pursuit squad have hit back after a sluggish time yesterday to beat New Zealand in the first round on day two of the Tokyo 2020 track cycling action. The team’s time of 4:09.992 would have broken the previous world record, but the mark had already been smashed yesterday by Germany on Monday with 4:07.307. Australia’s seventh placing in qualifying yesterday means they are no longer in gold medal contention, but can race for bronze if their time just now is in the top two times (excluding the two teams that race for gold). They will be keeping their fingers crossed with the other races up now.
And that is all from me. Geoff Lemon will take over from here. Thanks for your company on an eventful day. Let’s do it again tomorrow.
Sailing: not another gold medal for Team GB but it’s still a medal as John Gimson and Ana Burnet claim silver in the mixed nacra 17 event. Argentina won the medal race ahead of Denmark and USA but the gold medal went to Italy duo Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti. The bronze medal goes to Germany.
It’s been quite a day on the water for Team GB.
BREAKING: @TEAMGBNACRA have SILVER at Tokyo2020 in the Nacra 17#Sailing #TeamGB #Tokyo2020 #Olympics @TeamGB @Tokyo2020 @Olympics pic.twitter.com/1oJU6oEYJ4
Diving: Team GB’s Jack Laugher is in fine form in the men’s 3m springboard final, sitting in bronze medal position after the fourth round of dives. The dominant Chinese pair, Siyi Xie and Zongyuan Wang, the men’s synchronised 3m springboard gold medal winners, are presently first and second respectively.
Another sailing gold for Team GB – their six straight in the Olympic finn class – as Scott finishes fourth in the medal race, a good enough result to secure gold and defend his Olympic title. Silver goes to Hungary’s Zsombor Berecz and bronze goes to Spaniard Joan Cardona Mendez.
It was a second sailing gold for Team GB in barely an hour after Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell’s win in the 49er class.
Related: Team GB’s sailing super Tuesday starts with dramatic double gold
Men’s basketball: well, they didn’t have it all their own way but USA have advanced to the semi-finals courtesy of a 95-81 win over Spain.
The Spanish, who will now be denied an Olympic medal for the first time since 2004, started much the brighter and led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter before the Americans flexed their muscles in what was a fairly dominant second half. Kevin Durant hit 29 points for USA, improving his shooting accuracy to 59% by game’s end, but the star of the show played for the losing team, Ricky Rubio scoring a remarkable 38 points.
Sailing: Australia’s run of gold medals in or on the water looks set to continue, with sailors Matthew Belcher and William Ryan establishing an unassailable lead in the 470 class ahead of the medal race on Wednesday.
The duo finished second behind South Korea in the ninth race, before placing eighth in the final race on Tuesday. Their lead ahead of the fleet stands at 20 points following the conclusion of heat racing, meaning that unless they are disqualified or suffer a penalty during the medal race on Wednesday, Belcher and Ryan will take gold.
The Australians’ expected success at Enoshima Yacht Harbour will see Belcher return to the top step of the 470 podium. The 38-year-old won gold at London 2012, sailing with Malcolm Page. Seeking to defend his crown with new teammate Ryan in Rio, the Australians were bettered by a Croatian boat and had to settle for the silver medal.
But following a remarkably consistent series of performances in Tokyo – the pair won line honours in three races and only finished outside the top five in the final race – Belcher will again be crowned Olympic champion, while Ryan will collect his first Olympic gold.
Once awarded, the pair’s gold medal will be Australia’s 15th of these Games. Only one has come in a land-based sport – the new Olympic discipline of BMX freestyle – with the remainder coming from swimming (nine gold medals), rowing (two), sailing (one) and canoe slalom (one). With Belcher and Ryan’s gold, the Australian Olympic team are now just two medals away from equalling their best ever Games haul – 17 gold medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Cycling: In breaking news, Ed Clancy has called time on his career and will not compete for Team GB in the team pursuit. Here is a snippet from a statement released by British Cycling:
British Cycling has this morning confirmed that Ed Clancy has withdrawn from the remainder of the team pursuit competition as a result of an on-going back and sciatica issue, marking the end of a fantastic career spanning 20 years which has seen him become the most successful team pursuit rider in history.
Speaking of his withdrawal from the team pursuit, Clancy said: “I’m absolutely gutted that my Olympic career has ended this way, but it would be unfair of me to try to carry on now I have aggravated my back injury. Ultimately, I want the rest of the lads to build on the hard work we have done over the past year and a half and give them the best possible chance of making it on to the podium. I will be supporting them all the way.”
Not to labour the point, but Alex Porter, who came off his bike in that horrific crash at the velodrome last night, has spoken about the moment when his handlebars snapped off the frame of his bike in a freak incident that is now the subject of an investigation.
The Australian, who lost most of the skin down the centre of his face and a “good chunk” off his arm in the crash, said he was “really angry”.
Okay, if you’ve been doing something other than devoting your life to the Olympics and/or this liveblog – and I do believe there are people out there who fit this bill – here’s an update on what’s happened today.
Diving: the semi-finals of the men’s 3m springboard took place earlier today and we are not that far away from the final taking place.
Team GB have a strong hand with Jack Laugher and James Heatly qualifying from the semis in the top four positions. But both will do well to get the better of Chinese pair Siyi Xie and Zongyuan Wang, the the men’s synchronised 3m springboard gold medal winners.
A little summary of the action so far for fans of Team GB just waking up:
Britannia rules the waves. It’s kind of official now.
Related: Team GB’s sailing super Tuesday starts with dramatic gold for men’s 49er pair
Men’s basketball: down by as many as 11 points at one stage, USA have roared back in their quarter-final against Spain to level affairs at 43 points apiece at half-time. Anyone who thought all the Americans had to do was rock up to advance to the semis is sorely mistaken. Kevin Durant is the leading points scorer for USA with 12 – though with a lowly 40% accuracy – while Spain’s Rubio Ricky leads all scorers with 13. Big second half coming up.
Last night’s spectacular crash in the velodrome, when Alex Porter’s handlebar appeared to snap clean off his bike mid-race, has prompted AusCycling to launch an investigation into the rare technical mishap.
“Discussion concerning what caused the incident is understandable, but it is clear that it will take some time to establish exactly what happened,” AusCycling said in a statement on Tuesday. “While the immediate focus is on the success of the Australian cycling team across the remainder of the Olympic program, there will be a thorough investigation and review of the factors involved in the incident.”
There was nothing in it in the medal race as Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell held off Germany by little more than a few centimetres. The win hands Team GB their first Olympic gold in this class and relegates the dominant New Zealand duo Peter Burling and Blair Tuke to silver medal position. After a disappointing day on the track for Team GB, this is just the tonic.
Men’s basketball: it’s quarter-finals time at Tokyo 2020. In the first knockout, Slovenia thrashed Germany 94-70 and it is quarter-time between USA and Spain … the Spanish leading 21-19.
Olympic Boxing in a stadium without crowds at the Kokugikan Arena is a unique experience. Every punch and audible exertion echoes across the arena while the atmosphere is provided only by the boxers’ countrymen and women from the stands.
As Carlo Paalam of the Philippines defeated Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov in the men’s 48-52kg quarterfinal earlier, Paalam fell to his knees in joy while his compatriots in the stands brandished their flags and screamed loudly.
Canoe sprint: before we leave the sparkling waters of the Sea Forest Waterway, let’s tie up some loose ends from today’s medal races.
In addition to Lisa Carrington’s heroics, Cuba won gold in the men’s canoe double 1000m from China and Germany. And Hungarian Balint Kopasz added an Olympic gold to his world title when winning the men’s kayak single 1000m from compatriot Adam Varga and Portuguese Fernando Pimenta. Australia’s Thomas Green struggled into seventh place.
Balint Kopasz wins gold in the men’s kayak single 1000m as #HUN take the first two spots on the podium!@planetcanoe #CanoeSprint pic.twitter.com/rMPDDH8kNz
Canoe sprint: Lisa Carrington, take a bow. Carrington, and by extension New Zealand, have had quite a day at the Sea Forest Waterway.
First there was her win in the women’s kayak single 200m final – in an Olympic best time of 38.120. But not content with that, Carrington then teamed with Caitlin Regal to win gold from Poland and Hungary in the women’s kayak double 500m – also in an Olympic best time (1:35.785).
A disastrous Olympic Games for Team GB’s sprinters became even worse on Wednesday as Adam Gemili tore his hamstring on the warm-up track – and then took nearly two minutes to hobble around his 200m heat.
With Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake also failing to get out of his 200m heat it meant that the litany of woes – which has included Zharnel Hughes false-starting in the 100m final – continued.
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya: An update on the Belarusian sprinter’s situation has come from the IOC, which is awaiting a report from the Belarusian National Olympic Committee later today.
Spokesperson Mark Adams said the IOC has twice spoken with the athlete on Tuesday as it attempts to get all the facts before taking any further action.
Canoe sprint: some canoe sprint? Why not. And it’s yet more gold for New Zealand and the incredible Lisa Carrington, along with Caitlin Regal, win the women’s kayak double ahead of Hungary and Poland. Australian duo Alyssa Bull and Alyce Wood cross the line in fifth.
Women’s javelin throw: so before we leave the athletics behind for the time being, USA’s Maggie Malone and Australia’s Kelsey-Lee Barber were the standout performers in Group B qualifying. But there will be no final appearance for Czech champ Barbora Spotakova, the 40-year-old finishing ninth in the group and failing to qualify for the final.
Apologies, I’m a little flushed after that 400m hurdles final. Now, back to business. Or monkey business more like. And here’s me thinking only rock stars trashed rooms.
Those “young people”, eh Ian Chesterman?!?!
Related: Australian athletes let off for damaging Olympic village rooms as missing mascots turn up
And in world record time if you don’t mind. The great Norwegian himself looks stunned. As well he might. Warholm cleared away from USA’s Rai Benjamin in the closing 20 metres to stop the clock at an utterly astounding 45.94. Wow. He has smashed through the 46-second barrier. Speechless.
Quite a remarkable performance – one of the greatest the Olympic Games has seen – and a remarkable race for that matter. Warholm was the star turn, of course, but silver medalist Benjamin ran an area record of 46.17, bronze medalist Alison dos Santos (BRA) did the same in 46.72 and area records or national records were run all the way down to seventh place.
Huge final jump of 7.00m from the German to add an Olympic gold to her world title. USA’s Brittney Reece (6.97m) was in front for most of the session but could not better Mihambo’s last effort and will have to make do with silver, which she won from Nigeria’s Ese Brume on countback.
USA’s Tara Davis was not far off with a best jump of 6.84m in sixth place but she was inconsolable after the event. Australia’s Brooke Stratton (6.83m, seventh) jumped well while Jazmin Sawyers (6.80m, eighth) and Abigail Irozuru (6.51m, 11th) rounded out Team GB’s performance in the event.
Women’s long jump final:
Women’s long jump final: Brittney Reese, Ese Brume and Malaika Mihambo officially will finish in the medals. But in what order? Let’s see.
Women’s long jump final: into the final round of jumps now. USA’s Brittney Reese is still holding sway with that jump of 6.97m, ahead of Nigeria’s Ese Brume and Germany’s Malaika Mihambo.
There will be no medal for Australia’s Brooke Stratton, whose best jump of 6.83m was good but not good enough to finished higher than seventh. One spot higher sits USA’s Tara Davis with a best of 6.84m. Not long now for the remaining jumpers to make a charge at the top three, or indeed for the top three to change their order.
Men’s 200m heats: Canadian Aaron Brown took out the fifth heat in a leisurely 20.38, with Liberian Joseph Fahnbulleh coming second and Swiss William Reais third.
But tongues were wagging after the running of the sixth heat as USA’s Kenneth Bednarek cleared away in a sizzling time of 20.01. In his wake was a runner-up, Yancarlos Martinez, who set a new Dominican record, and four other men who ran seasonal best times. Impressive.
Today promises to be a big day for Team GB, with a possible eight golds on offer and a surge up the medal table in the offing.
Two could come at the velodrome, with Jason and Laura Kenny going for a first double gold bid in the women’s and men’s pursuit finals. If Laura wins she will have five Olympic golds to her name, and this would be her third team pursuit gold in a row; if Jason wins he will have a seventh Olympic gold to pull clear of British great Chris Hoy.
Two medals won just two hours apart – and all on Olympic debut for #TeamGB
A dream day for @TomMcEwen1 with individual silver and team gold alongside @Oliver_Townend and @CollettEventing #Tokyo2020
Women’s long jump final: the cream is rising to the top at the Olympic Stadium. USA’s Brittney Reese is getting better as the session progresses and after three jumps she is showing the way with a jump of 6.97m.
Nigeria’s Ese Brume has also jumped 6.97m but presently sits second on countback. Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, considered Reece’s main threat in this event, is in bronze medal position but Team GB’s Jazmin Sawyers (6.74m), Abigail Irozuru (6.27m), Australia’s Brooke Stratton (6.83m) and USA’s Tara Davis (6.84m) will want to get a wriggle on if they are to push for a medal.
Men’s 200m heats: Qatari Femi Ogunode has taken out the third heat in a time of 20.37, just ahead of Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev and decorated Canadian Andre de Grasse, the 2016 200m final runner-up behind Usain Bolt. De Grasse barely got out of first gear here, but he did what he needed to do.
Heartbreak for Eswatini sprinter Sibusiso Matsenjwa, who jumped the gun and was shown the red card.
Women’s long jump final: we are into the second round of jumps now and Nigeria’s Ese Brume sits at the top of the pops with an jump of 6.97m. USA’s gold medal fancy, Brittney Reese, improved on her opening 6.60m effort with a 6.81m jump to rise to fourth behind Brume, Germany’s Malaika Mihambo and Serbian Ivana Spanovic.
Team GB’s Jazmin Sawyers fluffed her first jump but got her act together next time, jumping 6.80m while Australia’s Brooke Stratton put her opening illegal jump behind her to register 6.52m.
Men’s 200m heats: veteran Jamaican Rasheed Dwyer has taken out the first heat in a time of 20.31, with Divine Oduduro (NGR) and Anaso Jobodwana (RSA) also through to the semi-finals.
In the second heat, Trinidadian Jereem Richards more or less coasted around for a Tuesday stroll in a time of 20.52. Shaun Maswanganyi (RSA) and Dutchman Taymir Burnet have also the progressed, the latter running a seasonal best.
Women’s beach volleyball quarter-finals: a clinical performance by USA’s Alix Klineman and April Ross to beat Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch in straight sets, 21-19 in the first and 21-19 in the second.
Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar (not sure I’ll ever tire of that name) and Taliqua Clancy are in action later on today against Canada.
Well, I will give you this. Nice Tokyo time lapse. Enjoy.
From #3×3 to #SportClimbing ⏩pic.twitter.com/x8n11Mtc4j
And now, the news you’ve all been waiting for.
Drum roll please …
The women’s long jump final has just commenced. USA’s Brittney Reese, the London gold medalist and one of the favourties here in Tokyo, gets her session under way with what can only be termed a loosener, hitting the sand at 6.60m in an effort she will no doubt better. Australia’s Brooke Stratton begins with a foul. She, too, will be looking to improve on that. Naturally.
The early pace is being set by Germany’s Malaika Mihambo with a jump of 6.83m but there is a looooooooooong way to go.
Women’s javelin: Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk has already advanced to the final courtesy of a 65.24m throw – comfortably clear of the 63.00m distance required to progress automatically. Australia’s Mackenzie Little is enjoying an excellent day, sitting second in Group A with a personal-best throw of 62.37m. USA’s Kara Winger is some way down the field with an effort of 59.71m.
Sailing: okay, no more Rod Stewart references but the good news is Sailing is back on!
Competition is set to resume at the Enoshima Yacht Harbour as winds are expected to pick up on Tuesday following the cancellation of Monday’s action.
Before we move on from the women’s 400m heats, good news for Team GB with Ama Pipi just scraping into the semi-finals. She joins compatriot Jodie Williams in the next phase of races.
Ama Pipi (51.17) has secured her place in the 400m semi-finals
Timetable and results: https://t.co/myzl0caNWj
Coverage on @BBCSport, @Eurosport_UK and @discoveryplusUK #Tokyo2020 | #Olympics pic.twitter.com/ICbhJxCZea
Women’s 400m: onto the last of the six heats and a highly impressive run by Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino to win in a fast 50.06 after putting the race to bed rounding the final bend. USA’s Wadeline Jonathas finishes some way behind in second but is safely through to the semis, as is Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands. It was such a quick heat that the fourth and fifth placegetters – Aauri Lorena Bokesa of Spain and Eleni Artymata of Cyprus – are also through as two of the fastest losers.
Some very tired runners out there. It’s a hot one in Tokyo today.
Women’s 400m: veteran Jamaican Stephenie Ann McPherson, sixth in the Rio 400m final, wins heat five in a competitive-looking 50.89. Natalia Kaczmarek and Paolo Moran are the other automatic qualifiers, the latter running a seasonal best.
Okay, so Team GB’s Nicole Yeargin has been booted out of the 400m event due to lane infringement. Heartbreaking for the Brit as she finished third in her heat and would have made it through to the semi-finals.
Women’s 400m: impressive run by Jamaica’s Candice McLeod, at least visually, to clear away in the straight from Amandine Brossier, whose time of 51.65 is a French national record. Austrian Susanne Walli is also through to the semis but the big news out of the heat is the fate of Team GB’s Nicole Yeargin, who actually finished third but has been disqualified. Keep you posted on that one.
Women’s 400m: heat three is next. The evergreen USA runner Allyson Felix is in lane four. Incredibly, this is her fifth Olympic Games. And it’s little more than a stroll in the park for the Rio silver medalist as she wins in 50.84 from Jamaica’s Roneisha McGregor. Team GB’s Ama Pipi was just nosed out of third place and will have to wait and see if she progresses to the semis as one of the next six fastest.
No sweat. @allysonfelix is cruising to the semifinals. #TokyoOlympicspic.twitter.com/15iOpRPCiM
Thanks Tom. Always a pleasure to pick up what you’ve put down. Big day at the Olympics today – aren’t they all? – with medals galore up for grabs both on land and in water.
Looking forward to the football, hockey, basketball and cycling later on (and, of course, sport climbing) but for now it’s all happening at the National Stadium, or the Olympic Stadium, or whatever it’s called.
Allyson Felix of six gold medals fame is next in the 400m heats at her fifth Olympics. Scott Heinrich will take you through the action. Bye!
Australia’s Bendere Oboya, GB’s Jodie Williams and Quanera Hayes of the US are in heat two. Williams, Hayes and Portugal’s Cátia Azevedo finish 1-2-3. Oboya is fifth.
Meanwhile, Portugal’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo puts in a huge jump to win the men’s triple jump qualifying. Turkey’s Necati Er and China’s Zhu Yaming also looked good. USA’s Donald Scott and Will Claye also made it. But their compatriot Chris Benard and GB’s Ben Williams missed out.
The women’s 400m heats now. The defending champion, Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, begins her campaign in lane two. She jogs around and still wins a ridiculously relaxed run, but then again she’s in the 200m final later today. Roxana Gómez of Cuba and Sada Williams of Barbados are the other automatic qualifiers.
The snappily titled Canoe Sprint Women’s K1 200m has taken place and we now have our line-up for the final. NZ’s Lisa Carrington, GB’s Deborah Kerr and Canada’s Andreanne Langlois all made it.
Emma Jørgensen (Denmark), Poland’s Marta Walczykiewicz, Spain’s Teresa Portela Rivas, Linnea Stensils (Sweden), Francesca Genzo of Italy and Hungary’s Dora Lucz (no relation) are also through.
The women’s beach volleyball quarter-finals are on. USA’s Alix Klineman and April Ross lead Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch after winning the first set. It’s 15-15 in the second.
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen is a favourite in this race, and we also have Soufiane Elbakkali of Morocco who won gold in the steeplechase last night – give the man a rest. Nick Willis is 38 (38!) and racing for New Zealand.
Ingebrigtsen hangs at the back early on. Yared Nuguse of the US pulled out just before the start with a quad injury. The talented Stewart McSweyn of Australia leads us out pursued by GB’s Jake Heyward (and no bear). The Aussie and Brit have a big lead at the bell. They are inevitable chased down but both make it to the semifinals. Ingebrigtsen decides to lope up late and grab his place. Ethiopia’s Teddese Lemi, Robert Farken of Germany and Spain’s Adel Mechaal also qualify.
Heat two of the men’s 1500m now and we will see the defending champion, USA’s Matthew Centrowitz. Also running is Aussie Jye Edwards, GB’s Jake Wightman and NZ’s Samuel Tanner. Centrowitz finished in the US trials but he’s a crafty veteran and has the smarts to make the final at least.
The track may be wet but it’s still 86F/30C at 9.20am in the morning in Tokyo. Perhaps that’s why the pace of the first lap is so slow – 62 seconds. That slow pace means no one is out of it on the final lap with everyone bunched up. Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski falls and nudges Jye Edwards, but the Aussie stays on his feet. Then Morocco’s Anass Essayi falls too!
The men’s 1500m is next. The defending champion is USA’s Matthew Centrowitz, who caused a shock in Rio when he became the first American to win the Olympic final since 1908. He’s in the second heat. But first up, logically is heat one. The first six runners qualify automatically.
It’s a soggy track after overnight rain but I’m sure the athletes are happy to escape from the blistering sun. Australia’s Olly Hoare is the early leader on the first lap. The shock is Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, considered a medal contender, who fades very badly and finishes down the field. Australia’s Hoare and USA’s Cole Hocker finishing in the qualifying spots alongside Belgium’s Ismael Debjani, Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot, Poland’s Michal Rozmys and Morocco’s Abdelatif Sadiki. GB’s Josh Kerr is seventh and faces a wait to see if he’ll progress as a fastest loser. It was a fairly slow race though, so he may not be lucky.
If you’re wondering where the actual sport is, the first event starts at 9am local time in Japan. Or around five minutes if you can’t be bothered to work out the time difference. First up is the men’s triple jump qualification and 1500m heats; and the women’s beach volleyball quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, reader Kurt Perleberg has a question. “Who will win the most medals in the Olympics, China or America?” The US have the most at the moment but China have more golds. I think the US will end up edging it, just.
It was a momentous day in the weightlifting on Monday. Sean Ingle was there to witness it:
History was made on a Tokyo evening of superhuman strength and simmering tension as Laurel Hubbard, a 43‑year‑old weightlifter from New Zealand, became the first openly trans woman athlete to compete at an Olympic Games.
Related: Laurel Hubbard’s Olympic dream dies under the world’s gaze
And now we’ve done the day for Australia, we may as well look at US chances/highlights.
9pm EDT/2am EDT: men’s 3m springboard semi-final/final
Australia are flying high in the medal table: fourth, just above Definitely Not Russia. What chance more medals today? Well, Kurtis Marschall and Brooke Stratton go for track and field medals, track cycling continues in the velodrome, sailing medals are on offer and the Kookaburras face Germany in a hockey semi-final. For a full rundown, read our handy guide to Aussies on Day 11:
Related: Australia at the Olympics on Tuesday: day 11 schedule of who and when to watch in Tokyo today
The big news of the day (APART FROM THIS) is the return of Simone Biles. I tend to think she thought: “I may as well give it a shot, even if I only come out and all I can do is walk down the beam”. However, my colleague Bryan Graham – who actually knows about gymnastics – thinks the mental block she has experienced won’t be such a problem on the beam as it’s only in twists that she has been losing her bearings in the air. Her dismount from the beam is a a double back dismount. No twists – no twisties.
Here is the excellent Tumaini Carayol on “the twisties” that have been troubling Simone:
Related: Simone Biles’ twisties: mental block which puts gymnasts at serious risk
Hello. A big day ahead at the Olympics [note to self: STOP SAYING THIS: it’s always a big day at the Olympics]. We have the men’s football semifinals, all kinds of finals on both track and field and the return of one Simone Biles.
For a full rundown, here is my colleague Martin Belam:
