- 11 gold medals on offer on packed opening day at Tokyo 2020
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Greatest Olympian – Here’s an impossible question to chew over for the rest of time: who is the greatest of all olympians? As the IOC suggest below, Michael Phelps, with 28 medals (23 gold), has very very strong claims. But then, swimming has so many events there has to be some kind of algorithm to compare Phelps with Usain Bolt or Jesse Owens, or Eric Moussambani.
The greatest Olympian?
Throwback to the London 2012 Games! ♂️
When Michael Phelps became the most decorated medalist in Olympic history! #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/3OwpSADJa9
Cycling – There’s been a breakaway group of eight very very early into this 234km road race:
DLAMINI (RSA), KUKRLE (CZE), SAGAN Juraj (SVK), GROSU (ROU), TZORTZAKIS (GRE) AULAR SANABRIA (VEN) WANG (CHN) ASADOV (AZE).
The first gold medal of these Games has been won! After a high quality final the last pair of shots were full of nerves but Qian Yang proved the goldeneye, holding off Anastasia Galashina (ROC). Nina Christen (SUI) picks up the bronze.
We’re down to the final pair of shooters in the women’s 10m air rifle final. Anastasia Galashina and Qian Yang. Who will win the first gold medal of Tokyo 2020?
Huzzah for the Hockeyroos! Australia prevail in a rollercoaster. 2-0 up, 2-3 down, then 5-3 victors. More from Kieran to follow.
.@Hockeyroos overcome a spirited Japanese side to win 5-3 at #Tokyo2020 – a nervy opener for the Aussies but they’ll be happy to get the tournament underway with a win. pic.twitter.com/bjHP8VnKjJ
After that shiny poptastic palate cleanser it’s time to thank Bryan and the US crew for their excellent lead-off work on this day-long liveblog extravaganza. It’s now time for Team Australia to carry the baton around the first corner.
What’s on the agenda over the next five or so hours?
Ruddy hell, it’s the Olympics. And this is Olympia…
That’s all for me, but our Jonathan Howcroft is stepping in to take you through the next few hours.
The first ever Olympic 3×3 basketball result is in the books as the top-ranked Russian women’s team held off a spirited challenge from hosts Japan to win 21-18, reaching the 21-point mark with 25.6 seconds remaining at the Aomi Urban Sports Park.
The rules for 3×3 basketball are made for a faster-paced competition than the traditional five-on-five game. Teams play with one- and two-point baskets over a single 10-minute period (with a 12-second shot clock), though a game can end sooner if a team reaches 21 points inside the distance. If a game is tied at the end of regulation, the first team to score two points in overtime wins. Each side is awarded two free throws from the seventh team foul, then two free throws and possession after the 10th.
Portuguese surfer Frederico Morais, the world No 11 who is regarded as the top European surfer in the Tokyo Games, has announced that he tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss the sport’s Olympic debut.
“This is likely the saddest video I’ve ever had to post. In 2019 I qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that were postponed because of Covid-19. And now, because of the virus I won’t be able to compete nor represent my country,” Morais stated on Instagram.
Syrian table tennis player Hend Zaza, who is the youngest competitor in Tokyo, has just launched her Olympic campaign at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. The 12-year-old is facing Austria’s Jia Liu in the women’s singles preliminary round.
Zaza, who was her country’s female flag bearer in the opening ceremony, becomes the fifth-youngest known Olympian in history and the youngest since Romanian figure skater Beatrice Hustiu in 1968.
I’m heading off now but Bryan Graham is coming on deck to take you through the next hour or so.
A small storm is brewing in the pool. The US Olympic team revealed that around 100 of its 613 athletes are not vaccinated (which is around the same rate as athletes at the Olympics as a whole). One of those is swimmer Michael Andrew, who said he had not got a jab as it could affect his training routine.
That led former Olympic champion – and one of three athlete representatives on USA Swimming’s board of directors – Maya DiRado to voice her concerns on Twitter.
Related: At least 100 of 613 US athletes unvaccinated as Tokyo Olympics begin
The hosts are facing Australia in the men’s hockey at the moment. It’s still early days and it’s 0-0 after 15 minutes or so.
Tom Dart is following Team USA for us in Tokyo and has an update on what today holds for the expected medal table-toppers:
After yesterday’s flag-waving at the opening ceremony, with baseball’s Eddy Alvarez and basketball great Sue Bird wielding the big Stars and Stripes for Team USA, much American interest today will revolve around the women’s soccer team, who face New Zealand at Tokyo Stadium.
Related: ‘We got our asses kicked’: Sweden come back to haunt USWNT again at Olympics
Among the new sports in Tokyo is surfing. It kicks (paddles?) off this weekend and Mike Hytner has a little more on its Games debut:
Related: Surf’s up: a watershed moment for boarders at the Tokyo Games
One to watch in the women’s 10m air rifle today is Luna Solomon, who is competing for the Refugee Team. She fled her country, Eritrea, in 2015 before arriving in Switzerland. She took up shooting there and is now competing in Tokyo. She’s near the bottom of the qualifying round at the moment and almost certainly won’t make the final but just being here is quite something.
Barack Obama would like to wish you good luck (if you are a world-class athlete. And American. But I’m sure he wishes you well even if you’re not):
I could not be prouder of the incredible athletes representing @TeamUSA at the Olympics. Their determination and hard work got them this far, and they’re ready to seize this moment. We’ll be rooting for them all the way.
Last night was a big one for team Australia, with the pageantry and symbolism of the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium. Even though just 63 members of Australia’s 480-odd delegation formally marched, the rest gathered around their televisions in the athletes’ village or their team hotels (for those out of Tokyo).
There might be a few sleepy heads this morning. It was an emotional night for the Aussies, with Patty Mills becoming the first Indigenous Australian to fly the flag in an opening ceremony. Mills has been a major force for Australian basketball, with Tokyo 2020 his fourth Olympics and he is widely-admired by his peers for his sporting success and social justice activism.
Related: Patty Mills flew three flags in Tokyo: one in his hand and two in his heart | Kieran Pender
We asked earlier which new sports you’d like to see at the Olympics. Brucie Morris wants to see lacrosse:
“It’s a sport that hasn’t appeared since 1948, and 1908 was the last time it was a medal sport (Canada beating GB 14-10). The international federation, World Lacrosse has just been awarded full IOC member status, and the big aim is to be invited to the LA 2028 Summer Games due to the popularity in North America.
Some facts about Team USA (and NBA) star Kevin Durant:
1) He is very good at basketball
Team USA sang happy birthday to KD.
His birthday is in September
(via @JaValeMcGee) pic.twitter.com/q6NvRQUBa3
Following last night’s opening ceremony, the sun has risen on the first full day of action at Tokyo 2020. The heat has been stifling on the ground so far – even last night at the Olympic Stadium the temperature was in the high 20s celsius until past midnight. How the athletes cope with the humid conditions has been a major topic of conversation in the build-up; we saw the effects it could have yesterday when a Russian archer passed out from heat stress.
Hello. We’re finally underway (even if we’ve been sort of underway for a few days now, but here is what is coming up in the next few hours:
Women’s 10m air rifle: now
The obvious event to include in The Olympics is Parkour – but I don’t think they’d accept the invitation @duresport.
So, darts it is.
My friend and colleague Jeff Zillgitt and I once had the idea for a Pub Games that would include darts, various billiard/pool sports, foosball and that shuffleboard thing you sometimes see. Today’s bar-goers in the US are more attached to trivia contests, which could be a lot of fun. Maybe Jeopardy legend Ken Jennings could do commentary.
Trivia and new sports
Miguel Aviles has answered my question about the hat trick in the first day of women’s football competition with Vivienne Miedema of the Netherlands. I suppose so, though she went on to score a fourth. I’d actually forgotten about her because, in the same game, Zambia’s Barbra Banda also had a hat trick.
On new sports, Stephen Broadley asks a legitimate question: “Why are they introducing so many sports that can’t be measured objectively?” Because controversy sells! (Also because the kids seem to like these things.)
Trinidad and Tobago doesn’t have many athletes in the Olympics in events other than track and field / athletics, but one of them, rower Felice Chow, just left her fellow competitors in the single sculls repechage not just in her wake but behind her wake. Not bad for a 44-year-old. (It all goes downhill after that, I say as a 51-year-old who hasn’t take care of himself in the last 25 years.)
This was a question raised in the last blog when we talked about Ultimate, which was left off the Paris program in favor of breakdancing. Sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding will be carried over from Tokyo; baseball, softball and karate will not.
One thought from bethyl t via email: “firstly to resurrect the swimming obstacle race, last seen in the 1900 games, because there seem to be endless swimming disciplines but none that involve swimming over poles and underneath boats. bring it back.
You’ve seen the ceremony (or at least the highlights). You’ve seen some football and softball (or at least some highlights, hopefully including the women’s football hat-trick – first person to email beau.dure.freelance@theguardian.com with the name of the scorer wins … their name in this blog). You’ve seen rowing preliminary heats (or at least some highlights). You’ve spent a couple of hours playing the Google Doodle.
Now it all begins for real.
