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Heat warnings continue for Tokyo

Heat warnings continue for Tokyo
1 min ago

Carl Lewis on US men’s relay: “It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable”

American Cravon Gillespie reacts after the United States finished sixth in a semifinal of the 4x100 meters relay on Thursday.
American Cravon Gillespie reacts after the United States finished sixth in a semifinal of the 4×100 meters relay on Thursday. Francisco Seco/AP

American track and field legend Carl Lewis excoriated some of Team USA’s men’s sprinters on Twitter, calling their performance an “embarrassment.”

“The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay,” Lewis, a nine-time gold medal winner, said.

Though Lewis did not name which relay he was referring to, his tweet came at about the same time the US team failed to qualify for the final of the men’s 4×100 meters relay.

The Americans have won that event a record 15 times at the Olympics, but have not medaled since Athens in 2004.

Here’s what Lewis said:

Lewis won two of his Olympic gold medals as a member of the US’ 4×100 meters relay teams at the Los Angeles 1984 and Barcelona 1992 Games.

21 min ago

The Izu Velodrome is Tokyo 2020’s only indoor venue where fans can watch the Olympics live

From CNN’s Emiko Jozuka in Izu, Japan

Fans watch track cycling at the Izu Velodrome in Izu, Japan, on Wednesday.
Fans watch track cycling at the Izu Velodrome in Izu, Japan, on Wednesday. Odd Anderson/AFP/Getty Images

Fans arrived at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka prefecture in shuttle buses on Wednesday to catch the action at the track cycling venue roughly two hours from Tokyo. 

Since Monday, they’ve been among the first at these Summer Games to watch sessions at a closed-door venue.

With Tokyo under a state of emergency due to the pandemic, all events in the Japanese capital are being held without fans. In all, spectators are banned from attending 97% of all Olympic events, forcing most of the Japanese public to watch the Games at home.

But Shizuoka is not under a state of emergency, so it is allowing fans to fill up 50% of the 3,600-seat velodrome.

Many at the venue Wednesday waved Japanese flags and snapped photos. They said they were excited to experience the Olympic spirit in person.

“These Olympics are like no other and are taking place under unprecedented circumstances. The Games are happening now, and the fact that I can even attend an event is a memory that I’m going to hold on to forever,” said ticket-holder Joji Muramatsu, a Shizuoka resident.

Fans are allowed to take up 50% of the 3,600-seat Izu Velodrome's capacity.
Fans are allowed to take up 50% of the 3,600-seat Izu Velodrome’s capacity. Emiko Jozuka/CNN

Others, however, weren’t as lucky. 

Kazuyoshi and Hiroko Fujita missed out on tickets. They said they booked seats on a shuttle bus taking people to the velodrome as they hoped to enjoy the Olympic mood around the venue. However, they could only gaze at the velodrome from a distance.

“We thought we’d at least be able to see some of the decorations inside, but we were told this was as far as we could come,” Hiroko Fujita said from a small hill beside the velodrome. 

“We remember watching the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo as school kids, and now that we’re retired, we’d been looking forward to attending an event,” she said.

Kazuyoshi and Hiroko Fujita missed out on tickets.
Kazuyoshi and Hiroko Fujita missed out on tickets. Emiko Jozuka/CNN
40 min ago

Hong Kong wins its fourth medal of Tokyo 2020, adding to best-ever Olympic performance

Hong Kong's Minnie Soo Wai-yam hugs her teammates after they won bronze in team table tennis on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Minnie Soo Wai-yam hugs her teammates after they won bronze in team table tennis on Thursday. Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images

Hong Kong won bronze in women’s team table tennis with victory over Germany in Tokyo on Thursday.

It’s the city’s fourth medal of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, adding to its biggest haul of medals from a single Games.

Fencer Edgar Cheung took home the city’s first gold medal in 25 years with his win in the men’s foil final, while swimmer Siobhan Haughey won two silver medals.

Hong Kong had four Olympic medals in total heading into the 2020 Olympics.

47 min ago

America’s Nevin Harrison, 19, wins gold in women’s canoe 200 meters

From CNN’s Jill Martin

American Nevin Harrison holds her up gold medal after winning the canoe single 200 meter final on Thursday.
American Nevin Harrison holds her up gold medal after winning the canoe single 200 meter final on Thursday. Lee Jin-man/AP

Team USA’s Nevin Harrison won the gold medal in women’s canoe single 200 meter competition on Thursday in Tokyo.

The 19-year-old won the world championship in this event when she was 17. She’s the first woman representing the US to win a gold medal in Olympic canoe sprint.

Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe took silver, with bronze going to Ukraine’s Liudmyla Luzan.

Harrison competes in the canoe single 200 meter semifinal on Thursday.
Harrison competes in the canoe single 200 meter semifinal on Thursday. Lee Jin-man/AP
1 hr 20 min ago

With battles on the court, pitch and sand, USA vs. Australia is one of the biggest rivalries of Tokyo 2020

American Sylvia Fowles vies for the ball with Australian Cayla George in their quarterfinal game on August 4.
American Sylvia Fowles vies for the ball with Australian Cayla George in their quarterfinal game on August 4. Aris Messinis/Pool/Reuters

Tokyo 2020 is turning into a battle for bragging rights between Team USA and the Aussies.

The US and Australia are facing off against each other in four different team sports in three days, an unusual coincidence due to both nations’ strong performance in those events.

The Americans took round one when the US women’s basketball team beat the Australians in the quarterfinals.

Thursday will see both country’s men’s basketball teams play each other in the semifinals. Then the Australian and American women’s football teams will face off in that competition’s bronze medal match.

The new rivalry concludes (for now) with beach volleyball on Friday morning, when Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar take on Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman.

1 hr 14 min ago

Australia’s Keegan Palmer wins final skateboarding gold of the Olympics

Australia's Keegan Palmer reacts during the park skateboarding final on August 5.
Australia’s Keegan Palmer reacts during the park skateboarding final on August 5. Ben Curtis/AP

Australian Keegan Palmer won the gold medal in the men’s park, the final skateboarding event during the sport’s inaugural Olympic competition.

Palmer turned in two incredible runs of his three tries, scoring 94.04 and 95.83 out of 100. Each of those would have been a high enough score to win gold.

Brazil’s Pedro Barros won silver with an 86.14 and the US’ Cory Juneau took bronze with 84.13.

This was the only skateboarding competition in which Japan didn’t win. The Olympic host took five of the 12 medals handed out in Tokyo.

Palmer competes in a preliminary heat for park skateboarding on Thursday.
Palmer competes in a preliminary heat for park skateboarding on Thursday. Marijan Murat/dpa/Reuters
1 hr 24 min ago

India’s 41-year wait for a men’s hockey medal is finally over

Members of India's mens field hockey team celebrate after defeating Germany for the bronze on August 5.
Members of India’s mens field hockey team celebrate after defeating Germany for the bronze on August 5. Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images

The wait is over.

India’s men’s hockey team — the most successful in the history of the Olympics with eight gold medals — is finally back on the podium at the Games.

The team claimed bronze with a 5-4 victory over Germany at the Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo on Thursday to end a winless run stretching back to Moscow 1980, when they won the last of their golds.

There were tears and hugs on the field after the match as the players and their Australian coach Graham Reid celebrated the historic moment.

Team India has won four medals at Tokyo 2020 overall and is aiming to surpass its best Olympic haul of six medals at London 2012.

Despite being the world’s second-most populous country, a lack of funding and proper infrastructure have prevented India from becoming an Olympic powerhouse.

At the same time, many athletes choose to play cricket, a non-Olympic sport that enjoys much bigger fanfare in the subcontinent. However, the number of Indian Olympians has, in recent years, risen steadily as the government invests more in sports and athletics.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted to congratulate the team on their win.

1 hr 49 min ago

Tokyo 2020 is nearing its end, but Japan’s battle against Covid-19 is far from finished

Italy's Viviana Bottaro performs in the kata event of karate competition on Thursday.
Italy’s Viviana Bottaro performs in the kata event of karate competition on Thursday. Alexander Nemenv/AFP/Getty Images

We’re heading into the final weekend of competition at the Olympics. As the Games draw to a close, here’s what you need to know from Tokyo.

A “new phase” of the pandemic: Though the Olympics have, by and large, gone about as well as could be hoped for a major sporting competition held in the middle of a pandemic, the situation off the pitch and outside Tokyo 2020’s many venues appears dire.

“In many areas the new positive cases are increasing at an extremely rapid pace which we have never experienced before,” said Yasutoshi Nishimura, the government minister responsible for Japan’s coronavirus response.

Nishimura said the more infectious Delta variant accounts for about 90% of all cases in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Olympic organizers and Japan’s leaders, including Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, have previously said they do not believe the Olympics have contributed to the surge in cases.

But some medical professionals and public health experts disagree. They see people gathering outside venues like Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium and worry that a corresponding, post-Games spike in Covid-19 cases is coming — a potential catastrophe considering just how overburdened the country’s medical infrastructure is.

“What we are seeing on the ground is that there is already a collapse of the medical system, and this wave has just begun, and the number of infections is expected to increase strongly next week and the week after that,” said Dr. Hideaki Oka, an infectious diseases specialist.

Karate’s debut: Japan’s most famous martial art made its Olympic bow on Thursday, with competition scheduled to go late into the evening. The first of nine medal bouts starts at 7:30 p.m. Tokyo time (6:30 a.m. ET).

Karate’s inclusion in the Olympics is set to be short-lived, as the event was excluded from the Paris 2024 Games’ program.

NBA stars face-off: Today’s basketball games determine who plays for gold on Saturday in Japan. Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and the rest of Team USA’s star-studded roster take on Australia. The Boomers, led by NBA veterans Patty Mills and Joe Ingles, surprised the basketball world by beating the Americans in exhibition play last month. That game is followed by France vs. Slovenia, which will see the NBA’s three-time defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert, take on Luka Doncic, one of basketball’s brightest young stars.

Medal update: China leads the way with 32 gold medals, followed by the United States with 27 and Japan with 21. Team USA has 83 total medals to top the combined leaderboard. China is second with 71 and the Russian Olympic Committee is third with 53.

What else is coming later in Japan:

  • Athletics: The world’s greatest athletes will be named when the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon wrap up their grueling two days of competition, and the women’s pole vault and men’s 400 meters finals will take place tonight in Tokyo.
  • Women’s football: Team USA and Australia will play for the bronze medal after the Americans’ disappointing semifinal defeat to Canada.
  • Sport climbing: The first ever medals in Olympic sport climbing will be given tonight.

The full Olympic schedule can be found here.

5 hr 19 min ago

Simone Biles thanks Japanese gym where she secretly trained to regain her Olympic form

From CNN’s David Close

Simone Biles has tweeted thanks to a Japanese gym for allowing her to privately train while she attempted to regain her gold medal form after withdrawing during the women’s artistic gymnastics team final at the Summer Olympics.

While thanking those at the Juntendo University in a Wednesday tweet, Biles retweeted a story first published in The Wall Street Journal. The report says Biles and her team asked the facility if she could discretely use the gym in an attempt to overcome her struggle with “the twisties,” a mental block in gymnastics where competitors lose track of their positioning midair.

The Wall Street Journal reported that university professor Kazuhiro Aoki got a phone call about 12 hours after Biles removed herself from the team final, asking to use the school’s gym for a “gymnast.”

According to the report, during a four-day period, Biles practiced for hours behind locked doors working on moves she previously performed with precision.

Last week, Biles posted a series of videos on her Instagram account showing the 4-time Olympic gold medal winner struggling to find her form and crashing into landing pads while practicing dismounts on the uneven bars.

Biles said Wednesday she would “forever be thankful” to Juntendo “for allowing me to come train separately to try to get my skills back.”

Read more:

Simone Biles thanks Japanese gym where she secretly trained to regain her Olympic form

Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_topstories/~3/OAPPLAwgQ2M/index.html