Tokyo 2020 Olympics Day 12: Australia’s Peter Bol just misses out on medal in 800m final
Despite leading for parts of the race, Australia’s Peter Bol has finished fourth, as Andre De Grasse wins the 200m.
- Bol finishes just short of medal
- Hull, Hall into 1500m final
- Australia win bronze in team pursuit
- Aussies seal sailing gold
- Epic finish seals 10km swim medal
- 400m hurdles final delivers again
Read how Day 12 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games unfolded below.
DAY 12 HIGHLIGHTS:
■ COMPLETED: Marathon swimming — women’s 10km: BRONZE to Kareena Lee
■ COMPLETED: Golf — women’s round one: Minjee Lee, Hannah Green both five behind leaders
■ COMPLETED: Skateboarding — women’s park final: Poppy Olsen (5th)
■ COMPLETED: Basketball — women’s quarter-final: USA def Australia 79-55
■ COMPLETED: Sailing — men’s 470 medal race: GOLD to Mat Belcher/Will Ryan
■ COMPLETED: Cycling track — men’s team pursuit bronze medal final: Australia win BRONZE
■ COMPLETED: Athletics — women’s 1500m semi-finals: Jessica Hull and Linden Hall through to final
■ COMPLETED: Athletics — women’s 3000m steeplechase final: Genevieve Gregson fails to finish
■ COMPLETED: Athletics — men’s 800m final: Peter Bol finishes fourth
■ COMPLETED: Athletics — men’s decathlon: Ash Moloney second after day one
Scott Gullan11.30pm:With Bolt gone, de Grasse gets his gold
He was Usain Bolt’s bridesmaid five years ago, now Andre de Grasse has joined the great Jamaican as an Olympic champion.
After winning silver in Rio, the Canadian had his moment to shine under the Tokyo lights and he delivered in stunning fashion.
While a lot of the hype around the race had centred around 17-year-old American Erriyon Knighton given he’d broken Bolt’s junior records, De Grasse told the world not to forget about him after a career best performance in the semi-final.
And he followed through with the threat, running brilliantly from lane six to win his first major title in a national record 19.62sec.
He was pushed all the way by American Kenneth Bednarek who claimed silver in 19.68sec while reigning world champion Noah Lyles took bronze in 19.74sec.
Knighton missed the start slightly and was really never in the race, finishing fourth.
De Grasse, 26, had come to Tokyo in his best condition for several years which he showed in the 100m final where he finished third behind Italy’s Marcell Jacobs.
He ran a personal best 9.89sec to claim back-to-back Olympic bronze medals in the event.
It has been a rocky road since Rio.
He had been dogged by two hamstring tears which made a mess of his 2017 and 2018 campaigns which saw him withdraw from the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games
The Covid delay of the Games helped him get his body right and finally get a chance to live up to the tag of Bolt’s replacement.
Scott Gullan11.00pm:Moloney second after first day of decathlon
Australia’s Ash Moloney has a surprise decathlon medal in his sights, sitting in second position after the opening day of the gruelling event.
The 21-year-old Queenslander is just 81 points behind Canada’s Damian Warner in the fight for gold.
Moloney made his move in the night session with a dominant high jump performance and stunning 400m victory.
He cleared a personal best of 2.11m, which collected him 906 points, and then finished with a powerful 400m victory in 46.29sec.
Earlier in the day any issues about the occasion of his Olympic debut getting to Moloney were quickly put to bed when the Australian champion ripped out a personal best 10.34sec.
That was soon overshadowed by Warner, the Olympic bronze medallist from Rio, who wouldn’t have been out of place in the 100m semi-finals from a couple of nights earlier, stopping the clock on 10.12sec.
The exact scenario happened in the next event with Moloney producing an impressive 7.64m jump only to have Warner blow it out of the park with an extraordinary 8.24m, a leap which would have won him the bronze medal in the individual event on Monday.
While the shot put was nothing to write home about for Moloney, the end of the first session in decathlon had him very much in the medal frame.
Will Swanton10.16pm:Bol falls just short of a medal
From Sudan to Egypt to Toowoomba to Perth to Tokyo … but not to the Olympic podium. Peter Bol fell short of the medals in the 800m final at Tokyo’s National Stadium on Wednesday night.
“I put myself in with every chance,” he said. “The only thing I regret is the last 100m, tightening up a little bit. Other than that, I came here to win. That’s what I did. I tried to win. We came short, but there is more to come.”
“Super” Bol’s well-documented life story took another remarkable turn when he reached the final of the prestigious two-lap event. He took the race on but couldn’t hold on, leading at the bell before faded to finish fourth behind the Kenyan duo of Emmanuel Korir and Ferguson Rotich and Poland’s Patrick Dobel.
His time of 1:45.92 on a sweltering night in Tokyo was more than a second slower than his sizzling semi-final.
Bol was gallant while chasing Australia’s first 800m medal since Ralph Doubell’s gold at Mexico City in 1968. And the first track medal by an Australian male since Rick Mitchell’s 400m silver at Moscow in 1980.
He strode out confidently, started quickly and led for much of the race before running out of gas before they headed for home.
His semi-final time of 1:45.06 would have won gold.
“I’d be lying if I said I’m pretty happy right now,” Bol said. “The goal was to win. Still have to reflect on that. At the same time, I think today, I didn’t know if I was going to win, but I knew one thing for certain that the whole of Australia was watching. That carried me on. I loved that part. I’m grateful to Australia, I’m thankful to everyone in Australia. We’re human at the end of the day. We inspired the whole nation. That’s the goal.”
The pace was Bol’s but it was relatively slow, which favoured Korir, the fastest finisher, and Dobek, who used to be a 400m hurdler. Korir coasted to victory with relative ease.
Bol was a toddler when his family packed up and fled war-torn Sudan. A four-day boat trip was required to get to Egypt, where they lived in Cairo for six years until receiving a visa to enter Australia. Before the final, Bol’s brother Michael said, “Mr Peter Bol, he is an amazing guy.”
Bol has always understood the interest in his back story but urges people to understand it’s not the whole story.
“I don’t think people should be seen as a refugee or a migrant or something like that,” he said in an interview last year. “It’s almost like a trophy – your identity is where you come from. If people want to associate it with bad things – yes there are bad things, bad struggles, but who doesn’t go through bad struggles and what not?
“We have people in Australia who go through some terrible things, too. I think it’s better if we have a better conversation, to get to know the person, instead of the assumptions.”
Adrian McMurray10.08pm:Bol finishes fourth
Australia’s Peter Bol has finished fourth in the 800m final, narrowly missing out on a medal.
Adrian McMurray9.57pm:Achilles injury ended Gregson’s race
Devastating news – Gen Gregson has ruptured her achilles on the final water jump of the 3000m steeplechase final.
I’m heartbroken & don’t have the words right now to respond to you all but in short - ruptured Achilles on the last water jump. Happy Birthday me! Thank you for all the support & lovely messages. I’ll try to respond in time. For now I need to mend my heart, soul & Achilles. â¤ï¸ pic.twitter.com/pe59CvIwnx
— Genevieve LaCaze (@GenGen_LaCaze) August 4, 2021
It looked like cramp initially, but Gregson has confirmed she suffered a far more serious injury, on her birthday no less.
Peter Bol is just minutes away from competing in the men’s 800m final.
Scott Gullan9.43pm:Felix through to sixth Olympic final
Hopes of a fairytale ending for Allyson Felix remain alive with the American superstar through to her sixth Olympic final.
Felix, 35, is aiming to make history in Tokyo by winning a 10th Olympic medal, which would take her past the great Jamaican Merlene Ottey for the most women’s track medals.
She has two opportunities to increase her medal haul of six gold and three silvers, in Friday night’s 400m final and the 4x400m relay.
Felix will have her hands full in the 400m final given the depth of the event on show in the semi-finals.
She will go in as the seventh-fastest qualifier after clocking 49.89sec in finishing second to Jamaica’s Stephenie Ann McPherson, who ran a personal best 49.34sec.
The fastest through to the final was the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, who clocked a national record 49.38sec, just ahead of Jamaica’s Candice McLeod, who ran a personal best 49.51sec.
Defending Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo was dominant winning the second semi-final in 49.60sec.
Felix said in the lead-up to the final that she was enjoying every moment of her fifth and final Olympic Games.
“I love the sport, and it has been so much in my life. Knowing that this is my last time around means a lot to me,” she said.
Felix, who has advocated for better benefits for working mothers, says motherhood has provided her with an extra drive.
“It has changed everything. It gave me a different drive, and has brought so many challenges. It is even more meaningful to be on this stage as a mum,” she said.
Scott Gullan9.25pm:Gregson’s horror tumble in steeplechase final
Australia’s Genevieve Gregson has had a horrible crash at the last water jump in the 3000m steeplechase final.
Gregson was in the second half of the field when she failed to negotiate the difficult jump and crashed into the water, where she lay before officials raced to her aid.
It appeared she slipped on landing and face planted onto the track where she lay for several moments before being lifted onto a wheelchair and whisked away for medical attention.
Gregson, 32, who was racing in her second Olympic final, had started to fade badly over the last couple of laps and was near the tail of the field when she fell.
The gold medal was won by Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai, who ran down American Courtney Frericks who started the final lap with a 10 metre lead.
Chemutai took over the lead in the back straight and then powered away to win in a national record 9:01.45 with Frericks hanging on for silver. Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng took the bronze.
Selina Steele9.20pm:Hull, Hall’s rivalry moves to 1500m final
The 1500m trash talking has started – even if it is in jest.
Hull and Hall sound like a removalist company and that is exactly what Jessica Hull and Linden Hall have been doing for the past 12 months as the national record flipped back and forth between them.
But on Wednesday night in Tokyo, the rivalry pushed the pair straight into Friday’s 1500m semi final.
In the first heat, Hull finished fourth and in doing so set an Australian record of 3:58.81. Just 15 minutes later, Hall finished third in her heat to qualify but with the knowledge her national record had fallen.
Madeline Crittenden9.15pm:Mackenzie up to 12th in sport climbing
After stage two of the first Olympic sport climbing qualifier, Victoria’s Oceania Mackenzie is ranked 12th.
Her position on the leaderboard jumped up a place from 13th after the speed climbing stage.
In the bouldering round, athletes have five minutes to free climb to a top boulder, which they need to grasp with both hands to successfully complete the course.
Mackenzie managed to finish the first boulder course, but was unable to complete the next three.
The bouldering looked incredibly difficult, with most of the 20 climbers struggling to make it
past the first course.
Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret was the only athlete to make it to the top of all four bouldering challenges.
Meanwhile USA’s Brooke Raboutou and Akiyo Noguchi were the only climbers besides Garnbret to make it past the fourth, and most difficult boulder test.
The bouldering is about strength and problem solving, with athletes having to twist themselves in awkward positions or flip upside down.
Adrian McMurray9.14pm:Gregson fails to finish 3000m steeplechase final
Australian Genevieve Gregson has failed to finish in the 3000m steeplechase final, collapsing at the water jump and clutching her leg. She was taken from the track in a wheelchair.
Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai won gold, USA’s Courtney Frerichs silver, and Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng bronze.
Adrian McMurray8.21pm:Aussie pair through to 1500m final
Australia’s Jessica Hull and Linden Hall have both qualified for the women’s 1500m final.
Hull qualified fourth with a time of 3:58.81, a new Australian record, while Hall was 10th fastest for the final (4:01.37). Australia is the only nation to have two runners in the final. A historic night on the track!
Madeline Crittenden7.40pm:Mackenzie 13th in sport climbing
Victorian teenager Oceania Mackenzie powered up the wall in her first climbing event of the Tokyo Olympics.
After two runs in the speed qualification section of the inaugural women’s Olympic sport climbing event, the 19-year-old sits in 13th position in the rankings.
In the speed climbing section, competitors raced each other one-on-one from bottom to top of a roughly 20-metre wall.
Mackenzie came up against Austria’s Jessica Pilz, who beat her up the wall by less than a second in each run.
Mackenzie made it up the wall in 8.83 second on her fist go, and 9.38 on her second. For reference, the women’s world record is 6.96 seconds.
Up next is the bouldering, where athletes have five minutes to free climb to a top boulder, which they need to grasp with both hands to successfully complete the course.
AFP7.29pm:‘Kidnapped’ athlete to head to Warsaw after Vienna stopover
Belarusian Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was expected to land in Vienna shortly on a flight from Tokyo and then head to Poland on a humanitarian visa, the Austrian government said Wednesday.
“According to our information, she is scheduled to head to Warsaw this evening,” an Austrian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
AFP
Hayden Johnson7.09pm:Aussies win bronze in men’s team pursuit
Australia has won bronze at the track cycling with the men’s team pursuit defeating New Zealand in a jaw-dropping race at Izu Velodrome.
The countries traded fastest laps before a crash in the New Zealand pack shifted the momentum Australia’s way with Kelland O’Brien, Leigh Howard, Sam Welsford and Lucas Plapp winning bronze.
It is a staggering recovery from earlier in the week when the team was almost knocked out of medal contention after Alex Porter’s crash.
Erin Smith6.40pm:Wu into fourth straight Olympic semi
Four-time Olympian Melissa Wu has gracefully tumbled her way into her fourth straight Olympic semi-final.
With 30 divers on the start list and only 18 spots in the semi-final qualifying was no easy task.
But Wu impressed the judges with her stunning twists and tumbles from the 10m platform across all five dives amassing 351.2 points to qualify fourth.
Wu, 29, is yet to win an individual medal at an Olympics.
Fellow Australian diver Nikita Hains, 20, narrowly missed out on making the semi-final in her first Games.
The semi-final is on at 11am on Thursday. The top 12 divers will progress to the final at 4pm.
Alice Workman5.48pm:Bol’s secret running mate
It’s safe to say Peter Bol wasn’t high in the public consciousness until this week, when he burst out of the blocks to become the first Aussie to make the 800m final since Ralph Doubell won gold at the Mexico 1968 Games.
But did you know the Sudanese-born sprinter’s secret running mate is Bill Shorten?
The pair first met at the traditional North Melbourne AFL Grand Final breakfast when Shorten was Opposition Leader.
“I’ve been lucky enough to know Peter and his friend and running mate Joe Deng these last three to four years,” jogger Shorten told Strewth.
From their shared coffee shop Phat Milk in Travencore, to training with Shorten’s 11-year-old daughter Clementine, the unlikely trio are often spotted around Melbourne’s inner northwest.
Callum Dick5.40pm:Lee, Green five behind leaders after day one
On a day where par was seemingly for the course, Australia’s Minjee Lee carded a colourful even-par 71 to finish five shots back from of the leaders on day one at Kasumigaseki Country Club.
Lee shot five birdies and as many bogeys in the sweltering Saitama heat in a mixed day out for the LPGA’s most recent major winner.
“All the birdies I made were really good birdies … it’s just the bogeys that I made were really soft bogeys,” Lee said.
“I have high expectations of myself so I think that’s why I’m so disappointed in even-par, but if you look at it overall it’s probably not too bad a start.”
Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom shot a 4-under front nine and came home without a blemish to finish the opening round as the clubhouse leader following a 5-under 66.
World number one Nelly Korda shot a 4-under par 67 to finish in a tie for second with India’s Aditi Ashok.
Aussie Hannah Green recovered well from a double bogey on the third hole to also finish the opening round on 71.
In her first competitive golf in more than a month, Green said she felt fortunate not to be further back in the field.
“I felt like I played a lot worse than the score so to have even-par, I’m pretty happy with (that),” she said.
“I missed a lot of greens and a lot of fairways today … I honestly think I only hit eight greens, which is something I haven’t done in a long time.
“I definitely felt the rust. I don’t think I’ve ever been one to have a great first round back – so I hope tomorrow I can hit more greens, hit more fairways and just make easy birdies and slowly come up the leaderboard.
“We still have 54 holes to play. I think seeing Rory Sabbatini and CT Pan last week have great rounds on the last day, when they weren’t really in it the entire week (gives me confidence).”
Brianna Travers5.02pm:Olympic spirit alive at the skateboarding
It was an electric atmosphere at Wednesday’s skateboarding final on a historic day for the world’s skating community.
There was no rivalry on show among the females who competed in the final, with a strong camaraderie between the top eight clear for the world to see.
After each performance, skaters would fist pump, hug and clap each other on, even if it meant another skater knocked them out of medal contention.
While the skaters endured a nervous wait for results, they would often hold and embrace each other in lieu of family and friends who would usually be in the crowd.
The stadium was packed with the world’s media, the skating community and coaches of the athletes as they watched the exciting event unfold.
Great Britain had a large support contingent, with the nation on the edge of their seat watching teenager Sky Brown’s historic run.
While it wasn’t to be for Brown, her supporters cheered the 13-year-old on regardless.
At one point skaters lifted Japan’s Misugu Okamato on to their shoulders after a devastating fall in her final run, which cost her the gold medal.
Okamato’s sophisticated routine would have got her into first place should she have been able to complete it.
Her tears soon transformed into a big grin when her competitors consoled her with the touching move.
The great sportsmanship on show in skateboarding has helped to cement skateboarding as a worthy addition to the Olympic calendar.
Australia’s Poppy Olsen finished fifth, while Japan’s Sakura Yosuzumi won gold, Kokona Hiraki silver and Brown bronze.
Amanda Lulham4.45pm:Aussies’ sailing history
A father-of-three and a sailor about to start job hunting cemented a spot in Australian sporting history with a spectacular gold medal in the waters off Enoshima Harbour, southwest of Tokyo on Wednesday.
Fuelled by special cups of coffee made with gold capsules to bring them luck Mat Belcher and Will Ryan only needed their skills and clever tactics – and to avoid any trouble – to claim sailing’s second gold medal of the games but ended up winning the race.
It was an emotional moment for the pair and coaching great Victor Kovalenko with the pair sailing together for the final time now their boat has been dropped from the Paris 2024 sailing program in Marseilles.
Gadiel Notelovitz4.38pm:Opals out after USA masterclass
It took the Australian Opals just over two minutes to score the team’s first six points in their quarter-final showdown with USA.
By the end of the first, the Opals had just 12 points in a staggeringly bad period that set the stage for a brutal 79-55 Team USA beatdown, that probably wasn’t as close as the scoreline suggests.
In some ways lucky to have qualified for the knockout stage at all after finishing third in their group, the Opals were well and truly outclassed inside the Saitama Super Arena as their disappointing Olympic campaign came to a ruthless end.
Against a Team USA team that hasn’t lost at the Olympics since 1992, the Opals were always expected to struggle. Maybe not as much as they did on Wednesday, though.
Without Liz Cambage, the Opals beat a version of this United States team in a Las Vegas warm-up game last month. When it mattered, they couldn’t keep it competitive as their Tokyo record finished at three losses, and just one win.
After a rattling 26-12 first quarter, in which they turned the ball over ten times, the Opals actually recovered nicely in the second to pull within nine points at one stage, and 12 with two minutes left in the period.
That was before another Team USA run saw the gold medal favourites take a 48-27 lead into the break.
The Opals squeezed into the quarter-finals after a tournament-best second half against Puerto Rico saw them pile on the points and turn the screws defensively. That’s a whole lot harder to do, of course, against the talent the United States has at their disposal.
Really, Team USA never got out of first gear after the break, but still held the Opals to another 12-point quarter as they kicked the lead out to 29 points going into the final period.
Australia had to be perfect and hope for a United States nightmare. In the end, their execution, at both ends, cost them; highlighted by a 30 per cent field goal percentage and 21-turnover tally.
Breanna Stewart top scored for Team USA with an easy 23 points, while Brittny Griner had her way in the paint, on both ends of the floor, to finish with 15 points and eight rebounds.
Leilani Mitchell was the only Opal who really got going offensively as she finished with 14 points.
Team USA head coach Dawn Staley sat her stars for the entire fourth in a quarter the Opals were able to edge 16-11.
Amanda Lulham4.30pm:Aussies seal sailing gold
Australian skipper Mat Belcher has written his name in the history books as he and crew mate Will Ryan claimed sailing’s second medal of the Olympics – and the last for the pair as a 470 team.
Belcher is the first Australian skipper to win two Olympic gold medals after his success with Mal Page back in 2012.
The gold medal also added to the silver he and Ryan won together in Rio in 2016.
The men’s 470 class will be replaced by a mixed event at the Paris Games in 2024, ending the successful partnership of the Gold Coast skipper and his crew mate from Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney.
The pair had all but wrapped up the gold medal on Tuesday, only needing to start and stay out of strife to have the gold medal in their hands this afternoon.
The pair played it safe at the start, sailing away from all their arrivals to ensure they had no issues.
They then went into racing mode, taking first place in the medal race along with their gold.
The pair hugged and punched the air in excitement as they sailed across the line.
Tom Crystal4pm:Gold to Australia!
They needed only to finish safely, but Australia’s 470 crew of Mat Belcher and Will Ryan instead won the final race in their regatta, wrapping up the gold medal in style.
They made a cautious start but quickly caught up to the rest of the field and drove home their dominance with a comfortable eight-second win.
Sweden finished with the silver medal, while Spain took bronze.
Agencies3.55pm:Artistic swim team hit by Covid
All 12 members of the Greek artistic swimming team are in isolation after five tested positive for coronavirus in the first cluster detected at the Games, Olympic officials said onm Wednesday, AFP reports.
The team have withdrawn from remaining competition and the seven members who have so far tested negative have agreed to move to a facility for “close contacts” of positive cases, said Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya.
None of those who tested positive so far require hospital care, Takaya added. The team did not participate in the duet competition on Tuesday and have now withdrawn from the team competition, which will start later this week.
“It pains us to imagine the feelings of the athletes who have done a great deal to prepare for the Games and came all the way to Tokyo in this difficult situation,” Takaya told a briefing.
“We pray for their swift recovery,” Takaya said, adding that it was the first “cluster” discovered at the Games.
So far, Tokyo 2020 has reported 322 positive virus cases among its “stakeholders” including athletes, officials and media. Most of the positive cases have been among Japanese residents working as employees or contractors.
Postponed by a year over the virus, the Games are taking place under strict anti-infection rules. Tokyo itself is under a virus state of emergency and has registered record infection numbers in recent days.
— Agencies
Tom Crystal3.35pm:Golden voyage underway
Australia’s 470 crew of Mat Belcher and Will Ryan have started the final race of their regatta, where only a calamity will prevent them taking the gold medal.
The pair has an unassailable lead in the competition, making the final a procession to Olympic glory.
Jacquelin Magnay3.25pm:Cate Campbell misses IOC post
Australia’s star swimmer and flag bearer has failed to win election to the International Olympic Committee’s athlete commission.
The shock vote means that Australia will have just one voice on the IOC: vice-president John Coates.
Coates, 71, received a special exemption to stay on the IOC beyond the usual retirement age of 70.
James Tompkins, who was Australia’s other IOC member, will see his eight-year term on the athletes’ commission end after the Tokyo Olympics.
The four athletes who were elected by their peers competing in Tokyo were Spanish basketballer Pau Gasol, Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini, Japanese fencer Yuki Ota and Polish cyclist Maja Martyna Włoszczowska.
Hayden Johnson3pm:Cycling star out of Games
Australia’s track cycling sprint team has been dealt a major blow with Commonwealth Games gold medallist Matthew Glaetzer ruled out of Wednesday’s racing.
Glaetzer, who was considered one of Australia’s best medal chances, will be replaced by Matthew Richardson.
The Australian team said Glaetzer was “unwell” after riding on Tuesday night but said there were no concerns about Covid-19.
Tom Crystal2.45pm:Opals out to shine against US
We’ve had tip-off in the women’s basketball showdown between Australia and the powerful US team, with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs.
Australia barely scraped into the play-offs, after needing to beat Puerto Rico by 25 points in their final pool game; they won by 27 but had to survive some heart-stopping moments in the final few second.
They face a tall order against the US, who haven’t lost at the Olympics since 1992.
Australia’s win over the gold-medal favourites in a tournament warm-up is a distant memory. They’ve since lost star centre Liz Cambage — a pre-Games withdrawal — and then suffered defeats to Belgium and China in the Games pool matches.
Agencies2.35pm:Yosozumi on board for historic win
Japan’s Sakura Yosozumi won the women’s park competition on Wednesday to maintain the hosts’ stranglehold on Olympic skateboarding and stop Kokona Hiraki and Sky Brown becoming the Games’ youngest-ever gold medallists, AFP reports.
The 19-year-old carved up the Ariake Urban Sports Park with a flowing opening run in the final and her 60.09 points proved enough for victory ahead of teammate Hiraki, 12, and Brown, 13.
Britain’s Brown threatened to snatch a shock win with a flawless closing routine but her 56.47 was not enough.
World number one Misugu Okamoto missed a medal when she fell on all three runs in the final to finish fourth.
Japan also snapped up the men’s and women’s street titles and they have now bagged five of the nine medals so far as skateboarding makes its debut as one of four new Olympic sports.
Both Brown, at 13 years and 28 days, and Hiraki (12 years and 343 days) were bidding to break an 85-year-old record to become the youngest Olympic gold medallists.
They had a shot at bettering American diver Marjorie Gestring, who won 3m springboard gold aged 13 years and 268 days at the 1936 Games in Berlin.
— Agencies
Agencies2.10pm:Boss’s daughter a hit and miss
Jessica Springsteen — the daughter of US rock star Bruce Springsteen — has added her name to the list of offspring of the super rich who have strutted their stuff on the Olympic equestrian stage, AFP reports.
Springsteen fell short in qualifying for Wednesday’s individual jumping final on her horse Don Juan van de Donkhoeve but still has the team event to look forward to later in the week in Tokyo.
“My horse jumped unbelievable. I really couldn’t be happier with him,” said the 29-year-old daughter of the “Boss” and his E Street Band wife Patti Scialfa.
Springsteen is not the first equestrian competitor with famous parents to compete at the Olympics.
Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, represented Britain at the 1976 Montreal Games and Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, jumped at London in 2012, winning a silver medal.
The field in Tokyo also includes Egypt’s Nayel Nassar, shortly to be the son-in-law of billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.
— Agencies
Madeline Crittenden2pm:Aussie paddlers powering
Alyce Wood and Alyssa Bull have secured spots in the K1 500m semi-finals after impressive performances in their heats on Wednesday morning.
Wood finished second in her heat and Bull third in hers at Sea Forest Waterway.
Wood, a two-time Olympian, said the wind on the water made things a little more difficult, but she was happy with her overall performance.
“It’s a direct cross wind which throws off your balance a bit, you’re having to battle against it with steering,” she said.
Going into tomorrow’s semis, Wood said her goal was to qualify for the finals.
“The girls we are racing against in this Olympics are better than what we’ve ever seen … it’s the strongest field ever so just to line up in that final would be a massive achievement,” she said.
Bull, who is also competing in her second Olympics, said she didn’t want to put any pressure on herself ahead of tomorrow’s race, and just wanted to put on her best performance.
“I’m just proud to represent Australia and I’m stoked to have gotten the opportunity,” she said. “(I have) no real expectation on myself but I want the best for Australia so I’ll be pushing myself down the course.”
Madeline Crittenden1.45pm:Jean, Green kayak machines
Aussie young guns Jean van der Westhuyzen and Tom Green have set an Olympic best time in the men’s K2 1000m this morning, securing their place in the semi-finals.
The 22-year-olds finished their heat in first position ahead of the German world champions, shocking themselves with their fast finish.
“We didn’t really expect that when we crossed the line,” Green said after the race.
“We just tried to do what we’d planned, go out there, have fun and be as relaxed as possible.”
It was the pair’s first international K2 race, but their strong friendship made the nerves a little easier to deal with.
“When nerves kick in or stress like throughout the last year, it makes it so much easier to deal with, we can be honest with each other and we can actually be ourselves,” Green said.
Their time of 3min08.773sec was the fastest of the three heats, and ahead of tomorrow’s semi-finals, van der Westhuyzen and Green said they were going to try and lift today’s result.
Scott Gullan1.15pm:And the winner is …
For the second day in a row the 400m hurdles world record has fallen inside Tokyo Olympic Stadium, this time it was American Sydney McLaughlin who obliterated her own mark.
Twenty-four hours earlier Norway’s Karsten Warholm had smashed his own record, taking the men’s event through the 46-second barrier for the first time, clocking 45.94sec.
McLaughlin, who turns 22 on Saturday, had set a new world record of 51.90sec at the US trials in June and was a heavy favourite coming into Wednesday’s final.
Her main challenger was teammate Dalilah Muhammad and that’s exactly how it played out with Muhammad from lane seven going out hard and still in front coming off the final hurdle.
But McLaughlin lifted over the final 20m, diving at the line to register the eye-opening time of 51.46sec.
Muhammad also went under the old mark, clocking 51.58sec, while the Netherlands’ Femke Bol won bronze in a national record 52.03sec.
Five of the eight finalists recorded personal bests, which again ignited the debate about the impact of the new revolutionary spikes at these Games.
Brianna Travers1pm:Poppy seeded for finals run
Australia’s Poppy Olsen is our first skateboarder to make an Olympic final.
Olsen, 21, completed three solid runs in the women’s park skateboarding heats, earning her a spot in the final, where she is ranked sixth.
Japan’s Misugu Okamoto, 15, is going into the final as favourite after her awe-inspiring performance in the heats.
She will look to continue the host nation’s clean sweep in skateboarding, having already won two out of a possible two gold medals.
But it will be a tightly fought competition as two teenagers have the chance to become the youngest gold medal winner of all time in Olympic history.
Great Britain’s Sky Brown, 13, and Japan’s Kokona Hiraki, 12, have qualified in second and third ranked skaters after today’s heat.
The youngest ever Olympic gold medallist is the US’s Marjorie Gestring, who won the women’s 3m springboard diving in Berlin, in 1936, at just 13 years and 268 days old.
Ellen Whinnett12.50pm:AOC ‘deeply disappointed’ in athletes’ antics
Australian chef de mission Ian Chesterman is speaking in Tokyo about the team behaviour.
Mr Chesterman said “JAL advised team members had drunk excessively’’ had failed to respond to instructions from JAL staff and disrupted other passengers.
He said there were 49 team members from nine sports on the flight.
Chesterman said that on Tuesday afternoon both sports had issued public statements apologising for the behaviour of their members.
Football Australia and Rugby Australia have advised they have begun formal investigations into the incidents.
“The AOC considers it is appropriate to wait for the conclusion of this process’’ before deciding next steps, Chesterman said.
“Can I also say how deeply disappointed I am in this behaviour.
“This is a proud team, performing brilliantly after a very, very challenging preparation. And the vast, vast majority have conducted themselves superbly both on and off the field of field.’’
He said one member “at least vomited into the toilet.’’
Asked if the fridge on the aircraft was raided, he said he needed to wait for further information.
Agencies12.30pm:Hubbard retires after Olympics breakthrough
Transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard has announced she will retire in the wake of her groundbreaking appearance at the Tokyo Olympics this week, AFP reports.
The New Zealander on Monday contested the +87kg category weightlifting, in a debut the International Olympic Committee (IOC) described as the first appearance by an openly transgender woman at an Olympics.
While her appearance on sport’s biggest stage was short-lived — an “overwhelmed” Hubbard failed to complete a successful lift — it was hailed by trans activists as a historic occasion for a marginalised community.
It also sparked a firestorm of debate about transgender participation in women’s sport.
The intensely private Hubbard said she was now ready to step away from the spotlight.
“Age has caught up with me. In fact if we’re being honest it probably caught up with me some time ago,” said Hubbard, who at 43 was more than 20 years older than most of her rivals.
“My involvement in sport is probably due, if nothing else, to heroic amounts of anti-inflammatories, and it’s probably time for me to start thinking about hanging up the boots and concentrating on other things in my life.”
Hubbard praised the IOC for showing “moral leadership” in adopting inclusive polices that allowed her to participate at the Games.
“I’m not sure that a role model is something I could ever aspire to be, instead I hope that just by being I can provide some sense of encouragement,” she told reporters.
Critics argue athletes such as Hubbard, who was born male and transitioned to female in her 30s, have physical benefits hardwired into their bodies during their formative years.
These include greater muscle mass and lung capacity, leading to fears that female-born athletes could be forced to compete on an uneven playing field.
The IOC, under guidelines adopted in 2003, only allowed transgender participation for athletes who had undergone gender reassignment surgery but dropped the requirement in 2015, instead focusing on lower testosterone levels.
The governing body is set to release new guidelines on the issue after the Tokyo Games are completed.
Hubbard said she welcomed the discussion about the issues her debut had highlighted.
“I’m certain that a conversation needs to be had,” she said. “Although we have rules at the moment, they will no doubt change and evolve as more is known about transgender athletes and what that means for participation in sport.”
— Agencies
Scott Gullan12pm:‘Cheating’ storm erupts after epic race
It was dubbed one of the races of the century but the record-obliterating Olympic 400m hurdles final has became shrouded in controversy.
Norway’s Karsten Warholm won gold by smashing his own world record, which was also beaten by Rai Benjamin of the United States in silver. And it was something about the American that sparked the cheat allegations.
Despite taking 0.76 seconds off the previous best time, Warholm took aim at his opponent and described his shoes as “bull***t”.
Warholm, 25, said: “If you put a trampoline there I think it’s bull***t.
“I think it takes credibility away from our sport. I don’t see why you should put anything beneath a sprinting shoe.”
While the victor’s Puma EvoSpeed Future Faster+ shoes take advantage of new and revolutionary technology, there has been increased suspicion of Nike’s creations in recent years, The Sun reports.
Critics claim the “super shoes”, first developed by Nike, are the equivalent of mechanical doping, while supporters hail them as a revolutionary advance after decades of stagnation.
“There seems to be an acceptance now that the new generation of shoes are part of the sport moving forward,” Geoff Burns, a biomechanics and sport performance researcher at the University of Michigan and an expert in running shoe technology, said.
The technology, which exists in ‘flat’ running shoes and in spikes, is approved by track and field’s governing body, World Athletics, albeit with parameters set on foam thickness, among other things.
The designs “have proven that they allow a runner to be more efficient and that’s a big change, especially from 800m to 10,000m,” US-based journalist Brian Metzler, author of “Kicksology: The Hype, Science, Culture and Cool of Running Shoes”, said.
“Some athletes have told me that the new spikes can provide a five to 15-second boost in the 5000m, so that’s a real time difference.”
Jamaican track and field sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce clocked a career-best 10.63sec in June wearing the spikes to signal that the world record of the late Florence Griffith-Joyner of 10.49sec, which has stood since 1988, was on notice.
Scott Gullan11.50am:Belgian wipes out on ‘sandbar’
A face plant in the long jump pit is not the way you want your Olympic Games to end.
Unfortunately for Belgian decathlete Thomas van der Plaetsen, he is going to be on every news highlight package around the world thanks to his spectacular crash.
Van der Plaetsen was executing his opening jump but just as he hit the board instead of lifting in the air he dived into the sand after appearing to tear his achilles.
The European champion had to be helped from the sand by officials before being taken away in a wheelchair.
Australia’s medal hope Ashley Moloney has made a brilliant start to the event, running a personal best 10.34sec in the 100m and then backing it up with an impressive leap of 7.64m in the long jump.
There was also carnage in the 100m hurdles in the women’s heptathlon with Cuba’s Yorgelis Rodriguez only getting over two of the obstacles before spectacularly crashing.
Tom Crystal11.30am:Sky high for teen sensation
Sky Brown, a 13-year-old British skateboarder, has lit up the arena in the women’s park competition, showing not a hint of nerves as she pulls off a series of effortless manoeuvres.
The British-Japanese skateboarder is a phenomenon of the sport — she’s the youngest professional skater in the world and is aiming to make history as the youngest ever Olympics gold medallist.
Based on what she’s produced at Ariake Urban Sports Park, it’s easy to see why she’s such a popular figure in her sport.
Brown is clearly having a blast, lapping up the applause and shouts of encouragement from the handful of “spectators” on hand.
She posts a score of 55.26, almost three points clear of Japan’s Hiraki Kokona, with Yosozumi Sakura back in third on 45.98.
Robert Gottliebsen10.50am:Olympics kills off free to air TV
In the years ahead Tokyo 2020 will be recalled as the event that accelerated the demise of free-to-air TV as we have long known it. Read more here
Tom Crystal10.30am:Decathlon duo off and running
Australian pair Ashley Moloney and Cedric Dubler are in the field of the prestigious decathlon event.
Today’s schedule comprises the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m.
The first event of the competition is the sprint. Dubler finishes third in a time of 10.89 seconds, while Moloney is second in the third and final heat, posting an impressive 10.34sec.
Canada’s Damien Warner earns 1066 points by winning that heat in a time of 10.12sec. Moloney is second on 1013 points, while Dubler is back in the pack on 885 points.
Agencies10.10am:Belarus athlete heads for Poland
Belarusian Olympic athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya arrived at a Japanese airport on Wednesday where she is expected to board a plane to Poland, after Warsaw offered the sprinter a humanitarian visa, AFP reports.
The 24-year-old, who was seen leaving a car and entering Narita airport, has said her team tried to force her to return home after she criticised her coaches.
The sprinter declined to speak to the media as she entered the airport.
Tsimanouskaya has said she fears for her life if she returns to Belarus, where there has been political upheaval and a crackdown on dissent after disputed elections that returned strongman Alexander Lukashenko to power last year.
She was one of more than 2000 Belarusian sports figures who signed an open letter calling for new elections and for political prisoners to be freed.
Her husband has now fled to Ukraine and the pair are expected to meet up in Poland, which is a staunch critic of Lukashenko’s regime and has become home to a growing number of dissidents.
Tsimanouskaya arrived in Poland’s embassy on Monday evening following a night spent in an airport hotel after she sought help to avoid what she said was an attempt by her team to forcibly return her home.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday he had spoken to the “courageous” Tsimanouskaya, who is “currently well taken care of and safe”.
“I assured her that she can count on the support and solidarity of Poland. In the coming days, she will fly to Warsaw, where she will be able to thrive without obstacles and, if she so chooses, will receive further assistance,” he wrote on Facebook.
The International Olympic Committee has said it will investigate Belarus’s Olympic team over the incident, but activists have called for the country’s Olympic committee to be suspended and its athletes to compete as neutrals.
And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Belarus of “another act of transnational repression” over the alleged attempt to force Tsimanouskaya home.
Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, sparked international outrage in May by dispatching a fighter jet to intercept a Ryanair plane flying from Greece to Lithuania in order to arrest a dissident onboard.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski seemed to reference that incident when he declined to confirm whether Tsimanouskaya would fly out on Wednesday as had been rumoured, citing safety.
The Olympic saga came as police in Ukraine said a missing Belarusian activist, whose NGO helps his compatriots flee the country, had been found hanged in a park in Kiev.
Police said they had opened a murder probe and would pursue all leads including “murder disguised as suicide”.
— Agencies
Erin Smith9.50am:Lee finishes off epic effort
A spectacular effort from Australia’s Kareena Lee has her in the bronze medal spot in the 10km swim pending official confirmation and no protests.
Lee was in with the front runners for the entire 10km race rotating between 10th to 5th as the race unfolded.
The Noosa girl picked up the pace with just over half a lap to go- trying to move into the top three. She snuck into third place by the final turn.
Tom Crystal9.30am:Bronze for Australia!
What a finish in the women’s 10km marathon swim. After slogging it out for the best part of 10km, they still have enough in the tank for a sprint to the finish.
Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha hangs on to win, just ahead of The Netherlands swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal, and Australia’s Kareena Lee in third place.
Marcela Cunha clocked a time of 1hr59min30.8sec, 0.9sec ahead of van Rouwendaal, and 1.7sec ahead of Lee.
It’s Australia’s first Olympic medal in the marathon swim event.
Tom Crystal9.20am:Kareena Lee on the heels of the leader
The Australian is in a battle for a medal in the women’s 10km marathon swim, in a tussle for second place but only just behind Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha, who is looking to add an Olympics gold medal to her a five world championships.
We’re looking at a sprint finish as the race enters the final few hundred metres.
Tom Crystal9.10am:Marathon swim enters the home stretch
Germany’s Leonie Beck has edged ahead of US swimmer Ashley Twichell, who has led for much of this race, with China’s Xin Xin in third place.
There’s less than 2km left to go, and all of the medal spots are very much up for grabs in this gruelling event.
Australia’s Kareena Lee is still among the leading group, she’s battling away in seventh place.
Tom Crystal8.50am:Lee in touch with 10km swim leader
At the 6.6km mark, Australia’s Kareena Lee is within striking distance of the leaders in the women’s marathon swim.
This event comprises seven laps of the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo.
US swimmer Ashley Twichell leads, just ahead of a pack of about 12 swimmers out on the course with about 40 minutes left in the race.
Just past the 6.2km mark, and an 1hr 20 min in, with Kareena (no. 15) in 9th place 👊
— Australian Swim Team (@DolphinsAUS) August 3, 2021
Conditions are hot and murky in the water - but she's in a good position for the second half.
Let's go Kareena! #TokyoTogether | #Tokyo2020 | #MarathonSwimming | @AUSOlympicTeampic.twitter.com/BXECV3aVze
Twichell is a world champion at the distance of 5km in individual and team events, and is looking to add Olympics gold to her glittering long-course resume.
Agencies8.30am:One to watch today
After Karsten Warholm’s thrilling world-record run in the men’s hurdles on Tuesday, arguably one of the best Olympic races in living memory, fireworks are also expected when the women take to the track, AFP reports.
Leading the assault will be American Sydney McLaughlin, who, like Warholm, set a new world record just before the Tokyo Games.
McLaughlin clocked 51.90sec to win the US trials after a superb tactical race against reigning Olympic and world champion Dalilah Muhammad.
In what promises to be hot, humid conditions on a fast track, Dutch runner Femke Bol will be hoping to be the proverbial fly in the ointment.
— Agencies
Gadiel Notelovitz8am:Boomers book US showdown
They beat Team USA in a pre-Olympic game and demolished Argentina, but Patty Mills says the Boomers ‘ain’t done s**t’ as a rematch with their arch enemy looms. Read more here
Scott Gullan7.30am:Golden meaning behind Bol’s brutal six-word text
It was the message that told Justin Rinaldi that Peter Bol was ready to do something extraordinary in Tokyo.
As he was changing the nappy of his 10-week-old son Archer in Melbourne, his phone beeped with a picture of Bol sitting alone eating dinner in the athletes village.
It was captioned: “I’m not here to make friends.”
“They are the little things you want to see,” Rinaldi says.
Coaches love the one percenters and for outgoing 27-year-old Bol, who is prolific on social media, to be in that zone in an environment like the Olympic village said a lot to the man who has been guiding him since he moved from Perth to further his career in November 2015.
Rinaldi has coached the past three Australian 800m record holders — Alex Rowe, Joseph Deng and now Bol, who has set a new national mark in the heats in Tokyo and then bettered it when he won his semi-final in 1min44.11sec.
Backed myself up to make the finals a few months ago - I didn’t think it would take two national records in two days but hey whatever it takes. #TokyoOlympics#TokyoTogetherpic.twitter.com/a9AsWIKGkS
— Peter Bol OLY (@pbol800) August 1, 2021
A couple of years ago, many thought it would be Deng, who is four years younger, who’d be in this position, but things changed during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
Deng didn’t handle it mentally while Bol flourished, although the two people closest to him — Rinaldi and his manager James Templeton — can’t come up with a pin-drop moment.
“He has always had this talent, he’s no fitter than he has ever been before, but he just believes in himself, that is the only difference,” Rinaldi says.
“You would think he’d be scraping his claws to get into the Olympic final, but he made it look easy, which is scary.”
Flash Result
— fast8trackclub (@fast8trackclub) August 1, 2021
No need to anything other than a picture @pbol800 - Olympic Finalist pic.twitter.com/UcgUUuANeh
Bol races for gold at 10.05pm (AEST). Read more on his amazing story here.
Amanda Lulham7.15am:Sailors Belcher, Ryan set to claim 470 gold
Mat Belcher and Will Ryan have “done a Wearny’’ – finding themselves in the same strange situation as their gold medal winning teammate Matt Wearn in only having to start the final race of the 470 regatta and avoid any trouble on the racecourse Wednesday to nab a historic gold.
Only an unlikely disqualification in the final race can spoil the party for the Australians.
The pair must race the medal race without drama involving rules or behaviour that could lead to a disqualification to have the gold medal handed to them on a plate on Wednesday afternoon.
But the pair have refused to contemplate any celebration until they have the medal round their neck.
“We are too superstitious to do anything until we have won officially,” Belcher said.
“But it’s a nice position to be in going into the final race.’’
Read the full story here.
Daniel Sankey7am:Can Opals defy the odds against the USA?
To say it’s been an up-and-down Olympics campaign for the Opals would be an understatement.
First came the shock withdrawal of superstar centre Liz Cambage on the eve of the Olympics. The Opals bounced back in the best way possible, notching a 70-67 win over world no.1 and gold medal favourites Team USA in a warm-up game in Las Vegas. But their Tokyo campaign opened with shock losses to Belgium (85-70) and China (76-74) in their Group C qualifiers, leaving the world no.2-ranked team on the brink of crashing out of the tournament.
The only way for the Opals to advance as one of two third-placed teams was to beat world no.23 Puerto Rico by 25 points or more … and Sandy Brondello’s charges duly delivered with a heart-thumping 96-69 victory that set up a do-or-die quarter-final match against Team USA at 2.40pm (AEST) today.
“Look, it’s been such a battle to get to this point. There’s been so much going on,” Australia’s Marianna Tolo told Channel 7 after the Puerto Rico win.
“I’m just so proud of how we fought tonight. We didn’t come out the way we wanted to and even to fight back in the second half and take control of the game and win it with those two quarters is just unbelievable.”
Key for the Opals today will be curbing the influence of Team USA’s star power forward A’ja Wilson, who’s averaging 20 points per game so far this tournament. The three-time WNBA All Star and 2020 WNBA MVP has also been a powerhouse on the boards alongside fellow all-star Breanna Stewart, while the talent-rich Team USA also has the luxury of bringing two former WNBA MVPs (Tina Charles, Sylvia Fowles) into the game off the bench — something that no other team, let alone Australia, can boast.
Not surprisingly, Team USA — aiming for a seventh straight gold — has been made a prohibitive $1.06 betting favourite by the TAB, with the Opals $9 outsiders.
Athletics’ civil war over whistleblower
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