After what’s already being called the “best race in Olympic history,” another exciting day at the track could be in store on Thursday at the Tokyo Olympics.
The women’s 400-meter hurdles also has an elite collection of talent to rival Wednesday’s thrilling men’s final. World record holder Sydney McLaughlin and reigning Olympic champ Dalilah Muhammad are joined by a third American, Anna Cockrell, in the women’s hurdles final, which is scheduled to begin at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Also on Thursday’s schedule, the first round of the women’s golf competition gets underway, boxers Oshae Jones and Richard Torrez look to clinch medals, and Team USA faces the Dominican Republic in baseball (11 p.m. ET) for a spot in the semifinals.
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TUESDAY RECAP: Simone Biles returns with bronze in balance beam, Athing Mu takes gold in women’s 800 meters
We love seeing stars supporting one another.
Ahead of the primetime airing of the women’s balance beam final, in what could have been the last time Simone Biles appears in the Olympics, singer/songwriter Taylor Swift talked about the legacy Biles has left, especially in the past week opening up about her mental health struggles.
“That’s what makes it so easy to call her a hero,” Swift said.
Swift’s narration caught the attention of Biles, who responded to the tweet with, “I’m crying how special. I love you @taylorswift13.” Swift responded by saying she got emotional seeing how brave Biles was.
“I cried watching YOU. I feel so lucky to have gotten to watch you all these years, but this week was a lesson in emotional intelligence and resilience. We all learned from you. Thank you,” she said.
— Jordan Mendoza
TOKYO – American distance swimmers Haley Anderson and Ashley Twichell finished sixth and seventh Wednesday in Olympic marathon swimming.
Both were in the lead pack throughout in the 10K open water race at Odaiba Marine Park on a hot morning with temperatures in the upper 80s.
“We knew coming in it was going to be pretty warm,” Anderson said. “Everyone was dealing with the same conditions. It was nice we had some clouds, that definitely helped. We tried to prepare as well as we could for the heat and put ourselves in a good position coming in.”
Brazil’s Ana Cunha won in 1:59.30.8 ahead of 2016 gold medalist Sharon van Rouwendaal of Netherlands and Australia’s Kareena Lee. There was a 7.1-second spread between first and seventh in the fourth Olympics to include marathon swimming.
Anderson was a silver medalist in 2012 and fifth in 2016. Twichell competed in her first Olympics after failing to qualify in the previous three.
“She looked great,” Anderson said. “I was so excited for her to be here. To qualify together was something I wanted for a really long time for her.”
Twichell said, “In the back end of the first lap, I got caught right in the middle of the pack. I knew that’s not where I wanted to be for the race so got myself in the lead. That’s where I’m more comfortable. The last lap there were seven of us and it was tough, but it was great to see Haley right there too. I would have loved to have medaled but proud of the fight I had out there today.”
Twichell said she is retiring after finally achieving her Olympic goal. “It was always my plan to retire after Tokyo. I’ve had a great career and I’m ready to move on.”
— Jeff Metcalfe
Chloe Dygert is no Simone Biles. Dygert is not the Greatest Of All Time nor NBC’s Face of the Games.
Yet the Dygert bronze should be viewed with the same reverence as the Biles bronze. The two 24-year-olds were similarly gritty, coming through with medals about an hour apart in different sports and different venues Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics.
Ten months after a scary crash threatened her career, Dygert won the second Olympic medal of her career.
In track cycling’s team pursuit, the Brownsburg, Indiana, rider combined with three other Americans to beat Canada for the bronze medal at Izu Velodrome. Dygert was on the silver-winning team at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Germany won the gold medal, lowering the world record at the 4,000-meter distance for the third time in Tokyo, down to 4:04.242. Great Britain took the silver.
In a first-round heat, the British broke the world record set by Germany in qualifying and beat the United States with a time of 4:06.748. USA’s time was 4:07.562, a national record. That advanced Great Britain to the gold-medal race and left the Americans riding for bronze.
Riding with Dygert were Jennifer Valente of San Diego, Emma White of Duanesburg, N.Y., and Megan Jastrab of Apple Valley, Calif.
“We’re proud of what we did out there,” said Valente, who was on the silver-winning team at Rio. “We left everything on the track. It’s just that Team GB had a little more gas.”
In the bronze final, the United States clocked 4:08.040 to Canada’s 4:10.552.
It was only USA Cycling’s second medal at Tokyo. The other was in BMX freestyle.
— David Wood, Indy Star
Clarissa Saunders, the mother of shot put silver medalist Raven Saunders, died on Tuesday morning, days after watching her daughter win her first Olympic medal.
Her mother was in Orlando to attend Tokyo 2020 watch parties for the families of Team USA athletes, where she watched Saunders win silver in the shot put on Sunday along with her other daughter, Tanzania. The cause of death is unknown.
The death was confirmed to The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier by her longtime coach and father figure, Herbert Johnson. Saunders later tweeted that she would be taking a break from social media to focus on her mental health and her family.
— Jordan Mendoza
TOKYO — Without their parents, without their friends, without any spectators, the Korda sisters, Jessica and Nelly, arrived at the Olympic Games to begin play in the women’s golf tournament that begins Wednesday.
They were asked who they do have supporting them here this week.
“Each other,” Jessica said.
It was the perfect answer. The daughters of 1998 Australian Open men’s tennis champion Petr Korda and 1988 Czech Olympic tennis player Regina Rajchrtova Korda, Jessica, 28, and Nelly, 23, are two of the four U.S. golfers representing the United States in the women’s Olympic competition. Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang are the others.
So far, it has been a stellar week for the Americans in golf, with Xander Schauffele winning the gold in the men’s event Sunday.
— Christine Brennan
TOKYO — Before his first Olympic race, he yawned.
During his second Olympic race, he tilted his head as he came down the stretch, checking to see how fast he needed to run in order to win.
“I didn’t mean it out of cockiness,” Erriyon Knighton said later.
He is just 17 1/2 years old – the youngest American man to compete at the Summer Olympics since Jim Ryun in 1964. But in the first two rounds of 200-meter competition at the Tokyo Olympics, Knighton appeared in complete control, leaving 30-year-old men and longtime pros in his wake.
The former wide receiver at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida, might not enter Wednesday’s 200-meter final as the favorite – that title still probably belongs to fellow American and reigning world champion Noah Lyles – but he will certainly be favored to win a medal.
Not too shabby for a guy in just his third season of competitive track.
— Tom Schad
After her triumphant comeback Tuesday, four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles revealed that her aunt died just two days before competing in the balance beam event.
Biles, 24, withdrew from four individual finals – all-around, vault, floor and uneven bars – last week citing mental health concerns and “the twisties,” a condition when gymnasts lose their sense of awareness in the air.
Biles’ coach, Cecile Cantqueteau-Landi, opened up to reporters Tuesday about what Biles had been going through during the Tokyo Games, including her aunt’s unexpected death.
Despite mourning her family’s loss, Biles received a score of 14.0 on the beam in her return to competition, earning bronze. It was the seventh Olympic medal for her, matching Shannon Miller’s record for the most medals won by an American gymnast.
— Analis Bailey
