Olympics update

TOKYO (AP) — The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:

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Belarus track sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya says her Olympic team officials tried to remove her from Japan in a dispute that led to a standoff Sunday evening at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

Tsimanouskaya says in a filmed message on social media she was “put under pressure” by team officials and asked the International Olympic Committee for help.

The Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation says the athlete did not board the flight and summoned Japanese police. Foreign ministry officials arrived later at the airport.

A spokesman for the activist group, Alexander Opeikin, says Tsimanouskaya is “being transported to a safe place now” and will be in contact with European diplomats.

Tsimanouskaya, who is due to run in the Olympic 200-meter heats Monday, criticized Belarus team officials on her Instagram account. She said she’d been put in the 4×400 relay despite never racing the event.

The IOC says in a statement it asked the Belarus national Olympic officials for clarification on the dispute.

The Belarus National Olympic Committee has been led for more than 25 years by authoritarian state president Alexander Lukashenko and his son, Viktor. The BNOC did not immediately respond to a request fror comment.

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MEDAL ALERT

Chen Yu Fei of China won gold in women’s singles badminton.

The top-seeded Chen beat Tai Tzu-Ying of Taiwan 21-18, 19-21, 21-18.

Chen’s victory marks a return to form for Chinese women in badminton. They had won four straight golds in singles until Carolina Marin of Spain won at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Marin did not defend her title at the Tokyo Games because of a knee injury.

P.V. Sindhu of India won bronze by beating He Bing Jiao of China.

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MEDAL ALERT

Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy tied for the gold medal in the men’s high jump at the Tokyo Games.

Both men were clean at every attempt to 2.37 meters and both missed all three attempts at the Olympic record of 2.39.

The 30-year-old Barshim was the silver medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and was also on the podium at the 2012 London Games. He won the world championship gold medal at home in Qatar in 2019.

Gianmarco Tamberi is a former world indoor champion.

Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus won the bronze medal. He also cleared 2.37 for a national record.

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MEDAL ALERT

Marcell Jacobs of Italy won the men’s 100-meter race at the Tokyo Olympics.

He crossed the line in 9.80 seconds.

Fred Kerley of the United States was second and Andre DeGrasse of Canada took third.

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MEDAL ALERT

Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela set a world record with her final attempt to win the women’s triple jump gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Rojas finished the competition with a mark of 15.67 meters to break a record set in 1995. Inessa Kravets of Ukraine held the record at 15.50.

Rojas broke the Olympic record of 15.39 with her first attempt in the final. The two-time world champion won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Patricia Mamona of Portugal took silver and Ana Peleteiro of Spain won bronze.

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MEDAL ALERT

Neisi Dajomes of Ecuador has won the women’s 76-kilogram weightlifting event as Kate Nye took silver for the United States’ best result in the sport since 2000.

Dajomes lifted 118 kilograms in the snatch and 145kg in the clean and jerk for a total 263, beating Nye by 14kg.

It’s Ecuador’s second gold of the Tokyo Olympics after Richard Carapaz won the men’s cycling road race, and only the South American nation’s fourth medal of any sort in history.

The only U.S. weightlifting medals this century were gold for Tara Nott in 2000 in the first ever women’s Olympic competition, bronze for Cheryl Haworth the same year and a bronze for Sarah Robles in 2016.

Aremi Fuentes took bronze for Mexico on a total 245kg.

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MEDAL ALERT

The French men’s foil team avenged its loss in the 2016 Olympic final by beating a trio of Russians for a gold medal in Tokyo.

Erwann le Pechoux, Julien Mertine and Enzo Lefort combined to best Anton Borodachev, Kirill Borodachev and Timur Safin 45-28 for France’s second fencing gold of the Tokyo Olympics. Romain Cannone won the men’s epee individual. It’s the first win in men’s team foil for the country since the 2000 Sydney Games.

The ROC still finished the fencing slate with eight medals and four golds.

The United States team of Alexander Massialas, Race Imboden and Gerek Meinhardt won the bronze with a 45-31 victory over Japan.

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MEDAL ALERT

Nina Derwael of Belgium won the gold medal in the uneven bars and Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Sunisa Lee added a bronze medal to her haul at the Tokyo Games.

The 18-year-old Lee’s total of 14.500 points was good enough for third behind Derwael and Russian athlete Anastasiia Iliankova.

Lee’s bronze gives her three medals so far at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. She earned a silver in the team competition last week before becoming the fifth straight American woman to win the all-around. Lee has one more final remaining in the balance beam on Tuesday.

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The Cuban boxing team has finally lost a fight at the Tokyo Olympics after winning its first 12 bouts and already clinching five medals.

U.S. super heavyweight Richard Torrez Jr. beat Dainier Pero 4:1 in the quarterfinals at the Kokugikan Arena to clinch the American team’s third medal in Tokyo.

Cuba is second only to the United States in gold medals and total medals won in Olympic boxing history and its Tokyo team has been outstanding. The Cubans won three golds and three silver medals in Rio de Janeiro a half-decade ago to finish behind only Uzbekistan in the medals table.

Featherweight Lazaro Alvarez, welterweight Roniel Iglesias and light heavyweight Arlen Lopez all advanced earlier in the evening session in Tokyo before Pero fell short against Torrez. He lost 29-28 on four of the five judges’ cards.

Lopez actually advanced to the light heavyweight gold medal bout by beating a Cuban. Loren Alfonso is representing Azerbaijan. That country over the past several years has signed up several Cuban boxers who couldn’t make their own national team for various reasons.

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American Trayvon Bromell will not race in the 100-meter men’s final after finishing third in his semifinal heat.

The fastest time over the three heats came from Su Bingtian of China, an indoor specialist who was the first man from his country to break 10 seconds.

Su ran the third heat in an Asian record 9.83 seconds, finishing a fraction ahead of American Ronnie Baker.

Bromell came in with the world’s fastest time this year at 9.77 and as the favorite to succeed Usain Bolt as Olympic gold medalist. But he looked rusty in the first round and wasn’t better in Sunday night’s first semifinal.

He finished in 9.996 seconds, which was .001 out of the second automatic qualifying spot.

Bromell then had to wait to see if he would get one of the two wildcard spots in the eight-man final but the top four runners in Su’s heat all cracked 10 seconds.

Also in the final, set for later Sunday, are Canada’s Andre DeGrasse and America’s Fred Kerley.

They’ll be joined by Lamont Jacobs (Italy), Akani Simbine (South Africa), Zharnel Hughes (Britain) and Enoch Adegoke (Nigeria).

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All sorts of history was made at the Olympic pool.

Emma McKeon not only became the first female swimmer to win seven medals at one games, she became the most decorated Olympian in Australia’s history. She won two more golds on the final day of the meet to give her 11 for her career, eclipsing the record of nine that she shared for one day with swimming greats Ian Thorpe and Leisel Jones.

Britain capped its most prolific swimming performance ever at the Olympics with a silver medal in the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay, pushing its overall total to eight medals. That surpassed the country’s previous record of seven swimming medals, set more than a century ago at the 1908 London Games. Duncan Scott also became the first British athlete to win four medals at an Olympics in any sport, while Adam Peaty and James Guy both earned three medals.

Finally, Penny Oleksiak won her seventh career medal as part of Canada’s bronze medal effort in the women’s 4×100 medley relay. She became her country’s most decorated Olympian, breaking the record of six medals that had been shared by cyclist and speedskater Clara Hughes and speedskater Cindy Klassen.

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MEDAL ALERT

Max Whitlock of Britain defended his Olympic title in pommel horse.

Whitlock led off the eight-man final and posted a score of 15,583 points. That is the highest of any male or female gymnast on any event so far at the Tokyo Games.

His competitors didn’t really come close to catching him.

Lee Chih Kai of Taiwan took silver to earn the first-ever medal for his country in gymnastics.

Kazuma Kaya of Japan took the bronze to earn a second medal to go with the silver he won in the team competition.

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MEDAL ALERT

Fifth-ranked Alexander Zverev of Germany has won the gold medal in men’s singles at the Olympics.

Zverev beat Karen Khachanov of the Russian Olympic Committee 6-3, 6-1 for the biggest title of his career.

It follows a comeback victory for Zverev over top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

IOC president Thomas Bach watched his fellow German win the title.

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MEDAL ALERT

Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade has added a gold medal on vault to go with the silver she earned in the all-around.

Andrade put together a pair of soaring vaults to post an average of 15.083. The medals Andrade has won in Tokyo are the first and second ever for Brazil in gymnastics at the Games.

American MyKayla Skinner, who entered the competition after defending Olympic champion Simone Biles pulled out to focus on her mental health, captured the silver. The 24-year-old was an alternate on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team then spent three years at the University of Utah before returning to elite competition in 2019.

Yeo Seojeong of Korea took the bronze.

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MEDAL ALERT

Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark has won gold in the women’s one-person dinghy laser sailing event at Enoshima Yacht Harbor.

Rindom finished seventh in the medal race, but clinched gold with 78 points total.

It’s the first gold medal for Rindom, who won bronze in the same event in 2016.

Sweden’s Josefin Olsson crossed the finish line first but took silver with 81 points. Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands had to return to the start at the beginning of the race, but managed to win bronze. She won silver in London in 2012 and gold in Rio in 2016.

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MEDAL ALERT

Australian Matt Wearn has won gold in the men’s one-person laser sailing event at the Tokyo Olympics.

He finished second in the medal race, scoring four points, which was enough for the win. Australians also won gold in the event in 2012 and 2016.

Jean Baptiste Bernaz of France won the medal race at Enoshima Yacht Harbor, but his total score of 92 meant that he finished sixth overall.

Wearn scored a total of 53 points overall, while Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic took silver with 82. Stipanovic also won the silver medal in laser men in Rio in 2016.

Hermann Tomasgaard scored 85 to clinch the bronze, giving Norway its first medal in sailing since 2004.

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A group of about 10 people has been protesting across the street from the tennis venue where the men’s singles gold-medal match is being played.

The group is chanting in English with megaphones saying “No more Olympics” and “Stop playing games. Cancel the Olympics.”

One protester held a sign that said, “Stop playing the Games. People are suffering and dying! Save lives, not the Olympics!”

The chants could be heard inside the Center Court stadium where Alexander Zverev of Germany is playing Karen Khachanov of ROC. Play was not interrupted.

Police were intervening and moving the group away from the venue.

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MEDAL ALERT

Artem Dolgopyat won Israel’s first-ever Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics. Dolgopyat captured gold in the men’s floor exercise by edging Rayderley Zapata of Spain on a tiebreak.

Dolgopyat and Zapata were both awarded a score of 14.933 during the event finals. They both had matching execution scores during their routines. Dolgopyat earned the gold because his set was slightly more difficult than Zapata’s.

Xiao Ruoteng of China earned the bronze for his third medal in Tokyo. Xiao took silver in the men’s all-around and won a bronze during the team event last week.

The gold medal is just the second for Israel in any Olympic event. Gal Fridman won a gold in men’s sailboard at the 2004 Athens Games.

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The president of the Russian Olympic Committee says his team’s medals are the “best answer” to critics who questioned why Russian athletes were allowed to compete following doping scandals.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov says critics “supposed that as a matter of fact our athletes can’t compete without doping”, but that Russian athletes in Tokyo “proved the opposite not just with words but with their deeds and results.”

Russia is competing under the name of the ROC in Tokyo after a ruling which barred its name, flag and anthem from the Olympics and other major sports events. That followed a legal battle when the World Anti-Doping Agency said data from the drug-testing laboratory in Moscow had been tampered with.

Russian athletes have won 38 medals in Tokyo, 11 of them gold.