Chasing Gold: How Team USA’s fortunes went from famine to feast on Day 2 of Tokyo Olympics
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Team USA rebounded in huge way on Day 2 of the Tokyo Olympics following a disappointing first day.
After going without a medal on Day 1 of the Summer Olympics for the first time in nearly half a century, the United States came back and won a whopping 10 medals on Day 2. American swimmers led the way as U.S. Swimming had its greatest opening day in its long, glorious history, while Team USA also struck gold in shooting, fencing and taekwondo.
The United States currently sits behind China (six) and Japan (five) in gold medals won with four, but ranks second for overall medals with 10. Swimmer Chase Kalisz was the first American to earn gold after he won the 400 meter IM.
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The medal-winning resurgence puts Team USA back on track to win 134 medals in Tokyo, a figure that would be the most for the Americans in decades.
Skateboarding Success: Jagger Eaton got his first skateboard when he was four years old, and the gift changed his life forever. Sixteen years later, he found himself standing on an Olympic podium.
In skateboarding’s Olympic debut, Eaton won bronze in the men’s street discipline at Ariake Urban Sports Park. Teammate Nyjah Houston came in as the gold-medal favorite, but finished seventh.
Swimming in Medals: As Chase Kalisz brought in the Americans’ first gold, his teammates helped bring in more medals as they finished the day with six total. In fact, Kalisz had a teammate on the podium with him as Jay Litherland took silver in the 400 IM.
Americans Emma Weyant and Hali Flickinger were the first U.S. women to medal at the Tokyo Games when they finished second and third in the women’s 400-meter individual medley.
Kieran Smith winning a bronze in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, and the U.S. ended the day when Erika Brown, Abbey Weitzeil, Natalie Hinds and Simone Manuel took the bronze in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay.
Off the podium, 17-year-old swimmer Lydia Jacoby made history before getting in the pool. She is the first Olympic swimmer and only the 10th Summer Olympian to be born in Alaska.
Basketball stays flat: Hopes that the Team USA men’s basketball team would return to normalcy were deflated when the team lost to France Sunday morning. The loss was Team USA’s first Olympic loss since 2004 when current head coach Gregg Popovich was an assistant under Larry Brown.
But there was a glimmer of hope for 1990s to early-2000s hoops fans who tuned in to watch NBC’s Olympic basketball coverage. The “Roundball Rock” theme song the network used for the NBA on NBC from 1990-2002 will be featured on its men’s and women’s basketball telecasts.
DeChambeau Tests Positive: World No. 6 golfer Bryson DeChambeau will not be traveling to Tokyo after he tested positive for COVID-19. Patrick Reed will instead be representing the United States as one of four Team USA golfers in the field of 60. Spain’s Jon Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, also was forced to withdraw after testing positive.
Gymnastics’ flop: The United States women’s gymnastics team didn’t get off to a great start in the team event. While it finished second behind the Russians, this was the first time since the 2010 world championships that the Americans have failed to finish first in either qualifying or team finals at worlds or the Olympics.
That’s all for Sunday, though it won’t be long until the athletes wake up and get ready for day 3 of the competitions. If you want another look at what’s going on in Tokyo, our reporters at the Olympics are a text away.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chasing Gold: How Team USA’s fortunes went from famine to feast on Day 2 of Tokyo Olympics