September 20, 2024

Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Max Whitlock wins gold, men’s 100m and more – live!

Max Whitlock #MaxWhitlock

6.57am EDT 06:57

Athletics: In the first semi of the women’s 100m hurdles, Tobi Amusan of Nigeria and Devynne Charlton of Bahamas qualified in first and second place; there’s room for two fastest losers here too, so we’ll see how things shake out.

6.55am EDT 06:55

Qualifiers for the men’s 100m final

Bigntian Su (China) 9.83

Ronnie Baker (USA) 9.83

Zharnel Hughes (GB) 9.98

Fred Kerley (USA) 9.96

Andre De Grasse (Canada) 9.98

Enoch Adegoke (Nigeria) 10.00

Akani Simbine (RSA) 9.90 (fastest loser)

Lamont Marcell (Italy) 9.84 (fastest loser)

Confirmation that Trayvon Bromell is out!

6.50am EDT 06:50

Gymnastics: Max Whitlock tells BBC he’s “lost for words”, “completely overwhelmed,” and it’s “totally surreal”. It’s been an incredible journey, he says, and retaining the gold is “a million times harder”, noting “the most pressured environment I’ve ever been in”. He’s only getting older, but “experience pays a lot” and he “can’t quite believe it”.

He doesn’t know if it helped going first. It’s easy to say with the gold around his neck now, but every gymnast knows it’s hard to go first and he had to lay down a big routine, he couldn’t wait to see what others did. He can’t believe he’s done it, but he’s done the job, scored near his target score, and knew that if someone beat it, he’d still done his job. He now has six Olympic medals and when he was younger, he only did the sport because he enjoyed it – he wasn’t aiming for or expecting medals. It “feels very, very surreal” and he thinks he’s almost going round in circles trying to make sense of it.

From pommel horsing in his garden – the price of covid – he’s got to here, and he thanks his family for their support, saying he can’t wait to get home. What a lovely man, what an incredible competitor.

6.41am EDT 06:41

Gymnastics: Max Whitlock has another gold dangling around his neck! What a total hero!

Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Updated at 7.27am EDT

6.40am EDT 06:40

Athletics: Here comes the third man’s semi, and Bingtian Su leads from the gun, but Ronnie Baker of USA and Lamont Marcell of Italy chase. Marcell and Su almost collide on the line, with Su hanging on for a 9.83, Baker getting the same time and Marcell a 9.84. Chijindu Ujah of GB is fifth in 10.11.

6.37am EDT 06:37

Gymnastics: Rhys McClenaghan tells BBC that one finger misplacement cost him, which is elite sport. But he’s an Olympian, has improved, will improve, and will use what happened today for motivation. He’s the first Irishman to qualify for a gymnastics final, brought himself to tears thinking about how motivated he was for this, and will come back hard. This is a really brilliant, mature and inspirational interview; what a young man.

6.35am EDT 06:35

Athletics: In the high jump final, various – JuVaughan Harrison among them – have cleaed 2.24m.

6.33am EDT 06:33

Athletics: Bromell only sneaked through yesterday, and he couldn’t deliver when it mattered! He’s down on his haunches, but he may well have to go!

Updated at 6.55am EDT

6.30am EDT 06:30

Athletics: I think Zharnel Hughes of GB takes this! He does, powering through in a season’s best 9.98, ahead of Enoch Adegoke of Nigeria! Trayvon Bromell of USA, the favourite, is out if he’s not a fastest loser!

Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain (left) crosses the line to win the semi-final next to him is Nigeria’s Enoch Adegoke who finishes second. Photograph: Paweł Kopczyński/Reuters

Updated at 6.44am EDT

6.29am EDT 06:29

Gymnastics: Lee of Chinese Taipei and Kaya of Japan take solver and bronze respectively.

6.28am EDT 06:28

Gymnastics: That was a monstrous effort, it really was. He opted not to defend his floor title, looking to make sure of one, and he absolutely nailed it! Beth Tweddle reckons it was the best routine of his career, which tells you all you need to know – I’ve not a clue what it must take to do that kind of thing on such a stage, because it’s unknowable to all but those who are able. The smoothness, composure and control were absolutely mind-boggling.

6.26am EDT 06:26

Gold! Max Whitlock defends his Olympic title and wins the pommel horse for Great Britain!

What a performance that was! He went first, he dispensed near-perfection, and sat back to enjoy! Six Olympic medals for him now! You’d take it!

Max Whitlock of Great Britain celebrates after winning gold. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

Updated at 6.51am EDT

6.25am EDT 06:25

Athletics: Kerley wins in 9.96, De Grasse of Canada qualifies too in 9.98.

6.23am EDT 06:23

Gymnastics: Kameyama of Japan is the last man, and this is nothing like Whitlock’s routine! Whitlock is going to defend his title!

6.23am EDT 06:23

Athletics: Blake gets away well, but the speed endurance isn’t there and Kerley comes through to take it in what I think is a slow time, with a photo for second between De Grasse and Omurwa….

Updated at 6.24am EDT

6.21am EDT 06:21

Gymnastics: At 22, McClenaghan has time to come again, and he does a decent job getting back on, but he looks devastated because he is. Sport, what an absolute expletive.

6.19am EDT 06:19

Gymnastics: OH NO! RYHS MCCLENAGHAN COMES OFF THE HORSE! He misses a hand placement and winds up face and body down on the horse! That’s horrible to see … unless you’re Max Whitlock, who can almost taste that gold.

Updated at 6.20am EDT

6.18am EDT 06:18

Athletics: And it’s Prescod of GB who’s penalised! He’s out! Dear me, that’s brutal, and I still, all these years later, cannot grasp the need for this rule. It’s to make sure races go when they’re meant to go, I believe – a telly thing – but seriously, this is the Olympic Games.

Reece Prescod of Great Britain (second left) during a false start. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

Updated at 6.25am EDT

6.17am EDT 06:17

Gymnastics: Kaya of Japan is nowhere near Whitlock, but Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland comes next, and he has a serious chance. This is going to be great; this is intense.

6.16am EDT 06:16

Athletics: The men take their mark for the first 100m semi; the first two go through. And it’s a false start…

The men race out the blocks but are stopped because of a false start. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Updated at 6.23am EDT

6.15am EDT 06:15

Gymnastics: Lee of Chinese Taipei goes next and performs every skill in flare position – this is lovely stuff! – but is the difficulty enough? No it is not! It’s 6.700, 8..700 for execution, and 15.400 puts him second.

6.13am EDT 06:13

Athletics: The men are out for the first 100m semi. GB’s Reece Prescod runs in lane two, Yoahn Blake of Jamaica in lane five, and Fred Kerley, whose 9.86 makes him the fastest in the field this season, goes in seven.

6.10am EDT 06:10

Gymnastics: David Belyavskiy lays down a decent routine, but it’s not as clean as Whitlock’s – at dismount particularly. Whitlock’s 7.0 difficulty coupled with the cleanliness of his execution makes him almost uncatchable, reckon the Eurosport commentary team, and Belyavskiy takes 14.833 to go second.

6.08am EDT 06:08

Athletics: We’re watching the medal ceremony for the women’s 100m, in which regard check out how beautiful this is.

6.05am EDT 06:05

Gymnastics: Ach. Poor Sun Wei of China misses his swing and misses his hand down, so comes off. He gets back on and performs nicely, but he’ll not be troubling the podium today.

6.04am EDT 06:04

Gymnastics: 14.566 for Yoder, which tells you just how ludicrous Whitlock’s performance was. He was so smooth and composed out there; going first made him even more of a problem for the others than otherwise.

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