Tokyo Olympics live updates: Team USA earns first medals on Day 2 of Summer Games
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Olympics open with a thud for Team USA, bright spots ahead with skateboarding and surfing
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After getting shut out in the medal events on Day 1 of the Tokyo Olympics, Team USA broke through in a big way on Sunday.
The first medals were awarded in swimming with Americans Emma Weyant and Chase Kalisz among the favorites for gold in the women’s and men’s 400-meter individual medley finals.
The U.S. men’s basketball team gets into action in their version of pool play Sunday against France. Meanwhile, skateboarding and surfing will make their debuts as official Olympic sports.
From NFL plays to college sports scores, all the top sports news you need to know every day.
And Simone Biles makes her debut in Tokyo as the women’s qualification round begins in gymnastics.
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Schmitt wins her ninth Olympic medal; USA relay takes bronze
TOKYO – The American swimmers capped Day 1 of finals with six medals in the pool, with the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay adding bronze in the last race of the morning.
Australia set a world record, pulling away over the final 300 meters to win in 3:29.69, breaking its previous world record of 3:30.05, set in 2018.
Canada won the silver medal in 3:32.78, followed by the USA in 3:32.81.
Bronze medalists for the Americans are Erika Brown, Abbey Weitzel, Natalie Hinds and Simone Manuel as well as those who swam in the preliminaries Saturday. Those swimmers were Catie de Loof, Allison Schmitt and Olivia Smoliga.
Schmitt now has nine Olympic medals in her career, with the 200 free coming up Monday.
— Jeff Metcalfe, USA TODAY
USA edges Australia in softball thriller
TOKYO — In a scoreless extra-inning contest, Monica Abbott surrendered a bases- loaded walk in the top of the eighth, marking the fist time an opponent scored against the U.S. in four games during these Olympics. The deficit to Australia didn’t last long, as Amanda Chidester plated two runs with a single in the bottom half of the inning for a 2-1 walk-off victory to move the U.S. to 4-0 in group play.
Extra-inning rules dictate an automatic runner on second, and Australia loaded the bases against Abbott, who allowed her sixth free pass of the game to put the U.S. in a 1-0 hole.
Leading off the bottom of the eighth, Haylie McCleney reached on an infield single, with auto runner Ally Carda remaining at second. Janie Reed moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt before Chidester laced one up the middle to win it.
Abbott struck out 13 and delivered 126 pitches. She’d gone 15 2/3 innings without allowing a run, with two saves in relief of Cat Osterman against Italy and Australia, respectively. Abbott led the way in a 1-0 victory over Canada on Thursday.
The U.S. will now face rival Japan on Monday in the final game of the round-robin.
— Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY
Americans score silver, bronze in women’s IM
TOKYO — Americans Emma Weyant and Hali Flickinger added to the swimming medal haul in the women’s 400-meter individual medley. Weyant won silver and Flickinger bronze behind gold medalist Yui Ohashi of Japan, who won in 4:32.08.
Weyant finished in 4:32.76, .68 seconds behind Ohashi. The 19-year-old American will attend the University of Virginia this upcoming school year.
Flickinger, 27, is a two-time Olympian who moved to Arizona after the 2019 world championships to train with Arizona State swimming coach Bob Bowman. She was seventh in the 200 butterfly at the 2016 Rio Olympics and will swim in that event again in Tokyo.
Weyant and Flickinger are the first U.S. women to medal at the Tokyo Games.
— Jeff Metcalfe, USA TODAY
Golfer DeChambeau out after positive COVID-19 test
TOKYO — Bryson DeChambeau will not be representing the United States in the men’s golf competition at the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.
USA Golf announced the news Sunday morning in Japan, late Saturday night in the U.S. The 2020 U.S. Open champion will be replaced by Patrick Reed as one of four American golfers in the field of 60.
“I am deeply disappointed not to be able to compete in the Olympics for Team USA,” DeChambeau said in a statement through USA Golf. “Representing my country means the world to me and it is was a tremendous honor to make this team. I wish Team USA the best of luck next week in Tokyo. I will now focus on getting healthy, and I look forward to returning to competition once I am cleared to do so.”
DeChambeau tested positive prior to traveling to Tokyo as part of the final testing protocol.
— Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY
Reigning men’s tennis champ withdraws
Great Britain’s tennis star Andy Murray, who has won the last two gold medals in men’s singles, surprisingly withdrew from the tournament Sunday — hours before he was set to play a first-round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Murray said in a statement he suffered a quad strain and, on the advice of team doctors, has decided to focus on doubles with partner Joe Salisbury. The pairing won its first-round match on Saturday, upsetting the French team of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hughes Herbert, which was seeded No. 2.
— Dan Wolken, USA TODAY
Smith swims to bronze in men’s 400 free
TOKYO – American Kieran Smith won a medal in his Olympic debut, finishing third in the 400-meter freestyle.
Smith, 21, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, and the University of Florida was in medal position for most of the race at Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the first day of swimming finals.
He held onto the bronze medal position over the final 200 meters, finishing in 3:43.94, and giving the U.S. men their third swimming medal of the day.
Tunisa’s Ahmed Hafnaoui passed Australia’s Jack McLoughlin to win gold in 3:43.36. McLoughlin, who led from 200 to 350 meters, was runner-up in 3:43.52.
Smith also won at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month over Jake Mitchell, who also made the Olympic final, finishing eighth in 3:45.39.
— Jeff Metcalfe, USA TODAY
Golden swim for Kalisz
TOKYO — Chase Kalisz, a Michael Phelps protege who won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the men’s 400 individual medley, has done it again winning gold to give the United States its first medal of these Olympic Games.
U.S. teammate Jay Litherland took silver.
Kalisz, 27, from Bel Air, Maryland, swam the challenging 400 IM, 100 meters of all four strokes, in 4:09.42.
The longtime gold-medal favorite in this event, Japan’s Daiya Seto, shockingly failed to advance out of Saturday night’s qualifying, creating a wide-open final.
— Christine Brennan, USA TODAY
USA’s top beach volleyball team opens with win
TOKYO – USA beach volleyball pair April Ross and Alix Klineman won their opening preliminary Pool B match vs. China’s Chen Xue and Xinxin Wang.
Ross and Klineman won in straight sets. They took an early lead in the first set and never looked back, taking the game 21-17. China kept the second set close, but Ross and Klineman were able to squeak out a narrow 21-19 win, closing out the match in a total of 44 minutes.
“It’s a really good Chinese team. We studied them really hard, being the first match of the Olympics. It feels really good to get that win,” Ross said after the preliminary victory. “I’m extremely happy with it.”
The American beach volleyball duo’s next match will be against Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez on July 27 at 9 a.m.
— Tyler Dragon, USA TODAY
First U.S. staffer tests positive for COVID-19
TOKYO – A staff member in the U.S. delegation has tested positive for coronavirus, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee said Sunday.
It was the only confirmed positive among 1,038 U.S. delegates.
The International Olympic Committee announced 10 new COVID-19 positive cases on Sunday. Eight were non-residents of Japan, including two athletes. Organizers have announced 132 cases since July 1.
— Rachel Axon, USA TODAY
After gruesome injury, French gymnast makes Olympic return
TOKYO — French gymnast Samir Ait Said suffered a gruesome injury at the Rio Olympics that horrified anyone who saw or heard it. Competing in Tokyo five years later, he is the epitome of the Olympic spirit.
“When I arrived here, I had some flashbacks from Rio. But then I realized I have to go forward,” Ait Said said Saturday, after qualifying for the still rings final. “I gave everything I had, thinking about my family, especially my father. I will give everything I have to have a gold medal. At least a medal.”
– Nancy Armour, USA TODAY
Iconic theme music is back on NBC
Pro hoops fans from the 1990s and early 2000s will feel a twinge of nostalgia during NBC’s coverage of Olympic basketball in Tokyo. 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.
Composed by John Tesh, “Roundball Rock” became synonymous with the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls teams and its frequent national exposure extended into the Los Angeles Lakers’ run of championships with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
(The theme even spawned a 2013 Saturday Night Live skit featuring Jason Sudeikis as Tesh.)
The first (re)appearance of the Olympics will come when Team USA meets France in its Olympic opener on Sunday (8 a.m. ET).
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tokyo Olympics live updates: Swimmers collect USA’s first medals on Day 2 of Summer Games