Gabrielle Thomas, of the United States, reacts after winning the women's 200-meters final at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.Petr David Josek/The Associated Press
Big day for U.S. on track
SAINT-DENIS, France – The United States had a big night in track and field at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, winning two gold medals and five overall. Gabby Thomas blazed her way to an easy win in the 200 metres – and beat 100-metre winner Julien Alfred, who earned silver and now owns the only two medals in her country’s history. American sprinter Brittany Brown was third. Cole Hocker, meanwhile, pulled the upset of the track meet with a stunning victory in the 1,500 metres. Hocker outraced favourites Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr to the finish line in an Olympic record 3 minutes 27.65 seconds.
Miltiadis Tentoglou, of Greece, celebrates after winning the men's long jump final at the Summer Olympics on Aug. 6, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press
Bad day for U.S. in field
SAINT-DENIS, France – Americans have ruled the men’s long jump throughout the history of the Summer Olympics, but there was no one from the United States in that event’s final on Tuesday night. Here’s how unusual that is: The only previous instance of a shutout for the country in a non-boycotted Olympics came in 2008. Otherwise, not only has the U.S. always had at least one participant in the final, but it’s dominated the event, winning the gold about 75 per cent of the time. Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou leapt 8.48 metres to become only the second man after American Carl Lewis to successfully defend the men’s Olympic long-jump title on Tuesday, delivering his country’s first gold of the Paris Games.
Harrie Lavreysen of Netherlands celebrates clinching the gold medal of the men's team sprint event, at the Summer Olympics on Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France.Thibault Camus/The Associated Press
Dutch trio defend Olympic team sprint title
MONTIGNY-LE-BRETONNEUX, France – Roy van den Berg, Harrie Lavreysen and Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands defended their Olympic team sprint gold medal in style Tuesday night, easily beating the British trio of Ed Lowe, Hamish Turnbull and Jack Carlin while shattering their own world record set earlier in the evening. The Dutch already had a big lead in the three-lap race when van den Berg swung off the front, and Lavreysen merely pushed the advantage out even more. By the time he moved out of the way, Hoogland was left to cruise to the finish line. Their time of 40.949 seconds beat the mark of 41.191 that the Dutch set in their heat race against Canada. The bronze medal went to Australia.
Yui Susaki of Japan wrestles against Vinesh Vinesh of India on Aug. 6, 2024.Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
India’s Vinesh Phogat stuns Olympic wrestling champion
PARIS – India’s Vinesh Phogat stunned four-time world and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan with a late takedown to claim a 3-2 decision in their opening match in the 50-kilogram division at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday. Susaki, the seemingly unbeatable top seed in Paris, won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago without conceding a point. Phogat didn’t stop after upsetting Susaki. She won her quarter-final match against Ukraine’s Oksana Livach 7-5, then won her semi-final against Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzmán Lopez 5-0 to become the first Indian woman to reach an Olympic final. Phogat will wrestle American Sarah Hildebrandt for the gold medal on Wednesday. Hildebrandt defeated Mongolia’s Otgonjargal Dolgorjav 5-0 in the other semi-final.
Netherlands' Marit Bouwmeester competes in race 7 of the women's ILCA 6 single-handed dinghy event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games sailing competition at the Roucas-Blanc Marina in Marseille on Aug. 4, 2024.NICOLAS TUCAT/Getty Images
Wind writes script for finely poised finales
MARSEILLE, France Fickle Mediterranean winds set the stage for tense finales to three of the Olympic sailing events, with the men’s and women’s dinghy medal races pushed back to Wednesday, when officials will also try to wrap up the mixed dinghies and multihulls. Some racing was possible on Tuesday, with the multihulls completing their premedal race series and the mixed dinghies also getting most of theirs in challenging conditions. Despite delays, the kiteboarders also put more races under their belts, in the build-up to their Thursday finals. The men’s and women’s dinghy sailors waited for hours, however, for the breeze to stabilise, only for officials to fly the flags indicating that their medal races were over before they began. Women’s gold and silver had been effectively wrapped up on Monday by Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands and Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom.
The Associated Press