[ad_1]
TOKYO (AP) – The latest news on the Tokyo Olympics, which are being held under heavy restrictions after a year of delay due to the coronavirus pandemic:
___
Bahraini runner Sadik Mikhou tested positive for a blood transfusion at the Tokyo Olympics and has been provisionally suspended.
Moroccan Mikhou ran in the 1,500-meter heats on Tuesday but did not reach the final.
The International Testing Agency said the alleged doping violation was reported on Friday.
Mikhou had previously been banned for blood doping, but his suspension expired in December.
___
The IOC has given itself more power to remove sports from the Olympic program.
The decision voted on by members of the International Olympic Committee comes amid protracted problems with weightlifting and boxing leaders.
The IOC can now suppress a sport if its governing body does not comply with a decision taken by the executive board of the Olympic body or if it “acts in a way which may tarnish the reputation of the Olympic movement”.
Weightlifting could lose its place at the Paris 2024 Olympics due to long-term doping issues and governance issues. The International Weightlifting Federation was led for two decades until last year by longtime IOC member Tamas Ajan.
Boxing at the Tokyo Games was removed from control of the International Boxing Association in 2019 after doubts over the integrity of the Olympic fights and concerns from the IOC over its presidential elections.
___
MEDAL ALERT
The Russian rhythmic gymnastics juggernaut has collapsed in Tokyo, with the country’s team losing the gold medal to Bulgaria a day after losing the individual competition to Israel.
Russia won silver medals in both.
Russia has dominated the sport for decades. He has won gold medals in group and individual competitions at every Olympic Games since 2000, but the winning streak has come to an end this year.
Israeli Linoy Ashram won gold in the individual competition on Saturday, edging out a pair of identical Russian twins who were the favorites ahead of Tokyo.
On Sunday, the Bulgarian five-woman team won gold by beating the Russians in the group final, a two-part competition starting with routines where performers dance with balloons, followed by a set of hoops and clubs. Italy placed third.
___
MEDAL ALERT
Jennifer Valente recovered from a fall in the points race final to cling to the gold medal, crowning what had been an otherwise frustrating and disappointing Olympics for American cycling.
Valente won the opening scratch race, won three sprints in the points race and performed well in the elimination race to take an eight-point lead in the points race, where points are awarded for all sprints. the 10 turns.
Valente won the first sprint to consolidate his lead, then recovered from a fall 30 laps from the end so as not to lose ground on his pursuers. She finished second in the final sprint to secure the gold medal.
Yumi Kajihara won silver for Japan. Kirsten Wild won bronze for the Netherlands.
___
MEDAL ALERT
Brittney Griner scored 30 points and the United States won their seventh straight gold in women’s basketball, beating Japan 90-75.
Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi were part of five of these gold medals. No one has played more Olympics for the United States than Taurasi with 38. Bird is second with 36 in his last Olympics.
This golden streak began in 1996 in Atlanta with Dawn Staley as the player. Staley joins the late Anne Donovan as the only American to help the United States win gold as players, assistants and then head coaches.
A’ja Wilson added 19 points and Breanna Stewart scored 14 as the Americans once again dominated the interior. The United States have extended their Olympic winning streak to 55 straight games since the 1992 bronze medal game.
Japan finished with the silver medal in the host nation’s first appearance in the medal round. Japan finished eighth at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.
___
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said it was “inevitable” that questions would be asked about the integrity of athletics’ groundbreaking results at the Tokyo Olympics.
Coe was asked at a press conference if it was frustrating that some doubt that men’s 100-meter champion Marcell Jacobs’ surprise victory was clean.
Italian and UK media reported Jacobs severed ties this year with a nutritionist who was linked to a police investigation into steroid distribution.
Coe said he would not talk about a specific case, although he acknowledged that after “outstanding performance, it is inevitable that people will always ask questions.”
The two-time 1500-meter gold medalist says: “Am I surprised at anything in athletics? Not really.”
He suggests that people doubted his own rapid career progression from a “relatively modest athlete” in 1978 to an Olympic champion two years later.
___
Megan Rapinoe says she’s enjoying the greatest gift she doesn’t deserve – being able to stay and watch her fiancée Sue Bird play for a fifth Olympic gold medal.
Rapinoe wrapped up her Olympic commitment Thursday night when the United States won bronze in women’s football, Rapinoe scoring twice in victory. Athletes are heading home quickly after their final competition under the coronavirus pandemic protocols at the Tokyo Games.
Rapinoe says she’s grateful that someone arranged for her to be a few rows off the court, able to support and watch Bird, knowing that these will be her last Olympics. Rapinoe says she feels “super lucky” to be able to attend the game because of all the restrictions.
The American men and their coach, Gregg Popovich, are also in the stands watching the American women play for their seventh straight gold medal. The American men won gold on Saturday. The teams return home in the same plane.
___
MEDAL ALERT
Jason Kenny became Britain’s most decorated Olympian defending his gold medal in the keirin. This gave Kenny seven gold medals to break a tie with cyclist Chris Hoy and nine in total to break a tie with Bradley Wiggins.
Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia edged Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen for the silver medal.
Kenny sidled up behind the power trainer bike for the first three laps, then started to sprint the moment he ducked off the track. No one reacted to his daring flyer, which helped Kenny build himself nearly a quarter turn ahead.
He held on until the end, raising his arms in triumph after crossing the finish line.
___
MEDAL ALERT
Kelsey Mitchell of Canada won gold in the women’s track cycling sprint event, passing Olena Starikova of Ukraine at the Izu Velodrome.
Mitchell upset reigning world champion Emma Hinze of Germany in the semifinals before facing Starikova, who also upset 2019 world champion Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong in her semi-final match.
Mitchell led the way against Starikova in the premiere of their best-of-three final. Then she pushed Starikova back in a drag race to the end to win Canada’s second gold in that event after Lori-Ann Muenzer’s at the 2004 Athens Games.
Lee easily passed Hinze to win the bronze medal.
___
An on-track official was taken off the track inside the Izu Velodrome on a stretcher after being run over by a runner in a massive accident near the end of the scratch race in the women’s omnium.
The unidentified official was standing on the track apron near the first turn when Italy’s Elisa Balsamo collided with Irishwoman Emily Kay as she took the bell for the final lap. The two fell, triggering a chain reaction that brought down five other runners, including two-time defending champion Laura Kenny.
Egyptian rider Ebtissam Zayed Ahmed passed just over Balsamo and into the track official.
___
Serbia return home with an Olympic medal in women’s volleyball for the second consecutive Games.
The Serbs beat South Korea in straight sets to win the bronze medal in Tokyo. Serbia won their first medal in the sport five years ago, a silver in Rio de Janeiro.
South Korea failed in their quest for a second women’s volleyball medal after winning bronze in 1976.
The United States faces Brazil for the gold medal.
___
MEDAL ALERT
Eliud Kipchoge retired late and no one could catch up with him as the 36-year-old Kenyan defended his Olympic marathon title.
Kipchoge finished in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 38 seconds on a windy and wet Sunday in the streets of Sapporo. He was over 80 seconds ahead of finalist Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands. Bashir Abdi of Belgium won bronze to close the athletics portion of the Tokyo Games.
One day with a lot of cloud cover, Kipchoge sailed. The temperature was around 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 Celsius) initially and climbed to 84 (29). The men’s race retained its original start time a day after the women’s race was moved forward an hour to avoid the heat.
The humidity was 81% as runners made their way through Sapporo, located about 500 miles (about 830 kilometers) north of Tokyo. The race was moved to escape the extreme heat, but it was about the same temperature Sunday in Tokyo – and rainy.
Kipchoge smiled along the way and even punched another runner. Kipchoge becomes the third athlete to win multiple gold medals in the men’s marathon, joining Abebe Bikila (1960, ’64) and Waldemar Cierpinski (’76, ’80).
___
More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics
[ad_2]
Source link