PARIS — The United States had a big night of athletics at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, winning two gold medals and five overall.
Gabby Thomas powered her way to an easy victory in the 200 meters – beating 100 meters winner Julien Alfred, who earned silver and now owns the only two medals in her country’s history. American sprinter Brittany Brown came third.
Thomas finished in 21.83 seconds, adding gold to the bronze she took home in the event from Tokyo three years ago. The 27-year-old Harvard graduate, who has a masters in public health, took the lead into the corner for good and was never challenged in the final stretch. She grabbed her head with both hands after she won.
Cole Hocker, meanwhile, pulled off the upset on the track with a stunning victory in the 1,500 meters.
Hocker beat favorites Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr to the finish in an Olympic record 3 minutes and 27.65 seconds. He moved from fifth to first place over the last 300 meters and improved his personal best by more than 3 seconds.
He beat Kerr by 0.14 seconds, while Ingebrigtsen, who set the pace in the first 1200 meters, finished fourth behind American Yared Nuguse.
Annette Nneka Echikunwoke won silver in the women’s hammer throw.
A look at other events from day 11 of the Paris Olympics:
Boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria advanced to the gold medal in the women’s welterweight division with a semi-final win.
Khelif defeated Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng 5:0 in the semifinals at Roland Garros, where the crowd roared and chanted her name during her three-round bout. Khelif has won three straight fights in Paris and she will win a gold or silver medal if she completes the tournament on Friday.
During these Games, she came under scrutiny for misconceptions about her gender.
Khelif had already secured Algeria’s first medal in women’s boxing before she entered the ring to loud cheers at Court Philippe Chatrier.
With one more victory, Khelif would win Algeria’s second boxing gold medal, joining Hocine Soltani (1996).
The U.S. women’s soccer team has advanced to the gold medal game and will make its sixth appearance in the Olympic finals after a 1-0 win over Germany.
Sophia Smith broke a goalless match in extra time by outsmarting defender Felicitas Rauch and German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger. It was Smith’s third goal of the tournament.
The Americans are undefeated in France under new coach Emma Hayes and are competing for their fifth Olympic gold medal. They will play against Brazil for gold.
The U.S. women’s national team missed the finals of the last two Olympic tournaments. They were eliminated in the quarter-finals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and were relegated to the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
The reigning Olympic champion U.S. women’s volleyball team recorded an outright victory against Poland to advance to the semifinals in Paris.
The Americans will play against superpower Brazil on Thursday.
The Americans made a lineup change following the team’s five-set loss to China on July 29 to open group stage play, reserving veterans Jordan Larson and Kelsey Robinson Cook roles and bringing in Avery Skinner and Kathryn Plummer. The Americans recovered two days later and defeated Serbia.
A 14-year-old won the women’s park skateboarding event and knew she had a podium locked up as soon as she scored her final run.
Australia’s Arisa Trew scored a 93.18 in her final, but still had to wait excruciatingly to see which step on the podium she would stand on. It wasn’t until a 92.63 showed up for Japan’s Cocona Hiraki to end the competition that Trew knew she was taking home gold.
At 14 years and 88 days old, Trew became the youngest Australian to win a medal. The previous youngest was Sandra Morgan, who was 14 years and 184 days old when she won gold in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay in 1956.
Mijain Lopez ended his career at the top and retired after winning the 130-kilogram final for his fifth consecutive gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling.
The 41-year-old Cuban defeated Yasmani Acosta Fernandez from Chile 6-0. It made him the first Olympian to win gold in an event in five consecutive Games.
After the match, he placed his shoes in the center of the mat, symbolizing his retirement.
At the last Olympics, Lopez became the first male wrestler to win four gold medals when he dominated in Tokyo, sweeping through the field unscored in four matches.
Quan Hongchan of China won her second gold medal in the diving competition at these Games, scoring a perfect 10 on the first of her five dives.
The dive was a 3 1/2 front somersault and barely made a ripple as she drew wild cheers from Chinese fans as the seven judges all recorded a score of 10.
The 17-year-old, a three-time world champion, said she had scored 10 three times before, including twice while winning gold in Tokyo.
The two Chinese women previously teamed up to win the synchronized 10 meters.
Top-seeded David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden made their way to the beach volleyball semifinals by beating Evandro and Arthur of Brazil at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.
Brazil’s loss means the sport’s spiritual homeland will fail to win a men’s medal for the second time in a row. The Brazilian men took gold in Rio de Janeiro and Athens and three other medals in between.
A test run intended to introduce athletes to the marathon swim course in the River Seine was canceled due to concerns about water quality in the Paris waterway.
World Aquatics made the decision to cancel the exercise during an early morning meeting. Fluctuating bacteria levels in the long-polluted waterway have been a constant concern during the Games, with the swimming portion of the triathlon and the marathon swimming events both scheduled to take place in the river.
Another marathon swimming test is scheduled for Wednesday, and organizers will decide early that morning whether it will go ahead. The women’s marathon swimming competition is scheduled for Thursday, and the men’s is scheduled for Friday.
This week the mixed triathlon relay was held in the river. World Triathlon has released data showing that when the triathletes swam, levels of the fecal bacteria E. coli and enterococci were within acceptable levels for the duration of the triathlon relay course.
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Olympic Games AP: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
