The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is officially under way after yesterday’s opening ceremony when Naomi Osaka lit the flame in the National Stadium, signifying the start of the Games. In reality they have been going for a few days now with football and softball competitions getting going early to fit in the fixtures, but the schedule is now jam-packed with events.
Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz won a thrilling men’s cycling road race in front of a few thousand fans at the Fuji International Speedway track on the outskirts of Tokyo. Belgium’s Wout van Aert won a bunch sprint for silver ahead of Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, who took bronze. Britain’s Geraint Thomas abandoned the race after an early crash.
Elsewhere the Games’ youngest competitor, Hend Zaza, represented Syria in the table tennis and took pride in defeat. The 12-year-old prodigy beat someone four times her age to get here and her journey to success in a country torn by war for much of her life is undoubtedly one of the stories of the Olympics. From a British perspective Polly Swann and Helen Glover are competing in the rowing heats, Seonaid McIntosh is in action on the shooting range and Andy Murray will step on to court in the men’s tennis doubles alongside Joe Salisbury. Follow all the latest news, updates and results below.
Abigail Irozuru never lost faith during injury battle to reach Olympics
Abigail Irozuru has credited her faith in God for ending her injury woes and wait for an Olympic debut.
The 31-year-old is preparing to make her Games bow in the long jump in Tokyo.
Her dream is nine years in the making after being left out in 2012, despite making the standard, before a ruptured Achilles forced her to miss Rio.
Irozuru retired after her injury before making the decision to return in 2019 with her faith helping her to reach Japan.
She said: “I do go to church and believe in God and genuinely had a conversation with God and I felt compelled to come back.
“I didn’t want to look back with regrets. I felt so tugged back into it but in my head I was like ‘there’s no way I can put myself through this, it’s torture.’
“In 2016 when I ruptured my Achilles, that was the second Olympic cycle I’d missed out on. I thought my dream was done but coming back a couple of years later, knowing it would be a fight, I just had to keep the faith.
“There are moments when I’ve had doubts, my capability and, particularly with the extra year, you question your age and ability to recover but I’ve been so thankful for the team I’ve had.”
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 17:00
Novak Djokovic urges schedule change as players struggle with Tokyo conditions
“Obviously it’s the same for everyone and it’s something we’ve known coming into Tokyo, we expected that the conditions were going to be very tough, but before you come here and experience that you don’t really know how difficult it is.
“Today there was not much of a breeze. I felt like there was trapped hot air that was absorbed by the surface. It was tough, and probably tougher for the earlier matches. I at least had half of the match in shade so I could see the ball better and not feel dizzy on the court.
“I don’t really get why ITF doesn’t want to move the matches. This was the last centre court match and it was finished before 5pm.
“There is hopefully some kind of an understanding from ITF on what they’ve seen. All the athletes train and dream of being at an Olympic Games and then playing for half an hour and retiring, you don’t want to have the Olympic experience that way. But we have to accept whatever the circumstances are.”
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 16:45
Tokyo Olympics begin with familiarity and discomfort ahead of uncapped highs and desperate lows
17 more infections, including another Olympic village resident and an athlete staying elsewhere, taking the total to 127 since 1 July. In turn, the first inevitable cancellation arrived in the morning, with Czech Republic conceding to Japan in the women’s volleyball after Marketa Slutkova became the sixth positive in the Czech camp.
Gratefully, Covid wouldn’t stifle the other 22 sports hosted across the city on Saturday, not that it won’t give it a damn good go. For all the deserved criticism of the IOC, the relief that the athletes will now take over the narratives was not just theirs.
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 16:34
Tokyo 2020: Whitlock reflects on “huge shame” for Japanese legend Kohei Uchimura
For years Max Whitlock sought to emulate his idol Kohei Uchimura by becoming Olympic all-around champion, so much so that the Japanese great admitted having logged into Whitlock’s live-streamed training sessions to keep an eye on his rising British rival.
The divergent paths the pair have followed since their respective successes in Rio in 2016 were emphasised in the Ariake Gymnastics Arena in Tokyo on Saturday, when Whitlock booked his place in another pommel final then looked on as Uchimura, on the opposite side of the arena, endured an anti-climactic final act.
The 32-year-old national hero Uchimura had dreamed of winning a third straight all-around title in front of his home fans. Instead, a series of injuries forced him to focus solely on the high bar, where, against an inappropriate backdrop of empty seats, a fall midway through his routine brought his campaign, and almost certainly his remarkable career, to a close.
“I don’t usually watch the other gymnasts but I couldn’t really not notice Kohei on the high bar,” said Whitlock, who also competed on high bar and parallel bars in order to ensure the four-man GB team – also comprising Joe Fraser, James Hall and Giarni Regini-Moran – safely qualified for the men’s team final.
“It’s a huge shame for him in his home country, especially because in the warm-up gym he has been looking amazing. It is so difficult coming out to do just one piece, and I’ve only just begun to realise that over the years as I’ve become more of a specialist myself.”
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 15:55
Tokyo 2020: Team USA have a fight on to show they remain the world’s best in basketball
The Brooklyn Nets superstar will lead an extremely talented American side in Tokyo, but their rivals are now producing their own superstars and can lean on size to make life difficult for Gregg Popovich’s side.
In the past, the USA have always been able to rely on their superior talent to make up for a lack of cohesion, but the rest of the world have caught up amid basketball’s globalisation.
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 15:45
Tokyo 2020: Team GB triathletes bring genuine gold medal hope
Britain’s triathletes will look to step out of the shadow of Alistair Brownlee at the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo this week.
Brownlee had to admit defeat in his bid to challenge for a third straight gold medal, with an ankle injury preventing him recapturing the form that saw him dominate the races in London and Rio. His younger brother Jonny, who has silver and bronze medals from the last two Games, is on the team along with Rio bronze medallist Vicky Holland and first-timers Jess Learmonth, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee.
The latter three may not be household names yet but performance director Mike Cavendish is bullish, telling the PA news agency: “I don’t think we’ve ever taken a team to a Games before where genuinely every single athlete who is on the start-line for Great Britain could be in with a shout if the race goes their way.
“That puts us in a great position, and I don’t think there’s many other countries, or any other countries, that are in a similar place.”
The most exciting prospect is 23-year-old Yee, who is the fastest runner triathlon has ever seen. He secured his spot on the team by winning his first World Triathlon Series race in Leeds last month to mark himself out as a potential gold medal contender.
Cavendish said: “He’s been inspired by what Alistair and Jonny have done in the past. It’s so unfortunate that Alistair couldn’t be here because of his injury but, to have Alex step in as the next generation, that’s almost the best outcome.
“He’s super talented. For him, this is all about just laying down the sort of performance that he can. If that ends up in a podium, then great. If not, then he’ll just take all the learning he can from this and experience and we’re absolutely convinced that his time will come.”
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 15:34
Tokyo 2020: Taekwondo medal matches begin as Jade Jones awaits her turn
But the -49kg event sees Serbia take bronze, Spain silver and Thailand’s Panipak Wongpattanakit take the gold.
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 15:12
Tokyo 2020: Where are Russia and what is the ROC?
Russia was banned from the Tokyo Olympics in December 2019 after the notorious doping scandal, which rocked the sporting world.
The initial ban of four years was reduced to two years in 2020, it still ensured no official Russian team present at the Olympic Games in Japan or the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Nonetheless, Russian athletes are still at Tokyo 2020 due to the establishment of the ROC. All the details:
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 14:50
Tokyo 2020: Great Britain through to football quarter-finals after Ellen White scores again
Two games, two wins, two clean sheets, six points – and that’s a top-two finish assured for Hege Riise’s squad.
Team GB will definitely be in the knockouts, following their 1-0 win over hosts Japan – who themselves need a win in the final game to make it through too.
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 14:22
Tokyo 2020: Max Whitlock negotiates path through pommel qualifying
Defending champion Max Whitlock safely negotiated the nerve-racking qualification process at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre on the day one of his sport’s biggest stars bowed out.
Karl Matchett24 July 2021 13:50
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