Thompson-Herah breaks Jo record as Elbakh earns Qatar first Olympic gold

This news has been read 13140 times!

TOKYO, July 31, (AP): Elaine Thompson-Herah broke Florence Griffith Joyner’s 33-year-old Olympic record in the women’s 100 meters, pointing at the scoreboard even before crossing the line in 10.61 seconds Saturday to defend her title and lead a Jamaican sweep of the medals. Griffith Joyner set the old record of 10.62 at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Thompson-Herah beat her top rival, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, by .13 seconds. Shericka Jackson, who moved to the shorter sprints for the Tokyo Olympics, won bronze in 10.76. No Olympic champion had broken 10.7 since Flo Jo back in the day.

Thompson-Herah wasn’t sure she would either as she approached the finish. But “I knew that I won,” she said. “The pointing, I don’t know what it means. To show that I was clear,” she said. This was the first Jamaican sweep of the medals since the women did it at the 2008 Beijing Games – a feat somewhat overshadowed that week by the recordsetting performance by Usain Bolt. But really, there is no overlooking the Jamaican women, who actually have a longer history of sprint success than the men in the island country. Fraser-Pryce finished on top in that 2008 race, and completed her Olympic set in the 100, where she now has two golds (2008, 2012), a silver and a bronze (2016). Fraser-Pryce and Thompson-Herah are headed for a possible rematch in the 200, where Thompson-Herah is also the defending champion. This had been shaping up as a fast race for days, if not months.

In June, Fraser-Pryce ran the fourth-fastest time in history at 10.63 seconds. Poland were a surprise winners in the Olympic debut of the 4×400 mixed relay event, holding off a late charge from an American team that didn’t have Allyson Felix in the lineup. The Dominican Republic finished with the silver medal and the Americans took bronze. There was some thought Felix might be on the track for the relay with a chance to win her record 10th Olympic medal. It will have to wait.

Neither could catch Poland’s team of Karol Zalewski, Natalia Kaczmarek, Justyna Swiety-Ersetic and Kajetan Duszynski. They finished in a time of 3 minutes, 9.87 seconds at Olympic Stadium. The Dominican Republic contingent of Lidio Andres Feliz, Marileidy Paulino, Anabel Medina Ventura and Alexander Ogando wound up 0.34 seconds behind. The American squad was made up of Trevor Stewart, Kendall Ellis, Kaylin Whitney and Vernon Norwood. They were .01 seconds behind the Dominicans. Daniel Stahl gave Sweden their first Olympic gold in men’s discus. Simon Pettersson took silver in a Swedish 1-2. Austria’s Lukas Weisshaidinger claimed the bronze. They were the first two medals Sweden has won in the men’s Olympic discus since Ricky Bruch’s bronze at the 1972 Munich Games. Stahl adds the Olympic title to his world championships gold from 2019. He threw 68.90 meters on his second attempt at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium to win after he was installed as the favorite. Pettersson registered 67.39 on his second-to-last heave to edge out Weisshaidinger (67.07) in the battle for silver.

Fares Elbakh of Qatar won the gold medal in the men’s 96-kilogram weightlifting category with a dominant performance, earning the country’s first Olympic title.

Elbakh lifted 177 kilograms in the snatch and 225 in the clean and jerk for a total of 402kg. He attempted a world record 232kg clean and jerk but couldn’t make the lift. Keydomar Vallenilla took second for Venezuela with a total 387kg despite having his last lift ruled out for dropping the bar before he got the signal to do so. Vallenilla lifted the same total as third-place Anton Pliesnoi of Georgia but was ranked above Pliesnoi because he made his best clean and jerk lift earlier in the competition. Lyu Xiaojun won gold in the men’s 81-kilogram weightlifting category after Italian rival Antonino Pizzolato missed with a shot at the clean and jerk world record. Lyu lifted 170kg in the snatch and 204 in the clean and jerk for a total 374. That was 7kg more than Zacarias Bonnat of the Dominican Republic in second and 9kg ahead of Pizzolato, who won bronze. Lyu celebrated his second career Olympic gold by hoisting his coach into the air. American Caeleb Dressel won his third gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a world record in the 100-meter butterfly.

Dressel led right from the start and held off Hungary’s Kristof Milak to win in 49.45 seconds, breaking the mark of 49.50 that he set two years ago at the 2019 world championships. Milak, winner of the 200-meter butterfly, earned the silver with a blistering 49.68. The bronze went to Switzerland’s Noe Ponti. Kaylee McKeown of Australia completed a sweep of the backstroke events with a victory in the 200-meter butterfly. Her winning time was 2 minutes, 4.68 seconds. The silver went to Canada’s Kylie Masse in 2:05.42, with another Australian, Emily Seebohm, claiming the bronze in 2:06.17. Katie Ledecky closed out her Tokyo Olympics with another gold medal, becoming the first female swimmer to capture six individual gold medals in her career with a victory in the 800-meter freestyle. Australian rival Ariarne Titmus claimed the silver in 8:13.83.

The bronze went to Italy’s Simona Quadarella in 8:18.35. Ledecky finished the Tokyo Games with two golds, two silvers and a fifthplace finish in the 200 free. She lost her first two individual matchups with Titmus, but finally beat her in the 800. Britain claimed swimming gold in the new 4x100m mixed medley relay with a world record of 3 minutes, 37.58 seconds. The silver went to China in 3:38.86, while Australia took the bronze in 3:38.95. The relay is a new event where teams of two women and two men compete. The American swimmers were fifth, ending Caeleb Dressel’s bid to win six gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics. France beat Japan to win gold in the first-ever Olympic judo mixed team event, surprising the powerhouse host nation with four wins in the final five bouts. Clarisse Agbegnenou, Alex Clerget and Teddy Riner all won their bouts before Sarah Leonie Cysique clinched it with a narrow victory over fellow lightweight Tsukasa Yoshida. The 4:1 margin of victory meant pound-for-pound judo superstar Shohei Ono didn’t even get to compete in the final, since he was scheduled for the sixth bout. Germany and Israel won the bronze medals from the 12-team field. New Zealand beat France 26-12 to win the women’s rugby sevens title at the Tokyo Olympics. It was a gold medal five years in the making for a New Zealand lineup that lost the 2016 final to Australia when rugby sevens made its Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro. The French, unbeaten in five games to reach the final, had to settle for silver. Fiji beat Britain 21-12 to win bronze, with Alowesi Nakoci scoring two tries and making two try-saving tackles. It was the first Olympic medals ever for Fijian women. Mete Gazoz of Turkey won the men’s individual archery title at the Tokyo Games. It was the first gold medal won by a country other than South Korea, which went 4 for 5 in archery over the Olympics. Gazoz beat Mauro Nespoli of Italy in the final by a 6-4 score. He earned Turkey its first Olympic medal in archery. Takaharu Furukawa of Japan won the bronze medal. Furukawa also earned a bronze in the men’s team event. Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi- Lin swept China’s Li Jun Hui and Liu

This news has been read 13140 times!