Sunday, December 22, 2024
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Team USA men's basketball moves on to semifinal round and more from Tuesday in Paris

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Team USA men’s basketball advanced from the quarterfinals Tuesday at the 2024 Paris Games with a 122-87 drubbing of Brazil. The Americans will face Serbia in the semifinal round to continue their quest for a fifth straight gold medal.

The U.S. women’s soccer team defeated Germany in extra time 1-0 for a spot in the gold medal match.

It was a busy day for Team USA on the track. Two Americans — Gabby Thomas and Brittany Brown — finished first and third, respectively, in the women’s 200-meter final. Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse took gold and bronze, respectively, in the men’s 1,500-meter final. Michael Norman (men’s 400-meter race) and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (women’s 400-meter hurdles) both advanced to the finals.

Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng — the last of the American women’s or men’s duos remaining in beach volleyball — fell to Switzerland’s duo in the quarterfinal.

Here’s what you missed on Tuesday.

5:49 p.m. ET — Algeria’s Imane Khelif moves on to gold medal match

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif made it to the gold medal match of the women’s Olympic welterweight on Tuesday, defeating Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng 5-0.

The 25-year-old Khelif has been one of the biggest stories of these Olympics, receiving online abuse and massive scrutiny because of misconceptions about her gender.

Read more: Olympic boxers reignite debate over inclusion in women’s sports
She has been supported by the IOC — president Thomas Bach said on Saturday that there has never been a question Khelif is a woman — and also by a growing group of fans. The boxing venue shifted to tennis’ famed Roland Garros on Tuesday, and the crowd erupted in cheers as she walked into the ring and when she was announced as the winner. There was also a massive group of Algerians in attendance, waving flags. Algeria has never medaled in women’s boxing, and now they are ensured a gold or silver.

Khelif stopped in the mixed zone to speak to reporters afterward — something she did not do after last match — but spoke only in her native Arabic. This is her second Olympics; she did not medal at the Tokyo Games. — Emily Kaplan READ MORE

5:19 p.m. ET — Team USA men’s basketball moves on to semifinals

Team USA moves on to face Serbia after opening the knockout round with a 122-87 victory over Brazil. It’s the most points the team has scored in an Olympic game since its 126-point group stage game against Argentina in 2012. It also ties Team USA’s third-highest point differential win in a quarterfinal Olympics game.

For the first time in his 10-game Olympic career, Devin Booker led the U.S. with 18 points, his most these Olympics.

“You never know when your night is going to be, you always have to be prepared for it,” Booker said after the win.

Snoop Dogg and A’ja Wilson were among Team USA’s notable fans who watched the decisive game in person.

Team USA is 3-0 all-time in the Olympics against Serbia, its semifinal opponent, including a win in the 2016 gold medal game and a 26-point win in group play earlier in the Paris Games.

5:00 p.m. ET — Amit Elor takes gold in women’s freestyle 68 kg wrestling

Amit Elor’s 3-0 victory over Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova in the gold medal match made her the youngest U.S. wrestler ever to win wrestling gold. The 20-year-old is the third U.S. woman to win Olympic gold in wrestling. — READ MORE

4:46 p.m. ET — Durant becomes Olympic hoops’ all-time scoring leader

Early in the second half against Brazil, Kevin Durant passed Lisa Leslie for the most points at the Olympics by any player in USA basketball history. He now has 491 Olympic points and counting.

4:24 p.m. ET — Team USA leads Brazil at halftime

Team USA opened the knockout stage with a 63-36 lead at halftime over Brazil. The Americans ended the half on a 15-0 run.

Joel Embiid leads all players in first half points (14) and rebounds (7).

Meanwhile LeBron James looks to make more history by becoming the sixth USA men’s basketball player with multiple career double-doubles at the Olympics. He had 10 points and 8 assists ahead of halftime.

4:03 p.m. ET — Omari Jones captures 71 kg bronze medal

At just 21 years old, Omari Jones had a chance to be the first American boxer to win an Olympic gold since Andre Ward in 2004 after going undefeated heading into the semifinals of the welterweight division.

Instead, Jones will leave Paris with a bronze medal — and is already a name to watch in Los Angeles 2028.

On Tuesday, he fell to the heavily favored Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev of Uzbekistan in a 3-2 split decision.

Jones looked like he could have possibly won the first round, but the judges scored otherwise. The match was held at Roland Garros, with the ring replacing the court that Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz battled against each other on in the men’s tennis final two days earlier.

He was the last American standing, as the seven other members of the U.S. boxing team had already been eliminated. Jones, a Florida native, is studying business administration at Valencia College. He has had chances to go professional but seems committed to the amateur scene. — Emily Kaplan

3:58 p.m. ET — Gabby Thomas grabs gold in women’s 200m final

Gabby Thomas’ medal collection is complete. After earning silver in the 4×100-meter relay and bronze in the 200m in Tokyo, Thomas, 27, was brilliant in Tuesday night’s headline event at Stade de France and earned gold in the 200m. Thomas began pulling away early in the race and continued to increase her lead over the final 50 meters. Her winning time of 21.83 edged 100m gold medalist Julien Alfred of St. Lucia by .25 seconds. American Brittany Brown took bronze. Thomas and Alfred also set the two fastest times in Monday’s semifinal races, which set up an exciting final that did not disappoint. After the race, Thomas ran around the track with an American flag draped around her shoulders and took photos with fans in the stadium’s lower level, a permanent smile on her face. — Alyssa Roenigk

3:33 p.m. ET — Annette Nneka Echikunwoke makes history in hammer throw

Annette Nneka Echikunwoke became the first American woman to medal in the Olympic hammer throw Tuesday. With her third throw of 75.48 meters, Echikunwoke earned silver behind Canada’s Camryn Rogers (76.97 meters). China’s Zhao Jie earned bronze with a throw of 74.27. Echikunwoke saved her best throw of the season for the Olympic final. The 28-year-old Nigerian American qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Games as a Nigerian athlete but was one of 10 athletes who were deemed ineligible to compete because of the Nigerian federation’s non-compliance with out-of-competition drug testing requirements in the run-up to the Games. Echikunwoke chose to switch nations to represent the U.S., where she grew up and is a dual citizen. — Alyssa Roenigk

3:07 p.m. ET — Cole Hocker takes gold in men’s 1,500m upset

American Cole Hocker, who finished sixth at Tokyo and seventh at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, won the men’s 1,500 meters in an Olympic record time of 3:27:65. The 24-year-old from Indianapolis was a long shot to medal in the race, but he hit the turbo boosters in the final stretch of the race. After he crossed the finish line, the track world reacted to his stunning win.

Josh Kerr of Great Britain finished second and American Yared Nuguse took bronze. — Alyssa Roenigk

2:48 p.m. ET — Team USA women’s 400m hurdlers are 3-for-3 in the semifinal

Sunday’s men’s 100-meter final came down to a photo finish for Team USA, but American hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone left no room for doubt in the second semifinal of the 400m hurdles Tuesday night. The 24-year-old world- and Olympic-record holder won her heat by more than 1.5 seconds over France’s Louise Maraval, who’s one of the few track athletes that races in glasses. McLaughlin-Levrone was so far ahead, fans at Stade de France could count a full “Mississippi” before Maraval crossed the finish line.

While McLaughlin-Levrone was the only American to win her heat, all three U.S. women advanced to Thursday’s final. Jasmine Jones finished second in the first heat behind Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton, and Anna Cockrell had a last-minute surge to overcome Jamaican Shiann Salmon for second in the final heat of the day — Alyssa Roenigk

2:12 p.m. ET — Michael Norman fought hard for his spot in the 400m finals

Michael Norman got out of the blocks smoothly as he normally does, but his opponents made up a lot of ground on the former USC standout. Norman was behind as he came off the second curve, he was behind. He relied on his arms to help him catch up to Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith, maintaining a second-place finish in 44.26 seconds to advance to the final.

2:04 p.m. ET — Quincy Hall cruises to the 400m finals

Quincy Hall is one of the favorites to win the men’s 400-meter dash, and he proved his case in the semifinal rounds. Hall got out quick in the first 100 meters to establish a great momentum on the backstretch. Hall kept his composure and maintained his technique on the final 110 meters of the race. He allowed his mechanics to carry him across the finish line with a time of 43.95 seconds to qualify for finals. He celebrated with his signature “calm down” gesture.

2:06 p.m. ET — Extra time magic for the USWNT again

For the second match in a row the U.S. women’s national team has broken through after the standard 90 minutes. Sophia Smith fired home her third goal of the tournament just five minutes into the additional period, finishing off a pretty entry pass from Mallory Swanson. The USWNT will now be tasked with defending their clean sheet for an additional 20 minutes to secure a trip to the gold medal match.

12:41 p.m. ET — An unexpected surfing spectator

Scores of people tuned in to watch the Olympic surfing competition on their televisions, and a lucky few even watched in person from Tahiti’s beaches. But nobody had the view of one unique spectator: a whale.

While several surfers were taking part in event’s semifinal round, they received a visit from one of the assorted sea life native to Tahiti’s waters — with the whale blissfully splashing around in the distance.

12:05 p.m. ET — USWNT kicks off against Germany

The U.S. women’s national soccer team’s quest for its first hardware under recently hired coach Emma Hayes continues in Lyon, France, as the squad squares off with Germany in a group stage rematch. The USWNT hasn’t won Olympic gold since the 2012 Games in London, despite having won two World Cups in that same time frame. A win against Germany would, at minimum, see the U.S. through to its first gold medal match since the London Games.

10:46 a.m. ET — Patty Mills’ heroics aren’t enough for Australia

Team Australia needed a bucket to keep their Olympic hopes alive in the final moments of their game against Serbia. They turned to Patty Mills, and their veteran guard delivered.

Mills’ most productive days in the NBA may be behind him, but the 35-year-old showed why his country still trusts him with the game on the line. Shaking away the long-armed defense of Nikola Jokic after receiving the ball on the inbound, Mills drained a midrange jumper with just 1.4 seconds on the clock to send the game to overtime.

Serbia didn’t back down in the game’s additional period, though. Jokic & Co. closed out the game on a 7-0 run to seal a 95-90 victory and clinch the team’s place in the semifinals.

10:09 a.m. ET — 11-year-old Olympian competes in skateboarding

What were you doing over the summer after the fifth grade?

Chinese skateboarder Zheng Haohao, 11, is competing at the Paris Olympics as the youngest athlete at the Games.

Zheng, who comes from Huizhou in southern China, performed in the women’s park prelims on Wednesday, although she didn’t make the final. The competition comes just five days before her 12th birthday. But did she feel nervous?

“Skateboarding in the Olympic Games isn’t much different from skateboarding in my neighborhood,” she said. “It’s just more spectators.” — Connor O’Halloran

8:52 a.m. ET — Sam Watson sets world record in speed climbing

It’s one thing to break a world record. It’s another to break it in the qualifying rounds. That was the case for U.S. speed climber Sam Watson. In what was a smooth elevation to the top of the course, Watson climbed his way to quarterfinals qualification in 4.75 seconds, shattering his previous record of 4.79.

8:24 a.m. ET — ‘Race for the ages’ set to decide the 1,500m

For the past year, Great Britain’s Josh Kerr and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen — two of the favorites to win the 1,500 meters in Paris — have exchanged verbal blows and dramatic race finishes. Now the rivalry will take center stage on the biggest stage imaginable, with a prize slightly more prestigious than bragging rights up for grabs: an Olympic gold medal. — READ MORE

7:39 a.m. ET — Seine water quality results in cancellation

A test run that would allow Olympians to familiarize themselves with the marathon swimming course in the Seine was canceled on Tuesday. World Aquatics came to the conclusion to cancel the run-through due to concerns about the river’s quality. World Triathlon released information Tuesday which showed that when the triathletes swam in the Seine Monday, levels of E. coli and enterococci were acceptable.

7:14 a.m. ET — Who doesn’t love a plan coming together?

Freddie Crittenden made a bold call Saturday — nursing a minor injury ahead of his preliminary heat in the 110-meter hurdles, Crittenden opted to simply jog through his initial heat. The logic? All non-advancing competitors qualify for the repechage (or second-chance) round, which would occur three days later, regardless of their finishing time. Crittenden figured he’d be better off making sure to not tax his body too heavily and go all-in on the repechage.

The strategy worked. Crittenden blazed through his second-chance heat, advancing to the semifinal round.

7:11 a.m. — Schroder closes it out

Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Schroder is a problem when he puts on that German national team uniform. Schroder had 13 points off the bench — including this dagger 3-pointer — to send Germany on to the semifinals as they knocked out Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, 76-63.

7 a.m. ET — Top sprinter’s coach ejected from Olympics

Rana Raider, the American sprint coach of defending gold medalists Andre De Grasse and Marcell Jacobs, was kicked out of the Paris Games on Tuesday. He was investigated for alleged sexual misconduct by the U.S. Center for SafeSport and placed on a one-year probation that ended in May. He was granted accreditation for the Summer Games by the Canadian Olympic Committee for coaching De Grasse.

“On Sunday August 4th we learned of new information about the appropriateness of Mr. Reider remaining accredited by Team Canada at the Paris 2024 Games. In discussion with Athletics Canada, it was agreed that Mr. Reider’s accreditation be revoked,” the Canadian Olympic Committee said. — READ MORE

6:50 a.m. ET — All pain, no gain

Germany’s Moritz Karlitzek took a spike directly to the face in the second set against the Netherlands. The good news: Karlitzek was OK. The bad news: The ball wasn’t kept in play.

6:30 a.m. ET — Tara Davis-Woodhall hits qualifying mark with ease

Tara Davis-Woodhall is one of craftiest jumpers in the women’s field of the long jump. Her Paris Olympic trials were filled with drama, where she fouled the majority of her attempts before getting a white flag to make Team USA. On her second attempt of the qualifying round, Davis-Woodhall easily soared past the 6.75-meter qualifying mark with a jump of 6.90 meters to move on to the final.


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