July 28 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

Daiki Hashimoto ensured Japan held onto its Olympic men's gymnastics all-around crown with a nail-biting victory on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old clinched gold with a strong high bar routine to narrowly edge him past China’s 2017 world all-around champion Xiao Ruoteng.

Hashimoto ended with a total score of 88.465 compared with Ruoteng’s 88.065 -- a difference of just 0.400.

Hashimoto had big boots to fill after Kohei Uchimura, Olympics all-around champion at London 2012 and Rio 2016, opted not to defend his title in Tokyo.

Russian Olympic Committee’s Nikita Nagornyy, the reigning world all-around champion, took bronze finishing on 88.031 points.

China's Shi Zhiyong put in a scintillating performance to break his own world record on the way to winning gold in the men's 73kg weightlifting event on Wednesday.

Shi lifted 166kg in the snatch and 198kg in the clean and jerk, respectively, which combined for a new world and Olympic record total of 364kg.

The total of 364kg surpasses the world record of 363kg which Shi set at the 2019 World Championships.

Shi’s lifts in the snatch and clean and jerk are also new Olympic records.

Venezuela's Julio Ruben Mayora Pernia sealed the silver medal with Rahmat Erwin Abdullah of Indonesia securing the bronze.

CNN's Will Ripley is on the ground at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Today, he gives us a first-hand look at what it's like trying to navigate the sometimes confusing maze of venues:

With no fans in the stands for the first time in Olympic history, you’d think finding your way around Tokyo 2020 would be relatively simple. You’d be wrong.

Navigating the confusing labyrinth of cavernous venues -- and actually getting into the right event -- can feel like an Olympic sport in itself.

CNN’s Scott Reeves and I had a pair of coveted tickets to the men’s artistic all-around gymnastics final. Our car dropped us off about 30 minutes early. 

We followed the only other people we saw and went through a multi-layered security check. We scanned our credentials, showed our tickets, walked up three flights of stairs and ended up -- at a volleyball court.

The first two volunteers we asked had no idea where the gymnastics were being held. We eventually realized we were in the wrong building: the Ariake Arena. We needed to find the Ariake Gymnastics Centre (not to be confused with the Ariake Sports Center, Ariake Tennis Park or Ariake Urban Sports Park).

After crossing the street, walking around nearly the entire perimeter of the venue and going through another security and ticket check, we followed the signs down a series of eerily empty hallways. 

Entire areas were blocked off with little or no explanation of where to go -- and only a handful of other people to follow, who were often just as confused as we were. Eventually, we entered what we thought was the press seating area, and almost walked directly out onto the main gymnastics floor -- 15 minutes into the competition.

A polite volunteer finally pointed us in the direction of our seats, saying with a chuckle:

“Sorry. It’s confusing. You’re not the first.”

Matches at the Tokyo Olympics will now begin later in the day due to hot and humid conditions in the Japanese capital, tennis organizers announced on Wednesday.

Matches at the Ariake Tennis Park, which had started at 11 a.m. local time until Wednesday will now begin at 3 p.m. local time from Thursday.

The decision had been made “in the interests of player health and welfare,” and following “extensive consultation” with athletes, referees, medical experts and other key stakeholders, among others, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said in a statement.

The ITF reiterated that male and female players could request ten-minute breaks during play should temperatures exceed 30.1 degrees Celsius (86.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

Wednesday’s announcement comes after some players said they were feeling the effects of the weather conditions. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian Olympic Committee player Daniil Medvedev told chair umpire Carlos Ramos that he could finish his men’s singles third-round match against Fabio Fognini -- but wanted to know whether the ITF would take responsibility if he died.

Meanwhile, Spain’s Paula Badosa was forced to retire from her women’s singles quarterfinal match against Czech Marketa Vondrousova due to heatstroke.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe says Tokyo 2020 has shone a spotlight on the pressure elite athletes are under when competing at the Olympic Games.

His comments come after superstar athletes Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka both said they experienced mental health issues when struggling to perform at their best this week.

Coe, a four-time Olympic medalist, said the fact families weren't able to travel to Tokyo has contributed to athletes' struggles and says federations must step up and provide that missing support structure.

18-year-old gymnast Sunisa Lee is one of the athletes competing for the US in the Olympics. Despite the intense spotlight of the Games, her parents are confident she can handle the pressure, especially since she has persevered through a big family tragedy at home.

In 2019, Lee's father John suffered an accident that left him paralyzed, and he says that put her under a lot of stress.

Lee admitted that the team panicked when Simone Biles dropped out of the women's all-around team final. But the US went on to win the silver.

"She handled it pretty well, you know, up until now. Going forward, she'll be OK," Lee's father said. 

The Minnesota native did acknowledge the pressure she was under in conversation with her parents, her father said.

Lee's parents also expressed their concern for Biles, and said that while the news of her withdrawal is shocking, they hope she is OK and gets the help she needs. They also wished Biles' replacement, Jade Carey, the best.

Spain’s Paula Badosa was forced to retire from her women’s singles quarterfinal match against Czech Marketa Vondrousova due to heatstroke on Wednesday.

Badosa lost the first set 6-3 before requiring a medical timeout on Court 4 ahead of the start of the second set.

After lengthy treatment, the Spaniard was unable to continue and announced her retirement from the match, before leaving the court in a wheelchair.

"Along with the pressure of the competition, how special these days are, these are things that happen in sport -- and today, I had to go through that terrain.

“It was a shame to end my participation this way. The conditions have been demanding from day one, we tried to adapt as best as possible, but today the body has not resisted as needed,” Badosa added.

Marketa Vondrousova, Naomi Osaka’s conqueror, advances to the women’s semifinals where she’ll face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

The 23-year-old Badosa subsequently withdrew from her mixed doubles match with compatriot Pablo Carreño Busta.

The Spaniards had been due to face Polish pair Iga Swiatek and Lukasz Kubot in the first round on Wednesday.

Badosa and Carreño Busta were replaced in the draw by France's Fiona Ferro and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

The French pair ended up losing 6-3 7-6 to the Polish duo.

Her retirement comes after both Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev publicly criticized the scheduling of matches at Tokyo 2020.

Both players have said it would be preferable to start the matches later in the evening when conditions have cooled down.

During his singles match against Fabio Fognini, Medvedev told the umpire: "I'm a fighter, I will finish the match, but I can die.

"If I die, is the ITF going to take (sic) responsible?"

Masomah Ali Zada competed in the first time trial of her career on Wednesday -- and it came on the biggest stage of all.

The 25-year-old finished almost 14 minutes behind gold medal winner Annemiek van Vleuten, but Ali Zada knows her participation at Tokyo 2020 is bigger than medals.

Born in Afghanistan, Ali Zada and her family eventually found asylum in France in 2017 after she began receiving threats for cycling competitively.

According to her profile on the Olympics website, Ali Zada was pushed off her bike, taunted and abused while out cycling in Afghanistan.

Her struggles were revealed in the documentary 'Les Petit Reines de Kaboul' -- 'The Little Queens of Kabul' -- and prompted French lawyer Patrick Communal to help move Ali Zada out of Afghanistan.

“I’m so happy to represent the Refugee Olympic Team because I will send a message of hope and peace for 82 million people who are obliged to leave their country because of different reasons," she said after the race.

Ali Zada says representing women's rights in Afghanistan and the Refugee Olympic team are both "important to me in my heart and my head."

“It’s my responsibility to try to work for the rights of women in Afghanistan and also for all the countries where people think that women don’t have rights, and also to send a message of hope and peace for all the refugees around the world," she adds.

“Even here, in the hotel with the other cyclists, they look at me strangely. I think they’ve never seen a girl with a scarf on a bicycle. But in Afghanistan, I’m sure if they see regularly a woman on a bike, they will accept it.”

Ali Zada says her father is one of her main sources of inspiration and says he sent her a message on the morning of the race.

"When I was in Afghanistan, he was the only one who always supported me," she recalls.

“Even when I wanted to stop, he pushed me: ‘No, you have to continue, you cannot stop it, you have to continue until the end.’

Great Britain's men's rugby team took the knee in protest before their Olympic match against Argentina.

Many athletes have been taking the knee at the Olympics, including multiple women's soccer teams. Though the gesture is not against the rules, it has set a tone.

It's been almost five years since former NFL player Colin Kaepernick knelt pre-game during the National Anthem to protest racial inequality. Since then -- and especially following George Floyd's death in police custody in May 2020 -- athletes around the world have made the gesture in solidarity with the social justice movement and against the oppression of people of color.

Currently, the International Olympic Committee's Rule 50 prohibits athletes from protesting at Olympic sites. In July, the governing body added an amendment to the rule, allowing athletes to express their views in mixed zones, press conferences and during interviews, as well as prior to the start of competition.

However, more than 150 athletes, sports organizations, human rights and social justice experts have signed an open letter calling on the IOC to allow athletes the "fundamental human right" to protest, including at the podium.

"We believe the global sport community is at a turning point in matters of racial and social justice," the letter read, "and we call on you as leaders in the Olympic and Paralympic Movements to make a stronger commitment to human rights, racial/social justice, and social inclusion."