July 30 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

There’s a new addition to this year’s track and field program at the Olympics: a 4x400m mixed team relay.

The heats have just taken place, with Poland, Netherlands, Jamaica, Great Britain, Belgium, Ireland, Germany and Spain all qualifying for the final. Dominican Republic and the United States were both disqualified.

It was a welcome boost for the atmosphere inside the stadium, with some runners shouting encouragement to their teammates from the sidelines.

The men and women can compete in any order, but most teams opted to put male runners in the first and fourth legs, and female runners in the second and third.

Nigeria mixed it up in the first heat, going man, woman, man, woman. It didn’t exactly pay off though - their runners finished last.  

Gold medalist Sunisa Lee's family erupted in cheers as they watched the US gymnast win the all-around individual women's event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Her sister, Shyenne Lee, says they didn't expect gold.

"Oh my god, it was crazy," she said about the moment Lee won. "We were just in awe. We are so proud of her. We didn't expect gold. That's just something that she's been dreaming about forever. And it was just unreal."

Lee's parents are "super proud," she said.

"They've been living the gymnastics life forever, too," she added. "I know that everything they've done for Suni to get here was well worth it."

With anti-Asian sentiment and violence rife in the United States, Lee's sister says it has felt dangerous.

"My dad just wants all of us to stay safe, not get too involved in like arguments. Just trying to be more in than out because you never know what's out there," she said.

After Lee won, she connected with her family in Minnesota over FaceTime. However, her sister says she does not remember what they talked about in that moment of sheer adrenaline.

"It was so much adrenaline going around. But I think she was saying, 'Oh, I wish you guys were here,' and I was just telling her to breathe because I can tell like, watching her, like she holds in her breath and she can't breathe. So I was like, 'Girl, you did it! Now is your time to breathe.' And I was just saying how proud I am of her. But it was a really good moment," she told CNN.

French judo legend Teddy Riner ended his Tokyo Games with a bronze medal in the men’s +100kg, but it was the Czech Republic’s Lukas Krpalek who took home the gold. 

Krpalek becomes a two-weight champion having won the -100kg title at Rio 2016. 

The Czech defeated Georgia’s Guram Tushishvili by ippon in Friday’s final.

For Riner, his result matches the bronze he won at the Beijing Games in 2008.

The Frenchman had been hoping to win three consecutive gold medals to equal the record held by Japanese judo great Tadahiro Nomura.

Tamerlan Bashaev of the Russian Olympic Committee claimed the other bronze medal.

Today marks the first day of track and field events at the National Stadium.

Despite fans being unable to attend events in Tokyo amid the pandemic, some of the smaller venues have generated a lively atmosphere by allowing athletes and support staff to fill the stands.

Here, however, the 68,000-seat stadium feels cavernous, and most of the noise is coming from the stadium announcers. There's a small cluster of people in the stands on the back straight, and the announcer encourages them to show their support for the triple jumpers competing in front of them.

After heavy rain earlier in the day, it feels muggy and humid as the track events begin. The first of the women’s 5,000m heats is underway with Dutch star Sifan Hassan, who (for two days!) held the 10,000m world record earlier this year, in action.

Starting slowly, Hassan makes her way through the field on the final lap and wins the heat in a time of 14:47.89.

The first track and field medal is up for grabs later on as the men's 10,000m final begins at 20:30 local time.

Japan’s Sone Akira defeated Idalys Ortiz from Cuba to win the gold medal in the women’s judo 78kg.

Akira was awarded the win by default after Ortiz was given a third Shido warning 4:52 in the extra time for a false attack.

Ortiz won the silver and Iryna Kindzerska of Azerbaijan won the bronze.

With the victory, Japan extended their Olympic record with a ninth gold medal in judo.

Tennis superstar and 20-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic lost his Olympic men's singles semifinal to Germany's Alexander Zverev 6-1, 3-6, 1-6.

This also ends the Serbian's quest to achieve a "Golden Slam," which is when a tennis player wins the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and the Olympics in one calendar year.

Steffi Graf, who did it in 1988, is the only player - male or female - to achieve the feat thus far.

Djokovic, a four-time Olympian, has never won a gold medal at the Games.

Djokovic and Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta will fight it out for the bronze medal.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga extended the state of emergency for the Tokyo Metropolitan area and Okinawa on Friday amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.  

Tokyo and Okinawa were under a state of emergency until August 22, but Suga has now extended it until August 31.

Suga also expanded a state of emergency to four other prefectures - Saitama, Chiba, Osaka and Kanagawa - in effect until August 31.

“Infection is expanding with unprecedented speed in the Tokyo Metropolitan and Osaka area, and the more infectious delta variant is replacing rapidly," Suga said Friday.

"If the increase of infection does not stop, the severe symptoms cases will increase and the medical system may possibly be further under strain."

Suga also imposed a quasi-state of emergency for Hokkaido, Ishikawa, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka. 

This comes as Tokyo has seen record numbers of new Covid-19 cases this week, topping more than 3,000 new cases for the third day in a row. 

Japan also topped 10,000 new Covid-19 cases for the first time on Thursday. All this as Tokyo 2020 continues with its seventh day of official competition. 

Suga had previously said that “the government is dealing with the situation with a strong sense of urgency."

South Korea’s An San won the gold medal in the women’s individual archery event on Friday, becoming the first archer to win three golds at a single Games.

An shot 10-points in a shoot-off, while Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)’s Elena Osipova shot 8-points, to win a tight match 6-5.

An has won gold medals in all three archery events she has participated in at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 20-year-old set a new Olympic record at the Games last Friday with a score of 680 in the individual ranking to beat the previous record set at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Italy’s Lucilla Boari won the bronze.

Tokyo reported 3,300 new Covid-19 cases Friday, after three consecutive days of record numbers.

Friday was not a record jump for the capital but cases continue to rise, causing concern for Japan and its central government as the Olympic Games are in full swing.

The Japanese government plans to extend Covid-19 states of emergency to four prefectures, including three surrounding Tokyo, according to national broadcaster NHK.

Those four prefectures – Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa and Osaka – are currently under less restrictive, quasi-emergency measures, according to NHK.

Tokyo and Okinawa are already under states of emergency. 

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, “The government is dealing with the situation with a strong sense of urgency,” and that he has called a meeting of experts for Friday to discuss the state of emergency, according to NHK.

There have been at least 225 cases linked to the Tokyo 2020 games, according to organizers.