July 30 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

The US's 4 x 400 meter mixed relay team has been reinstated and will compete in tomorrow's final.

The team was disqualified earlier today from the inaugural 4 x 400 meter mixed relay following an erroneous baton changeover in the heats. The event — featuring teams of two men and two women competing against each other in any order they choose — is making its debut at the Games. 

The American team, comprising Elija Godwin, Lynna Irby, Taylor Manson and Bryce Deadmon, is hotly tipped for a medal since they won gold at the 2019 world championships.  

Team USA was disqualified from the inaugural 4 x 400 meter mixed relay on Friday following an erroneous baton changeover in the heats.

The discipline, featuring teams of two men and two women competing against each other in any order they choose, is making its debut at the Games. 

The American team, comprising Elija Godwin, Lynna Irby, Taylor Manson and Bryce Deadmon, had been hotly tipped for a medal having won gold at the 2019 world championships.  

The American quartet had finished fastest in the first heat but were later disqualified from the event for handing the baton over outside the designated changeover zone.

The team said it didn't have the chance to practice hand-offs due to Covid-19.

The 4 x 400 meter mixed relay final is set for Saturday.

Ethiopia's Selemon Barega won the men's 10,000m gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday after a thrilling sprint on the final lap.

Barega moved to the front of the lead pack with 400 meters to go and kicked clear in the closing stages, finishing in a time of 27:43.22 ahead of Ugandan duo Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo.

With temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius and the humidity levels high, any chances of a fast time seemed slim, even with world record holder Cheptegei in the field.

The 21-year-old Barega joins a prestigious list of Ethiopian runners to win Olympic gold, notably Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie. 

Between those three, Ethiopia has won six of the last eight 10,000m titles at the Olympics, with the other two going to Great Britain's Mo Farah. 

Barega's previous best result of his career was a silver medal in the 5,000m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

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Selemon Barega wins 10,000m gold at the Tokyo Olympics, the Games' first track and field medal

Hong Kong police have arrested a man after he allegedly booed the Chinese national anthem while watching an Olympics award ceremony inside a shopping mall, authorities said on Friday.

The 40-year-old man was accused of "insulting" the anthem when watching a live stream of an award ceremony on Monday, which showed Hong Kong fencer Edgar Cheung winning the first gold medal for the city in 25 years.

When the Hong Kong flag was raised and the March of the Volunteers was played through a live stream, the man -- who identified himself as a journalist -- was accused of "insulting" the anthem, police said. He was arrested on suspicion of breaking the National Anthem Ordinance, which came into effect in June last year. The charge carries a maximum penalty of three years' imprisonment.

Some background: Since the handover in 1997, Hong Kong athletes have been competing in the Olympics under the name of "Hong Kong, China". While Hong Kong uses its regional flag in the games, the Chinese anthem is played when the city's athletes win gold medals.

Cheung was the first person to win a gold medal for Hong Kong at the Olympics since the handover. A second gold medal was previously won by windsurfer Lee Lai-shan in 1996, during which the British national anthem, God Save the Queen, was played.

During a press briefing on Friday, a police officer said the arrest was made after the man allegedly booed the national anthem and chanted slogans to insult the country. Police said the man also displayed a British Hong Kong colonial flag, adding his goal was to incite hatred and politicize the Olympic Games.

Police also said they found the man carried about 10 British Hong Kong flags with varying sizes, adding they will continue to investigate if anyone present at the shopping mall violated the national security law.

Everything seemed straightforward. Denmark's Simone Christensen had completed her bachelor's degree in medicine and was about to start her master's program.

But then a coach offered the Danish rider the chance to train at the UCI World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Switzerland, which provides athletes with specialized training and development.

That changed everything.

Christensen, who had already competed in the Rio 2016 Olympics, began BMX racing nearly two decades ago. With the new training offer, she put her studies on hold.

“I would go to Switzerland for two years, train towards the Olympics, and then come back to Denmark and be a bit more of, I guess a normal person,” she said.

But as the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the Tokyo 2020 Games, Christensen’s two-year plan was disrupted, and she called it "quite a big slap in my face."

However, 27-year-old does not regret the choices she made.

The 2020 women's BMX racing gold was eventually claimed by Great Britain's Bethany Shriever, while Christensen's hero, Colombian BMX racer Mariana Pajon, won the silver.

Japan secured a record-breaking 17th gold medal of the Tokyo Games on Friday, surpassing the country’s previous tally of 16 gold medals at Tokyo 1964 and Athens 2004.

The 17th gold came in the men’s team épée – Japan’s first-ever gold medal in fencing.

 Japan defeated the Russian Olympic Committee 45-36 in the final. South Korea picked up the bronze medal.

Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic shared a warm embrace and exchanged a few words after their epic semifinal match at Tokyo 2020.

Germany's Zverev came out on top in the three-set match, winning 1-6 6-3 6-1 to guarantee himself an Olympic medal.

The 24-year-old is considered one of the biggest talents of tennis' emerging generation and clearly has immense respect for the man he has been trying to dethrone at the top of the sport.

"I know that he was chasing history, is chasing the Golden Slam and was chasing the Olympics, but in these kind of moments me and Novak are very close.

"Of course I'm happy that I've won, but at the end of the day I know how Novak feels."

Djokovic's quest to become the first man to complete the 'Golden Slam' -- winning all four grand slams and Olympic gold in the same calendar year -- has come to and end but Zverev wasn't too sympathetic.

Zverev will now face Karen Khachanov of the Russian Olympic Committee in the final for a chance to win Germany's fourth gold of Tokyo 2020.

“Obviously, yeah, it's an amazing feeling knowing that you're going to bring the medal back to your house, back home to Germany," he said.

"It's incredible beating the best player in the world undoubtedly right now and in this season. 

“It seemed it was impossible to beat him at this event, so I’m very happy right now. But yet there's still one match to go.”

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.