August 4 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse finally got his hands on an Olympic gold medal after winning the 200 meters final at Tokyo 2020.

The 26-year-old, who had one silver and three bronzes from Rio and Tokyo, made his move in the final 50 meters to storm past Americans Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek to set a personal and national best of 19.62 seconds.

Bednarek took silver in a personal best time of 19.68 and Lyles, one of the strong favorites for gold in this event coming into Tokyo, took bronze in 19.74.

Remarkably, five men ran under 20 seconds in the final.

Kenya joined Great Britain and the United States in winning the men’s 800 meters at four consecutive Games after Emmanuel Korir won gold at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.

Korir, who came to Japan boasting this year’s second-fastest run, beat fellow Kenyan Ferguson Rotich to claim the title in a time of 1:45.06.

The 26-year-old’s victory ensures Kenya have now won the men’s 800 meter event at four straight games, after Wilfred Bungei won at Beijing 2008 and David Rudisha secured back-to-back titles at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Only Great Britain (1920-1932) and the United States (1936-1956) have equalled that record.

Patryk Dobek secured bronze for Poland — the country’s first ever Olympic medal in this event.

Great Britain’s Ben Maher secured a stunning gold in the individual showjumping on Wednesday after a dramatic jump-off, claiming his first individual Olympic title.

Maher fended off competition from five other riders to secure gold on his horse, Explosion W.

The 38-year-old beat Sweden’s Peder Fredricson by the barest of margins -- just 17 hundredths of a second

Maher becomes the second Briton to win the jumping individual event at the Olympic Games, after Nick Skelton triumphed with Big Star at Rio 2016.

Fredricson retained his individual silver on his horse, All In, with Maikel van der Vleuten of the Netherlands winning bronze on Beauville Z.

"Now that's the performance of Olympic champions," Team GB tweeted of Maher's win.

Maher's victory takes Team GB to fourth place in the Tokyo 2020 medal count, tying Australia with 15 gold medals.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the reigning heptathlon world champion, is out of medal contention after pulling up with an injury in her 200 meter race.

The Team GB athlete turned down the assistance of a wheelchair and got up to finish, but was disqualified for leaving her lane.

Johnson-Thompson had been a doubt to recover in time for Tokyo 2020 after rupturing her Achilles in December.

She had her lower leg heavily taped, but set a brilliant time in the 100 meter hurdles, the first event of the heptathlon.

Johnson-Thompson subsequently struggled in the high jump, typically one of her stronger events, before setting a season's best in the shot put.

However, the 28-year-old pulled up with a grimace just as she was completing the bend in the 200 meter race.

She was visibly distraught as she sat on the track and appeared in considerable pain, but she still hobbled over the line to cheers from the delegations in the stands.

The women’s golf tournament at the Tokyo Olympics could be reduced to 54 holes, officials have warned.

60 players are scheduled to play the East Course at the Kasumigaseki Country Club across the four-day tournament, which commenced on Wednesday. However, a tropical weather system forecast is expected to pass over the club on Saturday, which could jeopardize the length of the competition. 

“We have notified the players that we may have to be forced to reduce to a 54-hole competition,” Heather Daly-Donofrio (USA), the tournament’s technical delegate and the LPGA’s chief tour operations officer, said on Wednesday. 

“We will not change tomorrow’s schedule. We will play 18 holes as scheduled tomorrow. We will play another 18 holes on Friday and then we will continue to track this tropical system and see what Saturday brings,” she added.

Daly-Donofrio confirmed that the suggestion of playing extra holes on Thursday and Friday had been considered, but that the tournament’s medical team cautioned against it, due to the grueling heat and humidity at this year’s Games. 

She added that “in an ideal world,” the decision on whether or not to end play after 54 holes would be made before players tee off in their third round. 

“But it’s all going to depend on that forecast and what we are seeing from our meteorologist, so it may or may not come before that,” she said. “We hope it veers and goes off and then we can play our final round cleanly on Saturday.” 

Team USA’s Nelly Korda -- who is the No. 1 ranked women’s golfer in the world -- is among the favorites for gold going into the tournament, as well as South Korea’s defending champion Inbee Park, and Australia’s Minjee Lee, who recently claimed her first major at the Evian Championship in July. 

Sweden's Madelene Sagström leads after the opening round, a shot ahead of Korda and India's Aditi Ashok.

Svetlana Romashina won her sixth Olympic gold medal on Wednesday after success in the women's duet artistic swimming with teammate Svetlana Kolesnichenko.

The duo from the Russian Olympic Committee team received a score of 98.8 in the free routine, tallying a total of 195.9079 and finishing ahead of China's Huang Xuechen and Sun Wenyan in the silver position. Ukraine's Marta Fiedina and Anastasiya Savchuk claimed the bronze.

Romashina, 31, now has the most Olympic gold medals in the sport, which was previously known as synchronized swimming, after moving past Russians Anastasia Davydova and Natalia Ishchenko.

It is Kolesnichenko's second gold medal.

The country has dominated the sport for years, with its last Olympic loss coming at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai stormed to gold medal success in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase with a dominant display at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium.

The 22-year-old set a new national record in the process, winning in a time of 9:01.45.

American Courtney Frerichs took the silver medal, with Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng securing bronze.

Reigning world champion and world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya faded out of contention to finish in seventh place.

From 12-year-old table tennis players to 66-year-old equestrian riders, the Tokyo Olympics is a broad church when it comes to age. 

There's no greater example of this than in the skateboarding competition -- a sport that’s making its Olympic debut.

In the women's street event, 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya won gold, while in the men's event, Rune Glifberg is participating at age 46.

The youngest athlete suiting up for the Tokyo Games is Hend Zaza, a 12-year-old table tennis player from Syria.

When she made her debut on July 24 in her preliminary match, Zaza was exactly 12 years and 204 days old, the youngest ever table tennis Olympian.

At the other end of the spectrum, Australian Mary Hanna is the oldest participant competing this year -- at 66, she is 54 years older than Zaza.

The equestrian rider is competing at her seventh Olympics and becomes the second-oldest female to compete at an Olympics.

Read more about it HERE.

Russian karateka Anna Chernysheva will no longer compete in the Olympics after testing positive for Covid-19 in Tokyo, according to the Russian Karate Federation. 

"Very sad news came from Japan -- our karateka Anna Chernysheva will not be able to compete at the Olympics! Her test for COVID-19, which is mandatory for all participants in the Olympic Games, came back to be positive," the federation said in a Facebook post Wednesday.

"Anna, in any case, thank you for the Olympic license for Russia!" the federation added.

"We understand how difficult it is for you now and we really want to support you with the whole federation! Recover, come back, we are waiting for you on the tatami with your bright fights and new victories that we know you’re capable of!"