August 5 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman have won the gold medal in women’s beach volleyball.

The duo beat Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar in two sets, 21-15 and 21-16.

The win gives the US a record-extending fourth Olympic gold medal in the event. Famed duo Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor won gold three times in a row for the US from 2004 to 2012.

After previously winning silver at the 2012 London Games and bronze at Rio 2016, Ross, 39, has now secured her first Olympic gold medal. This was the 31-year-old Klineman’s Olympic debut.

Earlier Friday, Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich defeated Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka in straight sets to win bronze.

Tokyo 2020 organizers reported 29 new Covid-19 cases linked to the Olympics on Friday, bringing the total number of recorded infections from the Games to 387.

The new cases are not among athletes or residents of Tokyo’s Olympic Village.

They were identified as contractors, Games-related personnel, volunteers, and one member of the media.

There have been 33 total cases reported from the village as of Friday.  

On Thursday, Tokyo reported more than 5,000 new cases in a record single-day high. Tokyo 2020 organizers maintain the Games are not related to the rise in cases in Japan’s capital.

The International Olympic Committee has revoked the accreditation of two Belarusian coaches allegedly involved in trying to force sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya to return home against her will.

Belarus head coach Yuri Moisevich and team official Artur Shumak were removed from the Olympic Village in Tokyo and their Games accreditation canceled, the IOC said in a tweet Friday.

The Olympic body said it decided to remove the two coaches to safeguard “the wellbeing of the athletes of the NOC of Belarus who are still in Tokyo and as a provisional measure.”

On Sunday, Timanovskaya, 24, said Belarus team officials threatened her, removed her from the Olympic team and forced her to the airport in Tokyo, where she would board a flight back to Belarus after she criticized sporting authorities.

Fearing she would be arrested in Belarus, Timanovskaya refused to get on the flight and on Wednesday fled to Warsaw, Poland, where she has been granted a visa on humanitarian grounds.

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Kristina during a press conference. Kristina Timanovskaya is a Belarusian sprinter who refused to fly back to her country out of fear for her safety after criticizing Belarusian Olympic officials. Polish Deputy Foreign Minister, Marcin Przydacz said, that Poland has already given the athlete a humanitarian visa. The Belarusian Olympic Committee said in a statement that coaches decided to withdraw Tsimanouskaya from the Games on doctors' advice about her "emotional and psychological state." (Photo by Attila Husejnow / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Related article Two Belarusian officials stripped of accreditation and removed from Olympic Village by IOC

High temperatures during the Tokyo Olympics have been making headlines around the world.

In fact, the event may go down as one of the hottest and most humid in the history of the Games.

Last week, current world No. 2 tennis player Daniil Medvedev said the heat and humidity were “some of the worst” conditions he had played in, even asking who would be responsible if he died.

Elsewhere, athletes have been seen donning ice vests, wet towels and downing water after competing.

But the temperatures and high humidity currently cooking the capital are not unusual. Japanese summers are notoriously sticky and sweaty, and for many Japanese people, spooky.

Friends flock to haunted houses, head to the movies for horror flicks or visit graveyards after dark, all in an attempt to scare themselves into literally getting the chills — in effect forgetting all about the sweltering heat.

Read more:

TOPSHOT - This picture taken on June 15, 2020 shows drive-in haunted house actress Haruna Suzuki, 20, posing for a photo before an interview with AFP at a garage in Tokyo. - A car horn beeps and the horror begins: a bloody murder and rampaging zombies. But this drive-in haunted house in Japan protects against the most terrifying enemy of all -- coronavirus. Inside a car, guests can scream as loudly as they like, with no mask required, as hideous creatures daubed in blood swarm towards them. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP) / TO GO WITH AFP STORY JAPAN-ENTERTAINMENT-HEALTH-VIRUS-HORROR,FOCUS BY HARUMI OZAWA (Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Why summer is spooky season in Japan

Dawid Tomala of Poland has won gold in the men’s 50 kilometers race walk at the Tokyo 2020 Games — potentially the last time this event will ever be held in an Olympics.

“It was an amazing day for me. I can’t believe it,” Tomala said after his win. “I work for it my whole life since I was 15 when I thought for the first time during training I would like to be a (Olympic) gold medallist. … This was only the second 50 kilometer in my life (he did not finish in a 50 kilometer race walk in Dudince in 2017) and I win it (the Olympic title). It is crazy, right?”

Germany’s Jonathan Hilbert took silver, while Evan Dunfee of Canada earned bronze.

This race started with 59 participants. At the time of this post, nine have dropped out, while two have been disqualified.

This event will not be held at the Paris 2024 Games.

Another day full of athletic feats and achievements has been etched into history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

If you’re just reading in now, here are some of the highlights and key storylines from Thursday’s Games:

Kristina Timanovskaya, the Olympic sprinter from Belarus who defected to Poland, said she hopes to compete in “at least two more” Olympics in the future.

During a joint press conference with Belarusian opposition politician Pavel Latushko in Warsaw, Poland today, the 24-year old said she is “very saddened by the fact that I was deprived of my chance to participate in the Olympic Games.”

Timanovskaya could not compete due to Belarusian team officials pulling her from the women’s 200 meter sprint after she criticized the country’s sport authorities on social media. 

“We tried to overrule this decision so that I could still participate,” Timanovskaya said. “Those were five long years of preparation. I had to go through a lot — traumas, Covid … but still I hope that these were not my last Olympic Games, I hope for at least two more.”

Timanovskaya refused to return to Belarus over safety concerns and instead is seeking asylum for herself and her husband in Poland, where she awaits a hearing from the International Olympic Committee.

Regarding the hearing, Latushko said the sprinter’s interests are being represented by a lawyer from Japan and the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation. 

“We do not know if the national Belarus Olympics Committee has presented the necessary material, which also complicates the consideration of this issue,” Latushko said. “We expect that the decision will be made in favor of Kristina in relation to the illegitimacy of the decision made by the Belarus delegation.”

The sprinter received offers of asylum from multiple European countries, but Timanovskaya chose Poland because it is close enough for her parents to visit and she also wishes to continue her athletic career there.

CNN’s Alyssa Kraus, Hannah Ritchie, Jaide Garcia and Katya Krebs contributed to this post.

The women’s football final has been moved to a later kick-off time and switched to a different venue due to heat concerns.

The gold medal match between Sweden and Canada had originally been scheduled for 11 a.m. local time on Friday in Tokyo. However, both teams expressed concerns over heat and humidity.

Olympic organizers confirmed today that the match will now take place at 9 p.m. local time in Yokohama, Japan. For US viewers, the match will be broadcast at 8 a.m. ET on Friday.

This change also impacts the men’s bronze medal match between Mexico and Japan, which will now kick off at 6 p.m. local at the Saitama Stadium or 5 a.m. ET.

“In order to continue to provide the best possible conditions for the players, and having taken into consideration the impact of weather conditions at the Olympic Stadium over the last few days, it has been confirmed that this match (Olympic women’s football final) will now take place at 21:00 at the International Stadium Yokohama,” a Tokyo 2020 statement read.

Sweden hopes to go one step further than the 2016 Olympic Games, where the team lost 2-1 in the final.

Meanwhile, Canadian midfielder Quinn, the first openly trans and non-binary athlete at a Games, will be guaranteed to win a medal at the Tokyo Games.

Belarusian Olympic sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya, who defected to Poland, told reporters Thursday that she hopes she and her husband will be able to stay.

“Once my husband arrives here today, we should make this decision together. I cannot answer anything without him, but I definitely hope we can stay here, and I can continue my sports career and my husband can find some work,” she said during a press conference in Warsaw.

Timanovskaya was set to compete in the women’s 200m at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday. Instead, she says representatives of the Belarus national team tried to forcibly send her home for criticizing sporting authorities on her social media. 

After receiving several offers of asylum from European countries, Timanovskaya said she had chosen Poland because her parents thought it was the easiest place for them to try and visit. 

“We chose Poland because I spoke to my parents who said that perhaps Poland will be the best choice for me because they probably would be able to come to visit me sometimes,” she said Thursday. 

When asked about her last-minute decision not to return to Belarus, Timanovskaya said she was “not thinking about political asylum” and that the decision was motivated by her wish to remain in sport. 

“I was not thinking about political asylum. All I want is to remain in sports and continue my sports career here,” she told reporters. 

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Timanovskaya accused representative of the Belarus national team of taking away her dream by denying her the chance to compete in the women’s 200 meters at the Olympics. 

Timanovskaya said the Belarusian media have already started to slander her in recent days over the incident. 

“My parents have told me that they are already talking about me on TV and saying very bad things. That I did not take the chance to run the Olympics … that I am not a good enough sportswoman and all that. I have been sent photos from Telegram channels where people posted links to my Instagram with requests to write bad things to me,” she explained. 

“Yes, I have received many awful messages. But at that moment, I have been receiving a lot of messages of support from people. I was reading more positive comments than negative,” she added.

Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam became just the second athlete ever to win back-to-back women’s heptathlon titles after securing the gold medal on Thursday.

With victory in Tokyo to add to her Rio 2016 crown, Thiam joins American Jackie Joyner-Kersee to win two heptathlon titles at the Games with the American having won in 1988 and 1992.

Thiam retained her title with 6,791 points after completing the seven disciplines.

Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands secured silver with a national record of 6,689 points with her Dutch teammate Emma Oosterwegel taking the bronze medal.

Afterwards, Thiam said she was “so emotional, I can’t describe it.”

“The first day was difficult for me. So on day two, I had to really focus. I knew I had to do something really good in the long jump and javelin,” she told the media.

“My coach was so positive and told me he believed in me today. I am really happy I was able to go through that and put my performances together.

“In the 800m, I was hoping to do a bit better, but I think it was a really positive race, and in the end, I got the medal. I am so happy.”

Belgium won the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal with a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Australia on Thursday.

A tense final finished 1-1 in regulation time before Belgian goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch earned hero-status, saving three Australian penalties as the Red Lions prevailed 3-2 in the penalty shootout.

Thursday’s victory is only Belgium’s second ever Olympic gold medal in a team sport – they had previously won gold in men’s football on home soil at the 1920 Games in Antwerp.

For Australia, the wait for a men’s gold medal goes on – they last claimed the crown at the 2004 Games in Athens.

India took the bronze earlier on Thursday after a thrilling 5-4 victory over Germany, giving the country its first Olympic medal in the sport since the 1980 Games in Moscow.

American Katie Nageotte overcame her early struggles at the opening height to win gold in the women’s pole vault at Tokyo 2020. 

Nageotte missed her first two attempts at her opening height of 4.50m but cleared it on her third.

She would then clear 4.70m on her second attempt, before cruising through the 4.80m and 4.85m at the first try.

The 30-year-old then cleared the winning height of 4.90m on her second attempt to win the gold. 

The Russian Olympic Committee’s Anzhelika Sidorova cleared 4.85m but failed her final attempt at 4.95m to win the silver medal.

Great Britain’s Holly Bradshaw cleared 4.85m but missed on her attempt at 4.90m to take home the bronze. 

Nageotte joins Jenn Suhr (2012) and Stacy Draglia (2000) as the only American women to win gold in pole vault.

Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas ran a season’s best time of 43.85 seconds to win Olympic gold in the men’s 400 meters on Thursday.

A dominant performance sees the 25-year-old add to his 2019 400m World Championship crown.

Gardiner becomes just the fourth world champion to win the Olympic gold medal in this event, after Michael Johnson (1996 and 2000), Kirani James (2012) and Wayde van Niekerk (2016).

Colombia’s Anthony José Zambrano collected silver.

With bronze, Kirani James becomes the first man to win three Olympic medals in this event, having won gold in 2012 and silver in 2016.

Spain’s Sandra Sánchez won gold in the inaugural women’s karate “kata” competition with victory over Japan’s Kiyou Shimizu on Thursday.

Sánchez, ranked No.1 in the latest women’s kata world rankings, also becomes Spain’s oldest ever Olympic champion at 39 years and 323 days old.

She surpasses Spain’s previous oldest champion – track cyclist Joan Llaneras was 39 years and 91 days old when he won gold in the men’s track cycling points race at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Six-time European champion Sánchez also defeated Shimizu in the women’s kata final at the 2018 world championships in Madrid. The Spaniard won with a score of 28.06 to Shimizu’s 27.88

Hong Kong’s Grace Lau Mo-sheung and Italy’s Viviana Bottaro won the bronze medals.

Kenya’s Abel Kipsang posted a new Olympic record time in the men’s 1,500 meters semifinals at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium on Thursday.

The 24-year-old ran 3:31.65 in the second semifinal, surpassing the previous record set by compatriot Noah Ngeny in the men’s 1,500m final at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record of 3:26.00, set in Rome in 1998, still remains the time to beat.

World champion Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya and Norway’s highly rated star Jakob Ingebrigsten were the other notable names to qualify for Saturday’s final.

In an attempt to find cooler temperatures, the men’s and women’s Olympic marathon events are taking place this weekend in Sapporo, roughly 500 miles (800 km) north of Tokyo.

Unfortunately, the high temperatures that are impacting Tokyo are spreading throughout the entire country, even into Hokkaido.  

The women’s marathon takes place Saturday morning while the men race Sunday. This weekend, Sapporo will see morning low temperatures of around 25° C (77° F) and afternoon highs of 32-34° C (90-93° F). These temperatures are 5-7° C (9-13° F) above normal for early August.  

Despite the fact that the races take place in the morning hours, temperatures during both races will likely be between 27-30° C (80-86° F).

In addition to the heat, relative humidity values between 70 and 80% will make it feel even warmer.

A long road: The hosting of the Olympic Games has been a marathon effort for both organizers and competitors, with a myriad of challenges and hurdles to overcome by hosting a global sporting event in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

For 44-year-old long-distance runner Abdihakim “Abdi” Abdirahman, who is competing at his fifth Games, the road’s been even longer.

Although Tokyo could be his final Olympics, the American is hoping to give his best in Sunday’s race.

The United States Women’s National Team looked more like the squad that won the World Cup in 2019, as it defeated Australia 4-3 to win the bronze medal in the women’s football at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

Megan Rapinoe scored a spectacular Olimpico goal – a goal straight from a corner kick – in the eighth minute to open the scoring for the US.

Australia’s Sam Kerr leveled the scores minutes later, but Rapinoe scored her second before the halftime break to put the US ahead.

39-year-old Carli Lloyd scored a brace of her own to give the U.S a three-goal lead. With her two goals, Lloyd passed Abby Wambach to become the all-time leading scorer in USWNT Olympic history.

Caitlin Foord and Emily Gielnik scored in the second half to cut the USWNT’s lead to one but it would be too little, too late.

The bronze medal is the first in USWNT history. They’ve previously won four gold medals in 1996, 2004, 2008, and 2012. 

Around an hour’s drive from Tokyo, a university campus surrounded by rice paddies was the unlikely setting behind Simone Biles’ Olympic comeback.

CNN was given exclusive access to the Ogawa Gymnastics Arena at Juntendo University, where the Team USA gymnast secretly trained over several days last week to get back into form to compete on the balance beam.

She won a bronze medal in the event on Tuesday, her seventh Olympic medal.

Biles had earlier pulled out of the all-around team event and the majority of individual events after a shaky performance on the vault, saying she was struggling with mental health issues and “the twisties” – when gymnasts feel lost when they’re flying through the air.

Team USA had contacted the facility via Professor Kazuhiro Aoki of Juntendo University to ask if Biles could train there discreetly away from the capital.

Last week, Biles posted a series of videos on her Instagram account showing her struggling to find her form and crashing into landing pads while practicing dismounts on the uneven bars.

The gymnastics coach at the arena said he tried to help Biles beat what she described as her “demons.”

“It looked like she was suffering,” coach Wataru Kawai said. “I was hoping I could do something to help her.

“She was trying to do things that she wasn’t able to do,” Kawai added. “She was really trying to figure out what was wrong.”

Biles said Wednesday on Twitter she would “forever be thankful” to Juntendo “for allowing me to come train separately to try to get my skills back.”

The Japanese, she wrote in her tweet, “are some of, if not the sweetest people I’ve ever met.”

Simone also left a thank you message on the whiteboard of the Ogawa Gymnastics Arena.

The staff there said they will never wipe it off.

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Team Great Britain’s Matt Walls won a gripping gold medal in the omnium cycling event.

The 23-year-old put in a dominant display in his Olympic debut to claim Britain’s first track cycling gold at Tokyo 2020.

Walls led the overall rankings heading into the final event, having won the opening scratch race, and finishing third in the tempo race and second in the elimination race.

He eventually finished on a total of 153 points.

New Zealand’s Campbell Stewart took silver with Rio 2016 champion Elia Viviani finishing in bronze.

Walls becomes the third British medal winner in this event, after Ed Clancy won bronze at the 2012 Games in London and Mark Cavendish secured silver at the 2016 Games in Rio.

The concerns of most 14-year-old’s typically stretch from school to social encounters.

Not for Quan Hongchan though.

The 14-year-old diving sensation – China’s youngest athlete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – won a stunning gold medal in the women’s 10 meter platform diving on Thursday.

Afterwards, she admitted the nerves of the occasion affected her slightly.

“I was a little nervous, but not very, just a little bit,” she told reporters.

She produced two perfect-10 dives in a dominant display. Quan becomes the second-youngest woman ever to win gold in the event after her compatriot Fu Mingxia took the title at the 1992 Barcelona Games at the age of just 13.

Although when asked about what she thinks when people calls her a “diving prodigy,” Quan said she didn’t agree with that label.

“I don’t think I’m a prodigy. I’m not very bright. I don’t do well in my studies. You ask me all these questions and there’s only a blank in my mind.”

She saw off compatriot Chen Yuxi to finish first and the win extends China’s dominance in women’s diving.

The Asian nation has now claimed gold in all women’s diving events at four successive Games – Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

The last time a non-Chinese woman won an Olympic diving event was when Australia’s Chantelle Newbery secured women’s 10 meter platform gold at the 2004 Games in Athens.

And although she’s not getting ahead of herself about competing at Paris 2024, Quan already has an idea about how she wants to celebrate.

 “I want to eat a lot of delicious things tonight! I feel like eating latiao (a popular Chinese spicy snack) the most.”

Tokyo reported 5,042 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, its highest-ever daily increase since the pandemic began.

This is the capital’s second consecutive day of a record increase, topping Wednesday’s figure of 4,058 new cases.

At least 358 cases have been linked to the Tokyo 2020 Games, which is in its 13th day of official competition.

The Tokyo metropolitan area is currently under a state of emergency, in effect until August 31.

World No.1 golfer Nelly Korda shot a blistering 9-under-par 62 in the second round to lead the women’s golf tournament by four shots on Thursday, narrowly missing out on a historic single-round score of 59.

The reigning Women’s PGA champion carded nine birdies and an eagle through 17 holes.

A birdie on the 18th and final hole would have seen Korda tie Annika Sorenstam’s record round of 59, which the Swede posted 20 years ago in Phoenix, Arizona.

The 23-year-old, though, missed her fairway shot and paid a visit to the bunker before ending her round with a double bogey six.

“It was definitely one of the best (rounds), yes, but golf humbles you – I got a nice little double (bogey) on 18,” Korda said in comments posted by Tokyo 2020.

“When people ask me if I prepare more or put more meaning to majors or Olympics or whatever, I say ‘no’ because I go into any type of event with the same demeanor and the same goal,” added Korda.

She leads the competition on 13-under-par, four ahead of Danish duo Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Emily Kristine Pedersen and India’s Aditi Ashok.

The 60 players in the women’s golf tournament have been warned by officials that the competition could be reduced from 72 to 54 holes due to the weather forecast.

A developing tropical system near Okinawa, Japan, is likely to impact the Games over the weekend.

“I’m going to have the mindset that it’s going to be a 72-hole golf tournament and whatever happens, happens,” said Korda.

Hugues Fabrice Zango made history on Thursday by clinching Burkina Faso’s first ever Olympic medal – and his success came on the same day the country celebrates its independence day, no less.

His distance of 17.47 meters was enough to secure bronze in the men’s triple jump, behind Portgual’s Pedro Pichardo in gold and China’s Zhu Yaming in silver.

“I’m pretty happy for Burkina Faso because today is the independence day of my country, and I got the first medal for my country,” he said.

“This is really good and it’s historic for me and for my country.

“It’s not the medal I wanted, but it’s good for Burkina Faso and it’s historic. Burkina Faso is really happy. Everybody is happy.

Despite making history for his country, Zango wasn’t entirely pleased with the result.

The 28-year-old had been in brilliant form coming into the Games – setting the indoor world record earlier this year – and had his eyes set on the top prize.

“I’m a bit sad because the performance wasn’t there,” he said. “I gave all I could give in this competition but I wasn’t able to produce my best performance.

“This is the sad side of the competition but I’m more happy than sad for this medal. I don’t know what happened at these Olympics because I didn’t feel pressure.

“It’s a lesson so I’ll take time to analyze what happened and try to fix some things for the next challenge.”

China’s Quan Hongchan, who at age 14 is the country’s youngest athlete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, saw off compatriot Chen Yuxi to secure a stunning gold in women’s 10 meter platform diving on Thursday.

The diving sensation produced two perfect-10 dives in a dominant display.

Quan becomes the second-youngest female ever to win gold in the event after her compatriot Fu Mingxia took the title at the 1992 Barcelona Games at the age of just 13.

Quan’s victory on Thursday extends China’s dominance in women’s diving.

China has now claimed gold in all women’s diving events at four successive games – Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

The last time a non-Chinese woman won an Olympic diving event was when Australia’s Chantelle Newbery secured women’s 10 meter platform gold at the 2004 Games in Athens.

15-year-old reigning world champion Chen collected the silver medal with Australia’s Mellisa Wu claiming bronze.

America’s Grant Holloway had looked completely dominant in the 110 meters hurdles heats and cemented his place as the favorite to take gold in the event with a couple of blistering runs.

In the final, however, Jamaican Hansle Parchment stunned Holloway to claim the Olympic title by just 0.05 seconds.

After the race, the newly-crowned Olympic champion said he’d been keeping an eye on his opponent and knew he needed to make some adjustments to stand any chance of winning.

“It was an amazing race,” Parchment said. “I was watching Grant from the first round – and at home as well during the season – and I had to make some changes to my style, I knew I had to be closer to him from the start if I wanted to do better than him.”

At just 23, Holloway is eight years Parchment’s junior and suggested that nerves on the big occasion may have got the better of him.

He added:

“Hat goes off to Hansle Parchment for an amazing race,” he said. I was watching him in 2017 in high school.
“We have run each round together he had a taste of how I was going to put down my performance.”

India’s men’s hockey team – the most successful in the history of the Olympics with eight gold medals – is dedicating its bronze medal to the doctors and frontline workers of the coronavirus pandemic, team captain Manpreet Singh said.

Several players in the team acknowledged the tough times they have been through as they trained in the southern city of Bangalore away from their families.

“For the past two years, we have helped each other a lot and we’ve put all of our trust in each other, and we’ve had to work really hard,” Mandeep Singh said.

“We’ve stayed away from our families because of Covid, we’ve stayed in a camp in Bangalore, but we had an aim and we’ve fulfilled that aim today.”

With Thursday’s historic win, the team ended a 41-year winless run stretching back to Moscow 1980, when they won the last of their golds.

Goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh called this victory “a rebirth.”

Shunsuke Shirakawa closed his bar the first three times the government asked.

When the authorities again requested that Tokyo’s restaurant and pub owners shut down during a fourth state of emergency due to the pandemic, Shirakawa refused. He said he questioned why he must sacrifice his livelihood as the government welcomed thousands of visitors for the Tokyo Olympics.

However, with cases in Tokyo and the rest of the country skyrocketing, public health experts and doctors are worried that once the Games end, coronavirus cases could overwhelm Japan’s health care infrastructure.

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The thousands of athletes competing in Tokyo at the Olympics may not have family and friends there to cheer them along, but they do have a dedicated 57-year-old Japanese man’s support.

Every morning since the eve of the Games, the office worker gets up, goes to a street corner near the Olympic Village and holds a sign that says: “Even if you don’t get a medal, you’re still the BEST!! So believe in yourself!”

Then, he goes to work.

The man, who declined to give his name, told CNN he decided to cheer on all the athletes because he thought the media coverage of the Games that he saw was too focused on the winners.

The man said he’s gone out every morning in the hopes of motivating competitors from around the world.

“Some athletes react to my placard with a thumbs-up. I feel connected to them and it makes me really happy,” he said.

The American men’s basketball game will play in its fourth consecutive gold medal game at the Olympics after beating Australia 97-78.

The game started off close, and Team USA looked in danger during a second quarter that saw them down by as many as 15 points. However, the Americans ended the half with an 8-0 run to bring the game within two.

Then they came out swinging in the second half, looking like the gold medal-favorite most expected them to be, outscoring the Australians 32-10 in the third quarter.

The Americans, on Saturday Japan time, will play the winner of the other semifinal, France vs. Slovenia.

American track and field legend Carl Lewis excoriated some of Team USA’s men’s sprinters on Twitter, calling their performance an “embarrassment.”

Though Lewis did not name which relay he was referring to, his tweet came at about the same time the US team failed to qualify for the final of the men’s 4x100 meters relay.

The Americans have won that event a record 15 times at the Olympics, but have not medaled since Athens in 2004.

Here’s what Lewis said:

Lewis won two of his Olympic gold medals as a member of the US’ 4x100 meters relay teams at the Los Angeles 1984 and Barcelona 1992 Games.

Fans arrived at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka prefecture in shuttle buses on Wednesday to catch the action at the track cycling venue roughly two hours from Tokyo. 

Since Monday, they’ve been among the first at these Summer Games to watch sessions at a closed-door venue.

With Tokyo under a state of emergency due to the pandemic, all events in the Japanese capital are being held without fans. In all, spectators are banned from attending 97% of all Olympic events, forcing most of the Japanese public to watch the Games at home.

But Shizuoka is not under a state of emergency, so it is allowing fans to fill up 50% of the 3,600-seat velodrome.

Many at the venue Wednesday waved Japanese flags and snapped photos. They said they were excited to experience the Olympic spirit in person.

“These Olympics are like no other and are taking place under unprecedented circumstances. The Games are happening now, and the fact that I can even attend an event is a memory that I’m going to hold on to forever,” said ticket-holder Joji Muramatsu, a Shizuoka resident.

Others, however, weren’t as lucky. 

Kazuyoshi and Hiroko Fujita missed out on tickets. They said they booked seats on a shuttle bus taking people to the velodrome as they hoped to enjoy the Olympic mood around the venue. However, they could only gaze at the velodrome from a distance.

“We thought we’d at least be able to see some of the decorations inside, but we were told this was as far as we could come,” Hiroko Fujita said from a small hill beside the velodrome. 
“We remember watching the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo as school kids, and now that we’re retired, we’d been looking forward to attending an event,” she said.

Hong Kong won bronze in women’s team table tennis with victory over Germany in Tokyo on Thursday.

It’s the city’s fourth medal of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, adding to its biggest haul of medals from a single Games.

Fencer Edgar Cheung took home the city’s first gold medal in 25 years with his win in the men’s foil final, while swimmer Siobhan Haughey won two silver medals.

Hong Kong had four Olympic medals in total heading into the 2020 Olympics.

Team USA’s Nevin Harrison won the gold medal in women’s canoe single 200 meter competition on Thursday in Tokyo.

The 19-year-old won the world championship in this event when she was 17. She’s the first woman representing the US to win a gold medal in Olympic canoe sprint.

Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe took silver, with bronze going to Ukraine’s Liudmyla Luzan.

Tokyo 2020 is turning into a battle for bragging rights between Team USA and the Aussies.

The US and Australia are facing off against each other in four different team sports in three days, an unusual coincidence due to both nations’ strong performance in those events.

The Americans took round one when the US women’s basketball team beat the Australians in the quarterfinals.

Thursday will see both country’s men’s basketball teams play each other in the semifinals. Then the Australian and American women’s football teams will face off in that competition’s bronze medal match.

The new rivalry concludes (for now) with beach volleyball on Friday morning, when Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar take on Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman.

Australian Keegan Palmer won the gold medal in the men’s park, the final skateboarding event during the sport’s inaugural Olympic competition.

Palmer turned in two incredible runs of his three tries, scoring 94.04 and 95.83 out of 100. Each of those would have been a high enough score to win gold.

Brazil’s Pedro Barros won silver with an 86.14 and the US’ Cory Juneau took bronze with 84.13.

This was the only skateboarding competition in which Japan didn’t win. The Olympic host took five of the 12 medals handed out in Tokyo.

The wait is over.

India’s men’s hockey team — the most successful in the history of the Olympics with eight gold medals — is finally back on the podium at the Games.

The team claimed bronze with a 5-4 victory over Germany at the Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo on Thursday to end a winless run stretching back to Moscow 1980, when they won the last of their golds.

There were tears and hugs on the field after the match as the players and their Australian coach Graham Reid celebrated the historic moment.

Team India has won four medals at Tokyo 2020 overall and is aiming to surpass its best Olympic haul of six medals at London 2012.

Despite being the world’s second-most populous country, a lack of funding and proper infrastructure have prevented India from becoming an Olympic powerhouse.

At the same time, many athletes choose to play cricket, a non-Olympic sport that enjoys much bigger fanfare in the subcontinent. However, the number of Indian Olympians has, in recent years, risen steadily as the government invests more in sports and athletics.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted to congratulate the team on their win.

We’re heading into the final weekend of competition at the Olympics. As the Games draw to a close, here’s what you need to know from Tokyo.

A “new phase” of the pandemic: Though the Olympics have, by and large, gone about as well as could be hoped for a major sporting competition held in the middle of a pandemic, the situation off the pitch and outside Tokyo 2020’s many venues appears dire.

Nishimura said the more infectious Delta variant accounts for about 90% of all cases in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Olympic organizers and Japan’s leaders, including Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, have previously said they do not believe the Olympics have contributed to the surge in cases.

But some medical professionals and public health experts disagree. They see people gathering outside venues like Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium and worry that a corresponding, post-Games spike in Covid-19 cases is coming — a potential catastrophe considering just how overburdened the country’s medical infrastructure is.

“What we are seeing on the ground is that there is already a collapse of the medical system, and this wave has just begun, and the number of infections is expected to increase strongly next week and the week after that,” said Dr. Hideaki Oka, an infectious diseases specialist.

Karate’s debut: Japan’s most famous martial art made its Olympic bow on Thursday, with competition scheduled to go late into the evening. The first of nine medal bouts starts at 7:30 p.m. Tokyo time (6:30 a.m. ET).

Karate’s inclusion in the Olympics is set to be short-lived, as the event was excluded from the Paris 2024 Games’ program.

NBA stars face-off: Today’s basketball games determine who plays for gold on Saturday in Japan. Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and the rest of Team USA’s star-studded roster take on Australia. The Boomers, led by NBA veterans Patty Mills and Joe Ingles, surprised the basketball world by beating the Americans in exhibition play last month. That game is followed by France vs. Slovenia, which will see the NBA’s three-time defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert, take on Luka Doncic, one of basketball’s brightest young stars.

Medal update: China leads the way with 32 gold medals, followed by the United States with 27 and Japan with 21. Team USA has 83 total medals to top the combined leaderboard. China is second with 71 and the Russian Olympic Committee is third with 53.

What else is coming later in Japan:

The full Olympic schedule can be found here.

Simone Biles has tweeted thanks to a Japanese gym for allowing her to privately train while she attempted to regain her gold medal form after withdrawing during the women’s artistic gymnastics team final at the Summer Olympics.

While thanking those at the Juntendo University in a Wednesday tweet, Biles retweeted a story first published in The Wall Street Journal. The report says Biles and her team asked the facility if she could discretely use the gym in an attempt to overcome her struggle with “the twisties,” a mental block in gymnastics where competitors lose track of their positioning midair.

The Wall Street Journal reported that university professor Kazuhiro Aoki got a phone call about 12 hours after Biles removed herself from the team final, asking to use the school’s gym for a “gymnast.”

According to the report, during a four-day period, Biles practiced for hours behind locked doors working on moves she previously performed with precision.

Last week, Biles posted a series of videos on her Instagram account showing the 4-time Olympic gold medal winner struggling to find her form and crashing into landing pads while practicing dismounts on the uneven bars.

Biles said Wednesday she would “forever be thankful” to Juntendo “for allowing me to come train separately to try to get my skills back.”

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TOKYO, JAPAN - AUGUST 03: Simone Biles of Team United States competes in the Women's Balance Beam Final on day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on August 03, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Related article Simone Biles thanks Japanese gym where she secretly trained to regain her Olympic form

Another day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is in the books. If you’re just reading in now, here are some of the highlights and key storylines from Wednesday’s Games:

Tokyo is considered one of the world’s top food cities, drawing travelers from around the world who spend their days sampling renowned Japanese dishes, from sushi to ramen.

But for those who flew into the city to compete or work at the Tokyo Olympics, most local restaurants are off limits.

While Japan is still closed to international travelers, the athletes, coaches and journalists permitted to enter the country for the Games have to follow a strict set of safety rules and are not permitted to leave the vicinity of their accommodation for a 14-day period unless approved for an exception.

Luckily, Japan’s 24-hour convenience stores, many of which are attached to hotels, are arguably the best in the world and offer an unbelievable array of foods and drinks.

Ask anyone who has traveled to Japan and they will likely have a story about a memorable visit to a konbini — the abbreviated name for convenience stores in Japanese.

Thanks to a series of social media posts from journalists and athletes, they’ve been pushed into the limelight at the Tokyo Olympic Games not just for their fine offerings but for their top-notch customer service as well.

Case in point: 7-Eleven came to the rescue after a sports reporter for Canada’s CBC network in Tokyo called out for help on her Twitter account. The issue? She wanted to learn the correct way to unwrap a package of onigiri, a Japanese rice ball.

The post, featuring a video of Anastasia Bucsis failing to open her onigiri without tearing apart the exterior seaweed, gained 82.2k likes and was retweeted over 34.6k times since being posted on July 27.

In response, 7-Eleven Japan posted a how-to video explaining the correct way to open the cleverly designed packages on its Twitter account.

“Today, we would like to introduce how to open a package film of rice ball for the customers who are visiting Japan from overseas,” the post said.

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TOKYO, JAPAN - 2020/12/03: Seven Eleven (7/11) logo and store in Shinjuku. (Photo by Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Related article Japan's incredible convenience stores thrust into the Olympic spotlight

With three gold medals from three events, Tokyo’s Ariake Urban Sports Park has been a home from home for Japanese skateboarders at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sakura Yosozumi was the latest to top the podium as park skating’s first ever Olympic champion, while her teammate, Kokona Hiraki, made history of her own as the youngest medalist since 1936 at the age of 12 years and 343 days.

Of the nine skateboarding medals handed out in Tokyo — the first time the sport has featured in the Olympic program — Japan has won five of them.

“After the decision was made for skateboarding to be included in Tokyo 2020, I think all the skaters strived to learn good tricks,” was Yosozumi’s explanation for her country’s dominance.

Another theme to emerge from skateboarding’s Olympic debut is success for some of the Games’ youngest ever competitors.

Great Britain’s Sky Brown, 13, claimed the bronze medal in Wednesday’s park skating competition with her last run of the day. It meant the three skaters on the podium had a combined aged of 44 — two years more than the medalists in last week’s women’s street final.

With an English father and a Japanese mother, Brown says she also “really feels at home” in Tokyo, though she discredited the idea that youth is a prerequisite for skateboarding success.

Olympic spirit: Brown said her last-ditch attempt to get into the podium positions with the penultimate run of the final was spurred by an encouraging word from Yosozumi that helped the Briton land the kickflip indy she had missed on the previous two runs.

“She told me: ‘You got it, Sky. We know you’re gonna make it.’ That really made me feel better,” said Brown, who counts Yosozumi as one of her closest friends.

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Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Skateboarding - Women's Park - Medal Ceremony - Ariake Urban Sports Park - Tokyo, Japan - August 4, 2021. Gold medalist Sakura Yosozumi of Japan celebrates on the podium next to silver medalist, Cocona Hiraki of Japan and bronze medalist, Sky Brown of Britain REUTERS/Mike Blake

Related article How skateboarder Sky Brown was urged on to bronze by gold medal winner Sakura Yosozumi