Olympics Latest: Sunisa Lee Wins All-Around Gold
Jul 29, 2021, 7:11 AM
Sunisa Lee of Team United States competes on balance beam during the Women's All-Around Final on day six of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on July 29, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
TOKYO (AP) — The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:
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MEDAL ALERT
Sunisa Lee became the fifth straight American woman to claim the Olympic title in the women’s all-around. She edged Rebeca Andrade of Brazil in an entertaining and hotly contested final while Simone Biles watched from the stands.
Lee’s total of 57.433 points was just enough to top Andrade. The Brazilian earned the first gymnastics all-around medal by a Latin American athlete but missed out on gold when she stepped out of bounds twice during her floor routine.
Russian gymnast Angelina Melnikova earned bronze two days after leading ROC to gold in the team final.
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MEDAL ALERT
Russian fencers won gold in the women’s team foil by beating France 45-34 in the final.
The Russians stayed on course for gold despite an early medical timeout when Marta Martyanova rolled her ankle. She stayed in the contest and contributed 14 of the team’s points.
The Russian Olympic Committee team has won five fencing medals in Tokyo in women’s events. France was on the podium in the women’s team foil for the first time since 1984.
Italy beat the United States 45-23 for the bronze medal to make the podium in the event for a record seventh consecutive Olympics.
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It’s going to go down to the wire in the women’s all-around gymnastics final.
Rebeca Andrade of Brazil leads with a score of 29.966 through two rotations. Sunisa Lee of the U.S. is right behind at 29.900 followed by Angelina Melnikova and Vladislava Urazova from the ROC.
The gymnasts will head to balance beam and then floor for the final two rotations.
An American has won each of the last four Olympic all-around titles. Andrade is looking to become the first female gymnast from Latin American to medal in the all-around.
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A few hours after winning the first individual gold medal of his career, Caeleb Dressel has returned to the pool to tie an Olympic record in preliminaries of the 100-meter butterfly.
Dressel touched first in the last of eight heats with a time of 50.39 seconds, equaling the mark set by Singapore’s Joseph Schooling when he won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Dressel holds the world record of 49.50, set two years ago at the world championships in Gwangju.
Hungary’s Kristof Milak was the second-fastest qualifier, advancing to Friday’s semifinals in 50.62. Milak already won gold in the 200 butterfly.
A couple of big names failed to make the top 16, which was needed to advance.
South African gold medalist Chad le Clos was 18th, while Schooling was far back with the 44th-fastest time. Only 11 swimmers went slower than the defending Olympic champion, who has fallen on hard times with his memorable upset of Michael Phelps.
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Simone Biles is in the stands supporting American teammates Sunisa Lee and Jade Carey in the Olympic women’s gymnastics all-around final.
Biles topped qualifying but opted not to defend the title she won in Rio de Janeiro to focus on her mental health. Biles sat with Grace McCallum, Jordan Chiles and MyKayla Skinner to cheer on Lee and Carey.
Rebeca Andrade of Brazil is in the lead following the first rotation, followed by Carey and Angelina Melnikova of the ROC.
