Tokyo Olympics as it happened IOC issues safety reminder after Boxalls celebration Aussie softballers lose
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The IOC has issued a reminder to teams of athletes to follow COVID-19 regulations after Ariarne Titmus’ swim coach Dean Boxall took off his mask during his colourful celebrations following the women’s 400-metre freestyle.
In a moment that has now gone viral online, Boxall ripped off his mask, threw his fists in the air and launched into pelvic thrusts at a glass barrier in excitement as Titmus beat long-term rival and US champ Katie Ledecky to claim gold.
The moment reflected the excitement of the nation over the win, but also came with backlash. In the footage, a nearby security guard could be seen making failed attempts to cool Boxall’s celebrations as he made his way through partitions in place due to COVID-19 while taking off his mask.
Dean Boxall ripped off his mask, threw his fists in the air and launched into pelvic thrusts as Titmus beat long-term rival and US champ Katie Ledecky.Credit:Getty Images
“We ask everyone â€" all stakeholder groups present in Tokyo â€" to continue to follow the playbooks, which provide the clearest possible guidelines on how to minimise risk of exposure to COVID-19,†an IOC spokesperson told the Herald and The Age.
“We completely understand that athletes want to celebrate their achievements and special moments at the pinnacle of their sporting career.
“In order to ensure safe and secure Games for all participants and the Japanese people, it is essential that everyone plays by the rules.â€
The guidelines for the podium ceremonies were recently adapted to allow athletes to temporarily remove masks for a photograph while physically distanced from the other athletes.
That is all for our coverage of the Olympics today. Thanks for reading along.
Here are some of the highlights for competition tomorrow (all times EST):
SURFING
Men’s quarter-finals - Owen Wright v Lucca Mesinas (Per) (9.48am)
Women’s quarter-finals - Sally Fitzgibbons v Amuro Tsuzuki (Jpn) (12.12pm) Tsurigasaki Surf Beach
SWIMMING
Finals (11.30am-1.40pm)
Women’s 200m freestyle semi-finals - Ariarne Titmus, Madi Wilson
Women’s 100m backstroke final - Kaylee McKeown, Emily Seebohm
Men’s 100m backstroke final - Mitch Larkin
CANOE SLALOM
Kayak K1 Women’s Finals - Jessica Fox
SOCCER
Women’s group G - Matildas v United States (6pm)
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The host country knocked off a heavyweight for Olympic gold in table tennis on Monday.
Japanese pair Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito ended China’s recent dominance in the sport by beating Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen 4-3 for the mixed doubles title. The upset comes five years after China swept all four table tennis tournaments at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Hopes were still high for Japan entering the match. Mizutani won bronze in singles in Rio, and Ito is considered by some to be China’s biggest threat in the female ranks.
China got off to a fast start, convincingly â€" and quickly â€" winning the first two games 11-5 and 11-7. Japan fought back in the third game, winning 11-8, and then took two more close games, 11-9 in the fourth and 11-9 in the fifth.
China then won the sixth game, 11-6, to set up a deciding seventh game, which Japan dominated, taking an 8-0 lead and holding on for an 11-6 win â€" and the gold.
China’s table tennis team is so strong that Liu, the women’s world champion, didn’t even make the women’s singles’ team and is only playing team events.
AP
Russia’s long climb back to the top in men’s Olympic gymnastics is over.
The team representing the Russian Olympic Committee rode remarkable performances by Artur Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagornyy to edge Japan and China in a taut men’s team final on Monday. The victory marked the first Olympic title for the Russians since 1996 in Atlanta.
Nikita Nagornyy of Team ROC competes on the horizontal bar.Credit:Getty Images
Russia’s total of 262.500, capped by Nagornyy’s rock-solid floor routine set with victory on the line, was just good enough to hold off the sport’s other two superpowers. Japan used a brilliant high bar routine by Daiki Hashimoto in the final rotation to surge past China for second with a score of 262.397.
The Chinese were undone by a fall from Lin Chaopan on floor exercise during the first rotation. They were forced to play catch-up all evening. Down by more than 3.3 points halfway through, they managed to pull within fractions of the Russians before a couple of form breaks on high bar in the final rotation cost them a shot at the top of the podium.
Japan, Brazil and Russia were separated by just less than a point during qualifying, but Russia took command of the finals on vault. Nagornyy, Dalaloyan and Denis Abliazin all posted scores of 14.733 or higher. Nagornyy stuck his landing. So did Dalaloyan, who competed with his left leg heavily taped after undergoing surgery for a torn Achilles in April. By the time Abliazin’s feet hit the mat, Russia was in the lead to stay.
Nagornyy, with the rest of the arena watching, saluted the judges needing 14.564 on the high bar to deliver gold. The reigning world champion came through, exhaling following his dismount before waving his hands to the small crowd.
AP
Australian featherweight Skye Nicolson has advanced to the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics, recording a hard-fought and emotive victory over South Korean Im Aeji.
Nicolson is just two wins away from reaching the gold-medal bout, while the first, third and fourth seeds have notably already been eliminated from the tournament.
Skye Nicolson celebrates after her win. Credit:Getty Images
The 25-year-old celebrated at the Kokugikan Arena then turned to the camera, wishing her father happy birthday before blowing a kiss. The Queenslander is following in the footsteps of her late older brother Jamie, who boxed for Australia at the 1992 Olympics.
Skye’s brothers Jamie and Gavin tragically died in a car accident while en route to boxing training in 1994, a year before she was born. The 25-year-old, who described her connection with Jamie as being special, noted a “day full of upsets†proved “this division is very openâ€.
Read the full story here.
AAP
Australia have lost their do-or-die softball match 4-1 to Mexico, missing a spot in the bronze medal match against Canada on Tuesday.
It means Australia will fail to medal in softball at the Olympics for the first time. Australia had won silver or bronze at each of softball’s four previous Olympics appearances between 1996 and 2008.
Jade Wall hit the Spirit’s only home run for the tournament but it failed to spark a comeback.
Jade Wall celebrates her home run.Credit:AP
Australia scored just one run in each of the games they played in Tokyo â€" a 1-0 win over Italy and losses to Japan (8-1), Canada (7-1) and the US (2-1) as well as this loss to Mexico. They were punished for leaving five runners on base in the first three innings in this game and left the bases loaded several times throughout the competition.
Mexico took control after Suzannah Brookshire’s second inning strike ricocheted off the wall to her advantage. Brookshire’s triple allowed Brittany Cervantes to score and she soon completed a run herself to double Mexico’s lead.
Australian pitcher Kaia Parnaby was taken out of the game after Victoria Vidales doubled in the fourth innings and Tatyana Forbes scampered home. New pitcher Gabrielle Plain could not stop Vidales scoring. Ellen Roberts eventually came in for Plain and the Mexicans did not score again.
The Australians’ best game came against the Americans, the world No.1 team, when they played their best defence and pushed the US to extra innings. But they could not replicate that performance against Mexico, who will get the chance to play for bronze. Australia finish fifth of six teams, ahead of Italy.
Japan and the US will play for gold on Tuesday night.
Softball was back at the Olympics for the first time since 2008 and will not be among the sports played at the next Games, though there is a push for it to return in 2028.
with Reuters
Philippines’ Hidily Diaz on Monday became her country’s first gold medallist, winning the women’s 55 kilogram category for weightlifting.
In her fourth Olympics, the 30-year-old lifted a combined weight of 224 kilograms, an Olympic record. China’s Liao Qiuyun took silver with 223 kilograms and Kazakhstan’s Zulfiya Chinshanlo won bronze with 213 kilograms.
Philippines have been competing at the Olympics since 1934 and had only ever won three silver medals and seven bronze.
Reuters
The Spirit have brought themselves within three runs of Mexico thanks to a home run to Jade Wall.
The home run was absolutely crushed to centre field â€" a no-doubter. It is Australia’s first home run of the Olympics and they have now scored one run in every game in Tokyo (they lost 8-1 to Japan, won 1-0 over Italy, lost 7-1 to Canada and 2-1 to USA).
Mexico lead 4-1 going into the seventh and final inning.
A reminder that the winner of this game will play for bronze against Canada tomorrow.
American legend Katie Ledecky has bounced back from her loss to Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in the 400-metre freestyle to post an Olympic record time of 15:35.35 in the 1500-metre freestyle heats.
Ledecky holds the world record for the event with a 15:20.48, which she swum in May, 2018.
Ledecky blitzed the competition in the 1500m freestyle heats. Credit:AP
Australia’s Kiah Melverton finished the same heat in fourth position with a time of 15:58.96, while Maddy Gough finished more than 10 seconds off the pace in her heat in 15:56.81.
However, both times were good enough to make the final, with Gough seventh fastest from the heats and Melverton eighth. American Maddy Sullivan took out that heat, with Gough placing fourth.
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