Tokyo: A roundup of gold medals from Saturday, July 24 at the Tokyo Games:
ARCHERY
MIXED TEAM
An San and teenager Kim Je Deok paired up to lead South Korea to a gold medal in the Olympic debut of archery’s mixed team event at the Tokyo Games.
On a sizzling Saturday at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field, they held off Gabriela Schloesser and Steve Wijler of the Netherlands by a tally of 5-3 to bring home yet another archery gold for South Korea. The country has now captured 14 of 17 gold medals in archery team competitions since the current format was introduced to the Olympics in 1988.
What’s more, it was the 24th Olympic gold medal for South Korea’s archery program, matching short track speed skating for most by the country in a particular sport.
Alejandra Valencia and Luis Alvarez combined for Mexico and knocked off Yasemin Anagoz and Mete Gazoz of Turkey to earn the bronze medal.
CYCLING
MEN’S ROAD RACE
Ecuador won its first cycling medal as Richard Carapaz took gold in the Olympic road race.
Embracing his nickname of “The Locomotive,” Carapaz rode away from American breakaway buddy Brandon McNulty as they approached the finish at Fuji International Speedway.
He slapped his handlebars in celebration as he crossed the line, where he was greeted by one of the few crowds allowed at the Olympics.
Belgian star Wout van Aert wound up edging Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia in a photo finish.
FENCING
WOMEN’S EPEE INDIVIDUAL
Sun Yiwen of China defeated five-time Olympian Ana Maria Popescu of Romania 11-10 in overtime to win gold in the women’s épée fencing competition.
Popescu tied the score at 10 with 3 seconds remaining to go to overtime, but Sun soon scored the winning point in the deciding period.
Katrina Lehis of Estonia took the bronze by beating Russian fencer Aizanat Murtazaeva 15-8.
MEN’S SABRE INDIVIDUAL
Aron Szilagyi of Hungary became the first Olympic fencer to win three individual sabre gold medals after beating Luigi Samele 15-7 in the men’s final.
Szilagyi used his fast reflexes to build an early 7-1 lead and held off a brief comeback from his Italian opponent before closing out the win.
Szilagyi won gold at the 2012 London Games and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Samele reached the final after a remarkable win in the semifinals. He came back from 12-6 down to beat Kim Junghwan of South Korea 15-12.
Kim took bronze with a 15-11 win over Sandro Bazadze of Georgia.
JUDO
WOMEN’S 48-KILOGRAM
Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo beat Funa Tonaki in the women’s 48-kilogram Olympic judo final, depriving host Japan of its first gold medal in its home Olympics and winning Kosovo’s second-ever Olympic medal.
Krasniqi won on a throw with 20 seconds left, scoring a waza-ari and claiming a title that moved her to tears moments later.
Although Krasniqi was the top seed, she was severely challenged by the 4-foot-10 Tonaki, who beat a series of difficult opponents to reach the final.
MEN’S 60-KILOGRAM
Naohisa Takato has won Japan’s first gold medal at its home Olympics, beating Taiwan’s Yang Yung-wei in the men’s 60-kilogram judo final.
Takato won his final three bouts in sudden-death golden score, but took the final a bit anticlimactically after Yang committed too many fouls.
The charismatic Takato’s success in Japan’s homegrown sport could provide a much-needed jolt of excitement for a nation still feeling profoundly ambivalent about these Olympics and discouraged by the scandals and coronavirus setbacks surrounding them.
SHOOTING
WOMEN’S 10-METER AIR RIFLE
China’s Yang Qian won the first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in women’s 10-meter air rifle.
Yang overtook Anastasiia Galashina when the Russian missed the center two rings for an 8.9 on her final shot.
Yang had a 9.8 on her final shot and finished with an Olympic record 251.8. Galashina finished at 251.1.
Switzerland’s Nina Christen took bronze.
MEN’S 10-METER AIR PISTOL
Javad Foroughi has become the oldest Iranian athlete to win an Olympic medal, earning gold in men’s 10-meter air pistol.
Foroughi set an Olympic record with 244.8 points, finishing 6.9 ahead of silver medalist Damir Mikec of Serbia. China’s Pang Wei, the 2008 gold medalist, took bronze.
The 41-year-old Foroughi surpasses Iranian weightlifter Mahmoud Namdjou, who was 38 when he took bronze at the 1956 Melbourne Games.
TAEKWONDO
WOMEN’S 49-KILOGRAM
MEN’S 58-KILOGRAM
Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand and Vito Dell’Aquila of Italy won the first two gold medals of the Olympic taekwondo competition.
Wongpattanakit won her first gold in dramatic fashion in the women’s 49-kilogram final, scoring two points on a body kick inside the final 10 seconds for an 11-10 victory over 17-year-old Adriana Cerezo of Spain. Wongpattanakit’s gold is only the 10th in Thailand’s entire Olympic history.
Dell’Aquila defeated Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi of Tunisia 16-12 in the men’s 58-kilogram final to claim his first Olympic medal.
Chinese veteran Wu Jingyu’s bid to become the first three-time Olympic taekwondo champion ended in the quarterfinals with a 33-2 loss to Cerezo.
WEIGHTLIFTING
WOMEN’S 49-KILOGRAM
Hou Zhihui won China’s second gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a commanding showing in the women’s 49-kilogram weightlifting category.
Hou lifted a total 210kg, 3kg short of her world record, to take gold ahead of Indian lifter Chanu Saikhom Mirabai on 202. It was India’s first Olympic silver in weightlifting.
Indonesia took bronze as Windy Cantika Aisah lifted a total of 194kg.
AP
