Former and current Olympic gymnasts are rallying behind Simone Biles after she pulled out of the team and individual all-around competitions due to mental health concerns.
Why it matters: Leading up to the Tokyo Olympics, Biles was billed as the favored gold medalist and greatest of all time. But the weight that came with bearing the title led her to step away, resulting in support and praise for her honesty in discussing mental health challenges.
Twenty track and field athletes, including 10 from Nigeria, will not compete at the Olympics after failing to meet anti-doping testing requirements, the Athletics Integrity Unit announced Wednesday.
The big picture: Nigeria is the country most impacted. Other countries included Belarus, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco and Ukraine. The names of the banned athletes were not disclosed.
TOKYO- The U.S. women's 3x3 basketball team defeated the squad from Russia 18-15 on Wednesday night to win the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the sport.
What's next: Minutes later, the Latvian men defeated the athletes from Russia 21-18 to take the men's gold medal.
Simone Biles' leadership on the mat has never been questioned. After her shocking withdrawal from Tuesday's team final, she proved just as capable a leader off of it.
What happened: During the first rotation, Biles performed an uncharacteristically bad vault, appearing to lose herself in midair.
Olympic champion Simone Biles is receiving widespread praise for putting "mental wellness over all else" after withdrawing from the U.S. women's team finals and the upcoming all-around final at the Tokyo Games this week.
The big picture: Leading figures from the world of sports, politics, entertainment and fans, including former first lady Michelle Obama and U.S. swimming legend Michael Phelps, have lauded the four-time Olympic gold medalist.
Female Olympians in Tokyo are rejecting the uniforms that have long defined their sports, highlighting a double standard that exists how women dress in competition vs. men.
Driving the news: During their qualifying round Sunday, Germany's women's gymnastics team wore full-length unitards, eschewing the conventional leg-barring leotards worn by most female gymnasts.
U.S. gymnastics great Simone Biles won't defend her Olympic title in the upcoming all-around final as she continues to focus on her mental health, USA Gymnastics announced Wednesday.
Driving the news: The 24-year-old four-time Olympic gold medalist's decision comes after she pulled out of the women's gymnastics team finals on Tuesday, saying she didn't want to jeopardize her health and well-being. USA Gymnastics said in a statement it applauded Biles' "bravery in prioritizing her well-being."
Katie Ledecky took home the Olympic gold medal in the women's 1,500-meter freestyle swimming race Tuesday night ET, becoming the first female swimmer to win the newly added division. Team USA's Erica Sullivan won silver.
Of note: The Tokyo Games mark the first time that the long-distance race has been open to women, and Ledecky paid tribute to her predecessors after the race. "I just think of all the great U.S. swimmers who didn’t have a chance to swim that event," she said on NBC.
Former President Obama has joined NBA Africa as a strategic adviser, the league announced Tuesday.
Driving the news: Obama will "help advance the league’s social responsibility efforts across the continent," including initiatives that "support greater gender equality and economic inclusion."
Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles pulled out of the women's gymnastics team finals on Tuesday to prioritize her mental health and well-being.
The latest: "At the end of the day, I have to do what's right for me and focus on my mental health, and not jeopardize my health and well-being," Biles told reporters in Tokyo. "That's why I decided to kind of take a step back and let them do their work, and they did it."
The Russian Olympic Committee is taking home a gold medal in women's gymnastics after U.S. star Simone Biles pulled out of the team finals on Tuesday due to a medical issue.
State of play: The Russian gymnasts finished with a total score of 169.528, ahead of the U.S. in second place at 166.096. The gold medal won Tuesday is the first for the Russian team since the Unified Team won in Barcelona in 1992, AP notes.
Japan defeated its main softball rival 2-0 to win the gold medal on Tuesday, as the sport returned to the Tokyo Olympics after a 12-year absence.
Why it matters: Softball is back in the Olympics, but its future remains uncertain, with the game not scheduled to be part of the next Olympics in Paris and questionable for the following Games in Los Angeles.
Tokyo's Metropolitan Government reported at least 2,848 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, the Japanese city's highest case count since the pandemic began, Reuters reports.
The big picture: Rising coronavirus cases — largely driven by the highly contagious Delta variant — come as hundreds of athletes, staffers, officials and members of the media have descended on Olympic host city Tokyo for the year-delayed Games.
The president of the international track body World Athletics said Tuesday that he supports a review of marijuana's status as a doping substance after American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was banned ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, AP reports.
Driving the news: SebastianCoe said that Richardson's absence is "a loss to the competition" and that a review is now sensible and "it should be" done, per AP.
Team USA's men's rugby sevens team was knocked out of the quarterfinals of the Olympics on Tuesday after falling 26-21 to Great Britain.
Why it matters: It's a stinging defeat for a USA team as a favorite to make a deep run in the tournament, buoyed by the comeback of two-time world rugby sevens player of the year Perry Baker.
TOKYO – When the U.S. and Japan take the field in Yokohama on Tuesday, they are playing for more than just a gold medal. As badly as both teams want to win, they also want to show the world their sport deserves a permanent place in the Olympics.
Why it matters: Softball is returning to the Olympics after a 12-year absence, but its long-term Olympic future is uncertain, with the sport not part of the 2024 Games in Paris and plans up in the air after that.
Naomi Osaka was eliminated from the Olympics Games after losing her Tokyo tennis tournament match 6-1, 6-4 in the third round to Czech Marketa Vondrousova on Tuesday.
Of note: Japan's Osaka is the women's world No. 2, while is Vondrousova ranked No.42.
Nigeria held with the U.S. women's basketball team on Tuesday, but the American squad took control late in the second quarter and hung on to win 81-72.
Why it matters: The U.S. is looking for its seventh straight gold medal, lost two of its last three exhibition games, to the WNBA All-Stars and Australia. It hasn't lost an Olympic game since 1992.
Team USA's 17-year-old swimmer Lydia Jacoby has won the Olympic gold medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke at the Tokyo Games, completing the race with a time of 1:04.95.
Of note: The Alaskan beat defending Olympic champion and fellow American Lilly King, who won bronze. Tatjana Shoenmaker from South Africa took home the silver medal.
For two-time world rugby sevens player of the year Perry Baker, the road to Tokyo has been one fueled by pain.
The big picture: After suffering a severe leg injury during a tournament in February, Baker was forced to spend the months before this year's Games largely in recovery. But if Baker's professional career has taught him anything, it's how to take a hit and continue to move forward.
