Hannah Roberts is making her Olympic debut in Tokyo, where she is looking to become the first woman to earn gold in the new BMX Freestyle category.
The big picture: The 19-year-old is the top-ranked rider in the world, with three of four world championships to her name. She is the favorite heading into this week's event.
Three members of Team USA's men's fencing wore pink masks in their matchup against Japan on Friday in support of sexual assault victims amid allegations their teammate is guilty of sexual misconduct.
The big picture: The fourth fencer, Alex Hadzic, has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, and did not wear a pink mask.
The U.S. men's national soccer team filed an amicus brief on Friday in support of the women's team's appeal against the U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay.
Driving the news: Lawyers for the men's team argued that U.S. Soccer "has treated the women’s national team players as second-class citizens, discriminating against the women in their wages and working conditions and paying them less than the men’s national team players."
The U.S. women's soccer team beat the Netherlandsin a penalty kick shootout on Friday, propelling them to the semifinals of the Olympic Games.
Why it matters: The win brings the U.S. team one step closer to its quest for a historic back-to-back double — winning the Olympics after emerging victorious at the Women's World Cup. The U.S. will play Canada in the semifinals next week.
U.S. swimmer Ryan Murphy raised questions about the presence of doping in swimming following a second-place finish in the men's 200-meter backstroke on Thursday.
Driving the news: Murphy, who won gold in the 200-meter backstroke race in Rio, said following his race: "At the end of the day, I do believe there’s doping in swimming. That is what it is."
Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 men's tennis player in the world, was defeated in the Olympic semi-finals on Friday by Germany's Alexander Zverev.
Why it matters: The 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 upset ends the Serbian's chances of attaining a "Golden Slam" — or winning all four Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Sverev is set to play Russia's Karen Khachanov in the finals.
Japanese telecom giant NTT is using the Olympics to show off a new generation of technologies that can transport the sporting experience to wherever fans are, instead of making them come to games.
Why it matters: Technology like this would have solved tons of problems this year, when no spectators are allowed at the actual Olympic venues. Unfortunately, it's all available only in demo form right now.
After taking home three gold medals and setting a world record at the Rio Olympics, swimmer Ryan Murphy was looking for a repeat at this year's Games.
The big picture: Murphy came in second in the 200-meter backstroke, which he'd won in the 2016 Rio Games. Murphy won a bronze earlier this week in the 100m backstroke, which he'd also won in 2016.
After taking home gold three Olympics in a row, Team USA came up short in the women's eight rowing finals Thursday night.
Driving the news: The U.S. women's team came in fourth. They were bested by Canada, which won gold for the first time in 29 years, while New Zealand claimed silver and China took bronze.
