Katie Ledecky reacts after competing in the Women’s 800m freestyle final during the 2021 U.S. Olympic team swimming trials. Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images
Katie Ledecky has been dominating women’s swimming since winning her first gold at the 2012 London Games when she was just 15 years old. Since then, she's brought home four more Olympic gold medals, broken 14 world records and earned the title of "greatest female swimmer of our time" by Michael Phelps.
The big picture: The 24-year-old needs just three gold medals at this year's Games to match swimmer Jenny Thompson's record of eight career Olympic golds by an American woman. If she wins four, she would tie Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina for most career golds of any female Olympian.
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photos: Getty Images
Gymnastics is one of the most popular Olympic sports. But unlike swimming (finish first!) or basketball (score more points!), it can be complex and difficult to follow.
How it works: There are seven individual events for men and five for women.
Caeleb Dressel celebrates after Team USA wins the gold in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.Photo: Fred Lee/Getty Images
🏊 Swimming finals: Women’s 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke finals; Men’s 200m freestyle and 100m backstroke finals. Coverage starts at 9:30 p.m. on NBC
Americans are deeply divided over how transgender athletes should compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with no option even coming close to a consensus view, according to a new Axios/Momentive poll.
By the numbers: While 39% of people say transgender athletes should compete against others of the gender they were assigned at birth, 20% say they should compete against others of the gender with which they identify.
A look inside Tokyo's Ariake Gymnastics Centre just before the men's team final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Photo: ina Fried/Axios
TOKYO – The men's gymnastics team final kicks off shortly, so here's a quick guide to help get you started, whether you are watching live or waiting for NBC to show it later tonight.
Why it matters: The U.S. is among eight countries going for the gold today. Other competitors are China, Japan, Ukraine, Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany and athletes from Russia.
Momiji Nishiya of Team Japan celebrates during the Women's Street Final on day three of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Urban Sports Park on July 26 in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Japan's Momiji Nishiya, 13, won the inaugural Olympic skateboard competition for women, at the Tokyo Games on Monday.
Of note: She's one of the Olympics' youngest ever gold medalists — just months older than American diver Marjorie Gestring, who at 13 years 267 days set the record for the youngest winner at the 1936 Berlin Games.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include details of the Olympics' youngest gold medalist.
Japan's Yamato Fujita held Team USA without a hit for the first five innings. Photo: Ina Fried/Axios
Despite failing to get a hit for the first five innings, the U.S. women's Olympic softball team managed to tie Japan in the sixth inning and win 2-1 in the seventh, thanks to a walk-off home run from Kelsey Stewart.
Why it matters: The same two teams, which were undefeated headed into Monday's game, will meet in the gold medal match scheduled for Tuesday evening Tokyo time.
Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Caeleb Dressel in Tokyo will likely get the chance to attempt a feat only three swimmers have achieved: winning at least seven medals during a single Olympic Games.
The big picture: The 24-year-old, who made his Olympic debut in Rio 2016, has done it before in other international competitions, winning seven gold medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships and a record eight medals, including six gold, at the 2019 championships.
Wally Skalij /Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Ratings for the Olympic Games opening ceremony were down 36% compared to 2016, according to preliminary numbers from NBC Universal.
Why it matters: The figures for the Tokyo Games event mark the lowest audience for an Olympics opening ceremony event in over three decades, per Reuters.
Team USA's Anastasija Zolotic celebrates winning against Russia's Tatiana Minina in the taekwondo women's -57kg gold medal bout during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Tokyo on Sunday. Photo: Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images
Anastasija Zolotic defeated Tatiana Minina 25-17 in the women's 57-kg taekwondo division final to win gold for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Saturday.
Of note: The 18-year-old is the first American woman to win gold in taekwondo. "It really hasn't sunk in yet," she told reporters after her win. Zolotic's was the fourth U.S. gold of the day, after swimmer Chase Kalisz, shooter Will Shaner and fencer Lee Kiefer.
Go deeper: Iranian defector defeats Iranian in taekwondo at Tokyo Olympics