Paris (AFP) – American sprinter Gabby Thomas said she was in “disbelief” after roaring to the women’s 200 metres title at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, while controversial Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won her latest fight to move into the gold-medal bout. Thomas’ storming run under the lights at the Stade de France gave her the first major title of her career as she held off the newly crowned 100m champion Julien Alfred of St Lucia, who won silver.
Meanwhile, Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez made Olympic history when he became the first athlete to win five consecutive individual gold medals in the same event. Lopez, who turns 42 in two weeks’ time, defeated Chile’s Yasmani Acosta in the final of the 130kg Greco-Roman final. With his victory, Lopez broke a tie for four successive individual Olympic golds he shared with Carl Lewis (athletics/long jump), Michael Phelps (swimming/200m medley), Katie Ledecky (swimming/800m freestyle), Al Oerter (athletics/discus), Paul Elvstrom (sailing), and Kaori Icho (wrestling).
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In the basketball quarter-finals, LeBron James and his USA teammates eased past Brazil, winning 122-87 with Devin Booker top-scoring with 18 points and Anthony Edwards adding 17 points. They face Serbia next, who fought back from 24 points down to edge Australia 95-90 in a remarkable win in overtime, thanks mainly to three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic’s late efforts.
Closer to gold, Khelif, who was embroiled in a major gender controversy, won her semi-final to guarantee at least a silver medal in front of a Roland Garros crowd that chanted her name. She defeated Thailand’s 2023 world silver medallist Janjaem Suwannapheng in a unanimous points decision to progress into Friday’s final in the women’s 66kg category. The International Boxing Association disqualified Khelif and another boxer, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, from last year’s world championships after failing gender eligibility tests. The boxing competition in the French capital is run by the International Olympic Committee because of concerns about the way the IBA was running the sport. The IOC cleared the two boxers to fight, and Lin is also guaranteed a medal. Ireland’s Kellie Harrington meanwhile won the first boxing gold of these Games when she retained her 60kg title before leading her fans in a wild celebration.
Taking inspiration, Thomas became the first American woman to win an Olympic short sprint title since her childhood idol Allyson Felix won the 200m at the 2012 London Games. She pulled away from Alfred to win in 21.83 seconds, with her USA teammate Brittany Brown claiming bronze. “I’m really in disbelief because having an Olympic gold medal is something in my wildest dreams. But at the same time, I know how hard I’ve fought for it,” said Thomas, who took inspiration from watching teammates Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, and even Alfred in the men’s and women’s 100m at the weekend. There were no complaints from Alfred about missing out on a sprint double. “I did feel ready for the 200m tonight,” she said. “I feel good, no complaints at all.” It is the first time since the 1976 Montreal Games that no Jamaican sprinters have made the podium of either the women’s 100m or 200m. In a major track and field upset, American Cole Hocker produced a remarkable surge in the home straight to carry him past pre-race favourites Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr to win the men’s 1,500m.
In women’s football, the United States and Brazil will do battle for the gold medal after claiming contrasting wins in Tuesday’s last-four ties against Germany and World Cup holders Spain respectively. The USA, record four-time women’s football gold medallists, are still on course to win the title for the first time since 2012 after beating Germany 1-0 in extra time in Lyon, with Sophia Smith scoring the only goal. Brazil reached their first Olympic final since 2008 by thrashing the reigning world champions 4-2 in Marseille.
In other developments, the decision of organisers to cancel a “familiarisation session” for marathon swimmers on Tuesday raised questions as to why triathletes were allowed to swim in the Seine the previous day. Organisers said Tuesday they were “very confident” that the women’s and men’s 10-kilometre swimming events would take place in the river this week as scheduled. The United States tops the medals table with 24 golds, two ahead of China, while Australia has 13.
© 2024 AFP
