These women athletes are making Olympics history with record firsts for Team USA

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Team USA athletes, specifically women athletes, are already making history at the Tokyo Olympics.

From fencing to taekwondo, swimming and more, the Summer Games in Tokyo have been a chance for American women to prove their athletic prowess.

Lydia Jacoby

Lydia Jacoby, 17, won the first gold medal for the U.S. women’s swimming team at the Tokyo Olympics with her upset win in the 100-meter breaststroke.

Jacoby became one of the youngest American swimmers to win an Olympic gold medal and the first-ever Alaskan swimmer to win Olympic gold.

Jacoby, who is from Seward, Alaska, moved to Anchorage earlier this year to train. She is the first Olympic swimmer, and only the 10th Olympian, to be born in Alaska, according to ESPN.

Jacoby’s hometown of Seward gathered to watch her race live, and erupted in cheers when she won.

“I was definitely racing for a medal. I knew I had it in me,” Jacoby said after the race. “I wasn’t really expecting a gold medal, so when I looked up and saw the scoreboard, it was insane.”

Carissa Moore

American Carissa Moore rode into the history books on July 27, becoming the first woman ever to win a gold medal in surfing at the Olympics.

The 28-year-old Hawaiian, the world’s No. 1 ranked woman surfer, burst into tears as she emerged from the water at Japan’s Shidashita Beach following her victorious performance on waves stoked up by Typhoon Nepartak swirling in the Pacific Ocean.

Moore’s win came after she bested South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag in the head-to-head finale of the inaugural surfing event at the Tokyo Games.

She was lifted on the shoulders of Team USA coaches as she wrapped herself in an American flag.

Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell

Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell won the silver medal in the women’s synchronized 10m platform competition, making them the first U.S. team to ever win medals in this event.

The teammates competed for just the third time together ever at the Olympics.

“Jess and I just ended up making it work,” Schnell said. “Took a lot of faith in each other, a lot of trust in each other that paid off.”

Lee Kiefer

Lee Kiefer, 27, is a four-time NCAA champion at Notre Dame and a medical student at the University of Kentucky. On Sunday, Kiefer made history as the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in individual foil.

Kiefer was up against Inna Deriglazova of the Russian Olympic Committee, who is ranked No. 1 in the world. After the final point, the match ended with a score of 15-13. Kiefer ripped off her mask and shouted, “Oh my God!”

“It’s such an incredible feeling that I share with my coach, I share with my husband, with my family, just everyone that’s been a part of this,” Kiefer said. “I wish I could chop it up in little pieces and distribute it to everyone I love.”

Kiefer’s husband, Gerek Meinhardt, who is also a fencer and four-time Olympian, took to Instagram to share the moment with his followers.

“My wife just made my Olympic dream complete,” he wrote. “Words can’t describe how bad she wanted this, how hard she worked or how proud of her I am.”

Anastasija Zolotic

For 18-year-old Anastasija Zolotic, winning a gold medal at the Olympics has been a goal of hers since she was 8.

“I want to be an inspiration for young girls and young athletes. Everything I wanted and worked so hard for. It’s like a legacy I’m leaving behind in a way. It’s everything I wanted,” Zolotic told “Good Morning America.” “Just seeing how far I should push myself through each match. It’s that little 8-year-old in me saying, ‘we can do this,’ pushing me through these matches.”

After her taekwondo match against Tatiana Minina of the Russian Olympic Committee, Zolotic told reporters that her same younger self “was running around the schoolyard saying I was going to be Olympic champion but she could never have imagined what this moment is like.”

Zolotic, who is from Florida, was aggressive in her first round and kept her powerful streak going. She ended up beating Minina with a score of 25-17.

She also has a unique way of preparing herself mentally before a match, letting out a loud primal scream before she puts her helmet on.

“My dad told me, ‘I need you to shout as loud as you can before a match to let out the nerves. I do it to let out the nerves and then I see it intimidates people,” she told “GMA,” adding that she doesn’t practice that part, “it comes out in the moment just like that.”

Zolotic is only the fourth American to reach an Olympic taekwondo final and only the second woman. The only athlete to take home the gold prior to Tokyo was Steven Lopez, who won the U.S. team’s only two previous Olympic golds.

“What a dream,” Zolotic said in an Instagram post following her win. “Making history each step of the way….. GO TEAM USA.”

Refugee Olympic Team features 29 athletes from across the globe

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TOKYO) — Yusra Mardini escaped the Syrian civil war in August 2015. She went from Syria to Lebanon and then to Turkey, and from there, she got on a broken boat — meant for just a few people but holding around 20 — heading to Greece. When the boat began to capsize, she swam through the sea with a couple of others to push the boat ashore.

Mardini eventually made it to Germany, and not long after, to Rio de Janeiro, where she competed as a swimmer on the Refugee Olympic Team in 2016.

“Sport was our way out,” she said in a recent Olympic Channel Instagram interview. “It was kind of what gave us hope to build our new lives.”

She didn’t take home any medals that year, but Mardini will try once more, again on the refugee team, at the Tokyo Olympics.

The team, which marches under the Olympic flag, will make its second appearance at the games this year with 29 athletes — including six who were the 2016 team in Rio.

Andrea Mucino-Sanchez of the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, which partners with the International Olympic Committee to support the refugee team, said the team is a symbol of hope to the millions of displaced people around the world.

“Sport is more than a leisure activity. It has the power to foster inclusion in local communities,” she told ABC News. “It helps heal, and it really enables refugees to build a future in their host countries and beyond.”

What the Refugee Olympic Team is

The Refugee Olympic Team — which goes by the official acronym EOR based on its French name, Équipe Olympique des Réfugiés — first came onto the international stage during the Rio 2016 Olympics.

At the time, the team consisted of 10 athletes in the athletics, judo and swimming categories. This year, the team has expanded to 29 athletes in those same categories, as well as badminton, boxing, canoe sprint, cycling, karate, shooting, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.

All of the athletes are refugees, having fled violence or persecution in their home countries. They now live in other countries across the globe.

There are various factors to qualify for the team, Mucino-Sanchez said, including athletic performance — “They are all elite athletes, but there are minimums to be able to compete in the Olympic Games,” she said — and their refugee status, which must be confirmed by UNHCR.

Why the team was created

IOC President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the team in October 2015 during what was being called the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Wars in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan fueled a massive migration to Europe, and the world was still reeling from the death of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian boy whose body was photographed on a Turkish beach after his family tried and failed to escape to Greece on an overcrowded boat.

“This will be a symbol of hope for all refugees in the world and will make the world better aware of the magnitude of this crisis,” Bach said of the team. “It is also a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society.”

The refugee crisis is still ongoing.

According to UNHCR, there were over 82 million forcibly displaced people around the world by the end of 2020 — 26 million of whom are refugees.

Who — and where — the athletes are

Each athlete lives and trains in the country of their host National Olympic Committee (NOC). Host NOCs include Kenya, Portugal, Israel, Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland and Canada, among others. The host NOCs receive funding from Olympic Solidarity, an athlete development assistance program, to help them prepare and support the refugee athletes during their training.

Financial assistance also goes directly to refugee scholarship recipients. According to the 2020 Olympic Solidarity annual report, 52 refugee athletes received scholarship support from the program. However, not everyone supported ends up qualifying for the Olympics.

The IOC previously said that it helps athletes “build their future” outside of training for the Olympics. However, there have been some concerns about management of the program from past participants. Some members who were based in a training camp in Kenya for years left, alleging mismanagement and denied opportunities, TIME reported.

Two runners who were refugees from South Sudan claimed they not only did not get prize money they won at competitions, but also received a significantly lower stipend than program participants based in other areas.

The IOC did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

There are 29 athletes across 12 sports participating in the Tokyo Olympics. Along with Mardini, there are eight other athletes from Syria, four from South Sudan, three from Afghanistan, as well as others from Eritrea, Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Cameroon and Venezuela.

The team this year also includes five athletes from Iran, two of whom were previously on the Iranian Olympic team.

Kimia Alizadeh became Iran’s first female Olympic medalist when she won a bronze medal for the Iranian Olympic team in the -57kg taekwondo category during the 2016 Rio Olympics. She fled the country in 2020, calling herself in an Instagram post “one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran” who was just a “tool” used by the country for medals.

Alizadeh, who criticized having to wear a mandatory headscarf, reportedly began receiving threats and fled Iran. The Iran Taekwondo Association has prevented her from competing for another nation, according to the IOC. She now lives in Germany and is working toward naturalization.

According to Mucino-Sanchez, one goal of supporting the refugee athletes is so they can eventually compete with their new nation.

After her participation on the Refugee Olympic Team in Tokyo, Alizadeh hopes to compete in the 2024 Olympics — perhaps then on the German team — as well.

Tropical Storm Nepartak set to miss Tokyo, but Olympians get no relief from heat

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TOKYO) — Olympic athletes are set to see some reprieve from extreme weather conditions, as Tropical Storm Nepartak is now forecast to miss Japan’s capital city.

The storm is expected to make landfall in northern Japan on Wednesday morning local time. It was located approximately 134 nautical miles east-northeast of Yokosuka, Japan (a town that houses a U.S. military base and is some 35 miles south of Tokyo) at 11 a.m. ET, according to the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The naval weather center said in its 11 a.m. ET release that, within 12 hours, the storm will be just off the northeastern coast of Japan near the city of Sendai (some 230 miles north of Tokyo), and within 24 hours the center of the storm will have passed over the archipelago nation completely.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the storm is carrying maximum wind speeds of 44.8 mph and maximum wind gust speeds of 67.1 mph. It is moving north at just over 12 mph.

Japan’s national public broadcaster NHK reported heavy rainfall along northeastern Japan’s coastal cities and warned that the storm will likely cause downpours in the region. NHK reported that local officials are also warning of mudslides and potential flooding in low-lying areas in the region.

While the storm was never forecast to strengthen into a typhoon, news outlets and local officials have been labeling it as such. In a statement Monday, Tokyo 2020 organizers predicted that the storm will have “limited impact on the Games,” but said any changes in competition schedule would be announced on its website and via the Tokyo 2020 app.

Rowing and archery events that were scheduled for Tuesday were rescheduled, but no other changes to event lineups have been announced.

While the tropical storm is missing the Olympics host city, athletes will likely not see relief from the infamous Tokyo summer heat.

No rain is on the forecast for Tokyo throughout the rest of the week, and temperatures on Wednesday are expected to hit a high of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. On Thursday, temperatures are forecast to hit 93 degrees Fahrenheit. Daily weather updates, in English, are being posted on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Tokyo 2020 weather portal.

Some athletes participating in outdoor events have complained about the extreme heat conditions potentially impacting their performances. The No. 1-ranked men’s tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has advocated for matches to be moved to the late afternoon to avoid the blazing midday heat.

Athletes participating in surf competitions, which made an Olympics debut in Tokyo, reportedly embraced the extreme weather as the tropical storm churned large waves off of Japan’s coast. American Carissa Moore rode the waves into the history books on Tuesday, becoming the first woman ever to win a gold medal in surfing at the Olympics.

Simone Biles’ surprise withdrawal at Tokyo Olympics puts spotlight on athletes’ mental health

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Wally Skalij /Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

(TOKYO) — Simone Biles’ shocking withdrawal from the team competition at the Tokyo Olympics Tuesday put a spotlight on mental health and the extreme stress elite athletes like Biles are under.

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team won silver in the team competition after Biles left the competition early following a rare stumble on vault.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement that Biles, 24, withdrew “due to a medical issue,” which the gymnast later confirmed was not a physical injury.

“No injuries, thankfully, and that’s why I took a step back because I didn’t want to do something silly out there and get injured,” Biles said in a press conference following the competition. “So I thought it was best if these girls took over and did the rest of the job, which they absolutely did.”

Biles, aiming to win an unprecedented six gold medals in Tokyo, told reporters Tuesday this Olympics, her second, has been “really stressful.”

The Tokyo Olympics are taking place under strict restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, including no fans in the stands and no family members or friends of the athletes allowed to attend. The Games were also postponed one year due to the pandemic.

“It’s been really stressful this Olympic Games, just as a whole,” said Biles. “It’s been a long week. It’s been a long Olympic process. It’s been a long year.”

“I think we’re just a little bit too stressed out,” she said. “But we should be out here having fun, and sometimes that’s not the case.”

Biles’ comments echo feelings she shared on Instagram earlier this week, after the Americans were surpassed in the qualifying round by athletes from Russia competing under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). The athletes from Russia came out on top in the final round to win gold.

“I truly do feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times,” Biles posted on Instagram after the qualifying event. “I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn’t affect me but damn sometimes it’s hard hahaha! The olympics is no joke!”

Biles has qualified to compete in individual events later this week, but it remains to be determined if she will compete.

“We’re going to take it a day at a time,” she said Tuesday. “I know tomorrow that we have a half day or at least the morning off, so it will be a good mental rest and so we will take it from there.”

Biles’ comments on the emotional toll the Olympics have taken on her came as tennis superstar Naomi Osaka was eliminated from the Games after losing a third round match in straight sets.

Osaka, who took a months-long break from tennis due to what she said were mental health struggles, also spoke about the pressure she felt at the Olympics.

“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” Osaka said after her loss, adding, “I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure, so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation.”

Earlier this year, another Olympic athlete, Simone Manuel, revealed a burnout diagnosis after a loss at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, saying her body had, in her words, “completely crashed.”

Swimmer Michael Phelps, a 28-time Olympic medalist, has also been open about his mental health struggles, revealing he suffered from depression at even the height of his career.

Valorie Kondos Field, former longtime head coach of the UCLA Women’s Gymnastics team, said she hopes that athletes like Biles, Phelps, Osaka and Manuel speaking out about mental health opens the conversation on the type of pressures they face.

“You don’t just have the weight of America wanting you to win gold, you have infinitely more sponsorships than any other athlete,” Kondos Field told “Good Morning America.” “And then on a personal level you have your team and wanting to do well for your teammates.”

“It’s easy for us to put celebrities on that level on a different plane and say, ‘They brought it on themselves. They wanted it all,'” she said. “I hope that we as humans tap into our humanity and understand that all of these Olympians are people. They’re real people with real emotions and real feelings and real pressure.”

Kondos Field described how different it is for an athlete to experience a mental health issue compared to a physical injury.

“With a physical injury, you can see it and feel it and you know what’s wrong,” she said, noting that the adrenaline that comes with physical injuries can also power athletes to continue competing. “With a mental health issue, there’s no X-ray, like with a torn ACL, that can show us what’s going on.”

“And with mental stress, the concern I’ve always had is nobody really knows the layers that have compounded to get [an athlete like] Simone Biles to this level,” Kondos Field added. “She’s had to compartmentalize so much more than any of us know. It’s not just the game or the stress of being at the top of your game, it’s everything else that we don’t know.”

Kondos Field, who went viral in 2019 with a TED Talk titled, “Why winning doesn’t always equal success,” said Biles should be commended for putting herself and her teammates first.

“You’ve got to believe in your team and I know that Simone has always shown support and believed in her teammates,” said Kondos Field. “It probably would have been a different result had she competed, but in that moment she didn’t feel that she could, and nobody can question the validity of that. That is her truth.”

“It was simply on that given day she felt that her teammates were going to be able to perform better than she could,” she said, noting that in gymnastics, competing not at the top of your game can result in severe injury.

Kondos Field added that she hopes Biles’ example sends a message of self-reliance and self-truth to people, including young athletes with hopes of reaching the Olympics one day.

“I think it’s a message to all of us that regardless of what people will say about us, if you can’t rely on yourself to take care of yourself, then you’re allowing other people to assume your truth and what’s going on really deep inside you,” she said. “I always invite young girls to be your own best friend, to take time to pause and really understand what’s going on inside of you regardless of what anyone is going to say.”

University of Texas, University of Oklahoma formally asked for invitation to SEC

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

(DALLAS) — The Presidents of the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma have sent a letter to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey requesting an invitation to join the conference, according to a joint statement.

“The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Oklahoma (the “Universities”) request invitations for membership to the Southeastern Conference (the “SEC”) starting on July 1, 2025. We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the Universities on the one hand, and the SEC on the other hand, for the Universities to become members of the SEC,” the letter said.

On Tuesday, Sankey released a statement confirming he received the letter.

“While the SEC has not proactively sought new members, we will pursue significant change when there is a clear consensus among our members that such actions will further enrich the experiences of our student-athletes and lead to greater academic and athletic achievement across our campuses,” Sankey said in a statement. “The Presidents and Chancellors of the SEC, in their capacity as the conference’s Chief Executive Officers, will consider these requests in the near future.”

Per SEC bylaws, 11 of the 14 schools would need to vote in the affirmative to extend invitations.

On Monday, the two schools issued a joint statement saying that they notified the Big 12 that the schools will not renew their grant of media rights in 2025.

“Providing notice to the Big 12 at this point is important in advance of the expiration of the conference’s current media rights agreement,” the statement said. “The universities intend to honor their existing grant of rights agreements. However, both universities will continue to monitor the rapidly evolving collegiate athletics landscape as they consider how best to position their athletics programs for the future.”

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby responded to Texas and Oklahoma in a statement on Monday.

“Although our eight members are disappointed with the decisions of these two institutions, we recognize that intercollegiate athletics is experiencing rapid change and will most likely look much different in 2025 than it does currently,” the statement said. “The Big 12 Conference will continue to support our member institutions’ efforts to graduate student-athletes, and compete for Big 12 and NCAA championships. Like many others, we will use the next four years to fully assess what the landscape will look like in 2025 and beyond. The remaining eight institutions will work together in a collaborative manner to thoughtfully and strategically position the Big 12 Conference for continued success, both athletically and academically, long into the future.”

American Carissa Moore rides a wave to Olympic history

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TOKYO) — American Carissa Moore grabbed a typhoon by the tail and rode into the history books on Tuesday, becoming the first woman ever to win a gold medal in surfing at the Olympics.

Moore’s win came after she bested South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag in the head-to-head finale of the inaugural surfing event at the Tokyo Games.

A four-time World Surfing League champion, Moore posted a combined score of 14.93 to Buitendag’s 8.46. Buitendag settled for the silver medal and with Moore well ahead of her, left the water early to allow the Olympic champion the spotlight as she surfed to shore to the applause of her teammates and coaches.

Moore was the only member of Team USA to advance to the medal round after winning her heats in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Her teammate Caroline Marks, 19, of Melbourne Beach, Florida, the sixth-ranked woman’s surfer in the world, was nudged out of the medal round by Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki, 20, who went on to claim a bronze medal.

On the men’s side, American Kolohe Andino, 27, of San Clemente, California, who holds seven USA Surfing Champion titles, was knocked out of the competition in the quarterfinals by Kanoa Igarashi, 23, of Japan, who went on to win a silver medal.

Brazil’s Italo Ferreira, 27, was crowned Olympic gold medal champion with his win over Igarashi.

Owen Wright, 31, of Australia, claimed the bronze medal with an upset win over Gabriel Medina, 27, of Brazil, the No. 1 ranked male surfer in the world.

Key moments from the Olympic Games: Day 4

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TOKYO) — Each day, ABC News will give you a roundup of key Olympic moments from the day’s events in Tokyo, happening 13 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time. After a 12-month delay, the unprecedented 2020 Summer Olympics is taking place without fans or spectators and under a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Simone Biles withdraws from women’s gymnastics team final

After a rare stumble on her first vault, American gymnastics star Simone Biles withdrew from the team competition, leaving Team USA’s Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum to finish the event. Biles, the reigning Olympic champion, pulled out “due to a medical issue,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement Tuesday.

All eyes were on Biles, considered the greatest gymnast in history, to see if she would attempt a Yurchenko double pike on vault. Instead, she bailed in the middle of her Amanar attempt, bringing down the difficulty level of her vault. Her score of 13.766 was remarkably low for Biles. Afterwards, Biles left the competition floor.

Alaskan swimmer Lydia Jacoby wins gold, U.S. takes lead in medal count

American swimmer Lydia Jacoby won the gold medal in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke. Jacoby, 17, is the first athlete from Alaska to make the U.S. Olympic swim team. Her teammate Lilly King, who was favored to win, took home the bronze.

Team USA now leads the Tokyo Olympics with 22 medals, including 9 gold.

Team USA’s Carissa Moore takes the gold in surfing

Team USA’s Carissa Moore won the first-ever Olympic gold medal for women’s surfing in high waves brought by an incoming storm. The surfing finals were moved up a day to take advantage of the offshore push before conditions deteriorate.

It’s the first time that surfing has been included on the Olympic schedule for the Summer Games.

Tropical Storm Nepartak to make landfall in latest challenge for Olympics

Other sports were less enthusiastic about the approaching storm as rainy conditions descended over Japan. Olympic officials have rescheduled archery and rowing events as Tropical Storm Nepartak, which was downgraded from a typhoon, is forecast to make landfall north of Tokyo on Tuesday.

COVID-19 cases at Tokyo Olympics climb to 160

There were seven newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 among people at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, including two athletes and two personnel who were staying at the Olympic village. The total now stands at 160, according to data released by the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

The surrounding city of Tokyo reported 2,848 new cases on Tuesday, an increase in the rolling seven-day average of 149.4%, according to data released by the Tokyo metropolitan government.

Osaka exits early in emotional loss

Japanese tennis superstar Naomi Osaka lost to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 in the women’s tennis singles and with it, her chances to bring home the gold for Japan.

An outpouring of support followed Osaka’s exit, coming just days after she led her country in lighting the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony.

U.S. women’s basketball wins 50th consecutive Olympic game

The U.S. women’s basketball team defeated Nigeria 81-72 in their opening game to acheive the milestone of 50 consecutive Olympic wins. Players A’ja Wilson, Brittney Griner and Sue Bird, one of Team USA’s flag bearers at the Olympic opening ceremony last week, led the team to victory.

For more Olympics coverage, see: https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/Olympics

Simone Biles ends competition early in gymnastics team at Tokyo Olympics

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TOKYO) — Simone Biles left competition early at the Tokyo Olympics team competition Tuesday after a rare stumble on vault, NBC announced and the International Gymnastics Federation wrote on Twitter.

She will not be competing in the rest of the competition for the team event.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement, “Simone has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.”

NBC had reported earlier that her coach said she withdrew due to a “mental issue.” Details were not immediately clear.

All eyes were on Biles to see if she would attempt a Yurchenko double pike on vault. Instead, as the Americans opened competition on vault, Biles bailed in the middle of her Amanar attempt, bringing down the difficulty level of her vault.

Rather than 2.5 twists, she only did 1.5, resulting in a score of 13.766 — remarkably low for Biles’ standard. The Americans ended that first rotation, out of four, about a point lower than the athletes from Russia.

After that vault, Biles spoke with her coach and a trainer. She left the competition floor and returned as her teammates were preparing for uneven bars. She has since stood by her team, wearing sweats and cheering them on.

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team is competing in the team finals at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, seeking to bring home the gold for the third time in a row.

This is one of the strongest gymnastics teams the world has seen, led by all-time great Biles and uneven bars phenom Sunisa Lee. The team is rounded out by Jordan Chiles, who’s powerful on floor, and Grace McCallum.

During qualifiers for the final this past weekend, the Americans were surpassed by athletes from Russia competing under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

The U.S. ended with a cumulative score of 170.562, while the athletes from Russia finished with 171.629. While those numbers do not factor into the finals scores, it sent a message to the previously dominant American team.

The U.S. has medaled in every women’s gymnastics team event at the Olympics since 1992. That included three golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

In the team event, three athletes from a four-person team compete on each apparatus. For the women, this includes balance beam, uneven bars, vault and floor.

The U.S. men’s gymnastics team came in fifth at their final Monday.

Both individual American men and women will have more opportunities for medals as the all-around and apparatus finals take place later in the Games. While Biles had qualified for those individual events, it remains to be determined if she will be able to compete.

For more Olympics coverage, see: https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/Olympics

Simone Biles withdraws from gymnastics team competition early, US comes in 2nd

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TOKYO) — The U.S. won silver in the gymnastics team competition at the Tokyo Olympics after Simone Biles left competition early following a rare stumble on vault Tuesday.

She did not compete in the rest of the competition for the team event.

NBC had reported earlier that her coach said she withdrew due to a “mental issue.” Details were not immediately clear.

Rather than 2.5 twists, she only did 1.5, resulting in a score of 13.766 — remarkably low for Biles’ standard.

After that vault, Biles spoke with her coach and a trainer. She left the competition floor and returned as her teammates were preparing for uneven bars. She went on to stand by her team, wearing sweats and cheering them on for the rest of the event.

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team was competing in the team finals at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, seeking to bring home the gold for the third time in a row.

The athletes from Russia came out on top, beating the Americans’ cumulative score by more than three points.

This was one of the strongest gymnastics teams the world has seen, led by all-time great Biles and uneven bars phenom Sunisa Lee. The team was rounded out by Jordan Chiles, who’s powerful on floor, and Grace McCallum.

During qualifiers for the final this past weekend, the Americans were surpassed by athletes from Russia competing under the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

The U.S. has medaled in every women’s gymnastics team event at the Olympics since 1992. That included three golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

In the team event, three athletes from a four-person team compete on each apparatus. For the women, this includes balance beam, uneven bars, vault and floor.

The U.S. men’s gymnastics team came in fifth at their final Monday.

For more Olympics coverage, see: https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/Olympics

Naomi Osaka knocked out of Tokyo Olympics in surprise loss

July 27, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TOKYO) — Naomi Osaka, ranked second and competing in her home country, will leave the Tokyo Olympics without a medal.

Osaka, 23, lost to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 in the third round of the Olympic tennis tournament on Tuesday.

“I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others,” Osaka said after the match, according to ESPN.

Osaka was born in Japan but raised in the United States. She lit the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony last week in Tokyo, a moment that she described as “undoubtedly the greatest athletic achievement and honor I will ever have in my life.”

The Tokyo Olympics marked Osaka’s first tournament back after taking a mental health break from professional tennis this summer.

Osaka withdrew from the French Open in June after being penalized for not doing post-match press conferences, which she said at the beginning of the tournament she would not do to preserve her mental health.

The tennis superstar also decided not to compete in Wimbledon. Her agent said at the time that Osaka would be “ready for the Olympics and is excited to play in front of her home fans.”

Osaka acknowledged the huge expectations she faced as she competed in her first Olympics.

“I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” Osaka said after her loss. “I think it’s maybe because I haven’t played in the Olympics before and for the first year [it] was a bit much.”

“I’ve taken long breaks before and I’ve managed to do well,” added Osaka, who, according to ESPN, met with a small group of reporters after her loss. “I’m not saying that I did bad right now, but I do know that my expectations were a lot higher.”

“I feel like my attitude wasn’t that great because I don’t really know how to cope with that pressure, so that’s the best that I could have done in this situation,” she said.

ABC and ESPN are both owned by parent company, The Walt Disney Co.

+ More