(TOKYO) — Jamaica swept the women’s 100m at Tokyo 2020 — repeating a feat only the Caribbean island nation has accomplished in Olympic history.
Elaine Thompson-Herah defended her 2016 gold medal with an Olympic record and personal best of 10.61 seconds, and assumed the title of world’s fastest woman alive.
She bested the previous Olympic record of 10.62 seconds set by American Florence Griffith Joyner at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
“Just a lil girl from BANANA GROUND who liked to run,” Thompson-Herah tweeted after her victory. “Believe In your dreams work hard and have faith in God.”
Just a lil girl from BANANA GROUND who liked to run. Believe In your dreams work hard and have faith in God…ETH pic.twitter.com/UrR7UuGZGO
Thompson-Herah’s teammates joined her on the podium, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce taking silver with her time of 10.74 seconds and Shericka Jackson the bronze with 10.76 seconds.
With her latest medal, Fraser-Pryce became the first athlete to win four Olympic medals in the women’s 100m.
“Congrats to Elaine on successfully defending her title,” Fraser-Pryce said on Facebook. “Grateful to make the podium for a 4th final.”
The three sprinters are also competing in the 200m and are in the relay pool for the 4x100m relay, both next week.
After the 100m, retired Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, regarded as the fastest man on the planet, acknowledged the medal sweep, tweeting “1.2.3” with three Jamaican flags.
Notably absent from the race was Sha’Carri Richardson. The American sprinter was seen as a medal contender after winning the U.S. Olympic trials in June with a time of 10.86 seconds, until she was barred from competing in Tokyo after testing positive for marijuana following the event.
Jamaica last swept the women’s 100m at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
This is the second time during the Tokyo Games that a team swept an event, after Switzerland took home all three medals in the women’s cross-country mountain bike race earlier this week.
(TOKYO) — Female athletes are breaking with their sports’ apparel conventions — if not regulations — to prioritize their comfort during competitions, and making major statements in the process.
In Tokyo this week, members of the German women’s gymnastics team sported full-length bodysuits, as opposed to more ubiquitous — and revealing — leotards, while competing at the 2020 Olympics.
The team first debuted the unitards this past spring at the European Championships in Basel, Switzerland, in what the athletes said was a stand against the “sexualization of gymnastics.”
“It’s about what feels comfortable,” three-time Olympian Elisabeth Seitz said in a statement. “We wanted to show that every woman, everybody, should decide what to wear.”
While not an Olympic sport, the Norway women’s beach handball team took a similar stand when they wore shorts — instead of the requisite bikini bottoms — while competing at the Beach Handball EURO 2021 in Bulgaria earlier this month.
The attire defied International Handball Federation regulations — which require female beach handball players to wear sports bras and bikini bottoms, while men can wear tank tops and shorts — and the Disciplinary Committee of the European Handball Federation fined the Norwegian Handball Federation 1,500 euros — 150 euros for each player who wore shorts.
I’m VERY proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team FOR PROTESTING THE VERY SEXIST RULES ABOUT THEIR “uniform”. The European handball federation SHOULD BE FINED FOR SEXISM. Good on ya, ladies. I’ll be happy to pay your fines for you. Keep it up.
The ruling drew international attention, including from pop star Pink, who applauded the team for protesting the “sexist rules” while offering to pay the fines.
“We are overwhelmed by the attention and support from all over the world!” the team said after the game. “We really hope this will result in a change of this nonsense rule!”
These incidents are part of a larger narrative of female athletes in recent years “finding their voices and speaking out about a variety of issues — whether it’s mental health, sexual abuse, how they are feeling objectified in their respective uniform,” Kim Bissell, a professor and associate dean for research in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama, told ABC News.
Wearing shorts or a unitard can be a way to denounce latent objectification in their respective sports, especially at a showcase as high-profile as the Olympics.
“There’s a lot of male gaze, particularly in the Olympics, because that’s when we actually get to see women’s sports in media,” Lindsey Maxwell, an associate professor in the School of Communication at the University of Southern Mississippi, told ABC News. “The most prominent showcasing of women’s bodies in sport is the Olympics, and so now they’re taking this opportunity to push back.”
That objectification has translated to the production of women’s sports, said Bissell, who has done research across multiple Olympics on how female beach volleyball athletes are covered differently than their male counterparts.
“With the female athletes, you would see just overt zooming in on body parts,” Bissell said. “It’s the same sport, so why are we covering it differently?
The importance of mental health has been another focus of Olympic athletes, including Naomi Osaka, who competed in Tokyo after withdrawing from two Grand Slam tournaments this year and taking a monthslong break from competitive tennis, and gymnast Simone Biles.
“I just never felt like this going into a competition before,” Biles said at a press conference Tuesday after she withdrew from the team final at the Tokyo Olympics. “I tried to go out here and have fun, and warm up in the back went a little bit better, but once I came out here I was like, ‘No, mental is not there.'”
“I didn’t want to do something silly out there and get injured,” she added.
Biles, who also withdrew from the individual all-around this week, spoke out about the stress she was feeling as an Olympian, and the need to prioritize her safety — a decision several of her predecessors praised as one they felt they never could make.
Biles has been open about her mental health struggles before. She told “Good Morning America” that she sought out professional therapy and began taking anxiety medicine after she revealed she was one of dozens of gymnasts who were sexually abused by former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who was sentenced in 2018 to up to 175 years in prison.
Biles, who has also spoken about the depression she experienced after the abuse, has said one of the reasons she went to the Olympics was to be a voice for survivors of abuse.
Changing the power dynamic
On the power of breaking with uniform conventions, Maxwell pointed to Serena Williams’ custom catsuit at the French Open in 2018 as a touchstone. The compression bodysuit helped with blood circulation after the tennis great suffered from a pulmonary embolism after giving birth the year before, but it drew criticism from tennis officials as going “too far.” Williams has only continued to push boundaries in tennis fashion, including wearing a tutu weeks after the French Open.
“We’re spiraling out of Serena Williams taking a stand with the catsuit,” Maxwell said.
Whether it’s about attire or serious allegations, professional athletes may be fearful of using their voice for fear of retribution, such as not making a team or losing a sponsor, Bissell said.
“It’s a difficult power dynamic, where the athletes ultimately don’t have much of that power,” Bissell said.
She pointed to the case of track and field Olympian Kara Goucher. The distance runner told Women’s Running she was harassed and lost a six-figure sponsorship contract after publicly accusing her former coach, Alberto Salazar, of doping violations in 2015 because she was “considered controversial.” Salazar ultimately faced a four-year ban for doping-related offenses. This week, the U.S. Center for SafeSport permanently banned him, subject to appeal, citing sexual and emotional misconduct — allegations the coach has denied. Goucher was one of several athletes who also had accused him of abuse.
High-profile athletes continuing to use their platform to speak out can help pave the way for others to “find their voice” and reduce a “climate of silencing,” Bissell said.
Change also comes down to who ultimately is making the decisions, such as at the federation level.
“Who can we give a voice to, and do we want current athletes, former athletes?” Bissell said. “We’ve got to diversify that group of people who are making decisions.”
After the fine over the Norway women’s beach handball team’s uniform caused an uproar, European Handball Federation President Michael Wiederer said the organization would “do all it can to ensure that a change of athlete uniform regulations can be implemented” — a change he said can only come down from the International Handball Federation.
For the time being, the European Handball Federation said this week that it donated the fine to “a major international sports foundation which supports equality for women and girls in sports.”
“Babysteps,” the team said in response. “We believe that a change is in motion.”
(TOKYO) — American gymnast Simone Biles has pulled out of the individual competitions in vault and uneven bars, according to USA Gymnastics.
Biles was a heavy favorite in the vault event final coming into the Olympics.
“Today, after further consultation with medical staff, Simone Biles has decided to withdraw from the event finals for vault and the uneven bars,” USA Gymnastics said in a statement. “She will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether to compete in the finals for floor exercise and balance beam. MyKayla Skinner, who had the fourth highest score in vault during qualifications, will compete in vault finals for the U.S. alongside Jade Carey, who finished with the second highest score.”
The American, who won the gold medal in the vault in Rio 2016, pulled out of the team all-around competition on Tuesday after she said she got lost in the air during a vault on the opening rotation. USA Gymnastics later said in a statement that she would withdraw to focus on her mental health.
USA Gymnastics reiterated its support for Biles on Friday night.
“We remain in awe of Simone, who continues to handle this situation with courage and grace, and all of the athletes who have stepped up during these unexpected circumstances,” the organization said.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist and 19-time world championships gold medalist pulled out of the individual all-around competition on Thursday.
Only two athletes from each country can compete in an individual apparatus final, regardless of whether they finish in the top eight, so Skinner was the unlucky loser despite her fourth-best vault in qualifications. But with Biles’ withdrawal, she will now get to compete for a medal on vault.
“Looks like I get to put a competition Leo on just one more time,” Skinner tweeted Friday night. “Can’t wait to compete in vault finals. Doing this for us @Simone_Biles. It’s go time baby!”
The 24-year-old admitted Thursday that she was dealing with the “twisties,” a term gymnasts use to describe losing their orientation while in midair. In Biles’ opening vault in the team competition, she completed just 1 1/2 twists in the air when she intended to do 2 1/2.
“For anyone saying I quit. I didn’t quit my mind & body are simply not in sync,” she wrote on Instagram Thursday.
“I don’t think you realize how dangerous this is on hard/competition surface,” she added. “Nor do I have to explain why I put my health first. Physical health is mental health.”
Biles has continued to practice hoping to be ready in time for the event finals, but admitted she’s had this problem in the past and it usually takes a couple weeks before she again feels confident of herself in the air.
She was the 2016 gold medalist in floor exercise, but her routine includes flips no one besides her has ever even attempted before in competition.
ABC News’ Kate Hodgson, Rachel Katz and Rosa Sanchez contributed to this report.
(TOKYO) — Caeleb Dressel set a new world record in swimming at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Two days after setting an American record in the 100-meter freestyle, Dressel one-upped himself with a world record in winning gold in the 100-meter butterfly.
Dressel broke his own world record by swimming 49.45 seconds in the final for his second individual gold of the games, and his Olympic career. He had set a record of 49.5 seconds in July 2019. Dressel actually set a new Olympic record, now smashed, in the semifinals.
The Florida-based swimmer won the 100-meter freestyle on Wednesday, in which he won in 47.02 seconds.
Dressel was visibly emotional at the conclusion of the 100-meter race, telling NBC in an interview immediately after getting out of the pool, “It’s a really tough year, just really hard, so to have the results show up, I mean, it really came together, so I’m happy.”
In addition to setting the Olympic record, Dressel finished with the gold medal. Australian Kyle Chalmers was close behind, finishing in 47.08, and Kliment Kolesnikov, an athlete from Russia, won the bronze in 47.44.
Dressel went into the race already having won one medal in Tokyo as part of the U.S. 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.
He had a successful Olympic debut in 2016, earning a gold medal along with a team medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, in which Dressel handed off to swimming legend Michael Phelps.
But Dressel really made a name for himself in 2019, when he smashed a world record previously held by Phelps, who retired after the games in Rio, in the 100-meter butterfly.
The 24-year-old has faced many comparisons to Phelps as he emerges as a powerhouse in the swim world, although Dressel specializes in sprints — shorter, faster races.
Dressel came to Tokyo having qualified for three individual events, the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly, in addition to relay team possibilities.
During the Olympic trials in June to secure his individual spots, he set a record for the fastest 100-meter butterfly swum on American soil.
(TOKYO) — American backstroke swimmer Ryan Murphy alleged Friday that doping remains a problem in the sport after he lost twice to swimmers on the Russian Olympic Committee.
“It is a huge mental drain on me throughout the year to know that I’m swimming in a race that’s probably not clean,” said Murphy. “It frustrates me, but I have to swim the field that’s next to me.”
Murphy, who won gold in Rio de Janeiro 2016 in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke, lost to swimmer Evgeny Rylov in the 200-meter and placed third behind Rylov and another swimmer, Kliment Kolesnikov, in the 100-meter backstroke this year. Both are part of the Russian Olympic Committee team.
The defeat marked the first time since 1992 that an American hadn’t won in the men’s backstroke competition.
“To be clear, my intention is not to make any allegations here. Congratulations to Evgeny,” Murphy added. “I do believe there is doping in swimming.”
After the 2014 winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, whistleblowers uncovered a massive state-sponsored doping program. In 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from officially sending any athletes to an international sports competition until December 2022, but the International Olympic Committee made the controversial decision to allow some Russian athletes to compete in Tokyo under the moniker Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) after testing showed they were clean.
Rylov denied being a part of any doping schemes and said Friday that he had been tested and swam a clean race.
“From the bottom of my heart, I am for clean sport. I’ve devoted my entire life to this sport… Ryan didn’t accuse me of anything, so I’d rather not comment,” he said during a press conference on Friday.
As of Friday, the ROC team has won 34 combined medals, including 10 gold, the third highest of all competing nations. None of those medals will be recorded in Olympic records as Russian wins.
(TOKYO) — When U.S. Olympian Tara Davis competes in the long jump competition this weekend at the Tokyo Olympics, cheering her on from home will be her boyfriend, Hunter Woodhall.
When Woodhall, a two-time Paralympic medalist sprinter, competes in the Tokyo Paralympics next month, the roles will be reversed.
Davis and Woodhall, both 22, are used to achieving great feats, but each being in the Olympics in the same year is remarkable even for them.
“I’m so, so, so excited,” Davis told “Good Morning America.” “This is my dreams coming true.”
“For me, the most special part of going to the games is what all we fought through over these last years,” added Woodhall. “We’ve both seen exactly what it took to get to this point.”
They met in early 2017 at a meet in Idaho when both were seniors in high school — Davis in California and Woodhall in Utah.
“I was warming up and I spotted Hunter and I was like, ‘Oh, that guy is cute,'” recalled Davis. “I didn’t know who he was but I went up to him as he was coming off the track after his race and gave him a hug and we started talking.”
They stayed in touch and started dating several months later, but faced the obstacle of a long-distance relationship again when they each pursued their track and field careers in college.
Woodhall made history as the first double-amputee to get a Division I track and field scholarship, at the University of Arkansas.
Born with fibular hemimelia, in which the bones in his lower legs never formed, Woodhall had both amputated below the knee at 11 months old.
Davis joined the track and field team at the University of Georgia, and then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where this year she finished her college career.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been closer than 700 miles from each other,” said Woodhall. “Learning how to do that [distance] is difficult.”
The coronavirus pandemic actually proved to be a respite for the couple, even though it delayed the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics by one year.
Davis and Woodhall were able to live together while taking their college classes remotely, and prepare for the long road to Tokyo by each other’s side.
“I think the postponement of the Olympics helped me tremendously,” said Davis. “I’m very happy that I got that full year to find out who I am, reset my brain and get back focused into what I love to do.”
In June, Woodhall made the U.S. Paralympic team and then flew from his trials in Minneapolis to Eugene, Oregon, where Davis was competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
“I finished my race and left from the track for a flight to Eugene,” said Woodhall, who made it in time to see Davis earn a spot. “That moment of cognition right after she realized she made the team was one of the most memorable things that I’ve ever experienced.”
Now, Davis and Woodhall will both compete at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, just weeks apart.
“The biggest thing that we’ve talked about is just understanding at the end of the day that it’s just a track meet,” said Woodhall of how he is helping Davis prepare mentally for her first Olympics. “It’s a really amazing experience and it’s important to soak it all in, but at the end of the day it’s a track meet and it’s our job and we will compete at the highest level we can.”
And both Davis and Woodhall said that they are looking forward as much to their post-Olympics life as they are to the event itself.
They will both officially graduate from college after they return from Tokyo, and then plan to live together full time for the first time in their relationship, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Davis and Woodhall each turned pro earlier this month, with both signing endorsement deals with Champion.
“Arguably, post-Olympics is more life-changing than pre-Olympics, which I don’t think is usually the case,” said Woodhall.
“I’m really excited to start a new chapter of my life and finally turn our dreams into reality,” said Davis.
(TOKYO) — One medal and Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix could make history. Two, and she’ll smash another record.
The 35-year-old U.S. track star has won nine medals across four Olympics — the most out of any female athlete in U.S. track and field history.
If she picks up her 10th in Tokyo, she would have more than any female Olympic track and field athlete ever, besting the record currently held by Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey.
If she wins two medals at the games, Felix would have the most medals out of anyone in U.S. Olympic track and field history, surpassing legend Carl Lewis’ record of 10.
The Los Angeles resident is competing in the 400-meter after finishing second at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for track and field last month with a season-best time of 50.02 seconds.
She also is a member of the relay pool and could run on the 4-x-400 meter relay and 4-x-400 meter mixed relay.
The mixed relay is first up on the schedule. The U.S. team will compete in Saturday’s final, after placing first in their preliminary heat on Friday. The team, which didn’t include Felix for that race, was initially disqualified over an exchange zone foul but later reinstated.
The opening round of the 400-meter is on Aug. 3, with the semifinals on Aug. 4 and the final on Aug. 6.
The first round of the women’s 400 relay is on Aug. 5, with the final on Aug. 7.
The legendary athlete is one of the most decorated in her sport. She has won six golds and three silvers in sprinting events at the games, starting with silver in the 200-meter in her Olympic debut as a teenager at the 2004 Athens Games.
In 2019, just 10 months after giving birth to her daughter, Felix broke the record for most gold medals of any athlete at the track and field world championship, when she clinched her 12th and 13th world titles.
The mom has been a prominent voice against gender inequality in sports. Writing in The New York Times in 2019, Felix detailed her lack of maternity protections with her then-sponsor Nike after giving birth to her daughter, Camryn. Following the publication of the opinion piece, Nike announced a new maternity policy for all sponsored athletes.
She recently launched a lifestyle brand, Saysh, that she says was inspired by her experience with “gender injustice” during her journey to motherhood.
She also has teamed up with apparel company Athleta and the Women’s Sports Foundation to launch The Power of She Fund: Child Care Grants, which help cover child care costs for professional mom-athletes traveling to competitions.
(NEW YORK) — As Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from competition at the Olympics sent shockwaves around the world, one facet in particular stood out to former Olympic gymnasts: that she had the power to make that decision for herself.
“I never remember feeling like I ever got to make those decisions, even if I had wanted to,” 2012 U.S. Olympian Jordyn Wieber told ABC News.
When she was growing up in elite gymnastics and going through the USA Gymnastics system, Wieber said, it was a culture where “the gymnasts don’t have the voice, it’s up to the coaches. And I sometimes describe it as we’re just kind of like robots that do what we’re told.”
Biles’ ability to make her own decision to withdraw is representative to many of a culture that is slowly but surely changing, especially after the reckoning the sport has faced for abusive practices in the five years since the last Olympics.
This is the first Olympics since USA Gymnastics was torn up over the public revelation of team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of scores of young athletes — and questions remain over who knew what in the organization, and when. Since then, a handful of gymnastics coaches have been dropped, suspended and charged with various types of abuse.
Also since then, after gymnasts’ pressure, USAG closed the infamous Karolyi ranch, a training facility where many gymnasts say they were abused by Nassar. This is the first Olympics in three decades without the influence of Bela or Martha Karolyi, who arguably developed the U.S. program to its recent dominance but did it with a fierce strictness many gymnasts have condemned. They have also been involved in lawsuits alleging their complicity in Nassar’s abuse. They have always maintained their innocence.
“(Biles’) decision demonstrates that we have a say in our own health—’a say’ I NEVER felt I had as an Olympian,” 1996 U.S. Olympian Dominique Moceanu tweeted Wednesday morning, recounting how at 14 she competed in the Olympic floor final minutes after falling on her head on beam.
Dominique Dawes told “Good Morning America” she had actually quit during the 2000 Olympic trials, saying, “I was done after prelims because it was too much on me emotionally. However, I was not able to make that decision. It was very much a controlled atmosphere.”
Dawes went on to compete in the 2000 Olympics, her third.
Rachael Denhollander, a former gymnast and the first to publicly accuse Nassar of abuse, wrote in a series of tweets that Biles’ decision was an example of “the change we’ve worked so hard for” after “gymnasts were raised in a system that not only didn’t care about the damage to their bodies and minds but that twisted reality for them.”
“Hopefully,” Wieber said, “we’re shifting away from the culture of prioritizing medals and money and the success of the athletes over the health of the athlete,” which is something she’s been working on herself as head coach for the University of Arkansas. She said she sees Biles as a “pioneer” and that makes her “really proud.”
Moceanu, who won gold as part of the U.S. team in Atlanta, told ABC News in a written comment that Biles was “finding new ways to be heroic,” saying she was “actually very proud of Simone.”
“What she did was actually very brave and is a positive sign for the future of the sport,” Moceanu wrote.
Biles has said she remained in the sport in part to be a leader and continue to push to change the culture.
Nastia Liukin, who won gold in the individual all-around for the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics, wrote on Instagram about Biles, “Thank you for creating a safer space for current and future athletes to unequivocally be themselves.”
“I think gymnastics has had no choice over the past couple of years than to change,” said Wieber, who won team Olympic gold in 2012. “And a lot of coaches are being pushed to look at, you know, what their own coaching style is and look at how it is affecting their athletes long term and make some adjustments.”
But there’s still a ways to go both culturally and in examining what USAG did or didn’t do about abuse by Nassar and others, added Wieber, who was abused by Nassar and coached by John Geddert, who killed himself earlier this year after being charged with human trafficking and sexual assault.
Noting that no one knows what Biles, who was also abused by Nassar, is going through at the Olympics but herself, Wieber said of competing for USAG, “I can take some guesses and imagine that it’s probably difficult to represent an organization like USA Gymnastics for her, an organization that has failed her so many times and failed a lot of us.”
She continued, “I’m just making assumptions here, but I can imagine that it, it adds to the weight of what she carries with her every day of having to represent that organization.”
(TOKYO) — South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker edged out America’s Lilly King and Annie Lazor to win gold in the 200-meter breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
Seconds later, Lazor, followed by King, swam over to Schoenmaker to hug her as she celebrated not just a win, but a historic win.
Taking off her goggles after the finish, Schoenmaker, 24, turned around to see her time and her eyes lit up. She put her hand over her mouth in happy disbelief — she had set a world record.
Schoenmaker’s 200-meter breaststroke time of 2:18:95 beat a world record that was set in 2013 by Rikke Moller Pedersen at 2:19:11.
It was one of those moments that make the Olympics so special as King, Lazor and Schoenmaker’s South African teammate Kaylene Corbett came over to celebrate with her in a group hug in the pool, telling her she was “amazing” and exclaiming, “You did it!”
It was especially emotional for Lazor and King, who trained together, since the death of Lazor’s father in April, reportedly due to COVID-19.
“The last few months for me have been far from easy, but she has dragged me through the mud and pushed me every day and distracted me,” Lazor said of King a few days ago, according to ESPN.
This was Schoenmaker’s second medal in Tokyo after winning silver in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Due to COVID rules, athletes have limited personal support at these Games, and for the most part are being supported by families and friends watching on TV back home.
Earlier in the day, there was another multinational celebration as the gymnastics all-around winners — America’s Sunisa Lee, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, and Russian athlete Angelina Melnikova — shared selfies together after they got their medals.
(TOKYO) — The U.S. faced off against the Netherlands Friday in soccer at the Olympics and won.
This was their first match of the knockout stage of the Tokyo Olympics, and with that, the Americans will advance to the next game.
It was a dramatic finish as the score was tied 2-2 at the end of 120 minutes of game time, which included two additional 15-minute extra time periods. The game came down to penalty kicks.
The kicks started with an epic save by America’s goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher of a kick by Netherlands’ Vivianne Miedema, giving the U.S. an advantage. Penalty kicks were then scored by the U.S. by Rose Lavelle, Alex Morgan, Christen Press and Megan Rapinoe.
Naeher blocked two of the Netherlands’ four penalty kicks, while the Americans scored on each attempt. Legend Rapinoe had the final word, with a right-footed kick pounding into the top back corner of the goal.
It was a generally epic day for Naeher who, in addition to blocking those two penalty kicks at the end of the match, blocked another penalty earlier in the match. Had she missed that attempt by Lieke Martens, which happened within minutes of the end of the second period, the entire trajectory of the match would have changed.
The U.S. team faced some uncharacteristic struggles making it past group play in the early stage of the tournament. They began by losing to Sweden, scoring no goals to Sweden’s three.
The Americans came back to their more typical style in the next game, beating New Zealand 6-1, but then drew a draw against Australia.
