Key moments from the Olympic Games: Day 4

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Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

(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

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Simone Biles ends competition early in gymnastics team at Tokyo Olympics over “medical issue”

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Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Simone Biles left competition early at the Tokyo Olympics team competition Tuesday after a rare stumble on vault, and 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 by 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.

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.

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At least one killed, over a dozen injured in explosion at German chemicals site

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(BERLIN) — At least one person was killed and more than a dozen others were injured in an explosion at an industrial park for chemical companies in western Germany on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The powerful blast at Chempark’s site in Leverkusen reverberated through the surrounding city and sent dark plumes of smoke billowing into the air just before 10 a.m. local time. Germany’s Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance classified the explosion as “an extreme threat” and urged residents in the area to stay inside and keep all windows and doors closed.

Currenta, the operator of Chempark, which is home to dozens of chemical companies including Bayer, confirmed the death of one employee and said four others were still unaccounted for. City officials said at least 16 people have been injured.

The deadly explosion occurred at a waste disposal center within Chempark Leverkusen, where more than 5,000 types of chemicals are manufactured, and sparked a fire at a tank storage site. Firefighters have since extinguished the blaze, according to Currenta.

Pollution detection vehicles were also deployed to the scene to assess what threat the smoke could have on the surrounding air quality. Police in the nearby city of Cologne, about 12 miles south of Leverkusen, took to Twitter to advise people to avoid the area of the explosion, saying the situation was still unclear. Several highways in the surrounding area have been blocked off due to the incident.

The cause of the explosion was unknown, according to Currenta.

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Lizzo threatens to “be mean” to fans who don’t socially distance from her amid new COVID surge

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Lizzo shared an important public service announcement on Monday, telling fans that she will no longer tolerate strangers — regardless of their vaccination status — standing fewer than six feet away from her.

The “Truth Hurts” singer, taking to Instagram to share the candid announcement, said she doesn’t want to take any chances with her health and cited the recent surge in new COVID-19 cases.  Lizzo also admitted that she’s worried about the Delta variant, which currently makes up the majority of cases in the country.

“I don’t care who you are. You could be the nicest person. You could be vaccinated. You could be quadruple vaccinated. If you see me, please give me six feet,” Lizzo explained in the candid video.  “[The virus] is coming back.”

Noting that people have become “sloppy” with social distancing measures, the Grammy winner stressed, “If ya’ll see me in the street, come up on me, want to hug, want to shake my hand, want to kiss me on the cheek, don’t do it… I ain’t trying to catch this motherf****** virus.”

To further illustrate her message, Lizzo warned she would spray people with Lysol should they come too close to her because she wants to stay “COVID-free” and “healthy.”  Her main priority, she said, was to be a safe person for her family, friends and her team “to be around.”

“I’m about to be rude [even though] I’m nice,” she said plainly. “This virus gonna have me acting up.  I’m about to be mean.”

Lizzo then asked her 10 million followers to adopt a similar mentality, telling them to “protect yourselves… and double mask up” because “this is scary!”

COVID-19 has infected more than 34.5 million Americans and killed over 611,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Lizzo (@lizzobeeating)

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

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Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

(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.

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.

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).

“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!”

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

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Simone Biles ends competition early in gymnastics team at Tokyo Olympics

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Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

(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.

“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!”

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

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Naomi Osaka knocked out of Tokyo Olympics in surprise loss

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Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

(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.

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Naomi Osaka knocked out of Tokyo Olympics in surprise loss

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Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

(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.

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Mask mandates return at local level as some officials defy state rules

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hapabapa/iStock

(NEW YORK) — As the delta variant drives a surge in COVID-19 cases across the U.S., some local health departments are taking the lead to reimpose indoor mask mandates for all residents — despite CDC guidance that most fully vaccinated Americans can go maskless.

The move from local municipalities in several states, including Massachusetts and Nevada, follows the announcement earlier this month by Los Angeles County — the most populous county in the nation — that it would reinstate mandatory indoor masks after seeing an uptick in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.

The CDC said in May that fully vaccinated Americans could go without masks — but that was before the delta variant dramatically changed the landscape of the pandemic.

Vaccines are still working, experts say. But the highly transmissible delta variant means that cases are once again surging — especially among the one-half of all Americans who are not yet fully vaccinated. Over the past few weeks, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations among unvaccinated people in nearly every state have been on the rise, just as some states were in the process of declaring an end of their state of emergency from the pandemic.

ABC News identified at least a dozen states that have seen a reversal of their mask guidance at the local level — from cities, counties and school districts — in the past couple weeks. Some of these efforts have received solid support from state government, while some others are being challenged by state officials.

In some states, local governments have imposed new mask mandates, while in other states, local officials have instead announced new recommendations or reiterated existing recommendations.

In California, while the new mask mandate has only been issued in Los Angeles County, at least 10 additional counties across the state are now strongly recommending indoor mask-wearing for all residents — including those who are fully vaccinated. In Massachusetts, several counties and municipalities have brought back mask mandates.

In the cities of Las Vegas and New Orleans, health officials have moved to implement masks for county employees regardless of their vaccination status. Savannah became the first major city in Georgia to reinstate an indoor masks policy for all residents in response to a spike in coronavirus cases in the surrounding counties.

“It’s clear to us we’re on a very dangerous trend,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said on Monday. “And in order to try to slow this trend down, the mask mandate was the least invasive and destructive way to do it.

In some states, efforts to bring back mask requirements have faced immediate pushback.

In Missouri, as the case rate has increased and the vaccination rate remains low, St. Louis city and county officials announced last week that they will require masks to be worn in indoor public places and on public transportation — but state Attorney General Eric Schmitt said that he will be filing a lawsuit to stop the city and the county from bringing back such a mandate.

In Florida, where hospitalizations in some areas are increasing at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic, Palm Beach officials this week went against Gov. Ron DeSantis’ statewide ban on mask mandates by imposing an indoor mask mandate for residents regardless of vaccination status.

And Miami Dade and Orange counties, while stopping short of imposing a mandate, have brought back recommendations to wear masks in crowded areas, prompting DeSantis to warn Orange County that it “cannot impose civil or criminal penalties on citizens who choose not to wear masks.”

Similar laws restricting local governments from imposing mask orders have been passed in Iowa, Montana, Arizona, and Arkansas, while governors in Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina have signed executive orders prohibiting local governments from imposing mask mandates.

In Montana, Missoula County’s health officer has blamed the state ban for the county’s inability to bring back a mask mandate despite a rise in cases.

And in Texas, many lawmakers and health officials are urging Gov. Greg Abbott to reverse his school ban and allow mask mandates in schools to be reinstated.

“We now know that even vaccinated people can catch and spread coronavirus,” 31 Texas lawmakers wrote in a letter to Abbott on Friday. “Under these circumstances, we must continue to fight against this virus with all the tools at our disposal.”

Some local school districts in Atlanta, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois have announced various mask mandates for school students and staff members, regardless of vaccine status, for the fall semester.

Officials in other states including Pennsylvania, Kansas and New York are focusing on increasing the number of vaccinations instead of reconsidering their mask guidance.

On Monday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the entire city workforce will be mandated to either get vaccinated or get tested once per week in response to rising coronavirus cases in the state.

As officials move to restore mask recommendations on the local level, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, told CNN on Sunday that revising national mask guidance for vaccinated individuals is “under active consideration.”

“The CDC agrees with that ability and discretion to say, you know, you’re in a situation where we’re having a lot of dynamics of infection,” Fauci said of the local mask mandates. “Even if you are vaccinated, you should wear a mask. That’s a local decision that’s not incompatible with the CDC’s overall recommendations that give a lot of discretion to the locals.”

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Woman shares warning on TikTok after having 7-pound cyst removed

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5./15 WEST/iStock

(NEW YORK) — Kayley Reese first noticed what seemed like a growing bump in her stomach over a year ago.

“The reason I really noticed it was because I own a clothing store and am in all the photos and it got to a point where I could see it in every single photo,” Reese, of Richmond, Virginia, told Good Morning America. “It looked like I was pregnant.”

Reese, 23, said she did not notice any other physical symptoms, so she did not do anything about it.

“On social media I would see some things like it’s your uterus protruding or everyone has it, it’s a protective layer,” she said. “So I kind of made it normal in my head.”

It was not until June when Reese flew home to Orlando, Florida, that she began to feel symptoms and sought treatment.

“I was nauseous and dizzy and my appetite wasn’t normal and I had shortness of breath, painful urination, all that,” said Reese. “My mom asked to feel the spot that I was complaining about and said, ‘That is not normal.'”

Reese went to a local emergency department, where she underwent testing that found a large cyst near her left ovary.

“The [doctors] weren’t sure how long it had been there but they said the symptoms I was having were from that,” she said. “At 23, I had no idea this could ever happen to me.”

Reese underwent a two-hour surgery to remove the cyst, which she said was eight inches in length, seven pounds in weight and was filled with two liters of fluid.

The cyst was diagnosed as a paratubal, or paraovarian cyst, a type of cyst that forms near an ovary or fallopian tube but does not adhere to an internal organ, like an ovary.

“It was the best possible case scenario because they were able to save both my ovaries,” she said. “When I went into surgery they said they were likely going to have to take out an ovary and my fallopian tube.”

While she was recovering, Reese said she saw a video on TikTok that prompted her to share her own story publicly.

“I saw someone else’s TikTok about having something similar and all the comments on her video were like, ‘That’s normal. Everyone has it,'” said Reese. “I thought this was exactly why I didn’t think much of my own [stomach bump].”

Reese posted a now-viral video sharing her own story, explaining, “I feel like if I had seen my own TikTok, I would have gone to the doctor a lot earlier.”

She said she was overwhelmed by the response, both from women thanking her for the information and women who also had paratubal cysts.

“When it started to get picked up I was very nervous because I’m like I’m not a doctor, but I saw that it brought awareness to a lot of women,” said Reese. “I got messages from women who had the same situation and they said was the first time they heard anyone even talk about it, so it was super emotional.”

The type of paratubal cyst Reese had differs from the more well-known ovarian cyst because a paratubal cyst does not attach to the ovary or fallopian tube.

While most paratubal cysts do not cause symptoms, some develop and become extremely large before causing symptoms including abdominal pain, frequent urination and feelings of fullness in the abdomen.

Problematic cysts can be removed through surgery.

Women with frequent or painful cysts, including paratubal cysts or ovarian cysts, may be advised by their doctor to take over-the-counter pain medication or hormonal birth control, according to the U.S. Office on Women’s Health.

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