OLY-Tokyo Olympics Digest
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Your support makes all the difference.Here are AP’s Olympic coverage plans. All times are Eastern. For questions, please email Shelley Acoca at sacoca@ap.org. Find the latest Olympics coverage plans on Coverage Plan. For expanded content, visit AP’s Olympics hub on AP Newsroom. For access to AP Newsroom and other technical issues, contact apcustomersupport@ap.org or call 877-836-9477.
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TOP STORIES
PANDEMIC AFRICA-GUINEAN WRESTLER - A West African wrestler’s dream of competing in the Olympics has come down to a plane ticket. Fatoumata Yarie Camara is the only Guinean athlete to qualify for these Games. She was ready for Tokyo but confusion over travel reigned for weeks. The 25-year-old and her family can’t afford it. Guinean officials promised a ticket, but at the last minute announced a withdrawal from the Olympics over COVID-19 concerns. Camara is used to fighting, but this battle seemed unwinnable. She was ready to accept a crushed Olympic dream. But under international pressure, Guinea reversed its decision. Camara boarded a Tokyo-bound flight. She’s missed the opening ceremony. But she’s set to compete, fulfilling her Olympic dream. By Gerald Imray, Boubacar Diallo and Trisha Thomas. SENT: 1,700 word FULL story, and ABRIDGED of approximately 1000 words, photos, video.
OLY--SWM-SWIMMING - Caeleb Dressel claimed the first individual gold medal of his career with a victory in 100-meter freestyle. Capping off the morning, Katie Ledecky and Australian rival Ariarne Titmus got another shot at each other in the 4x200 freestyle relay. But it was China taking the gold, beating both the Americans and the Aussies in a race where all three medalists broke the previous world record. By Paul Newberry. SENT: 1200 words, photos.
OLY-GYM-BILES’-CHOICE - Maybe American gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to opt out of the Olympic team and all-around competitions isn’t so stunning after all. Biles has spent most of the last five years dealing with outsized expectations. She remembers people being disappointed when she earned bronze on beam in Brazil after a near fall, a medal she calls one of her proudest accomplishments. Biles said she realized during the team finals she wasn’t ready to compete mentally, so she pulled out in an effort to protect herself and her team. By AP Sports Writer Will Graves. SENT: 1000 words, photos.
OLY--BKO-SLOVENIA-JAPAN - The Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic had another impressive performance with 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in 26 minutes, Zoran Dragic scored 24 points and Slovenia remained unbeaten in its Olympic debut by beating Japan 116-81 in the Tokyo Games. By AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds. SENT: 300 words, photos.
OLY-ROW—ROWING - Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic dominated the men’s pair in Olympic rowing to win a race they led from start to finish. They won double sculls at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and then switched boat disciplines and won world championship titles before claiming another Olympic gold medal. By Jim Vertuno. SENT: 770 words, photos.
OLY-CYC-STRUGGLING-USA - The new CEO of USA Cycling made it perfectly clear the Americans were targeting seven medals at the Tokyo Games. But through six events, they’ve yet to win one. They’ve had disappointing rides on the road and the mountain bike course. And now the pressure moves to BMX and track cycling. The Americans are favored to win a medal in both BMX racing and the freestyle competition, which is new to the Olympic program. They also have a shot at gold in the women’s team pursuit next week. But at this point, a medal of any color would be a massive confidence boost. By AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta. SENT: 750 words, photos.
OLY--RGU-RUGBY 7S - The self-described rugby TikToker Ilona Maher finally got a taste of Olympic competition after bringing the world into the athletes village via social media. She has been urging viewers to check it out with posts about life, food and other athletes behind the scenes. The women’s rugby sevens competition got underway with Maher and the U.S. team beating China 28-14 in the morning session. Defending champion Australia started with a 48-0 victory over Japan and top-ranked New Zealand had a 29-7 win over Kenya. The top-ranked New Zealanders are favorites to win gold five years after losing the final to Australia in Rio de Janeiro. By AP Sports Writer John Pye. SENT: 460 words, photos.
OLY-PHILIPPINES-DIAZ - The rewards, the citations and the nationwide parties are going to have to wait for a week or so. Philippine weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz has arrived in Manila and was whisked off to a hotel for seven days of quarantine after winning her country’s first Olympic gold medal in nearly a century at the Tokyo Games. “Gold at last!” read a banner at the airport as military personnel waved Philippine flags and applauded when Diaz landed. But not even her historic medal can eclipse coronavirus protocols in a country grappling with continuing virus outbreaks and an economic crisis. SENT: 550 words, photos.
OLY-RGU-RUGBY-SEVENS-FIJI-CELEBRATES - Fiji’s second consecutive Olympic gold medal in rugby sevens has provoked a spontaneous outpouring of joy in the nation’s cities and villages despite the country being under strict curfew because of the coronavirus pandemic. Fireworks flashed in the night sky and daring revelers in the capital Suva flew flags from car windows as they circled among cheering crowds. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said the win “shows that we can achieve greatness no matter what the world may throw our way, even with COVID.” Fiji is battling a severe COVID-19 outbreak, with more than 25,000 cases and 200 deaths among a population of just over 900,000. By AP Sports Writer Steve McMorran. SENT: 570 words, photos.
OLY--ROW-AMERICAN DYNASTY - The U.S. seeks to become the first country to win four consecutive rowing gold medals in the women’s eight. The Americans know that despite their past Olympic dominance they may not be the favorites after an unbeaten run in international events was broken following the Rio de Janeiro Games. The Americans also had to deal with a COVID-19 outbreak in their training camp in 2020. That forced many of the crew to work out from home for months. No country has won four straight golds in the event. Dominant runs by East Germany and Romania ended at three. By AP Sports Writer Jim Vertuno. SENT: 650 words, photos.
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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT
OLY-GLF-RAHM-AT-HOME - Men’s golf began Thursday in the Olympics and Jon Rahm is not there. Rahm says from his home in Arizona that he never could have imagined being knocked out of the Olympics by a positive COVID-19 test. He had the coronavirus just under two months ago. He is fully vaccinated. He passed every test while at the British Open. He needed three straight days of negative results. The last one came back positive. The upside for Rahm is he has a 4-month-old son and a U.S. Open trophy. He says he’ll never call himself unlucky. By AP Gold Writer Doug Ferguson. SENT: 750 words, photos.
OLY-GLIMPSES-SIGNIFICANT-BOUQUET - The bouquet of flowers that every medal winner is being handed at the Tokyo Olympics has deeper meaning. The sunflowers and all the other flowers in the bouquet were grown in the three northeastern Japanese prefectures that were devastated by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and the subsequent meltdown of three nuclear reactors. By AP Sports Writer Stephen Wade. SENT: 260 words, photos.
OLY-TEN-FOGNINI-HOMOPHOBIC-SLUR - Italian tennis player Fabio Fognini has apologized for yelling at himself with a homophobic slur during a loss in the Olympic tennis tournament. SENT: 200 words, photos.
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EXPLAINERS
OLY-GYM-EXPLAINER-US-GYMNASTICS - American gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from two key Olympics competitions to focus on her mental well-being changes the landscape somewhat dramatically for the U.S. gymnastics team in coming days. Biles pulled out of the women’s team finals, saying she felt she wasn’t mentally ready. A day later, she withdrew from Thursday’s all-around competition to focus on her mental well-being. Jade Carey, who finished ninth in qualifying, will take Biles’ place in the all-around. Carey initially did not qualify because she was the third-ranking American behind Biles and Sunisa Lee. International Gymnastics Federation rules limit countries to two athletes per event in the finals. SENT: 300 words, photos.
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DAILY FIXTURES
— OLYMPICS ROUNDUP — Highlights of the day from the 2000 Summer Games.
— TOKYO OLYMPICS-THE LATEST — Real-time updates and photos from every venue around the 2020 pandemic-delayed Summer Games.
— TOKYO OLYMPICS-WHAT TO WATCH — A guide to key storylines each day. Moves after 1 a.m.
— MEDAL BRIEFS — A roundup of the day's gold medals.
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GRAPHICS
— TOKYO OLYMPICS-MEDAL COUNT — Keep track of who’s ahead in the medal race with our nation-by-nation medal tabulation.
— TOKYO OLYMPICS-MEDAL BRIEFS — A roundup of the day’s medals at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
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FEATURED IMAGES
OLYFS120 - China’s Sun Yingsha competes against Japan’s Mima Ito during the table tennis women’s singles semifinal.
OLYBC133 - Sae Hatakeyama of Japan crashes in the women’s BMX Racing quarterfinals.
OLYJL306 - Netherlands’ Robbert Kemperman falls into Britain’s Liam Paul Ansell during a men’s field hockey match.
OFEN348 - France Foil team celebrate defeating Italy in the women’s individual Foil semifinal competition.
OBOX193 - Giordana Sorrentinno of Italy, right, exchanges punches with Tiawan’s Hsiao-Wen Huang during their women’s fly weight 48-51 kg preliminaries round Boxing match.