Day 8 of the Olympics was jam-packed with action. We saw legends in their sport add to their gold-medal counts, thrilling finishes on the track and much more. Let’s dive into the day’s biggest events.
Track and Field
Racing in her first Olympics after being ruled ineligible for the Tokyo Games, USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson won silver in the women’s 100-meter finals Saturday.
St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred ran away from the competition, winning by 0.15 seconds to not only secure gold, but the first medal ever for St. Lucia. American Melissa Jefferson won bronze. Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price, one of the world’s most decorated sprinters, didn’t compete in the final after she withdrew from her semifinal race.
Richardson won gold in the same event at the World Athletic Championships in Budapest last year. She qualified to run in the 100-meter in Tokyo, but was suspended and unable to race after testing positive for THC.
Elsewhere on the track, Netherlands’ Femke Bol provided one of Paris’ signature moments, overcoming three runners to earn her country a gold in the women’s 4×400-meter mixed relay.
America and Belgium were tied for the lead and both ahead of Netherlands headed into the final leg of the relay, but neither country’s runner could hold off Bol, who sprinted the final lap in 47.93 seconds.
And on the field, American Ryan Crouser won his third straight gold medal in the men’s shot put.
Fellow American John Kovacs got the silver, and Jamaican Rajindra Campbell took home bronze.
Crouser dominated this event in Rio and Tokyo, but his ability to participate in the Paris Games was called into question after he sustained multiple injuries while training this year. He hurt the ulnar nerve in his throwing elbow before tearing his pectoral muscle leading up to the Olympics.
He wasn’t cleared to throw again until June, and in July, he lost in a shot put competition for the first time in over a year. But Crouser recovered in time to maintain his stranglehold on the event.
“There were some challenges this spring, to say the least,” he said after.
Gymnastics
Simone Biles won the seventh gold medal of her Olympic career Saturday, this time in the vault final.
It’s Biles’s second gold in the event, also winning one in Rio in 2016. She won this year’s by pulling off one of the most thrilling feats in all of gymnastics: the Yurchenko double pike, also known as the “Biles II.”
It was another redemptive moment for the Olympian, who withdrew from this event at the Tokyo games in 2021 due to the “twisties.” It’s also Biles’s 10th medal overall, and the only question that remains for her is if she’ll try to add to her total in Los Angeles in 2028.
“Never say never,” Biles said. “The next Olympics is at home, so you just never know, but I am getting really old.”
Team USA’s Jade Carey won bronze in the vault final. It was a sweet moment for Carey, who tripped on the runway during the event in Tokyo, preventing her from a chance at the podium. (She was also dealing with a stomach virus earlier this week.)
“We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, and it was one of my biggest moments to get back here,” Carey said. “I wanted to be able to prove myself that I can do two vaulting finals and walk away with a medal.”
Meanwhile, Stephen Nedorosick aka Pommel Horse Guy aka Clark Kent aka the only man having a bigger summer than actor Glen Powell won bronze on the pommel horse Saturday.
Nedoroscik had become such a sensation after helping the men’s team win bronze in the all-around final that he had to stop checking his phone ahead of his individual competition.
“Unfortunately, yesterday, I had to turn it all off because I really needed to focus for this meet,” Nedoroscik said. “So looking forward to turning it all back on and seeing the positivity that America’s sending my way.”
Women’s swimming
It’s another day of the Olympics that ends in a “y,” which means Katie Ledecky smoked the competition in yet another race.
This time it was the women’s 800-meter freestyle, as Ledecky held off Australian Ariarne Titmus for her fourth straight gold in the event. Titmus won silver and American Paige Madden captured bronze.
Titmus is known for her strength as a closer, and even beat Ledecky in the 400-meter final. For much of the race she kept close to Ledecky, setting the stage for a thrilling finish. But in the final 100 meters, Ledecky pulled away, eventually winning by more than a second.
Also in the pool, American Alex Walsh was disqualified after swimming the women’s 200-meter individual medley, robbing her of a bronze medal.
Walsh initially finished third behind Canadian Summer McIntosh and fellow American Kate Douglass. But she was given a DQ for making an illegal turn as she switched from backstroke to breaststroke, and Australia’s Kaylee McKeown got the bronze.
“I was just really heartbroken for her,” Douglass said after the race. “I feel like she deserved to be on the podium with me.”
Women’s soccer
The U.S. women’s soccer team is headed to the semifinals after a 1-0 win vs. Japan.
It was a tight contest that was tied at 0 after 90 minutes. Trinity Rodman finally broke the seal in stoppage time of the first extra time period, scoring with her left foot from just outside the top-right of the penalty box after corralling a long pass from Crystal Dunn.
“I kind of blacked out,” Rodman said when asked to describe the goal. “That’s like the best moment in my career.”
The women’s team is looking for its first major trophy since 2019 after bowing out early in both the 2021 Olympics and the 2023 World Cup. Emma Hayes took over coaching duties earlier this year, and after overhauling the roster, is seeing her decisions pay dividends.
The States will face Germany in the semis. The two teams previously matched up in group play, with the U.S. winning 4-1.
What’s next
The biggest event will be the men’s 100-meter final at 3:55 p.m. ET, which should bring the much-anticipated clash between USA’s Noah Lyles and Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson.
There will also be a men’s table tennis final Sunday, as well as a final on the tennis court between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
Women and men will both compete in the 4×100 medley relay final in the pool.
And there is plenty of women’s basketball, handball, boxing and the men’s team foil final in fencing, as well.
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