The U.S. track and field team added another silver to its haul Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics, with veteran long jumper Brittney Reese scoring her third consecutive Olympic medal.
Tuesday also marks the final night of gymnastics, along with the return of Simone Biles.
In the final event for the women, Biles will compete in the balance beam final alongside all-around champion and teammate Suni Lee. In qualifiers, Biles finished seventh overall on beam with a score of 14.066. Lee was third overall with a score of 14.200.
Biles' return comes after she withdrew from the all-around, floor exercise, vault and uneven bars competition after her early exit from team finals as she said she was struggling with her mental health.
Tuesday will also see the United States' teams in several knockout rounds, with April Ross and Alix Klineman starting the day with a victory in the women's beach volleyball quarterfinals against the German duo of Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch. Other Team USA action will include men's basketball against fellow basketball juggernaut Spain and women's water polo taking on Canada.
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TOKYO — American Brittney Reese, competing in her fourth and final Olympics, won the silver in the women’s long jump Tuesday at the Tokyo Games.
German Malaika Mihamo overtook Reese on her sixth and final attempt with a jump of 22 feet, 11¾ inches.
Reese, 34, entered the final round leading with a jump of 22 feet, 10½ inches.
A product of Inglewood, California who calls Gulfport, Mississippi home, Reese won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics and a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics. She placed fifth at the 2008 Olympics.
-- Josh Peter
TOKYO – U.S. featherweight boxer Duke Ragan is moving on to the gold medal match after defeating Samuel Takyi of Ghana in the semifinal round of the Tokyo Olympic tournament.
Ragan, 23, won by split decision, 4-1. Takyi took the first round 3-2, pouring on the punches in the last 40 seconds to take a lead. While Takyi continued to build confidence in the second round, Ragan landed several shots in the last 30 seconds to win 4-1. Ragan closed out strong in the third round and secured a berth in the final.
In the final, Ragan will face off against the winner of the semifinal match between Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba and Albert Batyrgaziev of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Ragan, a Cincinnati native, is the first American featherweight medalist since Rocky Juarez won silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Both Ragan and women’s welterweight Oshae Jones, who competes in the semifinal on Wednesday against Hong Gu of China, are the first two boxers who will bring home medals to the U.S.
Ragan turned pro in the summer of 2020. He had a 4-0 record prior to joining the Olympic team – three by decision and one by knockout.
-- Olivia Reiner
Luka Doncic continues to impress in Tokyo as Slovenia breezed past Germany in the basketball quarterfinals with a 94-70 victory.
The Dallas Mavericks star dropped 20 points on Tuesday, and nearly got a triple-double with his 11 assists and eight rebounds. Zoran Dragic led Slovenia with 27 points as the team took the lead midway through the first quarter and held onto it for the rest of the game.
Germany was able to cut the deficit to seven at halftime, but Slovenia outscored the Germans 50-33 in the second half. The win also made Slovenia a perfect 17-0 with Doncic on the roster.
Slovenia will play the winner of France vs. Italy for a spot in the gold medal match, as Doncic and company could meet Team USA in finals.
-- Jordan Mendoza
TOKYO -- Five-time Olympian Allyson Felix is through to the next round in the women’s 400 meters.
Felix won her first-round heat with a time of 50.84 to advance to the semifinal.
“It’s nice to get going,” Felix said after her first race in Tokyo. “It felt good to get out there. I’m ready to bump it up for the semis.”
The announcer inside Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium introduced Felix as “the legend” as she was preparing to run in her fifth Olympics.
The 35-year-old has the fourth fastest time in the field entering the semifinals. Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino is going into the next round with the best 400-meter time (50.06).
Americans Wadeline Jonathas and Quanera Hayes are also joining Felix in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Felix is the only female track and field athlete to win six Olympic gold medals. The veteran sprinter’s nine overall Olympic medals are tied with former runner Merlene Ottey for most ever by a female Olympian in track and field history. She announced earlier this year that she is retiring after the Tokyo Olympics.
“Knowing that this is my last time around, it means a lot to me,” Felix said.
-- Tyler Dragon
American beach volleyball duo April Ross and Alix Klineman, better known as the “A Team,” downed Germany in their quarterfinal match.
Ross/Klineman beat Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch in straight sets (21-19, 21-19) to advance to the semifinal.
About midway through the first set, dark clouds rolled in and it started showering for a few minutes. The sky cleared and the hot sun was back, but that didn't seem to affect the U.S. team.
Back-to-back block points from Klineman put Team USA back in the first set tied at 12-12 and there was no turning back.
"That's a super strong German team and we have so much respect for them. I think it was just trusting in our abilities as a team and what we do." Ross said after the match. "We did a lot of preparation and kind of stuck with what we wanted to do. Impressed with ourselves and each other. Just kept our belief and positivity high."
Ross/Klineman will face Swiss pair Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich in the semifinals on Thursday.
-- Alex Ptachick
TOKYO — American Yared Nuguse is out of the Tokyo Olympics due to a quad injury, his college program, Notre Dame, announced Tuesday.
The announcement came just 30 minutes before Nuguse was scheduled to run his first 1500-meter heat in Tokyo. The 22-year-old finished third at the U.S. Olympic trials in June.
Team USA will now have just two athletes in the 1500-meter field: Reigning Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz, and reigning NCAA champion Cole Hocker.
-- Tom Schad
When Jasmine Camacho-Quinn broke an Olympic record and won a gold medal in Tokyo, she celebrated a historic win as an athlete, a Black representative of Puerto Rico and a member of a family she just recently met.
Camacho-Quinn made history twice in Tokyo. She beat Keni Harrison of the United States in the women’s 100-meter hurdles and set a new Olympic record of 12.26 seconds in the semifinal.
Although Camacho-Quinn was born in South Carolina, she decided to run for Puerto Rico to honor her heritage because her mother was born in Puerto Rico.
"I am pretty sure everybody (in Puerto Rico) is excited," Camacho-Quinn told reporters. "For such a small (territory), it gives little people hope. I am just glad I am the person to do that."
-- Gabriela Miranda
TOKYO — Jamaicans Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were head and shoulders above the rest of the field in the women’s 100 meters. The women’s 200 meters figures to be much more of a toss-up.
Thompson-Herah is just a few days removed from becoming a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 100 meters. She looks determined to secure another gold in the 200 and become the first woman in history to win both races in back-to-back Olympics..
If Thompson-Herah wants to achieve the feat, she’ll have to beat Fraser-Pryce for a second time in Tokyo. Fraser-Pryce cruised to an easy win in her first semifinal heat to automatically qualify for the finals.
American Gabby Thomas, however, has the all-time fastest time in the competition.
Thomas is the second fastest woman to ever run the distance. She posted a world-leading and lifetime best of 21.61 at the U.S. trials in June.
-- Tyler Dragon
TOKYO — Simone Biles feels good enough again to give it another go.
USA Gymnastics said Monday that Biles would do the last event final, balance beam, scheduled for Tuesday night. It will be her first competition since she withdrew from the women’s team final Tuesday night, citing concerns for her mental health and physical safety.
Biles came to Tokyo as the biggest star of these Olympics, projected to win a record five gold medals. But she developed a case of “the twisties,” a loss of air awareness that can have catastrophic consequences for a gymnast.
-- Nancy Armour
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