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Ledecky, Hancock join four-peat club
Team USA’s Katie Ledecky and Vincent Hancock made Olympic history on Saturday, becoming the sixth and seventh athletes to win four gold medals in the same individual event.
The four-peat club:
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🇺🇸 Ledecky: 800m freestyle (2012-24)
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🇺🇸 Hancock: Shooting (2008-24)
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🇨🇺 Mijaín López: Wrestling (2008-20)
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🇺🇸 Michael Phelps: 200m IM (2004-16)
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🇺🇸 Carl Lewis: Long Jump (1984-96)
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🇺🇸 Al Oerter: Discus Throw (1956-68)
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🇩🇰 Paul Elvstrøm: Sailing (1948-60)
Wild stat: How dominant is Hancock? He has four golds in skeet shooting; no other Olympian has more than one.
Looking ahead: Ledecky is already eyeing an unprecedented five-peat at LA 2028, writes Yahoo Sports’ Henry Bushnell.
She’ll be 31 by the time the Summer Olympics arrive on home soil for the first time in her life. She has every intention of being there.
“I’ve been consistent over these last few months, and last few years, in saying that I would love to compete in LA,” she said Wednesday. “And that hasn’t changed.”
Three days later, and some 20 minutes after the four-peat, she was asked specifically about a five-peat. “I’d love to,” she said.
Photos of the day
🇱🇨 Gold for Saint Lucia: Julien Alfred upset Sha’Carri Richardson in the women’s 100m to win Saint Lucia’s first-ever medal. Watch her country celebrate: This is what it’s all about!
🐐 Seventh gold: Simone Biles delivered her signature double backflip in pike position (called the Biles II) to win gold in vault, her seventh Olympic gold medal and third in Paris.
⚽️ Rodman saves the day: Trinity Rodman scored an epic goal in the 107th minute to lift the USWNT past Japan, 1-0, and into the semifinals. They’ll play Germany on Monday.
🇺🇸 New world record: The U.S. team of Ryan Murphy (back), Nic Fink (breast), Gretchen Walsh (fly) and Torri Huske (free) won the 4x100m mixed medley relay in world-record time (3:37.43). What a race!
Day 8 recap: More from Saturday
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Athlete spotlight: The world’s fastest man will be crowned today at Stade de France, where Noah Lyles can become the first American man to win gold in the 100m dash since Justin Gatlin in 2004.
A long journey: The 27-year-old Florida native is among the favorites today, a testament to his hard work and perseverance after struggling three years ago in his Olympics debut.
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Lyles failed to even qualify for the 100m in Tokyo (seventh at U.S. trials) and settled for bronze in the 200m — his best event — as he publicly struggled with depression coming out of the pandemic.
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But he captured the golden triple at last year’s world championships (100m, 200m, 4x100m relay) and is brimming with confidence in Paris, where he’ll run in the semis at 2:05pm ET and the final at 3:50pm.
Matchup to watch: Lyles’ biggest competition is Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, whose 9.77 in June is the fastest time in the world this year (Lyles ran a personal-best 9.83 about two weeks ago). A win for Thompson would make him the only Jamaican man not named Usain Bolt to claim the title of world’s fastest man.
The last word: Lyles surprisingly finished second in his heat on Saturday, but to say he isn’t worried about that result would be an understatement: “To be honest, I think I’m more excited now that I didn’t win that heat. I’m pretty scared for everybody else right now.”
Pre-race reading: Noah Lyles has a plan to upstage even the great Usain Bolt
More athletes in action:
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👟 Vashti Cunningham: The 26-year-old high jumper seeks her first medal today after finishing 13th in Rio and sixth in Tokyo. If that last name sounds familiar, there’s a reason: Her father is former NFL superstar Randall Cunningham.
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🏹 Brady Ellison: The most decorated American archer in Olympic history (two silver, two bronze) has accomplished just about everything in this sport except win gold. He can change that today in the men’s individual competition, his final event at his fifth Summer Games.
Best of Team USA social: Behind the scenes with skateboarders … Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone interview … USA House watching Ledecky win gold
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Follow along at TeamUSA.com and @TeamUSA on social media.
🥇🥈🥉
Team USA won 18 medals on Saturday (five gold, six silver, seven bronze), their highest single-day haul since the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Full medal count.
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz face off today for Olympic gold, just three weeks after the young Spaniard defeated the all-time great Serbian in the Wimbledon final.
Featured events:
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🎾 Tennis: Djokovic vs. Alcaraz (~8am ET, Peacock) … Women’s Doubles Final (~10am, Peacock).
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👟 Track & Field: Men’s 100m Final (3:50pm, NBC) … Women’s High Jump Final (1:55pm, NBC), Men’s Hammer Final (2:30pm, NBC).
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🏊 Swimming: Four medal events (12:30pm, NBC) … Women’s 50m Freestyle, Men’s 1500m Freestyle, Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay, Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay.
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🤸 Gymnastics: Men’s Rings Final (9am, NBC); Women’s Uneven Bars Final (9:40am, NBC); Men’s Vault Final (10:24am, NBC)
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⛳️ Men’s Golf: Final Round (7am, Golf)
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🏀 Women’s Basketball: USA vs. Germany (11:15am, USA)
Medal events:
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🏓 Table Tennis: Men’s Singles Finals (7:30am, Peacock/USA)
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🚴♀️ Cycling: Women’s Road Race (8am, CNBC)
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🏹 Archery: Men’s Individual Finals (8:30am, Peacock)
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🏸 Badminton: Men’s Doubles Finals (9am, Peacock)
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🎯 Shooting: Women’s Skeet Final (9:30am, Peacock)
Non-medal events: 3×3 Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoe Slalom, Handball, Hockey, Sailing, Volleyball, Water Polo.
Primetime (NBC): Men’s Vault Final (7pm), Women’s 800m Semifinals (8pm), Women’s Uneven Bars Final, Men’s 100m Final, Men’s and Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay Final (9pm).
For a complete schedule, click here. Every event streams live on Peacock. Sign up here.
Like Mike
Dear Anthony Edwards, this is not the way to get the Michael Jordan comparisons to stop!
Star of the night: Edwards scored a game-high 26 points (11-15 FG) in Team USA’s 104-83 win over Puerto Rico, dazzling with breakaway dunks and sharpshooting threes.
What’s next: Team USA is one of three teams that emerged from group play undefeated, joining Canada and Germany. They play Brazil in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Lightning round
🇳🇱 Must-see finish: Femke Bol ran an anchor leg for the ages to help the Netherlands stun Team USA in the mixed 4x400m relay.
🥊 Khelif moves on: Algeria’s Imane Khelif, the boxer at the center of a gender controversy, defeated Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori to advance to the women’s 66kg semifinals.
💪 Three-peat: American Ryan Crouser became the first man to win three straight Olympic shot put gold medals, while teammate Joe Kovacs claimed his third straight silver.
🇳🇴 Rooth shocks the world: Markus Rooth came out of nowhere to win gold in the decathlon. It’s Norway’s first medal in Paris and their first decathlon gold since 1920.
Daily trivia
Question: Can you name the five sports Team USA has never medaled in?
Hint: Two have nets, one has goals, two involve jumping.
Answer at the bottom.
In non-Olympics news…
🏈 Welcome to Canton: The Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrined seven new members on Saturday: Dwight Freeney, Devin Hester, Julius Peppers, Andre Johnson, Steve McMichael, Patrick Willis and Randy Gradishar.
Plus:
Trivia answer: Badminton, Handball, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Table Tennis, Trampoline
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