Marta Karolyi, U.S. gymnastics team
coordinator, looks at the scoreboard along with, from right, Simone
Biles, Aly Raisman and Gabrielle Douglas during the artistic gymnastics
women's qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016.
Julio Cortez
AP Photo
11 a.m.
Hungarian-born Szandra Szogedi made history when she stepped onto the judo mat at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Tuesday.
Except
that it was for Ghana. Szogedi became the first-ever female judoka to
represent the African nation, after obtaining Ghanaian citizenship
through her husband.
Facing Brazilian Mariana Silva in the first
round, Szogedi, 27, also had to deal with a very partisan crowd shouting
support for her opponent. After less than two minutes, however, the
fight was over: Silva took Szogedi down and caught her in a
stranglehold. Although Szogedi said she didn't want to submit, once she
started to lose her vision, she was forced to tap out.
After the
fight, a tearful Szogedi said she was "gutted" and that training four
years for so little time on the mat was devastating.
---
10:55 a.m.
Kenyan
police have arrested the country's Olympics track and field manager and
are seeking orders from a court to hold him in custody for an extra
week to complete investigations.
Michael Rotich was ordered to
return home from the Olympics in Brazil after he was caught in a sting
by reporters from Britain's The Sunday Times newspaper. The paper said
Rotich offered to provide the reporters, who were posing as coaches,
advance warning of doping tests in return for a 10,000-pound ($13,000)
bribe.
The prosecution argues that Rotich will interfere with investigations if he is free.
Rotich is the chairman of Athletics Kenya in the North Rift region, the home of the bulk of Kenya's middle and distance athletes
---
10:30 a.m.
Abdulaziz Alshatti, the lone independent fencer in the Rio Olympics, has been knocked out after an early loss.
Alshatti
is from Kuwait, whose Olympic Committee was suspended by the IOC in
2015 for "undue government interference." Because of that the ban,
Alshatti's only chance to earn a trip to Rio was a last-chance Asian
qualifying event in April in which only the winner advanced.
Alshatti took first in a stunning result.
But he couldn't match that performance in Brazil.
Alshatti
had the backing of a small crowd that appeared to sympathize with his
plight. But Hungary's Andras Redli survived a furious late rally from
the hard-charging and flamboyant Kuwaiti, winning 14-13 in epee.
---
10:10 a.m.
Mahe
Drysdale of New Zealand beat Czech rival Ondrej Synek in the
quarterfinals of the men's single sculls as the two masters of the event
faced off for the first time in Rio.
Drysdale and Synek have
dominated the single sculls in recent years, with world record holder
Drysdale winning Olympic gold in London and Synek clinching all three
world championship titles since then.
It was Drysdale who was the
fastest as the two men raced in the same quarterfinal heat on the
Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, beating the Czech by four seconds to finish
in 6 minutes, 46.51 seconds. Both advanced to the semifinals.
---
6:30 a.m.
Nine
Olympic sports will be awarding 15 gold medals Tuesday at the Rio
Olympics, and the competitions include four big battles in the pool and
the ever-dazzling women's team gymnastics title.
Gold medalists
Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky of the United States and Katinka Hosszu
of Hungary will be looking for even more glory; Phelps in the 200 meter
butterfly, Ledecky in the 200 meter freestyle and Hosszu in the women's
200 meter individual medley. The men's 4x200 meter freestyle relay then
caps off a busy night at the Olympics Aquatics Stadium.
On the
mats, balance beams and vaults, U.S. women's gymnastics team, which
topped second-place China by a staggering 10 points in qualifiers, will
be looking to turn all their star power into gold. China, Russia, Great
Britain, Brazil, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands will be trying to
stop them.
Medals will also be awarded in canoe slalom, diving, equestrian, fencing, judo, shooting and weightlifting
---
5:50 a.m.
Dutch
gymnast Yuri van Gelder has been kicked off the Netherlands' team at
the Olympics and is being sent home from Rio for breaching team rules.
The
Royal Netherlands Gymnastics Association says Van Gelder, a former
world champion on the rings, left the athletes' village on Saturday
night and has admitted drinking alcohol before returning early Sunday.
The
33-year-old Van Gelder, who was to have taken part in the rings final
in Brazil, had no immediate comment, according to a statement Tuesday on
his website.
Maurits Hendriks, head of the Dutch Olympic team in
Rio, is quoted on the gymnastics association website as saying "it is
awful for Yuri, but this behavior is unacceptable."
This is not
the first time that Van Gelder has run into disciplinary problems. In
2010, he was dropped from the Dutch team for the Gymnastics World
Championships after he admitted using cocaine. That tournament was to
have marked his comeback after a one-year ban for cocaine use.
---
4:45 p.m.
A
celebratory occasion for a Thai Olympic bronze medal winner's family
has turned somber — the athlete's grandmother collapsed and died minutes
before he won the third place in the 56-kilogram weightlifting category
in Rio.
A mourning ritual was being held Tuesday at the home of
Sinphet Kruithong, whose grandmother was among scores of family and
friends watching his event live on a big television screen set up for
the occasion in his village in northeastern Thailand.
Amid the
festive atmosphere Monday — with villagers cheering and clapping as
Sinphet heaved the weights up — 82-year-old Subin Khongthap collapsed.
She did not live to see her grandson win his medal.
Sinphet, 22,
was the second Thai to win a medal at the Rio Games, following Sopita
Tanasan, 22, who won a gold medal for weightlifting in the women's 48
kilogram category on Saturday.
--
4: a.m.
Gold medalists Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky of the
United States and Katinka Hosszu of Hungary will be back in the pool,
looking for even more glory in Rio.
Ledecky goes first in the 200
meter freestyle Tuesday night, and 10 minutes later Phelps has his
sights set on the 200 meter butterfly, the event in which he holds the
world and Olympic records.
Then the women's 200 meter individual
medley gets underway with Hosszu, the world and Olympic record holder,
in the field. On Sunday, Hosszu shattered the world record in the
400-meter individual medley to win gold and on Monday became the first
two-time gold medalist at Rio's Olympic Aquatics Stadium when she won
the women's 100 backstroke title.
Capping off another dramatic
night in the pool will be the men's 4x200 meter freestyle relay. The
U.S. men, who took gold in the 4x100-meter free, hold the world and
Olympic records in the 200.
--
4 a.m.
Tuesday is show
time in Rio for the U.S. women's gymnastics team, which made a statement
in qualifiers by posting a top score that outpaced second-place China
by a staggering 10 points.
China, Russia, Great Britain, Brazil,
Germany, Japan and the Netherlands will look to knock off the Americans,
which are led by Martha Karolyi. How difficult will it be? Consider
this: The margin between the U.S. and the Chinese in qualifiers was
greater than the margin between China and 12th-place Belgium.
The Japanese men topped Russia in the team finals to take gold on Monday.
---
4 a.m.
Brazilian soccer fans have found a new team to cheer — their women.
The
Brazilian women play South Africa at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday and
local fans have become enamored of the team as their men's team
continues to disappoint. Boos were heard when the Brazil men were held
to a 0-0 draw by Iraq.
Yet speedy forward Marta, a five-time FIFA
World Player of the Year winner, has enchanted crowds, leading the team
to a 5-1 rout of Sweden on Sunday.
In other soccer action, the
defending champion U.S. women's soccer team takes on Columbia. The U.S.
beat France 1-0 on Saturday as Hope Solo became the first goalkeeper,
male or female, to reach the 200th-cap mark in international play.
Despite
the milestone, Solo was peppered with jeers from the crowd, which was
riled up about her social media posts about the threat of the Zika virus
in Brazil.
---
4 a.m.
It's a big action day on
Tuesday in the Olympic men's rugby sevens, with teams playing two games
each. Eyes are on Fiji — which plays Brazil and Argentina — and New
Zealand, which plays Japan and Kenya.
The first-ever women's rugby medals were awarded Monday, with Australia winning gold over New Zealand.
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