PARIS: China moved a gold medal away from sweeping the competition in diving and table tennis at the Paris Olympics with victories on Friday as Bulgarian weightlifter Karlos Nasar raised the roof with a world record-breaking performance.
On another action-packed day, five-time world champion Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands retained his track cycling sprint title while there was Hungarian joy in the Seine.
At the Aquatics Centre, Chen Yiwen’s consistent execution saw her triumph in the women’s 3-metre springboard, extending China’s winning streak in the 2024 Games diving events to seven.
Chen was the only diver on Friday that scored over 70 points in each round and her performance ensured China could scoop its eighth of the eight possible golds on offer by winning the only event remaining in the diving programme, the men’s 10-metre platform on Saturday.
In table tennis, Ma Long cemented his status as one of his country’s greatest athletes with the sixth Olympic gold of his career in the men’s team event.
The 35-year-old played his part in a 3-0 victory over Sweden that put China on the verge of a clean sweep in the French capital.
Ma afterwards called it “the perfect ending” to his Olympic career, but stopped short of saying he was retiring. “You might still see me on the international table tennis stage in the future. Of course, this is my last Olympics. I am very proud and I feel very lucky.”
Ma’s sixth gold took him past divers Wu Minxia and Chen Ruolin, and gymnast Zou Kai, with the most golds of any Chinese athlete in Olympic history.
China, the unrivalled superpower of table tennis, have now won mixed doubles, women’s singles, men’s singles and men’s team events in Paris.
In the last final, on Saturday, China plays Japan for the women’s team crown.
Nasar became the lightest man to lift 400 kilogrammes in competition as he shattered the men’s 89kg weightlifting world record at the Paris Expo.
The unrivalled lifter produced a superb final lift of 224kg to break his own clean and jerk record of 223 set at the Qatar Grand Prix in Doha in 2023.
Added to a best snatch result of 180kg, the 20-year-old broke China’s Li Dajin’s record of 396kg with a total of 404kg.
“The Olympic Games are like going into space for me and I feel like I’m on Mars,” said Nasar.
Unstoppable Lavreysen**
At the National Velodrome, Lavreysen outpaced Australia’s Matthew Richardson, showing tremendous poise and power to easily take the best-of-three deciding series 2-0.
Lavreysen has established himself as the sport’s leading sprinter in recent years, winning five consecutive world titles between 2019-2023.
He smashed the world record in qualifying and now with back-to-back Olympic golds has cemented his status as an all-time track great.
Also in cycling, Chiara Consonni and Vittoria Guazzini produced a stunning ride as Italy won the women’s madison.
Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky won gold in the men’s 10k marathon swimming with his compatriot David Betlehem taking bronze on a memorable day for the swimming-mad country.
Rasovszky timed 1hr 50min 52.7sec to finish just over two seconds ahead of Germany’s Oliver Klemet in the race on the Seine.
Elsewhere, Britain’s Toby Roberts was as surprised as anyone when he clinched the boulder and lead gold medal in a major climbing upset that saw Japan’s clear favourite, Sorato Anraku, settling for silver.
Valentin Bontus of Austria won gold in the men’s kiteboarding. Toni Vodisek of Slovenia secured silver in the final, with Max Maeder of Singapore picking up bronze.
New Zealander Lisa Carrington again lit up the nautical stadium at Vaires-sur-Marne by winning her seventh Olympic gold medal with a typically dominant display together with Alicia Hoskin in the women’s kayak double 500m race.
On a day that featured four canoeing medals and many tight finishes, the Kiwis blasted into the lead in their final, leaving the rest of the field in their wake as Carrington’s gold rush continued, adding to the one she got in the kayak four on Thursday.
The men’s race was much tighter, with Germany’s Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke winning gold, just ahead of Hungary while Australia took the bronze after a photo finish.
China’s Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya powered to victory in the women’s canoe double 500m final to retain their Olympic title while the final race of the day to decide the men’s single canoe competition was won by Martin Fuksa of the Czech Republic.
Tebogo swoops in
On a mesmerising Thursday night at the Stade de France, Letsile Tebogo became the first African to win the men’s Olympic 200 metres title on when he powered clear of Americans Kenny Bednarek and Covid-hit Noah Lyles to claim Botswana’s first Olympic gold medal.
The brash Lyles was keen to showcase his speed and endurance in his preferred 200m after winning one of the closest 100m finals in modern Olympic history.
But Botswana’s Tebogo stunned the American with a storming run, relegating Lyles to bronze and his US team-mate Bednarek to silver.
Tebogo clocked a continent-wide record time of 19.46sec, leaving a distraught Lyles prone on the track. Lyles later revealed he had tested positive for Covid two days ago.
Hours later, Lyles said on social media his Games were likely over. “I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics,” the sprinter posted on Instagram.
In another sparkling performance on the track at the Stade de France, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone smashed the world record to win the women’s 400m hurdles gold.
The 400m women’s hurdles had been billed as perhaps the race of the Games, pitting McLaughlin-Levrone against Femke Bol of the Netherlands — the two fastest women ever over the distance.
In the end, the race was hardly a contest, McLaughlin-Levrone taking the field apart to register a staggering world record of 50.37sec. America’s Anna Cockrell took silver in 51.87sec while Bol trailed in third in a time of 52.15sec.
Grant Holloway won gold in the men’s 110m hurdles in a time of 12.99sec to finally add an Olympic title to the American’s host of world golds, while Tara Davis-Woodhall won the women’s long jump.
US sneak past Serbia
At a packed Bercy Arena, the United States had to come back from 17 points down to beat Nikola Jokic’s Serbia 95-91 to keep their bid for a fifth straight men’s basketball gold medal alive.
But it took a massive fourth-quarter effort to finally overhaul the Serbs, who were ahead for most of the game and led 76-63 heading into the fourth quarter.
Hosts France, led by the towering Victor Wembanyama, lie in their path to gold after edging Germany 73-69 in the first semi-final.
Elsewhere, Chang Yuan became the first woman boxer to win Olympic gold for China by beating Turkey’s Hatice Akbas by unanimous decision in the women’s bantamweight final.
Medals table
(Tabulated under country, gold, silver, bronze and total)
China 32 25 20 77 United States 31 38 36 105
Australia 18 15 14 47
France 14 19 22 55
Great Britain 14 19 22 55
Japan 13 8 13 34
South Korea 13 8 7 28
Italy 11 11 11 33
Germany 11 9 8 28
Netherlands 11 6 9 26
Canada 7 5 11 23
New Zealand 6 6 2 14
Hungary 4 5 5 14
Ireland 4 0 3 7
Ukraine 3 4 4 11
Sweden 3 4 3 10
Romania 3 4 1 8
Uzbekistan 3 0 2 5
Brazil 2 6 8 16
Spain 2 3 8 13
Iran 2 2 2 6
Bulgaria 2 1 3 6
Croatia 2 1 3 6
Cuba 2 1 3 6
Azerbaijan 2 1 1 4
Belgium 2 0 4 6
Austria 2 0 2 4
Hong Kong 2 0 2 4
Philippines 2 0 2 4
Czechia 2 0 1 3
Indonesia 2 0 1 3
Serbia 2 0 0 2
Israel 1 4 1 6
Kazakhstan 1 3 3 7
Jamaica 1 3 2 6
Thailand 1 3 2 6
Switzerland 1 2 4 7
South Africa 1 2 2 5
Denmark 1 2 1 4
Georgia 1 2 1 4
Ecuador 1 2 0 3
Greece 1 1 5 7
Poland 1 1 4 6
Kenya 1 1 3 5
Argentina 1 1 1 3
Chile 1 1 0 2
Saint Lucia 1 1 0 2
Slovenia 1 1 0 2
Uganda 1 1 0 2
Chinese Taipei 1 0 5 6
Guatemala 1 0 1 2
Morocco 1 0 1 2
Norway 1 0 1 2
Algeria 1 0 0 1
Botswana 1 0 0 1
Bahrain 1 0 0 1
Dominica 1 0 0 1
Pakistan 1 0 0 1
North Korea 0 2 4 6
Türkiye 0 2 3 5
Mexico 0 2 2 4
Armenia 0 2 1 3
Colombia 0 2 0 2 Ethiopia 0 2 0 2
India 0 1 5 6
Kyrgyzstan 0 1 3 4
Lithuania 0 1 2 3
Kosovo 0 1 1 2
Portugal 0 1 1 2
Tunisia 0 1 1 2
Cyprus 0 1 0 1
Fiji 0 1 0 1
Jordan 0 1 0 1
Mongolia 0 1 0 1
Moldova 0 0 3 3
Tajikistan 0 0 3 3
Dominican Republic 0 0 2 2
Grenada 0 0 2 2
Malaysia 0 0 2 2
Cape Verde 0 0 1 1
Egypt 0 0 1 1
Refugee 0 0 1 1
Peru 0 0 1 1
Singapore 0 0 1 1
Slovakia 0 0 1 1
Zambia 0 0 1 1
Updated to 11:00pm (PST)
Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2024