Roundup of Olympic gold medals from Tuesday, August 3
TOKYO (AP) — A roundup of gold medals from Tuesday, August 3, at the Tokyo Games:
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BOXING
Sena Irie of Japan has claimed the first-ever women’s featherweight boxing gold medal with a unanimous decision over the Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio.
Irie became the first female boxer to win a medal for Japan when she secured the first gold of the Tokyo boxing tournament by sweeping the third round on all five judges’ cards at the Kokugikan Arena. Irie’s crisper punches won over the judges in a bout with plenty of clinching.
Petecio settled for the Philippines’ first boxing medal of any kind since 1996, but Manny Pacquiao’s home nation is in contention for at least two more medals in Tokyo.
Featherweight was one of two women’s weight classes added to the Olympics in Tokyo. The women’s field also was expanded to 100 fighters from 36 in its first two Olympics.
Italy’s Irma Testa and Britain’s Karriss Artingstall won the division’s inaugural bronze medals.
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CANOEING
Cuba won a surprise gold medal in the men’s canoe double 1,000 meters, ahead of China and Germany.
Germany had won the event at five of the last seven Olympic games and Sebastian Brendel had been in the German boat for gold medals in 2012 and 2016.
But the race developed into a battle between Cuba and China over the final 500 meters. Cuba’s Serguey Torres Madrigal and Fernando Dayan Jorge Enriquez edged across the line to win by 0.2 seconds.
The Cuban duo had won silver at the world championships in 2019, but Cuba hadn’t medaled in this event at the Olympics since 2000.
Germany won bronze to earn a medal in the events for the seventh consecutive Olympics.
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DIVING
Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan have given China another 1-2 finish in Olympic diving, taking gold and silver in men’s 3-meter springboard.
The Chinese divers held the top two spots after both the preliminaries and the semifinals, and it was more of the same in the finals.
Xie broke down in tears when marks for his final dive were posted, a string of 9.0s and 9.5s that clinched the gold with 558.75 points. Wang came over to give his teammate a hug.
The biggest drama was for the silver, but Wang nailed his final dive to hold off Britain’s Jack Laugher with 534.90.
Laugher was only 2.05 points behind Wang going to the final round but over-rotated his entry a bit, leaving him with the bronze at 518.00.
Long the world’s dominant diving nation, China has been near-perfect at the Tokyo Aquatic Center with five gold medals in six events.
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KAYAKING
WOMEN’S
New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington took two gold medals by winning the canoe sprint women’s kayak double 500 with boatmate Caitlin Regal, and the sprint 200 alone.
In the double race, the Kiwis led by half a boat length at 250 meters and never let up their pace.
Poland won the silver medal nearly a full second behind the New Zealand boat. Hungary took bronze.
In the single, Carrington bolted out of the start and had a lead of half a boat length barely 50 meters into the race. She beat Spain’s Teresa Portela of Spain by 0.76 seconds.
Emma Aastrand Jorgensen of Denmark won the bronze medal.
Carrington is also a medal favorite in the kayak 500 single and fours later this week.
MEN’S
Hungary finished 1-2 in the men’s kayak 1,000 as Balint Kopasz dominated the final 250 meters to pull away for the gold medal. Adam Varga finished second.
Kopasz came in as the reigning world champion and was locked in a tough battle with Fernando Pimenta of Portugal over the first 750 meters before his final push to the win. Varga edged Pimenta by 0.047 seconds at the finish for the silver medal.
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TRACK AND FIELD
WOMEN’S LONG JUMP
Malaika Mihambo of Germany took the top spot in the women’s long jump with a 7-meter leap on her final attempt and edged U.S. veteran Brittney Reese for the Olympic gold medal.
Mihambo won the world championship title in 2019 and finished just off the podium in fourth place at the 2016 Olympics.
The 34-year-old Reese now has back-to-back Olympic silver medals at the Tokyo Games and from Rio de Janeiro after winning the title at London in 2012.
The four-time world champion had the chance to win with the final jump of the competition but couldn’t improve on her best mark of 6.97 meters.
Ese Brume of Nigeria, who led after the first round and was in top spot again after the fourth, also finished on 6.97-meters and took bronze on a countback.
MEN’S HURDLES
Karsten Warholm of Norway obliterated his own world record in the Olympic 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 45.94 to crack the old mark by .76.
One of the most anticipated races on the program more than lived up to the hype. Second-place finisher Rai Benjamin of the United States finished in 46.17, a mark that also beat the record Warholm set last month.
This time, it was good for only second. Warholm flashed that trademark look of amazement when he crossed the line first. Alison dos Santos of Brazil finished third and six of the eight runners broke either a world, continental or national record.
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