The German team had no reason to celebrate at the start of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

As in Rio de Janeiro five years ago, the black, red and gold athletes were left empty-handed when the first medals were awarded.

The closest thing to the precious metal came on Saturday, sport shooter Christian Reitz in fifth in his second discipline with the air pistol over the ten-meter distance.

In the road bike race, Maximilian Schachmann was ahead for a long time and came in tenth in the end.

The outstanding performance of the day from a German point of view was provided by Henning Mühlleitner in swimming on Saturday.

The 24-year-old from Neckarsulm was the fastest in the 400 meter freestyle final on Sunday and raised hopes for the first pool swimmer medal after two summer games.

For standard-bearer Laura Ludwig, the games in Japan started with a defeat.

One day after the opening ceremony, the beach volleyball Olympic champion and her partner Margareta Kozuch lost against the Swiss World Cup fourths Tanja Hüberli and Nina Betschart with 1: 2 sets.

Karla Borger and Julia Sude also lost 1: 2 to the European champions Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré, who also came from Switzerland.

The handball team of national coach Alfred Gislason had to admit defeat in the first round of European champions Spain 27:28.

The next German opponent in Group A is Argentina next Monday.

Things went better for the hockey men in the 7-1 win against Canada.

A far more difficult task awaits in the second group game in world champions Belgium on Monday.

Saber fencers disappoint

One of the biggest disappointments from a German point of view was the performance of the saber fencers.

Athlete spokesman Max Hartung, Matyas Szabo and Benedikt Wagner failed early.

The Hungarian Aron Szilagyi became the first male fencer in history to win his third gold medal in an individual discipline.

The gymnasts cheered.

The men moved into the team final as sixth.

In addition, Lukas Dauser and Philipp Herder reached the all-around final in the individual.

Dauser can also calculate his chances in the final fight on bars.

The tennis players also got off to a good start in the Olympic tournament.

Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff won against the Polish pairing Hubert Hurcacz / Lukasz Kubot 6: 2, 7: 6.

Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz are also in the round of 16.

The women's doubles Anna-Lena Friedsam and Laura Siegemund were eliminated.

Struff meets world number one Novak Djokovic after his first victory in the singles.

The first gold goes to Qian Yang

The first gold of the games was won by the Chinese shooter Qian Yang with an air rifle over the ten-meter distance.

The hosts could also look forward to their first victory: Judoka Naohisa Takato won in the class up to 60 kilograms.

Professional cyclist Simon Geschke will have to watch the games from a quarantine hotel in the next few days.

After his positive corona test, the 35-year-old was quartered there and, according to the applicable rules, should stay there for up to ten days.

In addition to Corona, the Olympic organizers also have to deal with a typhoon.

The cyclone was moving over the Pacific towards the Japanese main island of Honshu, it was said.

He is expected to hit land in the Kanto region with the capital Tokyo on Tuesday.

The organizers had already brought forward the rowing races originally planned for Monday. The short-term change didn't bother the Germany eighth. He confidently won his preliminary run, made it to the final and is considered a big gold favorite.