Lost awards in swimming and judo

The eighth competitive day of the Olympic Games in Tokyo was not the most fruitful in medals for the Russian national team. Domestic athletes won three awards, only one of which was gold. Once again, we were pleased with the saber fencers, who this time turned out to be the strongest in the team competition. On the way to the final, Sofia Pozdnyakova, Sofya Velikaya and Olga Nikitina dealt with their rivals from Japan and South Korea without any problems, and in the dispute for the first line they coped with the French women - 45:41. Two more awards have traditionally been brought to the country's treasury by arrows. If in mixed competitions in the "trap" the Russians could not make it to the final round, then in rifle shooting from three positions they took two medals. Yulia Zykova got silver, and her namesake Karimova got bronze.

In other sports, the Russians were not so successful and were left without medals.

The defeat of tennis players Elena Vesnina and Veronika Kudermetova, who missed four match points in the match for third place, turned out to be especially offensive.

The Russian mixed judo team was one step away from the award, but lost two matches in a row at once and remained outside the top three.

In the semifinals, domestic athletes could not oppose anything to the Japanese, losing with a dry score of 0: 4, and in the consolation final they could not cope with the Israelis (1: 4).

It all started quite optimistically, when Madina Taymazova with the help of waza-ari coped with Gili Sharir, but four subsequent fights remained with the opponents.

Mikhail Igolnikov, Alexandra Babintseva, Tamerlan Bashaev and Daria Mezhetskaya lost in turn.

And at once three lost with ippon.

Everything turned out unsuccessfully in swimming. On the eighth day, three final heats were held, in none of which the Russian athletes were able to finish even in the top three. In the mixed relay 4 × 100 meters, Evgeny Rylov, Kirill Prigoda, Svetlana Chimrova and Maria Kameneva showed only the seventh result, 4.87 seconds behind the gold medalists - the British. In the 100-meter butterfly, Andrei Minakov was only fifth, and Anastasia Kirpichnikova was unsuccessful in the 800-meter free style. The athlete from Asbestos took the last, eighth place, and the gap from the American Kathleen Ledecky was catastrophic - 13.73 seconds.

But the misadventures of domestic swimmers did not end there. In the semifinals, they also failed to impose a worthy competition against their counterparts and were unable to qualify for the decisive round at a distance of 50 meters in free style - both in the women's and men's tournaments. In their heats, Kliment Kolesnikov and Vladimir Morozov showed the fourth and eighth times, respectively, and Arina Surkova - the fifth. However, this was not enough to win a ticket to the next stage.

The Russian national team was also left without medals in the trampoline jumping competition.

Dmitry Ushakov and Andrey Yudin confidently proceeded to the final, but there they showed only the fifth and sixth results, respectively.

At the same time, the gold medal for the second Olympics in a row went to the representative of Belarus - Ivan Litvinovich came to replace Vladislav Goncharov.

As for the domestic athletes, they missed the last chance to break into the prizes in the mixed relay in triathlon, where they became only 14th.

Success in boxing and layouts for beachgoers

In other sports, the Russians were luckier. The boxers finished the competition day without losses. Gabil Mammadov easily dealt with Richard Louis Colin from Mauritius and reached the quarterfinals, and the only representative of the country in the women's tournament, Zemfira Magomedalieva, overcame Radey Graman from Mozambique, thanks to which she made her way to the 1/2 finals. Maria Polyakova qualified for the decisive round in ski jumping, however, it will be extremely difficult for her to compete for awards. Still, the 11th result and more than 80 points behind the leader are not grounds for optimism.

In BMX freestyle, the participants in the final round of the competition were determined, including domestic athletes.

Yes, Irek Rizaev and Elizaveta Posadskikh will find it difficult to fight for high places, but you shouldn't write them off in advance.

This is especially true of the 23-year-old Kazan, who finished the preliminary tournament fifth.

The group stage in beach volleyball has also ended, where three Russian couples continue to fight for medals at once.

The last to finish their performance at this stage were Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky.

The reigning world champions started well against the Czechs Ondjey Perusic and David Schweiner, but lost concentration and not only missed a comfortable four-point lead, but also lost the first game.

However, in subsequent sets they pulled themselves together and did not allow the opponents to even hope for success - 19:21, 21:13, 15: 8.

Thus, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovsky followed the example of compatriots Ilya Leshchukov and Konstantin Semyonov - they took first place in their quartet and secured themselves lighter opponents in the 1/8 finals.

The first went to the Spaniards Pablo Herrera Allepus and Adrian Gavira Collado, and the second went to the Chileans Esteban and Marco Grimalt.

But if they have to go to the site only on August 2, then the domestic beach girls - already tomorrow.

Nadezhda Makroguzova and Svetlana Holomina also qualified from the first line and got the Latvian duet Anastasia Kravchenoka - Tina Graudinya as their opponents.

Historic victory in volleyball and Trefilov's silence

In team sports, Russia performed unevenly. Having guaranteed itself a ticket to the playoffs of the Olympic tournament in advance, the men's volleyball team relaxed and lost to France in four games. Even 15 points of Maxim Mikhailov did not save, this time he demonstrated a rather average efficiency (22%). Nevertheless, this did not prevent Tuomas Sammelvuo's wards from retaining the first line in the group, which they will surely keep. In the final round, they are waiting for the main outsider of the sextet - Tunisia. In turn, the women's national team did not notice resistance from the United States and resolved all issues in three games. This is especially honorable, because the previous eight meetings remained with the Stars and Stripes, and the last success of domestic volleyball players dates back to 2015.

No less vivid emotions were caused by the triumph of domestic handball players, who, with a minimal difference, prevailed over the current silver medalists of the European Championship - French women.

And this without the help of the ex-mentor, and now the vice-president of the federation, Yevgeny Trefilov, who has been actively prompting from the stands until now.

Russian rugby players ended their stay at the Games ingloriously.

The day before, they suffered a crushing defeat from New Zealand in the quarterfinals, and today they were twice more beats in a dispute for places from fifth to seventh.

First they lost to the Australians (7:35) and then to the Chinese (10:22).

Durant's record and Jamaica's dominance in running

Nevertheless, in the team competition there was someone to follow and not counting the Russian national team. So, in football, the semifinalists of the men's tournament were determined. The most dramatic was the confrontation between Spain and Cote d'Ivoire. The Africans opened the scoring already in the tenth minute, thanks to the accurate shot of Eric Bailly, but Danny Olmo restored parity even before the break. In the main time, it was not possible to identify the winner, and in the additional teams they staged a real show, scoring five goals for two. The main character was Wolverhampton striker Rafa Mir, whose hat-trick helped the “red fury” overcome the barrier of the first round of the playoffs - 5: 2.

It is noteworthy that it was not even the most productive match of the day. Thus, Mexico and South Korea scored nine goals for two, six of which flew into the net of the Asian team. The rest of the meetings were less eventful. Brazil beat Egypt with a minimum score, while Japan took over New Zealand on penalties.

In basketball, the US team is gaining momentum. After an unexpected defeat from France, Gregg Popovich's wards scored two more than convincing victories - first over Iran, and then over the Czech Republic. At the end of the first half, the Stars and Stripes were leading with a difference of 18 points, and after the third, the gap increased to 36. It was not possible to organize the chase - 119: 84. Boston's Jason Tatum with 27 points was the most prolific for Dream Team, but Kevin Durant was in the spotlight. The Brooklyn forward scored 23 points and became the national team's top scorer at the Games.

There was something to see in other disciplines as well.

So, at once three sets of awards were played in athletics.

In the men's discus throw, the podium was two-thirds Swedish.

Gold was won by Daniel Stoll, silver - by Simon Petterson, and the Scandinavians were accompanied by Austrian Lucas Weissheidinger.

A similar situation arose in the 100-meter race for women, with the only difference that no one could compete with the natives of Jamaica.

Elaine Thompson surpassed her compatriots Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price and Sherika Jackson, setting an Olympic record along the way.

To top it off, Poland was the first in the 4x400m mixed relay, followed by the Dominican Republic and the USA.

Statement by an American journalist

Another competitive day of the Games was not without interesting stories, often quite scandalous.

The famous tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg became the hero of one of these.

In another message on Twitter, he appreciated the success of the Russian and Croatian national teams at the Olympics, noting that they had already guaranteed themselves medals.

At the same time, he provided the tweet with the flags of both countries, which did not like one of the users.

He said that the correspondent should have refrained from using this tricolor, which caused a rather harsh reaction from him.

Rotenberg replied that he is not the International Olympic Committee.

He also stressed that these are Russian athletes who perform together because they represent one nation.

Also, during the day, three athletes were removed from the Olympics at once. One of them was the Swiss sprinter Alex Wilson, previously suspected of an anti-doping rule violation. He was declared at a distance of 100 meters and 200 meters, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) intervened and renewed his suspension. Nigerian long jumper Blessing Okagbare, in whose sample growth hormone was found, will not perform in Tokyo either. The organizing committee is not asleep either, having revoked the accreditation for participation in competitions from two Georgian judokas. The day before, they violated the protocol for countering the spread of coronavirus infection, leaving the territory of the Olympic village.

Unlike the above athletes, Simone Biles refused to perform in two types of the program of her own free will. According to ESPN, the four-time Olympic champion will not compete for medals in the vault and parallel bars. At the moment, the likelihood remains that she will take part in floor exercises and show her skill on the balance beam.