Saturday, 31 July 2021

Tokyo 2020+1 - Proud Daley achieves his dream at last


TOM DALEY wept tears of joy as he completed his 13-year Olympic career with a first gold in the 10m synchronised platform diving alongside debutant Matty Lee.

Daley - who first competed for Great Britain as a 14-year-old at the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing - had won successive bronze medals in London 2012 and at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

But, this time, the Plymouth lad and his 23-year-old Leeds-born diving partner Lee absolutely nailed their final dive to stay ahead of their Chinese rivals Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen.

After six rounds, the British duo had scored 471.81 points compared to 470.58 for the Chinese - and so, Daley, after so many years of trying, had finally achieved his boyhood dream.

"I still can't honestly believe what is happening," Daley said. "That moment, being about to be announced as Olympic champions, I was gone. I was blubbering."

With seven days completed, Great Britain has eight gold medals and 28 altogether - and sits sixth in the medal table, behind only China, hosts Japan, United States, the team representing Russia, and Australia.

In particular, the performance in the swimming pool has been something of a revelation, with the clock turned back to 1908 when London hosted the Games for the first time.

For the first time in 113 years, Team GB has won seven medals in swimming at a single Games in a haul which includes four gold, two silver and a bronze for Luke Greenbank in the 200m backstroke.

Earlier, Adam Peaty had started the ball rolling with an emphatic victory in the 100m breaststroke, an event in which he still has not lost for seven years.

But, if that was expected, a first British 1-2 in the pool since 1908 came as a complete shock as Tom Dean and Duncan Scott dominated the 200m freestyle.

Scott also won silver in the 200m individual medley - and Dean and Scott then combined with James Guy, Matt Richards, and Callum Jarvis in the heats, to achieve a crushing victory in the 4x 200m freestyle relay.

Debutant Richards, aged only 18, was outstanding in the third leg and set up Scott perfectly for the anchor leg as the race finished with the British teams missing out on the world record by just three-hundredths of a second.

Not to be outdone by Dean, Peaty also now has two gold medals at these Olympics - and three overall - after being part of the team which won the inaugural mixed 4×100 metre medley relay.

Peaty raced alongside Guy, Kathleen Dawson, Anna Hopkin, and Freya Anderson in the heats, as the British wrote their names in the history books as the first Olympic winners of this event.

Meanwhile, in the gymnasium, there was more history being made by Team GB as the women's team - Amelie Morgan, Alice Kinsella and the 16-year-old Gadirova twins, Jennifer and Jessica - came from behind for a first Olympic teams medal since 1928.

Bryony Page added to her silver from Rio de Janeiro with a bronze this time in the women's trampoline - and, with the individual event finals now getting under way, the British medal haul from the Ariake Gymnastics Centre might not be finished just yet.

Of course, taekwondo has always delivered for Team GB, ever since its introduction to the Games at Sydney in 2000 - and these Tokyo Olympics have been no different.

Bradly Sinden and Lauren Williams both won silver on debut in the featherweight and welterweight categories respectively - while the more experienced Bianca Walkden took bronze after suffering a controversial semi final defeat.

Staying with martial arts - and judo has been less successful for Team GB with the events unsurprisingly dominated by hosts Japan.

Nevertheless, the national sport of the home nation will always be recorded as Britain's first medal of these Tokyo Olympics with Chelsie Giles taking bronze in the 52kg category on day two.

Elsewhere, in the equestrian, Charlotte Dujardin became the most decorated British female Olympian - for now.

Dujardin, on her new horse Gio, won bronze medals in individual and team horse dancing - or dressage, to give its proper name - to take her overall career total in the Olympics to six - three gold, one silver, two bronze).

Track cyclist Laura Kenny can overtake Dujardin with medals in each of her three events - and, staying on two wheels, there have already been some strong performances from Team GB.

Tom Pidcock took gold with a dominant display in the men's mountain bike cross-country - and, in BMX, Bethany Shriever won each of her three races for gold in the women's event while Kye Whyte took silver in the men's final race.

Trusty triathlon delivered again as Jess Learmonth, Jonathan Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee struck gold in another new event at the Olympics - a mixed relay - after Yee and Taylor-Brown had both won silver in the respective men's and women's competitions.

Slalom canoeist Mallory Franklin was also on the second step of the podium in the women's C1 event - and, at around about the same time as that, British world champion, Matt Coward-Holley took bronze in the men's trap shooting.

For the rowing team, there was a silver in the men's quadruple sculls and a bronze in the men's eight on the Sea Forest Waterway - but, for the first time since 1984, Britain failed to win a gold medal at an Olympic regatta.

No fewer than six fourth-placed finishes go some way to explaining the overall low haul - and Emily Craig and Imogen Grant can be especially gutted at having missed out on bronze by one-hundredths of a second in the women's lightweight double sculls.

But, funded a generous £25m by UK Sport via the National Lottery, the rowing team simply had to do better than they did - and some tough questions will now need to be asked.

Indeed, the abiding Team GB memory from the rowing competition in Tokyo will be the sight of the men's four - in an event won five times in a row by the British boat from Sydney onwards - almost taking out the Italians by actually steering into the wrong lane.

Certainly, British Rowing will not look back on the Tokyo Olympics with much fondness at all.

There was also disappointment in the athletics with the events in the Olympic Stadium only just under way.

Big hope Dina Asher-Smith failed to qualify for the women's 100m final - and, citing a hamstring injury incurred during the trials before the Games, the 25-year-old has now pulled out of her favoured 200m.

There is better news from the Enoshima Yacht Harbour where there are no fewer than six British boats which have been navigated into a top three position, as it stands.

And there are four guaranteed medals in boxing with featherweight Karriss Artingstall, middleweight Lauren Price, welterweight Pat McCormack and light-heavyweight Benjamin Whittaker all taking home at least a bronze after reaching the semi finals of their events.

But, as Asher-Smith and others show, these Olympics have shown that there is nothing beyond that which is absolutely guaranteed in sport.

Naomi Osaka, the home face of these Games, lost 6-1, 6-4 to world number 42 Marketa Vondrousova in the third round of the women's tennis - and, in the men's competition, Novak Djokovic gave away a one-set lead to lose his semi final to Alexander Zverev.

Earlier, Tunisian teenager Ahmed Hafnaoui stunned the field in the men's 400m freestyle swimming by taking gold, having qualified for the final with the slowest time.

Then, later that day in the women's cycling road race, Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer pulled off what CNN described as "one of the biggest shocks in Olympics history".

Kiesenhofer had trained for the event without a coach or a professional team and her only genuine chance of a medal was from the early breakaway which she initiated.

Slowly but surely, Kiesenhofer's fellow riders at the front fell back - and, with the leading group down to just three, the Austrian broke away by herself for the final 41km while climbing the Kagosaka Pass.

All of the riders, except for Kiesenhofer, were eventually swallowed up by the Dutch-led peleton - and, as Annamiek Van Vleuten crossed the line for silver, she thought she had won gold - until she was told about the previously unheralded Austrian.

Unquestionably, though, the biggest story of the first week came in the Ariake Gymnastics Centre where American gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the all-round final after a single vault on Wednesday.

World super-star Biles had looked out-of-sorts in the opening days of the competition - but had still qualified for the all-round final and the finals of each of the five pieces of apparatus.

At first, it was speculated that a physical injury was going to prevent Biles from attempting to achieve a remarkable six gold medals at these Games.

However, it quickly emerged that Biles had actually stepped away from the Olympics for the good of her mental health.

"After the performance I did, I just didn't want to go on. I have to focus on my mental health. I just think mental health is more prevalent in sports right now.

"We have to protect our minds and our bodies and not just go out and do what the world wants us to do.

"I don't trust myself as much anymore. Maybe it's getting older. There were a couple of days when everybody tweets you and you feel the weight of the world.

"We're not just athletes. We're people at the end of the day and sometimes you just have to step back."

Biles's actions have rightly drawn much praise - and, here in the UK, BBC presenter Alex Scott delivered an extremely eloquent summary of the situation.

“The four-time Olympic champion has transcended her sport, raised awareness on a range of very important issues and she’s done it again," Scott said. "Finding one’s voice is just as difficult as any skill that can be mastered.

“Simone has ensured that the Tokyo Olympics will also be defined by things other than sport. (This is) a conversation that needs to be continued. Mental health is important and it does matter.”

It may be difficult to see - but, for sure, the right decision for anyone sometimes is simply just to walk away and allow the situation to ease.

For now, though - my very best wishes to Biles and Asher-Smith, and indeed anyone else who feels as if they are struggling a little right now.


🔴MEDAL TABLE Updated on 31-July at 17:18 BST
Pos
GSBTOTAL
1CHINA (CHN)
21131246
2JAPAN (JPN)
175830
3UNITED STATES (USA)
16171346
4RUSSIAN OLYMPIC TEAM (ROC)
11151137
5AUSTRALIA (AUS)
1031427
6GREAT BRITAIN (GBR)
891128
7SOUTH KOREA (KOR)
54716
8FRANCE (FRA)
49619
9NETHERLANDS (NED)
47516
10NEW ZEALAND (NZL)
43310
11GERMANY (GER)
341017
12CANADA (CAN)
34512
13SWITZERLAND (SUI)
33410
14CZECH REPUBLIC (CZE)
3317
15CROATIA (CRO)
3126
16ITALY (ITA)
281424
17CHINESE TAIPEI (TPE)
2237
18HUNGARY (HUN)
2226
19SLOVENIA (SLO)
21
14
20KOSOVO (KOS)
2002
21BRAZIL (BRA)
1348
22GEORGIA (GEO)
1315
23ROMANIA (ROU)
1304
24SPAIN (ESP)
1225
25HONG KONG (HKG)
1203
25SOUTH AFRICA (RSA)
1203
27AUSTRIA (AUT)
1135
28SERBIA (SRB)
1124
29JAMAICA (JAM)
1113
30NORWAY (NOR)
1102
30POLAND (POL)
1102
30SLOVAKIA (SVK)
1102
30SWEDEN (SWE)
1102
30TUNISIA (TUN)
1102
35TURKEY (TUR)
1023
36ESTONIA (EST)
1012
36FIJI (FIJ)
1012
36IRELAND (IRL)
1012
36UZBEKISTAN (UZB)
1012
40BELARUS (BLR)
1001
40BERMUDA (BER)
1001
40ECUADOR (ECU)
1001
40ETHIOPIA (ETH)
1001
40GREECE (GRE)
1001
40IRAN (IRI)
1001
40LATVIA (LAT)
1001
40PHILIPPINES (PHI)
1001
40QATAR (QAT)
1001
40THAILAND (THA)
1001
50COLOMBIA (COL)
0213
51DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (DOM)
0202
51VENEZUELA (VEN)
0202
53INDONESIA (INA)
0123
53MONGOLIA (MON)
0123
55BELGIUM (BEL)
0112
55CUBA (CUB)
0112
55DENMARK (DEN)
0112
55SAN MARINO (SMR)
0112
55UGANDA (UGA)
0112
60BULGARIA (BUL)
0112
60INDIA (IND)
0101
60JORDAN (JOR)
0101
60NORTH MACEDONIA (MKD)
0101
60TURKMENISTAN (TKM)
0101
65UKRAINE (UKR)
0101
66KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ)
0055
67EGYPT (EGY)
0033
67ISRAEL (ISR)
0022
67MEXICO (MEX)
0022
70ARGENTINA (ARG)
0022
70AZERBAIJAN (AZE)
0011
70FINLAND (FIN)
0011
70IVORY COAST (CIV)
0011
70KUWAIT (KUW)
0011
70MALAYSIA (MAS)
0011
70PORTUGAL (POR)
0011

🔴TEAM GB MEDALS Updated on 31-July at 21:58 BST

GOLD
26-JulyTom Pidcock
CyclingMen's cross-country
Report
26-July

Tom Daley
Matty Lee
Diving

Men's synchornised 10m platform

Report


26-JulyAdam Peaty
SwimmingMen's 100m breaststroke
Report
27-JulyTom Dean
SwimmingMen's 200m freestyle
Report
28-July




Tom Dean
James Guy
Matt Richards
Duncan Scott
[Callum Jarvis]
Swimming




Men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay




Report





30-JulyBethany Shriever
CyclingWomen's BMX racing
Report
31-July



Jess Learmonth
Jonathan Brownlee
Georgia Taylor-Brown
Alex Yee
Triathlon



Mixed relay



Report




31-July




Kathleen Dawson
James Guy
Adam Peaty
Anna Hopkin
[Freya Anderson]
Swimming




Mixed 4 x 100m medley relay




Report






SILVER
25-JulyBradly Sinden
TaekwondoMen's -68kg
Report
26-JulyLauren Williams
TaekwondoWomen's -67kg
Report
26-JulyAlex Yee
TriathlonMen's individual
Report
27-JulyDuncan Scott
SwimmingMen's 200m freestyle
Report
27-JulyGeorgia Taylor-Brown
TriathlonWomen's individual
Report
28-July



Tom Barras
Jack Beaumont
Angus Groom
Harry Leask
Rowing



Men's quadruple sculls



Report




29-JulyMallory Franklin
CanoeingWomen's C-1
Report
30-JulyDuncan Scott
SwimmingMen's 200m individual medley
Report
30-JulyKye Whyte
CyclingMen's BMX racing
Report

BRONZE
25-JulyChelsie Giles
JudoWomen's 52kg
Report
27-JulyBianca Walkden
TaekwondoWomen's +67kg
Report
27-July



Jennifer Gadirova
Jessica Gadirova
Alice Kinsella
Amelie Morgan
Gymnastics



Women's team all-round



Report




27-July


Charlotte Dujardin
Charlotte Fry
Carl Hester
Equestrian


Team dressage


Report



28-JulyCharlotte Dujardin
EquestrianIndividual dressage
Report
29-JulyMatthew Coward-Holley
ShootingMen's trap
Report
30-July*see below
RowingMen's eight
Report
30-JulyLuke Greenbank
SwimmingMen's 200m backstroke
Report
30-JulyBryony Page
GymnasticsWomen's trampoline
Report
31-JulyEmma Wilson
SailingWomen's RS:X
Report
31-JulyKarriss Artingstall
BoxingWomen's featherweight
Report
*Men's eight Josh Bugajski, Jacob Dawson, Charles Elwes, Thomas Ford, Thomas George, James Rudkin, Moe Sbihi, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, Henry Fieldman (cox)

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