“Getting off the bus and walking to the pool tonight, I pretty much felt myself starting to crack”, confessed Phelps.
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Bolt turned the Olympic Stadium into his stage again for his first race at the Rio Games, cruising to an easy win in his 100-meter heat, backed up by the trademark showmanship to the thrill of the crowd. In what is being billed as a Good v Evil battle, Bolt clashes with arch-rival Justin Gatlin, the fastest man this year.
The 400 meter final features a showdown between LaShawn Merritt of the United States, Kirani James of Grenada and Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa.
Monica Puig won Puerto Rico’s first gold medal in any sport in Olympic history, upsetting Angelique Kerber in the women’s tennis singles final.
Blume won in 24.07 with Manuel adding silver to her surprise 100m gold with a time of 24.09 and Aliaksandra Herasimenia of Belarus, the London runner-up previously banned for doping, taking bronze.
In the boxing ring the serious business begins with the men’s light flyweight final where Yurberjen Martinez is vying to become the first Colombian to win Olympic boxing gold.In his way is a Manny Pacquiao-inspired Uzbek fighter Hasanboy Dusmatov.
Usain Bolt (centre) easing off as he wins his heat to qualify for the semi-finals.
The Jamaican sprinter is seeking an unprecedented third straight gold at the 100 meters Sunday night at the Rio Olympics.
American Justin Gatlin posted the fastest time in the Rio heats.
If it’s Sunday, there must be a golf final somewhere.
Elaine Thompson ended the reign of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce with a women’s 100m victory of 10.71sec which torpedoed her fellow Jamaican’s hopes of an Olympic hat-trick in the event.
The two golfers were undefeated as partners two years ago at the Ryder Cup. But last week a Brazilian security officer was fatally shot after taking a wrong turn into a slum, two Australian rowing coaches were attacked and robbed in Ipanema and Portugal’s education minister was held up at knifepoint on a busy street.
Pernille Blume, who swam Denmark’s anchor leg, earlier won gold in the women’s 50m free, inflicting more heartbreak on Australia’s Cate Campbell after her 100m flop. They play at 12 p.m. The U.S. has had two straight close games, against Australia and Serbia. In fact, the Americans could even end up finishing third in Group A.
At the velodrome, Britain’s Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell-Shand smashed the women’s team pursuit world record for the second time in 48 hours to take gold, beating world champions US to defend their title.
On the men’s side, British teammates Louis Smith and Max Whitlock square off in the pommel horse final, along with American Alex Naddour and Ukrainian Oleg Verniaiev.
Murray is going to have to work extra hard, though, because del Potro is on a roll, having ousted both the top player in the world, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, and No. 5 Rafael Nadal of Spain at the Olympic tournament.
Monica Puig of Puerto Rico celebrates holding her country’s flag after winning the gold medal match in the women’s tennis competition.
The women’s doubles gold will either go to Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland or Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russian Federation.
There are also gold medals up for grabs in weightlifting, greco-roman wrestling, diving, sailing, shooting and fencing.
Great Britain’s Mo Farah became became a back-to-back gold medalist in the 10,000-meter race after he finished first in 27:05.17, despite stumbling at one point during the race. Not three of Kenya’s best trying to wear him down with repeated spurts of acceleration.
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Klay Thompson ended an Olympic-long slump with seven 3-pointers and 30 points, and the US needed nearly all of them to hold off France 100-97 in basketball. “When I place that medal in her hands, I’ll be crying”, Henderson said. The water at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center has been green-tinged and murky for five days.
