Olympic Roundup: Flint’s Mackenzie Brown, Americans earn No. 3 ranking before falling in quarters

Published 5:36 pm Sunday, July 25, 2021

TOKYO — The American women’s archery team, which includes East Texan Mackenzie Brown, earned a bye in the knockoff round before falling in the quarterfinals on Sunday in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The No. 3 seed Americans were upset by the Russian Olympic Committee team, 6-0, in the quarterfinals. 

The Americans placed third in the ranking round. Brown, of Flint, was joined by Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez and Casey Kaufhold on the American team. They scored 1,970 points. South Korea was first with 2,032 points, followed by Mexico (1,976).

A contingent led by An San captured South Korea’s ninth straight women’s archery team gold medal. An is fresh off a win in the Olympic debut of the mixed team competition. She combined with Kang Chae Young and Jang Minhee to beat the Russian Olympic Committee by a final score of 6-0 in tricky wind conditions at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field.

The bronze medal went to Germany after a 5-1 win over Belarus.

Gymnastics off to rocky start

Simone Biles and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team trailed the Russians after qualifying in the team event, the first time in a decade they’ve failed to finish atop the standings during any portion of a major international event.

Biles led the field in a bid for her fifth gold medal, but the U.S. team has work to do to repeat as Olympic champions. The ROC had a score of 171.629 through the first three subdivisions at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre, ahead of the second-place Americans’ 170.562.

Biles was the best in the gym but shaky by her standards. She stepped all the way off the mat following a tumbling pass on her floor exercise, then basically did the same on vault. She responded with a solid set on uneven bars, but a spectacular beam routine ended with her taking three major steps backward following her dismount.

Jordan Chiles had a major mistake on bars and a fall on beam. Sunisa Lee overcame a so-so performance on floor to surge into second behind Biles with an electric bar routine.

The team final is scheduled for Tuesday night.

France rallies by USA basketball

The U.S. men’s basketball team lost in the Olympics for the first time since 2004, dropping its tournament opener against France 83-76.

Evan Fournier’s 3-pointer with just under a minute left put France ahead to stay, leaving the Americans’ quest for a fourth consecutive gold medal in serious trouble. France also knocked the U.S. out of contention in the Basketball World Cup two years ago.

The U.S. had won 25 consecutive Olympic games, last losing at the Athens Games 17 years ago and settling for a bronze medal there.

The loss doesn’t knock the U.S. out of medal contention, but it essentially eliminates the margin for error. The Americans play Iran on Wednesday and then the Czech Republic on Saturday in its final two Group A games; win both of those, and the U.S. will be in the quarterfinals. Lose another one, and the Americans might not even finish in the top eight of this 12-team tournament.

American gold in Taekwondo

Anastasija Zolotic won the United States’ first gold medal in women’s taekwondo by beating Russian athlete Tatiana Minina 25-17 to claim the featherweight division title.

The 18-year-old Zolotic lets out a primal scream as she pulls on her helmet before each round. The Largo, Florida, native has been telling friends and family since early childhood that she would be an Olympic champion and she needed only one trip to the Games to make it happen.

Zolotic and Minina had a high-scoring first round and a tactical second but Zolotic picked apart her Russian opponent in the third with two-point body kicks after nursing a one-point lead into the final round.

Zolotic was only the fourth American to reach an Olympic taekwondo final and only the second woman. Steven Lopez won the U.S. team’s only two previous Olympic golds in taekwondo.

USA gold in Women’s Foil

Lee Kiefer has earned the third gold medal for the United States at the Tokyo Olympics by beating defending champion Inna Deriglazova of Russia 15-13 in the women’s foil final.

Kiefer is a four-time NCAA champion at Notre Dame. She ripped off her mask after the final point and shouted “Oh my God!” She placed fifth at the 2012 London Games and was 10th at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

It’s the third Olympic gold for the U.S. fencing team. Mariel Zagunis won in saber at the 2004 and 2008 Games.

Kiefer is also a medical student at the University of Kentucky.

Water Polo: USA 15, Japan 13

Johnny Hooper has returned to his mother’s homeland for his Olympic debut and had one of the biggest U.S. goals in a 15-13 victory over Japan.

The win came on the first day of the men’s water polo tournament at the Tokyo Games.

Hooper scored from deep with the U.S. clinging to a one-goal lead in the final minute to help close out the win.

Hooper’s mother was born in Kumakura and his grandmother lives in Japan. But they weren’t able to watch the game in person because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rahm, DeChambeau out 

Spanish golfer Jon Rahm has tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time in two months and been knocked out of the Olympics only a few hours after American golfer Bryson DeChambeau met the same fate.

The back-to-back coronavirus shockers came on the second full day of action in Tokyo and put a damper on the golf tournament. The sport is scheduled to begin Thursday and will be without the last two U.S. Open champions.

DeChambeau won in 2020 at Winged Foot. Rahm took the title last month at Torrey Pines in a comeback of sorts. He was only two weeks removed from building a six-shot lead after the third round of the Memorial only to be told he had tested positive for COVID-19 and had to withdraw.

American wins gold in air rifle

William Shaner has won gold men’s 10-meter air rifle, adding to the United States’ second-day haul at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 20-year-old Shaner qualified third and was steady in the finals at his first Olympics, finishing with an Olympic-record 251.6 points. Sheng Lihao, a Chinese 16-year-old with little international experience, took silver and countryman Yang Haoran earned bronze.

Shaner was one of the top youth shooters in the country and has already had a decorated career at the University of Kentucky, finishing second at the NCAA individual championships and team gold in consecutive seasons. He also was a first-team All-American as a freshman.

Skateboarding

Japan’s Yuto Horigome has won the first-ever skateboarding competition at the Olympic Games, taking gold in men’s street in the city where he learned to skate as a kid and where his sport is often frowned upon.

The first ever skateboarding silver went to Brazilian Kelvin Hoefler, who used to sleep with his board when he fell in love with skating as a kid.

American skater Jagger Eaton took bronze, the Arizonan adapting best among the Americans to the heat at the Ariake Urban Sports Park in Tokyo.

One of skateboarding’s biggest stars, Nyjah Huston from the U.S., fell repeatedly trying to land tricks and placed 7th in the eight-man final.