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We’re off and operating! Effectively, no observe but. However we’re capturing, weightlifting and taking part in handball.
The Olympics started two days in the past, however the Opening Ceremony makes it official. Many within the U.S. watched it dwell within the morning, others watched it on tape delay within the night. Our Michael Rosenberg watched it from contained in the stadium and wrote this: “Absent context, this was a beautiful night, however context does matter. … The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee placed on a ravishing however doomed present.”
His factors are legitimate, and I’ve written about conflicted feelings too. However there have been some issues to love within the ceremony.
Like human pictograms!
And an excellent pianist. And some great outfits. However sufficient with “Think about,” already.
Let’s transfer on to the sports activities.
Whereas You Have been Sleeping
Water polo
The spotlight of the evening for Staff USA was the ladies’s water polo group’s absolute domination of Japan. For individuals who don’t know, this is without doubt one of the U.S.’s greatest groups in Tokyo. Along with profitable gold in London and Rio, the group has streaks of world titles in non-Olympic years.
Japan stored issues tight early, night the rating at 3–3. The U.S. then completed on a 22–1 run to win by a last of 25–4.
In accordance with USA Water Polo’s Twitter account, the group set Olympic data for targets in a recreation (25), margin of victory (21) and halftime rating (14). Captain Maggie Steffens scored 5 targets, and was considered one of 4 gamers to attain not less than 4.
The field rating tells the story. They’ve greater than sufficient good gamers and share the ball round very unselfishly. Not each recreation will appear to be this, however they’re primed to go on one other deep run.
Softball
Staff USA ran its softball file to three–0 with a 2–0 win over Mexico. Cat Osterman as soon as once more took the mound, and as soon as once more didn’t permit any runs. (Staff USA nonetheless hasn’t allowed anybody to cross house, with three shutout wins by a mixed rating of 5–0.) After Osterman went six innings, Monica Abbott—who threw a one-hitter in Recreation 2—got here in to shut the seventh. The leadoff batter reached base on an error, bringing the tying run to the plate. Then she struck out the aspect to finish issues.
The group has not been clobbering opponents with laughable scores prefer it did the final time softball was an Olympic sport in 2008. That yr it gained all seven of its video games by a mixed rating of 53–1. However the pitching has been spotless and the offense has completed sufficient for now.
First medal
The primary gold of Tokyo was awarded within the girls’s 10m air rifle. I can’t say with any certainty that I’ve ever watched this sport earlier than, and I’m undecided I’d have had it not owned this distinction. Nevertheless it made for a compelling watch, with eight opponents within the finals getting knocked out separately till the ultimate winner was topped. Staff USA’s Mary Carolynn Tucker got here in sixth. China’s Yang Qian gained the primary gold.
Do not forget that athletes might be placing medals round their very own necks all through these Olympics due to COVID. I’m not allowed to tweet movies, however I shared some screenshots.
3×3 basketball
The primary 3×3 recreation in Staff USA Olympic historical past tipped off just a little earlier than 5 a.m. ET Saturday morning, and the group comfortably dealt with France 17–10. My first impression (I caught a number of the China-Serbia males’s recreation earlier within the evening) was simply how intimate the venue regarded. The seats are virtually on high of the courtroom. If followers had been there, I’d count on the gamers to listen to nearly each phrase stated to them—although it was shortly identified to me on Twitter that the fixed music does assist negate that.
I do know 3×3 has grown in reputation the previous couple of years (that’s, in fact, the way it obtained within the Olympics), however I haven’t watched as a lot of the non-Olympic motion as different basketball obsessives have. I can see the enchantment. It strikes in a short time. An offensive participant can scoop the ball up after a made bucket, fireplace it out past the arc to begin the subsequent possession and get the ball proper again. The half-court recreation additionally permits for a special digital camera angle than most full-court video games. It nonetheless feels just a little odd to see it within the Olympics, nevertheless it’s enjoyable and I’m giving it an opportunity.
Archery and fencing losses
It was not all excellent news for Staff USA on Day 1. Brady Ellison and Mackenzie Brown, the No. 2 seed within the new blended group archery occasion, had been upset by the No. 15 seed from Indonesia. They misplaced the primary two units, then gained the subsequent two to pressure a shootout during which all 4 archers shot only one arrow. They misplaced it, happening in an upset. Ellison is a three-time Olympic medalist and a 2019 world champion, however remains to be searching for his first Olympic gold. He didn’t reap the benefits of his new likelihood.
In fencing, 2016 silver medalist Daryl Homer misplaced his first bout. Eli Dershwitz gained his first, then misplaced his second. If you happen to’ve by no means watched fencing earlier than, be ready for lots of shouting.
Quadrathlon
Final week, my colleague Dan Gartland and I drafted groups in 5 sports activities the U.S. didn’t qualify for. Though my group is reeling from Argentina’s beautiful loss to Australia in males’s soccer, it was good to have a rooting curiosity final evening in handball and on the attractive blue turf of the sector hockey advanced.
You’re welcome to undertake my group’s (or Dan’s) and follow along in this Google Doc. We’re tied 2–2 due to Norway’s come-from-behind win over Brazil in males’s handball and Australia’s come-from-behind win over Japan in males’s discipline hockey. That they had me sweating, nevertheless it was enjoyable to have one thing on the road.
Snapshots from Tokyo
I wish to give a shout out to SI’s photographers. They’re the most effective. We’ll be sharing galleries of their best photos all through the Olympics. For now, observe @SIfullframe on Instagram for shots like these.
Simon Bruty/Sports activities Illustrated
What to Watch
Morning Leftovers
We’re attempting to remain a day forward on these, so you may plan for the next day. Given the time zones, we’ll be sending this within the morning earlier than all the earlier day’s sports activities are accomplished. So listed below are some leftovers talked about in yesterday’s publication taking place early Saturday morning:
The USWNT has a giant recreation towards New Zealand at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.
The primary swimming motion of the Olympics began early Saturday and runs till nearly 8 a.m.
Saturday evening and Sunday morning, all occasions ET.
Medals
Swimming! One of many Olympics’ signature sports activities can have medal occasions each evening in prime time for the subsequent week. Beginning at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, we’ll see the boys’s and girls’s 400m IM, the boys’s 400m freestyle and the ladies’s 4×100 freestyle relay. Listed below are Pat Forde’s medal predictions.
Taking pictures: Girls’s 10m air pistol at 10:15 p.m. Saturday and males’s 10m air rifle at 2:30 a.m. Sunday
Skateboarding makes its Olympic debut, with the boys’s road last beginning at 11:25 p.m. Saturday. That is the type with stairs, railings and benches to do tips on.
Biking: The ladies’s highway race begins at midnight (going into Sunday)
Diving: Girls’s synchronized springboard finals are at 2:00 a.m. Sunday
Weightlifting: Males’s medals at 2:50 a.m. and 6:50 a.m.
Archery: Girls’s group at 3:15 a.m. Sunday
Judo: Finals after 4:00 a.m. Sunday
Fencing: Girls’s foil and males’s épée medal rounds beginning at 6:50 a.m. Sunday
Taekwondo: Bronze medal bouts begin at 7:30 a.m. Sunday
Staff USA
Gymnastics: Girls’s qualification begins at 9 p.m. Saturday. As soon as extra, here’s Stephanie Apstein’s profile of Simone Biles.
Seashore volleyball: Two-time medalist April Ross and her new Olympic accomplice Alix Klineman begin play at 8:00 p.m. Saturday. The lads’s pairing of Jake Gibb and Tri Bourne play at 9 a.m. Sunday. Bourne is a alternative after Taylor Crabb tested positive for COVID-19.
Water polo: Staff USA’s girls dominated Japan, and now the boys will play the host nation at 1:00 a.m. Sunday.
3×3 basketball: The USA girls play Romania at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, then the Russian Olympic Committee at 8:25 a.m.
Softball: Staff USA seems to be to proceed its undefeated run towards Australia at 7 a.m. Sunday
Basketball: The lads’s group performs its Olympic opener towards France at 8:00 a.m. Sunday. The three guys who performed within the NBA Finals on Tuesday evening in Milwaukee (Devin Booker, Jrue Vacation and Khris Middleton) are expected to be available for the game.
Judo begins at 10 p.m. Saturday and runs all evening. Angelica Delgado will compete for so long as she stays within the match. Identical with Anastasija Zolotic in taekwondo, who begins at 11:48 p.m. Saturday.
Volleyball: The USA girls play Argentina at 10:05 p.m. Saturday.
Boxing: Keyshawn Davis fights at 11:18 p.m. Saturday; Virginia Fuchs fights at 4:30 a.m. Sunday.
Badminton: Timothy Lam (males’s singles) and Beiwen Zhang (girls’s singles), each at 5:00 a.m. Sunday
Tennis: There’s numerous tennis! And we don’t have actual begin occasions for a lot of the matches as a result of that relies on earlier matches on the identical courts. So here’s the full tennis schedule from Olympics.com, and I’ll be extra particular as we get nearer to the gold medal match. Is that O.Ok.? Cool.
Rowing, crusing and browsing are all slated to happen Saturday evening, however I’d regulate schedules do to a typhoon in the forecast.
SI’s Greatest
• Once more, right here’s Michael Rosenberg writing from the Opening Ceremony.
• I additionally advocate Michael’s story on sprinter Noah Lyles.
• Pat Forde’s swimming medal picks are a must-read preview.
• Pat additionally profiled Katie Ledecky.
• Nobody has commented but on whether or not it’s a fake pas to incorporate my very own work in a piece referred to as “SI’s Greatest” however right here’s my profile on Smooth Horse. You keep in mind the viral sensation of 2016? He’s again with the identical music … however a brand new horse!
• From preteens to sexagenarians, Dan Falkenheim wrote about the oldest and youngest athletes in Tokyo.
As a reminder, this article is free in case you sign up to obtain it in your inbox. You may also subscribe to SI.com for limitless entry to all the opposite nice tales on our web site.
One other massive day forward!
Thanks for studying and following alongside. You’ll be able to maintain your questions and feedback for me approaching Twitter, Facebook or by email
—Mitch
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