July 30 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

A general view shows empty stands during the first of the women’s 5,000m heats at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on Friday.

Today marks the first day of track and field events at the National Stadium.

Despite fans being unable to attend events in Tokyo amid the pandemic, some of the smaller venues have generated a lively atmosphere by allowing athletes and support staff to fill the stands.

Here, however, the 68,000-seat stadium feels cavernous, and most of the noise is coming from the stadium announcers. There’s a small cluster of people in the stands on the back straight, and the announcer encourages them to show their support for the triple jumpers competing in front of them.

After heavy rain earlier in the day, it feels muggy and humid as the track events begin. The first of the women’s 5,000m heats is underway with Dutch star Sifan Hassan, who (for two days!) held the 10,000m world record earlier this year, in action.

Starting slowly, Hassan makes her way through the field on the final lap and wins the heat in a time of 14:47.89.

The first track and field medal is up for grabs later on as the men’s 10,000m final begins at 20:30 local time.

Sone Akira of Team Japan poses with the gold medal for the women’s judo 78kg event on July 30, in Tokyo.

Japan’s Sone Akira defeated Idalys Ortiz from Cuba to win the gold medal in the women’s judo 78kg.

Akira was awarded the win by default after Ortiz was given a third Shido warning 4:52 in the extra time for a false attack.

Ortiz won the silver and Iryna Kindzerska of Azerbaijan won the bronze.

With the victory, Japan extended their Olympic record with a ninth gold medal in judo.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a backhand during his Men's Singles Semifinal match against Alexander Zverev of Germany on July 30.

Tennis superstar and 20-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic lost his Olympic men’s singles semifinal to Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-1, 3-6, 1-6.

This also ends the Serbian’s quest to achieve a “Golden Slam,” which is when a tennis player wins the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and the Olympics in one calendar year.

Steffi Graf, who did it in 1988, is the only player - male or female - to achieve the feat thus far.

Djokovic, a four-time Olympian, has never won a gold medal at the Games.

Djokovic and Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta will fight it out for the bronze medal.

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attends a cabinet meeting in Tokyo on July 30.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga extended the state of emergency for the Tokyo Metropolitan area and Okinawa on Friday amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.  

Tokyo and Okinawa were under a state of emergency until August 22, but Suga has now extended it until August 31.

Suga also expanded a state of emergency to four other prefectures - Saitama, Chiba, Osaka and Kanagawa - in effect until August 31.

“Infection is expanding with unprecedented speed in the Tokyo Metropolitan and Osaka area, and the more infectious delta variant is replacing rapidly,” Suga said Friday.

“If the increase of infection does not stop, the severe symptoms cases will increase and the medical system may possibly be further under strain.”

Suga also imposed a quasi-state of emergency for Hokkaido, Ishikawa, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka. 

This comes as Tokyo has seen record numbers of new Covid-19 cases this week, topping more than 3,000 new cases for the third day in a row. 

Japan also topped 10,000 new Covid-19 cases for the first time on Thursday. All this as Tokyo 2020 continues with its seventh day of official competition. 

Suga had previously said that “the government is dealing with the situation with a strong sense of urgency.”

South Korea’s An San competes in the women’s individual archery event on Friday, July 30.

South Korea’s An San won the gold medal in the women’s individual archery event on Friday, becoming the first archer to win three golds at a single Games.

An shot 10-points in a shoot-off, while Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)’s Elena Osipova shot 8-points, to win a tight match 6-5.

An has won gold medals in all three archery events she has participated in at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 20-year-old set a new Olympic record at the Games last Friday with a score of 680 in the individual ranking to beat the previous record set at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Italy’s Lucilla Boari won the bronze.

Pedestrian cross a street in Tokyo on Friday, July 30.

Tokyo reported 3,300 new Covid-19 cases Friday, after three consecutive days of record numbers.

Friday was not a record jump for the capital but cases continue to rise, causing concern for Japan and its central government as the Olympic Games are in full swing.

The Japanese government plans to extend Covid-19 states of emergency to four prefectures, including three surrounding Tokyo, according to national broadcaster NHK.

Those four prefectures – Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa and Osaka – are currently under less restrictive, quasi-emergency measures, according to NHK.

Tokyo and Okinawa are already under states of emergency. 

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, “The government is dealing with the situation with a strong sense of urgency,” and that he has called a meeting of experts for Friday to discuss the state of emergency, according to NHK.

There have been at least 225 cases linked to the Tokyo 2020 games, according to organizers.

China’s Wang Yi Lyu, left, and Huang Dong Ping compete in mixed doubles badminton on July 30.

China secured a record-extending fourth Olympic title in the mixed doubles badminton event and its first gold since London 2012 on Friday.

Second seeds Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping won the all-Chinese affair, defeating top seeds Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong.

Arisa Higashino and Yuta Watanabe claimed the bronze for Japan, and in doing so, became just the second pair to claim an Olympic medal in this event on home soil, after China’s Habin He and Yang Yu achieved this feat at the Beijing Games in 2008.

Norway’s Karsten Warholm competes in the 400m hurdles heats on Friday, July 30.

Track and field athletes had to wait longer than most to begin competing at Tokyo 2020.

But the athletics finally got underway on Friday, and one track star was particularly relieved to be able to start racing again.

400 meter hurdle world record holder Karsten Warholm, who is the overwhelming favorite to take gold in Tokyo, strolled through his opening race. But the Norwegian was just happy to get back into a familiar routine.

Warholm ran nearly two seconds slower than the world record he set in July, but has already thrown down the gauntlet to his rivals.

France's Teddy Riner competes against Russian Tamerlan Bashaev in the judo +100-kilograms quarterfinal on July 30.

French judoka Teddy Riner had his hopes of a historic third-straight Olympic gold medal ended by world No. 1 Tamerlan Bashaev.

The best that the champion from London and Rio can hope for now is a bronze through the repechage.

Riner, a 10-time world champion, had been hoping to emulate Japanese judo legend Tadahiro Nomura, who won golds at three consecutive Games.

Last year, the 32-year-old suffered a shock loss to Japan’s Kokoro Kageura to end his staggering 10-year, 154-match winning streak.

Rafael Silva of Brazil will be Riner’s first opponent in the repechage.

Daiki Hashimoto of Japan celebrates after winning the gold medal in the all-around gymnastics final on July 28.

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.

Some of the Japanese athletes who defeated Team China at the Tokyo Olympics have been subject to a storm of abuse on their personal social media accounts from Chinese nationalists.

On Wednesday, Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto won gold in the men’s all-around gymnastics final, edging out China’s Xiao Ruoteng by 0.4 points. At just 19 years old, Hashimoto is the world’s youngest gymnast to ever claim that medal.

As Japan celebrated his victory, some in China questioned the fairness of the result and accused the judges of favoritism toward host Japan by inflating Hashimoto’s score on the vault.

The anger, first set off on Chinese social media, soon spilled over to platforms typically censored by China’s Great Firewall and not accessible in China. Chinese trolls circumvented censorship and descended on Hashimoto’s Instagram account, inundating his feed with angry comments and tagging him in insulting posts.

Many called him Japan’s “national humiliation,” others accused him of stealing China’s gold medal. Some even tagged him in photos of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hashimoto later changed his privacy settings on Instagram, banning himself from being tagged, but angry comments have kept pouring under his posts.

Following the controversy, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) issued a statement Thursday explaining Hashimoto’s vault score, including a detailed list of the imperfections.

“The FIG can assess that the 14.7 score obtained by Hashimoto on this apparatus is correct in regards to the Code of Points, and so is the final ranking,” the statement concluded.

The nationalist rage against Hashimoto followed attacks on Mima Ito and Jun Mizutani, the Japanese table tennis duo who narrowly defeated the Chinese team to win the first-ever gold medal in mixed doubles Monday.

The attacks are an extreme expression of the rising tide of ultra-nationalism sweeping through Chinese social media in recent years, which has silenced many liberal and moderate voices. Some Chinese netizens have tried to call for an end to the online abuse, but they were also attacked.

China currently leads the overall medal table with 17 golds, followed by Japan — the hosts have claimed 15 golds so far. The US is third with 14 golds.

Connor Fields of the United States receives medical attention on Friday.

Former Olympic champion Connor Fields “is awake and awaiting further medical evaluation” after crashing in the third round of the men’s BMX racing semifinal in Tokyo, according to USA Cycling BMX, citing the team doctor.

“We will share additional updates as they become available,” USA Cycling added.

Fields was taken away in an ambulance Friday after the crash and did not race in the men’s cycling BMX racing final.

Fields won gold in the event at Rio 2016.

US gymnast Simone Biles wears her warm-up gear after she pulled out of the team all-around competition on Tuesday, July 27.

In a series of Instagram stories, Simone Biles posted videos of herself struggling with her dismounts on the uneven bars and answered questions about having the “twisties” — the mental block that can cause gymnasts to lose control of their bodies midair.

Biles said her latest bout of the twisties started the morning after the preliminary competition in Tokyo. While she said it has affected her before, it was only ever during floor and vault events, rather than bars and beam.

Biles posted two videos of herself — which have since been taken down — of her on the uneven bars, showing her struggle with dismounts.

In the first video, Biles said she was supposed to do one and a half more twists on her dismount. Instead, the video shows her landing on her back on the mat.

A second video shows another dismount, in which she said she still needed to complete another half twist — and she falls to the mat in apparent frustration.

The videos were taken on Friday morning during practice, she said.

“It’s honestly petrifying trying to do a skill but not having your mind and body in sync,” she said in another post.

Biles said getting rid of the twisties “varies with time” and in the past they’ve lasted for about two or more weeks.

USA gymnast Simone Biles walks off the floor during the women's gymnastics team final on July 27.

Biles, who withdrew during the team final and then pulled out ahead of Thursday’s all-around final, is still scheduled to compete in the four individual events of vault, bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

Women’s vault and bars finals are scheduled for Sunday, the women’s floor final is Monday, and the beam final is Tuesday. 

Racers jump during the men's BMX semifinals on Friday in Tokyo.

There was drama at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on Friday with Team USA’s reigning Olympic champion Connor Field crashing out of the third round of the men’s cycling BMX racing semifinal. Fields was stretchered off the course and taken away in an ambulance.

He wasn’t the only rider to wipe out. In the women’s semifinals, Australia’s Saya Sakakibara was also carried off after a crash in the third run.

Australia's Saya Sakakibara receives medical attention after a crash in the BMX racing semifinal on July 30. She was leading the race when she went down.

Sylvain Andre and Romain Mahieu of Team France, and Connor Fields of the US compete in the BMX semifinals on Friday in Tokyo.

Kye Whyte of Team Great Britain competes in the BMX semifinals on Friday.

Netherlands’ Niek Kimmann won BMX gold, despite suffering a fractured knee during official training. It’s the first Olympic gold medal for the Netherlands in cycling BMX racing. Kye Whyte of Great Britain took silver, while Carlos Alberto Ramirez of Colombia earned bronze.

Meanwhile, Great Britain’s Bethany Shriever held off two-time Olympic gold medalist Mariana Pajon of Colombia to win the women’s BMX racing final by just 0.09 seconds.

America's April Ross dives for the ball during a beach volleyball match against the Netherlands on Friday.

This isn’t the sunny, Olympic beach volleyball anyone had envisioned.

There was no roaring crowd as the athletes’ names were announced on Friday at Shiokaze Park. Instead, Olympians ran out onto soaked, packed sand through a human tunnel of clapping stadium staff members.

The music may have been blasting through the speakers, but the booming bass was drowned out by even louder thunder.

Despite the pouring rain, which caused a technical timeout during their match, Team USA stars April Ross and Alix Klineman persisted to remain unbeaten in Tokyo.

The Americans are now 3-0 in pool play after they defeated the Dutch team of Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink on Friday. After their win, Ross and Kleinman spoke to CNN about how much they miss the fans, dealing with the pressure and controversy over women’s bikini rules.

Mental health has become a huge focus of the Games, with US gymnast Simone Biles pulling out to protect her mental — and physical — health.

“We’re seeing how important it is in elite sports, and all sports, and life in general. It’s something I’m constantly working on,” said Ross, who added she reads, keeps a journal, and meditates to take her mind off the pressure. “It’s an every day practice. It can be really tough.”

Team USA beach volleyball players April Ross and Alix Klineman speak during an interview in the rain on Friday.

Uniform comfort: Focus has also been on athletes wearing non-traditional uniforms with more coverage, such as the German women’s gymnastics team. The Norwegian beach handball team was previously fined by the European Handball Federation for wearing shorts instead of the required high-cut, tightfitting, briefs.

“For us personally, I think we feel comfortable in our suits. We are lucky we got to work with our sponsors to design the cut and fit of our suits.”

As beach volleyball is often played in sweltering hot conditions, “wearing full clothes is not always comfortable or realistic,” she added.

Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa celebrates with Lilly King and Annie Lazor of the United States and her teammate Kaylene Corbett after setting a new world record and winning gold in the 200-meter breaststroke on Friday.

Expect another action-packed day in Tokyo on Friday as Japan’s capital hosts Day 7 of the 2020 Games.

Here’s what you need to know:

Covid looms over Olympics and Tokyo: Outside of the Olympic venues, Covid-19 is raising concerns in the host country. Japan plans to extend coronavirus states of emergency to four prefectures, including three surrounding Tokyo, according to public broadcaster NHK.

And the Japan Medical Association issued an emergency request to Tokyo to enhance urgency surrounding the Covid-19 surge. It comes as Tokyo reported its third consecutive day of record Covid cases on Thursday, with 3,865 new infections.

Meanwhile, Tokyo 2020 on Friday reported 27 new Covid-19 cases linked to the Games — the highest daily increase, organizers said. There are now 225 cases linked to the event.

Two pole vaulters from Argentina and the US dropped out Thursday after testing positive, on the eve of track and field events beginning in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Australia’s track and field team members received the “all-clear” after isolating out of precaution.

Records tumble: It’s been another busy morning in Japan with swimmers battling it out in the pool for places on the podium. South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker broke the world record in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke, while Australia’s Emma McKeon set an Olympic record in the highly-anticipated women’s 100-meter freestyle. Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey won her second silver of the Games.

The men’s eight closed out Tokyo 2020’s rowing competition, with New Zealand winning gold. Germany edged Great Britain for silver. And Stefanos Ntouskos becomes Greece’s first Olympic rowing champion in the men’s single sculls.

On the schedule: Track and field events start today with heats in the women’s 100-meters and 800-meters, and men’s 400-meter hurdles.

Russian swimmer Evgeny Rylov swims to victory in the 200-meter backstroke final on Friday.

More medals were won and a world record was set at the Aquatics Centre on Friday morning in Tokyo. Here’s a rundown from Day 7:

The story of Suni Lee’s rise as Olympic gold medalist in many ways reflects the larger struggles of the Hmong people as one of the country’s most marginalized Asian American groups.

Lee, 18, winner of the women’s individual all-around gymnastics final, is the first Hmong American Olympian.

Like the story of the estimated 309,000 Hmongs who have settled in the US, her journey has been painful and turbulent.

Lee’s path to Olympic glory has been pockmarked by injuries, the loss of an aunt and uncle to Covid-19 and a 2019 fall that left her father, John, paralyzed from the waist down.

“The past two years have been absolutely crazy with Covid and my family and everything else,” Lee told reporters at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

The Hmong people arrived in the US in the ’70s and ‘80s; the largest share is in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

During the Vietnam War, Hmong soldiers were recruited by the CIA. Thousands of Hmong died and others forced to flee when the US withdrew from Vietnam and essentially abandoned the ethnic group.

The Hmong were recruited into the Secret War, a CIA-backed war in the country of Laos. Hmong General Vang Pao was recruited to enlist his people to fight against the Laotian and North Vietnamese military. The Hmong fought and suffered losses of 30,000 to 40,000 of their people.

Many Hmong fled to the jungle and eventually to refugee camps in Thailand. In the ’70s and ‘80s a large number of them settled and built a thriving community in Minnesota, where Lee’s father would one day erect a makeshift balance beam in the backyard for her because of the family’s modest means.

Read more:

Sunisa Lee, of United States, reacts as she poses for a picture after winning the gold medal in the artistic gymnastics women's all-around final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 29, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Related article Suni Lee and an epochal moment for Hmongs in America

Former Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn commended gymnast Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from Tokyo 2020 Olympic events to prioritize her mental health.

Biles, one of the greatest gymnasts of all time, withdrew from Thursday’s individual all-around competition after stepping away from a dramatic team competition earlier in the week.

The 24-year-old cited mental heath concerns and the need to protect “her body and mind.”

Vonn added: “And I think the best thing that’s come out of this, is we’re having conversations about mental health. And I applaud her for that.”

CNN’s Sara Spary contributed to this report.

A tiny landlocked European country surrounded by Italy, San Marino enjoyed a breakout moment at Tokyo 2020 on Thursday, winning its first ever first Olympic medal.

Shooter Alessandra Perilli — one of just five Sammarinese athletes at the Olympics — is the new hero of the microstate, which has a population of 34,000, after winning a bronze medal in the women’s trap.

Perilli’s victory ensured that San Marino is now the smallest country in history to win a medal at the Olympics.

“What a day to be Sammarinese,” tweeted the San Marino fan account.

Slovakia’s Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova, who hit 43 of her 50 targets to set an Olympic record, won gold, while Kayle Browning of Team USA took silver.

In 2012 Perilli became the first Sammarinese athlete, of either gender in any sport, to finish fourth or higher in an Olympic event, when she came fourth in trap at the Games in London.

The previous best result for a Sammarinese athlete at the Games was when shooter Franceso Nanni finished fifth in the 50m rifle prone at the Los Angeles 1984 Games.

Read more:

ASAKA, JAPAN - JULY 29: Bronze Medalist Alessandra Perilli of Team San Marino following the Trap Women's Finals on day six of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Asaka Shooting Range on July 29, 2021 in Asaka, Saitama, Japan. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Related article San Marino is smallest country in history to win a medal at the Olympics thanks to shooter Alessandra Perilli

Suni Lee just accomplished what no one expected three days ago — not even herself.

Lee is the first Hmong American to compete in the Olympics and is now the women’s gymnastics all-around champion.

She also extended the United States’ 17-year winning streak in that competition — a dynasty that seemed in jeopardy this week when the previous Olympic all-around champ, Simone Biles, announced her withdrawal.

But Lee’s historic performance — highlighted by the most difficult, astonishing uneven bars routine in the world — also capped an immensely difficult journey.

She’s been marred by injuries, lost an aunt and uncle to Covid-19 and grappled with a horrific accident that left her father paralyzed.

In 2019, her father John was helping a neighbor trim a tree when he fell and became paralyzed from the waist down.

The father of six had supported Lee’s gymnastics from the beginning — helping her perform tricks around the house, sometimes to the frustration of her mother.

Read more:

USA's Sunisa Lee poses with her gold medal during the podium ceremony of the artistic gymnastics women's all-around final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on July 29, 2021. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP) (Photo by MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article US gymnast Suni Lee wins Olympic all-around after injuries, tragedies and a horrific accident

USA's Caeleb Dressel poses with the gold medal during the medal ceremony for the Men's 100-meter freestyle final on July 29.

Seventeen gold medals were won on Thursday in Japan during the Tokyo Olympics.

Here’s a breakdown of who took home the gold:

Artistic gymnastics

Judo

Rowing

Fencing

Swimming

Shooting

Canoe

Table tennis