Biles Takes Gold & Latest On The Olympics

[SPOILER ALERT ]
 
The Latest on the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

Forget the pressure. Forget the hype. Simone Biles is immune to all of it.

Dynamic on vault. Effortless on beam. Jaw-dropping on floor. Brilliant all over. And now, finally, an Olympic champion.

The 19-year-old American soared to the all-around title on Wednesday afternoon, putting the gap between herself and the rest of the world on full display under the Olympic spotlight. Her total of 62.198 was well clear of silver medalist and “Final Five” teammate Aly Raisman and more three than Russian bronze medalist Aliya Mustafina.

Biles became the fourth straight American woman to win the all-around title and fifth overall while cementing her reputation as the greatest gymnast of her generation and perhaps ever. Her victory was never in doubt and she burst into tears when her long journey to this moment ended when her final total was posted.

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6:05 p.m.
MEDAL ALERT: US gymnast Simone Biles flips and flies to Olympic all-around gold, teammate Aly Raisman wins silver.
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6 p.m.
Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are through to the knockout stage of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament after an extra long victory over Italy.
The Americans won 21-13, 21-17, 24-22 on Thursday night to finish unbeaten in group play. They’ll wait for the drawing of lots to find out their opponent in the round of 16.
The third set in a beach volleyball match is supposed to be up to 15 — but the team has to win by 2. The Italians fought off a half-dozen match points before the Americans nailed it down.
That left the United States with one men’s and one women’s team playing for a medal. April Ross and three-time gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings wrapped up pool play with a perfect record on Wednesday.
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6 p.m.
The chief of NBC Sports says the Rio Games are a huge hit and that he doesn’t anticipate having to make concessions to advertisers to make sure they got what they paid for.
Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Sports Group said Thursday that a drop in ratings for the network’s prime-time coverage of the Rio de Janeiro Games has been offset by increases in people streaming content or watching the Olympics on cable networks like Bravo and NBCSN.
Viewership was down markedly on NBC the first two nights but picked up with the success of U.S. swimmers gymnasts. While it still hasn’t reached the level of London 2012 Lazarus says he doesn’t expect advertisers will have to be compensated with free time.
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5:50 p.m.
Rafael Nadal will leave the Rio Olympics with at least one medal.
Nadal and Marc Lopez assured themselves of earning a gold or silver for Spain by reaching the men’s doubles final with a 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4) victory over Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil of Canada on Thursday.
That match began a couple of hours after Nadal won in singles to reach the quarterfinals of that event; he plays a mixed doubles first-rounder later.
In the men’s doubles final, Nadal and Lopez will face Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau of Romania.
Mergea and Tecau beat Steve Johnson and Jack Sock of the U.S. 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday.
Nestor and Pospisil play Johnson and Sock for the bronze.
Pospisil and Sock won the 2014 Wimbledon doubles title together.

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5:45 p.m.
Lukas Krpalek of the Czech Republic has won the men’s judo gold medal at the Rio Olympics in the 100-kilogram division after defeating Azerbaijan’s Elmar Gasimov, the world number two.
After trying multiple times to throw Gasimov in the five-minute fight Thursday, Krpalek finally managed to flip his opponent in the last 30 seconds for an instant victory. The two embraced warmly after the final and saluted the crowd together.
It is the Czech Republic’s first-ever gold medal in judo.
Krpalek is ranked fourth and was his country’s flag-bearer at the Olympic opening ceremonies. Earlier in the day, Krpalek ousted the reigning world champion, Japan’s Ryunosoke Haga, in the quarterfinals.
The men’s bronze medals were won by Cyrille Maret — who turned 29 Thursday — and Japan’s Haga.
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5:30 p.m.
WORLD RECORD: Britain broke the world record in the women’s team pursuit on the opening day of the track cycling program at the Rio Olympics, stopping the clock in 4 minutes, 13.260 seconds.
The reigning gold medalists topped the time of 4:13.683 set by Australia in February 2015.
The team of Laura Trott, Elinor Barker, Katie Archibald and Joanna Rowsell-Shand was ahead of the pace from the moment they set off. They were rooted on by hundreds of British fans, many hanging the Union Jack flag from the banisters around the arena.
The U.S. team was ahead of their pace until the final few laps of the 4,000-meter event, finally dropping away — possibly to conserve energy. They finished in 4:14.286.
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5:20 p.m.
Chang Hye-jin of South Korea won the Olympic gold medal in women’s individual archery Thursday by holding off surprise finalist Lisa Unruh of Germany.
Chang kept the title in the South Korean family as the archery powerhouse nation took home gold in the event for the eighth time in nine Olympics. She won the final match 6-2 over Unruh, who was the 21st seed and needed a winner-take-all extra arrow to make it out of the quarterfinals.
Ki Bo-bae, the 2012 London Olympics winner, captured the bronze-medal match by beating Alejandra Valencia of Mexico, 6-4. Ki was knocked off by Chang in the semifinals.
Chang and Ki — along with No. 1 seed Choi Mi-sun, who was eliminated by Valencia — helped South Korea to a team title Sunday.
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5:15 p.m.
On a day of firsts for Olympic golf, Marcus Fraser of Australia had the one that mattered — the first-round lead.
Fraser shot an 8-under 63 that stood for a three-shot lead over Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Graham DeLaet of Canada. He set an Olympic record, though that was hardly a surprise considering golf had not been part of the Olympics in 112 years.
He was among a host of new Olympians who gave golf the start it needed.
Adilson da Silva of Brazil hit the first Olympic golf shot since 1904 with the opening tee shot. Justin Rose made what is believed to be the first hole-in-one.
The surprise was the American performance. With four golfers in the 60-man field, only Matt Kuchar (69) broke par. Rickie Fowler started with a double bogey and shot 75, beating only two players. Patrick Reed shot 72 and Bubba Watson had a 73.
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5:15 p.m.
Argentina and Poland played the longest set so far in the Olympic volleyball tournament Thursday, with Poland outlasting the Argentines 37-35 in a thrilling, back-and-forth third set on the way to a sweep.
Poland (3-0) needed six match points to close it out and remain unbeaten in Pool B play while handing Argentina (2-1) its first defeat with the 25-21, 25-19, 37-35 victory. Poland reaches the quarterfinal knockout round.
Poland’s players leapt in the air to celebrate finally ending a match that had fans of both countries on their feet dancing in the stands and waving flags.
Poland opposite hitter Bartosz Kurek left Maracanazinho arena rapidly clapping his hands.

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5:10 p.m.
American Kayla Harrison has successfully defended her Olympic judo title in the women’s 78-kilogram division, after beating France’s Audrey Tcheumeo in a tense final.
With just six seconds left, Harrison caught Tcheumeo’s arm in an armlock, and forced Tcheumeo to tap out in submission, automatically winning the contest.
Harrison’s coach, Jimmy Pedro, said Harrison’s achievement was enormous, given that there have been no repeat Olympic judo champions at Rio or at the previous games in London. Harrison was in commanding form throughout Thursday, winning her preliminary matches automatically after pinning her opponents down to the mat for 20 seconds; her first match lasted just 43 seconds.
Pedro said Harrison was “on fire” on Thursday and described her defense of her Olympic title as “epic.”
The women’s bronze medals were won by Brazil’s Mayra Aguiar and Slovenian Anamari Velensek.
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4:55 p.m.
The No. 2 U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Brooke Sweat and Lauren Fendrick have been eliminated from the Olympics.
The Americans lost to Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova in three sets: 21-18, 26-24, 15-13.
Fendrick and Sweat are first-time Olympians.
The top U.S. women’s team of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross has already advanced to the knockout round with a 3-0 record in pool play. The No. 2 men’s team was eliminated after going 1-2 and losing the playoff tiebreaker.
The top men’s team of 2008 gold medalist Phil Dalhausser and his partner, Nick Lucena, were 2-0 heading into their final match on Thursday night.
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4:45 p.m.
A second Kenyan track and field coach has been expelled from the Olympics in a doping scandal.
Kenyan officials say former sprinter John Anzrah was sent home after he was found with an accreditation badge of an athlete scheduled to go for a random doping test.
Kenyan team leader Stephen Arap Soi says Anzrah was reported to authorities by doping control officers in the athletes village after providing a urine sample under the name of 800-meter runner Ferguson Rotich.
Arap Soi says Anzrah was kicked out because of “the crime he has committed against Team Kenya.”
Kenyan track team manager Michael Rotich was sent home earlier after being caught on tape by undercover reporters asking for bribes in exchange for helping athletes beat doping tests.
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4 p.m.
Spanish slalom paddler Maialen Chourraut improved on her kayak bronze medal at the London Games by winning the gold medal at Whitewater Stadium — where her husband and coach Xabier Extaniz jumped into the water to give her a congratulatory kiss.
Chourraut surprised even herself when she blew down the course more than 3 seconds faster than the unheralded Luuka Jones of New Zealand.
Chourraut had to wait for two more paddlers in the final, but both incurred penalties. She became the first Spanish slalom canoeist to win an Olympic gold medal. Jones, last in her only previous major final at the 2014 worlds, was the first from New Zealand to medal in the discipline.
Jess Fox, the top-ranked woman and big favorite from Australia, settled for bronze to go with her silver from London.
Meanwhile, the Skantar cousins, Ladislav and Peter from Slovakia, likely won the last men’s double canoe gold medal, as it’s expected to be phased out after these Olympics and replaced by women’s single canoe for gender balance.
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3:55 p.m.
Andy Murray constructed a comeback to keep alive his bid for an unprecedented second consecutive Olympic singles gold medal.
The No. 2 seed from Britain, considered an overwhelming favorite to win the Rio de Janeiro tennis tournament after No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s early exit, reached the quarterfinals Thursday by beating Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.
Murray trailed 3-0 in the final set before turning things around on an afternoon so windy that courtside signage repeatedly got blown over.
The result stretched Murray’s winning streak to 15 matches, including a second Wimbledon championship last month for a third Grand Slam title overall.
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3:50 p.m.
International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates says the Rio de Janeiro Olympics have been “the most difficult games we have ever encountered.”
Coates tells the BBC that he wishes “there were bigger crowds.”
Coates was very critical of Rio just over two years ago, calling Rio’s preparations the “worst” in memory. He later backed off after organizers speeded up building venues and preparing the city for South America’s first games.
Rio has been plagued by problems, including a shortage of food for fans in some venues, empty seats, water pollution, and crime around the edges.
Coates says attendance is “a disappointment, but the quality of the sport is certainly rising to the occasion.”
Despite his complaints, Coates says there are “no regrets” about awarding the games to Rio. But he says it has been a “greater challenge” than the IOC expected.
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3:45 p.m.
The Fiji rugby sevens squad has secured the country’s first Olympic medal, and will play Britain later Thursday to determine whether it’s gold or silver.
The back-to-back world sevens series champions dented Japan’s remarkable run in Rio with a 20-5 semifinal win before Britain rallied to beat No. 2-ranked South Africa 7-5.
Japan, which opened the tournament with a stunning, 14-12 upset win over New Zealand, will play for bronze against South Africa.
Rugby is back in the Olympics for the first time since a 15-a-side tournament was played in 1924.
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3:40 p.m.
Melissa Hoskins is in the four-woman lineup for Australia in team pursuit qualifying, three days after a massive crash in training sent the track cyclist to the hospital.
Hoskins was released a few hours after the crash Tuesday, and said all along she still was going to compete at the Rio Games. But rather than skip qualifying, she joined Amy Cure, Annette Edmondson and Georgia Baker right out of the gate.
Team pursuit squads have five riders but only four compete in each round.
The only medal up for grabs on Thursday is in the men’s team sprint, where Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny will team with Callum Skinner as Britain tries to defend its gold.
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3:40 p.m.
The IOC says three of the four cities bidding for the 2024 Olympics have been reprimanded for inviting media to their hospitality houses in Rio de Janeiro.
Los Angeles, Paris and Rome received the warning from the International Olympic Committee. The fourth bid city, Budapest, Hungary, was not involved.
The IOC says “three 2024 candidate cities have contacted media and invited them to their hospitality houses here in Rio.”
They IOC adds: “They have all been reminded that this was not permitted and have subsequently stopped their activities.”
Representatives of all four cities are in Rio to observe the Olympics and pitch their bids to IOC members, who will select the host city in September 2017.
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3:25 p.m.
Venus Williams’ Rio Olympics is still going — just barely.
Upset in the first round in singles and doubles, the four-time gold medalist faced two match points Thursday in her opening mixed doubles match with U.S. teammate Rajeev Ram.
They saved both — one on a reflex volley by Ram that went for a winner — in rallying from a set down for a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 10-8 tiebreak win over Kiki Bertens and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands.
Williams wasn’t originally expected to play mixed doubles in Rio but was entered in the draw after her two early exits, which came while she was battling a virus. The 36-year-old was still coughing Thursday but didn’t want to talk about her health.
She says: “What can you do except come back and play again?”
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3:20 p.m.
The Iron Lady is back in the pool chasing her fourth gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
Katinka Hosszu of Hungary qualified fastest for the 200-meter backstroke in 2 minutes, 6.09 seconds Thursday. She already has won the 100 backstroke, along with the 200 and 400 individual medleys.
Hilary Caldwell of Canada had the second quickest time of 2:07.40. Maya DiRado of the United States, who has won gold, silver and bronze at her first Olympics, was third fastest in 2:08.60.
American Missy Franklin advanced to the semifinals with the 11th-fastest time of 2:09.36. She earned a gold medal as part of the 4×200 freestyle relay after swimming in the preliminaries.
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe, a two-time Olympic champion in the event, qualified ninth.
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3 p.m.
Michael Phelps has opened defense of his Olympic title in the 100-meter butterfly.
He qualified fourth fastest in 51.60 seconds on Thursday, losing his preliminary heat to Joseph Schooling of Singapore, who had the fastest overall time of 51.41.
Phelps is seeking a fourth consecutive gold medal in the 100 fly. He’ll swim the 200 individual medley final Thursday night in pursuit of a fourth straight title in that event and return 33 minutes later for the 100 fly semifinals.
Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh had the second-best time of 51.52. American Tom Shields qualified third in 51.58. Also advancing was Chad le Clos of South Africa, James Guy of Britain and Santo Condorelli of Canada.
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2:55 p.m.
Former Brazilian volleyball star Marcelo Negrao is taking so much pride in the Rio Olympics, particularly the volleyball played on home soil.
Negrao won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games and is taking in the matches at Maracanãzinho arena. Once he was spotted outside the venue Thursday, a swarm of cheering fans chanting his name and begging to meet him surrounded the 43-year-old star from Sao Paulo — and Negrao obliged with photos, selfies and smiles for the crowd.
He called it “a great experience” adding that “it’s been 30 years I’ve been playing volleyball and Brazil to me is the champion.”
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2:40 p.m.
OLYMPIC RECORD: Katie Ledecky has set an Olympic record with the fastest time in the 800-meter freestyle preliminaries.
The 19-year-old American swam the 16-lap event in 8 minutes, 12.86 seconds Thursday, bettering the old mark of 8:14.10 set by Rebecca Adlington of Britain in 2008.
Ledecky’s time was nearly seven seconds faster than anyone else. She will swim the final Friday night, seeking to complete a sweep of the 200, 400 and 800 freestyles for the first time since the 1968 Mexico City Games.
Boglarka Kapas of Hungary qualified second in 8:19.43. Others moving into the final are Jazz Carlin of Britain, American Leah Smith, Lotte Friis of Denmark, and Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain, who won the 200 butterfly on Wednesday.
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2:35 p.m.
Marcus Fraser of Australia set an Olympic record in golf — at least for now.
In the first Olympic golf competition in 112 years, Fraser shot an 8-under 63 and had a three-shot lead midway through the opening round at Olympic Golf Course.
Fraser only got into the Olympics when four other Australians — including world No. 1 Jason Day and Adam Scott — withdrew. He made the most of his opportunity, playing early Thursday before the wind began to kick up. Fraser ran off four straight birdies on the front nine, and finished with two birdies in the last three holes.
He smiled at the thought of holding an Olympic record, calling it “pretty cool,” and adding that he hopes it lasts all week.
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2:25 p.m.
The race is on for the title of fastest man in the pool.
Andrii Hovorov of Ukraine is the top qualifier for the 50-meter freestyle at the Rio Olympics. He advanced to the semifinals in 21.72 seconds on Thursday.
A pair of Americans, Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin, had the second and third best times in the preliminary heats. Adrian, bronze medalist in the 100 free on Wednesday, touched in 21.61. Ervin, the 2000 Olympic champion in the 50, was clocked in 21.63.
Other big names moving on are defending champion Florent Manaudou of France, Cameron McEvoy of Australia, Vladimir Morozov of Russia, Santo Condorelli of Canada and Bruno Fratus of Brazil.
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2:25 p.m.
Andriy Hovorov’s life took an unexpected turn two years ago when Russia annexed his home of Crimea, but now he’s in the hunt for gold in the pool in Rio.
The swimmer, who comes from the Crimean city of Sevastopol, ruled out changing nationality to Russia after the 2014 annexation and told The Associated Press in June he had not been able to return home since then.
With Ukraine’s economy in crisis, sports officials there have focused much of their meager funding on him. That paid off as he qualified fastest in the men’s 50-meter freestyle heats, beating U.S. medal contenders Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin.
Hovorov says he doesn’t want to talk politics in Rio but plans to speak with relatives in Crimea later in the day.
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2:20 p.m.
CEO of the Rio Olympics says “we’re feeling pretty good” despite complaints about South America’s first games.
Speaking with The Associated Press on Thursday, Sidney Levy acknowledged the games have had “some challenges” every day and “a lot of glitches in the first week.” But he says he thinks “we are also able to recover pretty fast. So I’m feeling pretty good about the first week of the games.”
The games has been hit with complaints ranging from empty seats and too little food for fans at the venues, to snarled transportation and violence taking place on the edge of the festivities.
A police officer was shot in the head on Wednesday after he and two others working security at the Olympics got lost near a slum and encountered gunfire.
In other incidents, a media bus was attacked Tuesday, and stray bullets have hit the equestrian venue. There were no serious injuries in either incident.
Levy says he’s been out talking to athletes “and they’re mostly ecstatic. They’re getting the full passion of the Brazilian people; sometimes against, sometimes in favor.”
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2:10 p.m.
The IOC says more than 2,000 drug tests have been conducted so far at the Olympics, with no positive cases as yet reported.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams says 2,097 doping controls have been carried out since the opening of the athletes village.
The number includes 1,775 urine tests, 201 biological passport checks and 121 blood controls.
Overall, the IOC plans to conduct more than 5,000 doping tests during the games.
Any positive tests will be dealt with by a special division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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2:10 p.m.
A bout in the Rio boxing tournament but has been stopped specifically for a cut for the first time.
The 114th fight was stopped after just 87 seconds because Armenian boxer Vladimir Margaryan’s cut over his right eye was too bad for him to continue. Trainers checked on Margaryan for a bit and the bout was quickly waved off.
Men are fighting without headgear for the first time in 36 years, making the sport debatably safer and undoubtedly more attractive to fans.
But the most tangible consequence is gore: At least 10 boxers at the Rio Games had incurred significant facial cuts in the first five days of the tournament.
Cuba’s Roniel Iglesias was declared the TKO winner.
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1:45 p.m.
An average final shot was not enough to stop Barbara Engleder from capturing her first Olympic gold medal.
The German hit 9.0 on her final shot, but had just enough cushion to edge China’s Zhang Binbin for gold in women’s 3-position rifle.
Zhang hit 10.4 on her final shot, finishing 0.2 points behind Engleder. China’s Du Li earned her second bronze medal of the Rio Games, with the one she won 10-meter air rifle.
Competing in her third Olympics, Engleder was third after the kneeling rounds and moved atop the standings after prone. She was fourth following the standing portion, but surged ahead with three straight shots in the 10-ring, giving her the wiggle room she needed on the final shot.
American Ginny Thrasher did not qualify for the finals and finished 11th after winning the first gold medal of the Rio Games in air rifle last Saturday.
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1:45 p.m.
Two Olympic boxers who were arrested on allegations of sexual assault have been released and one is set to fight on Thursday.
Rio organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada says Jonas Junius of Namibia and Hassan Saada of Morocco were released from police custody on Thursday morning.
He says “that doesn’t mean the legal process is over” but that Junius “is able to compete.”
IOC spokesman Mark Adams says Junius, a middleweight, went to the weigh-in Thursday for his fight later in the day against French boxer Hassan Amzile.
Adams says “he is free to compete, he’s not been found guilty.”

Junius, who was Namibia’s flag at the opening ceremony, was arrested Monday and accused of sexually attacking two housekeepers in the athletes village. Saada was arrested last Friday on allegations he sexually assaulted two Brazilian housekeepers in the village.

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