Tag: tokyo olympics

Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz was completely overcome with emotion after winning Philippines first-ever Olympic gold

Philippines has gone gold for the first time ever!

It took nearly 100 years for the Philippines to win its first-ever Olympic gold medal, and they have Hidilyn Diaz to thank for it.

On Monday, during the Tokyo Olympics women’s 55kg weightlifting event, Diaz brought home the gold for the Philippines after her third attempt at lifting 127kg, nearly 280 pounds. In the same event, Diaz — in her fourth Olympics — also set an Olympic record for lifting a combined weight total of 224kg.

It’s a wonderful moment of human emotion, made even sweeter because the Philippines have been attending every summer Olympics — minus their boycott of Moscow in 1980 — since 1924 and had yet to win gold, until now.

What a stunning performance from Diaz, and what a moment! We’ve seen some great gold-medal winning reactions from athletes in the last few days, and Diaz’s is yet another tear-jerker to add to the list.

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Former Florida star Caeleb Dressel wins first gold medal of Tokyo Olympics

Caeleb Dressel was named the heir to Michael Phelps after his retirement. He won his first gold of the Tokyo Olympics Sunday.

Former Florida men’s swimming star Caeleb Dressel won his first gold medal and the Gators’ third medal overall in the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. He helped the United States defend its gold medal in the men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay.

He started the relay for the Red, White and Blue where he grabbed the lead in the first 15 meters of his opening leg. Dressel finished his swim in 47.29 seconds then his teammates Blake Pieroni, Bowe Becker and Zach Apple sealed the win for the U.S with a time of 3:08.97 and a 1.14-second margin of victory over Italy and Australia.

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“It feels great, we knew there was a huge target on our backs,” he said in an interview after the race, according to The Alligator. “We’re never going to doubt ourselves, that’s how Team USA works.”

Dressel also won two gold medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics in the men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay and in the men’s 4×100 meter medley relay.

On Saturday, fellow Gators Kieran Smith and Natalie Hinds earned bronze medals in the men’s 400-meter freestyle and in the women’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay, respectively.

Dressel returns to the pool again for the men’s 100-meter freestyle prelims Monday. Then he will team up again for the men’s 4×200 meter freestyle relay, men’s 100-meter butterfly, men’s 50-meter freestyle and the new men’s 4×100 meter mixed medley relay later in the games.

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Former Florida star Caeleb Dressel wins first gold medal of Tokyo Olympics

Caeleb Dressel was named the heir to Michael Phelps after his retirement. He won his first gold of the Tokyo Olympics Sunday.

Former Florida men’s swimming star Caeleb Dressel won his first gold medal and the Gators’ third medal overall in the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. He helped the United States defend its gold medal in the men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay.

He started the relay for the Red, White and Blue where he grabbed the lead in the first 15 meters of his opening leg. Dressel finished his swim in 47.29 seconds then his teammates Blake Pieroni, Bowe Becker and Zach Apple sealed the win for the U.S with a time of 3:08.97 and a 1.14-second margin of victory over Italy and Australia.

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“It feels great, we knew there was a huge target on our backs,” he said in an interview after the race, according to The Alligator. “We’re never going to doubt ourselves, that’s how Team USA works.”

Dressel also won two gold medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics in the men’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay and in the men’s 4×100 meter medley relay.

On Saturday, fellow Gators Kieran Smith and Natalie Hinds earned bronze medals in the men’s 400-meter freestyle and in the women’s 4×100 meter freestyle relay, respectively.

Dressel returns to the pool again for the men’s 100-meter freestyle prelims Monday. Then he will team up again for the men’s 4×200 meter freestyle relay, men’s 100-meter butterfly, men’s 50-meter freestyle and the new men’s 4×100 meter mixed medley relay later in the games.

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Check the yardage book: Kasumigaseki East Course for the 2021 Olympic Games

Kasumigaseki Country Club dates back nearly a century, but it was a Fazio renovation in 2016 that prepared the course for the Olympics.

Kasumigaseki Country Club and its East Course, host site for golf in this year’s Olympic Games, was founded in 1929 and renovated a few years later by British designer C.H. Alison before being closed during World War II. The U.S. Air Force took over the property following the war, and the East and a new West Course were re-established in the following years.

The East featured two greens on each hole for decades, with one green covered in a winter grass and the other in a grass that thrived during the warm summers.

All that changed with a 2016 renovation by American architect Tom Fazio and his son, Logan, who converted the private Kasumigaseki’s double greens into single greens. The Fazios also repositioned fairway bunkers to challenge modern professionals, and they reframed several holes in their existing corridors. The greens are now covered in bent grass, with zoysia in play on the rest of the course.

A 2017 aerial photo of Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe, outside of Tokyo, Japan (Miyuki Saito/Kyodo News via AP)

The course will play 7,447 yards for the men July 29-August 1, and it will play 6,648 yards for the women August 4-7.

Kasumigaseki has been the host of several notable golf events, including several Japan Opens and various top amateur events. It hosted the 1957 Canada Cup, a precursor to the World Cup, and Hideki Matsuyama won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship on Kasumigaseki’s West Course in 2010. Now the Masters champion, Matsuyama is a favorite in these Olympics.

Thanks to yardage books provided by Puttview – the maker of detailed yardage books for more than 30,000 courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges that players will face this week and next. Check out each hole below (yardages will be adjusted for the women), and follow this link to the club’s website to see drone footage of each hole, with narration by Tom Fazio.

Gators News: UF athletes racking up the medals at Tokyo Olympics opening weekend

The Tokyo Olympics is officially underway after Friday night’s opening festivities, with current and former Gators off to the races – literally in some instances – in search of athletic immortality. So far, the swimmers have led the way earning a …

The Tokyo Olympics is officially underway after Friday night’s opening festivities, with current and former Gators off to the races — literally in some instances — in search of athletic immortality. So far, the swimmers have led the way earning a gold and bronze medal in medley competition while also nabbing an individual bronze as well. Meanwhile, the soccer and softball squads continue to grind away in their respective pools vying for a spot in medal round play.

Here is a look at how current and former Gators fared at the Tokyo Olympics over the weekend, courtesy of FloridaGators.com.

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The amazing Ahmed Hafnaoui is our first ‘Hero of the Weekend’ from the Tokyo Olympics

Ahmed Hafnaoui stunned the world and celebrated accordingly.

Each Monday during the Tokyo Olympics I’ll be giving a very prestigious award to an athlete who does something incredible over the weekend… and by a prestigious award I mean I’ll do a video where I sing their praises.

Tunisian swimmer Ahmed Hafnaoui is the first “Hero of the Weekend” for what he did in the men’s 400 freestyle Sunday in Tokyo. This 18-year-old kid swam a personal best in the prelims to be the last person to qualify for the finals and then he stunned a star-studded group and won the gold medal.

And his celebration was unreal. Learn more about this legend in the video at the top of this post.

Congrats, Ahmed Hafnaoui!

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Ariarne Titmus’ swim coach went absolutely bonkers after she beat Katie Ledecky in 400 free final

An incredible reaction to a thrilling race!

We’ve seen a lot of incredible winning celebrations since the start of the Tokyo Olympics, but this Australian swimming coach may take the cake.

On Sunday, America’s own Katie Ledecky made her Tokyo Olympic debut during the women’s 400 meter freestyle. It was a close race, with Ledecky finishing second while Australian Ariarne Titmus took home the gold in a thrilling finish.

However, Titmus’ coach stole the show while celebrating her wild victory, a joyous and boisterous show of emotion after a wonderful race between two incredible competitors. You will not find a more emotional celebration than the one Titmus’ coach just had.

The celebration, of course, caught the attention of Twitter, which had a field day with the reaction.

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus edges Katie Ledecky by .67 seconds in thrilling 400 free final

What a race!

The first showdown in the pool between rivals American Katie Ledecky and Australia’s Ariarne Titmus at the Tokyo Olympics did not disappoint.

Titmus came out on top of Ledecky in the absolutely thrilling 400-meter freestyle final Monday morning in Japan (and Sunday night in Tokyo), and the race came down to the final few strokes.

Ledecky opened the mid-distance final with a strong first 200, and the 24-year-old world record holder and gold medalist from the 2016 Rio Games remained in control of the first half of the race. But in the next lane, 20-year-old Titmus started to make a move on Ledecky going into the 300-meter mark, and when they hit the wall for the final 100 meters, Titmus trailed Ledecky by just .16 seconds.

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By the time they turned for the final 50, Titmus had a .22 lead over Ledecky and held on to win gold with a time of 3:56.69 — the second-fastest time in history behind Ledecky’s world record of 3:56.46 from the 2016 Olympics. This was Titmus’ first Olympic medal.

Ledecky took silver at 3:57.36 — the fourth-fastest time in history — and China’s Li Bingjie won bronze at 4:01.08. American Paige Madden finished seventh with a time of 4:06.81.

This is the first time Ledecky didn’t win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event.

And although fans of Ledecky’s have come to expect her to dominate and she entered the final with the fastest seed time, she actually wasn’t favored to win this event going into the Olympics. At the Australian trials last month, Titmus came within half a second of Ledecky’s world record in the 400 free with a time of 3:56.90 — which was the fastest time in the world this year until she won gold.

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Titmus also beat Ledecky in the 400 free at the 2019 world championships after chasing Ledecky down in the final 50 meters.

And after the 400 free final at the Tokyo Games, Ledecky and Titmus hugged it out.

This probably isn’t the last time Ledecky and Titmus will go head-to-head at the Games. Ledecky is likely going to race for at least 6,000 meters this week, and the pair are set to face off in the 200-meter freestyle and 800-meter freestyle — but Ledecky is still a heavy favorite in the latter.

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WATCH: Boston Celtics wing Evan Fournier’s 28 points, 4 rebounds with France vs. Team USA

Fournier was probably not the Celtics player people would have predicted to lead this game in scoring.

While it might not have been the Boston Celtics player to dominate the Team USA Olympic contest with France most of us would have expected to be reading about afterward, Evan Fournier’s 28 points, 4 rebounds, an assist and a steal led all players in France’s upset 83 – 76 win over Team USA.

Fournier was the driving force behind the unexpected if not unsurprising win, the pending free agent doing his next paycheck no harm with his excellent play in Olympic competition this Sunday morning. For those of you who were too tired to get up at 8 a.m. to watch the game, we tracked down some highlights of Fournier’s best plays to peruse at your leisure.

Watch the video clip embedded below tweeted out by fan videographer Tomasz Kordylewski to see the St. Maurice native’s big game for France against Team USA.

Something tells us if he keeps up playing like this for the rest of the games that his next paycheck in the NBA might be a tad bigger than some anticipated.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Tokyo Olympics: Kevin Durant meets his biggest fan from Belgium

Julie Vanloo, a 28-year-old professional basketball player for Belgium, realizes her dream of meeting Kevin Durant.

Nets star Kevin Durant will be the head of snake in Team USA’s first game versus France. Before tipping off for the Sunday matchup, Durant ran into someone special. Julie Vanloo, a 28-year-old basketball player from Belgium, stopped him in Tokyo. In the wholesome interaction she told him, “I’m your biggest fan! I’m telling you … I can’t believe this! Oh my God! — I’m your biggest fan. I’m from Belgium, I’m a basketball player too!”

A shocked Durant replied, “You hoop?” Vanloo, still in disbelief, responded, “Yeah I hoop!” The two began talking about the Belgian’s first matchup in the Olympics against Australia. Vanloo admitted that she was nervous in that moment. She said months ago that it was one of her dreams to meet KD.

Now, her dream has become a reality. In an update, the Belgian baller said “this means everything.” In years past, Vanloo has played in various different countries such as Spain and Australia. In each place, she has prospered despite language barriers.

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