First gold medal of Games goes to China in 10M air rifle

Hardly half a day passed before politics, the pandemic and blistering heat impacted events across the Tokyo Olympics.

China’s Yang Qian, at least, stayed right on target. Yang overtook Anastasiia Galashina of Russia to win the first gold medal of the Tokyo Games in the women’s 10-meter air rifle Saturday. Her last shot was her worst of the finals but still rallied her past Galashina with an Olympic-record score of 251.8. Switzerland’s Nina Christen took bronze.

Swimming: Chase Kalisz won the first American medal, taking gold in the men’s 400-meter individual medley. Jay Litherland made it a 1-2 finish for the U.S. team, rallying on the freestyle leg to claim the silver. Kieran Smith grabbed another medal for the Americans with bronze in the men’s 400 freestyle.

Judo competitor withdraws: An Algerian judo athlete will be sent home after withdrawing from competition to avoid potentially facing an Israeli opponent. Fethi Nourine and his coach, Amar Benikhlef, told Algerian media they were withdrawing to avoid a possible second-round matchup with Israel’s Tohar Butbul in the men’s 73 kg division on Monday. Nourine and Benikhlef attribute their stance to their political support for Palestine.

Ousted: The youngest competitor at the Games has been eliminated. Hend Zaza of Syria lost in straight sets to Liu Jia, ending the 12-year-old’s medal hopes as the youngest table tennis player in Olympics history. Zaza said she was pleased with her performance and learned from the loss — and she’s hoping for another shot at the next Olympics, in Paris.