Italy’s Jacobs gets an unlikely gold medal in the 100 sprint
The 100 meters, an event that has long defined Olympic royalty, went to a Texas-born Italian who hadn’t cracked 10 seconds until this year. He’s a 26-year-old whose best days before this came in the long jump. He’s a man even the runner in the next lane didn’t really know.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Marcell Jacobs is The World’s Fastest Man.
The Italian crossed the line in 9.8 seconds Sunday night to capture the first 100-meter medal ever for the country better known for its soccer prowess. Pietro Mennea won the 200 at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and Livio Berruti won that race at the 1960 Games in Rome.
Even in a contest with no clear favorites — American Ronnie Baker was a candidate and China’s Su Bingtian ran a shocking 9.83 in the semis — Jacobs came from nowhere.
American Fred Kerley finished second in 9.84 and Canadian Andre DeGrasse was next at 9.89.
“I really don’t know anything about him,” Kerley said of the new gold medalist. “He did a fantastic job.”
Jacobs’ path was made that much clearer because of who wasn’t in the race. The reigning world champion, Christian Coleman, is serving a ban for missed doping tests. The world leader in 2021 and the favorite to win the gold, Trayvon Bromell, didn’t make it out of the semifinals.
Usain Bolt, who has commandeered the Olympic and every other sprint stage since 2008, is retired.
Bolt’s world record is 9.58. Before Sunday, Jacobs’ personal best was 9.95.
“I mean, 9.8 from the Italian guy?” DeGrasse said. “I didn’t expect that. I thought my main competition would be the Americans.”
Jacobs was born in El Paso — the son of an American father and an Italian mother. The parents split when Jacobs was 6 months old and he moved to Italy and never got to know his dad.
They reconnected about a year ago by phone, as the sprinter tried to learn about his roots.
Now, the world is learning about him.
“My dream was to arrive here and run a final,” Jacobs said. “And we ran a final. And we won a final. It’s amazing. I have no words to describe this moment.”
Gymnastics
Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Suni Lee added a bronze medal in the uneven bars to her haul at the Tokyo Games. Nina Derwael of Belgium won the gold medal and Russian athlete Anastasiia Iliankova took silver.
Lee’s bronze gives her three medals so far at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. She earned a silver in the team competition last week before becoming the fifth straight American woman to win the all-around.
Lee knew in the middle of her routine it wasn’t going to be good enough to top the podium long before her 14.500 flashed across the scoreboard.
“Bars is something I really cherish,” Lee said after earning bronze. “So when I mess it up, it really sucks.”
Lee will get a chance to add to her stash in the beam final on Tuesday. A medal there would be a bit of a surprise. One on bars was almost a given. Though she earned one, she didn’t put on a show while doing it.
The two-plus days since her victory have been a whirlwind of interviews and social media mentions. It’s a lot. At the moment, it’s probably too much. Lee thinks she might delete Twitter until the competition is over.
Fellow American MyKayla Skinner, who entered the competition after defending Olympic champion Simone Biles pulled out to focus on her mental health, captured the silver on vault.
Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade added a gold medal in the vault to go with the silver she earned in the all-around. The medals Andrade has won in Tokyo are the first and second ever for Brazil in gymnastics at the Games.
Yeo Seojeong of Korea took the bronze.
Skinner, an alternate on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team, spent three years at the University of Utah before returning to elite competition in 2019. Early last week, she thought she was heading home after failing to automatically qualify for any finals.
The 24-year-old, who is already married, got her shot when 2016 gold medalist Simone Biles withdrew from the event. Biles was there to cheer on Skinner as she landed a Cheng and an Amanar to earn the silver, then retired from the sport on the medal stand.
Golf
Xander Schauffele won an Olympic gold medal he badly wanted by overcoming more pressure than he could have imagined Sunday.
Right when Schauffele appeared to lose his firm grip on the gold, the 27-year-old American responded with two clutch putts at the end for a 4-under 67 and a one-shot victory over Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia in a wild finish.
One was a 6-foot birdie putt for the lead. The last one was a 4-foot par putt for the win.
“I was trying so hard to just stay calm,” Schauffele said. “But man, it was stressful. And I made that putt and it was just a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.”
The tension made the hot air feel even thicker at Kasumigaseki Country Club. When the last group walked onto the 18th green, nine players remained in the mix for a medal.
One of them was Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, playing in his home country.
He was one shot out of the lead when he missed a 3-foot par putt on the 15th hole and never caught up. He missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for the bronze.
And then he left with no medal at all.
Matsuyama was part of a seven-man playoff for the bronze, which included Rory McIlroy and British Open champion Collin Morikawa of Cal. Matsuyama made bogey on the first extra hole and was eliminated, ending a week of high expectations. C.T. Pan of Taiwan, who closed with a 63, won the bronze in a playoff among seven countries that lasted four holes.
Men’s volleyball
The U.S. men’s volleyball team lost to Argentina in three sets Sunday night, knocking the Americans of the Olympics after pool play for the first time since 2000.
The U.S. won two of its first three matches in Tokyo before losing to Brazil and Argentina to fall to fifth place in Pool B and miss out on the quarterfinals for the first time since losing all five matches in Sydney 21 years ago.
Georgians sent home
Two Georgian judo athletes were sent home from Tokyo after they were caught leaving the Olympic Village to go sightseeing.
A Georgian official told AFP news agency that the two athletes are judo silver medallists Vazha Margvelashvili, 27, and Lasha Shavdatuashvili, 29.
Judo’s final competition was the mixed team event Saturday, and Georgia did not qualify.
Athletes are not allowed outside the bounds of the Olympic venues due to coronavirus concerns as Tokyo experiences a spike in cases.
NFL teams root on loved ones
Two women tied to NFL teams face off in Semifinal 3 of the 400-meter hurdles Monday morning.
Melissa Gonzalez of Colombia and Anna Cockrell of the U.S. will be two of the eight hurdlers in the semifinal. Gonzalez’s husband is David Blough, a quarterback for the Detroit Lions, and Cockrell’s brother is Ross Cockrell, a cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Lions held a post-practice watch party for Gonzalez’s last race, in which she set a Colombian national record for the event. The Bucs plan to hold a watch party to support Cockrell Monday.