MEDAL ALERT
Belinda Bencic, a Swiss woman who won the gold medal for women’s tennis in singles, was also awarded a second in doubles.
Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic, was 12th ranked Bencic defeated 7-5, 2-6 and 6-3 to win her first major title.
Bencic will also be competing in the women’s doubles gold medal match on Sunday.
Bencic and Viktorija Golubic, a Swiss partner, will face the top-seeded Czech teams of Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova.
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Elaine Thompson-Herah from Jamaica broke Florence Griffith Joyner’s 33-year-old Olympic record for the women’s 100 meters.
To defend her title, she crossed the line in 10.61 seconds. She also led a Jamaican sweep for the medals. Joyner’s mark at the 1988 Seoul Olympics was 10.62.
Thompson-Herah defeated Shelly-Ann Fraser -Pryce by 0.13 seconds. Shericka Jackson won bronze. For a while, this was a fast race. Fraser-Pryce was fourth fastest in history, running 10.63 seconds in June.
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MEDAL ALERT
Fares Elbakh, Qatari, has won the gold medal for the men’s 96-kilogram category of weightlifting. This is the country’s first Olympic title.
Elbakh lifted 177 kg in the snatch, 225 in clean and jerk and totaled 402kg. Elbakh tried to set a world record for clean and jerk at 232kg but failed to lift the weight.
Keydomar Vallenilla came in second for Venezuela, with a total of 387kg. He did this despite not having the signal for him to lift the bar.
Vallenilla was third in Georgia, but he lifted the same amount as Anton Pliesnoi. He was however ranked higher than Pliesnoi because he did his best clean and then jerk lift earlier.
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MEDAL ALERT
Poland emerged as the surprise winner of the Olympic debut of the 4×400 mixed relay, defeating an American team without Allyson Felix.
The silver medal went to the Dominican Republic, while the bronze was won by the Americans. Some thought Felix might be running for the relay, with the chance to win her 10th Olympic gold. We will have to wait.
After being disqualified from the qualifying round, both the U.S. team and the Dominican Republic team had an anxious night. After appeals, they were both reinstated.
They could not catch Poland’s Karol Zalewski team, Natalia Kaczmarek and Justyna Swiety – Ersetic. They were finished at the Olympic Stadium in 3 minutes, 9.87 seconds.
Lidio Andres Feliz and Marileidy Paulino from Dominican Republic, Anabel Medina Valura, Alexander Ogando, and Marileidy Paolino were 0.34 seconds behind.
The American team consisted of Kendall Ellis, Trevor Stewart, Kaylin Whitney, Vernon Norwood, and Kaylin Whitney. They finished 0.01 seconds behind Dominicans.
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MEDAL ALERT
In the final of men’s doubles badminton, Taiwan’s Lee Yang Yang and Wang Chi Lin swept China’s Li Jun Hui & Liu Yu Chen to win gold.
After a slow start, Taiwan won the first game 21-18 with an aggressive style and then took control of China in the second 21-12.
China was hoping to reestablish its badminton dominance in Tokyo, after a disappointing performance at Rio Games. China won all five gold medals in badminton at the London Games 2012.
Saturday was a busy day for Malaysians Aaron Chia, Wooi Yik, and Wooi Yah, who won bronze in men’s doubles. They beat Mohammad Ahsan, an Indonesian veteran, and Hendra Setiawan by 2-1.
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ALERT MEDAL
To give Sweden its first Olympic gold medal in this event, Daniel Stahl won gold in men’s discus.
Simon Pettersson won silver in the Swedish 1-2. The bronze was won by Lukas Weisshaidinger from Austria.
These were the first medals Sweden won in the men’s Olympic discus since Ricky Bruch’s bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Games.
Stahl will add the Olympic title to his gold medal at the world championships in 2019
After being installed as the favorite, he threw 68.90m on his second attempt at Tokyo Olympic Stadium.
Pettersson scored 67.39 in his second-to last heave, beating out Weisshaidinger (67.07) to win the battle for silver.
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MEDAL ALERT
After defeating France 45-41 in final, the Russian Olympic Committee won the women’s team saber fencing.
After four of the nine final bouts, the Russian athletes were down 20-14. However, Olga Nikitina won the fifth bout 11-3 over Charlotte Lembach.
Sofya Velikaya retained the title she won in 2016 with the Russian team and won her fifth Olympic medal.
For the bronze, South Korea defeated Italy 45-42
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UPSET ALERT
France beat Japan to win gold at the Olympic Judo Mixed Team Event. Japan was stunned by the surprise victory with four victories in the last five bouts.
Clarisse Agbegnenou and Alex Clerget won their bouts, while Teddy Riner narrowly beat Tsukasa Yashida in the final. Shohei Ono, a judo star and pound-for-pound champion, was unable to compete in the final due to the 4:1 margin of victory. He was originally scheduled for the sixth bout.
Agbegnenou was France’s sole individual gold medalist in 14 weight classes. Japan took home nine individual golds in what was the most successful judo tournament in Olympic history. France’s judokas won the Budokan when the final team competition was over.
Riner will receive his third gold medal, while Agbegnenou will get her second gold.
The bronze medals were won by Israel and Germany in the 12-team field.
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After Mark Odhiambo tested positive for anabolic steroids, the International Testing Agency has temporarily suspended Odhiambo.
Odhiambo was removed from the 100-meter heats for men scheduled for Saturday.
According to the agency, he is contesting the suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. According to the agency, he tested positive for methasterone in a sample he received Wednesday in Tokyo.
Hours before Odhiambo was scheduled to compete, the Olympic testing laboratory reported that the positive test had been performed in Tokyo.
According to his biography on World Athletics, the 28-year old ran a career-best time in 10.05 seconds six weeks back.
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The Olympic debut of mixed-team judo in Israel won Israel a bronze medal, shocking the Russian team during the medal bout.
To clinch bronze, the Israeli players won four out of five matches against the Russians. This is only the 11th medal won by Israel in any sport since 1952, when it started competing at the Olympics.
Although Israel did not win any individual medals during the Tokyo tournament’s first seven days, it performed admirably during the team event. This includes six bouts against another country. Israel defeated Italy, narrowly losing to France and then knocking out Brazil to reach the bronze match.
Peter Paltchik, heavyweight, won the gold medal round beating No. 1-ranked Russian Tamerlan Bashaev.
Timna Nelson Levy was wearing two partial black eyelashes by the end. This set off wild celebrations on the tatami when she won the medal and threw Daria Mezhetskaia to the last victory.
The other bronze went to Germany.
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MEDAL ALERT
New Zealand beat France 26-12 to win women’s rugby sevens at the Tokyo Olympics.
This gold medal was five years in the making and it was awarded to a New Zealand team that lost the 2016 final against Australia, when rugby sevens made its Olympic debut at Rio de Janeiro.
The tournament was won by New Zealand, who were ranked top in the world. However, they had to overcome some challenges on their way to the final.
Fiji advanced the Black Ferns to golden-point extra time in the semifinals, before they won 22-17
The French, who had won five consecutive games to reach the final, were unbeaten and had to settle for silver.
Fiji defeated Britain 21-12 to win bronze. Alowesi Nakoci scored two tries and made two saves. Fijian women won the first Olympic medal ever.
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ALERT MEDAL
At the Tokyo Games, Mete Gazoz from Turkey won the individual men’s archery title.
This was South Korea’s first gold medal. South Korea went 4 for 5 during the Tokyo Games in archery.
Gazoz defeated Mauro Nespoli from Italy by a score of 6-4 in the final. He won Turkey’s first Olympic medal for archery.
Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa won the bronze medal. Furukawa was also awarded a bronze medal in the men’s team competition.
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Novak Djokovic will be leaving the Olympics without winning a singles medal.
In the bronze-medal match, Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain defeated the top-ranked Serb 6-4, 7-6 (6), and 6-3. He suffered his third loss in as many days.
This loss comes less than 24hrs after Djokovic was defeated by Alexander Zverev, Germany, in the semifinals.
Djokovic and Nina Stojanovic were also defeated in Friday’s mixed doubles semifinals.
Djokovic would return to the court for a bronze-medal match of mixed doubles later in the day. Stojanovic and Djokovic will be facing the Australian duo Ash Barty & John Peers.
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MEDAL ALERT
After Antonino Pizzolato, an Italian rival, failed to record a clean and jerk world mark, Lyu Xiaojun won gold in the men’s 81-kilogram weightlifting division.
Lyu lifted 170kg during the snatch, and 204 in clean and jerk. The total was 374. This was 7kg more than Zacarias Bonnet of the Dominican Republic came in second, and 9kg more than Pizzolato who took bronze.
Lyu celebrated his second career Olympic medal by lifting his coach in the air.
Pizzolato tried to lift 210kg clean and jerk, but he couldn’t do it. Lyu failed to set his own world record.
Harrison Maurus placed fourth at 361kg, narrowly missing the U.S. Men’s Weightlifting Medal since 1984. With a 205kg clean-and-jerk, Maurus attempted to beat Pizzolato for bronze but fell short.
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MEDAL ALERT
Kiran Badloe was awarded the third consecutive gold medal in windsurfing RSX by the Netherlands. Thomas Goyard, France won silver while Bi Kun, China took third. This makes him the first male Chinese athlete to win a medal in sailing.
Dorian van Rijsselberghe was the winner of the two previous golds at the events. The Netherlands also won three consecutive golds in equestrian dressage (192000-2008) and eventing (1932-1932).
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MEDAL ALERT
China took home its 20th Tokyo Summer Olympics gold medal when Lu Yunxiu of China beat Charline Picon, France, in women’s windsurfing RSX. Lu finished with 36 points to Picon’s 38. The bronze medal in sailing was won by Emma Wilson from Britain.
China is the leader of all countries with 20 golds. Japan has 17 and the United States has 16. With 45 medals, the United States holds the record for most medals. China has 42, and the ROC 34.
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MEDAL ALERT
Nina Christen from Switzerland won the women’s 50-meter three position rifle for her second Tokyo Olympics medal.
Christen exhaled after scoring 10.2 points on her last shot. She had 463.9 points, an Olympic record. This allowed her to defeat Russian Yulia Zokova by 2.0.
In her second Olympics, the 27-year old member of the Swiss Armed Forces also won bronze in 10-meter air rifle.
Russian Yulia Karaimova won bronze in Tokyo for her second medal. Bronze was also won by Yulia Karimova and Sergey Kamenskiy at the mixed 10-meter air rifle event.
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China continued its dominance at the diving pool with two top spots in semifinals for the women’s 3-meter springboard.
Repetition of the preliminary results saw Shi Tingmao, the Olympic champion, score the highest over five dives while Wang Han was second. They have already teamed up for the win of the 3-meter synchronized event.
With 371.45 points, Shi was the leader. The only two close competitors to Shi were Wang (346.85), and Jennifer Abel (341.40), both from Canada. This made China a strong favorite to win its fourth diving gold at these games.
Hailey Hernandez and Krysta Palmer, both Americans, also made it to the top 12. They will now move on to Sunday’s final.
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Japan will be competing for its 10th Judo gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. France will face Japan on Saturday night in final of the Olympic mixed team event at Budokan.
Japan’s opening match was a shocker. Uta Abe (gold medalist) and Shohei ono (silver medalist) lost to Germany’s Theresa Stoll, and Igor Wandtke (gold medalist). To reach the final, the home team won eight consecutive victories against Germany and Russia.
France was unable to survive its first-round match against Israel. Margaux Pinot won the tiebreaking seventh bout with a golden-score win. France won the semifinal over the Netherlands.
Israel won a 4-2 win over Brazil to claim a chance at a bronze medal against Russia. Only 10 medals have been won by Israel in all of its Olympic history. Half of them were in Judo.
The Netherlands will face Germany in the bronze medal match.
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MEDAL ALERT
Belarus has won a second consecutive gold medal in men’s trampoline by Ivan Litvinovich.
Litvinovich, 20, put together an impressive routine in the finals Saturday. He posted a score 61.715 to beat 2012 Olympic champion Dong Dong from China.
The bronze medal was won by Dylan Schmidt from New Zealand.
Dong won his fourth Olympic medal. In the competition, athletes had to perform 10 consecutive jumps, while performing intricate twists and flips. To go with his London gold, he took silver in Rio de Janeiro 2016, and bronze in Beijing 2008 to take home the bronze medal.
Dong qualified fifth in the eight-man final. After drilling his set, Dong raised his hand and watched as his score of 61.235 was not met by the other three competitors. Litvinovich was a little better, and he burst into tears when his score was revealed.
Litvinovich’s Olympic champion, Uladzislau Hanscharou, placed fourth.
China’s Gao Lei, a four time world champion and bronze medalist in Rio de Janeiro was unable to get through his second routine during qualifying, and did not make the finals.
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MEDAL ALERT
Spain’s Fatima Galvez and Alberto Fernandez won gold in mixed trap shooting at the Tokyo Olympics.
In the gold medal match, they defeated Gian Marco Berti from San Marino and Alessandra Peruilli 41-40
San Marino had a chance to tie the match and send it to a shoot off, but Berti missed his shot to give the gold to the Spaniards.
This medal, which is San Marino’s highest at the Olympics, is only San Marino’s second in 61 years after Perilli won bronze for women’s individual trap.
Fernandez was a three-time champion of the world and one of the most decorated shooters in the world. The gold was his first Olympic medal.
After tying Slovakia Erik Varga, Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova (with 42 targets each), Brian Burrows won the bronze medal match with Madelynn Anne Bernau from the United States.
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Hannah Roberts will be the top seed for BMX freestyle when it makes its Olympic debut.
The Indiana teenager had an average seeding of 87.70, which was two runs higher than his American teammate Perris Benesas. This led Perris by 1.2 going into Sunday’s finals.
Roberts has won three world championships.
Logan Martin, Australia’s gold medal favourite, led men’s qualifying with an average of 90.97. Rim Nakamura from Japan came in second at 87.67.
The final will feature two runs of one minute each. The average score will be the sum of both.
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American BMX rider Connor Fields was moved from St. Luke’s International hospital’s critical care unit, one day after suffering a brain hemorhage in a terrifying qualifying crash at Tokyo Olympics.
Fields sustained injuries during his third qualifying run. He crashed into the first turn, and was then hit by two riders. The 28-year old from Las Vegas was transported by stretcher to an ambulance.
USA Cycling reports that Fields spent the night at the ICU, and that doctors did not report any additional bleeding or injuries.
USA Cycling staff has been in touch with Fields’ family to discuss his treatment options. Fields will remain at the hospital until cleared.
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Shohei Ono, a Japanese Judo gold medalist, has lost his first bout in 2015 in the quarterfinals at the Olympic debut mixed team competition.
In the second bout of the six match quarterfinal, Ono was stunned when Germany’s Igor Wandtke beat him. Wandtke was very defensive and received two penalties. However, Ono was stunned when he threw him for a spectacular waza ari just 16 seconds later.
Ono’s defeat came immediately after Uta Abe, another gold medalist, lost her opening bout to Theresa Stoll. Japan was down 2-0 in best-of-6 mixed team round.
Japan’s lineup had five gold medalists. The next four players won their bouts and Japan advanced to the semifinals. For the fourth and final victory, Aaron Wolf defeated Johannes Frey in the golden score.
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MEDAL ALERT
Britain won swimming gold in the 4x100m mixed Medley relay, setting a new world record of 3:37.58 seconds.
China won the silver in 3:38.86 while Australia claimed bronze in 3:38.95.
Relay is a new event in which men and women compete together. It can be difficult to determine who is winning.
American swimmers finished fifth, ending Caeleb Dessel’s attempt to win six gold medals at Tokyo Olympics.
Before he dived in the pool, his hopes vanished.
The Americans used a different strategy to everyone else. They went with Dressel in the freestyle, while the seven other teams closed with a woman.
The Americans finished 7 seconds behind the leaders when Torri Huske, 18, passed to Dressel following the butterfly leg.
Dressel was the fastest, but not fast enough to catch up with the other teams.
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Simone Manuel’s Olympics have ended.
The American swimmer did not advance to the semifinals in the 50-meter freestyle. Her time of 24.63 seconds was the 11th fastest, and she was eliminated from Sunday’s final. Only eight of the top eight finishers advance.
Manuel was the first Black American woman to earn a gold medal in 100 freestyle swimming at the Rio Games 2016. She also won a silver medal in the 50-free.
Overtraining syndrome hampered her preparations this time. The 100 free was not a team event for the USA, so she only competed in the 50. In the 4×100-free relay, she did win a bronze medal.
Emma McKeon from Australia was the top qualifier. She set an Olympic record of 24.00 seconds for the second consecutive day.
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DRESSEL ALERT
Caeleb Dressel’s morning is busy.
Dressel was just minutes away from receiving his gold medal for the world-record win in the 100 butterfly and returned to the deck for semifinals of 50 freestyle.
He qualified with 21.42 seconds and was eligible to compete in Sunday’s final for another chance at winning gold.
Dressel has one race left to swim on the last day of swimming. The 4×100 mixed Medley relay will see Dressel anchor the United States, which is a new Olympic event that features two men and two ladies.
He will be the only man to swim anchor freestyle, so he will likely dive in the pool with a substantial deficit to make up for the seven women anchoring.
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ALERT MEDAL
Katie Ledecky finished her Tokyo Olympics with a second gold medal.
With a win in the 800-meter freestyle, Ledecky became first female swimmer to earn six individual gold medals.
Ledecky was the clear leader in a race that she hasn’t lost since 2010. However, she was challenged by Ariarne Titmus of Australia who won the silver medal in 8:13.83.
In 8:18.35, Simona Quadarella from Italy won the bronze.
Ledecky won two golds, two medals, and finished fifth in the 200-free at the Tokyo Games. After losing her first two matches with Titmus, she finally beat her in 800.
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USA Gymnastics has announced that Simone Biles will withdraw from the Olympic finals of the vault and uneven bars.
She is still being evaluated every day to determine if she will compete in the finals of floor exercise and balance beam.
Biles said she was putting her mental health first when she withdrew from the gymnastics team event after one rotation. There, the U.S. women took silver. She decided to not compete in the all around. American Sunisa Lee won the gold medal in that event.
MyKayla skinner, who was fourth in vault during qualification, will be competing in vault finals for the U.S. with Jade Carey who was second in vault. Biles is the vault’s defending Olympic champion.
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MEDAL ALERT
Another gold medal was won by the Australian women at the Olympic pool.
Kaylee McKeown won the 200-meter butterfly and completed a sweep in all backstroke events. Her winning time was 2.68 seconds.
Canada’s Kylie Masse won the silver in 2:05.42. Emily Seebohm of Australia claimed bronze in 2:06.17.
The Americans Phoebe Bacon and Rhyan White finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Australian women have won six gold medals in Tokyo swimming and seven overall golds.
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MEDAL ALERT
American Caeleb Dressel has won his third gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a world record in the 100-meter butterfly.
Dressel was the leader from the beginning and defeated Kristof Milan of Hungary to win in 49.45 seconds. This breaks the 49.50 mark he set two year ago at the 2019 world championships.
Milak, the winner of the 200-meter butterfly race, won the silver medal with a blistering 49.68. Noe Ponti of Switzerland took the bronze.
Dressel won in the first race of his morning schedule. He will also be competing in the semifinals for the 50 freestyle. After that, Dressel will return to the deck to anchor the 4×100 mixed Medley relay. This new Olympic event features two men as well as two women.
Since he is the only one in the field who can swim the freestyle leg, he will likely be the last to dive in the pool.
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American Caeleb Dessel will anchor the freestyle leg of the final 4×100-meter mixed relay. The event is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo.
The U.S. swimmers will be Ryan Murphy, Torri Huske, Lydia Jacoby and Dressel. All of the American swimmers who participated in the preliminaries will be replaced by Dressel.
The Americans are the only team to have a man swim the final leg. This will leave them with a deficit of 100 meters. Dressel will be the one to sweep the field and win them gold.
ROC, Italy, and China will follow the traditional order of two men swimming and then two women. The Netherlands, Australia, Israel, and Britain will be swimming with a woman. Two men swim the middle legs, and a woman the anchor leg.
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Great Britain won gold in the mixed triathlon relay, making them the most successful national team in the history the sport.
In the mixed relay at Odaiba Marine Park, silver went to the United States and bronze to France.
The team that won Great Britain’s third triathlon gold medal and eighth overall medal was made up of Georgia Taylor-Brown and Jessica Learmonth and Jonathan Brownlee. This beats Switzerland’s record.
Yee and Taylor-Brown both won silver medals in the individual contests earlier this week.
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Rising star Siobhan Haugy from Hong Kong has pulled out of the semifinals of 50m freestyle at the Olympics due to a hip injury.
On Friday, the 23-year old swimmer won a silver medal in 100-meter freestyle. This was in addition to the silver she received in the 200-meter freestyle two days earlier. These are the first medals in swimming won by Hong Kong.
Rick Bishop, her coach, said that the injury initially bothered her during 100 free but she continued to go. She placed 15th in the 50-free preliminaries.
Hong Kong cheered her on, eager to witness success at the Olympic pool for the first time. These two silvers are just two of six medals that the country has won since 1952, when it competed at the Summer Games.
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After a positive test for human Growth Hormone, Blessing Okagbare, a Nigerian sprinter, has been temporarily suspended. She was scheduled to compete in Saturday’s semifinals of the 100m women’s at the Olympics.
According to the Athletics Integrity Unit, Okagbare passed an out-of competition test on July 19. Okagbare had run in the Tokyo Games 100-meter heats on Friday. The AIU was not informed about the findings until Friday.
Okagbare was informed by the AIU of her finding and her provisional suspension Saturday morning.
Okagbare won her heat at the Olympic Stadium in 11.05 seconds to advance to the semifinals.
