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Tokyo Olympics Day 7 Roundup: Day of reckoning for U.S. teams

Tokyo Olympics Day 7 Roundup: Day of reckoning for U.S. teams
Posted at 3:19 AM, Jul 30, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-30 07:27:51-04

Each day of the Tokyo Games, NBC Olympics will provide a roundup of news from a variety of sports. Catch up here on all the storylines and must-see highlights you may have missed while you were sleeping.

As we get close to the halfway point of the Olympics, we've hit the point at which U.S. teams will sink or swim.

In the women's water polo team's case, the answer is an emphatic "swim."

Maggie Steffens completed her climb toward the Olympic record for career scoring and the team shook off its first loss in 13 years — a 10-9 loss to Hungary in which Steffens suffered a broken nose — with an 18-5 win over the ROC. (STORY)

The women's basketball team once again started slowly but showed its class in winning its 51st straight game in Olympic competition, beating Japan 86-69 behind double-doubles from Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson. (STORY)

In rugby, the U.S. women won Group B, finishing with a 14-12 win over Australia, but the team was overwhelmed in a 21-12 quarterfinal loss to Great Britain, the same country that knocked out the men at the same stage of competition. (STORY)

Elsewhere, the news wasn't quite as good, with the U.S. men's volleyball team falling to 2-2 with a loss to Brazil. (STORY)

On the water, the unthinkable happened, as neither the men's nor the women's rowing eights won a medal. The women had won three gold medals in a row. For the first time in history, the U.S. won no medals whatsoever in rowing. (STORY)

Later today, the U.S. baseball team faces Israel, and the women's soccer team hopes to shake off its group-stage malaise and avoid elimination in a quarterfinal game with the Netherlands.

SEE MORE: U.S. women rout ROC in water polo bounce-back game

Swimming

No one had gone faster than 50 seconds in the men's 100m butterfly at the Olympics until Caeleb Dressel did it in a Friday semifinal. No one has gone faster in any competition than 49.50, which Dressel did at the 2019 World Championships Until the final? We'll see. (STORY

One world record fell in Friday's finals. South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker, who took silver behind surprise gold medalist Lydia Jacoby in the women's 100m breaststoke, broke the eight-year-old mark of 2:19.11 with a time of 2:18.95. U.S. swimmers Lilly King and Annie Lazor took silver and bronze. (STORY)  

Ryan Murphy had the other U.S. medal in the pool, taking silver in the men's 200m backstroke behind the ROC's Evgeny Rylov.

Australia's Emma McKeon set an Olympic record of 51.96 seconds to win the 100m freestyle, with Hong Kong swimmer Siobhan Haughey winning her second medal of the Games. Australian veteran Cate Campbell took bronze 13 years after her last medal in an individual race.

China's Wang Shun won the men's 200m individual medley, which Michael Phelps had long ruled.

SEE MORE: Caeleb Dressel goes sub-50 in 100 fly for Olympic record

Track and field

Already? Time flies when you're staying up all night.

The first medal on the track will be earned in the men's 10,000m run at 7:30 a.m. ET. Tune in 30 minutes before that to see the heats in an entertaining mixed event, the 4x400m mixed relay.

Most U.S. athletes successfully navigated their first rounds of competition, including the fleet women's 800m trio of Ajee WilsonAthling Mu and Raevyn Rogers. (NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS)

 

SEE MORE: U.S. women's 800m trio Mu, Rogers, Wilson advance to semis

Around the Games

Tennis: The Golden Slam will not happen. Novak Djokovic lost in the semifinals to Germany's Alexander Zverev. (STORY)

BMX: Crashes marred the semifinals and finals of BMX racing, with U.S. favorite Alise Willoughby eliminated in a semifinal crash and defending champion Connor Fields taken away in an ambulance in another incident. 

SEE MORE: Rory McIlroy goes on birdie-birdie-eagle tear in Round 2

Medalists

Badminton, mixed doubles: Gold - Wang/Huang (CHN), Silver - Zheng/Huang (CHN), Bronze - Watanabe/Higashino (JPN)

Canoe/kayak, men's kayak slalom: Gold - Jiri Prskavec (CZE), Silver - Jakub Grigar (SVK), Bronze - Hannes Aigner (GER)

Cycling, men's BMX race: Gold - Niek Kimmann (NED), Silver - Kye Whyte (GBR), Bronze - Carlos Ramirez (COL)

Cycling, women's BMX race: Gold - Bethany Shriever (GBR), Silver - Mariana Pajon (COL), Bronze - Merel Smulders (NED)

Fencing, men's team epee: tba

Judo, women's heavyweight: Gold - Lukas Krpalek (CZE), Silver - Guram Tushishvili (GEO), Bronze - Tamerlan Bashaev (ROC), Bronze - Teddy Riner (FRA)

Judo, men's heavyweight: Gold - Sone Akira (JPN), Silver - Idalys Ortiz (CUB), Bronze - Romane Dicko (FRA), Bronze - Irina Kindzerska (AZE)

Rowing, women's single sculls: Gold - Emma Twigg (NZL), Silver - Hanna Prakatsen (ROC), Bronze - Magdalena Lobnig (AUT) 

Rowing, men's single sculls: Gold - Stefanos Ntouskos (GRE), Silver - Kjetil Borch (NOR), Bronze - Damir Martin (da-meer)(CRO)

Rowing, women's eights: Gold - Canada, Silver - New Zealand, Bronze - China 

Rowing, men's eights: Gold - New Zealand, Silver - Germany, Bronze - Great Britain

Shooting, women's sport pistol: Gold - Vitalina Batsarashkina (ROC), Silver - Kim Min-Jung (KOR), Bronze - Xiao Jiaruixuan (CHN) 

Swimming, women's 200m breaststroke: Gold - Tatjana Schoenmaker (RSA), Silver - Lilly King (USA), Bronze - Annie Lazor (USA) 

Swimming, men's 200m backstroke: Gold - Evgeny Rylov (ROC), Silver - Ryan Murphy (USA), Bronze - Luke Greenbank (GBR)   

Swimming, women's 100m freestyle: Gold - Emma McKeon (AUS), Silver - Siobhan Haughey (HKG), Bronze - Cate Campbell (AUS)

Swimming, men's 200m individual medley: Gold - Wang Shun (CHN), Silver - Duncan Scott (GBR), Bronze - Jeremy Desplanches (SUI) 

Table tennis, men's singles: tba

Tennis, men's doubles: Gold - tba, Silver - tba, Bronze - Danielle/Venus (NZL)

Track and field, men's 10,000m: tba

Trampoline, women's event: Gold - Zhu Xueying (CHN), Silver - Liu Lingling (CHN), Bronze - Bryony Page (GBR)

SEE MORE: Emma Twigg wins gold with Olympics record

Results

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