Daily Edition – Day 10: Back, back-backin’ it up
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Hello!
With a literally show-stopping weekend in the books, let’s start this week on the right note and dig into the latest Olympic news. Music to our ears.
Country | 🥇 | 🥈 | 🥉 | Total |
| 🇨🇳 People’s Republic of China | 20 | 16 | 12 | 48 |
| 🇺🇲 USA | 19 | 27 | 26 | 72 |
| 🇫🇷 France | 12 | 14 | 18 | 44 |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | 12 | 11 | 8 | 31 |
🥇 In arguably the greatest men’s 100m final ever, American Noah Lyles prevailed by five one thousandths of a second to win gold yesterday, while fellow American Fred Kerley finished in third. The definition of a photo finish.
👟 And Americans took home even more hardware on the track as Sha’Carri Richardson dashed to silver and Melissa Jefferson raced to bronze in the women’s 100m, Jasmine Moore (bronze) became the first American woman to claim a medal in triple jump, and Team USA finished with silver in the riveting 4x400m mixed relay final.
- On the field, Ryan Crouser cemented himself as the shot-put king, winning his third straight Olympic gold medal yesterday, with his compatriot Joe Kovacs finishing right behind him to claim the silver.
🤸 The medals came in bunches during the gymnastics individual event finals. Pommel horse king Stephen Nedoroscik captured bronze, Simone Biles and Jade Carey won vault gold and bronze, respectively, and Suni Lee took home bronze in the uneven bars. Stuck it.
⛳ Golfer Scottie Scheffler definitely had fun during yesterday’s final round, shooting nine-under par en route to the men’s golf gold medal, finishing ahead of Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood (silver) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (bronze). The year of Scottie continues.
⚽ Thanks to this Trinity Rodman beauty, the USWNT survived a thrilling quarter-final extra-time affair with Japan, winning 1–0 and advancing to tomorrow’s semis against Germany.
🏀 Team USA women’s basketball played from behind after the first quarter, but a combo of relentless defense and a team-high 19 points from Jackie Young powered them to a 87–68 win over Germany yesterday to go undefeated in group play.
🚴 American road cyclist Kristen Faulkner wasn’t scheduled to race, but the former rower and venture capitalist upset a stacked field to win women’s racing gold yesterday, the first American gold in the sport in 40 years. Incredible.
🎾 Tennis great Novak Djokovic added a gold medal to his illustrious resume by topping Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s singles final yesterday.
- As for the women, Zheng Qinwen of the People’s Republic of China claimed the country’s first gold medal in tennis with her Saturday singles win over Croatia’s Donna Vekić.
🥊 Amid continued gender misconceptions and controversy, Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting and Algeria’s Imane Khelif clinched medals in women’s boxing and will compete in their respective semis later this week.
Team USA Swimming
🏊 Fish are friends
The GIST: It came down to the final races of the Games, but Team USA re-asserted its dominance in the pool, finishing with 28 medals (including eight golds) to remain the most decorated swim program at the Olympics — a standard they’ve held since 1992. Crikey!
World records fall, golds rain in yesterday’s finale: Trailing their Australian rivals in gold medals heading into the final night, American Bobby Finke came up clutch in the 1500m freestyle, smashing a world record and defending his Tokyo gold to give Team USA their only individual men’s title. More cowbell.
- And as has been the trend these Olympics, the American women got the job done: The 4x100m medley relay team secured gold and broke a world record, ensuring Team USA the most golds of all swimming countries.
- In fact, the red, white, and blue’s women swimmers were solely responsible for five of the program’s eight golds.
What’s next: Though the U.S. came out on top, the program's many veterans (with the exception of Katie Ledecky) underperformed in individual races. Now the most decorated American woman swimmer of all time, Ledecky still has eyes on LA 2028, but it will take a splashy next generation for the USA to maintain their world dominance.
- International phenoms and Paris breakout stars like Canada’s Summer McIntosh and France’s Léon Marchand may train in the U.S., but the search for America’s Next Great Swimmer is on.
🤸 Gymnast Kaylia Nemour takes uneven bars gold for Algeria
It’s the first Olympic gymnastics medal for an athlete representing an African country, and the French-born specialist had to beat out some heavy hitters to earn it, including Team USA’s Suni Lee, who took bronze, and the reigning uneven bars gold medalist, Belgium’s Nina Derwael. Flippin’ fantastic.
💨 The “fastest woman alive” is from St. Lucia
Sprinter Julien Alfred snagged the tiny Caribbean country’s first-ever medal when she bested American Sha’Carri Richardson (by 0.15 seconds) in the women’s Athletics 100m final on Saturday. The locals were understandably hyped.
❣️ Refugee Olympic Team earns first medal in the boxing ring
Cindy Ngamba took the women’s middleweight bronze yesterday, the first medal for the federation of refugee athletes since it first competed at the Olympics beginning in 2016. Ngamba left Cameroon — a country where she could be jailed for her queer identity — for the U.K. when she was 11 but is not yet a British citizen.
Event | ⏰ (ET) | 👀 |
| 🏅🤸 Women’s gymnastics balance beam and floor exercise finals | Today at 6:38 a.m. and 8:23 a.m. | 🇺🇲 Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee |
| 3️⃣🏀 3x3 women’s basketball semifinal | Today at 11:30 a.m. | 🇺🇲 USA vs. 🇪🇸 Spain |
| 🏖️🏐 Women’s beach volleyball round of 16 | Today at 12 p.m. | 🇺🇲 Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss |
| 🏅👟 Women’s 800m final | Today at 3:47 p.m. | 🇺🇲 Juliette Whittaker |
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Here’s what has GIST HQ buzzing:
🍫 What to snack on
Reese’s Medals. Eat like a champion today.
📖 What to read
This Front Office Sports explainer on the divisive decision to offer prize money for Olympic track & field medalists. Mo money, mo problems.
🎱 Who’s ahead of the eight ball
The Black Widow, aka American professional pool player Jeannette Lee. Lee's tell-all memoir about her legendary career, growing up Korean-American, and her lifelong struggle with scoliosis is truly inspiring.
Today’s email was brought to you by Lauren Tuiskula, Alessandra Puccio, Marga Sison, and Katie Kehoe Foster. Fact-checking by Parul Kanwar. Ops by Briana Ekanem and Marga Sison. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster and Alessandra Puccio. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.