Olympics Latest: Aussie athletes in ‘unacceptable behavior’

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TOKYO (AP) — The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:

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The Australian Olympic team says some of its athletes were responsible for “unacceptable behavior” on a Japan Airlines flight to Sydney last Friday.

Australian Olympic Committee chief executive Matt Carroll says rugby and soccer officials “have told me that such behavior is certainly not acceptable within their sports.”

Australian teams in men’s soccer and men’s and women’s rugby all failed to win medals. The women’s soccer team is still in Japan and will play the United States for bronze.

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MEDAL ALERT

Roniel Iglesias of Cuba won his second Olympic boxing gold medal by soundly beating Pat McCormack of Britain in the welterweight final.

Iglesias added Tokyo gold to his two previous light welterweight medals. He won gold in London and bronze from Beijing. He also fought at welterweight in Rio de Janeiro but lost in the quarterfinals.

Iglesias largely controlled the final bout with superior footwork and technique against McCormack. McCormack was gracious in defeat as Iglesias celebrated Cuba’s first official boxing medal in Tokyo. Several more are already clinched.

Aidan Walsh of Ireland and Andrei Zamkovoy of Russia claimed bronze medals. Walsh was unable to fight McCormack in the semifinals after he injured his ankle while leaping to celebrate his quarterfinal victory.

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MEDAL ALERT

Chinese gymnasts Guan Chenchen and Tang Xijing have swept the gold and silver in balance beam.

American Simone Biles won bronze in the event, her first medal of the Tokyo Olympics.

Guan took the gold with a score of 14.633, ahead of Tang (14.233).

Biles (14.000) earned her seventh career Olympic medal — tied with Shannon Miller for the most by an American in gymnastics — by drilling a slightly watered-down version of her usual routine in front of a crowd that included IOC President Thomas Bach.

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The Greek Olympic team says the outbreak of COVID-19 cases among its artistic swimmers has ruled them out of competing at the Tokyo Games.

Three new cases were reported Tuesday and the entire artistic swimming squad was asked to leave the Olympic Village. Only one case had been previously confirmed.

The Greek team says they are all staying at a quarantine hotel.

Greece was due to compete in the duet and team events.

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Simone Biles has won a bronze medal in balance beam, her first of the Tokyo Olympics.

The American gymnastics star finished behind gold medalist Guan Chenchen and silver medalist Tang Xijing both of China.

A week after taking herself out of several competitions to focus on her mental health, Biles drilled a slightly altered routine on Tuesday.

Biles, using a routine that ended with a double-pike dismount — no twisting required — posted a score of 14.000.

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MEDAL ALERT

The Netherlands romped past Britain in Olympic-record time to win the men’s team sprint at the Izu Velodrome.

The team of Jeffrey Hoogland, Roy van den Berg and Harrie Lavreysen stopped the clock in 41.369 seconds to easily beat the British, who had claimed the last three gold medals in the three-lap race.

The British team of Ryan Owens, Jack Carlin and Jason Kenny led by the slimmest margins after the first lap but was unable to keep up the pace. The Dutch pulled after the second lap and wound up easing up across the finish line.

The British finished in a time of 44.589 seconds.

France easily beat Australia in the matchup for the bronze medal.

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GOLD MEDAL, WORLD RECORD

Germany became the first women’s pursuit team to beat Britain in an Olympic final, breaking its own world record with a time of 4:04.259 in track cycling at the Izu Velodrome.

The team of Franziska Brausse, Lisa Brennauer, Lisa Klein and Mieke Kroege led the British by nearly 2 seconds by the midway point of the 4,000-meter race and never looked back. The British wound up finishing in 4:10.607.

Britain had won the gold medal the previous three Summer Olympics.

The world champion Americans led the whole way in beating Canada for the bronze medal.

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MEDAL ALERT

Zou Jingyuan of China has captured gold on parallel bars. Zou’s winning score of 16.233 was the highest on any event by any gymnast during the nine days of competition at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre.

Zou topped qualifying with a score of 16.166 but went even higher in the finals, giving him a gold to go with the bronze he won in the team competition last week.

Lukas Dauser of Germany grabbed silver after posting a 15.700, just ahead of Ferhat Arican of Turkey, who took bronze.

American Sam Mikulak, competing in his third Olympics, finished sixth in the eight-man final. The 28-year-old Mikulak is retiring following a career in which he won six U.S. titles.

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WORLD RECORD

Italy toppled another record in track cycling at the Tokyo Olympics with a new mark in men’s team pursuit.

The team of Simone Consonni, Filippo Ganna, Francesco Lamon and Jonathan Milan stopped the clock in 3:42.307 for the 4,000 meters to break the mark of 3:44.672 that Denmark set at last year’s world championships.

The Italians were pushed the entire way by New Zealand in the race for a spot in the gold medal race. The team of Aaron Gate, Campbell Stewart, Regan Gough and Jordan Kerby also bettered the previous record with a time or 3:42.397.

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MEDAL ALERT

Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan have given China another 1-2 finish in Olympic diving, taking gold and silver in men’s 3-meter springboard.

The Chinese divers held the top two spots after both the preliminaries and the semifinals, and it was more of the same in the finals.

Xie broke down in tears when marks for his final dive were posted, a string of 9.0s and 9.5s that clinched the gold with 558.75 points. Wang came over to give his teammate a hug.

The biggest drama was for the silver, but Wang nailed his final dive to hold off Britain’s Jack Laugher with 534.90.

Laugher was only 2.05 points behind Wang going to the final round but over-rotated his entry a bit, leaving him with the bronze at 518.00.

Long the world’s dominant diving nation, China has been near-perfect at the Tokyo Aquatic Center with five gold medals in six events.

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British track cyclist Ed Clancy withdrew from the Tokyo Olympics and announced his retirement because of an ongoing back and sciatica injury, hours before his pursuit team was scheduled to compete in its first-round ride.

Charlie Tanfield will replace him alongside Ethan Hayter, Ethan Vernon and Ollie Wood in the four-man lineup.

Clancy has been part of the gold medal-winning pursuit squad during the last three Olympic cycles. He also has a bronze medal in the multidiscipline omnium while spending just over 20 years on the national team

Clancy said he was “absolutely gutted that my Olympic career has ended this way.”

But he said he wants the rest of the team to have the best chance of winning a medal

The medal rounds of the team pursuit take place Wednesday.

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MEDAL ALERT

Sena Irie of Japan has claimed the first-ever women’s featherweight boxing gold medal with a unanimous decision over the Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio.

Irie became the first female boxer to win a medal for Japan when she secured the first gold of the Tokyo boxing tournament by sweeping the third round on all five judges’ cards at the Kokugikan Arena. Irie’s crisper punches won over the judges in a bout with plenty of clinching.

Petecio settled for the Philippines’ first boxing medal of any kind since 1996, but Manny Pacquiao’s home nation is in contention for at least two more medals in Tokyo.

Featherweight was one of two women’s weight classes added to the Olympics in Tokyo. The women’s field also was expanded to 100 fighters from 36 in its first two Olympics.

Italy’s Irma Testa and Britain’s Karriss Artingstall won the division’s inaugural bronze medals.

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The IOC says it asked China’s Olympic team to explain two gold medal winners wearing pins of communist leader Mao Zedong at their medal ceremony.

It risks being judged a breach of Olympic Charter Rule 50 prohibiting political statements on the podium.

After winning the women’s sprint in track cycling Monday, Bao Shanju and Zhong Tianshi wore pin badges of Mao, the founding leader of communist China.

The Chinese incident followed one day after American shot put silver medalist Raven Saunders crossed the wrists of her raised arms on the podium, in a symbol of support for oppressed people. That happened seconds after the Chinese national anthem finished playing for gold medalist Gong Lijiao.

Adams says the IOC has asked the United States team for more details. The U.S. Olympic body said it was taking no action against Saunders.

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A shot putter from the country of Georgia has tested positive for steroids and been pulled from his event Tuesday.

The International Testing Agency says Benik Abramyan tested positive for two steroids and a banned hormone in a sample taken in Tokyo on Saturday. That was his 36th birthday.

Abramyan was due to take part in the shot put qualifying round later Tuesday.

The agency says the athlete can appeal against his provisional suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Abramyan competed at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and did not reach the final.

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Xie Siyi and Wang Zongyuan gave China a 1-2 finish in the semifinals of men’s 3-meter springboard diving at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Looking for China’s fifth diving gold in six Olympic events, Xie and Wang led a group of 12 qualifiers to the afternoon final.

Xie totaled 543.45 points for six dives, with Wang right behind at 540.50. Britain’s Jack Laugher was the only diver even close to China’s powerhouse duo, taking the third spot with 514.75.

Another British diver, James Heatly, was fourth in 454.85 — a whopping 88.60 behind the leader.

The lone U.S. diver, Andrew Capobianco, advanced to the final in 10th at 419.60. Teammate Tyler Downs was eliminated in Monday’s preliminaries. Capobianco already won a silver medal with Michael Hixon in the 3-meter synchronized event, one of three diving medals for the Americans.

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MEDAL ALERT

Malaika Mihambo of Germany took the top spot in the women’s long jump with a 7-meter leap on her final attempt and edged U.S. veteran Brittney Reese for the Olympic gold medal.

Mihambo won the world championship title in 2019 and finished just off the podium in fourth place at the 2016 Olympics.

The 34-year-old Reese now has back-to-back Olympic silver medals at the Tokyo Games and from Rio de Janeiro after winning the title at London in 2012.

The four-time world champion had the chance to win with the final jump of the competition but couldn’t improve on her best mark of 6.97 meters.

Ese Brume of Nigeria, who led after the first round and was in top spot again after the fourth, also finished on 6.97-meters and took bronze on a countback.

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MEDAL ALERT

Cuba won a surprise gold medal in the men’s canoe double 1,000 meters, ahead of China and Germany.

Germany had won the event at five of the last seven Olympic games and Sebastian Brendel had been in the German boat for gold medals in 2012 and 2016.

But the race developed into a battle between Cuba and China over the final 500 meters. Cuba’s Serguey Torres Madrigal and Fernando Dayan Jorge Enriquez edged across the line to win by 0.2 seconds.

The Cuban duo had won silver at the world championships in 2019, but Cuba hadn’t medaled in this event at the Olympics since 2000.

Germany won bronze to earn a medal in the events for the seventh consecutive Olympics.

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MEDAL ALERT

New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington blew away the field in winning her third consecutive women’s kayak sprint 200 at the Sea Forest Waterway.

The gold medal could be the first of a potential four medals for Carrington in Tokyo. She’s also in the women’s kayak double 500 later Tuesday and the 500 single and fours later in the week.

Carrington bolted out of the start and had a lead of half a boat length barely 50 meters into the race. She beat Spain’s Teresa Portela of Spain by 0.76 seconds.

Emma Aastrand Jorgensen of Denmark won the bronze medal.

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Allyson Felix won her first-round heat of the 400 meters as she began her Tokyo quest for a 10th Olympic medal.

The 35-year-old Felix, who’s competing at her fifth Olympics, has six gold medals and three silvers on her resume. She’s tied with Jamaican great Merlene Ottey for the most women’s track medals in Olympic history. Felix has a chance to medal in the 400 and may have another shot in the women’s 4×400 this weekend.

Before her race, she was introduced as a legend.

Felix ran in spikes designed by her new company, Saysh. It made the moment more special. The only thing missing was her young daughter, Camryn, who’s back home.

“It’s changed everything,” Felix said of motherhood. “It’s given me a different drive. … I think it’s even more meaningful to be on this stage as a mom.”

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The Court of Arbitration for Sport says Belarus sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya failed in a legal action to be allowed to run in the 200 meters heats.

The court revealed early Tuesday the legal steps Tsimanouskaya took while she was also seeking a humanitarian visa to avoid returning to Belarus, where she believes her life would be in danger.

CAS says it denied Tsimanouskaya’s request for an interim ruling to overturn Belarus Olympic officials’ refusal to let her race in the 200.

The heats were held Monday morning and semifinals in the evening session at the Olympic Stadium.

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April Ross is the last medalist standing in the Olympic beach volleyball women’s bracket.

The American 2016 bronze medalist and her partner ousted defending champion Laura Ludwig of Germany on Tuesday and advanced to the semifinals at the Shiokaze Park venue. Ross, who also has a silver medal from London, is the last woman remaining who has reached the podium at a previous Summer Games.

This time, Ross is playing with Olympic first-timer Alix Klineman. They beat Ludwig and her new partner Maggie Kozuch 21-19, 21-19.

Ross and Klineman are the U.S.’s last hopes for a beach volleyball medal in Tokyo. The sport’s birthplace has never been shut out in the Olympics.

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