{"id":45347,"date":"2021-08-07T20:53:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T02:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/american-gold-bonanza-as-tokyo-olympics-near-end\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:24:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:24:46","slug":"american-gold-bonanza-as-tokyo-olympics-near-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/american-gold-bonanza-as-tokyo-olympics-near-end\/","title":{"rendered":"American gold bonanza as Tokyo Olympics near end"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"United
United States' Kevin Durant (7) scores during men's basketball gold medal game against France at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Saitama, Japan. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay)<\/span>Eric Gay<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

American gold bonanza as Tokyo Olympics near end<\/p>\n

TOKYO (AP) \u2014 The second to last day of competition at the Tokyo Olympics produced a gold medal bonanza for the United States.<\/p>\n

The Americans kept up their domination in men’s basketball and women’s water polo with gold medal victories in both on Saturday, and Allyson Felix won her 11th career medal<\/a> with a gold one as part of the U.S. women’s winning 4×400-relay team.<\/p>\n

And the American men finally delivered a sprint gold medal in the 4×400-relay, the final track race of the Tokyo Games.<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant scored 29 points and joined Carmelo Anthony as the only three-time men\u2019s gold medalists in Olympic history as the U.S. held off France 87-82 to win the gold medal<\/a> for the 16th time in 19 tries.<\/p>\n

\"United
United States' Kevin Durant (7), right, celebrates with head coach Gregg Popovich after their win in the men's basketball gold medal game against France at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Saitama, Japan. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)<\/span>Luca Bruno<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Americans had started their tournament with a loss to France, then ran off five consecutive victories.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody was questioning us,\u201d U.S. forward Draymond Green. \u201cThis is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

It certainly was for Durant, who carried the team through so many victories, and coach Gregg Popovich, who adds the gold medal to five NBA championships he\u2019s won with the San Antonio Spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one feels good because we went through a lot. We had a lot of first-time guys on the team, new experience for everyone on the team, COVID, the kind of bubble we were in, no fans, no one expecting us to lose,” Durant said.<\/p>\n

Popovich called coaching in the Olympics \u201cthe most responsibility I’ve ever felt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re playing for so many people that are watching, and for a country, and other countries involved. The responsibility was awesome,” Popovich said.<\/p>\n

The gold medal wasn’t secure until Durant made two free throws with 8.8 seconds left.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when we look back at the competition we\u2019ll be proud of ourselves,” said France’s Even Fournier. \u201cWe weren\u2019t far off … We’re getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The United States team of Allyson Felix, Athing Mu, Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney Mclaughlin, from left, celebrate winning the gold medal in the final of the women's 4 x 400-meter relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/span>Charlie Riedel<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TRACK<\/p>\n

Felix became the most-decorated woman in Olympic track history when she won bronze in the 400 Friday night. She passed Carl Lewis for the most track medals of any U.S. athlete. Of her 11 medals, seven are gold.<\/p>\n

Paavo Nurmi of Finland holds the all-time mark in track with 12 medals from 1920-28.<\/p>\n

The team of Felix, Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu was never in jeopardy in this one. Poland finished second, 3.68 seconds behind, and Jamaica finished third.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllyson is an amazing athlete. I\u2019m astonished by everything she does, even coming out here at her last Games,\u201d Mu said. \u201cIt\u2019s just great to be with her, kind of starting my career off. That\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American men’s relay team of Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin won the fifth gold for the U.S. men in the 4×400 since 1996.<\/p>\n

BASEBALL<\/div>\n

A Japanese team of All-Stars fulfilled a determined national mission to win the Olympic baseball gold medal for the first time, beating the United States 2-0 behind Munetaka Murakami\u2019s third-inning home run.<\/p>\n

Masato Morishita and four relievers combined on a six-hitter, and the Japanese men matched the accomplishment of the women\u2019s softball team, which upended the Americans for their second straight gold medal.<\/p>\n

SOCCER<\/div>\n

Malcom scored in the 108th minute and Brazil won its second consecutive gold medal in men\u2019s soccer with a 2-1 victory over Spain. Brazil also won gold on home soil five years ago.<\/p>\n

Brazil had a 1-0 lead at the half, but Mikel Oyarzabal tied it for Spain in the 61st minute off a cross from Carlos Soler.<\/p>\n

Gil Bryan nearly scored in the 88th for Spain, but his shot hit the crossbar and the match went to extra time.<\/p>\n

Spain won the gold medal in 1992 and was also seeking its second Olympic title.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Cao
Cao Yuan of China competes in men's diving 10m platform final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo\/Dmitri Lovetsky)<\/span>Dmitri Lovetsky<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

DIVING HISTORY<\/p><\/div>\n

China finished off the single greatest diving performance<\/a> in Olympic history when Cao Yuan outdueled teammate Yang Jian to win the men\u2019s 10-meter platform title, giving the Chinese gold medals in seven of eight events at the Tokyo Games.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s 12 diving medals tied the record for most won in the sport at a single Olympics. The U.S. also won 12 at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, when the Americans swept all four events and nine of the 28 divers were from the host country.<\/p>\n

The only event the Chinese didn\u2019t win in Tokyo was men\u2019s platform synchro, where they finished second.<\/p>\n

IN THE WATER<\/div>\n

Ashleigh Johnson made 11 saves, Maddie Mussleman scored three times and the United States women routed Spain<\/a> 14-5 in the water polo final. The U.S. won its third consecutive gold medal.<\/p>\n

The U.S. joins the men\u2019s teams from Britain (1908-1920) and Hungary (2000-2008) as the only countries to win at least three straight water polo titles at the Olympics.<\/p>\n

ON THE WATER<\/div>\n

In sprint canoe, Ronald Rauhe became the first man to win a medal in canoe sprint in five Olympics when Germany won the men\u2019s kayak four 500 meters in the final race at the Sea Forest Waterway.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lisa Carrington of New Zealand had already won three gold medals but missed out on a fourth when the Kiwis finished fourth in the women\u2019s kayak four 500. Hungary won the race.<\/p>\n

Serghei Tarnovschi of Moldova returned to the Olympics to win a bronze medal in the men\u2019s canoe 1,000 after being stripped of his 2016 bronze medal for a positive doping test.<\/p>\n

GOING THE DISTANCE<\/div>\n

Sifan Hassan won the 10,000 meters for her second gold and third medal of the Tokyo Olympics after entering three long-distance races.<\/p>\n

It completed an astonishing 5,000 and 10,000 double for the Ethiopian-born runner, who now competes for the Netherlands. She also won a bronze in the 1,500 meters. Her victory in the 10,000 was her sixth race in eight days in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Peres Jepchirchir led a 1-2 Kenyan finish in the women\u2019s marathon. She withstood the heat and humidity while running through the streets of Sapporo more than 500 miles north of Tokyo, winning in 2 hours, 27 minutes, 20 seconds. Her teammate Brigid Kosgei was second and American Molly Seidel, a relative newcomer to the marathon stage, took home the bronze.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Nelly
Nelly Korda, of the United States, bites her gold medal, won in the women's golf event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe, Japan. (AP Photo\/Matt York)<\/span>Matt York<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WOMEN’S GOLF<\/p><\/div>\n

Nelly Korda gave the U.S. a sweep of gold medals in golf, holding on for a one-shot victory. Korda led by as many as three shots on the back nine. In the end, she needed two putts from just inside 30 feet on the 18th hole for par and a 2-under 69.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

States' Kevin Durant (7) scores during men's basketball gold medal game against France at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021, in Saitama, Japan. (AP Photo\/Eric Gay)Eric Gay American gold bonanza as Tokyo Olympics near end TOKYO (AP) \u2014 The second to last day of competition at the Tokyo Olympics produced a gold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2505],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-summer-olympics"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86454,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45347\/revisions\/86454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45347"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}