A world record swim by Caeleb Dressel helped the United States close the gap with China and Japan at the top of the medal tally on Saturday as compatriot Simone Biles bowed out of two more gymnastic events.
Dressel and Katie Ledecky added to the US gold medal haul at the Tokyo Games on Saturday while Australia picked up an incredible seventh title and Britain won the Olympics' inaugural mixed 4x100 medley relay for their fourth swimming gold. It has been a disappointing Game so far for the U.S. swim team, whose eight golds are just half their tally from Rio, but the performances of their biggest names gave them a reason to celebrate on a penultimate day in the pool. The U.S. was third on the gold medal tally with 16 medals about 7 p.m. local time.
China had top billing with 21 gold, while host nation Japan had 17. Ledecky, who has won 15 world titles and six Olympic golds, said her sights were on the 2024 Paris Games, and at just 24-years-old, she isn't ready to rule out the Los Angeles Games four years after that.
World number one Novak Djokovic will leave the Olympics without a medal after he lost the bronze medal match to Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta and then pulled out of the mixed doubles with a shoulder injury. Djokovic has not won a medal at the Games since 2008.
Like much of the world, 86-year-old Soviet champion Larisa Latynina was stunned to see Biles withdraw from the team event on Tuesday night after a single vault. Latynina, whose record of nine Olympic gold medals Biles came into Tokyo to beat, said that modern gymnastics had become more physically and psychologically grueling than in her day. "What we did is not comparable to what modern gymnasts do," she told Reuters in an interview at her home in a village two hours outside Moscow on Friday.
"Looking at what gymnasts today do, I'm a little afraid. Would I have started gymnastics or not?" Biles will not compete in the vault and uneven bar apparatus finals, USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Saturday.
"She will continue to be evaluated daily to determine whether to compete in the finals for floor exercise and balance beam."
American BMX racer Connor Fields suffered a brain hemorrhage during a horror crash in Friday's Olympic event, but has been moved out of intensive care, his team said. Fields went down hard in a first-corner crash during the semi-final runs and was treated by the side of the circuit before being rushed to Tokyo's St. Luke's International Hospital. "After a night in the ICU, the doctors are pleased to report that there has been no additional bleeding, and no new injuries were found," USA Cycling said. "Fields has been moved out of the critical care unit and will remain in the hospital until cleared."
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