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The U.S. men’s basketball team will face France for the second time at the Tokyo Olympics, only this time, there’s gold on the line. NBC – not Peacock – will televise the game live at 10:30 p.m. ET.
A historically dominant force in international basketball, the United States has struggled in Tokyo – and even before it. In July, it lost exhibition matches against Nigeria and Australia. Then in the opening game of Olympic pool play, it lost 83-76 to France.
After a semifinal win over the Aussies, though, something has finally clicked for the American squad. Milwaukee Bucks star Jrue Holiday and Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker, who were busy with the NBA Finals during the U.S. exhibitions, have supplemented an offense that’s been carried by Olympic veteran Kevin Durant.
The United States has won 15 gold medals since men’s basketball was added to the Olympic slate in 1936 and four of the five this century. USA Basketball’s only blemish was a loss to Argentina in the 2004 semifinals in Athens before the team came back to beat Lithuania for bronze.
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U.S. men’s basketball team leads France at halftime of gold medal game
The U.S. is 20 minutes away from its fourth straight gold medal in men’s basketball, but France has hung around and trails just 44-39 at halftime.
Kevin Durant (21 points) and Jayson Tatum (11 points) have provided the bulk of the U.S. offense. Meanwhile, Rudy Gobert is up to 13 points for France. Tatum leads all players with a +/- of +10.
The U.S. has done a much better job taking care of the ball, winning the turnover battle 10-2.
Of course, in the two teams’ meeting during group play, the U.S. led by eight at halftime before a disastrous third quarter in which France outscored them 25-11.
— Chris Bumbaca
Mike Tirico briefly takes over play-by-play duties in gold medal game
Mike Tirico, NBC’s primary host for the Olympics, briefly took over play-by-play of the broadcast from the studio after the NBC feed of the men’s gold medal basketball game airing in the U.S. apparently lost audio.
A three-point play from Kevin Durant gave the U.S. its largest lead of the game at 35-26, and he then nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner to make the lead 12. Evan Fournier was then called for a technical and Durant made the free throw to give him 19 points with more than four minutes to go before half.
— Chris Bumbaca
France hanging around vs. U.S. men’s basketball team
Big baskets inside against a smaller U.S. lineup by Moustapha Fall (four points) has kept France close.
Jayson Tatum (3-of-4 from the field) is off to one of his best starts of the tournament with seven points and three rebounds in six-plus minutes.
France called timeout and the U.S. led 30-24 with 6:26 until halftime.
— Chris Bumbaca
Team USA leads France after first quarter
Draymond Green and Zach Lavine were the Americans’ first substitutions for Damian Lillard and Bam Adebayo. The U.S. started hitting shots, but Kevin Durant is having a tougher time with Rudy Gobert in the paint.
Khris Middleton and Jayson Tatum were next off the bench and the first U.S. three, via Durant, tied the game at 15. Durant was fouled on his next attempt from behind the arc and nailed all three free throws. Beautiful ball movement on the ensuing French possession led to a Nic Batum three. Tatum followed with a three of his own and the U.S. led 22-18 after the first quarter. Durant already has 12 points.
— Chris Bumbaca
USA Basketball off to slow start against France in gold-medal game
As a team, the U.S. started 2-for-8 from the field and missed their first seven 3-pointers. Things haven’t gone much better on the other side of the floor, as France worked inside for a couple of dunks. Evan Fournier nailed a three and coach Gregg Popovich called timeout with the U.S. trailing 10-4 and 5:28 left.
— Chris Bumbaca
France vs. USA gold-medal basketball game begins
SAITAMA, Japan – The gold medal game between the U.S. men’s basketball team and France has tipped.
The starting lineups for both teams for the game at Saitama Super Arena:
For the United States: Kevin Durant, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, Damian Lillard, Bam Adebayo.
For France: Nicolas Batum, Nando de Colo, Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, Guerschon Yabusele.
US distance runner competing against two of fastest women in world
TOKYO — Emily Sisson didn’t mind the heat at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon in June when she cruised to a victory in the 10,000-meter event.
The Arizona native finished with a time of 31:03.81 in 80-degree heat at the trials in a race she said she wouldn’t have changed. Now, with high temperatures in Tokyo, she’s poised to finish top 10 against some of the world’s fastest distance runners.
Sisson will compete against the Netherland’s Sifan Hassan, who already won the gold in the 5,000-meters, and Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey. The two runners each reset the world record in the event within a three-day span. Gidey’s time of 29:01.03 is the record going into event finals in Tokyo.
The 29-year-old Sisson originally tried to make the U.S. marathon team in February 2020 but dropped out after running with the leaders for more than 20 miles.
The women’s 10,000-meter race will air at 6:45 a.m. ET on Saturday.
— Jeff Metcalfe
Women lead the way for Team USA in Tokyo
TOKYO —Time and again at the Tokyo Olympic Games, U.S. athletes have climbed onto the medal podium to be rewarded with gold, silver or bronze. In an historic first, nearly 60 percent of those U.S. medalists have been women.
If U.S. women were their own country, they would be fourth in the Olympic medal count, ahead of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France and nearly 200 other countries, and behind only the entire U.S. team, China and the Russian Olympic Committee.
Of Team USA’s 99 medals heading into the final weekend of the Games, 59 have been won by women, nearly twice as many as the 35 won by men. (Five of the medals have been won in mixed events featuring male and female athletes.)
That means 59.6 percent of all U.S. medals have been won by women. If that number holds through the last events of these Olympics, it will easily surpass the previous best result for American women, which was winning 55.8 percent of the medals at the 2012 London Olympics.
The U.S. is guaranteed at least three more medals from American women, with U.S. women’s basketball, water polo and volleyball playing for gold in the next two days. On Saturday at 3:30 a.m. ET, the U.S. women’s water polo team faces Spain in the gold-medal match. Later Saturday night, the U.S. goes for its seventh consecutive gold medal in women’s basketball when it takes on Japan at 10:30 p.m. ET. The U.S. women’s volleyball team has a chance to win its first ever Olympic gold medal when it meets up with Brazil Sunday at 12:30 a.m. ET.
— Christine Brennan
US diver Jordan Windle made it from Cambodian orphanage to Olympics
Left outside a Cambodian orphanage as a child, Jordan Windle was adopted at 18 months old by his Jerry Windle and grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Jerry Windle put Jordan in his first aquatics class at 7-years-old. The campers had a chance to jump off the one meter diving board, and even at a young age, Jordan caught people’s attention. The head of the aquatics program, Tim O’Brien, son of former Team USA diving coach Dr. Ron O’Brien, said Jordan needed to be put in a diving program.
Jordan would move multiple times to train under different coaches, who were all delighted when their former protégé made the U.S. Olympic team. Now, he’s competing for a chance at an Olympic medal in Tokyo.
Men’s 10-meter platform diving semifinals began at 9 p.m. ET, and the finals are scheduled for Saturday at 2 a.m. ET.
Molly Seidel wins bronze in women’s marathon
Molly Seidel continues to impress. After a stunning performance to qualify for Team USA, Seidel ran another gutsy race Saturday, hanging with the lead pack and holding on to win bronze in the Olympic marathon. It was just the third marathon Seidel, 27, has ever run.
Seidel crossed the finish line third in 2:27:46 on a muggy morning in Sapporo. Kenyans Peres Jepchirchir and Brigid Kosgei finished first and second, respectively. Seidel becomes just the third American woman to ever medal in the women’s marathon. Joan Benoit won gold in the event in 1984, and Deena Kastor took bronze in 2004.
It’s an incredible accomplishment for a four-time NCAA champion in cross country in track, for whom the marathon is still a relatively unfamiliar distance.
Fellow American Sally Kipyego finished 17th. Aliphine Tuliamuk, who won Olympic trials, dropped out of the race about halfway through, with her team citing an injury in a post on social media.
— Tom Schad
Jessica Springsteen set for Saturday’s equestrian finals
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band may have resumed their residency on Broadway, but all eyes are on the daughter of “The Boss,” Jessica, as she competes in the Olympics. She’ll have one last chance to medal alongside teammates McClain Ward and Laura Kraut in the equestrian team jumping finals on Saturday at 6 a.m. ET.
Ward and Kraut already have four career medals between the two of them but they are looking for another with Springsteen. The team qualified after a trio of nearly perfect runs around the course in qualifiers, good enough for fifth out of the 10 teams that advanced.
Tuliamuk drops out of marathon due to injury
Aliphine Tuliamuk dropped out of the women’s marathon Saturday due to injury, according to a post on social media from her team.
Tuliamuk, 32, won the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in early 2020. She dropped out of Saturday’s race a little before the halfway point, roughly 12 miles into the 26.2-mile race. Her running team, HOKA Northern Arizona Elite, wrote on Twitter that her hip “has been bothering her these last two weeks.”
“She tried her best to get it right but couldn’t fix it,” the club wrote. “More to come when we have details.”
Fellow American Molly Seidel was still with the leaders at the 15-mile mark, while Sally Kipyego was slightly behind, in 9th.
— Tom Schad
Canada’s Quinn becomes first openly-transgender Olympic gold medalist
Besides being the country’s first Olympic or World Cup title, Canada’s win over Sweden in the women’s soccer gold-medal game cemented a more important piece of history.
Quinn, a Canadian midfielder and one of the first openly transgender athletes to compete at the Olympics, is now a gold medalist. Their win is a momentous one for trans representation and acceptance.
“That’s such a huge thing for me, just making sure kids know that they have a place in this sport,” Quinn said after the game. “Sports bring me so much joy, so hopefully I can pass that message along and be a role model for younger folks, seeing that they can be themselves and they can also have a place here and they can be Olympic champions.”
While the International Olympic Committee has long had rules allowing for the participation of transgender athletes at the Games, the Tokyo Olympics are the first at which any have competed. New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard also competed in Tokyo.
— Nancy Armour
Women’s marathon moved up due to excessive heat
The women’s marathon, originally scheduled to start at 7 a.m. Saturday in Tokyo, was pushed up to 6 a.m. due to high temperatures creating dangerous running conditions.
The race will be broadcast live at 5 p.m. ET Friday on USA.
Climate change is becoming an increasing issue in sports. Competition times at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon were altered as temperatures soared above 100 degrees. In Tokyo, a caddy for U.S. golfer Lexi Thompson had to relinquish his duties because of heat exhaustion.
Aliphine Tuliamuk, the U.S. marathon champion, Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego and Molly Seidel will all race for the United States. Tuliamuk was one of the Olympic athletes who fought for breastfeeding mothers to be able to bring their children with them to Tokyo after originally not being allowed to.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Olympics 2021 live updates: USA hoops goes for gold; marathon bronze