There are several new sports making their Olympic debuts in Tokyo, and Friday is when you can first catch the exciting action.
USA Basketball Wins First 3x3 Basketball Game
With First Lady Jill Biden in attendance, Team USA cruised to a 17-10 victory over France in their first-ever 3x3 Olympic game.
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Stefanie Dolson scored a game-high seven points and added six rebounds. Kelsey Plum scored six points.
Next up, the US will face Mongolia tomorrow in group play.
Who won the first gold medal of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?
Less than 24 hours after the Tokyo Opening Ceremony, the first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics was awarded.
Chinese sport shooter Yang Qian won the gold medal in the women's 10m air rifle final. Qian had 251.8 points, narrowly edging silver medalist Anastasiia Galashina of the Russian Olympic Committee (251.1 points).
Switzerland's Nina Christen won the bronze medal with 230.6 points.
American Mary Tucker finished sixth with 166.0 points after putting up 631.4 points in the qualification round. The 20-year-old won gold in the 10m air rifle competition at the 2021 ISSF World Cup in March.
The next medal event to commence will be the men’s road race in cycling, which begins at 10 p.m. ET. After that, medals will be awarded in weightlifting, archery, judo, fencing and taekwondo.
Swimming heats begin early on Saturday morning
The swimming competitions at the Tokyo Games made a splash Saturday morning.
The swimming competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics began Saturday morning with heats in six events: men’s 400m individual medley (IM), women’s 100m butterfly, men’s 400m freestyle, women’s 400m IM, men’s 100m breaststroke and women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.
Team USA dominated in the pool at the 2016 Rio Olympics, taking home 33 medals, 23 more than any other country. Though no medals will be awarded in the first session, there were American podium threats throughout the opening slate.
Chase Kalisz took home silver in the men’s 400m IM in Rio and is in the mix for his second career Olympic medal. Two American teenagers, Virginia native Torri Huske and Claire Curzan, are among the contenders in the women’s 100m butterfly, while Emma Weyant and Hali Flickinger could both collect medals in the women’s 400m IM. Michael Andrew also will be in the medal mix in the men’s 100m breaststroke.
Huske and Curzan both advanced to the semifinals. Huske finished fourth overall with a time of 56.29, while Curzan came in 10th with a time of 57.49.
USWNT dominates New Zealand in second Olympic game
Despite multiple goals that were disallowed by offsides, Team USA got its first win in Tokyo Saturday.
Rose Lavelle, Lindsey Horan, Christen Press and Alex Morgan scored in the 6-1 victory over New Zealand.
Read our game recap here.
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