Tokyo Olympics Day 4: Canada’s Maude Charron wins gold in weightlifting; Canadian women tie Britain in soccer; Canada wins bronze medals in softball and judo
The latest Olympics news from Tokyo and around the world on Tuesday. Web links to longer stories if available.
8:55 a.m.: Canada and Britain played to a 1-1 draw in the Group E women's soccer finale for both teams Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics.
Adriana Leon opened the scoring for Canada in the 55th minute but Britain pulled even in the 85th when Caroline Weir tallied from distance.
Ashley Lawrence made a nice run down the wing and sent a low pass through a maze of players before Leon one-timed it into the top corner. Weir's shot from well outside the area deflected off the side of Nichelle Prince and found the back of the net.
Canada, which entered play as a virtual lock to advance after earning four of six points, was expected to learn its quarterfinal opponent later in the day upon completion of the two late matches in Group F. Britain had opened with two shutout victories.
8:45 a.m.: Canada's Maude Charron has won gold in the women's weightlifting 64-kilogram category by lifting a total of 236 kg. The 28-year-old weightlifter from Rimouski, Que., lifted a total of 236 kg as she captured Canada's second gold medal at the Games. It's Canada's eight medal overall.
8:25 a.m.: In the swimming 200-metre individual medley semifinal Canadian Sydney Pickrem placed fourth in her heat with a time of 2:09.94.
7:45 a.m.: Simone Biles, the American gymnastics star, has pulled out of the team competition at the Tokyo Olympics, according to Carol Fabrizio, a USA Gymnastics spokeswoman.
Biles, considered the greatest gymnast in history, left the competition floor on Tuesday after performing on the first apparatus of the night, the vault. She had bailed out of the vault she had planned to do - a Yurchenko with 2 1/2 twists, watering it down to 1 1/2 twists. She stumbled out of the landing.
Afterward, she left the competition floor with a team trainer, as her coach, Cecile Landi, gathered the team and walked them to the next apparatus. Upon returning to the floor, Biles rejoined the team at the uneven bars, but took off the grips she wore for to perform her bars routine. She hugged each of her teammates and, while wearing a white Team USA sweatsuit, watched them perform their routines from the sideline.
The team will continue competing without her, still hoping to win the gold medal for the third consecutive Olympics.
5:35 a.m. (updated): Canada's Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard has won Canada's second judo medal of the Tokyo Olympics with a bronze in the women's under-63-kilogram competition.
The judoka from St-Hubert, Que., defeated Anriqueli Barrios of Venezuela by waza-ari in extra time.
The result comes a day after Jessica Klimkait won Canada's first ever women's judo Olympic medal with a bronze in the under-57 kg event.
4:55 a.m.: Canada falls to New Zealand 21-10 in the men's rugby sevens quarterfinals to fall out of the medal hunt.
4:30 a.m.: In judo, Canadian Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard will fight for the bronze after losing 1-0 to Clarisse Agbegnenou of France.
Beauchemin-Pinard will fight Anriquelis Barrios of Venezuela later Tuesday.
4 a.m.: Canada plays New Zealand in the quarterfinals of men's rugby sevens later Tuesday after defeating Japan 36-12.
3:45 a.m.: Canadian cycling legend Catharine Pendrel closed her Olympic career with an 18th place finish in the women's mountain bike on Tuesday.
Competing in her fourth Olympics, the 40-year-old - and new mom - from Fredericton, N.B., finished eight minutes and one second behind gold medallist Jolanda Neff of Switzerland on a wet and treacherous course. Pendrel slowed down to wave to the fans lining the course down the final straightaway.
Switzerland swept the medal podium. Neff claimed the lead midway through the first lap and never relinquished it, covering the 20.55-kilometre course in one hour 14 minutes 56 seconds.
Sina Frei was 1:11 back, while Linda Indergand crossed 1:19 back.
Pendrel made her Olympic debut back in 2008 in Beijing, finishing fourth. She arrived at the 2012 London Olympics as a favourite but faded to ninth, tearfully apologizing to fans back home.
2:50 a.m. (updated): Canadian divers Meaghan Benfeito and Caeli McKay narrowly missed the podium as they finished fourth in the women's synchronized 10-metre platform at the Tokyo Olympics.
A mistake on the fourth dive pushed the team out of medal position, resulting in them missing the bronze by just 0.54 points.
The Chinese team of Chen Yuxi and Zhang Jiaqi were near-flawless throughout the competition, winning gold with a total of 363.78 points.
Americans Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell won silver with 310.80 points, while the bronze-winning Mexican team of Gabriela Agundez Garcia and Alejandra Orozco Loza scored 299.70.
1:52 a.m. (updated): Kelsey Harshman's sacrifice fly in the fifth inning drove in the winning run as Canada captured the bronze medal with a 3-2 win over Mexico.
1:24 a.m.: In archery, Canadian Crispin Duenas defeated Dan Olaru of Moldova, 6-0 advancing to the round-of-16.
In the field of 32 elimination round, Turkey's Yasemin Anagoz defeated Canadian Stephanie Barrett 6-2.
1 a.m.: A tropical storm heading toward northeastern Japan is forecast to bring heavy rain, strong winds and high waves to the Tokyo region and has already affected some Olympics events, including sailing, rowing and archery.
It's not a total washout for every sport, however. The storm is a major win for competitive surfing, given that Tsurigasaki Beach is not generally known for powerful waves, according to Olympic surfing forecaster Kurt Korte.
12:40 a.m. (updated): Naomi Osaka, the Japanese superstar who lit the cauldron during the Olympic opening ceremony, was eliminated in the third round of the women's singles tennis tournament Tuesday in straight sets.
Osaka lost, 6-1, 6-4, to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in barely over one hour in a stunning upset of the host country's biggest sports celebrity. The defeat ended Osaka's run at the Tokyo Games.
Osaka breezed through her first two matches, the first competition she has faced since dropping out of the French Open in June to deal with mental health issues.
On Tuesday, however, Osaka struggled from the outset.
12 a.m.: Argentine fencer Maria Belen Perez Maurice was eliminated in the first round but had a little surprise waiting for her in her post-match interview - a marriage proposal by her coach and partner, Lucas Saucedo.
11:44 p.m.: In judo, Canadian Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard advanced to the round-of-16 with a 10-0 (ippon) victory over Laerke Olsen of Denmark.
Antoine Valois-Fortier of Longueuil, Que., was eliminated in the round-of-16 to Alan Khubetsov of the ROC.
11:27 p.m.: New cases of the coronavirus associated with the Tokyo Olympics fell to seven on Tuesday, including two athletes, one of them a tennis player from the Netherlands, organizers said.
The report brings to 155 the total number of cases confirmed through an extensive testing program being implemented to try to maintain safety during the unprecedented pandemic-era games. A total of 16 people had been confirmed positive the previous day.
11:18 p.m.: Canadian swimmer Sydney Pickrem came in fourth place in the women's 200-metre individual medley semifinals, and advanced to Wednesday's final.
11:12 p.m.: Reigning gold medallist Lilly King was dethroned in the 100-metre breaststroke.
King was upset by fellow American Lydia Jacoby, who finished less than a second over South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker. King, who entered as the favourite, finished third after winning the gold medal both in Rio in 2016 and at the 2017 world championships.
11 p.m.: For the first time since 1992, the American men have lost a backstroke race at the Olympic pool. Russia swept the top two spots in the 100-metre back Tuesday, with Evgeny Rylov claiming the gold medal in 51.98 seconds and teammate Kliment Kolesnikov taking the silver in 52.00.
Defending Olympic champion Ryan Murphy settled for the bronze in 52.19.
10:55 p.m.: In the women's beach volleyball preliminaries, Team Canada's Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson defeated Argentina's Ana Gallay and Fernanda Pereyra , 22-20, 21-12.
10:10 p.m. (Update): Canadian Kylie Masse captured silver on Tuesday in the women's 100-metre backstroke at the Tokyo Olympics.
The two-time world champion in the event finished in 57.72 seconds, behind Australia's Kaylee McKeown (57.47), who set a new Olympic record. American Regan Smith (58.05) took bronze.
The 200 backstroke final is Saturday. Masse, a 25-year-old from LaSalle, Ont., will also race in Sunday's individual medley relay.
Meanwhile, Penny Oleksiak is heading to the women's 200 m freestyle finals after coming in fourth with a time of 1:56.39.
Summer McIntosh of Toronto placed ninth with a time of 1:56.82 - just missing qualifying by 0.24 seconds.
The Star's Rosie DiManno has the story from Tokyo: Kylie Masse edged out in 100-metre backstroke but wins Canada's fifth medal in Tokyo
9:40 p.m.: Italian surfer Angelo Bonomelli is slamming a competitor's officials as selfish" for not being transparent about his rival's positive COVID-19 test that cost him a shot at the sport's historic Summer Games debut.
Bonomelli, 30, missed out on the sport's Olympic debut by a hair because Portugal's Frederico Morais, 29, waited until the last minute to disclose his reported infection - despite the long list of coronavirus rules, restrictions and realities set for the Tokyo Olympics.
8:40 p.m.: The Canadian men's rugby sevens team has defeated Japan 36-12 in the quarterfinals.
8:35 p.m.: The Tokyo Olympics, delayed by the pandemic and opened under oppressive heat, are due for another hit of nature's power: a typhoon arriving Tuesday morning that is forecast to disrupt at least some parts of the Games, including archery, rowing and sailing.
Feels like we're trying to prepare for bloody everything," said New Zealand rugby sevens player Andrew Knewstubb.
8:09 p.m.: Flora Duffy has won the Olympic women's triathlon, earning Bermuda's first Olympic gold medal and its first medal of any kind since 1976.
For Team Canada, Amelie Kretz of Blainville, Que. came in 15th. Joanna Brown of Carp, Ont. was lapped and did not complete the course.
8:12 p.m.: The pandemic more or less assured this would be the worst Olympics since Antwerp 1920, when in the shadow of the First World War the Germans weren't invited and the Spanish Flu was still going. No fans more or less clinches it.
Read the latest from the Star's Bruce Arthur: Yes, the Tokyo Olympics could end up being the worst Games ever. It'll probably come down to the buses
8 p.m.: The Canadian women's swim team has another big night ahead of them. Penny Oleksiak and Summer McIntosh are competing in the 200-metre freestyle semifinals at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Also swimming tonight for Team Canada: World champion Kylie Masse - who had the second fastest time in the semis heading into tonight's final - is competing in the backstroke at 9:51 p.m. ET.
8 p.m.: In the hours after Maggie Mac Neil triumphed in the women's 100-metre butterfly final and became the first Canadian gold medallist of the Tokyo Olympics, the 21-year-old did what most 21-year-olds would do - processed the gravity of it all through the Gram.
Check out the interview with Maggie Mac Neil's parents from Joe Callaghan.
6:30 p.m.: Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto is hoping to do what is perceived as impossible - end China's 13-Olympiad cycle reign by capturing the men's singles title in table tennis, which would be the host country's first-ever gold in the sport.
Read Rosie DiManno's story on Tomokazu Harimoto here: Meet the Japanese teen phenom threatening China's decades-long dominance of table tennis
Previously: Swimmer Maggie Mac Neil secures Canada's first gold medal, while judoka champion Jessica Klimkait battles back for bronze. Triathlete Tyler Mislawchuk faced paralyzing cramping" shortly into the four-kilometre run and finished 15th. For a full write-up of what you missed on Day 3 of the Tokto Olympics, click here.