Tokyo Olympics Day 11: Canada loses both women’s beach volleyball quarterfinal matches; Andre De Grasse breaks 200-metre Canadian record, advances to final with Aaron Brown
This file is no longer being updated. A new Olympics news file will be published this evening as Day 12 begins in Tokyo.
The latest Olympics news from Tokyo and around the world on Tuesday. Web links to longer stories if available:
11 a.m.: Canadian climber McColl started strong on the 15-metre climbing wall in the opening speed event, deftly forcing his taut frame upward from hold to hold - imagine Spider-Man rocketing up a wall with bumps on it - before slapping the button at the top in a personal-best time of 6.93 seconds.
It was one of the few highlights on the day for the 33-year-old from North Vancouver, B.C.. He struggled in the bouldering discipline and did not advance to the eight-man final, settling for a 17th-place overall finish.
Missed cut or not, McColl made history as the first Canadian to compete in Olympic sport climbing.
10 a.m.: Canadian beach volleyball players Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, who entered the round of 16 as the top seed, lost to Australia (Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy) in three sets (21-15, 19-21, 15-12) in their quarterfinal match.
8:54 a.m.: In women's beach volleyball, the Canadian pair of Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson have been eliminated after losing 2-1 to Latvia.
8:40 a.m.: Canada's Camryn Rogers finished fifth in the hammer throw with a top throw of 74.35 metres in her Olympic debut.
8:10 a.m.: Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown both finished first in their 200-metre semifinal heats and will advance to the final. De Grasse raced to a Canadian record and personal best time of 19.73. Brown raced to a career-best 19.99.
7:15 a.m. Mo Ahmed has finished second in the 5000m heat with a time of 13:38.96 and is in the final. Teammate Justyn Knight finished third in his heat and will also advance to the final. Lucas Bruchet finished 13th in heat No. 1.
6:25 a.m.: Ellie Black finished fourth in the beam final at the Tokyo Olympics, just missing a first Olympic medal in women's artistic gymnastics for Canada.
Black finished with a score of 13.866 points. The total was tied with Sunisa Lee of the United States, but Black finished ahead after receiving a better execution score.
The 25-year-old from Halifax competed despite a sprained ankle that forced her to withdraw from the all-around competition.
Simone Biles of the United States picked up the seventh medal of her Olympic career, taking bronze with a score of 14. Biles competed in her first final in Tokyo after pulling out of the team and all-around events to focus on her mental health.
China took the top two spots, with Guan Chenchen earning 14.633 and Tang Xijing finishing with 14.233.
Black had aggravated a previous ankle injury dismounting from the beam during training a week earlier.
She completed difficult elements in her final routine with a few wobbles, but stuck her landing. Black then hugged her coach David Kikuchi and wept.
Kyle Shewfelt was the first Canadian to win a medal of any colour in artistic gymnastics when he claimed men's floor exercise gold in 2004.
5:40 a.m.: Simone Biles of the U.S. won a bronze medal on the balance beam in her return to gymnastics, while Canada's Ellie Black was fourth.
4:30 a.m. (updated): The Canadian women's pursuit track cycling team was denied a third straight Olympic bronze medal after losing to the United States in a showdown for third place on Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics.
The team of Calgary's Allison Beveridge; Annie Foreman-Mackey of Kingston, Ont.; Ariane Bonhomme of Gatineau, Que.; Vancouver's Georgia Simmerling and Jasmin Duehring of Coquitlam, B.C., finished the bronze-medal race in four minutes 10.552 seconds, just over two and a half seconds behind the Americans.
The Canadian men's pursuit team won the first heat against Germany before seeing its time eclipsed in the following heats. Canada and Germany will face off again Wednesday in the fifth-place race.
4 a.m.: The Canadian women's water polo team fell to the mighty U.S. squad in the quarterfinals by a score of 16-5.
The back-to-back gold medallists set the tone early, pulling ahead 5-0 on as many shots. They kept the pressure on throughout the first half, building a seemingly insurmountable lead of 11-3.
The Canadians, in their first Olympics since 2004, had one win and three losses in the preliminary round.
The team's preparation was complicated, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the players isolating themselves from their families in order to form a bubble that would allow them to train with contact.
They've been on the road since May, and garnered an impressive fourth-place finish along the way at the FINA Women's Water Polo World League Super Final in June.
3:25 a.m.: Canada will race against the U.S. for the bronze medal in the track cycling women's team pursuit at 4:19 a.m. ET.
2:50 a.m.: Canada's Olympic swimmers returned home Monday afternoon after a triumphant week at the Tokyo Games where they won six medals including one gold.
Maggie Mac Neil, of London, Ont., gold medallist in the 100-metre butterfly, was greeted by family at Pearson airport.
Kylie Masse, of Lasalle, Ont., showed one of her two silver medals to photographers while Toronto's Penny Oleksiak, Canada's most decorated Olympian after winning another three medals in Tokyo for a total of seven, was also signing autographs.
The Star's Zena Salem has the story: PHOTOS: Canada's swimming heroes back home after triumphant Tokyo Olympics
12:49 a.m.: Angela Bailey, the Canadian women's record holder in the 100-metre sprint and an Olympic 4x100 relay silver medal winner, has died after battling cancer under complicated conditions. She was 59 years old.
Bailey's 1987 Canadian women's 100-metre sprint record time of 10.98 seconds still stands today. She was also part of the women's silver medal-winning 4x100 metres relay team at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
Athletics Canada confirmed Bailey's July 31 death in a statement Monday and offered condolences to her family and loved ones.
12:38 a.m.: Norway's Karsten Warholm wins men's 400-metre hurdles in world-record time.
Rai Benjamin of the United States and Karsten Warholm of Norway had spent recent years circling one another as they vied for the title of world's greatest 400-meter hurdler.
On Tuesday, under the oppressive midday sun at Olympic Stadium, Warholm obliterated his own world record to win his first Olympic gold medal, edging Benjamin, who finished second.
11:18 p.m. (Updated): Canadians Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown have secured their spots in the men's 200-metre semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics.
Brown, a 29-year-old from Toronto, easily won his heat in 20.38 seconds to qualify.
De Grasse was third in his heat in 20.56.
10:59 p.m. (Updated): Canada missed the podium on both medal opportunities in canoe sprint.
Cuba took gold in men's canoe double 1,000 metres, followed by China and Germany. New Zealand won gold in women's single 200 metres, with silver and bronze taken by Denmark and Poland.
10:50 p.m.: Holding each other tighter than lovers, the wrestlers smear each other with sweat, spittle and - when they inadvertently cut each other - sometimes blood. Lungs heaving, mouths agape, they huff and puff into each others' flushed faces. On their glistening bodies, it's impossible to tell their opponents' fluids and theirs apart.
Underscoring the health risks of such proximity: They are the only people in the cavernous hall not wearing face masks.
Watching Olympic wrestling in the midst of the pandemic of a deadly airborne disease feels like being part of a virological experiment, a real-life study of droplets, aerosols and fluid dispersion.
10:20 p.m.: Canada falls to Russian powerhouse in men's volleyball quarterfinal.
Gord Perrin led with 15 points as Canada lost to the Russian Olympic Committee 3-0 in the men's Olympic volleyball quarterfinals.
The match was closely contested, 25-21, 30-28, 25-22.
9:50 p.m.: The Court of Arbitration for Sport says Belarus sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya failed in a legal action to be allowed to run in the 200 metres heats.
The court revealed early Tuesday the legal steps Tsimanouskaya took while she was also seeking a humanitarian visa to avoid returning to Belarus, where she believes her life would be in danger.
9:30 p.m.: Canada's Andreanne Langlois will chase a medal in the women's 200 metre canoe sprint at 10:37 p.m. ET.
Roland Varga and Connor Fitzpatrick will immediately follow in the 1,000 metre canoe sprint starting at 10:50 p.m. ET.
More to come.
9:20 p.m.: Simone Biles will step back into the spotlight early Tuesday morning after taking a mental health break
Biles will face her teammate Sunni Lee in the balance beam final starting 4:50 a.m. ET. Canadian Ellie Black will also be competing.
8:40 p.m.: Artem Dolgopyat fulfilled a lifelong dream when he won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. But back home in Israel, his hopes of trading gold wedding bands with his longtime girlfriend seem to be an impossible dream.
The Ukrainian-born Israeli gymnast was hailed as a national hero for winning Israel's second-ever gold medal - and its first in artistic gymnastics. But the celebrations were tempered after his mother lamented that the country's authorities will not allow him to wed because he is not considered Jewish according to Orthodox law.
8:30 p.m.: They're hefty women, ferocious women, the ladies who lift.
They could clean and jerk me, probably right across the stage at the Tokyo International Forum.
There are dainty and feminine touches, though - ribbons in their hair, brightly polished fingernails, carefully applied makeup - as if to emphasize that they are female, even girlish, like Britain's Emily Campbell with a tiny pair of knotted pigtails dyed blue and red. And her sweet dimples!
Read more from Rosie DiManno: Transgender Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard delivers a quietly dignified performance, away from the noise
8:10 p.m.: Christine Sinclair spoke of revenge and shared long hugs with teammates Desiree Scott and Sophie Schmidt. Karina LeBlanc struggled to keep her composure on air. Diana Matheson couldn't focus on any one person or thing, too overcome with emotion as she FaceTimed with Rhian Wilkinson.
From all corners of the globe, and in all different fashions, these women, and others, who made up the soccer squad that represented Canada at the London 2012 Olympics celebrated the current team's semifinal victory over the United States on Monday, a win that eluded it nine years ago and contributed to two long decades of losing to the country's neighbour to the south.
The Star's Laura Armstrong has the story: This team wants more.' Canada's soccer women avenge a loss to the U.S. nine years ago because they were expecting to
8:00 p.m.: Quinn became the first openly transgender and non-binary athlete guaranteed to win an Olympic medal when the Canadian women's soccer team clinched a spot in the Tokyo final on Monday.
The defensive midfielder, who came out publicly on social media last September and uses the pronouns they/them, has played in all five of Canada's games and started four. Their impact on the field has been subtle but effective, adding a valuable layer of protection to the backline.
Off the field, the impact has been even more important.
Read up on this Olympic notable with Laura Armstrong: Shot at Olympic soccer gold adds weight to Quinn's quest for change
12:10 p.m.: On Tokyo Daily, host Brendan Dunlop recaps a historic win for Canadian soccer with Laura Armstrong of the Toronto Star after the women's team beat the United States in the semifinals to avenge the heartbreak of London 2012.
Watch the latest episode of Tokyo Daily: A day to remember' for Canadian soccer at Tokyo Olympics
11:30 p.m.: A twerk, arms crossed in a defiant X," and a tweet warning that, if authorities tried to repossess her silver medal for breaking rules about athlete protests, they'd have to wrest it from her cold unrelinquishing hands.
Let them try and take this medal," wrote Raven Saunders - Black, lesbian, South Carolinian - after expressing herself on the podium as Olympic champion shot putter with something to say. I'm running across the border even though I can't swim."
The Star's Rosie DiManno writes from Tokyo: When crossed arms cross lines: Will the Olympic Lords of the Rings come after Raven Saunders' silver?
11:00 a.m.: Everything echoed. The Ibaraki Kashima Stadium was as empty as every Olympic venue, and that meant sounds bounced off the seats and back again: the screams from the benches, the shouts on the field, Canada's disbelieving celebrations at the end.
The ghosts, too. There were echoes everywhere.
From the Star's Bruce Arthur in Tokyo: Canada slays the U.S. beast and exorcises ghosts of Olympics past. Now they're going for women's soccer gold in Tokyo
Previously: Canada beats U.S. in women's soccer semifinals, the first win over the Americans in more than 20 years; Canadian women's basketball team won't advance to quarterfinals; beach volleyball duo will rise to quarterfinals.
For a full write-up of what you missed on Day 9 of the Tokyo Olympics, click here.