TOKYO — Caeleb Dressel got started on his quest for six gold medals in swimming, while Katie Ledecky found herself in a very unusual position.
Second place.
Dressel led off a U.S. victory in the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay Monday at the Tokyo Olympics, easing a bit of America’s sting from Ledecky’s first Olympic loss.
Australian Ariarne Titmus — nicknamed the “Terminator” — lived up to her billing when she chased down Ledecky in the 400 freestyle to win one of the most anticipated races of the Summer Games.
Titmus, who trailed by nearly a full body-length at the halfway mark of the eight-lap race, turned on the speed to touch in 3 minutes, 56.69 seconds. It was the second-fastest time in history, surpassed only by Ledecky’s world record of 3:56.46 from the 2016 Rio Games.
The defending Olympic champion settled for the silver this time in 3:57.36 — the fourth-fastest time ever recorded and her best performance in three years.
Just not good enough.
“I fought tooth and nail,” Ledecky said. “She definitely swam a really smart race. She was really controlled up front. I felt pretty smooth and strong going out and flipped at the 300 and it was like, ‘Oh, she’s right there.’”
And then she was gone.
For the first time in her brilliant Olympic career, Ledecky felt the sting of defeat, dished out by a rival from Down Under who made it clear she was not intimidated by the American star.
“It’s probably the biggest thing you could pull off in your sporting career,” Titmus said, “so I’m over the moon.”
No one else was even close. The bronze went to China’s Li Bingjie in 4:01.08.
Then the spotlight shifted to Dressel, who has been hailed as the successor to Michael Phelps.
Dressel put the U.S. out front, and the three who followed him in the relay made sure it stood up.
“I felt good the whole way, I knew I had to get my hand in the wall first and get some clean water,” Dressel said. “And everyone did their job. It’s a relay for a reason, it’s four guys for a reason, it’s certainly not just me. It’s certainly not just one guy.”
The 24-year-old, tattooed Floridian swam the first leg in a blistering 47.26. Blake Pieroni and Bowe Becker kept the Americans out front before Zach Apple turned in an anchor leg of 46.69 to leave no doubt at the end.
The U.S. won in 3:08.97, the third-fastest time in history. Italy took the silver in 3:10.11, with the bronze going to Australia in 3:10.22.
“The scariest part was my leg for myself, because I had control over that,” Dressel said. “I knew they were going to get the job done, I wasn’t scared at all. Especially when Zach hit the water. I saw him break out and I knew it was over.”
Apple climbed from the pool to an embrace from Dressel, who is set for a grueling schedule of three individual events and three relays in Tokyo.
One down, five to go.
Ledecky’s disappointment was a downer for the Americans, who won six of 12 medals on Sunday but were shut out in the first two finals Monday.
Torri Huske and Michael Andrew just missed medals with fourth-place finishes, then it was Ledecky settling for the second spot on the podium — a stunner for perhaps the greatest women’s freestyle swimmer in history.
Ledecky lost an individual Olympic final for the first time after winning the 800 free at the 2012 London Games, then capturing three more golds in the 200, 400 and 800 free at Rio de Janeiro five years ago.
U.S. loses to France, 25-game Olympic win streak ends
SAITAMA, Japan — The final buzzer sounded and France barely celebrated.
To them, beating the United States again wasn’t really a surprise. And that might be the biggest indicator yet that the Americans — even after three consecutive Olympic gold medals — are no longer feared by other top international teams.
A 25-game Olympic winning streak for the U.S. is over, ending Sunday when France closed the game on a 16-2 run to beat the Americans 83-76 in the Tokyo Games. Evan Fournier’s 3-pointer off a broken play with just under a minute left put France ahead for good, as the Americans simply fell apart in the final minutes.
“They are better individually,” Fournier said of the Americans, “but they can be beaten as a team.”
That’s been proven with alarming regularity in the last two years. Starting with France’s win over the U.S. in the Basketball World Cup quarterfinals at China two years ago, the Americans are merely 3-5 in their last eight games with NBA players in the lineup.
The U.S. missed its final nine shots, five of them coming in a 21-second span in the final minute shortly after Fournier — who led all scorers with 28 points — made the go-ahead 3-pointer. Rudy Gobert wildly missed a layup on that play, but Guerschon Yabusele chased down the bouncing rebound and just before he dove into the U.S. bench he made a desperation swipe at the ball in an effort to knock it into Fournier’s direction.
Fournier turned Yabusele’s dive into a dagger, and just like that the Americans are in Olympic trouble.
“I think that’s a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are supposed to just roll out the balls and win,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ve got to work for it just like everybody else. And for those 40 minutes, they played better than we did.”
Russians top Biles and Americans in gymnastics qualifying
TOKYO — The trouble started early. A step out of bounds on floor exercise here. A short landing there.
Over the course of two hours on Sunday, the mistakes — some almost imperceptible, some laid bare for the world to see — kept piling up, chipping away at the aura USA Gymnastics has built over the past decade. Not even the greatest of all time was immune to the realities of a sport where perfection is unattainable.
For 11 years, the Americans flirted with it, at least from a competitive standpoint, flying all over the globe, then flying back home with their suitcases stuffed with gold.
It still might happen at the Tokyo Olympics. But for the first time in a long time, it appears it won’t happen without a fight.
Russia pulled off a stunner in qualifying, posting a top score of 171.629, more than a full point ahead of the U.S. total 170.562. While reigning Olympic champion Simone Biles topped the all-around with teammate Sunisa Lee close behind in third, the Americans ended their session looking up at another name on the scoreboard in the team standings for the first time since the 2010 world championships.
“This was not the finals,” U.S. high-performance director Tom Forster said. “This was getting into the finals. So this might be a great awakening for us and we’ll take advantage of it.”
China, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy and host Japan also advanced to Tuesday night’s final. Olympic legend Oksana Chusovitina’s journey is over. The 46-year-old from Uzbekistan did not qualify during the vault final at her record eighth Olympics.
Zolotic earns U.S.
its first gold in women’s taekwondo
TOKYO — Anastasija Zolotic won the United States’ first gold medal in women’s taekwondo by beating Russian athlete Tatiana Minina 25-17 on Sunday to claim the featherweight division title.
The 18-year-old Zolotic lets out a primal scream as she pulls on her helmet before each round. The Largo, Florida, native has been telling friends and family since early childhood that she would be an Olympic champion, and she needed only one trip to the Games to make it happen.
“My 8-year-old self was running around the school yard saying I was going to be Olympic champion but she could never have imagined what this moment is like,” Zolotic said. “It’s unbelievable. It really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Zolotic and Minina had a high-scoring first round and a tactical second but Zolotic picked apart her Russian opponent in the third with two-point body kicks after nursing a one-point lead into the final round.
Zolotic was only the fourth American to reach an Olympic taekwondo final and only the second woman. Steven Lopez won the U.S. team’s only two previous Olympic golds in taekwondo.
Kelsey Stewart’s walk-off homer delivers U.S. softball win over Japan
YOKOHAMA, Japan — It meant nothing and everything.
The undefeated U.S. softball team was assured of meeting its biggest rival for the gold medal no matter what happened Monday at Yokohama Baseball Stadium in the final game of the opening round.
Japan also had gone unbeaten in these Olympics, setting up a rematch in a little more than 24 hours between teams that had not faced one another on this stage in 13 years. The happy tears in 2008 belonged to Japan after an epic upset in the Beijing Olympics that left the Americans sobbing in what both teams feared was the sport’s sendoff.
Its return might belong to the U.S. if its offense that had been slumbering for most of the last week can continue to come alive the way it did late in a 2-1 victory Monday.
Kelsey Stewart hit a walk-off homer to right field leading off the seventh inning and got mobbed by teammates at home plate. The U.S. notched all four of its hits in the final two innings, including Valerie Arioto’s two-out, run-scoring single through the left side of the infield in the sixth.
Nishiya, 13, gives Japan sweep in street skateboarding
TOKYO — Thirteen-year-old Momiji Nishiya of Japan won the first Olympic skateboard competition for women on Monday, giving the host nation a sweep of golds in the street event after Yuto Horigome won the men’s competition.
Rayssa Leal, a Brazilian who is also 13, won the silver, her country’s second in skateboarding after Kelvin Hoefler finished second on Sunday in the men’s event.
The women’s bronze went to Funa Nakayama of Japan.
