PARIS– It was a dramatic Friday night for the United States in track and field at the Paris Olympicsand Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won gold after facing scrutiny over misconceptions about her sex.
Sha’Carri Richardson won her first gold medal while a US men’s relay team wasted another chance to be champions.
Shortly after they were disqualified for failing the first delivery of the 4×100 relay on a rainy night at the Stade de France, Carl Lewis furiously criticized USA Track.
Lewis, who won nine Olympic gold medals for the U.S., called for a change in leadership of the U.S. track and field program.
“It’s clear that EVERYONE at USATF is more concerned about relationships (than) winning,” Lewis got angry on social media. “No athlete should step onto the track and run another relay until this program is changed from top to bottom.”
The US team also achieved two more victories thanks to Richardson’s excellent anchor lap in the women’s 4x100m relay and Rai Benjamin, who won the 400 hurdles.
Richardson, the 100m silver medalist, overcame runners from Great Britain and Germany and helped the USA finish in 41.78 seconds, meaning a 0.07 second victory over Great Britain.
Gabby Thomas ran the third stage and won her second gold at the Games, this time with the 200 meters title. Twanisha Terry and 100 meter bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson completed the team. The exchange between Terry and Thomas that almost destroyed the Americans in the playoffs was better this time.
“The moment I would describe is realizing that when we won as the U.S. women, it was a phenomenal feeling for all of us,” Richardson said.
Highlights of what happened on day 14 of the Paris Olympics:
Khelif emerged as champion after a tumultuous run at the Games, where she was the target of online abuse from around the world about misconceptions about their femininity.
Khelif beat China’s Yang Liu 5-0 in the women’s welterweight final, ending the best series of fights of her boxing career with a victory at Roland Garros, where crowds shouted her namehe waved Algerian flags and roared whenever he landed a punch.
After her unanimous victory, Khelif jumped into the arms of her coaches, one of them lifting her on his shoulders and carrying her across the arena in a victory lap as she raised her fists and grabbed an Algerian flag from someone in the crowd.
Breanna Stewart scored 16 points and the US women advance to eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal game with an 85-64 victory over Australia.
The Americans extended their Olympic winning streak to 60 consecutive games dating back to the 1992 Barcelona Games. They will face France in Sunday’s final after the host country defeated Belgium in extra time.
The U.S. is trying to become the first team to win eight consecutive gold medals, breaking a tie with the American men’s program, which won seven in a row between 1936 and 1968.
“The sequence is crazy. I mean, they told me when I was doing TV that it was before I was born that it all started, which is amazing,” Stewart said. “It just shows those who really paved the way for the creation of USA Basketball and what it is now. I really appreciate that and knowing that when you represent this jersey and wear the USA on your chest, the standard is high and there really is nothing higher.”
And the team didn’t disappoint some notable spectators, including Sue Bird, Dawn Staley, Kevin Durant and Vanessa Bryant and their children.
Sergio Camello scored two goals in extra time while Spain won gold in the men’s football Olympic final with a 5-3 victory over France.
Thrilling victory at Parc des Princes completed a golden summer for Spanish football – following senior team victory European Championship Triumph last month.
Spain, who lost the final to Brazil at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, became the first European gold medalists in men’s football since they last won the tournament at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
On the women’s side, Ann-Katrin Berger saved a penalty in the last minute and Germany won the bronze medal with a 1-0 victory over Spain, winner of the Women’s World Cup.
Berger dived to stop Alexia Putellas’ penalty attempt in the ninth minute of stoppage time and then raised his hands in victory. Putellas cried at the end of the match.
Giulia Gwinn converted a second-half penalty for Germany, which proved to be the game-winner.
It was Germany’s fourth bronze medal in women’s football at the Olympics. The Germans won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, but failed to qualify for Tokyo three years ago.
Spain, ranked No. 1 in the world after their World Cup victory, were making their Olympic debut.
Ma Long became the Chinese athlete with the most gold medals in Olympic history when he helped his country win the men’s championship table tennis team final.
China defeated Sweden for their fifth consecutive Olympic victory in the team event, and Ma secured his sixth gold to become table tennis’ most decorated Olympian.
Ma, 35, has won at least one gold medal at every Summer Olympics since London 2012.
Karlos Nasar of Bulgaria won weight lifting gold in the Olympics and broke two world records just over a year after a hotel sink fell on him and severed his left Achilles tendon.
Nasar was showering the night before the awards ceremony in May 2023 when he picked up the shampoo and pressed down, causing the sink to fall off the wall and fall on him. After undergoing surgery and missing six months, he returned to weightlifting in December and set the clean and jerk world record which he surpassed in this event.
Olivia Reeves won the United States’ first Olympic gold medal in weightlifting in 24 years.
Reeves lifted 117 kg (390 pounds) in the snatch and 145 kg (320 pounds) in the clean and jerk for a total of 262 kg to beat Mari Leivis Sanchez of Colombia by five kilos in the women’s 71 kg division.
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