The Olympics 11th day, like the ten before it, possessed its fair share of pathos, drama, and upset. In gymnastics, Simone Biles stood atop the podium once again, winning the floor exercise—an event considered her strongest—and becoming the fourth female gymnast to earn four gold medals in a single Games.
In track, Canada’s Derek Drouin defended his 2015 World Championship with a victory in the high jump, while the Jamaican Omar McLeod won gold in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13:05 seconds. According to the Guardian, Tuesday’s men’s hurdles race was the first time ever that a U.S. participant failed to medal in the event. In the women’s 1500m, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon upset Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia to win gold, while the American Jenny Simpson placed third. Christian Taylor, meanwhile, took gold in the triple jump for the United States, repeating as champion after winning the event in the 2012 London Games.
Fresh off the heels of its stunning upset of the United States last Friday, Sweden’s women’s soccer team proved that their success was no one-off occurrence: The resilient squad dispatched Brazil, again on penalty kicks, to advance to the gold medal match. There they’ll meet Germany, who eliminated Canada 2-0 in the other semifinal on Friday. In basketball, the U.S. women breezed past Japan 110-64 and will play the winner of the France-Canada game in the semifinals held on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Rio: Georgia’s Lasha Talakadzhe prevailed in the men’s weightlifting (over 231 pounds) over Armenia’s Gor Minasyan, who took silver. And the Brazilian Robson Conceicao delighted the Rio crowd with his boxing gold in the men’s 132 pound division.
The Good: The most emotional moment of the Rio Games to date occurred on Monday in the women’s 5000m race. After colliding early on, The American Abbey D’Agostino helped New Zealand’s Nikki Hamblin up on her feet and the two encouraged each other—long after slipping in contention—to finish the race. Afterward, Hamblin explained the two runners’ rationale for finishing: “It’s the Olympic Games.”
The Bad: The Rio Games have been less heartwarming for Hiroki Ogita. The Japanese pole vaulter landed awkwardly in his groin area during a qualification match, disqualifying himself after grazing the pole.
The Ugly: On the same day that heavy winds caused a video camera to fall from Rio’s main stadium and injure two passers-by, a large fire consumed much of the area near the mountain bike course, forcing athletes to be evacuated. Fortunately, fire fighters were able to extinguish the blaze and Olympic officials announced that the race would not be affected.
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