Accessibility links

Breaking News

Rio Day 6: Biles Dazzles; Phelps Wins 22nd Gold

update

Simone Biles (L) and Aly Raisman celebrate winning gold and silver respectively at the women's individual all-around final in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 11, 2016.
Simone Biles (L) and Aly Raisman celebrate winning gold and silver respectively at the women's individual all-around final in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 11, 2016.

American Simone Biles is now officially the best gymnast in the world.

Biles on Thursday won the women's individual all-around contest, while her teammate Aly Raisman took the silver medal. Russian Aliya Mustafina took the bronze.

The 19-year-old Biles is now the fourth-straight American woman to win the all-around title and fifth overall, while taking her place as the greatest gymnast of her generation — and perhaps of all time.

United States' Michael Phelps, top, and Singapore's Joseph Schooling compete during a men's 100-meter butterfly heat during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Aug. 11, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
United States' Michael Phelps, top, and Singapore's Joseph Schooling compete during a men's 100-meter butterfly heat during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Aug. 11, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Swimming

U.S. swimming phenom Michael Phelps earned his 22nd career gold medal in the 200 meter individual medley Thursday night.

Phelps – who already has won three gold medals in Rio – swam in the lane next to American teammate and longtime rival Ryan Lochte. Lochte didn't fare as well as Phelps, coming in fifth after falling behind in the final freestyle leg of the race.

Kosuke Hagino of Japan, who previously won the 400 meter medley race, took second, and China’s Wang Shun came in third.

Phelps's wins gave him his fourth straight individual medley title at the Olympics.

Just around 30 minutes after winning gold in the 200 meter medley, Phelps was back in the water for a semifinal race in the 100 meter butterfly. Phelps took second in the heat, behind only Laszlo Cseh of Hungary.

American swimmer Simone Manuel tied for gold in the 100 meter freestyle, sharing the title with Penelope Oleksiak of Canada, after both swimmers touched the wall at exactly 52.70 seconds. Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom came in third with a time of 52.99.

China continued its dominance on the ping pong table, as Ma Long, the best table tennis player in the world, beat his teammate, Zhang Zike in the championship Thursday night. The win marked the third straight time the Chinese team has won both gold and silver at the Olympics.

Czech Republic's Lukas Krpalek, blue, reacts after winning the gold medal against Azerbaijan's Elmar Gasimov during the men's 100-kg judo competition at at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 11, 2016.
Czech Republic's Lukas Krpalek, blue, reacts after winning the gold medal against Azerbaijan's Elmar Gasimov during the men's 100-kg judo competition at at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 11, 2016.

Judo

In other medal action Thursday, Lukas Krpalek of the Czech Republic won the men's judo gold medal in the 100-kilogram division after defeating Azerbaijan's Elmar Gasimov, the world number two. After trying multiple times to throw Gasimov in the five-minute fight Thursday, Krpalek finally managed to flip his opponent in the last 30 seconds for an instant victory. The two embraced after the final and saluted the crowd together.

It is the Czech Republic's first gold medal in judo.

The men's bronze medals were won by Cyrille Maret, who turned 29 Thursday, and Japan's Ryunosoke Haga.

American Kayla Harrison successfully defended her Olympic judo title in the women's 78-kilogram division, after beating France's Audrey Tcheumeo in a tense final. With just six seconds left, Harrison caught Tcheumeo's arm in an armlock, and forced Tcheumeo to tap out in submission, automatically winning the contest.

The women's bronze medals were won by Brazil's Mayra Aguiar and Slovenian Anamari Velensek.

Golf, rugby sevens

Golf is being played for the first time at the Olympics in more than 100 years.

The Fiji men’s rugby team won the country’s first-ever gold medal after handily defeating Great Britain in the championship rugby sevens match 43-7. Rio marks the first time rugby has been played at the Olympics since 1924.

Callum Skinner of Great Britain competes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 11, 2016.
Callum Skinner of Great Britain competes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 11, 2016.

Track cycling

Britain won the first gold medal of the track cycling program at the Rio Olympics, rallying past New Zealand in the final of the men's team sprint by the slimmest of margins.

The squad of Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner trailed their rivals when their second and third riders dropped away, but Skinner was able to make up the difference. They finished in a time of 42.440 seconds, lowering the Olympic record that the Kiwis set in the previous round.

Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Ed Dawkins stopped the clock in 42.542 seconds.

The French team of Gregory Bauge, Francois Pervis and Michael D'Almeida rallied on the final lap to swipe bronze from the Australian team.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG