Rio Day 5: Phelps, Ledecky Search for More Gold Medals
Joshua Fatzick
VOA NEWS
Wednesday marks the fifth day of the 2016 Rio Olympics, and with medal rounds in several high-profile sports, it could prove to be an eventful one.
Led by Olympic veteran Michael Phelps and rising star Katie Ledecky, Team USA looks to continue its dominance in swim events Wednesday with at least six athletes competing in medal rounds.
Here are the events to look out for and what you need to know heading into Wednesday’s action.
Swimming
Ledecky will lead the women’s team in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay final — an event Team USA won during the 2012 London Olympics. Swimmers Cammile Adams and Hali Flickinger will represent the U.S. in the women’s 200 meter butterfly final. Kevin Cordes and Josh Prenot will compete in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke, while Caleb Dressel and Nathan Adrian swim for Team USA in the men’s 100 meter freestyle event.
Phelps — fresh off wins for his 20th and 21st gold medals — and teammate Ryan Lochte will make an appearance in the men’s 200 meter individual medley qualifier, with their sights set on securing a spot in the final on Thursday. Lochte and Phelps were half of the team that won the 4×200 meter freestyle relay Tuesday.
Soccer
Brazil needs to win or face elimination when its men’s team takes on Denmark Wednesday night. Brazil has already gone through two disappointing scoreless draws to Iraq and South Africa — two teams largely seen as inferior to the Brazilian powerhouse. That game will kick off at 10 p.m.
Gymnastics
Just a day after the U.S. women’s team won the gold in the team finals, the men’s team will compete in the final round of the individual all-around event. Defending champion Kohei Uchimura of Japan is seen as the favorite to win gold. The event will start at 4 p.m.
Road Cycling
Both men and women competed in medal events Wednesday. In the women’s individual time, defending champion Kristin Armstrong of Team USA took the gold. The men will start shortly, with leader Chris Froome of Britain starting last at 11:40 a.m.
Basketball
Team USA leader Carmelo Anthony will be just 12 points away from taking the top spot as the highest scoring player in U.S. olympics history when the team squares off against Australia Wednesday night at 6 p.m. In its last game, Monday, the U.S. dominated Argentina 113-69.
Other medal events include men’s 50 meter pistol shooting, men’s slalom canoeing, several divisions of both men’s and women’s judo and women’s individual table tennis.
Day 4 recap
Day four of the Olympic Games in Rio saw U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps net two more gold medals, bringing his career total to 21, after he narrowly won the 200 meter butterfly and anchored the men’s 4×200 meter freestyle relay team.
Phelps – the most decorated athlete in Olympics history – was able to knock off archrival Chad le Clos of South Africa with a final time of 1:53.36. Le Clos, the defending champion, faded out down the final stretch and eventually placed fourth, behind Japan’s Masato Sakai, who took second, and Tamas Kenderesi of Hungary, who took third.
Katie Ledecky, won her second gold medal of the games by winning the 200 meter freestyle.
Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszu won her third gold medal and set a new Olympic record Tuesday after she glided to victory in the 200 meter individual medley with a time of 2:6.58. She had previously won the 400 meter individual medley on Saturday and the 100 meter backstroke Monday.
The U.S. women’s gymnastics team took gold for a second consecutive Olympics. The team gave retiring national team coordinator Martha Karolyi a fitting send-off in the Olympic finals, putting on a two-hour display of precision and class. Its score of 184.897 was more than eight points clear of silver medalist Russia.
It was another Olympic diving gold for the Chinese. Chen Ruolin and Liu Huixia won the women’s 10-meter synchronized platform title Tuesday, making China 3-for-3 in the competition so far. The Chinese have never lost the event at the Olympics. Chen earned her third consecutive gold medal in 10-meter synchro, having won in 2008 and 2012 with different partners. Malaysia earned silver with 344.34 points. Canada took bronze with 336.18.
American Travis Stevens won a silver medal in the men’s 81-kilogram division in judo, losing to Russia’s Khasan Khalmurzaev in the final. The bronze medals were won by Sergiu Toma of the United Arab Emirates and Takanori Nagase of Japan.
Top seed Slovenian Tina Trstenjak won the women’s judo gold in the 63-kilogram division, following in the footsteps of fellow Slovenian and London Games champion Urska Zolnir, who is now on her coaching team. After pinning second-seeded Clarisse Agbegnenou of France to the mat for 20 seconds, just two minutes into the fight, Trstenjak scored an automatic ippon victory. The women’s bronze medals were won by Yarden Gerbi of Israel and Anicka Van Emden of the Netherlands.
South Korean Sangyoung Park stormed back to score the final five points and take gold in men’s epee Tuesday, in a matchup of the youngest and oldest fencers in the field. Park, just 20, beat 41-year-old Geza Imre of Hungary Imre 15-14. Top-ranked Gauthier Grumier of France won the bronze.