TOKYO, Japan — As the end of the Olympic events near, Georgia athletes keep pushing themselves for a chance at a medal.
Nevin Harrison, 19, made history as the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the single 200m canoe sprint, with these Olympics being the first where the event has been contested.
She utilized Lake Lanier as her home base Olympic training spot and secured her No. 1 spot with a time of 45.932 seconds.
The U.S. women's soccer team faced Australia once again for the bronze medal. In a do-or-die match, the Americans battled for the bronze medal and won 4-3. Peachtree City's Kelley O’Hara, Marietta’s Emily Sonnett and Kennesaw’s Jane Campbell are all Olympic medalists.
Kendell Williams, who participates in the heptathlon, competed in numerous events overnight, including the javelin throw. The heptathlon incorporates seven events. Williams, who is from Marietta, placed sixth overall in the javelin and currently sits in third place overall for the heptathlon with a score of 5642.
One more event, the 800m, remains.
Decathletes continued their rigor-intensive events with the pole vault. University of Georgia athlete Maicel Uibo, who represents Estonia, placed first overall with a score of 5.50 meters, and Team USA’s Garrett Scantling placed in fifth. Estonian UGA athletes Johannes Erm ranked 15th, and Karel Tilga failed to score in the pole vault event.
Overall, Scantling is fifth with the javelin throw and 1500m still to go.
Both the decathlon and heptathlon culminate their events on Thursday morning.
Close finishes for Americans
Meanwhile, other events on Wednesday at the Tokyo Olympics brought a record, tears and just plain shocking results for the United States, particularly in track and field.
The highlight of the day was Ryan Crouser breaking his own Olympic record in the shot put with a distance of 23.30 meters to earn the first track and field gold for the American men in Tokyo. Joe Kovacs of the U.S. took silver.
In a series of close finishes for the Americans:
- Andre de Grasse of Canada won the Olympic gold medal in the 200-meter race. Americans Kenny Bednarek and Noah Lyles took silver and bronze.
- Grant Holloway took silver in the men's 110-meter hurdles. Hansle Parchment of Jamaica won gold.
- American Courtney Frerichs of the U.S. won silver in the steeplechase behind Peruth Chemutai of Uganda.
The most shocking result of the day for the U.S. was the men's 4x100-meter relay team failing to advance to the final. The U.S. finished sixth in the second heat of qualifying, done in by a series of bad exchanges. This marks the 10th time since 1995 that the men have botched a relay at a world championships or Olympics.
The U.S. women's 4x100 relay team made it through preliminaries with a second-place finish in their heat. They’ll race for the gold medal.
In beach volleyball, April Ross and Alix Klineman beat Switzerland 21-12, 21-11 to advance to the gold medal game Thursday against Australia. And the U.S. women's volleyball team defeated the Dominican Republic in straight sets and will face Serbia in the semifinals.
Breanna Stewart scored 23 points to lead the Americans over Australia in the women's basketball quarterfinal 79-55. The U.S. faces Serbia next in the semifinals.
Nevin Harrison of the U.S. won gold in the women's canoe single 200-meter final and American Cory Juneau took bronze in the Olympic debut of men's park skateboarding.
BMX rider Connor Fields was released from St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo on Thursday, five days after a horrific crash in his semifinal race at the Tokyo Olympics left him with a brain bleed and other injuries. He'll head home to begin rehabilitation.Grant Holloway took silver.