Japan’s Top Male Gymnast Fails Qualifying Event

Kohei Uchimura, Japan’s top male gymnast, looking to end his long career in glory, instead slipped and fell Saturday during his high bar qualifying event.  Known for winning all-around gymnastic championships for years, the 32-year-old athlete was looking to compete only in the high bar this year, but his fall leaves him out of the competition.  

Tropical Storm Nepartak is headed for Japan, bringing the threat of heavy rains and strong winds. Olympic officials are rescheduling some rowing events to take place earlier than originally planned.     

Richard “The Locomotive” Carapaz is taking home the gold for cycling, Ecuador’s first cycling medal.  

The International Judo Federation has suspended Algerian athlete Fethi Nourine and his coach Amar Benikhlef after they both withdrew from the games to avoid a match against an Israeli athlete and in support of the “Palestinian cause.”   

Nourine told Algerian television, “We worked a lot to reach the Olympics, but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all this.”

The federation has confirmed the men’s withdrawals from the games and said in a statement, “The immediate response of the IJF Executive Committee was to form an investigative commission, which confirmed all the facts, leading to a temporary suspension of the athlete and the coach and assigning the case to the Disciplinary Commission of the IJF for further investigation, judgment and final sanctioning beyond the Olympic Games.”

The youngest Olympic athlete is out of the competition in Tokyo after losing her first match Saturday. Twelve-year-old table tennis athlete Hend Zaza of Syria lost to 39-year-old Liu Jia of Austria.  

Zaza told People magazine, “The main lesson was the loss of this match, especially in the first match so next time I will be working hard to pass the first, second, third round,” the youngster said. “Because I want to be in this competition longer, not only for the first round.”
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