Sunisa Lee became the fifth-straight American to win gold in the women’s all-around gymnastics finals. Lee stepped up following the withdrawal of Simone Biles due to mental health concerns. Biles thanked fans for their ongoing support, tweeting, “The outpouring love and support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics which I never truly believed before.”
The Unites State also had a big day in women’s volleyball, women’s rugby and shooting.
Team USA now has 14 gold medals, 14 silver and 10 bronze. They are currently third on the gold medal leader board, right behind China and Japan.
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The Americans beat Turkey in a close game Thursday 3-2, winning a tight 15-12 fifth set.
Team USA has assured a spot in the quarterfinals, along with Italy, Serbia and Brazil so far.
“We had a little bit of bad luck, there was a drumbeat of negativity, the Games got moved a year, no spectators,” Shell said during Comcast’s second-quarter earnings call with analysts. “And that has resulted a little bit in linear ratings being probably less than we expected.”
However, Shell said the digital side has been strong.
“If you look at the product, it’s fantastic,” he said. “And it’s really impossible– what I would say about Peacock is what we learn in this Olympics we’ll take to Beijing and change the product, change the offering for each Olympics going forward. And we’re really excited about that.”
Overall, Shell said NBC will “be profitable on the Olympics.”
“We are very happy with the product,” he added.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone for supporting me. I wouldn’t be here without my coaches and my parents,” Lee said at a news conference. “This is such a surreal moment. I just feel like I could have never been here ever. It doesn’t even feel like real life.”
She also discussed the struggles her family has endured over the past two years.
“The past two years have been absolutely crazy with COVID and just my family and everything else,” Lee said. “This medal really means a lot to me because there was a point in time where I wanted to quit and I just didn’t think I would ever get here including injuries and stuff.”
Nevertheless, Lee’s hard work paid off.
“So there’s definitely a lot of emotions but I’m super proud of myself for sticking with it and believing in myself because this medal would not be possible without my coaches, the medical team, my parents,” she added. “It’s just so surreal and I haven’t even let it sink in yet.”
Caleb Dressel took home his first individual gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle. He set an Olympic record with a time of 47.02 seconds.
Dressel also set an Olympic record in the preliminaries of the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 50.39 seconds.
Robert Finke won an unexpected gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle event.
Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger claimed silver and bronze the women’s 200-meter butterfly.
Katie Ledecky anchored the women’s 4x200 freestyle relay team to take silver.
The 18-year-old from Minnesota continues the legacy for Team USA after teammate Simone Biles withdrew from the competition Wednesday.
Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade finished second with silver and Angelina Melikova took bronze for the Russian Olympic Committee.
“This is the single greatest achievement of my life,” Dean said.
The team has 15 golds - ahead of China and the USA, which have 14 gold medals each.
He apologized for the outburst, which he said was made “in the heat of the moment” but admitted his “choice of words was wrong”.
A statement from Team Germany said:
One of them, Dutch skateboarder Candy Jacobs, yesterday went “on strike” to demand fresh air after being banned from opening windows in the hotel.
Some 3,865 cases were reported in the past 24 hours alone. The sharp rise in cases is being reflected elsewhere in the country.
“We have never experienced the expansion of the infections of this magnitude,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters on Thursday.
Stick with Newsweek throughout Thursday for all the latest.
