PARIS: Simone Biles earned her seventh Olympic gold medal by soaring to victory in the women's vault final at the Paris Games on Saturday.
The 27-year-old Biles averaged 15.300 for her signature Yurchenko double pike and Cheng vaults to claim a second gold on the event eight years after she triumphed in Rio de Janeiro.
Rebeca Andrade of Brazil, who finished runner-up to Biles in the all-around final on Thursday, took silver, just ahead of American Jade Carey, who captured the bronze.
Biles is the second woman to win vault twice, joining Vera Casalavska of Czechoslovakia as a two-time gold medalist on the vault. Casalavska went back to back in 1964 and 1968. Biles now has 10 Olympic medals in her career, tied for the third most by a female gymnast. She also boosted her medal count at major international competitions to 40, the most by any gymnast.
The crowd inside a packed Bercy Arena roared when Biles was introduced. Wearing a sequined red leotard, she delivered another show-stopping performance in what could be the last vault competition of her life.
She drilled her Yurchenko double pike, exploding off the block and then flipping backward twice with her hands clasped behind her knees. She landed with a big bounce — a nod to the energy she generates — with her right foot on the out-of-bounds line.
The judges dinged her a tenth of a point for that. It hardly mattered. Her score of 15.700 meant she merely needed to avoid disaster on her second vault to win. Instead, she almost stuck her Cheng, which requires a roundoff onto the springboard, then a half twist onto the block followed by 1 1/2 twists while doing a forward somersault.
The ensuing 14.900 meant the rest of the eight-woman field was going for second.
Andrade, the vault champion in Tokyo, put together two excellent vaults to claim silver and her third medal of the Games after a silver in the all-around and a bronze in the team final. Andrade's average of 14.966 was well clear of everyone else.
Carey, who slipped during the women's vault final in Tokyo and finished eighth, earned her third Olympic medal to go with the floor exercise gold she won in Tokyo and the team gold she captured with Biles on Tuesday.
Biles will have two more chances to boost her medal haul in Paris. She will compete in the balance beam and floor exercise finals on Monday.
Pommel Horse Guy does it again
Two-time world champion Rhys McClenaghan claimed Ireland’s first medal in Olympic gymnastics.
Even before his name was announced, McClenaghan had to choke back tears. He then yelled in delight and cried for good when his massive score of 15.533 points on pommel horse was announced.
Competing right after McClenaghan, American gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik — aka “Pommel Horse Guy” — was excellent, too, but could not match his Irish rival’s score. He scored 15.300 points, which earned him the bronze medal.
Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan took silver with 15.433 points.
Nedoroscik helped the U.S. men earn bronze in the team final earlier this week, sealing the program’s first Olympic medal in 16 years with a lights-out routine that made him a viral sensation.
Yulo wins for the Philippines
Carlos Yulo won the second Olympic gold medal ever for the Philippines, edging defending champion Artem Dolgopyat of Israel in the men’s floor exercise finals.
The 24-year-old Yulo scored 15.000, just ahead of Dolgopyat, the defending champion at 14.966. Jake Jarman of Britain claimed the bronze with a 14.933.
Yulo stuck his triple-twisting dismount during his final tumbling pass. He stuck his arms out and roared inside a packed Bercy Arena before walking off the podium.
Yulo joins weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz as Olympic gold medalists from the Philippines. Diaz earned gold in the women’s 55-kilogram division in Tokyo three years ago.
Simone Biles captures her seventh Olympic gold medal by winning women's vault for a second time
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Simone Biles captures her seventh Olympic gold medal by winning women's vault for a second time
- The 27-year-old Biles averaged 15.300 for her signature Yurchenko double pike and Cheng vaults to claim a second gold on the event eight years after she triumphed in Rio de Janeiro
- Biles is the second woman to win vault twice
Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois lead boxing stars at Riyadh Season Card Wembley Edition grand arrivals
Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois lead boxing stars at Riyadh Season Card Wembley Edition grand arrivals
- Fans got a glimpse of the stars and the entire undercard line-up at Leicester Square event
LONDON: Leicester Square in London played host to a boxing fan’s dream on Tuesday night when the 12 British boxers taking part in Saturday’s Riyadh Season Card Wembley Edition made their grand arrivals.
The parade of talent was headlined by Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, who will battle it out for the International Boxing Federation heavyweight title at a sell-out Wembley Stadium.
Fans got a glimpse of the stars and the entire undercard line-up, as well as the promoters of the event - Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions.
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PHOTO GALLERY OF GRAND ARRIVALS HERE
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Joshua admitted at the event that although he was feeling tense about the fight, his body was in good condition and he felt he could continue boxing for another four years.
“I’m tense,” he told DAZN on the red carpet. “I’m tense. The fight’s around the corner – I don’t forget that the fight’s around the corner. This is chilled though. We’re not fighting today so I’m chilled.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, Dubois said he was feeling “in the right place at the right time” to take on Joshua and defend his IBF belt, adding that he needed to “stay in his bubble and stay focused.”
Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Fashion Week got underway in Milan on Tuesday and it was the away team who made all of the slick moves at the San Siro in a clash of European football royalty
MILAN, Italy: Liverpool strutted to a 3-1 win at AC Milan on Tuesday as the Reds got their campaign in the revamped Champions League off to a stylish start.
Arne Slot’s team reacted superbly to going behind in the third minute to a Christian Pulisic goal and ended up cruising to the three points thanks to strikes from Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Fashion Week got underway in Milan on Tuesday and it was the away team who made all of the slick moves at the San Siro in a clash of European football royalty.
Liverpool and Milan have been crowned continental kings 13 times and have beaten each other in Champions League finals but the Reds were a class above and would have won by more had the woodwork not twice denied Mohamed Salah in the first half.
“It was a great day to celebrate your birthday at a stadium like this, and then to win,” said Slot, who turned 46 on Tuesday, to Prime Video.
“I wouldn’t have said this after five minutes but it went quite well.”
For Liverpool it was a return to perfect form after falling to a shock home defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend while Milan again struggled under new coach Paulo Fonseca ahead of Sunday’s Milan derby.
Fonseca has failed to convince Milan supporters, a large number of whom stayed away on Tuesday night with fewer than 60,000 turning up for their team’s highest profile fixture of the new league phase of Europe’s top club competition.
And Milan will likely have to face Italian champions Inter Milan, who take on Manchester City on Wednesday, without France goalkeeper Mike Maignan who limped off with a knee injury early in the second half.
“It’s a difficult start for us and we have to change things,” Pulisic told Sky in Italy before looking for an immediate response against Inter at the weekend.
“Of course it (the derby) is a big match for us,” he said. “We need to turn things around. We have a big opportunity to do that.”
Milan fans put up a giant display which read “fearless” before kick-off and the hosts tore straight into Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk desperately clearing Tijjani Reijnders low cross.
And Pulisic quickly had Milan ahead with his super low finish, punishing Liverpool’s dawdling defense after being brilliantly sent scurrying toward goal by Alvaro Morata at the end of a move which was started by Maignan.
Liverpool quickly responded however and were unlucky in the 16th minute when Salah smashed an effort with his weaker right foot off the crossbar.
And the away side, whose pressing had started to force Milan into giving the ball away cheaply, were level when Konate nodded home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s floated free-kick.
With the Reds taking control, Milan should have been behind before Van Dijk nodded Liverpool ahead, as Diogo Jota wasted a great chance seconds after Konate’s leveller and Salah smacked another shot off the bar on the half-hour mark.
Things got even worse for the home team in the 51st minute when Maignan, who had already dropped to the ground in pain twice during the first half, limped off after being clattered by Fikayo Tomori as the England defender desperately tried to stop Jota from extending Liverpool’s lead.
Maignan was replaced by teenager Lorenzo Torriani and the rookie could only look on in the 67th minute as Szoboszlai bundled home Cody Gakpo’s teasing cross after the Netherlands forward eased past sluggish Strahinja Pavlovic.
Disappointed Milan fans began streaming toward the exit long before the final whistle, after which a deluge of whistles and boos, and loud chants for their team to “show some balls,” met a thoroughly deserved defeat.
Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in goal fest
- Shanghai Shenhua drub South Korea’s Pohang Steelers 4-1, while Buriram United of Thailand and Vissel Kobe of Japan play out a 0-0 draw
SOUL: Asian Champions League debutants Gwangju FC scored after just 90 seconds on the way to a 7-3 home hammering of last year’s runners-up Yokohama F-Marinos on Tuesday.
Also on the second day of action in Asia’s top club competition, which has been rebranded as the Asian Champions League Elite, Shandong Taishan won 3-1 at home to Central Coast Mariners of Australia.
On a good night for Chinese teams, Shanghai Shenhua thrashed South Korea’s Pohang Steelers 4-1, while Buriram United of Thailand and Vissel Kobe of Japan played out a 0-0 stalemate.
In South Korea, Gwangju grabbed an early lead over Japan’s Yokohama when Jasir Asani’s tame effort from outside the box squirmed under the grasp of visiting goalkeeper Riku Terakado.
The hosts extended their lead at a sparsely attended Gwangju World Cup Stadium on the quarter-hour mark when Oh Hu-seong headed in unmarked at the back post.
Yokohama hit back on 34 minutes when the Brazilian Elber slammed home as the rain came down.
The game turned goal crazy in a madcap second half, with Albanian international Asani netting twice more for his hat trick and the hosts adding three more.
Elber, with his second, and Takuma Nishimura pulled goals back for the bedraggled away team, who were reduced to 10 men late on.
The J. League’s Yokohama are coached by the Australian John Hutchinson following the sacking of compatriot Harry Kewell after just six months in the job.
The former Liverpool and Leeds star Kewell took Yokohama to the two-legged Champions League final in May, where they lost to Al Ain of the UAE 6-3 on aggregate.
Kewell was axed two months later after a torrid run of form and Hutchinson was promoted from the backroom staff on a caretaker basis.
The Asian Champions League Elite begins with two leagues containing 12 teams each and split between East and West Zones.
The competition kicked off on Monday and concludes in May next year.
Mbappe bolstering holders Madrid’s Champions League ambitions
MADRID: The format may be new, but few would bet against the winner staying the same.
As if record 15-time winners Real Madrid’s Champions League prospects were not great enough already, superstar striker Kylian Mbappe’s arrival makes Los Blancos the most daunting team in the competition.
German side Stuttgart have the honors of facing the reigning kings of Europe in the opening week of the competition, traveling to the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday.
Madrid defeated Borussia Dortmund in last season’s Wembley final to claim the trophy for the sixth time in the last 11 years.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti, the most decorated manager in the history of the tournament with five triumphs, has not yet found the perfect set-up to get Mbappe firing from open play, but few doubt he will.
The 25-year-old had arguably his best game for the club in the 2-0 win over Real Sociedad on Saturday in La Liga, threatening the Basque side with his pace and connecting well with Vinicius Junior in attack.
Mbappe scored, albeit from the penalty spot, and he is looking forward to his Champions League debut in Madrid’s resplendent white.
“It will be very important for me — as I said on the first day, I came to Madrid to live these type of nights,” explained the striker.
“I am very focused on what we have to do, the Champions League has changed a lot, it’s a new competition, and we have to win to start well.”
The new-look structure has thrown up ties for Madrid at home against Dortmund, in a rematch of last season’s showpiece, and away at Liverpool, whom they defeated in the 2022 final.
First come Stuttgart, continuing a streak of German opponents for Los Blancos, after they faced Bayern Munich in the semis before Dortmund in London.
Los Blancos have played one European game already this season, defeating Atalanta to win the UEFA Super Cup in August, with Mbappe scoring on his debut.
Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger came through Stuttgart’s youth system and played in the first team for four seasons.
Ancelotti has problems in midfield with Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Ceballos, Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni out injured, although the Italian was hopeful the latter two could take part against the Germans.
While Madrid’s shiny new toy Mbappe is drawing much of the attention, Ancelotti has plenty of stars at his disposal with the talent to turn defeats into draws and draws into victories, something of a penchant for the club, particularly under the lights in Europe.
Bellingham was Madrid’s key player for the first half of last season, making an immediate impact on his arrival from Dortmund.
Brazilian forward Vinicius was vital in the home straight, netting a brace in the semis against Bayern and scoring again in the final.
The forward has struggled to find his best level at the start of the season but his coach will show plenty of patience.
“We love him here because although right now he’s not at his best, nobody can forget that with Vini we have won two Champions Leagues,” pointed out Ancelotti last week.
Mbappe says he is working on his on-pitch relationship with Vinicius, with both netting penalties in the win over La Real.
“We try to find each other in training to create the connection and help the team,” continued Mbappe.
“He’s a great player and I’m happy to play with him in Real Madrid — what’s important is goals, not who takes the penalties.”
Mbappe has three La Liga goals from four games this season, including two penalties, while Vinicius has two, both from the spot.
Once the two forward are firing on all cylinders in open play Madrid’s already sizeable chance of winning the Champions League yet again will grow further still.
Kane scores 4 times and breaks Rooney’s record for most Champions League goals by an English player
MUNICH: Harry Kane broke Wayne Rooney’s record for the most Champions League goals by an English player when the Bayern Munich striker scored four goals against Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.
Kane took his tally to 33 in the competition by scoring in the 19th, 53rd, 73rd and 78th minutes — three of the four goals were penalties — to surpass Rooney’s record of 30.
Kane opened the scoring from the penalty spot to give Bayern the lead over the Croatian club after his teammate Aleksandar Pavlovic was fouled by Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel.
That drew Kane level with Rooney’s record of 30, and he scored his 31st on a rebound after goalkeeper Ivan Nevistic parried Joshua Kimmich’s shot in the 57th.
Kane scored two more from the penalty spot to extend his record.
Kane has scored 12 Champions League goals since moving to Bayern a year ago and scored 21 before that for Tottenham.
Kane now has 53 goals in 50 games in all competitions since moving to Bayern.
Kane has scored nine goals in his last three games for club and country including two for England against Finland in his 100th international game and a hat trick Saturday for Bayern against Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga.
Another record was broken when Thomas Müller came off the bench to play his 152nd Champions League game for Bayern. That’s the most for a player for one club, breaking a tie with former Barcelona player Xavi Hernandez.
