After a wild weekend filled with shocking upsets, historic firsts and disappointing finishes, the 2020 Tokyo Games are in full swing.
As of Monday afternoon, the United States sat with 7 Gold Medals, second only to host nation Japan with 8, and 14 medals total — also good for 2nd in the world, behind China, which has 18.
The opening weekend of the Summer Games saw a nearly two decade winning streak come to an end, a stunning finish by the "Terminator" and U.S. swimmers trying to live up to the legacy of Michael Phelps.
Here is a look back at the first few days of events:
Caeleb Dressel started his quest for six gold medals in swimming by leading the United States to victory in the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Dressel, the former Florida Gator who has been hailed as the successor to Michael Phelps in the pool for the U.S., gave the team the lead in the opening leg and his teammates made sure it stood up.
“I felt good the whole way, I knew I had to get my hand in the wall first and get some clean water,” Dressel said. “And everyone did their job. It’s a relay for a reason, it’s four guys for a reason, it’s certainly not just me. It’s certainly not just one guy.”
Dressel threw his medal to 20-year-old teammate Brooks Curry in the stands after the victory. Curry swam in the preliminary heat the night before, allowing Dressel to rest up.
“I had the easiest job last night out of everyone here,” Dressel said. “I got to watch it on TV. So I felt like [Curry] deserved that a little more than me.”
Dressel is competing in three individual events and two more relays in Tokyo.
Members of the 4x100-meter team were not the the only Americans to bring home the gold: Chase Kalisz took home the top honors in the 400-meter individual medley.
Kalisz called the win his “redemption story” after a second-place finish in 2016.
“I really kind of do feel like I let the U.S. down in ’16 even though I swam a lot faster than here,” Kalisz said. “The USA has a proud legacy of the 400 IM — (Tom) Dolan, Phelps, (Ryan) Lochte. This was my redemption story.”
At 27, he knew it might be his last chance to win the race, especially after being forced to wait an extra year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was tough last year with the Olympics kind of getting pulled out from under us and really having so much uncertainty whether it was going to happen,” Kalisz said. “Five years of preparation for this one moment, and it’s not like I was getting any younger.”
Rising star Ariarne Titmus truly lived up to her nickname, the “Terminator,” when she overtook U.S. swimming phenom Katie Ledecky in the 400 freestyle, one of the most highly anticipated races of the Olympics so far.
Titmus called the win “surreal.”
“It’s the biggest thing you can do in your sporting career,” Titmus said, adding: “I’m over the moon.”
Titmus trailed by nearly a full body-length at the halfway mark of the eight-lap race before erasing the gap and finishing in 3 minutes, 56.69 seconds – the second-fastest time ever, behind Ledecky’s world record from Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Ledecky brought home her second Olympic silver since the 4x100-meter freestyle relay in Rio in 2016.
“I wouldn’t be here without her,” Titmus said of Ledecky after the event. “She set an amazing standard.”
Ledecky fans can still have the opportunity to see the 24-year-old Washingtonian (D.C.) bring home the hardware in other events,
Fencer Lee Kiefer, a 27-year-old from Cleveland, became the first American — male or female — to win a gold medal in Olympic individual foil.
Kiefer, who placed fifth in London in 2012 and ranked 10th in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, beat defending champion Inna Deriglazova of Russia 15-13 in the final bout.
“It’s such an incredible feeling that I share with my coach, I share with my husband, with my family, just everyone that’s been a part of this,” Kiefer said. “I wish I could chop it up in little pieces and distributed it to everyone I love.”
Kiefer’s husband, fellow fencer Gerek Meinhardt, won bronze with the U.S. team in foil in Rio in 2016.
Kiefer’s medal is only the third fencing gold in U.S. history — the only other American fencer to win gold is Mariel Zagunis, who took the top honors in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008 for individual saber events.
A 25-game Olympic winning streak for the U.S. is over, ending Sunday when France closed the game on a 16-2 run to beat the Americans 83-76 in the Tokyo Games.
Evan Fournier’s 3-pointer off a broken play with just under a minute left put France ahead for good, as the Americans simply fell apart in the final minutes.
"They are better individually, but they can be beaten as a team," Fournier said of the Americans.
The U.S. missed its final nine shots, five of them coming in a 21-second span in the final minute shortly after Fournier — who led all scorers with 28 points — made the go-ahead 3-pointer.
“I think that’s a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are supposed to just roll out the balls and win,” U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ve got to work for it just like everybody else. And for those 40 minutes, they played better than we did.”
The Americans lost for only the sixth time in 144 games at the Olympics all-time, and fell to 53-4 in the Olympics with NBA players on the roster.
Fournier had 28 points for France, while Rudy Gobert scored 14 and Nando de Colo had 13. Jrue Holiday had 18 points for the U.S., Bam Adebayo had 12, Damian Lillard 11 and Kevin Durant had 10 for the Americans — who are just 2-3 in their games this summer, the first four of them exhibitions in Las Vegas that weren’t supposed to mean much.
The U.S. Men's Basketball team wasn't the only team with high hopes and expectations to fall short: The U.S. women's gymnastics team dropped a qualifier to Russia on Sunday.
The trouble started early. A step out of bounds on floor exercise here. A short landing there.
Over the course of two hours on Sunday, the mistakes — some almost imperceptible, some laid bare for the world to see — kept piling up, chipping away at the aura USA Gymnastics has built over the past decade. Not even the greatest of all time was immune to the realities of a sport where perfection is unattainable.
For 11 years, the Americans flirted with it, at least from a competitive standpoint, flying all over the globe, then flying back home with their suitcases stuffed with gold.
It still might happen at the Tokyo Olympics. But for the first time in a long time, it appears it won’t happen without a fight.
Russia pulled off a stunner in qualifying, posting a top score of 171.629, more than a full point ahead of the U.S. total 170.562. While reigning Olympic champion Simone Biles topped the all-around with teammate Sunisa Lee close behind in third, the Americans ended their session looking up at another name on the scoreboard in the team standings for the first time since the 2010 world championships.
“This was not the finals,” U.S. high-performance director Tom Forster said. “This was getting into the finals. So this might be a great awakening for us and we’ll take advantage of it.”
But after going largely unchallenged over two Olympic quads, the Americans suddenly have company.
"We hope that [we win]," 21-year-old Russian phenom Angelina Melnikova said Sunday. "We’re also going to struggle and fight. We have to. That’s the expectation for us."
With First lady Dr. Jill Biden watching with pride, the U.S. Women’s 3x3 Basketball team won their debut game over the weekend, an upset victory against top-ranked France.
Since then, the team has gone a perfect 6-0, undefeated after a tough 21-19 victory over China on Monday in the nascent sports' Olympics debut.
Games are first to 21 (Or whoever is winning after 10 minutes.) Teams have to clear the ball back to around the 3-point line after rebounds. Inside buckets are worth one, and “3s” are worth two. The teams have coaches but they are for behind-the-scenes stuff, not allowed on the court.
The U.S. team consists of Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum, who hit the game-winner against China Monday, Dallas Wings guard Allisha Gray, Chicago Sky center Stefanie Dolson and Las Vegas guard Jackie Young, who replaced the Seattle Storm's Katie Lou Samuelson, who was forced to withdraw from the Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.
Team USA, the only unbeaten team left, faces off against Japan Tuesday to end preliminary play. The semifinals begin Wednesday.
Anastasija Zolotic won the United States’ first gold medal in women’s taekwondo by beating Russian athlete Tatiana Minina 25-17 on Sunday to claim the featherweight division title.
The 18-year-old Zolotic lets out a primal scream as she pulls on her helmet before each round. The Largo, Florida, native has been telling friends and family since early childhood that she would be an Olympic champion, and she needed only one trip to the Games to make it happen.
“My 8-year-old self was running around the school yard saying I was going to be Olympic champion but she could never have imagined what this moment is like,” Zolotic said. “It’s unbelievable. It really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Zolotic was only the fourth American to reach an Olympic taekwondo final and only the second woman. Steven Lopez won the U.S. team’s only two previous Olympic golds in taekwondo.
“Isn’t that amazing? I’m just glad I can do something to raise its profile in the US,” she said. “I just want the country to be proud of me, to share this flood of emotions.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.