Olympics roundup: More medals for U.S. women gymnasts

TOKYO — Sunisa Lee came to Japan to win a gold medal. And she did. Just not the one she really, really wanted.

The 18-year-old from Minnesota is a revelation on uneven bars, where her routines are an intricate series of connections and releases completed with so much ease it looks like she’s making it all up on the fly.

Only she isn’t. Her mastery is the result of years of hard work. She’s one of the best in the world on it, and she showed it during the all-around final, where her electric set helped her edge Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and become the fifth straight American woman to claim the Olympic title.

Three days and a crush of fame later, she wasn’t quite right. Admitting she’d become distracted by the attention surrounding her triumph, connections that typically come so easily were labored during Sunday’s event finals, if they came at all. The result was a bronze-medal finish that left her disappointed.

Yes, the all-around title is great. She’ll carry it with her for the rest of her life. But the bars are her jam. Only her long-anticipated showdown with Belgium star Nina Derwael never materialized. Lee knew in the middle of her routine it wasn’t going to be good enough to top the podium long before her 14.500 flashed across the scoreboard.

Lee will get a chance to add to her stash in the beam final on Tuesday. A medal there would be a bit of a surprise.

MyKayla Skinner, the 24-year-old American, didn’t know if she would compete in the vault finals until Saturday afternoon after Simone Biles opted out. She drilled both her Cheng and her Amanar then said goodbye to the sport from the medal stand with a silver. Already married, Skinner is retiring.

What a way to go out. Two years ago, she re-entered the elite world after spending three years competing collegiately at Utah. She dealt with covid-19 and pneumonia during the pandemic and thought she was heading home early last week after failing to automatically qualify into any finals. Then Biles told her to stick around because she wasn’t sure she was going to compete.

“I think it’s so cool to show that age is just a number and that anything is possible if you work hard and dream for it,” Skinner said. “So I’m just so honored that I never gave up and have kept pushing for my dreams to get here.”

Record-setter

Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela set a world record with her final attempt to win the women’s triple jump.

Rojas finished the competition with a mark of 15.67 meters to break a record set in 1995. Inessa Kravets of Ukraine held the record at 15.50.

Tee it up

Xander Schauffele won the Olympic gold medal in golf in a tense finish.

Schauffele was tied for the lead with Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia with two holes to play. The American made birdie from 6 feet on the 17th hole to regain the lead. Then after a bad tee shot that forced him to play short of the water, he hit wedge to 4 feet and made the par to win.

Sabbatini set an Olympic record with a round of 61 and won the silver.

C.T. Pan of Taiwan, who closed with a 63, won the bronze in a playoff among seven countries that lasted four holes.

Tennis gold

Fifth-ranked Alexander Zverev of Germany won the gold medal in men’s tennis singles.

Zverev beat Russian opponent Karen Khachanov, 6-3, 6-1, for the biggest title of his career.

It follows a comeback victory for Zverev over top-ranked Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

Dazzling Doncic

Luka Doncic will take his unbeaten record with Slovenia to the Olympic quarterfinals.

Doncic just missed the first triple-double in the Olympics in nine years, and the Slovenians edged Spain, 95-87.

Doncic had foul trouble early and shooting struggles all night but finished with 12 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, one shy of the first triple-double since LeBron James had one for the U.S. in 2012.

The loss left Spain with a difficult quarterfinal matchup against the three-time defending champion U.S. team.

Beached Americans

Two American teams are out at the Olympic beach volleyball venue.

A Qatari pair ranked No. 1 in the world beat Nick Lucena and 2008 gold medalist Phil Dalhausser, 14-21, 21-19, 15-11, in the first round of knockout play.

The U.S. women’s team of Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes also lost in three sets to Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada after winning the first set.

Debut medal

Charlotte Worthington of Britain put on a show in BMX freestyle’s Olympic debut, landing the first 360 backflip in women’s competition to knock off American rival Hannah Roberts.

Logan Martin of Australia won gold in the men’s event.