2016 Summer Olympics: Day 12 Winners and Losers
We had sweeps in women's hurdles, sprints and wrestling, the quickest soccer goal in Olympic history and scandal in boxing and ticketing.
Just another day (and night) in Rio de Janeiro at the 2016 Olympics.
U.S. women's 100-meter hurdlers made history with a medals sweep late Wednesday at Olympic Stadium—the first time that's happened in Olympic history in that event.
Meanwhile, U.S. teams are hitting their strides at the Rio Games.
The men's basketball and men's volleyball teams advanced with impressive victories.
Read on for more winners and losers.
Winner: U.S. Men's Volleyball
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Looks like the U.S. men's volleyball team needed a while to warm up.
The Americans, a pre-Olympics contender for gold, found themselves on the brink of elimination from the tournament with an 0-2 start after losing to Canada in a stunner, then Italy in pool play.
With its hopes on the brink, the fifth-ranked U.S. has gone from the abyss to two matches from nirvana. With a sweep of No. 2 Poland, 25-23, 25-22, 25-20, at Maracanazinho arena Wednesday to cap a four-match winning streak, the Americans advanced to the semifinals. They play Italy on Friday for a chance to make the gold-medal match.
After the Italy loss, the U.S. reeled off three straight wins in group play, starting with a key upset against top-ranked Brazil, followed by wins over France and Mexico.
It joined the U.S. women, who have also reached the semifinals and play Serbia on Thursday.
The last time both teams won medals in the same Olympics was 2008, when the men won gold and the women silver.
Loser: U.S. Track and Field Medal Droughts
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It happened again. This time, it was steeplechaser Evan Jager ending a long drought of Olympic medals in a track and field event.
Jager took silver in the 3,000-meter men's steeplechase Wednesday, the first medal for an American man in the event since 1984.
Jager led with four laps to go but was passed by eventual gold medalist Conseslus Kipruto, who won with an Olympic-record time of eight minutes, 3.28 seconds. Jager posted a time of 8:04.28.
Ezekiel Kemboi, the two-time Olympic champion, finished third but was later disqualified for stepping off the track at the water jump. The bronze was then awarded to France's Mahiedine Mekhissi, who had crossed the finish line a distant fourth. Kemboi announced his retirement from racing after the competition.
In the past week, Americans have won medals in events the U.S. has struggled in for decades.
Add Jager's medal to Emma Coburn's bronze in women's steeplechase (first-ever U.S. Olympic medal in the event), Jenny Simpson's bronze in the women's 1,500-meter run (first), Clayton Murphy's bronze in the men's 800 (1992), and Michelle Carter's gold in women's shot put (first medal since 1960 and first gold ever).
Of course, streaks can go both ways. The U.S. didn't win a medal in men's 110-meter hurdles for the first time in Olympics history (excluding the 1980 Games that the U.S. boycotted).
Winner: Men's Soccer, Brazil
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What better way for Brazil to shake off recent soccer angst than by winning a first Olympic gold in the sport?
Neymar scored the quickest goal in Olympic history, and Brazil rediscovered its offense in a 6-0 thrashing of Honduras in Wednesday's semifinal.
Neymar scored just 15 seconds into the game after a turnover at the edge of the penalty box, and the rout was on.
The entire country appeared to be fretting about Brazil's scoreless start, where it failed to find the net in two games against lightweights South Africa and Iraq.
Brazil's scorers heated up in a 4-0 win over Denmark, then beat Colombia 2-0 in the quarterfinals.
Led by Neymar, Gabigol and Gabriel Jesus, Brazil now plays Germany, 2-0 winners over Nigeria, for the gold medal at the famed Maracana on Saturday. The match is certain to have a huge buildup.
Germany embarrassed Brazil, 7-1, in the 2014 World Cup semifinals in a result that added fuel to the thinking that Brazil had lost its place as a worldwide soccer power.
Brazil's women will play Canada for bronze after losing to Sweden in a shootout. It was the second straight shootout win for Sweden, labeled "cowards" to reporters by U.S. keeper Hope Solo after Sweden bounced the U.S. from the tournament in the quarterfinals with defensive-minded, physical tactics.
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Loser: Boxing
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A day after an Irish boxer accused judges of bribery and the sport's international federation of corruption, several Olympic judges have been removed from duty in Rio.
The federation, which will not release names or apparently many details, announced the move Wednesday after it said in a statement that it reviewed hundreds of Olympic bouts and found "less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected."
Nothing new for Olympic boxing (or the sport in general), where similar accusations of corruption seem to happen every Games.
Two bouts in Rio drew attention. Ireland's Michael Conlan accused Russian officials of bribing referees after his unanimous quarterfinal loss to Russia's Vladimir Nikitin. According to Ken Belson of the New York Times, "many observers believed Conlan should have won."
Another bout won by a Russian, Evgeny Tishchenko, was jeered Monday by crowds when Tishchenko was awarded a unanimous decision over Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan, who "appeared to have won the bout handily," as Belson wrote.
Winner: Japanese Wrestling
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Move over, Aleksandr Karelin and Mijain Lopez. Japan's Kaori Icho is wrestling's new golden star.
Two days after Cuba's Lopez tied Karelin's (among others) Olympic record with three golds, Icho became the first wrestler in Olympic history to win four.
Icho beat Russia's Valeriia Koblova Zholobova, 3-2, with a dramatic takedown with less than five seconds remaining in the 58-kilogram final to win gold.
Japanese women swept all three gold-medal matches in dramatic fashion Wednesday and may win another Thursday.
Sara Dosho won the Olympic title at 69 kilograms after her come-from-behind rally to beat No. 4 Natalia Vorobeva of Russia. With 30 seconds left, Dosho engineered a takedown to win.
Icho has won every gold since women's wrestling made its Olympic debut at the 2004 Games in Athens. She is also the first woman to win individual gold in four straight Games.
Teammate Eri Tosaka also won the 48-kilogram division with a last-second takedown, beating Azerbaijan's Mariya Stadnik, 3-2. Tosaka has now won four titles in either World Championship or Olympic competition.
Another Japanese wrestler, Saori Yoshida, is competing Thursday to match Icho with her fourth straight gold.
Loser: Rio Olympic Ticket Sales
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TV viewers of these Olympics have no doubt noticed an unusual sight during track and field broadcasts from Olympic Stadium, capacity 50,000: empty seats.
That's not atypical in the first week of an Olympics. But when track and field begins, usually around the second week, the crowds pick up. Not this time, even when track's marquee event, Usain Bolt running the 100-meter dash, was held.
Four days remain in the Games that conclude Sunday.
That's in contrast to London in 2012, where huge crowds filled the stadium for track and field.
Reasons range from lack of local support—a majority of tickets are earmarked for host cities—along with news of long lines and transportation woes, corporate sponsors scared off by crime and the Zika virus scare.
Organizers insist ticket sales are getting better, with 87 percent of tickets sold, about 5.7 million, according to a story from the Wall Street Journal's Rebecca Davis O'Brien and Luciana Magalhaes.
Ticket woes don't stop there.
A member of the International Olympic Committee, Patrick Hickey, 71, was arrested as a target of an investigation into an international plot to illegally sell Olympic tickets to scalpers, per Ossian Shine and Rodrigo Viga of Reuters.
Hickey, Europe's top Olympic official, was arrested after a morning raid on his Rio hotel.
The IOC profiting from or misusing Olympic tickets is nothing new, as this 2009 Seattle Times investigation into the issue shows.
Winner: U.S. Men's Basketball
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When the U.S. men's basketball team trailed Argentina 19-9 in the early going, it might have brought back bad memories from the 2004 Olympics when an inexperienced group of NBA stars, led by international-game newbies Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, went home with a humbling bronze medal.
But for the first time in these Games, the U.S. turned away worries about poor defense and uneven play, slapping aside an upset bid from internationally savvy Argentina, the 2004 Olympic champion, and its aging fan favorite, Manu Ginobili, to advance to the medal round, 105-78.
The U.S. next plays Spain, winners over France, 92-67, in the semifinals Friday.
Against Argentina, Kevin Durant had a team-high 27 points. Paul George scored 17 points and had eight rebounds, while Argentina went 8-of-32 on three-pointers. Luis Scola, who plays for the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, had 15 points. Ginobili scored 14 points in his final international appearance.
Loser: Abbey D'Agostino's Knee
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A fair and just ending to the Abbey D'Agostino-Nikki Hamblin saga of Olympic friendship and sportswomanship would have had D'Agostino recovering from her knee injury and running in Friday's 5,000-meter final with an outside shot at a medal.
Her knee had other ideas. In a close-to-worst-case scenario, Dartmouth grad D'Agostino was diagnosed with a torn ACL and strained MCL in her right knee, according to reports.
Hamblin, from New Zealand, will run in the final.
Initially, Hamblin appeared to suffer the worst of it when, in Tuesday's 5,000-meter prelims, she fell and D'Agostino tripped over her. Hamblin fell to the track and remained motionless until D'Agostino got up and put her hand on her shoulder, urging her to finish.
They both finished the race, but D'Agostino's knee buckled under her as she made her way to the finish. She was then taken from the track in a wheelchair.
Hamblin said she will never forget the gesture. D'Agostino's season is over, but she sounds like she is leaving the Games with more than a blown-out knee.
"Although my actions were instinctual at that moment, the only way I can and have rationalized it is that God prepared my heart to respond that way," said D'Agostino, 24, from Massachusetts, to USA Track and Field. "This whole time here, he's made clear to me that my experience in Rio was going to be about more than my race performance—and as soon as Nikki got up I knew that was it."
Winner: Elaine Thompson, Jamaica
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If Jamaica's Elaine Thompson's gold in the women's 100-meter dash wasn't enough to solidify her place as sprinting's heir apparent to Jamaican teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, her 200-meter gold medal should be.
Thompson surprised event favorite Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands to complete a sweep of Olympic sprint events, holding off Schippers in the race's closing meters to win in 21.78 seconds. Schippers, the reigning world champion, was second in 21.88. The U.S.'s Tori Bowie ran a 22.15 to add bronze to her 100-meter silver.
Schippers tumbled across the finish in a futile bid to catch Thompson, who had built a sizable lead in the race's first half.
Thompson becomes the first woman since 1988 to win gold in both the 100 and 200 in the same Olympics, when Florence Griffith Joyner did.
Jamaica's Fraser-Pryce won the 100-meter dash in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Loser: Justin Gatlin, Track
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The Justin Gatlin-Usain Bolt rivalry is all but over.
Gatlin, who has had two positive doping tests—the second of which resulted in a four-year ban he served from 2006 to 2010—won't get a rematch with Usain Bolt after Gatlin failed to qualify for the 200-meter final.
Gatlin finished third, .03 from final qualifier Churandy Martina of the Netherlands, inexplicably appearing to let up 20 meters or so from the finish, perhaps figuring he was safely in. But cameras later captured Gatlin smiling and chatting with someone in the stands, so who knows?
Gatlin won silver to Bolt's gold in the sport's marquee event, the 100-meter dash, earlier in the week. An announcer calling the live feed speculated Gatlin was drained by that effort.
They have dueled in the sprints for years, with Bolt getting the better of him time and again.
Gatlin hasn't talked about retirement, but at 34, this almost certainly is his final Olympics. Bolt has said this is his last Olympics, and that he will retire at the end of next season.
While the 200 final and 4x100 relay still remain, Rio marks the end of an era for both.
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