At Tokyo 2020, Hugues Fabrice Zango has won Burkina Faso's first-ever medal. (Photo: Tokyo2020 - Twitter)
Records and droughts were broken on Day 13 of Tokyo 2020 that included a nation celebrating its independence with its first-ever Olympic medal win. For all your Tokyo 2020 coverage, stay tuned to The Inner Sanctum’s Olympic hub and the Olympics Central.
Burkina Faso wins first-ever Olympic medal
Burkina Faso in West Africa with a population of 21.5 million today celebrated its first-ever Olympic Games medal and to make the occasion even more historic, it’s the day of their independence.
Hugues Fabrice Zango competed in the men’s triple jump final and won bronze with a best jump of 17.47m on his third attempt.
Zango’s first jump was 15.91m before he beat that on attempt number two with 16.83m. He scored his bronze-medal-winning jump on his third jump before mid-17.00 scores on his final two goes.
Burkina Faso has sent a single-digit team of athletes to each year of the Olympic Games since Seoul 1988 though participated at Munich 1972 under the Republic of Upper Volta.
Carrington wins third Tokyo 2020 gold in canoe sprint
Earlier this morning, New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington won her third gold medal of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the Women’s K1 500m Final.
Leading by a full second at the halfway point of the race, Carrington was a full boat length in front with a quarter of the distance to go, eventually winning in a time of 1:51.216.
The gold follows her individual effort in the Women’s Kayak Single 200m Final and when she teamed up with Caitlin Regal in the Women’s Kayak Double 500m Final.
The most recent medal win puts Carrington at the top of the records of laying claim to New Zealand’s most successful Olympian, this being her sixth medal overall, edging two others with five Olympic medals in total.
Perfect 10s for China’s Quan
In her first Olympic Games competition, Chinese diver Quan Hongchan has made history at Tokyo 2020 by being awarded three perfect dives according to the judges in the Women’s 10m Platform.
At just 14 years old, and had the Olympics taken place last year, she would’ve been too young to meet the minimum age, Quan won gold after an Olympic Record score of 466.20 points. It was almost 100 points more than the bronze medallist, Australian Melissa Wu and sandwiched between the two was China’s Chen Yuxi.
Quan’s first dive gave her a score of 82.50 before perfect 10s from the judges on her second dive, an inward 3½ somersaults from the tuck position. An almost-perfect score of 95.70 followed on her third dive before another row of perfect 10s yielded another perfect score from an armstand back double somersault 1½ twists from the free position.
Her fifth dive also saw a perfect 96.00 points despite one of the seven judges scoring a 9.5 instead of a 10.0, although with divings method of scoring where the two lowest and two highest scores are taken away, the remaining three added and divided by the degree of difficulty, it meant Quan earned another perfect score to end the afternoon.
Belgium team gold a 101-year wait
Belgium’s penalty shoot-out win over Australia in the men’s hockey gave the nation a means of celebrating a feat that hadn’t been achieved for over 100 years.
This team’s gold-medal-winning performance was the first time Belgium had won a team event at the Olympic Games since their home Games at Antwerp 1920. In that year, Belgium’s men’s football team won the gold medal.
At Tokyo 2020, Belgium’s men’s hockey team went undefeated with four wins and a draw through the group stages and blistered its way through the quarterfinals 3-1 against Spain and the semi-final 5-2 against India.
Meeting Australia, who it too hadn’t suffered a loss all tournament, the scores were locked at 1-1 after regulation time before Belgium prevailed 3-2 on penalties thanks to goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch.
India win first Olympic hockey medal in nine Olympiads
Continuing with the men’s hockey, India prevailed in the bronze medal match, overcoming a two-goal deficit to beat Germany in a high-scoring 5-4 contest.
Such a powerhouse of men’s hockey since India first fielded a team at Amsterdam 1928, the nation would medal in 11 of the first 12 Olympiads it was a part of in the sport.
Since Moscow 1980, India hadn’t won a men’s hockey medal however all that changed on Day 13 of Tokyo 2020, when the country celebrated the fact their hockey stars would bring home a medal and the thought of this being the new era of men’s hockey dominance.
More Tokyo 2020 News
Tokyo 2020 Recap: Men’s Hockey – Australia vs Belgium
Tokyo 2020: Athletics Recap – Thursday August 5
Tokyo 2020 Recap: Women’s Water Polo – Australia vs Canada
21-year-old 1500m record broken
In the second men’s 1500m semi-final, Abel Kipsang of Kenya ran a new Olympic Record, a time that had been set since Sydney 2000 by Kenyan Noah Ngeny.
Ngeny ran 3:32.07 in the event in the 1500m final but a fellow countryman now lays claim to the OR courtesy of a 3:31.65 time.
Far and away the best runner in the group, Kipsang progresses to the final to take place on Day 15, one of 12 finalists looking to win gold at Tokyo 2020.
Decathlon Olympic Record broken by Warner
Canadian decathlete Damian Warner has broken an Olympic Record on his way to becoming the sport’s champion at Tokyo 2020, earning 1908 points.
A three-time Olympian, Warner became the fourth decathlete in history to break 1900 points to become Canada’s first Olympic decathlon gold medallist.
A fifth-placed finish in the 1500m earned him enough points to extend on his silver-placing heading into the 10th event.
Newest sport’s inaugural men’s park medallist
One of the additions to Tokyo 2020, skateboarding’s men’s park event concluded today with Australia’s Keegan Palmer earning the first-ever medal in the sport’s discipline.
The Aussie skater scored the best score of 95.83 across three runs. Even Palmer’s score from his first attempt, 94.04 would’ve been enough for him to take home gold as Brazil’s Pedro Barros followed in second with a score of 86.14.
The event marked the conclusion of skateboarding as a sport at Tokyo 2020, and, given a provisional licence for Paris 2024, we’ll be sure to be seeing skaters vying for vengeance or unearthing more young stars of the exciting sport in year’s to come.
Sports climbing unearths sport’s first Olympic gold
Another new sport that was included in the Tokyo 2020 programme, sports climbing became a hit from the very first day it was broadcast and captivated audiences across each event type – speed, bouldering and lead.
Today, after qualification, eight competitors from the men’s side of the draw came together to compete through all three legs of the final.
In the final, Spain’s Alberto Gines Lopez became the sport’s first Olympic medallist, winning gold with 28.00 total points. Nathaniel Coleman of the USA won silver on 30.00 points while it was a close finish for bronze which ultimately was awarded to Jakob Schubert of Austria.
History-maker Sanchez beats karate foe for gold
Sandra Sanchez of Spain has become karate’s first-ever Olympic champion in the sport’s Games debut at Tokyo 2020, beating rival Shimizu Kiyou of Japan.
Sanchez scored 28.06 in the bout compared to Kiyou’s 27.88, winning the kata competition, triumphing over an opponent with who she has had a history with, the two met at the most recent World Championships.
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