The Tokyo Olympics has reached its halfway mark but the action isn't slowing down. Day 11 featured the return of Simone Biles to the balance beam, track and field events, a Scripps Ranch resident in track cycling, and the debut of sport climbing. Here are the results of our five events to watch at the Tokyo Olympics Monday night into Tuesday morning, which is Aug. 3 in Tokyo and from 4 p.m. on Aug. 2 to 7 a.m. on Aug. 3 in San Diego time.
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1) Gymnastics GOAT Simone Biles Returns to the Balance Beam
The GOAT of gymnastics is back.
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Seven days after exiting the women’s team final, Simone Biles returned to the Olympic gymnastics stage. She competed with teammate Suni Lee in the final women’s event, the balance beam.
With her return to the gymnasium, she also returned to the podium. Biles was the third gymnast on the beam and posted a score of 14.000, finishing with a bronze medal.
Biles pulled out of the individual all-around, vault, uneven bars and floor exercise after experiencing the “twisties” on a vault in the team final last Tuesday.
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Team USA has stepped up without Biles -- Lee won gold in the individual all-around, MyKayla Skinner earned a silver medal in vault and Jade Carey brought home another goal in the floor exercise.
Biles also won bronze on the balance beam at the 2016 Rio Games. She has seven Olympic medals in her storied career, including silver from the team competition in Tokyo. She tied Shannon Miller’s American record for most Olympic gymnastics medals with Tuesday’s result.
Rewatch Biles' bronze-winning performance Tuesday night during NBC's primetime, which airs on NBC 7 at 5 p.m. PDT. Learn more about how to watch here.
2) Track and Field: 200m Women's Final, Plus a Long Jump Medal
On day 11 of the Tokyo Olympics, there were finals in the men's 400m hurdles, women's 200m, women's 800m, women's hammer, men's pole vault and women's long jump, as well as several semifinals and first round events.
In the men's triple jump, American Will Claye, silver medalist at the last two Olympics and world championships who trains in Chula Vista, was eighth overall with 16.91m to advance. Teammate Donald Scott was sixth with 17.01m.
In the women's 400m, Nine-time Olympic medalist Allyson Felix of the U.S., who was beat at the line in the final of the Rio 400m in 2016, won heat three in 50.84, the fourth-best overall among semifinal qualifiers.
In women's long jump, Brittney Reese, who lives and trains out of Chula Vista, took home a silver and narrowly missed gold.
The three-time Olympic long jumper won a gold medal in 2012 and a silver medal in 2016 and is considered among the greatest in her discipline.
Reese also has a heart of gold. She joined our Olympic Dreams: San Diego to Tokyo podcast to talk about her life off the track, too, including how she stepped up to raise her best friend's son as her own -- one of her greatest feats in life. You can listen to her episode below:
We also saw American track star Noah Lyles make his Tokyo Olympic Debut. Lyles, the reigning world champion, is a favorite to medal in the 200m. He clocked 20.18 to win heat seven. That time was the third-fastest overall.
On Men's 400m Hurdles, One of the greatest races of all time – if not the greatest. Karsten Warholm of Norway nearly shaved a full second off his world record from early July, clocking an extraordinary 45.94 for gold. American Rai Benjamin won silver, also beating the past all-time mark in 46.17, breaking Kevin Young's 46.78 American record, the previous world record Warholm took down.
Elaine Thompson-Herah became the first woman to successfully defend a sprint double at the Olympics, winning consecutive titles in the 100m and 200m to attain the "double-double."
Get a full rundown of the results here.
Listen/Subscribe to NBC 7’s Olympic Dreams: San Diego to Tokyo podcast wherever you enjoy listening to podcasts. On each episode, NBC 7 News Today anchor Steven Luke will sit down with athletes in their prime, each with their sights set on one thing: representing Team USA in Tokyo this summer. How will they achieve their Olympic dreams?
3) Cycling: Bronze for Women's Team Pursuit and Jennifer Valente, of Scripps Ranch
Track Cyclist Jennifer Valente grew up riding her mountain and BMX bikes around her Scripps Ranch neighborhood in San Diego County. At first, it was just for fun. But, once she tried riding competitively, there was no going back.
Valente's list of accomplishments is already impressive. She has nine World Championship medals. She was part of the five-member women's team that made history for USA Cycling by winning the first world title in team pursuit. Oh, and she took home a silver medal from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
In Tokyo, her team took home bronze in track pursuit.
The United States finished third in women's team pursuit qualifying and beat Canada for bronze with a time of 4:08.04.
Valente is competing in two other track cycling events: women's omnium and women's madison. Learn about the different styles of track racing here.
4) Team USA Ends Spain's Medal Hopes in Men’s Basketball Once Again
It was a battle of basketball heavyweights in the quarterfinals match between Team USA and Spain, and it ended with the red, white and blue knocking Spain out of completion once again.
Team USA's 95-81 victory sent Spain packing for the fifth straight Olympics.
Kevin Durant led his team with 29 points and Jason Tatum added 13, and Spain's Ricky Rubio led all scorers with 38 points on 13-20 FG.
Consistency has been Team USA's Achilles heel throughout these Olympics, and that trend continued once more in their quarterfinal matchup against Spain. Luckily, they still managed to pull out the massive victory against one of the top men's teams competing in Tokyo.
5) Sport Climbing Made Its Olympic Debut
Sport climbing will make its Olympic debut 1 a.m. PT on Tuesday.
There are three disciplines in Olympic sport climbing: Bouldering, Speed, and Lead. Each participant must compete in all three, and a winner is determined by multiplying a competitor's placement in the various disciplines. The lowest score wins gold. Because each competitor must compete in all three disciplines, each climber must have a combination of speed, flexibility, and endurance if they wish to reach the podium.
Team USA’s hopes of for gold in sport climbing's Olympic debut rest on the shoulders of Nathaniel Coleman and Kyra Condie. Coleman won three consecutive USA Climbing Bouldering Open National Championships (2016-2018).
Condie is making an Olympic debut that was once thought impossible. Early into her climbing career it was discovered that she had idiopathic scoliosis and would require surgery. After being told she would never climb again, Condie now has a chance to be an Olympic medalist.
Another climber we’re keeping a close eye on is Brooke Raboutou, 20. She’s a former University of San Diego student who joined our Olympic Dreams: San Diego to Tokyo podcast to talk about how she got into her sport, which runs deep within her family.
For Raboutou, her family’s love of the sport truly paved the way for her to take the path to the Tokyo Olympics. Listen to Raboutou’s episode here or below:
Watch on USA Network at 7:30 a.m PT, or stream live at 1 a.m. PT here or with the link below:
