Sha’Carri Richardson takes silver in the 100 meters, bested by Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred
Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
(PARIS) — Sha’Carri Richardson took silver in the 100 meters at the Summer Games in Paris on Saturday, not quite reaching the top of the podium in her comeback bid, but clinching her first medal in the Olympics. Fellow American and training partner Melissa Jefferson finished with the bronze.
Julien Alfred, 23, of Saint Lucia, won gold in a time of 10.72 seconds as she led from start to finish on a wet track after dominating in every round leading up to the final. She competed for the University of Texas at Austin.
Saint Lucia, a tiny island in the Caribbean, had never won a medal in the Summer Olympics in any sport.
Richardson finished in a time of 10.87 seconds, well off her time from last year’s world championships, while Jefferson finished in 10.92 seconds.
It was the first time two Americans appeared on the podium since 1996 when Gail Devers won gold and Gwen Torrence took bronze. The event has been now dominated by Jamaicans for decades.
Richardson won the U.S. trials in 2021, but was disqualified after a positive test for marijuana.
With Jamaican legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce scratching in the semifinals, the three Jamaican women who swept the podium in Tokyo all missed the final. Elaine Thompson-Herah, who won gold in 2016 and 2021 in both the 100 and 200, dropped out of the Jamaican trials due to injury and Shericka Jackson, who took bronze in Tokyo, surprisingly pulled out of the race the day before it started to focus on the 200.
Richardson won the gold in the world championship last year in a time of 10.65 seconds.
The final featured three Americans: Richardson, Jefferson and Twanisha Terry. It was the first time all three American women made a 100-meter final.
Bronze medalist Noah Lyles of Team United States is seen wearing a mask after competing in the Men’s 200m Final on day thirteen of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 08, 2024 in Paris, France. (Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Noah Lyles’ characteristically exuberant walkout for Thursday’s 200-meter final gave little indication that the American sprinter was among the dozens of athletes who have tested positive for COVID or other respiratory illnesses.
But within minutes, the track star was being pushed from the stadium in a wheelchair, in visible discomfort following his bronze medal-winning performance.
“I believe this will be the end of my 2024 Olympics,” Lyles wrote soon after on his Instagram page.
Lyles is the latest athlete to test positive for COVID-19 at an Olympic Games that has almost entirely done away with the strict health guidance that shaped the Tokyo 2020 games, which itself was delayed by a year due to the pandemic.
In Paris, there are no prohibitions on competitors or spectators who have tested positive for the virus.
The Paris Games is being lauded as an Olympic return to form, the City of Light’s venues packed with excited spectators — among them athletes’ friends and families, many of whom were unable to travel to Tokyo.
But the collective joy is coming at a cost.
British swimmer Adam Peaty, Australian swimmers Lani Pallister and Zac Stubblety-Cook, and German decathlete Manuel Eitel are among at least 40 athletes that had tested positive for COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses as of Tuesday, according to the World Health Organization’s event-based surveillance system, which collates reports from media and other verified sources.
The Paris Games’ 182-page media handbook contains no mention of COVID-19. The event’s online guidance for spectators directs visitors to the Interior Ministry’s website, which notes that the nation now exempts all travelers from any COVID-related “formalities prior to entry into France.”
A Paris 2024 spokesperson told ABC News: “We are closely monitoring the health situation in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.”
“We regularly remind athletes, and all stakeholders at the Games, of the best practices to follow in the event of respiratory symptoms: wear a mask in the presence of others, limit contact and wash your hands regularly with soap and water or hydroalcoholic gel,” the spokesperson said.
“All National Olympic Committees and International Federations are also free to implement additional measures for their athletes or competitions,” the spokesperson added.
COVID cases are rising in the U.S. and elsewhere, an uptick at least partially attributed to the new “FLiRT” variation of the virus.
Long COVID — an umbrella term referring to a raft of chronic conditions related to COVID infection — also still poses a significant problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in March that 6.8% of American adults said they were living with long COVID symptoms, which vary in severity and can include difficulty concentrating, recurring headaches, changes in memory, and persistent fatigue.
Lyles’ high-profile struggles on Thursday have prompted fresh questions for organizers and athletes, not least as the American sprinter had been hugging fellow athletes despite knowing of his positive test.
USA Track & Field told ABC News in a statement on Friday that it and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee “swiftly enacted all necessary protocols” to prioritize Lyles’ health following his positive COVID test, as well as the “wellbeing of our team, and the safety of fellow competitors.”
“Our primary commitment is to ensure the safety of Team USA athletes while upholding their right to compete,” it added. “After a thorough medical evaluation, Noah chose to compete tonight. We respect his decision and will continue to monitor his condition closely.”
“As an organization, we are rigorously adhering to CDC, USOPC, and IOC guidelines for respiratory illnesses to prevent the spread of illness among team members, safeguarding their health and performance,” it said.
Kenneth Bednarek, the American who won the silver medal in the 200-meter contest, downplayed the danger, telling reporters at a press conference after the race: “I don’t think I was put at risk at all.”
“I take care of my body,” Bednarek added. “So when it comes to getting sick, that’s rare for me. So, I mean, when I found out it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
Team USA poses with their bronze medal during the podium ceremony for the artistic gymnastics men’s team final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris, on July 29, 2024. (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. men’s gymnastics team took a thrilling bronze in the team event in Paris on Monday, earning the first team medal for the American men since the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
With razor sharp performances in all six rotations — rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar, floor exercise and pommel horse — Brody Malone, Paul Juda, Asher Hong, Frederick Richard and Stephen Nedoroscik earned a spot on the podium at Bercy Arena behind gold medal winner Japan and silver medalist China.
Richard, Malone and Hong started the team off strong with 42.732 points for their rings performance.
Juda and Malone impressed in the second rotation with nearly perfect back-to-back vault routines, earning 14.666 and 14.533 respectively, which was rounded out by Hong’s 14.833 for a combined total of 44.032.
Malone, Richard and Hong posted 43.399 points total on parallel bars, the team’s third rotation.
Malone scored 14.166 in his signature event, the high bar, including a beautiful dismount with two twists, two flips laid out and stuck landing.
Team USA fell just short of Japan in the floor exercise. Juda, Hong and Richard’s performances earned 42.799 combined points.
In the final rotation, Team USA seemingly saved the best for last with the 25-year-old pommel horse “specialist” Nedoroscik, who scored 14.866 with a stuck landing in his only rotation for the team event during the 2024 Paris Games.
His impressive finish combined with Brody and Juda’s routines in that rotation earned 42.466 total, which put Team USA in the bronze medal spot.
Meet the men behind USA’s first team men’s gymnastics medal in 16 years
Brody Malone
The 24-year-old Stanford University graduate made his Olympics debut at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games. His next appearance will be Wednesday for the men’s all-around final.
Frederick Richard
The 20-year-old first-time Olympian received advice to improve his run for vault from Team USA track and field star Noah Lyles, who posted about their shared conversation on Instagram. Richard was the 2023 world championships all-around bronze medallist.
Paul Juda
The 23-year-old son of two Polish immigrants is making his Olympic debut in Paris alongside University of Michigan teammate Richard, after previously failing to qualify for Tokyo 2020. Juda helped Team USA earn a bronze medal at the 2023 world championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
Asher Hong
The 20-year-old from Texas is exactly one month younger than Richard and making his Olympics debut in Paris with a bronze medal from the 2023 world championships under his belt.
Stephen Nedoroscik
The bespectacled 25-year-old from Massachusetts only competes in one discipline — the pommel horse. In 2021, the former Penn State Nittany Lion became the first gymnast from the USA to win a gold medal on pommel horse at the world championships.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Miami Marlins 6, Baltimore Orioles 3 N.Y. Mets 12, N.Y. Yankees 3 Minnesota Twins 5, Philadelphia Phillies 4 Arizona Diamondbacks 8, Kansas City Royals 6 Colorado Rockies 20, Boston Red Sox 7
AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland Guardians 2, Detroit Tigers 1 L.A. Angels 2, Seattle Mariners 1 Toronto Blue Jays 6, Tampa Bay Rays 3 Texas Rangers 10, Chicago White Sox 2 Houston Astros 8, Oakland Athletics 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE Cincinnati Reds 9, Atlanta Braves 4 (Gm 1 Doubleheader, Gm 2 PPD) San Diego Padres 12, Washington Nationals 3 Pittsburgh Pirates 5, St. Louis Cardinals 0 Milwaukee Brewers 3, Chicago Cubs 2 San Francisco Giants 8, Los Angeles Dodgers 3
