RIO DE JANIERO -- Day 1 of the Summer Olympics is already in full swing, with much more to come Saturday night. Haven't seen any of the action? We've got your recap so far right here:
And the first gold medal of the Rio Olympics goes to: Ginny Thrasher. She won the women's 10-meter air rifle event, giving the U.S. its first air rifle gold since Nancy Napolski-Johnson in 2000. After landing on top of the podium, Thrasher, the defending NCAA champion, said she is "actually looking forward to getting back to school again." A biomedical engineering major, she resumes classes at West Virginia on Aug. 17. Read more
Speedy starts: On the first day of prelims, swimmers set a world record in the men's 100-meter breaststroke (Adam Peaty/UK) and the second-fastest performance in the women's 400 individual medley (Katinka Hosszu/Hungary). Katie Ledecky opened her Olympic program by swimming the anchor leg of the 4x100 freestyle relay. She rallied the Americans from third to second in their heat with the fastest 100 split (52.64 seconds) among teammates Amanda Weir, Lia Neal and Allison Schmitt.
American Katie Ledecky's blistering :52.64 anchor leg in 400 free relay not only likely assured her a spot in... https://t.co/Y5JD4M6Vqj
- Wayne Drehs (@espnWD) August 6, 2016
Latest from men's gymnastics qualifying: Japan's defense of its Olympic title got off to a rough start. From defending champion Kohei Uchimura falling off the high bar to world floor exercise champion Kenzo Shirai stepping out of bounds during his set, the Japanese hardly looked dominant. Britain and the United States are scheduled to qualify in subdivision 2, with China and Russia competing in the final session.
Team huddle after putting up the best team score of the day so far! pic.twitter.com/ci3iEk0am0
- USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) August 6, 2016
More water woes: The boat of Serbian rowers Milos Vasic and Nenad Benik capsized on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, where choppy waters left athletes struggling to stay in their boats. They overturned halfway through the 2-kilometer course. Stunned and soaked, they clung to their boat as the other three crews continued toward the finish line.
U.S. advances to gold-medal match: With a 6-0 semifinal win against China, the United States is assured at least a defense of its silver medal when it faces Korea in the gold-medal men's archery team event. Brady Ellison, Zach Garrett and Jake Kaminski will try to give the U.S. its first gold medal in the team event since the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. The pairing is a rematch of the London gold-medal contest, which included Ellison and Kaminski.
Belgium's Van Avermaet prevails in road race: The Belgian's late sprint in the final kilometer helped him edge out Denmark's Jakob Fuglsang and Poland's Rafal Majka to win the men's Olympic road race. His win came after Italy's Vincenzo Nibali, one of the prerace favorites, and Colombian counterpart Sergio Henao crashed while trying to navigate a corner on the final harrowing descent of the 6-hour race. Read more
Early singles exit for Jack Sock: The American lost 6-4, 6-4 against world No. 118 Daniel Taro on the first day of the tennis competition. Sock said after the match that he will continue to play in the doubles despite revealing he is suffering from walking pneumonia. "It wasn't easy for me. The night before I got here, I went to the doctor and he told me I had walking pneumonia," said Sock, who added that he feels "all right" off the court but can't keep up on it. "I tried to come down and play, and you could probably hear the cough out there. I wanted the experience, to be a part of the Olympics."
@bgtennisnation thanks for the support bg! I'm guessing you won every match in your career that you were supposed to? ��������
- Jack Sock (@JackSock) August 6, 2016
Coming later ...
Women's soccer: United States-France, 4 p.m. ET
Men's hoops: United States-China, 6 p.m. ET
Swimming finals: (Chase Kalisz gold-medal watch in 400 IM; Conor Dwyer gold-medal watch in 400 free; Katie Ledecky to swim anchor leg of 4X100 free relay), 9 p.m. ET
Women's tennis: Venus Williams versus Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens, 5:45 p.m. ET
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
