The opening day of athletics at the 2020 Tokyo #OlympicGames will take place at the Olympic Stadium on Friday. #AFPSports looks at five stand-out events 👟 u.afp.com/URph
China's unrelenting domination of #Olympics#Diving has rivals in #Tokyo2020 wondering not just how they can beat them, but also whether the country's approach is desirable or even healthy
#BREAKING China's Zhang Yufei proved untouchable in the #Olympics 200m butterfly final, blasting to the #gold medal in the third fastest time ever.
The 23-year-old has been in red-hot form this year and hit the wall in a new Olympic record time of 2mins 03.86sec
#UPDATE USA star Caeleb Dressel blazed to victory in the #Olympics 100m freestyle final.
The 24-year-old powered to the wall in a new Olympic record time of 47.02sec to dethrone Australian defending champion Kyle Chalmers, who came second. Russia's Kliment Kolesnikov took bronze
#BREAKING World pole vault champion American Sam Kendricks is out of #Olympics after testing positive for Covid: USOPC
📸 File photo of Kendricks competing in May 2021
#BREAKING China win women's #Olympics 4x200m freestyle relay in world record time
#UPDATE China's Li Bingjie (bottom R) is congratulated by teammates Yang Junxuan, Tang Muhan and Zhang Yufei after they set a new World Record to take #gold in the final of the #Olympics 4x200m freestyle relay swimming event
- Wheels up in the BMX racing men's quarter-finals.
- Taijikistan's Siyovush Zukhurov and France's Mourad Aliev meet in boxing super heavy preliminaries.
- Japan's Mima Ito serves to China's Sun Yingsha.
- Australia and Japan tackle a rugby sevens match
Multiple members of Australia's track and field team have been placed in isolation on the eve of the Tokyo #Olympics athletics competition after US pole vaulter Sam Kendricks tested positive for Covid
China's women stunned the field to smash the world record and win the #Olympics 4x200m relay.
The team finished in 7mins 40.33 seconds ahead of USA (7:40.73) and Australia (7:41.29). It is the first time neither Australia nor USA have won gold since 1996
#BREAKING Most of Australian #Olympics athletics team out of isolation after Covid scare: officials
#UPDATE All but three of Australia's track and field team at the Tokyo #Olympics have been released from isolation after a coronavirus scare, officials say.
The three, close contacts of Covid-positive US pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, have tested negative but remain in isolation
Australia's track and field team was briefly placed in isolation on Thursday as a coronavirus scare caused fresh jitters on the eve of the #Tokyo2020#Olympics athletics programme u.afp.com/URfD #AFPSports
Switzerland's Belinda Bencic came through a marathon match against Kazakh player Elena Rybakina on Thursday to reach the women's tennis final at the Olympics and keep her bid for double gold alive u.afp.com/URga
Australia's Jessica Fox has won her first #Olympics gold medal in the women's canoe slalom, an event she pushed to have added to the programme for #Tokyo2020 u.afp.com/URgR #AFPSports
#Tokyo2020 - Former world number one golfer Rory McIlroy has backed @Simone_Biles over her Olympic withdrawal, saying the superstar gymnast was "100%" right to prioritise her mental health u.afp.com/URg9 #AFPSports
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
#BREAKING Biden says still considers Xi a 'dictator'
#UPDATE US President Joe Biden said after a summit with Xi Jinping that he still considers the Chinese president a "dictator", after he sparked fury from Beijing by making the comparison earlier this year.
"Well look he is, I mean he's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who's running a country, a Communist country, that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," Biden said at the end of a news conference when a reporter asked if he would still use the term to describe Xi
#BREAKING China will not begin armed conflict with any nation, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday, after a high-stakes summit with US President Joe Biden.
"China does not seek spheres of influence, and will not fight a cold or hot war with any country," he told a gathering of business leaders in San Francisco
#BREAKING Any compromise with Russia will 'destroy' Ukrainian statehood: presidential aide to AFP
#BREAKING Putin says West used grain deal for 'political blackmail'
VIDEO: Ukrainian firefighters battle flames after a Russian strike on Odesa.
Ukraine's president accused Russia of deliberately targeting grain export infrastructure in the city after Moscow ended a landmark deal and lifted security guarantees in the Black Sea
#BREAKING Putin says situation 'difficult' in Rostov in southern Russia
#UPDATE Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday acknowledged a "difficult" situation was unfolding in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, where the Wagner mercenary group has taken control of key military sites in an effort to oust Russian military's top brass.
#UPDATE President Vladimir Putin vowed Saturday he would not allow Russia to slip into civil war, after the leader of the Wagner mercenary force seized a key military headquarters overseeing the offensive in Ukraine.
https://t.co/PDuskr13ZGu.afp.com/izzr
#BREAKING Titanic sub operator believes passengers have 'sadly been lost': statement
#UPDATE The US Coast Guard now says the discovered debris from the submersible -- which was carrying five passengers down to the wreckage of the Titanic when the small vessel vanished on Sunday -- suggests 'catastrophic loss'
#BREAKING Pakistan offer condolences to family of British-Pakistan nationals on Titanic sub