Simone Biles was widely hailed as the best gymnast in history before she had even competed on the sport’s biggest stage. Born three months short of the age cut-off for the London Games, she had already piled up three straight all-around titles and 14 overall medals at world championships, including 10 golds, when she touched […]

He has hosted Justin Bieber at his private skate park and guest-starred opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the TV show Ballers. Now, Nyjah Huston is aiming to become an Olympic champion as skateboarding makes its debut in Tokyo. Medals are on offer in two disciplines at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. In street, competitors

The empty seats in the stadiums of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are a blessing in disguise, for the sporting spectacle, no matter how good, will not be able to dispel the fact that this super-spreader event is being held in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis and against the wishes of the vast

Waves of athletes flowed into the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony on Friday night, mostly led by some of their most experienced and accomplished champions in the world. Yet as the small six-person Syrian delegation entered the arena, there was a slight difference. Carrying the flag was no longtime, instantly recognisable Olympian, but rather

Only 23 of the top 50 men’s singles players made the trip here, a reflection of the competition’s confused place in a sport already bursting with major tournaments each year. What has always been clear, though, is that most those taking part have arrived determined to leave with a medal. Few value it as much

6.43am EDT 06:43 Summary Scott Heinrich A breathless game of football that will keep Australia up at night but in the end there can be no argument that Sweden deserved to win. They had to do it the hard way, however, coming from 2-1 down early in the second half to secure the three points

Sevens. We haven’t seen a lot of it recently. The last World Sevens Series event was almost a year and a half ago. One sport that was going to feel the full force of the pandemic was sevens. With men’s and women’s tournaments often combined – that’s 28 teams and staff from all over the

When are the key events? The opening ceremony is at 8pm Tokyo time (9pm AEST/noon BST/7am EDT) on Friday 23 July, but the baseball, softball and football competitions begin on Wednesday 21 July. The first gold medal is expected to be awarded in the women’s 10m air rifle early on Saturday 24 July, with the

And it all started so smoothly, too. A frictionless dawn trip through the Olympic labyrinth, navigating all those buses and badges and scans and forms and apps and depots and checkpoints, two temperature checks, a ticketing desk, a list cross-referenced with an email verification, a bag scan and a pat down. The huge and intricate

A South Korean broadcaster has apologised after using offensive images to depict several countries during the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday. MBC displayed photos and facts about each country as athletes walked out during the parade of nations. Most of them varied from inane to odd: Great Britain’s athletes were accompanied by a