At this point the 2020 Olympic games are in full swing. We have officially made it through the first weekend, and there has already been a lot of action and plenty of medals going around. Let’s take a look at some of the different gold medals won in this first weekend of the games.
First we start off with the medals won by China. As of Sunday, China has grabbed the most gold medals, and currently have 11 medals overall. In fact, they were the first gold winners, with Yang Quian taking home the gold for shooting in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle event. Her score in the final was 251.8 points, meaning that she was just 1.2 points away from breaking the all-time record for that event. Despite that, her score in the final did set an Olympic record, so her efforts still go down in the books. What’s more, she is just 21 years old, meaning that she could very well have another shot at breaking that all-time record sometime down the line.
China’s second medal went to Hou Zhihui for the Women’s 49 kg weightlifting event. She lifted a total of 210kg, which is also an Olympic record. Not only did she set that record, but she set new records in three different categories of the event, those being snatch, clean, and jerk. Zhihui also holds several world records in this event, none of which she reached during the games. That was then followed up with a gold from Sun Yiwen in the fencing event known as Epee. She took the victory in the individual event, beating Romanian opponent Ana Maria Popescu who was ranked number one in the world for women’s Epee. The final score was 11–10, and it included the need for overtime and throughout the entire match neither opponent managed to grab a lead of more than 1. Yiwen’s victory marked the first medal for China in that event, and marked her first Olympic gold medal.
China continued their hunt for gold with three more over the course of the weekend. LI Fabin continued the record-breaking party with his display in the men’s 61 kg weightlifting event, grabbing Olympic records in clean and jerk and then went on to finish with a total weight of 313kg, also a record. Chen Lijun also grabbed an Olympic record on his route to gold. He competed in the Men’s 67 kg weightlifting event and finished with a score of 332kg. Finally, Team China grabbed the first gold in the diving competitions, Shi Tingmao and Wang Han obliterating the competition in the women’s synchronized 3m springboard event. By the end of the event, they had won by more than 25 points. China will be looking to grab all eight available diving medals this time around, after missing only one in 2016.
Up next is Japan, who sit in second with 5 gold medals so far. To this point, Japan has been very strong in the judo events, grabbing three gold medals for this sport alone. It started off with Naohisa Takato grabbing the gold in the Men’s -60 kg event. Takato came into this event with gold on the mind all the way, after he had what was considered a very poor outing in the 2016 games, when he got bronze. It was gold for him this time around, though, and it was Japan’s first gold of the games. The other two judo medals hold significant history, because they went to two athletes who are brother and sister. This is the first time siblings have ever won gold medals for any individual sport on the same day. The sister, Abe Uta, grabbed gold in the Women’s -52 kg event, while Abe Hifuni took the victory in the Men’s -66 kg event.
Moving away from judo, the next gold for Japan came from Hirogome Yuto, as he claimed victory in the Men’s Street skateboarding event. This has marked the first gold medal ever given out for skateboarding in Olympic history. One of the tricks used by Hirogome was one that he says he has never tried in competition before, and it came off without a hitch. The final gold to talk about for Japan comes from Ohashi Yui, with her victory in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley for swimming. Her final time for this event was 4 minutes, 32.08 seconds and marked the first gold medal for Japan in this event in their nation’s Olympic history.
Finally, we’ll talk about the U.S., who have won 4 gold medals to this point. The first we’ll talk about was won by Lee Kiefer, who beat defending champion Inna Deriglazova of Russia to claim the medal in the Women’s Foil Individual event for fencing. The final score of their match was 15–13. This victory marked just the third gold medal for this event in U.S. history, and Kiefer’s efforts were a major improvement from the 2016 games, when she placed tenth. The second medal was taken by shooter William Shaner as he absolutely dominated the competition in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle event. He scored 10.5 or better on 13 of his 24 shots in the final, and by the end, he had set an Olympic record with a score of 251.6 points. This is just 1.2 points less than the world record. This medal is also the first gold medal the U.S. has ever received for the event.
The third medal went to Chase Kalisz, who took the gold in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley for swimming. His final time for the event was 4 minutes, 9.42 seconds. Kalisz has had success in this event before, getting silver in the 2016 games. According to Kalisz, winning the gold medal was his ultimate goal for his career, and now he has completed that goal. The final gold medal that we will look at today went to Anastasija ZOLOTIC, as she claimed victory in the Women’s -57 kg for taekwondo. Zolotic’s victory is impressive for a few reasons. First, it marks the first time a female athlete from the U.S. has grabbed gold in taekwondo. Secondly, it is the first time an athlete from the U.S. has received a medal in Taekwondo since 2004. And lastly, Zolotic is still just 18 years old, meaning that she still has so much room for growth, which also means so many more great performances to see for U.S. fans in the future. She is clearly talented, and we can only wonder what she will be able to bring to the table later.
These were not all of the gold medals won over the weekend, but it gives us a good look at the type of talent on display at these games. There will be plenty more to come, though, as the games will be continuing on until August 8. Make sure to stay tuned for more updates on the 2020 Olympics.
