Tokyo Olympics: Legend Carl Lewis lashes out at US men’s relay team, Quan Hongchan, youngest Chinese athlete, creates history
Carl Lewis is an angry man. The usually composed former track czar of the United States lost his cool soon after the men’s 4×100-meter relay track saw young Americans fumble and lose their bid to make it to the final.
The nine-time Olympic gold medallist and living legend lambasted the American relay team, tweeting this:
A Yahoo.com report said that even after arriving for the Tokyo Olympic Games with Trayvon Bromell, Ronnie Baker, and 100-meter silver medallist Fred Kerley, who incidentally are three of the world’s fastest runners, the US team finished sixth in its semifinal heat. This resulted in the team missing out on the final by 0.02 seconds.
It turned out to be an embarrassment that the team members displayed an atrocious way of passing the baton.
Quan Hongchan, the youngest Chinese athlete, creates Olympic history
Meanwhile, a 14-year-old Chinese diver took her country to the zenith of Olympic glory by scoring two perfect 10s in a historic gold-medal diving performance.
Quan Hongchan created magic by executing her back 2 /12 somersault with 1 1/2 twists to near perfection with qualified 10s across the board for a total of 96 points, said Yahoo! Sports.
The performance by the Chinese youngster added up to 466.20 points across five dives, and in the process, helped her eclipse the previous Olympic record of 447.70 by 18.5 points.
Quan will now return to her homeland with the glory of a record and gold medal. With her gold medal performance, she beat compatriot Chen Yuxi (425.40), who won silver, and Australia’s Melissa Wu, who secured bronze with a score of 371.40.
Quan, for the record, is the youngest of 431 athletes that China sent to Tokyo for the Olympics. The postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to 2021 due to the Covid 19 situation has actually helped Quan, who would have been too young to meet the minimum age (14) to compete in the diving competition.
She now goes back to China, creating Olympic history.
Burkino Faso gets medal on independence day
Burkina Faso won its first-ever Olympic medal, and that too was on the anniversary of its independence when Hugues Fabrice Zango scripted history in the men’s triple jump competition.
CNN has reported Zango jumped a distance of 17.47 meters to score bronze. He finished behind Portgual’s Pedro Pichardo, who took the gold, and China’s Zhu Yaming, who got the silver.
CNN quoted Zango as assaying that he was “pretty happy for Burkina Faso because today is the independence day of my country, and I got the first medal for my country.” A great tribute to the country indeed, by its sporting ambassador at the Tokyo Games.
