The Tuesday sun rose with a truckload of joy for the United States when Carissa Moore won the first-ever Olympic gold in women's surfing. An Olympics.com report said Moore pushed South African contender Bianca Buitendag to the silver position by scoring waves of 7.33 and 7.60.
Surfing had made its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and the win came across as a good reason to celebrate for Team USA.
The surfing events were under the threat of Tropical Storm Nepartak. So the Olympics authorities brought the finals a day forward to tide over the hassle, said Olympics.com. Moore is the current surfing world champion, and this win has once again demonstrated why she is the best.
"It's been a crazy couple of days, a little bit of a rollercoaster of emotions just trying to figure out the break, find my rhythm, learning how to trust myself without my family here. I feel super blessed, super fortunate. It's been an incredible experience," Moore was quoted as saying by Olympics.com.
Americans pocket synchronized diving gold
Elsewhere in Tokyo, Team USA pocketed its first-ever medal in synchronized diving. Teammates Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell added to the medal tally by clinching the silver in the women's 10m synchronized diving.
They were upstaged by the Chinese divers Chen Yuxi and Zhang Jiaqi, who bagged the gold with a back 2½ somersaults, and 1½ twists pike on a difficulty rating of 3.2.
Synchronized diving was introduced in the Olympics itinerary back in 2000. Ever since it has been the People's Republic of China teams that have won this discipline.
Japan's tennis superstar Osaka suffers shock defeat
Meanwhile, host Japan saw its tennis superstar losing her quest to win the gold.
Naomi Osaka, a four-time grand slam champion, succumbed to her first-time Olympics pressure in straight sets.
Osaka, ranked No. 2 in the world, was bundled out by Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round.
Osaka was a medal hopeful for Japan, and she had been the star ever since the start of the games when she was picked to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony.
It looks like her short break from tennis after mental health issues came haunting, post the French Open in June, had made her rusty on the court. To add to this hassle, she was struggling under great expectations dumped on her.
Duffy takes triathlon gold for Bermuda
Olympic glory smiled on the tiny island of Bermuda when Flora Duffy bagged the first gold medal in Games history.
The 33-year-old bagged the women's triathlon gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games, giving her nation to bask in pride with its first-ever gold medal in Olympics history.
A report by Olympics.com said that Duffy sped past the finish line in just 1hr 55min 36sec. This feat overshadowed silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain, who came in a minute later. Katie Zaferes of the United States settled for the bronze.
The remarkable feat by Flora Duffy brought a sense of jubilation to Bermuda, which has a population of just 64,000. This medal, incidentally, is the tiny island's second Olympics medal. In 1976, Clarence Hill had gifted Bermuda its first – a silver for boxing.
Games to go on amidst Typhoon Nepartak threat
Even as the Games progressed, the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics seemed concerned more than ever owing to a weather forecast. Going by a KyodoNews report, the weatherman has predicted the landfall of Typhoon Nepartak and the possible occurrence of high waves in the region.
The committee has launched itself into troubleshooting mode and has made arrangements for the rescheduling of rowing and archery events in Tokyo due to the possible typhoon, Kyodo News added. Further, the Miyagi prefectural government has called off the services of close to 280 volunteers who had been expected to guide spectators due to the approaching typhoon.
However, the Tokyo Olympics organizers have been quoted as saying by Kyodo News that the soccer events scheduled in the region would go ahead as planned.