Tokyo Olympics: Hosts Japan top of medal table after stunning table tennis triumph

By Sports Desk July 26, 2021

Another superb day for Japan saw the host nation surge to the top of the medal table at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Monday.

Japan now have eight golds after winning Olympic titles in three different sports, the most unexpected of which came in table tennis.

The mixed doubles team of Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito came from two games down to eventually prevail after seven games against China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen.

China won all four table tennis titles at Rio 2016 and had been expected to dominate again, only to come unstuck as Japan won the first gold in this new event.

Further joy for Japan came as 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya triumphed in the women's street skateboarding while Shohei Ono was victorious in the men's 73kg category in judo.

Second behind Japan are the United States, who took two shooting golds on day three as well as the men's 4x100m freestyle title in the pool.

China did not add to their tally of six gold medals, one fewer than the USA, having come up short in another event where they had a team of heavy favourites.

Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen were edged out in the men's 10m synchronised platform, with British divers Tom Daley and Matty Lee winning gold.

That was one of three golds for Great Britain, who moved up to fifth in the medal table thanks also to Adam Peaty retaining his 100m breaststroke title and Tom Pidcock dominating in the men's cross-country mountain bike race.

The Russian Olympic Committee sits fourth after adding three golds, the headliner being victory in the men's artistic gymnastics team all-around final. 

Meanwhile, Hidilyn Diaz made history for the Philippines, become the country's first Olympic gold medallist by prevailing in the women's 55kg weightlifting.

 

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    Realistically, she required an extraordinary performance at next month’s Track Nations Cup in Canada to stand any chance of making the squad, and for Kenny it ultimately came down to a question of priorities.

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    “I knew the minute I was getting those feelings. Once I said to Jase, ‘I don’t think I want to ride a bike anymore’, I started to feel relief.”

    Kenny won team pursuit and omnium gold at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and madison gold at the 2020 Olympics, where she also won a silver medal in the team pursuit.

     

    She is a seven-time world champion and 14-time European champion, won two Commonwealth Games titles and was British National Road Race champion in 2014.

    Kenny said the “absolute highlight” of her career was the 2012 Games in London, during which her relationship with Jason also became public.

    “I never thought I would go to a home Games, let alone go on to win two gold medals,” she said.

    “When I look back, I’m like ‘wow, those two weeks did really change my life’.”

    Tributes poured in following Kenny’s announcement, with former Olympic heptathlon champion Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill writing on Instagram: “Laura what an incredible career you have had!

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    Kenny, made a Dame in the 2021 New Year’s Honours, hopes to be at this summer’s Paris Olympics “in some capacity” and wants to stay involved with the GB cycling team.

    “There’s nothing set in stone but there are things I’m so interested in doing,” she added.

    “Something to help the younger generation, whether that could be some kind of academy.

    “I could never be a coach because that’s just too much pressure for me, but maybe something in the background that would help the youngsters have the opportunities I had.”

    Great Britain team performance director Stephen Park paid tribute to Kenny, saying: “Laura hangs up her wheels as not just one of the sport’s greatest riders, but as one of the greatest sporting talents our country has ever produced.”

    Park added: “Just as impressive, however, is the impact which Laura has had on her fellow riders on the GB cycling team and the next generation of Olympic hopefuls.

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    Dame Laura Kenny’s retirement from cycling means she will not add to her five Olympic gold medals and ends the record-breaking run she shared with her husband Sir Jason Kenny.

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    Laura Kenny

    Kenny won the team pursuit and omnium double at both London 2012 and Rio 2016, under her maiden name Laura Trott, and when she and Katie Archibald won the Madison at Tokyo 2020 she became the first British woman to win gold at three separate Games.

    Silver in the team pursuit also meant she won multiple medals at three successive Games, a feat matched by only Charlotte Dujardin among British women – the equestrian star has three gold, a silver and two bronze to her name.

    That team pursuit was, remarkably, the first time Kenny had entered an Olympic event and not won gold. A subsequent sixth place in the omnium and the decision not to continue to Paris this summer leaves her final medal count at five golds and one silver.

    She ends her career with seven World Championship, 13 European Championship and two Commonwealth Games gold medals, and 42 total medals across those events and the Olympics.

    Jason Kenny

    If Laura Kenny is Britain’s highest-achieving female Olympian, her husband holds the overall national record.

    Jason Kenny won gold in the team sprint at three straight Olympics, from Beijing 2008 through to Rio. He doubled up with the individual sprint in London and made it a treble in Rio with the keirin.

    Winning the latter event in Tokyo gave him a British-record seventh gold, taking him ahead of his long-time sprint team-mate Sir Chris Hoy.

    Silver in the individual sprint in Beijing and the team event in Tokyo gives him nine Olympic medals in total – one ahead of Sir Bradley Wiggins as the leading Briton, with Hoy on seven.

    Jason Kenny won 28 major medals in total, with three additional golds at the World Championships and one at the European Championships.

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