July 31 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

By Joshua Berlinger, Brett McKeehan and Ben Morse, CNN

Updated 12:01 a.m. ET, August 1, 2021
34 Posts
Sort byDropdown arrow
11:56 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Logan Martin wins gold in men's BMX freestyle

From CNN’s Seamus Fagan

Australian biker Logan Martin performs a trick during the BMX freestyle men’s final on Sunday.
Australian biker Logan Martin performs a trick during the BMX freestyle men’s final on Sunday. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Australian biker Logan Martin has won gold in the first ever Olympic BMX freestyle men’s final, scoring 93.30 in his first run.

Venezuela’s Daniel Dhers earned his country’s third medal of the Tokyo Games, winning silver with 92.05. Great Britain’s Declan Brooks took bronze with 90.80.

The triumph brings Australia’s gold medal count to 13 and total medal count to 30.

11:12 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Breaking: Simone Biles drops out of individual floor competition

US gymnast Simone Biles wears her warm-up gear after she pulled out of the team all-around competition on Tuesday, July 27.
US gymnast Simone Biles wears her warm-up gear after she pulled out of the team all-around competition on Tuesday, July 27. (Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

Simone Biles has withdrawn from the final floor competition, USA Gymnastics said on Twitter.

Biles, arguably the world's greatest gymnast, has pulled back from Olympic competition in Tokyo to focus on her mental health. The 24-year-old explained in a series of Instagram posts that she has the "twisties," a mental block in gymnastics in which competitors lose track of their positioning midair.

USA Gymnastics said yesterday that Biles would be withdrawing from two other individual disciplines, vault and uneven bars.

She will make a decision about the final event, beam, "later this week."

The women's vault and bars finals are scheduled for Sunday, the women's floor final is Monday, and the beam final is Tuesday.

11:19 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Team USA wins the final swimming race of Tokyo 2020 by setting a world record

American swimmers Caeleb Dressel and Zach Apple celebrate their victory in the men's 4x100 meter medley relay on Sunday.
American swimmers Caeleb Dressel and Zach Apple celebrate their victory in the men's 4x100 meter medley relay on Sunday. (Rob Schumacher/USA Today Sports)

The Americans closed out Tokyo 2020's swimming competitions by winning gold and setting a world record in the men's 4x100 meter medley relay.

Team USA finished the race in 3:26.78, 0.73 seconds ahead of second-place Great Britain. Italy took home the bronze with a time of 3:29.17. The Americans have won this race in all 15 Olympics they've raced it.

The win gives Caeleb Dressel, who swam butterfly in the race, his fifth gold medal of these Olympics.

Ryan Murphy earned his third medal of the Games swimming backstroke to start the race for the US, while Andrew Michael won his first-ever Olympic medal swimming breaststroke.

The anchor was Zach Apple, who won his second gold of these Games swimming freestyle.

Team USA won three of the five swimming events held Sunday morning, while Australia won the other two.

10:45 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Britain's Charlotte Worthington takes gold in women's BMX freestyle

From CNN's Seamus Fagan

Britain's Charlotte Worthington competes in the BMX freestyle final on Sunday.
Britain's Charlotte Worthington competes in the BMX freestyle final on Sunday. (Ben Curtis/AP)

Great Britain's Charlotte Worthington took home the gold medal in the women's BMX freestyle competition Sunday morning, doing so by landing the first-ever 360 backflip in women’s competition history.

The trick helped Worthington earn a winning score of 97.50.

Worthington's triumph gives Great Britain its third medal in a BMX event at the Tokyo Games after winning gold in women’s BMX racing and silver in men’s BMX racing.

American Hannah Roberts won silver with a score 96.10, and Nikita Ducarroz of Switzerland earned bronze with a score of 89.20.

10:40 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Japanese fans flock to the Olympic Rings in Tokyo despite Covid state of emergency

From CNN's Emiko Jozuka in Tokyo

People take photos with the Olympic rings near the National Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday.
People take photos with the Olympic rings near the National Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday. (Kyodo News/Getty Images)

People swarmed Olympic monuments in Tokyo to snap selfies on Saturday, despite the surging number of Covid-19 cases in the Japanese capital.

Tokyo remains under a state of emergency due to the pandemic, and the metropolitan government reported on Saturday that they had identified a new single-day record of more than 4,000 cases.

But that spike in infections has not dampened the mood for many Olympic fans around the new National Stadium, especially among eager fans lining up by the Olympic Rings monument to take pictures.

“I’ve been watching the Olympic competitions on TV from home because the events in Tokyo can’t have spectators. But I wanted to get a feel for the Olympic spirit, so came here (to the Olympic Rings),” one Tokyo resident told CNN. “My friends were also posting photos on Instagram of themselves by the Olympic rings, so I wanted to take some too.”

Fans pose for photos near the National Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday.
Fans pose for photos near the National Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday. (Emiko Jozuka/CNN)

Going into the Games, polls showed the Japanese public largely opposed holding the Olympics in the middle of the pandemic. But some Tokyo residents told CNN Japan’s recent gold rush at the Games had shifted their opinions around the Olympics. 

“At first, I wondered how Japan would pull off the Olympics, but once they started, Japan started winning lots of gold medals,” another resident said. “It made me feel like Japan was going head-to-head with other nations and doing well. It made me want to cheer on my country.”
10:37 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Australia takes home women's 4x100 meter medley relay

Australian swimmers Emma McKeon, Chelsea Hodges, Kaylee McKeown and Cate Campbell react after winning the gold medal and breaking the Olympic record for the 4x100 meter medley relay on Sunday.
Australian swimmers Emma McKeon, Chelsea Hodges, Kaylee McKeown and Cate Campbell react after winning the gold medal and breaking the Olympic record for the 4x100 meter medley relay on Sunday. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

Australia set an Olympic record to win the women's 4x100 meter medley relay, the country's second gold medal Sunday morning after Emma McKeon took the top prize in the 50 meter freestyle.

With the medley win, McKeon now has seven medals in Tokyo, including three golds. McKeon is just the second woman to win seven medals at a single Olympics, a feat that only Soviet gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya had previously accomplished, according to NBC.

The USA took silver, losing to the Australians by just 0.13 seconds, with Canada claiming bronze.

10:18 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Bobby Finke wins men's 1500 meter freestyle for his second gold of Tokyo 2020

Bobby Finke of Team USA competes in the 1500 meter freestyle final on Sunday.
Bobby Finke of Team USA competes in the 1500 meter freestyle final on Sunday. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Swimmer Bobby Finke has won the men's 1500 meter freestyle, his second gold medal of the Tokyo Games after earlier winning the men's 800 meter freestyle.

Finke's victory means the Americans have taken home the top prize in all four distance swims in Tokyo. Team USA's Katie Ledecky won both the women's 800 meter and 1500 meter freestyle races.

Finke's race was a nail-biter, with the American, Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk and Germany's Florian Wellbrock separating themselves from the rest of the pack. Romanchuk finished with silver and Wellbrock with bronze.

World record-holder Sun Yang of China was banned from competing in this year's Games due to a doping violation.

9:49 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Australia's Emma McKeon takes gold in the women's 50 meter freestyle

Australia's Emma McKeon celebrates taking gold in the final of the women's 50 meter freestyle on Sunday.
Australia's Emma McKeon celebrates taking gold in the final of the women's 50 meter freestyle on Sunday. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)

Emma McKeon set an Olympic record to win the gold medal in the women's 50 meter freestyle, her sixth medal in Tokyo.

She finished the race in 23.81 seconds. Sweden's Sarah Sjoestroem took home silver and Denmark's Pernille Blume nabbed bronze.

9:50 p.m. ET, July 31, 2021

Caeleb Dressel wins another gold in the men's 50 meter freestyle

American swimmer Caeleb Dressel celebrates after winning the gold medal in a men's 50 meter freestyle on Sunday.
American swimmer Caeleb Dressel celebrates after winning the gold medal in a men's 50 meter freestyle on Sunday. (David Goldman/AP)

It's all coming up gold for Caeleb Dressel.

The American swimming star set an Olympic record to win the men's 50 meter freestyle race Sunday morning in Tokyo. He swam the race in 21.07 seconds to win his fourth gold medal of Tokyo 2020.

Dressel is just the third man to ever win the 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter freestyle at the same Olympics.

He was followed by France's Florent Manaudou, who finished in 21.55 and Brazil's Bruno Fratus, who came in at 21.57. Manaudou won gold in the event at Rio 2016.

Four more medal races will be held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre Sunday morning.