Fiji continued their Olympic men's rugby sevens dominance with a 27-12 win over New Zealand to retain the title they won at Rio 2016.
Their shorter-form rugby success represents their second gold in Games history, with Fiji's sevens team yet to lose at the Olympics after extending their unbeaten run to 12 games.
In April, COVID-19 forced the Fiji squad into isolation in the capital Suva before travelling to Australia in June for a pre-Games warm-up tournament.
Head coach Gareth Baber revealed some players, who had never been on a plane before nor played at an elite level, had not seen their families in "nearly 20 weeks".
"We locked them down for five months, basically," Baber said. "They came into a training camp on Easter Monday thinking they were going back on the Friday, and on the Tuesday they were told they couldn't go back and haven’t seen their families since. That takes a special kind of person to make that commitment.
"We were effectively locked up in a Christian hostel. We built a gym, basically in the garage of the hostel, and we were there for about 12 weeks.
"In fact, when the players go back and do their quarantine, it will have been about 20 weeks since they were last with their families."
Gold medal winner Asaeli Tuivuaka, whose try sealed the all-important final win, also spoke of the sacrifices involved for the sevens success.
"This gold medal is special to me. Back at home, their sacrifice and prayer motivated me through everything," Tuivuaka said. "I did not see them, only spoke to them on the phone, and that’s why it is meaningful to me.
"I have not seen my family for months. They are praying for me, they give me a lot of encouragement to keep on moving forward so that I can be here today.
Runners-up New Zealand claimed their first medal in a men's rugby event at the Games, though Great Britain lost out to Argentina, who claimed their first medal of the Olympics, for bronze.
ZHIYONG BREAKS OWN WORLD RECORD
China's Shi Zhiyong broke his own world record to secure gold in the men's 73kg weightlifting event.
The three-time world champion becomes the second weightlifter, after Waldemar Baszanowski in 1964 and 1968, to win back-to-back titles at the Games in the lightweight category, given his previous gold in the 69kg at Rio 2016.
"I prepared five years for Olympics so I really want to perform at the best," Zhiyong explained in Mandarin. "So if I didn't make to break my own record, just a gold medal, I would feel regret.
"I want myself to break the record in the Olympics... Even though I didn't make the 192kg [on my first attempt], I am still confident that I'm pretty sure I’m going to break my record so I did the 198."
A 166kg lift in the snatch achieved an Olympic record before a 198kg clean and jerk took his total to 364kg – one kilo more than his previous world record.
HASHIMOTO CONTINUES JAPAN'S GYMNASTIC DOMINANCE
Daiki Hashimoto captured a third straight men's gymnastics all-around title for Japan as he followed up Kohei Uchimura's back-to-back victories at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Across all six events, the 19-year-old totalled 88.465 to win gold by a whisker, with China's Ruoteng Xiao and Russia's pre-event favourite Nikita Nagornyy, the reigning world and European champions, winning silver and bronze respectively.
Hashimoto, who could only manage third behind Nagornyy's Russians in the team event on Monday, was in third again before a near-flawless routine gained 14.993 points to put him top.
Japan also claimed more gold in judo as Chizuru Arai defeated Austria's Michaela Polleres to bring the host nation its eighth judo medal of the Games so far.
LATVIA AND USA CLAIM FIRST EVER 3X3 BASKETBALL TITLES
The United States dictated proceedings throughout the five-day women's tournament, winning nine games and losing only one as they etched their names in basketball history with the first ever 3x3 Olympic basketball triumph.
Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young did the hard yards early before securing an 18-5 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee in the debut of 3-on-3 basketball at the Games.
In the men's edition, Latvia were the first winners as Karlis Lasmanis' two-point shot with 28 seconds left clinched a 21-18 win over the Russian Olympic Committee.
Though, basketball fanatics feel the real winner of the three-aside debut event is the sport itself.
"I think it's going to keep growing," the USA coach Kara Lawson said. "I think it's got a great future around the world, it's a lot of fun to play. Being an Olympic sport now, there's more converts probably than we've ever seen before."
SOUTH KOREA'S KIM MAKES EMPHATIC RETURN
Fencer Kim Jung-Hwan won gold at London 2012 but quit the sport before making a comeback from retirement in 2019.
After taking bronze in the men's individual sabre on Saturday, the 37-year-old may have felt fate would not be on his side.
However, Kim was part of South Korea's team that won the men's sabre on Wednesday as they coasted past Italy 45-26 in a one-sided final to defend their London 2012 title - after the discipline did not feature at Rio 2016.
Kim also becomes the first Asian fencer to claim four Olympic medals in the field, while Italy's silver medal reflected a record-extending 21st Olympic medal in the men's team sabre event.
Nuggets beat Heat to get within one win of franchise's first NBA championship
Aaron Gordon provided a huge lift with 27 points and the Denver Nuggets received contributions from several sources in a 108-95 victory over the Miami Heat on Friday to get within one win of the franchise’s first NBA championship.
Nikola Jokic worked around foul trouble to tally 23 points and 12 rebounds and Bruce Brown scored 11 of 21 points down the stretch to help the Nuggets take a 3-1 lead in the series. Denver can wrap up the title at home in Game 5 on Monday.
Jamal Murray scored 15 points on 5-of-17 shooting but had 12 assists. His shooting struggles were offset by Gordon, who was 11 of 15 from the field with six rebounds and six assists. Brown connected on 8 of 11 field goals and his third 3-pointer of the night with 1:21 left pushed the advantage to 108-91.
Jokic went to the bench with 9:24 to play after he committed his fifth foul with Denver holding a 10-point lead. He checked back in just over five minutes later with the Nuggets leading 96-87.
Jimmy Butler scored 25 points and Bam Adebayo added 20 with 11 rebounds, but the Heat had their final lead at 23-20 early in the second quarter. They cut the deficit to 94-87 midway through the fourth before Brown scored Denver’s next eight points to make it 102-91.
Miami appears to be wearing down with its sixth loss in eight games since taking a 3-0 lead over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.
Denver Nuggets with one hand on NBA trophy after taking 3-1 finals series lead
The Denver Nuggets are within one game of claiming their first NBA championship after dismantling the Miami Heat 108-95 in the fourth game of the NBA finals.
The Nuggets return to Denver for game five of the seven-game series, where they will aim to win the franchise’s first Larry O’Brien trophy in their 56-year history.
Nikola Jokic again proved a mismatch for Miami, wthe Serbian posting 23 points and 10 rebounds.
He was ably supported by Aaron Gordon, who finished with a game-high 27 points in one of the best performances of his career.
Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo combined for 45 points for the Heat, who were ultimately let down by another poor shooting effort from three.
Miami shot just 32 per cent from deep, while the Nuggets drained half of their three-point attempts.
The Heat kept pace with the Nuggets early, maintaining just a four-point deficit at the half.
But Denver exploded for 31 points in the third quarter, claiming an advantage which, despite a rally late in the fourth, Miami were ultimately unable to overcome.
Olivia "Storm" Kelly on path to become first Barbadian Olympic gymnast
Don't wish for it. Work for it.
That is the motto that United States-born Barbadian gymnast Olivia Kelly lives by, as she has always been motivated to turn her thoughts into actions.
In fact, at 17 years old, Kelly has her eyes set on accomplishing a goal which, if successful, will propel her budding career to higher heights. The goal? To be the first gymnast to represent the Eastern Caribbean Island at the Olympic Games.
Achieving such a dream is by no means impossible and Kelly, also known as "Storm," in gymnastics circles, positioned herself to bring it to fruition when she placed 10th at the PanAm Gymnastics Championships in Medellin, Colombia recently, and earned a spot to the World Gymnastics Championships for a second year consecutively.
The championships scheduled to begin late September in Antwerp, Belgium, serves an Olympic qualifier and, as such, Kelly is focused on ensuring her performance quality and the details of her routine are on point, while staying physically and mentally healthy.
"I’m not really aiming to do anything much different other than to stay healthy and keep training hard. My goals this year were always to just train hard, trust my training at Worlds, and hopefully qualify for the 2024 Olympics," Kelly, who has a number of first for Barbados, declared.
"I've devoted a lot to this sport and so I always want to be competitive, but my best is all I can do and if I do that, I will always be satisfied," she added.
At the PanAm Championships, Kelly, who earns her Barbadian stripes through her father, Tori, scored 12.867 for her vault routine, 11.867 on uneven bars, 12.267 on the balance beam and 12.467 for her floor routine, for an All-Around total of 49.468.
"Colombia, was so much fun and I’m very pleased with the performance. I definitely feel like I can work on little things for Worlds, but I think this was a great meet for me," Kelly noted.
That performance, she said, was a reflection of the lessons learnt from last when she made her debut appearance on the international stage.
"I gained a lot of experience from last year which was a learning year for me in the international field. At both the Pan American Championship in Rio and the World Championships in Liverpool, I fell on bars, but even then, I still had a great experience. So, coming into this year, I felt way more prepared and confident because of my 2022 season.
"That season taught me that I can be resilient and bounce back in the next event. I’ve learned that I can push that negative energy back and really focus on what’s happening now instead of the past," Kelly reasoned.
While she is clearly identified as one of, if not the best young gymnast for her country, Kelly, who got involved with the sport at two years old, when she took tumbling and mommy-and-me classes, knows she still has some ways to go.
As such, the North Stars Gymnastics Academy stalwart, guided by coach Ashley Umberger, a former member of the United States senior international gymnastics team, is determined to continue working over 30 hours per week to improve physically and mentally challenges to realize her dream.
"The aim is always to be better than you were before. So, I am going to add some skills for Worlds and clean up my routines, as well as build up my mental toughness and my confidence a little bit more," Kelly, who is homeschooled with Florida Virtual Global School, ended.
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