USA Men's Basketball flops vs. France, Team USA notches four gold medals, U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team finishes behind Russia | What You Missed
The United States men's national basketball team fell to France in their first Olympics loss since 2004, as Team USA racked up four gold medals overall, and while Team USA softball is off to the finals, the women's gymnastics team find themselves looking up at Russia in the standings.
Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JARED QUAY: What's up, everybody? We're back at it to give you all the 2020 Tokyo Olympic news you might have slept through. And I'm happy to report that Team USA now has struck gold four times. Chase Kalisz got it started in the pool with his gold medal winning performance in the men's 400 meter individual medley. Team USA swimmers hauled in a total of six medals on Sunday, the most ever by Team USA on opening day of the swimming finals.
And then there was 20-year-old Kentucky shooter, Will Shaner whose Olympic record-setting performance in the men's 10 meter air rifle gave Team USA their second gold of the game so far. Way to be, Will.
After that, fencer Lee Kiefer came through for Team USA with the first-ever gold in women's individual foil event. Kiefer's 15 to 13 win over Inna Deriglazova of the Russian Olympic Committee marks only the third Olympic gold for the United States in fencing.
18-year-old Anastasija Zolotic joined the party, defeating Russian athlete, Tatiana Minina, 25-17 in the women's 57 kilogram taekwondo final. This was the fourth gold for the United States so far, and the first ever in taekwondo. You love to see it.
Now, onto US Women's gymnastics team, who definitely had their work cut out for them after finishing second to Russia this morning while qualifying for the team event finals. And although Team USA captain Symone Biles finished atop the standings in individual all-around competition, it certainly wasn't her best performance. Team USA will be back in action on Tuesday, where they'll look to top Russia, led by 21-year-old standout, Angelina Melnikova in the finals.
All right. Let's get back to the winning. As Team USA softball pulled off an extra innings thriller over Australia, while clinching a birth to the gold medal game. Down 1-0, with runners at second and third at the bottom of the eighth, Amanda Chidester slapped a ground ball single to left, scoring Ally Carda and Haylie McCleney on the way to a 2-1 walkoff victory.
Monica Abbott threw a 126 pitch complete game, while striking out 12 and giving up the one unearned run at the top of the eighth. Team USA will face off against Japan, who also clinched a birth in the championship game with their 1-0 win over Canada, later today in a matchup that determines who bats last in the gold medal game.
And finally, many of us have been anxiously waiting for the debut of the US men's basketball team, who totally disappointed with their first Olympic loss this 2004, as they fell to France 83 to 76 in the opener. After trailing 45 to 37 at halftime, France outscored Team USA 25 to 11 in the third quarter to take a 6-4 lead into the final frame. With Kevin Durant in foul trouble, Team USA actually rallied back to go up 7 with less than four minutes to play.
But France got some huge buckets from Nicolas Batum and Evan Fournier down the stretch. The latter of the two having a game-high 28 points. Those clutch moments combined with Team USA's untimely turnovers, as well as Durant and Jrue Holiday missing open 3s while down 2 with just under 30 seconds left to play, sealed the win for Team France, who absolutely shocked Team USA. The US will look to regroup ahead of their Wednesday morning match-up versus Iran, which they better win.
Well, that's all for today, folks. We'll be back tomorrow with updates on medals, records, and everything you might have missed. See you then.
