Digest

ROWING

No partying for Irish despite historic gold

Paul O'Donovan partnered Fintan McCarthy to win Ireland's first ever rowing Olympic gold medal on Thursday and said it is fortunate for their neighbors there are coronavirus protocols in place otherwise they "would knock down their apartment".

O'Donovan and McCarthy triumphed in the men's lightweight double sculls, an event three-time world champion O'Donovan had taken silver in with his brother Gary in Rio in 2016.

O'Donovan said it was hard to compare the feelings he had in 2016 and now-"it is a long time ago and I would be hard-pressed to remember them"－and celebrations would be muted, at least in Japan.

Tokyo is under a coronavirus state of emergency with measures such as alcohol banned in bars and restaurants, which have to close by 8 pm.

"There is not much celebrating to be done in Japan to be honest," said 27-year-old O'Donovan.

"We will have to be careful with the COVID you know, unfortunately.

"Otherwise, we would go all out and have massive parties. We would probably knock down the apartment but fortunately, for the Japanese and our neighbors, that won't be happening this year."

GYMNASTICS

Biles tweets thanks to fans for support

Team USA superstar Simone Biles has expressed her gratitude on social media for the support she has received since dropping out of the women's team gymnastics final at the Tokyo Olympics.

She withdrew after the first rotation, vault, because she said she wasn't in the right frame of mind to compete.

A day later, she gave up her chance to defend her all-around title.

The most decorated gymnast ever said in a tweet: "The outpouring love and support I've received has made me realize I'm more than my accomplishments and gymnastics which I never truly believed before."

At the time of writing, Biles had not decided if she will compete in the individual events. The women's all-around competition was due to take place on Thursday night, while individual events start Sunday.

CYCLING

Official sent home after racist remarks

The sporting director of the German cycling federation (BDR) has been told to return home from the Tokyo Olympics after being caught on camera making racist remarks during Wednesday's men's Olympic road time trial, the German team said on Thursday.

"The team leadership at the Olympic Games in Tokyo has decided that Patrick Moster cannot continue his work as national team leader and will return to Germany," the team said in a statement.

"Get the camel drivers, get the camel drivers, come on," Moster was heard shouting in an attempt to urge on Nikias Arndt, who was chasing rivals from Algeria and Eritrea.

Moster apologized, blaming his remarks on "the heat of the moment".

On German TV, commentator Florian Nass was left stunned, describing the comments as "totally wrong"."Words fail me," he said. "Something like that has no place in sport. "Arndt later tweeted: "I'm horrified and I want to say clearly that I have nothing to do with these remarks."

TENNIS

'I can die': Medvedev survives extreme heat

Bent over in exhaustion before serving. Resting on his racket between points. Grasping for a rubber tube blowing cool air next to his seat on changeovers. Two medical timeouts and one visit from a trainer.

Daniil Medvedev was struggling so much with the suffocating heat and humidity at the Ariake Tennis Park on Wednesday that at one point the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, asked him if he could continue playing.

"I can finish the match but I can die," Medvedev replied. "If I die, are you going to be responsible?"

Afterward, Medvedev said he felt "darkness" in his eyes.

"I didn't know what to do to feel better," the ROC player added. "I was ready to just fall down on the court."

Somehow, the second-seeded Medvedev still pulled out a 6-2, 3-6,6-2 win over Fabio Fognini of Italy to reach the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics.

Agencies