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Olympics Day 10: steady hands, calm nerves as French pick up more medals

By Michael Fitzpatrick - RFI
France AP - Alex Brandon
AUG 2, 2021 LISTEN
AP - Alex Brandon

Steadiness and composure were the order of the day as French competitors continued to collect medals on Monday, bringing the national tally to 23.

Shooter Jean Quiquampoix got the day off to a great start for France, keeping a steady hand to win gold in the 25 m rapid-fire pistol competition with 34 hits from forty shots. Cuba and China took the minor places on the podium.

The French equestrian team made up of Nicolas Touzaint, Christopher Six and Karim Laghouag had to settle for bronze in event, with one time fault and one fence down. England took gold, and Australia silver.

Carey rebounds to win gold on the floor

American Jade Carey won the women's gymnastics floor gold on Monday in a quick upturn in fortune after disappointing in the vault final 24 hours earlier.

The 21-year-old from Arizona tumbled her way elegantly to a score of 14.366 to take the title from Italian 30-year-old veteran Vanessa Ferrari.

There was a rare dead heat for bronze between Japan's Mai Murakami and Angelina Melnikova.

China edged out Germany to win the first track cycling gold of the Tokyo Games in the women's team sprint on Monday after earlier breaking the world record.

China set a new world mark of 31.804sec in the heats and were then too quick for Germany in the final, their 31.895 just ahead of the Germans' 31.980. The Russian Olympic Committee beat the Netherlands to take bronze.

There was a shock exit for the highly fancied Americans in the women's football competition.

Jessie Fleming scored a second-half penalty as Canada upset four-time Olympic women's football champions the United States 1-0 in Kashima on Monday to reach the final for the first time.

First gold medal for Puerto Rico

Elsewhere on day 10 in a steaming Japan, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn claimed Puerto Rico's first athletics gold in Games history, and Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou won the men's long jump.

Camacho-Quinn, who had set an Olympic record 12.26sec in the semi-finals of the women's 100m hurdles, surged home to claim her first major title in 12.37sec.

World record-holder Keni Harrison of the United States took silver in 12.52sec while Jamaica's Megan Tapper claimed bronze.

"For such a small country it gives little people hope," said Camacho-Quinn. "I am just glad I am the person to do that."

In the men's long jump, European champion Tentoglou leapt a best of 8.41 metres on his sixth and final attempt to snatch victory from Cuban Juan Miguel Echevarria, who also managed 8.41m but had an inferior second-best jump.

Rare setback for Chinese badminton hopes

Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu won badminton women's doubles gold on Monday, breaking a Chinese stranglehold and claiming Indonesia's first title of the Tokyo Olympics.

The pair beat China's Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan 21-19, 21-15 to pick up Indonesia's first Olympic medal in women's doubles.

China had won every women's doubles gold but two since badminton's debut at the 1992 Games.

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