RIO DE JANEIRO — Justin Rose won the first golfing gold medal at the Olympics in 112 years Sunday, beating Henrik Stenson by two strokes, and Simone Biles added a third gold in gymnastics, capturing the women’s vault title.
Klay Thompson ended an Olympic-long slump with seven 3-pointers and 30 points, and the U.S. needed almost all of them to hold off France 100-97 in basketball.
It was the third straight close call for the favourites, who are looking as beatable as ever under coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Later Sunday, Usain Bolt will defend his title as the world’s fastest man at the Rio de Janeiro Games when he goes for his third consecutive gold medal in the 100 metres.
In the latest security incident to hit South America’s first Olympic Games, Ryan Lochte and three other American swimmers were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday by thieves posing as police officers who pulled over their taxi and took cash and credit cards.
Nobody was hurt, but Lochte told NBA’s "Today" show that one of the robbers put a cocked gun to his head and ordered him to get on the ground.
Street crime is among the litany of problems the Olympics has struggled with. Brazil deployed 85,000 soldiers and police to secure the games. But last week a Brazilian security officer was fatally shot after taking a wrong turn into a slum, two Australian rowing coaches were attacked and robbed in Ipanema and Portugal’s education minister was held up at knifepoint on a busy street.
In addition, stray bullets have twice landed in the equestrian venue, and two windows were shattered on a bus carrying journalists in an attack that local organizers blamed on rocks and others claimed was gunfire.
Among many other embarrassments are empty seats, long lines and green water in some of the Olympic pools.
Synchronized swimmers were greeted Sunday by clear blue water in the pool after officials worked through the night to replace the murky green water that prompted competitors to dub it "The Swamp."
Jemima Jelagat Sumgong became the first Kenyan to win the women’s Olympic marathon, a race that featured Estonian triplets who entertained themselves and others by doing an in-sync dance with their flag draped over six shoulders.
The first match of the Olympic wrestling tournament produced one of the biggest upsets of the Rio de Janeiro Games: Shinobu Ota of Japan stunned seven-time world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medallist Hamid Soryan of Iran 5-4 in the opening set of Greco-Roman bouts.
Later Sunday, Andy Murray tries to become the first man to win two singles gold medals in tennis and at track, a showdown in the 400 final pits LaShawn Merritt, Kirani James and Wayde van Niekerk.
Other highlights from Day 9:
SUMGONG’S SIDESTEP: Sumgong had to evade a protester on her way to delivering Kenya’s first gold in Rio, one which may have been saved by the swift intervention of security forces with a kilometre to go. A man leapt over the railings waving a sign and two police motor bikes instantly cut him off. The protester then jumped over fencing as Sumgong kept going.
WRESTLING WITH WRESTLING? : It looked like a new sport when the wrestlers took the mat. The world’s oldest sport underwent major changes after being forced to apply for reinstatement to the Olympic program in 2013. Matches now feature two 3-minute periods with cumulative scoring. So, no more sitting on leads like in the old best-of-three format.
CHOPPY WATERS: While worries about water pollution marked the run-up to the Rio Games, it was really the whipping wind that stirred up trouble during Olympic rowing. For the first time since 1996, the Olympic regatta was not held in a purpose-built lake, but a natural lagoon that left rowers exposed to the elements in new ways.
