Brianna Rollins led Team USA to the first ever sweep of medals in the women's 100 meter hurdles on Wednesday night after she and two teammates secured the top three spots.
To close out competition Wednesday night, Rollins launched a dominating performance, crossing the finish line with a time of just 12.48 seconds. Her teammates, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin, weren't far behind, logging times of 12.59 and 12.61, respectively, to take all three spots on the medal podium.
After the race, Rollins called her relationship with her two teammates “like a sisterhood.”
“I’ve known these girls for years. I’m so grateful and blessed that we were able to accomplish this together,” she said.
Women’s track and field events occupied most of the Olympic primetime line-up Wednesday night, with medals also handed out in the long jump and the 200 meter sprint.
In a shocking upset, reigning champion American Brittany Reese lost to teammate Tianna Bartoletta, who took the gold medal on her final jump of 7.17 meters. Reese had to settle for silver after she couldn't make it past the 7.15 mark.
Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic, who recorded the best jump in qualifying rounds earlier this week, took bronze with a 7.08 meter jump.
Elaine Thompson of Jamaica took home her second gold medal in Rio after she narrowly edged out reigning world champion Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands in the 200 meter sprint. Thompson won the women’s 100 meter sprint on Saturday.
Schippers, who stumbled coming off the line, couldn't manage to make up the lost time and lost to Thompson by just a tenth of a second, clocking a time of 21.88 to Thompson’s 21.78. Torie Bowie of the U.S. won bronze.
Elsewhere in Rio, China continued its domination of the ping pong table, sweeping the Olympic table tennis championships when world number one Ma Long and teammate Zhang Jike beat Japan 3-1 in the men’s team gold medal match. China had already won gold in the men’s singles and both the women’s singles and team tournaments. Germany beat South Korea for the bronze medal.
Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany beat Brazil’s Bárbara Seixas and Agatha Bednarczuk two sets to none to give Germany its first ever gold medal in women’s beach volleyball. Seixas and Bednarczuk were the second Brazilian team to face defeat in the sand Wednesday after Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross defeated Brazil’s other women’s team in the bronze medal match.
In earlier competition, Daniyar Yeleussinov defeated Uzbekistan's Shakhram Giyasov and became the fourth straight boxer from Kazakhstan to win the Olympic welterweight gold medal. Yeleussinov, who suffered a vicious cut in his semifinal bout, used some sharp lefts to rattle Giyasov and win 29-28 on all three scorecards.
Kazakhstan boxers Serik Sapiyev and Bakhyt Sarsekbayev won the last three welterweight gold medals.
In badminton, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia took gold in the mixed doubles against Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia. Ahmad and Natsir got to Wednesday's gold medal match in Rio by beating Olympic champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China.
The U.S. men’s basketball team dominated Argentina 105-78 to secure a spot in the semifinal round later this week.
Jamaica’s star runner Usain Bolt qualified for the 200 meter sprint after logging a time of 19.78 in Wednesday’s semifinal. Bolt already has one gold medal in Rio after he won the 100 meter race Sunday. U.S. sprinter Justin Gatlin who had been the fastest over 200 meters so far this year, failed to qualify for the final.
