RIO DE JANEIRO — Lilly King of the United States won the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke on Monday night, denying Russia’s Yulia Efimova who was greeted with resounding boos from the Rio de Janeiro crowd.
Katie Meili of the United States took the bronze, with London 2012 champion Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania fading in the second length to finish seventh.
There were loud jeers before the start of the race for Efimova, who has twice been suspended for doping offenses.
The 24-year-old world champion won a legal challenge last week to get herself reinstated to the Olympics, having previously been excluded because of her doping record.
She was one of several Russians who successfully argued that having served their suspensions, they should not be punished again for the same offense by being barred from Rio.
King swam a strong first 50 meters and led at the turn, with Efimova well back in fourth place.
The Russian surged forward in the second half of the race and appeared to be catching her rival, but King finished powerfully in an Olympic record time of one minute 4.93 seconds, with Efimova 0.57 seconds behind.
Before leaving the poolside, the American patted the Russian on the back.
The margin was more comfortable than in the heats and semifinals, where King had beaten her rival by 0.01 and 0.02 seconds respectively. Efimova was also jeered at both those swims.
Revelations of state-sponsored Russian doping overshadowed the build-up to the Olympics and led to more than 100 competitors being excluded, including the country’s entire athletics and weightlifting teams.
Russia was banned on Sunday from the Paralympics that will follow.
Efimova only learned last Friday that she could compete, and officials were forced to reissue the start lists to include her for the breaststroke events.
In the men’s 100-meter backstroke, Ryan Murphy won the event to extend the U.S. run of domination in the event to six successive Games dating back to Atlanta in 1996.
China’s Xu Jiayu took the silver and David Plummer, making his Games debut at the age of 30, the bronze for the United States.
The 2012 champion in the event, Matt Grevers, was unable to defend his title after failing to qualify at the U.S. trials.
Murphy’s winning time of 51.97 seconds was an Olympic record and just outside the world record of 51.94 set by compatriot Aaron Peirsol in 2009 when non-textile bodysuits were allowed.
In the men’s 200-meter freestyle, Sun Yang became the first Chinese swimmer to win the Olympic men’s 200 gold medal.
Sun, silver medallist in the event in London four years ago, touched the wall in one minute, 44.65 seconds to beat South Africa’s Chad Le Clos by 0.55 seconds.
It was Sun’s second medal of the Games after silver in the 400 free on Saturday.
Conor Dwyer of the United States won bronze.
In the women’s 100-meter backstroke, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary claimed her second gold of the Rio Games, edging out Kathleen Baker of the United States.
Canada’s Kylie Masse and China’s Fu Yuanhui tied for bronze, with the top four separated by just 0.31 seconds.
Australian world champion Emily Seebohm, swimming in an outside lane, set the early pace but Hosszu powered her way through the field in the last half of the race to touch the wall in 58.45 seconds.
Baker, who qualified fastest for the final, clocked 58.75, to finish a hundredth of a second ahead of Masse and Fu.
It was a second gold in Rio for Hosszu after her world record-breaking victory in the 400 individual medley on Saturday.
Missy Franklin of the United States, the 2012 Olympic champion at 100m, was reduced to a spectator, having failed to qualify in the event for Rio at the U.S. trials.
Franklin was in tears earlier after failing to make the final of the 200 freestyle, but has another chance in the 200 backstroke, in which she also won gold in London.
Japan ends China’s reign in men’s gymnastics
RIO DE JANEIRO — There was no stopping Kohei Uchimura and his band of Japanese teammates from flashing the V-signs on Monday as even a fall from the pommel horse could not stop them running off with the men’s gymnastics team title at the Rio Olympics.
Four years after Uchimura’s botched dismount from the same block of wood almost denied Japan a team medal at the London Games, it seemed as if their pommel horse curse had struck again when Koi Yamamuro lost his grip and rolled off the apparatus.
But, unlike four years ago when they ended up with silver behind China, Yamamuro’s score of 13.900 was their only blip as they put in a command performance on the remaining five pieces of apparatus to run away with the gold with a total of 274.094.
In a sport where fractions decide titles, Japan’s total was 2.641 points more than surprise silver medallists Russia, while China’s failure to stick their landings meant their eight-year Olympic reign was over long before the final rotation started.
China, top in qualifying, were in danger of missing out on the medals completely when stumbles and falls on the vault, rings and floor exercise left them trailing in fifth place with two rotations to go. But they surged back with a strong showing in the parallel bars to claim bronze with a total of 271.122.
For all Uchimura’s success, the men’s Olympic team gold was the one major medal from missing from his vast collection, which includes the 2012 all around title, a record six successive world all around golds and the 2015 world team crown.
On Monday, as he stood side-by-side with teary-eyed 2012 London Games survivors Yamamuro, Ryohei Kato, Yusuke Tanaka and new kid on the block Kenzo Shirai, there was no mistaking where they stood on the Olympic totem-pole as they held aloft their index fingers to confirm their standing in men’s gymnastics.
Britain, the United States, Brazil, Germany and Ukraine completed the standings in the final.
China wins gold in synchronized diving
RIO DE JANEIRO — China’s Lin Yue and Chen Aisen won gold in men’s 10 meter synchronized diving at the Rio Games on Monday, keeping alive the country’s goal of a clean sweep in all eight events.
The world champion Chinese duo were the favorites to win, but it was the first time they have dived together at an Olympics.
Steele Johnson and David Boudia of the United States took the silver medal. Britain’s Thomas Daley and Daniel Goodfellow won bronze, edging out a German duo on their last dive.
Across six dives, China scored highest in every dive but one.
“I won’t say it was perfect, but we really did our best today,” said Lin, 25, who also won a gold medal in the 10 meter synchronized event at the 2008 Beijing Games with another partner, Huo Liang.
With Monday’s performance, Lin became the first diver to win repeat Olympic gold medals in the event.
The duo won by a wide margin, earning a final score of 496.98. The U.S. team ended with 457.11 points.
U. S. women roll by Spain
RIO DE JANEIRO — After two routs to open the Olympic women’s basketball tournament, the question is not so much will the all-conquering United States win a sixth straight gold medal but will they ever lose again.
The U.S. followed up their drubbing of Senegal in their opener with a less ruthless but no less clinical 103-63 dissection of third-ranked Spain on Monday, blowing out a team viewed by many as a legitimate medal contender.
It seems as if nothing can stop the U.S. juggernaut as the mighty Americans ran their Olympic winning streak to 42 games, a 24-year stretch of domination dating back to the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games.
Once again the depth of Team USA was highlighted with all 12 players getting on the scoreboard, including five in double digits with Diana Taurasi leading the way with 13 points.
U.S. men roll by Venezuela
RIO DE JANEIRO — Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s U.S. men’s basketball team labored early but pulled away in the second quarter and rolled to a 113-69 victory at Carioca Arena 1, improving its record here to 2-0. A 30-8 surge in the second quarter made the difference for Team USA, which had been even with Venezuela at 18-18 after the first quarter. The U.S. will put its 19-game Olympic winning streak on the line against Australia on Wednesday.
Paul George of the Indiana Pacers had 20 points, Jimmy Butler of the Chicago Bulls had 17, Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors had 16 and Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks had 14 points.