PARIS (AP) — Sprinter Noah Lyles revealed he had COVID-19 after missing out on another gold medal for the United States at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
Elsewhere, French basketball star Victor Wembanyama moved closer to his dream of a first gold after helping Les Bleus beat Germany to set up a dream final against the U.S. team after the Americans edged Serbia 95-91.
On the same Stade de France track where he won the historically close 100 meters by five thousandths of a second, Lyles was third behind gold medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana and U.S. teammate Kenneth Bednarek.
Medics tended to a tired-looking Lyles and took him off in a wheelchair. Wearing a mask as he spoke with reporters, Lyles later said he had COVID.
“It definitely affected my performance,” said Lyles, adding that he tested positive early Tuesday morning but was cleared to compete. The U.S. track federation said it and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee adhered to all Olympic and Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
Over at Bercy Arena, with former NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker watching their respective countrymen, France held on to win 73-69.
Wembanyama, the NBA rookie of the year, clenched his fists at the buzzer and teammate Evan Fournier jubilantly threw the ball into the crowd.
The 20-year-old star didn’t play three years ago in Tokyo, when the French lost the final to the U.S. They meet again Saturday, when Wembanyama hopes to give France its first Olympic gold in men’s or women’s basketball.
Highlights of what happened on Day 13 of the Paris Olympics:
Curry leads semifinal fightback against Serbia
LeBron James had a triple double and Steph Curry scored 36 points as the American men rallied from 17 points down.
The U.S. faced an 11-point halftime deficit — the biggest successfully overcome by an American team since NBA players were added to the Olympic mix in 1992 — and again trailed the Serbs by 11 with just over seven minutes left.
Serbian players fell on their backs at the buzzer after coming so close.
It was a far cry from their group opener when the U.S. rolled to a 110-84 win.
US team gets a world record, breaks the 100-medal mark
The United States now has more golds and more overall medals than any other nation.
With three days left of competition, American athletes total 30 golds for 103 medals overall.
The U.S. went 1-2 in the women’s 400 hurdles with Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breaking her own world record in a time of 50.37 seconds, and Anna Cockrell taking the silver.
Grant Holloway followed up with gold in the men’s 110 hurdles in 12.99, beating countryman Daniel Roberts.
Also, Long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall won the women’s long jump with Jasmine Moore taking the bronze behind Germany’s Malaika Mihambo.
China’s diving double ends with tears
China claimed its sixth gold medal in diving at the Paris Games with defending champion Xie Siyi winning the 3-meter springboard.
The Chinese made it a podium 1-2 as Wang Zongyuan took the silver ahead of Mexico’s Osmar Olvera Ibarra.
Wang was in tears afterward.
He hadn’t lost a major diving competition in the event since finishing behind teammate Xie at the Tokyo Olympics. After that silver, Wang won three straight world championship titles.
“It is regrettable I lost,” Wang said through an interpreter. “I must learn to accept any failure and my response is to make a greater effort to improve myself.”
Another world record but no gold
American Sam Watson left the Games with another world record to his name but didn’t get the gold medal.
The 18-year-old Watson broke sport climbing’s speed world record on Thursday for the second time at the Paris Games, but that came in the fight for bronze.
Veddriq Leonardo of Indonesia won gold in 4.75 seconds in the final.
Charron lifts for another medal
Maude Charron raised Canada’s flag at the opening ceremony for the Paris Games and lifted up another medal in weightlifting.
Charron took the silver medal in the 59-kilogram category to add to her gold in the 64-kilogram competition at the Tokyo Games.
Rahimi stars as Morocco gets bronze
Soccer-mad Morocco fans finally have an Olympic medal to celebrate after routing African rival Egypt 6-0 for the bronze.
Soufiane Rahimi scored twice and the Casablanca-born striker will surely become a household name back home after netting an impressive eight goals in the tournament.
He was comfortably the leading scorer ahead of Friday’s final between Spain and 1984 Olympic champion France.
Morocco won the African Cup of Nations title in 1976.
Dutch end long wait for gold in men’s field hockey
Duco Telgenkamp scored the golden goal in the shootout to give the Netherlands a 2-1 victory over Germany.
It was the Netherlands’ first gold in men’s hockey at the Olympics since 2000 and third in the country’s history.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored both goals as India beat Spain 2-1 for a second straight bronze, after beating Germany at the Tokyo Games.
French get gold, Portugal a rare medal
Track cyclist Benjamin Thomas overcame a crash in the men’s omnium race to give France its 14th gold medal of the Paris Games.
Thomas held off Iúri Leitão, whose silver medal was only Portugal’s second medal so far — compared to 54 for the French.
Also, world champion Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand won the Olympic title in the women’s keirin.
Nadeem gets Pakistan’s first medal with an Olympic record
Arshad Nadeem got Pakistan’s first medal of the Paris Games in style by setting an Olympic record in javelin.
Nadeem’s throw of 92.97 meters beat Norwegian Andreas Thorkildsen’s mark of 90.57 from the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Plain sailing for Austria
In the southern port city of Marseille, Lara Vadlau and Lukas Maehr of Austria won gold in a tight race in the mixed-gender dinghy.
The sport became a new sailing category at these Games.
___
AP Olympics:
