In 2018, he became Australia's first medalist in the International Judo Federation Grand Slam Series, and he will be the first Australian to win a Judo Grand Prix gold medal in Tel Aviv in 2020. Coughlan will compete in the -70kg weight class on her Olympic debut. She said: "I've watched the Olympics since I was a little girl and I always loved the sport. It's such a hard game to explain really, you just have to try it to believe it!".
Australia has never won a gold medal in the sport. Their best result is third place, which they achieved three times (1948, 1952, 1956).
The country's only other podium finish at the judo world championships is fourth, which they achieved four times (1936, 1940, 1944, 1948).
Coughlan hopes her success at the Tokyo Games will change that situation. She told AAP after winning gold at the Paris Grand Prix in August: "It's definitely going to be a big deal for me and my family. We're all really proud".
His parents are from Iran and Australia, and he was born in Brisbane. He started learning judo at the age of 3 under a visiting Japanese instructor. Coughlan says she decided to compete in Tokyo because there is not much funding available in Australia for sports like this. And besides, it's fun!
Emma McKeon goes down in Olympic history. It's a historic accomplishment that may never be matched by an Australian, and it speaks to the times that came before it. In Tokyo, the 27-year-old won seven medals (four gold, three bronze) to bring her overall Olympic count to 11. The most of any Australian in history.
The woman who owned them all was swimming's first superstar. She dominated women's swimming in the 1920s and '30s — five consecutive Summer Games from 1920 to '35 — and helped put Australia on the map as a sporting nation. Born in England, she became an Australian citizen in 1936.
McKeon died in 1942 at age 36, when her plane was shot down over New Guinea. She was among 14 Australians killed that day.
Australia has never been able to top this record since. The only other athlete to win more than six medals at a single Olympics is Americans Michael Phelps (eight) and Ryan Lochte (seven).
Phelps will likely break this record in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. At age 20, he already holds seven gold medals, which would be enough to tie McKeon's mark if she were alive today.
However, there's a chance that another Australian might beat him. Missy Franklin is competing in four events (three individual and one relay), and if she wins any she'll tie McKeon's mark.
American Judo competitors have won 14 medals in the Olympic Games since the sport's inclusion. Kayla Harrison (78 kg.) successfully defended her 2012 Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Travis Stevens (81 kg.) claimed silver. The U.S. currently holds one medal each in the lightweight (70 kg.), middleweight (75 kg.), and heavyweight (90 kg.) weight classes.
Harrison is the most decorated American judoka with six victories. She first captured the public's attention when she became the youngest ever world champion at age 21. At the 2012 London Olympics, she added another gold to her resume by defeating Japan's Yumie Hara in the final. In 2016, Harrison announced that she was leaving the sport to focus on her career as a professional wrestler.
Stevens' success as a judo player came shortly after Harrison's achievement. He entered his first Olympic tournament as the number-one seed but was defeated in the quarterfinals by Russia's Vladimir Nikitin. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Stevens again reached the semifinals before being eliminated by France's Patrice Bartoli.
Bajrang Punia won his second gold medal in the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships. In the final match in the 65kg division, he defeated Kazakhstan's Sayatbek Okassov. The Indian team won 16 medals in that tournament, finishing seventh overall.
This is not the first time Bajrang has won two gold medals in one event. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he had already won one gold and one silver medal. He is only the third wrestler after Russia's Vladimir Kolesnikov (1988) and India's Sushil Kumar (2004) to win two gold medals at the same edition of the games.
Wrestling is a sport where every medal counts, so winning multiple medals is an achievement by itself. Bajrang Punia has shown that he is a force to be reckoned with in the world of wrestling and we hope to see more victories for him in future tournaments.
"Sending one of our largest gymnastics teams ever to the Olympics is a tremendous achievement that demonstrates the depth of potential in Australian gymnastics." Australia's Olympic Gymnastics Team
| Name | Lidiia Iakovleva |
|---|---|
| Event | Rhythmic Individual |
| Age | 17 |
| State | QLD |
| Olympic Games Experience | Debut |
He is a three-time world champion (2018, 2019, 2021), a bronze medalist in the team event at the 2018 Olympic Games, the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2017, 2018, 2019), and a five-time U.S. national champion (2017-21).
Chen has also won two gold medals and one silver at the World Championships. He is the first male figure skater to win three consecutive world titles.
Chen's current career high score is 286.05 points, which he achieved on January 23, 2020 at the Winter Olympics in Tokyo. This score makes him the highest ranked American men's singles skater of all time.
At the Olympics, Chen finished third in his initial group competition behind Alexander Tretiakov of Russia and Korea's Kim Yu-seon. However, he then beat both of them by scoring more than 20 points higher than Tretiakov and 30 points higher than Kim at their respective events. This allowed him to win the bronze medal in the team event.
Before the Olympics, some people asked Chen if he would win a medal because of the pressure he was under due to being the favorite to win multiple medals. Chen answered that he was not worried about winning or losing and that he wanted to skate his best program ever.
Canada is presently ranked 11th in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with 24 medals totaling seven gold, six silver, and eleven bronze medals. Kelsey Mitchell, 27, earned Canada's 24th and final medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the women's sprint in her Olympic debut. It was also the last time that Japan did not win at least one gold medal at the Games.
Canada's first gold medal came in the form of Edward Whitlock in the men's single sculls. He was followed by John McNamara in the men's four, James Greenway in the men's keelboat, and Caroline Pagano in the women's sailboard. This makes five gold medals for Ontario and one gold medal for Vancouver Island along with two bronze medals for Quebec.
Canada's next gold medal came from Jessica Meyers in the women's beach volleyball tournament. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China's team won both the gold and the silver medals, leaving Canada with only bronze this time around. Meyers and her partner Brooke Bennett were the first Canadian women to win an individual Olympic gold medal since 1976 when Peggy Fleming won gold in ice skating. The pair also became the first Canadians to win an Olympic beach volleyball gold medal.
At the 2012 London Olympics, Canada finished second behind Brazil with 28 medals totalizing nine gold, eight silver, and eleven bronze.
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