Tokyo: Katie Ledecky got her first gold medal of these Olympics, while Simone Biles pulled out of another event she came into the Games favoured to win.
Ledecky bounced back from losses in her first two events in Tokyo to win the inaugural 1,500-meter freestyle for women by more than 4 seconds on Wednesday.
The victory came about after Ledecky finished fifth in the 200-meter freestyle for her worst finish ever at an Olympics. Ledecky came into the Games with five gold medals but finished second to Australia's Ariarne Titmus in the 400 free and then failed to medal in the 200 that Titmus also won.
“I think people maybe feel bad for me that I'm not winning everything and whatever, but I want people to be more concerned about other things going on in the world, people that are truly suffering,” Ledecky said.
“I'm just proud to bring home a gold medal to Team USA.”
Biles, the American gymnastics superstar, withdrew from Thursday's all-around competition to focus on her mental well-being.
USA Gymnastics said in a statement that the 24-year-old is opting to not compete. The decision comes a day after Biles removed herself from the team final following one rotation because she felt she wasn't mentally ready.
The organisation said Biles will be evaluated daily before deciding if she will participate in next week's individual events. Biles qualified for the finals on all four apparatuses, something she didn't even do during her five-medal haul in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Jade Carey, who finished ninth in qualifying, will take Biles' place in the all-around.
Japanese teenager Daiki Hashimoto won a gold medal in men's all-around.
The 19-year-old Hashimoto used a thrilling high bar routine during the final rotation to edge Xiao Ruoteng of China and reigning world champion Nikita Nagornyy.
Hashimoto's all-around total of 88.465 points included a 14.933 on high bar. That was good enough for him to surge past Xiao and into the top spot. The gold is the third straight Olympic title for the Japanese gymnast. Kohei Uchimura won in 2012 and 2016.
The U.S. team of Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young have won the first women's gold medal in the new Olympic sport of 3-on-3 basketball.
Plum scored all five of her points early to help the Americans take the lead, and they held on for an 18-15 win over the team representing the Russian Olympic Committee.
Latvia beat Russia for the gold in the men's event.
Britain has won the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the Olympics for the first time since 1908, but just missed a world record.
With a powerhouse group that included the 1-2 finishers in the 200 freestyle, Britain blew away the field in 6 minutes, 58.58 seconds. That was just off the world record set by the Americans (6:58.55) at the 2009 world championships. It was the first British gold in the event since it made its debut at the first London Games.
Russia claimed the silver in 7:01.81, while Australia took the bronze in 7:01.84.
The four-time defending champion Americans finished fourth, the first time they've failed to win a medal in the event other than the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games.
Damian Lillard scored 21 points and the U.S. men's basketball team rebounded from an opening loss with their first victory of these Olympics, romping past Iran 120-66.
