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NANTERRE, France — Every year on August 3, Katie Ledecky is reminded of her first Olympic gold medal. 

She was just 15 years old, a reserved high schooler who had surprisingly made the U.S. swim team for the London Games. Then she went out and shocked the world, beating everyone in the 800-meter freestyle. 

Twelve years to the day, Ledecky did it again. 

Not a stunner, but one for the ages. 

Gold medal No. 9. 

Ledecky capped another stellar Olympics by becoming only the second swimmer to win an event at four straight Summer Games, holding off Ariarne Titmus, the “Terminator,” to win the 800 free Saturday night. 

It was Ledecky’s second gold medal in Paris and the ninth of her remarkable career, which marked another milestone. 

She became only the sixth Olympian to reach that figure, joining swimmer Mark Spitz, track star Carl Lewis, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi in a tie for second place. 

The only athlete to win more golds: swimmer Michael Phelps with 23. 

Ledecky was very aware of the significance of the date. 

“Every August 3rd, the video [of her first Olympic gold] gets posted somewhere and you kind of reminisce,” she said. “So, when I saw it was August 3rd, I was like, ‘Oh boy, I’ve got to get the job done.'” 

That she did, going faster than her winning time in Tokyo to finish in 8 minutes, 11.04 seconds. Titmus was right on her shoulder nearly the entire race, but Ledecky pulled away in the final 100. 

Titmus, who beat Ledecky in the 400 freestyle, settled for silver at 8:12.29. The bronze went to another American, Paige Madden at 8:13.00. 

Phelps had been the only swimmer to win the same event at four straight Olympics, taking gold in the 200 individual medley at Athens, Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro. 

Now he’s got company. 

Titmus added some perspective to Ledecky’s consistency over the last dozen years, noting where she was when the American won that first gold in London. 

“I was in grade six in primary school,” Titmus said. “That’s how remarkable she is.” 

Their friendly rivalry has driven both to greater heights. They each won two golds and four medals at these games, which pushed Ledecky to 14 overall and left the 23-year-old Aussie with four golds and eight medals in her career. 

“To think that eight years later, I challenged her into her fourth consecutive in the 800 is pretty cool,” Titmus said. “So I’m really proud of myself and I feel very honored and privileged to be her rival, and I hope I’ve made her a better athlete. She has certainly made me become the athlete I am. I felt so privileged to race alongside her.” 

Dominant for a dozen years

Ledecky has dominated the distance freestyle events over the last dozen years — and isn’t done yet. She’s made it clear she plans to keep swimming at least through the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

“It’s not easy,” Ledecky said. “I’ll take it year by year, and we’ll see if I can keep giving everything I’ve got for as long as I have left in me.” 

Another gold for Canadian teenager  

Summer McIntosh stamped herself as one of the swimming stars of the Paris Olympics with her third individual gold medal, winning the 200 individual medley. 

The 17-year-old Canadian chased down American Alex Walsh and held off another U.S. swimmer, Kate Douglass, to finish in an Olympic record of 2:06.56. 

Douglass grabbed the silver in the star-studded final at 2:06.92, but the Americans lost the bronze when Walsh, the silver medalist in this event at Tokyo who recorded a time of 2:07.06, was disqualified because she did not finish the backstroke segment on her back. 

Kaylee McKeown, who touched fourth, was bumped up to the bronze at 2:08.08. 

It was a bitter blow for Walsh, whose younger sister, Gretchen, has won a gold medal and two silvers in Paris. 

McIntosh set several world records ahead of the Paris Olympics, and she backed up the enormous expectations by claiming a starring role at La Defense Arena along with Léon Marchand and Ledecky. 

McIntosh also won gold medals in the 200 butterfly and 400 IM, plus a silver in the 400 freestyle. She fell just 0.88 seconds — the margin of her loss to Titmus — shy of matching Marchand’s four individual golds. 

“It’s pretty surreal,” said McIntosh, who became the first Canadian athlete to win three golds in a single Olympics. “I’m just so proud of myself and how I’ve been able to recover and manage events. 

US sets world record 

The United States made up for a disappointing showing in Tokyo by setting a world record in the 4×100 mixed medley relay. 

Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske held off China for a winning time of 3:37.43, breaking the mark of 3:37.58 set by Britain when it won gold in the wild and woolly event’s Olympic debut three years ago. 

With each team picking two men and two women, the U.S. and China both went with their male swimmers in the first two legs. 

Murphy put the U.S. in front on the backstroke, China’s Qin Haiyang slipped past Nic Fink on the breaststroke, but Walsh put the Americans back in front on the butterfly before Huske held off Yang Junxuan to secure the gold. 

The Chinese team, which also included Xu Jiayu and Zhang Yufei, took silver in 3:37.55. The bronze went to Australia in 3:38.76. 

Marchand swam the breaststroke leg for France but couldn’t add to his already impressive haul of four individual golds. The French finished fourth, more than two seconds behind the Aussies. 

When the British won gold in 2021, the Americans finished fifth. Britain was seventh this time. 

Hungarian claims butterfly gold 

Kristóf Milák of Hungary won the men’s 100 butterfly, chasing down three swimmers on the return lap. 

Milák was only fourth at the turn, but he rallied to touch in 49.90. Canada grabbed the silver and bronze, with Josh Liendo finishing in 49.99 and Ilya Kharun next at 50.45. 

Milák had failed to defend his Olympic title in the 200 butterfly, settling for a silver behind French star Marchand. 

Milák claimed silver in the 100 fly three years ago, but he didn’t have to worry about the guy who beat him in that race. American Caeleb Dressel stunningly failed to qualify for the final, posting only the 13th-fastest time in the semifinals Friday. 

Kharun added another bronze to the one he garnered in the 200 butterfly. 
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WILMINGTON, Delaware — Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is staffing up in battleground states over the next two weeks including in the ‘Sun Belt’ that increasingly looked out of reach for President Joe Biden, citing momentum for her White House bid as grassroots engagement and fundraising soar. 

“Our grassroots engagement is proving that Kamala Harris is strong in both the Sun Belt and the Blue Wall — with multiple pathways to 270 (electoral votes),” wrote Dan Kanninen, the campaign’s battleground states director in a memo on Saturday. 

The Sun Belt refers to states including Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, and the Blue Wall includes Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. U.S. President Joe Biden won all six of those states in 2020 by thin margins, but just weeks ago, his campaign said the Sun Belt and North Carolina looked increasingly out of reach. 

Harris energizes race

Harris’ takeover of the Democratic presidential campaign has injected new energy, money and enthusiasm into the race, which is translating into a shift in polls that show her pulling even with Republican former President Donald Trump or ahead in some battleground states. 

Since Biden endorsed Harris on July 21, 200,000 volunteers have joined the Harris campaign, while over 350,000 supporters attended their first phone bank, rally or other campaign event – an over 350% increase in event attendees, Kanninen said. 

Harris’ campaign announced on Friday it raised $310 million in July, fueled by small-dollar donations. 

In the next two weeks, the campaign will add 150 more staff in the “Blue Wall,” and will more than double its staff in Arizona and North Carolina, Kanninen said. 

Harris campaign operations on the ground are more extensive than Trump’s, he said. 

“In Nevada, Team Harris has 13 offices, while Trump has just one,” Kanninen wrote. “In Pennsylvania, we have 36 coordinated offices while Trump has just three. In Georgia, we have 24 offices while the Trump team didn’t open their first until June.” 

The Trump campaign did not immediately confirm the accuracy of those numbers, and it did not respond to a request for comment. 

This week Trump’s campaign was set to launch a $10 million advertising blitz in six battleground states. A super PAC supporting Trump, MAGA Inc., kicked off a parallel ad blitz after it said it will spend $32 million in three states with new ads criticizing Harris. 

Some political experts have questioned Trump’s lack of campaign infrastructure in recent days. 

“Those of us who are interested in voting are like, ‘Why don’t you need a ground game?'” political historian Heather Cox Richardson said in a Facebook livestream. “It really takes feet on the ground, knuckles on doors, meetings with people, everything to get money circulating. He is not trying to get enough votes.” 

Search for running mate. continues

Harris was expected to meet in person this weekend with the top contenders vying to join the ticket as the candidate for vice president, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources.  

She will meet with leading contenders Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for interviews on Sunday, according to sources familiar with her plans.  

Other top names include U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. 

Harris held a marginal one-percentage-point lead over Trump in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, closing the gap that opened in the final weeks of Biden’s reelection bid. 

The three-day poll showed Harris supported by 43% of registered voters, with Trump supported by 42%, within the poll’s 3.5 percentage point margin of error. 
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Історичне золото у фехтуванні та надії на спортивну гімнастику
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LOS ANGELES — Aerosmith says Steven Tyler’s voice has been permanently damaged by a vocal cord injury last year and the band will no longer tour.

The iconic band behind hits such as “Love in an Elevator” and “Livin’ on the Edge” posted a statement Friday announcing the cancellation of remaining dates on its tour and provided an update on Tyler’s voice.

“He has spent months tirelessly working on getting his voice to where it was before his injury. We’ve seen him struggling despite having the best medical team by his side. Sadly, it is clear that a full recovery from his vocal injury is not possible,” the statement said. “We have made a heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision — as a band of brothers — to retire from the touring stage.”

Tyler announced he injured his vocal cords in September during a show on the band’s Peace Out: The Farewell Tour. Tyler said in an Instagram statement at the time that the injury caused bleeding but that he hoped the band would be back after postponing a few shows.

Tyler’s soaring vocals have powered Aerosmith’s massive catalog of hits since its formation in 1970, including “Dream On,” “Walk This Way” and “Sweet Emotion.” They were near the start of a 40-date farewell tour when Tyler was injured.

“We’ve always wanted to blow your mind when performing. As you know, Steven’s voice is an instrument like no other,” the band said in Friday’s statement to fans.

“It has been the honor of our lives to have our music become part of yours,” the band said. “In every club, on every massive tour and at moments grand and private you have given us a place in the soundtrack of your lives.”

Aerosmith is a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and a four-time Grammy-winning band. In addition to Tyler, its members are Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer.
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA — Former President Donald Trump returns Saturday to Georgia, which he lost four years ago, to campaign in a state that Democrats and Republicans see as up for grabs yet again.

Trump’s 5 p.m. event alongside his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, comes just days after Vice President Kamala Harris rallied thousands in the same basketball arena at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Both parties are focusing on Georgia, a Sun Belt battleground that Democrats had signaled just two weeks ago they would sideline in favor of a heavier focus on the Midwestern “blue wall” states. President Joe Biden’s decision to end his campaign and endorse Harris fueled Democratic hopes of an expanded electoral map.

“The momentum in this race is shifting,” Harris told a cheering, boisterous crowd on Tuesday. “And there are signs Donald Trump is feeling it.”

Biden beat Trump in the state by 11,779 votes in 2020. Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to change the outcome. Trump was later indicted in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the election, but the case remains on hold while courts decide whether the Fulton County district attorney can continue to prosecute it.

In announcing Saturday’s rally, the Trump campaign accused Harris of costing Georgians money due to inflation and higher gas prices, which have risen from pandemic-era lows at the end of the Trump administration. The campaign also noted the case of Laken Riley, a nursing student from the state who was killed while jogging in a park on February 22. A Venezuelan citizen has been indicted on murder charges in her death.

Trump and his allies have repeatedly labeled Harris the current administration’s “border czar,” a reference to her assignment leading White House efforts on root causes of migration.

But in recent days, Trump has lobbed false attacks about Harris’ race and suggested she misled voters about her identity. Harris has stated for years in public life that she is Black and Indian American.

At her rally in Atlanta, Harris called Trump and Vance “plain weird” — a lane of messaging seized on by many other Democrats of late — and taunted Trump for wavering on whether he’d show up for their upcoming debate, currently on the books for September 10 on ABC.

Saying earlier that he would debate Harris, Trump has more recently questioned the value of a meetup, calling host network ABC News “fake news,” saying he “probably” will debate Harris, but he “can also make a case for not doing it.”

The fact that Harris and Trump have been focusing resources on Georgia underscores the state’s renewed significance to both parties come November. Going to Atlanta puts Trump in the state’s largest media market, including suburbs and exurbs that were traditional Republican strongholds but have become more competitive as they’ve diversified and grown in population.

In a strategy memo released after Biden left the race, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon — who held the same role for Biden — reaffirmed the importance of winning the traditional Democratic blue wall trio of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania but also argued that Harris’ place atop the ticket “opens up additional persuadable voters” and described them as “disproportionately Black, Latino and under 30” in places like Georgia.

Next week, along with her eventual running mate, Harris plans to visit that Midwestern trifecta, along with North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. On Friday, she will make another stop in Georgia.
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На підконтрольну Україні територію повернули дітей віком від 6 до 17 років
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COLUMBIA, Missouri — The Biden administration has doled out more than $2 billion in direct payments for Black and other minority farmers discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the president announced Wednesday.

More than 23,000 farmers were approved for payments ranging from $10,000 to $500,000, according to the USDA. Another 20,000 who planned to start a farm but did not receive a USDA loan received between $3,500 and $6,000.

Most payments went to farmers in Mississippi and Alabama.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters that the aid “is not compensation for anyone’s loss or the pain endured, but it is an acknowledgment by the department.”

The USDA has a long history of refusing to process loans from Black farmers, approving smaller loans compared to white farmers, and in some cases foreclosing quicker than usual when Black farmers who obtained loans ran into problems.

National Black Farmers Association Founder and President John Boyd Jr. said the aid is helpful. But, he said, it’s not enough.

“It’s like putting a bandage on somebody that needs open-heart surgery,” Boyd said. “We want our land, and I want to be very, very clear about that.”

Boyd is still fighting a federal lawsuit for 120% debt relief for Black farmers that was approved by Congress in 2021. Five billion dollars for the program was included in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package.

But the money never came. White farmers in several states filed lawsuits arguing their exclusion was a violation of their constitutional rights, which prompted judges to halt the program shortly after its passage.

Faced with the likelihood of a lengthy court battle that would delay payments to farmers, Congress amended the law and offered financial help to a broader group of farmers. A new law allocated $3.1 billion to help farmers struggling with USDA-backed loans and $2.2 billion to pay farmers who the agency discriminated against.

Wardell Carter, who is Black, said no one in his farming family got so much as access to a loan application since Carter’s father bought 34.4 hectares of Mississippi land in 1939. He said USDA loan officers would slam the door in his face. If Black farmers persisted, Carter said officers would have police come to their homes.

Without a loan, Carter’s family could not afford a tractor and instead used a horse and mule for years. And without proper equipment, the family could farm at most 16.2 hectares of their property — cutting profits.

When they finally received a bank loan to buy a tractor, Carter said the interest rate was 100%.

Boyd said he’s watched as his loan applications were torn up and thrown in the trash, been called racial epithets, and was told to leave in the middle of loan meetings so the officer could speak to white farmers.

“We face blatant, in-your-face, real discrimination,” Boyd said. “And I did personally. The county person who was making farm loans spat tobacco juice on me during a loan session.”

At 65, Carter said he’s too old to farm his land. But he said if he receives money through the USDA program, he will use it to get his property in shape so his nephew can begin farming on it again. Carter said he and his family want to pitch in to buy his nephew a tractor, too. 
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paris — It is not enough — it has never been enough — for Simone Biles to do gymnastics.

The 27-year-old American star has been intent almost from the start on pushing the sport in new directions by doing things that have never been done before. That could continue this week when she tries for her eighth Olympic medal in Paris.

Five elements currently bear her name in the Code of Points after she successfully completed them in an international competition: two on vault, two on floor exercise and one on balance beam.

A quick primer.

Biles I (Floor exercise version)

She was just a teenager and recently minted national champion when Biles performed a tumbling pass at the 2013 world championships that she completes by doing a double layout with a half-twist at the end.

The move looks dangerous — Biles is essentially flying blind — but she and former coach Aimee Boorman came up with it because it was less taxing on her legs.

“It was almost kind of necessity is the mother of invention,” Boorman told The Associated Press in 2015. “Her calf was hurting. She had bone spurs in her ankles and she’s really good at floor with landings.”

Biles II (floor exercise version)

Biles returned to the sport in 2018 following a two-year layoff after winning the all-around at the 2016 Olympics.

Not content to merely repeat herself, Biles began working on a triple-twisting, double flip that is now known simply as ” the triple-double.” She unveiled it while winning the 2019 U.S. Championships then did it again at the world championships a few months later when she won the fifth of her record six world all-around titles.

“I wanted to see how it looked,” she explained afterward.

Biles I (vault version)

As with a lot of gymnastics elements, Biles took a Cheng vault and added another layer of difficulty — this one an extra half twist on a vault originally done by China’s Cheng Fei.

The vault requires Biles to do a round-off onto the vault, then a half-twist onto the table before doing two full twists. It entered the Code after she made it part of her routine at the 2018 world championships.

“I’m embarrassed to do floor and vault after something like that,” U.S. men’s gymnast Yul Moldauer said in 2018. “You see Simone do that and she’s smiling the whole time. How does she do that?”

Biles II (vault version)

This may be the most dazzling, most daring one of them all.

The Yurchenko double pike had never been completed by a woman in competition, and few men have even tried. She began tinkering with it in 2021, but it’s in the last year that it has morphed into perhaps the most show-stopping thing done in the sport.

The vault asks Biles to do a round-off back handspring onto the table, then two backward flips in pike position with her hands essentially clasped to her knees. She does it with so much power, she can sometimes overcook it. At the U.S. Olympic trials last month, it drew a standing ovation.

“No, it’s not normal,” longtime coach Laurent Landi said after she drilled it at the 2023 U.S. Championships. “She’s not normal.”

Biles I (balance beam version)

For all of her explosive tumbling, Biles is a wonder on balance beam, too, where she can make doing intricate moves on a four-inch-wide piece of wood seem almost casual.

The same year she debuted the triple-double on floor, she added a double-twisting, double-tucked dismount off the beam. She stuck it at the 2019 world championships, though she has since taken it out of her repetoire.

What does the new uneven bars skill look like?

The skill Biles submitted requires her to do a forward circle around the lower bar before turning a handstand into a 540-degree pirouette. USA Gymnastics teased the move on X ahead of the Games. She didn’t attempt it during the team or all-around competitions but still won gold in both.
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The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to administer the SAT exam to high school students worldwide. In response, US colleges and universities that required the exam for admissions made the test optional. Now, with the pandemic in the rearview mirror, a trend is growing in higher education to again require the SAT. VOA’s Robin Guess has the story.
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Washington — Representative Jim McGovern, the most recent U.S. lawmaker to be put under Chinese sanctions, says he will wear the sanctions “as a badge of honor,” calling on the Chinese government to end its oppressive actions in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong in a statement emailed to VOA from the representative’s media office Friday.

“These absurd sanctions against me only serve to highlight how PRC leaders are afraid of free and open debate. They seek to punish and silence those who disagree with them. But the world is watching what they do, and people who care about human rights will not be silent,” he said in the statement.

China placed McGovern under sanctions Wednesday for frequently “interfering in China’s internal affairs.” In his politics, McGovern has taken on the Tibetan cause, sponsoring a bill advocating for a peaceful resolution of the China-Tibet dispute that President Joe Biden signed into law on July 12.

China views Tibet as an “inseparable part of China since ancient times,” despite supporters of the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Dalai Lama saying that Tibet has historically been independent. Chinese state-sponsored media Xinhua said McGovern’s Tibet-China Dispute Act “grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs,” violates international law and distorts historical facts to suppress China and encourage Tibetan separatist movements.

Framed as a response to McGovern’s efforts to undermine Chinese territorial sovereignty, the sanctions freeze the representative’s Chinese assets, prohibit organizations or individuals in China from engaging with him, and ban him and his family from entering Chinese territory, according to a publication from Xinhua.

McGovern, who represents the state of Massachusetts in the House of Representatives, has no assets or business dealings in China.

McGovern’s Tibet-China Dispute Act, gives the State Department increased authority to counter Chinese disinformation about Tibet and promotes the resumption of talks between Chinese leaders and the Dalai Lama. No such talks have occurred since 2010.

China stands accused of large-scale human rights abuses in Tibet, which the congressman hoped to alleviate with this legislation.

In a statement released on June 12 when the bill passed the House, McGovern said, “The People’s Republic of China has systematically denied Tibetans the right to self-determination and continues to deliberately erase Tibetan religion, culture and language.

“The ongoing oppression of the Tibetan people is a grave tragedy, and our bill provides further tools that empower both America and the international community to stand up for justice and peace,” he said.

Among the signees of the statement were House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Senator Todd Young, McGovern and Senator Jeff Merkley.

China has sanctioned other U.S. representatives for their involvement in an issue that threatens Chinese territorial homogeneity. Over the last year, China has sanctioned Representative McCaul and former Representative Mike Gallagher over their support for Taiwan.
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Paris — The United States was eliminated from the Olympic men’s soccer tournament on Friday after a 4-0 loss to Morocco in the quarterfinals.

Soufiane Rahimi, Ilias Akhomach, Achraf Hakimi and Mehdi Maouhoub scored the goals at Parc des Princes that ended U.S. hopes of a medal at the Paris Games.

Morocco, which enjoyed fervent support in the French capital, will play the winner of Japan vs. Spain in the semifinals in Marseille on Monday.

The U.S. qualified for the quarterfinals of the Olympics for the first time since Sydney 2000 but was outclassed by a polished Morocco team that had already beaten Argentina in the group stage.

Rahimi scored a penalty in the 29th minute and Akhomach doubled the lead in the 63rd.

Hakimi rolled in the third after a solo run in the 70th.

Maouhoub, a substitute, finished off the rout with a penalty in second-half stoppage time.

In front of a packed crowd at the home of Paris Saint-Germain, Morocco dominated the chances in the first half, but needed a penalty to find a breakthrough after Nathan Harriel fouled Rahimi in the box.

Despite protests from the American players, referee Yael Falcón Pérez pointed to the spot and Rahimi fired low to the left and beyond the dive of Patrick Schulte.

Miles Robinson had a golden chance to level the game in the 59th when collecting a knockdown from about six yards out, but shot wide.

That miss proved even more costly when Morocco extended its lead four minutes later through Akhomach, who slotted past Schulte from close range after Abde Ezzalzouli’s cross.

Hakimi, who plays his club soccer for PSG, added a third shortly after — carrying the ball to the edge of the box before firing into the bottom right hand corner.

Morocco made it 4-0 in stoppage time when Harriel handled in the box and, after a VAR review, a second penalty was awarded and Maouhoub converted.
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