August 1 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

Dutch runner Sifan Hassan began her bid for an unprecedented distance triple crown on Monday, and it got off to a wild start.

With a lap to go in Hassan's 1,500 meter heat, the runner in front of her tripped and fell. Hassan then fell over her, and it looked like her attempt to make history was in peril.

But Hassan was able to quickly get back up and start running. Then she turned on the jets.

As the heat drew to its close, she had surpassed most of the field. By the final leg, she was, somehow, back in contention.

In the final steps, Hassan surged ahead and managed to win the heat in a photo finish. She ran the 1500 meters — just under a mile — in 4:05.17, despite falling midway through.

Hassan will go for her first gold medal tonight in Tokyo in the women's 5,000 meter final.

Silver medal-winning surfer Kanoa Igarashi is one of the faces of the 2020 Olympics, his image splashed across Japanese newspapers and on gift bags at souvenir shops.

Igarashi said he didn't realize how sporting events can bring people together "until this week."

Watch his conversation with CNN's Coy Wire:

The Refugee Olympic Team, established by the International Olympic Committee, is comprised of athletes from 11 different countries, living and training in 13 host countries.

This year, with the Games taking place amid the Covid-19 pandemic, their stories and their inclusion in the Olympic movement feel more relevant than ever, according to Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Read more about the Refugee Olympic Team here:

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Why the Refugee Olympic Team feels more relevant than ever: 'We've all lived through collective exile'

Belarusian sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya said she fears arrest if she returns to her home country, in an interview with Belarusian sports news site Tribuna on Sunday.

Timanovskaya is currently in limbo in Tokyo after what she described as an attempt to forcibly return her to Minsk.

Timanovskaya did not detail exactly what she feared she would be jailed over, but her fear of reprisal comes after she spoke out against national sporting authorities.

In an Instagram post on July 30, she said that she had been included on a list to compete in the 4x400 meter relay without her consent.

Timanovskaya told Tribuna that she was “outraged” and that doing so was “a complete disrespect” because it is a distance she had never competed in before. After recording a video on Instagram venting her frustrations, she said that “they [team officials] started calling me with threats and demanding to delete the video if I want to go ahead in sports."

"At first, I refused to delete it for a long time, but then I did it, so that they stop calling me," she said in the video.

Timanovskaya told the news site that an official from her national team went to her room on Sunday afternoon and told her to report to the airport in a matter of hours. After that, she said a psychologist came to speak with her in a way she described as “nonsense.”

She said she deliberately packed her belongings slowly while she was checked on every 10 minutes to see if she was ready to leave, and in the meantime, she corresponded with her husband and relatives.

“We thought about what to do, where to apply. We decided that I would come to the airport, and then I would go to the police. That is what I finally did,” she told Tribuna.

She said Yuri Moisevich, the head coach of the national athletics team, told her that “this issue is no longer at the level of the federation [of athletics], neither at the level of the Ministry of Sports, but at a higher level. That I should be eliminated from the Olympics, returned home, because I am in the way of the team performing.”

In response to a statement from the Belarusian National Olympic Committee alleging that she was withdrawn from the competition due to doctors’ evaluation of her “emotional and psychological state,” she said: “No doctors came up to me. No one examined me.”

She added: “I have a good psychological state, even despite the fact that such a situation was going on. I am holding up normally, I have no health problems, no traumas, no mental issues. I was ready to run.”

Katie Ledecky added two gold and two silver medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to seal her legendary status as she became the only US Olympian in history with six individual golds.

Ledecky sat down with CNN to talk about her path to the games and what she’s looking forward to when she gets back home.

The 10-time Olympic medallist, who became the fourth swimmer in history to win gold in an individual discipline in three-straight Olympics, also talked about how she deals with the stress that comes with her success.

“I try to just stay focused on my own goals and try not to let expectations get to me too much, swimming is not the only thing I enjoy doing, I’m passionate about other things as well,” Ledecky says. “There’s so much more to life than swimming and the Olympics and the people around me remind me of that.”

Watch here:

Italy took home two gold medals in a thrilling day of track and field, with Gianmarco Tamberi winning in men's high jump and Lamont Marcell Jacobs edging out the competition to earn the country's first ever men's 100m crown.

Here is a full list of the gold medal winners from Sunday:

Artistic Gymnastics

Athletics

Badminton

Cycling BMX Freestyle

Diving

Fencing

Golf

Sailing

Swimming

Tennis

Weightlifting

"It’s a dream, a dream, it is fantastic. Maybe, tomorrow, I can imagine what they are saying, but today it is incredible."

Those are the words Lamont Marcell Jacobs used to describe his thoughts in the aftermath of his stunning 100m gold medal victory.

Jacobs shocked the athletics community to claim the Olympic 100m crown, becoming the first Italian man in history to do so.

Speaking to the media afterwards, he thanked his family who he says have "always supported him."

However, in the seconds after he crossed the line and became Olympic champion, it was Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi who was the first there to congratulate him.

Tamberi had just won his own gold medal minutes before and was in the perfect position to celebrate with his compatriot.

And Jacobs believes it was the perfect way for the pair to celebrate their moments on the biggest stage.

“When I got to Gianmarco, we support each other. We all know his story -- he could have won in Rio (2016) but he had an injury but being here together is something spectacular. I believe in him and believed in myself.”

Following a thrilling end to the men's high jump, joint gold medal winners Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar shared their mutual appreciation for one another and the obstacles they overcame to compete in Tokyo.

Barshim battled back from an ankle injury while Tamberi suffered career-threatening injuries.

"After my injuries, I just wanted to come back, but now I have this gold, it's incredible. I dreamed of this so many times," Tamberi said. "I was told in 2016 just before Rio, there was a risk I wouldn't be able to compete anymore. It's been a long journey."

Both Tamberi and Barshim had tried, and failed, to clear 2.39m in Tokyo.

They both had identical records after clearing 2.37m, so both agreed to share the gold medal and the title of Olympic champion.

Both set season-best records as they pushed each other to the gold.

Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus won bronze on countback having also cleared 2.37m.

Kristina Timanovskaya, a Belarusian sprinter competing in Tokyo, released a video Sunday calling for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to help her avoid being returned to her native country. 

“I was put under pressure and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent. I ask the IOC to intervene,” she says in the short video released on social media.

It appeared online after Timanovskaya was told she will no longer be able to compete for Belarus and must return to Minsk immediately, according to Anatol Kotau of the Belarus Sports Solidarity Foundation.

The group represents Belarusian athletes repressed by Belarusian authorities.

Kotau, who is in direct contact with Timanovskaya, said that at around 3 p.m. Tokyo time on Sunday, representatives of the Belarus national team came to the Olympic village and asked her to “pack her belongings as a decision had been made for her to return to Minsk.”

Speaking to CNN by phone, Kotau said that Timanovskaya is currently at Haneda International Airport police station.

According to Kotau, Timanovskaya was scheduled to be on TK0199 to Istanbul, departing at 10:50 p.m. local time.

Kotau added, as soon as Timanovskaya arrived at the airport, she approached a Japanese police officer and said she would like to apply for political asylum.

In an Instagram post on July 30, she said that she had been included on a list to compete in the 4x400m relay without her consent. “I would never in my life begin to react so harshly if they would come up to me in advance, explain the situation and find out if I can run 400m and I am ready? But they decided to do everything behind my back despite the fact that I tried to find out this information but was only ignored.”

The International Olympic Committee told CNN in a statement: “The IOC has seen the reports in the media, is looking into the situation and has asked the NOC (National Olympic Committee of Belarus) for clarification.”

CNN has reached out to the Belarus Olympic Committee for comment. CNN has also tried to reach Timanovskaya herself. CNN has received no comment from either party.