Here are some of the highlights from a busy Day 4 in Rio:
Sour Serena: Williams shanked shots all over the court in getting upset by Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. The top-ranked American won’t get a chance to defend the gold she won in London. Williams looked out of sorts and irritated, accumulating 37 unforced errors. She had five double-faults in one game alone in the 6-4, 6-3 loss to the 20th-ranked Svitolina. Williams wiped her forehead, picked up her rackets and headed back quickly to the locker room. Svitolina, who had never before played in an Olympics, smiled and stuck her arms out in front of her, palms up, as if waking up from a dream.
Solo scored on: Catalina Usme beat U.S. goalie Hope Solo on a pair of free kicks to draw Colombia to a 2-2 tie with the United States. The first, in the 26th minute, was Colombia’s first Olympic goal, and first goal against the United States. Team USA still emerged at the top of Group G of the women’s soccer tournament and will play in the quarterfinals.
Medal stripped: A Ukrainian javelin thrower was stripped of his silver medal from the 2012 London Olympics, becoming the latest athlete disqualified after the retesting of stored doping samples. Oleksandr Pyatnytsya tested positive for the steroid turinabol and was retroactively disqualified from the London Games and ordered to return his medal, the International Olympic Committee said.
Rugby stunner: Sonny Bill Williams was helped off with an ankle injury during New Zealand’s shocking 14-12 loss to Japan in its first game of rugby sevens. New Zealand is a 12-time World Series champion and one of the top contenders for the first rugby medals awarded at an Olympics in 92 years.
Pele improving: Pele tweeted that he hopes to appear at the closing ceremony after missing the opening because of his health. The soccer great was the organizers’ preferred choice to light the caldron, but first cited sponsorship commitments and later health concerns for staying away.
China dominating: China earned its third weightlifting gold of the Rio Olympics on Tuesday as Shi Zhiyong took victory in the men’s 69-kilogram category Shi lifted 162kg in the snatch and 190 in the clean and jerk for a total of 352, but failed on a world record attempt with his last lift, which would have meant a total of 360. After dropping that weight, he gave roars of disappointment before celebrating the win with his coach.
French player sent home: A French tennis player has been kicked off the country’s Olympic team for violating team rules. Benoit Paire, who was seeded 16th at the Rio Games, was asked to pack his bags, French tennis federation official Arnaud Di Pasquale told TV broadcaster France 2, according to the L’Equipe newspaper. Di Pasquale did not explain exactly what Paire did, but did say the player had been warned repeatedly. Paire lost in the third round of singles at the Olympics on Tuesday, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) against Fabio Fognini of Italy.
Iron Lady also golden: The Iron Lady is piling up quite a medal collection in Rio Katinka Hosszu of Hungary claimed her third gold of the Olympics with a victory in the 200-meter individual medley on Tuesday night. Hosszu added to her wins in the 400 IM and 100 backstroke with a time of 2 minutes, 6.58 seconds. This has been an Olympic of redemption for Hosszu, a long-time star at the world championships who always seemed to come up short on the biggest stage.
Not anymore.
Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Britain challenged Hosszu all the way but had to settle for silver. Maya DiRado of the United States held on for the bronze.