The Latest: USOC apologizes for ‘distracting’ Lochte debacle

RIO DE JANEIRO – The Latest on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (all times local):

11:35 p.m.

The United States Olympic Committee is apologizing for the “distracting ordeal” involving four Olympic swimmers.

Brazilian police have said Ryan Lochte and three of his teammates were not robbed, and instead vandalized a gas station bathroom. Lochte had said earlier this week they were held up at gunpoint after a night of partying.

U.S. officials said late Thursday that the behaviour of the four is “not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team USA.”

It says it will review the matter, and possible punishments, when the games are over and the delegation returns home.

Olympic officials also say that the last swimmer left in the country, James Feigen, provided a revised statement to officials and hopes to get his passport back to return home soon.

Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger left on a flight out of the country earlier this evening after testifying for authorities.

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11:35 p.m.

American Lashawn Merritt blamed on a slow start on his sixth-place finish in the in 200-meters.

Merritt, a three-time Olympic and bronze medallist in the 400-meters at these Games, never contended in what he thought was not a particularly fast race.

He knew winner Usain Bolt would have a better start, but Merritt was disappointed he didn’t have more “pop in his legs” down the stretch.

Bolt won the 200-meters to complete the sprint double Thursday at a third straight Olympics. Andre de Grasse of Canada took silver in 20.02 to go with his bronze in the 100, and Christophe Lemaitre of France was third in 20.12.

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11:35 p.m.

American Joe Kovacs says his silver in the shot put is bittersweet — but satisfying.

Growing up, the world champion didn’t have access to a shot put at his small Catholic school and practiced by throwing anything heavy he could find — including broken bar bells.

When he could get his hands on a shot put or discus, he had nowhere proper to throw them. Kovacs said Thursday after winning silver that and his teammates would throw outside but once the discus’ started skipping into the road, they had to sneak onto the fields of rival teams to practice.

Kovacs’ teammate Ryan Crouser won gold in Thursday’s competition, setting an Olympic record of 22.52 metres. Kovacs, who had the season-leading mark heading into the final, came in second with 21.78 in Thursday’s competition, and world indoor champion Tom Walsh of New Zealand won bronze at 21.36.

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11:10 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Taekwondo fighter Ahmad Abughaush has won gold and Jordan’s first-ever Olympic medal.

The 20-year-old wrapped up a surprising day of upsets at the Rio Games by defeating Russia’s Alexey Denisenko in a Thursday night 68-kilogram division final, during which Abughaush landed several jumping head shots that elicited gasps from the audience. Abughaush beat Denisenko 10-6.

Earlier in the day, the 10th-ranked Abughaush knocked out second-seeded Dae-Hoon Lee of South Korea before eliminating Olympic champion Joel Bonilla Gonzalez of Spain, who won the 58-kilogram division at the London Games.

Lee applauded Abughaush’s performance after being beaten by him, raising Abughaush’s arm in victory when he was announced the winner.

The men’s bronze medals were won by Spain’s Joel Bonilla Gonzalez and South Korea’s Lee Dae-hoon.

(This item corrects the spelling of South Korea’s Lee Dae-hoon.)

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11:05 p.m.

Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands have won the bronze medal in beach volleyball.

The Dutch pair beat Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov 23-21, 22-20 on Thursday night in a light rain at the Copacabana venue. It’s the Netherlands’ first Olympic men’s or women’s beach volleyball medal.

After surviving two set points, Krasilnikov threw his hat aside in disgust when the winning point sailed off his hand and out of bounds. Brouwer screamed before embracing his teammate.

The rain soaked the warmups but stopped before the match. Still, the venue remained largely empty. That was expected to change for the midnight gold medal match featuring hometown favourites Alison and Bruno.

The Brazilians will play Italy for the championship.

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11:05 p.m.

Russia will play France for the gold medal in women’s handball after beating reigning Olympic champion Norway 38-37 in extra time.

Russia led for most of a thrilling game against Norway on Friday, which was aiming to win a third consecutive gold medal, but the Norwegians tied up the game with four seconds on the clock to take it to extra time.

The Russians took the win when Norway’s Camilla Herrem missed on a shot that would have tied the score late in extra time.

Vladlena Bobrovnikova scored eight goals in a strong team performance by Russia, with 11 different players scoring, while Nora Mork led Norway with 14 goals.

In Saturday’s final, Russia will face France, which beat the Netherlands 24-23 in the first semifinal earlier Thursday.

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10:50 p.m.

Usain Bolt won the 200 metres to complete the sprint double at a third straight Olympics, but seemed unimpressed with his performance.

Bolt wanted to lower his world record of 19.19 seconds but the light drizzle at Olympic Stadium contributed to a slightly slower winning time of 19.78 in the final. After he crossed the finish line he slapped his leg.

Andre de Grasse of Canada took silver in 20.02 to go with his bronze in the 100. Christophe Lemaitre of France was third in 20.12, holding off Adam Gemili of Britain in a photo finish.

Bolt has eight Olympic gold medals and the chance for a ninth as part of Jamaica’s 4×100-meter relay on Friday, when he’s aiming to complete a triple-triple of golds at the Summer Games.

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10:35 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Usain Bolt has won the 200 metres to complete the sprint double at a third straight Olympics.

Bolt wanted to lower his world record of 19.19 seconds but the light drizzle at Olympic Stadium on Thursday contributed to a slightly slower winning time of 19.78.

Andre de Grasse of Canada took silver in 20.02 to go with his bronze in the 100, and Christophe Lemaitre of France was third in 20.12.

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10:20 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Dalilah Muhammad of the United States went out hard and held on strong to win the women’s 400-meter hurdles gold medal in 53.13 seconds.

European champion Sara Slott Peterson of Denmark took silver in 53.55 on Thursday, and the United States picked up another bronze medal with Ashley Spencer storming home to finish third in personal best 53.72.

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MEDAL ALERT: Britain’s defending Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones has hung onto her title after defeating Spain’s Eva Calvo Gomez in the final of the women’s 57-kilogram division at the Rio Olympics.

In an action-packed fight Thursday, the top-ranked Jones used an almost continual stream of aggressive attacks that Gomez was unable to counter. Jones won by a score of 16 to 7.

The top-ranked Jones took the gold medal at the London Games and also won the European championships in May. Jones dominated all of her opponents, often scoring first off her lightning-quick front leg, before hopping toward her opponent while throwing repeated head kicks.

The women’s bronze medals were won by Egypt’s Hedaya Wahba and Iran’s Kimia Zenoorin Alizadeh.

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10:20 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Croatian Sara Kolak won the javelin gold medal with 66.18 metres, holding off Sunette Viljoen of South Africa, who took silver with 64.92.

Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic, who sought to become the first woman to win three individual Olympic athletic titles in a row, took bronze with 64.80.

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10:10 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Ashton Eaton has defended his Olympic decathlon title, equaling the games record with a surge on the last lap of the 1,500 metres — the last event in the two-day competition.

The 28-year-old American finished with 8,893 points to match the Olympic mark set by Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic in 2004.

Kevin Mayer of France was 59 points behind to take silver and Damian Warner of Canada took bronze with 8,666 points.

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10:05 p.m.

American swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger have checked in for a flight leaving Brazil after testifying about claims they were robbed after a late night of partying.

Police have said the story was a lie and that they and two other U.S. swimmers, including Ryan Lochte, vandalized a gas station.

Associated Press journalists saw Bentz and Conger checking in late Thursday for a flight leaving the country. They were whisked through security and did not have to wait in line.

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9:55 p.m.

Gold-medal favourite Caster Semenya kept plenty in reserve in the semifinals of the women’s 800 metres and still posted the fastest of the qualifying times in 1 minute, 58.15 seconds.

The South African who was the silver medallist in London four years ago coasted through 500 metres in the middle of the pack before gradually picking up the pace and hitting the front rounding into the final straight.

Semenya has become the unwilling face of the controversial debate in track and field over women with very high levels of testosterone being allowed to compete. She is believed to be one of several female athletes at the Olympics with a condition called hyperandrogenism. The IAAF was last year forced to drop rules that regulated their testosterone levels.

She led the third and fastest heat, with Linsey Sharp of Britain and American Kate Grace advancing as well.

Margaret Wambui of Kenya won the first heat to advance along with Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba, the world indoor winner.

Joanna Jozwik of Poland won the second heat and advanced along with Canada’s Melissa Bishop, the world championship silver medallist .

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9:40 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Ryan Crouser won the shot put gold medal with an Olympic record 22.52 metres, leading world champion Joe Kovacs in a 1-2 finish for the United States.

The 23-year-old Crouser recorded the three best throws of his career, starting with 22.22 on his second attempt to take an early lead and improving it to 22.26 before his biggest shot of the night on his fifth attempt.

Kovacs, who had the season-leading mark heading into the final, took silver at 21.78 and world indoor champion Tom Walsh of New Zealand won bronze at 21.36.

Tomasz Majewski, who won the Olympic gold for Poland in 2008 and 2012, was a distant sixth with a mark of 20.72 after opening with two fouls.

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9:10 p.m.

Three-time world champion and 2008 Olympic gold medallist Asbel Kiprop progressed smoothly in the last heat of the 1,500 metres, coming in ahead of defending champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria.

Kiprop initially hung back in the pack, then surged to the front with 250 metres to go and finished in 3 minutes 39.73 seconds. Makhloufi, who already won silver in the 800 metres, did not push the Kenyan, happy to advance in second place.

Kiprop’s teammate Ronald Kwemoi took the second heat in 3:39.42. Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti and Matthew Centrowitz of the United States also were among the automatic qualifiers.

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8:55 p.m.

The U.S. will be playing for a sixth consecutive gold medal in women’s basketball after beating France 86-67, the closest contest of the Rio Games for the Americans.

Diana Taurasi scored 18 points as the U.S. won Thursday night without the services of Sue Bird. The U.S. turned up its defence to make up for not being as crisp offensively after routing opponents by an average of 41.7 points.

The Americans, who won their 48th straight game, will play Spain in the final Saturday.

Bird, the Americans’ starting point guard and team captain, was sidelined with a sprained right knee. The U.S. led only 40-36 at halftime but outscored France 25-8 in the decisive third quarter to finally get some separation from the team that they beat in the 2012 gold medal game.

France will play Serbia for bronze.

Reserve Marine Johannes led France with 13 points.

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8:35 p.m.

Kevin Mayer of France is creeping up on decathlon leader Ashton Eaton with only the closing 1,500 metres left to go.

Mayer threw 65.04 metres with the javelin Thursday while defending champion Eaton did not do better than 59.77, a poor performance by his standards. It meant that the American goes into the closing 1,500 metres with a lead of only 44 points.

Eaton has 8,104 points compared to Mayer’s 8,060. Eaton has a personal best time in the 1,500 that is about 4 seconds better than the Frenchman.

Damian Warner of Canada is in third place with 7,888.

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AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.or.