A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Sometimes the Olympics go as expected, like the U.S. men's basketball teams win last night over Brazil. What makes the Paris games exhilarating is the unexpected. Yesterday, a relatively unknown American runner named Cole Hocker scored a huge upset. NPR's Brian Mann joins us from Paris. Brian, I've watched his race, like, 50 times already. But for those...
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Who haven't watched it once, who is Cole Hocker?
MANN: Wow, this was something. Cole Hocker is a very good American middle distance runner from Indianapolis. But, A, he's never been what you'd call star level. This 1,500-meter final was supposed to be kind of a grudge match between two superstar runners from Norway and Britain. But one thing Hocker has been known for is his ability to find this higher gear right at the end of this nearly mile-long race. And last night, he found that speed.
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COLE HOCKER: I felt the moment, I felt the magnitude of it, and it was incredible. And I knew what I had left. At 20 meters to go, I feel like I knew I had goal, and I'm still trying to figure out how to comprehend that.
MANN: It was something, A. In front of 80,000 people in that stadium, he set an Olympic record. He beat his own personal best time by roughly 3 seconds. That's just unheard of.
MARTÍNEZ: That last hundred meters is so worth watching. It's just - I get chills just even thinking about it. All right. So on the track yesterday was also American sprinter Gabby Thomas, and she dominated the women's 200-meter final. How did she do it?
MANN: Yeah, she was fast off the block. She just kept pulling away. It was just a demonstration of pure power and speed. And her celebration after winning gold - it was one of the most passionate I've seen here in Paris
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GABBY THOMAS: I got to share that experience with everyone. I got to hear the crowd roar, and I knew that all of my friends and family in my community was behind me. So that feeling was indescribable.
MANN: One other cool thing last night - Julien Alfred took silver in that race. She's from St. Lucia - her gold and silver wins this week the very first Olympic medals ever in her country's history.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, let's move on to women's boxing. Algerian Imane Khelif won last night. Now she's going to fight for a gold medal, but a little controversial.
MANN: Yeah, there have been questions raised, and a lot of disinformation spread about Khelif. She's a woman. She's always lived and competed as a woman. But a Russia-linked boxing federation disqualified her from its events, suggesting without providing evidence that she has unfair, masculine physical traits. Olympic officials, it's important to say, dismissed those findings as illegitimate. They severed ties with that organization. They say she's fully qualified to compete. These attacks on Khelif's identity have gotten really ugly at times, but in the stands last night, hundreds of men and women dressed in Algeria's national red and green colors - they cheered her on. She won, and now she has a chance to fight for a gold medal.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, you've also been reporting on the success of Ukrainian athletes. What'd you find?
MANN: Yeah, seven gold medals they've won - it's an amazing show for a country that's been under siege. Ukrainians back home are watching. They say that it's really been proud to see Ukraine's flag flying over and over again in Paris.
MARTÍNEZ: And finally, Brian, the U.S. men's basketball team and the American women's soccer team also advanced yesterday.
MANN: Yeah, that's right. It was a blowout for the men's basketball team over Brazil. And this is big - American women beat Germany in soccer 1-nil. U.S. women will now play for soccer gold for the first time since 2012.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, Brian, I'm going to go back to watch Cole Hocker's race for a 51st time...
MANN: Yup.
MARTÍNEZ: ...And then probably for another 50 after that. That's NPR's Brian Mann in Paris - Brian, thanks a lot.
MANN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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