Four years after an embarrassing shutout, the United States will medal in the Olympic boxing tournament.
Kansas fighter Nico Hernandez is guaranteed at least a bronze and become the first American to medal in the tournament since 2008.
Hernandez moved to 3-0 with a tight, unanimous decision victory over Ecuador’s Carlos Quipo on Wednesday.
Hernandez won, 29-28, on all three cards and leaped in the air when the decision was read. Quipo dropped to his knees in stunned disbelief, losing the third round, 10-9, after the judges scored it 19-19 through two.
Hernandez was coming off an upset win over the No. 2 seed in the light flyweight bracket, Vasilii Egorov of Russia.
Beach ball
April Ross was so excited to finish the preliminary round of the beach volleyball tournament unbeaten that she took a victory lap around the Copacabana court, slapping hands with fans as she ran.
Her partner, Kerri Walsh Jennings, spun around in circles as she jumped in the sand.
‘‘It’s the Olympics. We've got to celebrate everything,’’ Walsh Jennings said after the Americans beat Switzerland, 21-13, 22-24, 15-12. ‘‘That was a really hard-fought match. It deserved a victory lap.’’
Not so lucky were American men Casey Patterson and Jake Gibb, who lost to Spain and finished 1-2. They are done for the Olympics, finishing last in their pool because of a tiebreaker.
It’s the first US men’s team to fail to advance out of pool play since the 2004 Games in Athens.
Speeding up
So much for the slow starts by the US women’s field hockey team.
Melissa Gonzalez scored on a penalty corner 22 seconds into the team’s match against Japan, and Katie Bam scored the first of her three goals four minutes later. The Americans went on to rout Japan, 6-1, in the Pool B contest to earn a slot in the quarterfinals.
In their first two matches at the Olympics, the Americans struggled early before finishing strong to beat Argentina and Australia. This time, they avoided a sluggish start on a rainy, dreary evening with temperatures in the mid-60s.Rain washes out tennis
Rafael Nadal went from being scheduled for a busy-as-can-be day to a day off at the Rio Olympics on Wednesday, thanks to rain that forced postponement of 20 of 26 matches.
None of the nine courts at the Rio tennis venue has a roof, so near-constant showers prevented any competition until at least 6:15 p.m. — 7½ hours after play was supposed to start.
After waiting and waiting in the hope of getting in matches, organizers eventually decided to take all but a half-dozen off the day’s schedule. Among those that were called off: All three that Nadal was supposed to take part in.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion and 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medalist originally was slated to play for Spain in the third round of singles against Gilles Simon of France, in the semifinals of men’s doubles with Marc Lopez against Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil of Canada, and in the first round of mixed doubles with Garbine Muguruza against Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
Instead, Nadal will wait to get back on court.
Another man who wound up without a match to play: 2012 London Games champion Andy Murray, who plays Fabio Fognini of Italy next.
Both Murray and Nadal are attempting to become the first tennis player to win two singles gold medals.
Not easy being green
It looks as if the water polo pool is turning green with envy.
The men’s Olympic tournament resumed in green-tinged water after the diving pool at Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre turned a dark green the previous day. There was no sign of any water quality issues with the water polo pool during the first day of the women’s competition Tuesday.
A decrease in the alkaline level in the diving well Tuesday afternoon led to the green color, organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada said. He added that the pool for water polo and synchronized swimming is being affected in the same way.
‘‘We have treated both pools during the night and the alkalinity levels have already improved,’’ Andrada said. ‘‘We expect the color to be back to blue very shortly.’’
Maybe not, according to a US pool expert.
‘‘Once you get behind, it gets hard to get back in front of it,’’ said Jerry Wallace, chairman of the California Pool & Spa Association, a trade group.
According to FINA, the world governing body for aquatic sports, water tanks ran out of some of the chemicals used in the water treatment process, causing the pH level to go outside the usual range, leading to the discoloration.
Andrada and FINA said there is no risk to athletes competing in either pool.
‘‘Just from TV and pictures on the computer, it looks more like an algae than alkaline problem turning the water green,’’ Wallace said by phone from Sacramento.
Mexico out in soccer
Defending champion Mexico has been eliminated from the men’s soccer tournament after 1-0 loss to South Korea.
Kwon Chang-hoon scored a 77th-minute winner in Brasilia to end Mexico’s hopes of repeating as Olympic champion. The Mexicans upset Brazil in the final of the London Games four years ago.
Argentina took another hit when its men’s team was eliminated.
The South American power has won two Olympic gold medals in soccer, but it failed to advance from the group stage after a 1-1 draw against Honduras.
The result follows the senior team’s loss in the Copa America final in June and added to the crisis enveloping the sport at home.
Going overboard
In the sailing regatta, the Greek boat capsized on polluted Guanabara Bay, the Brazilians had a breakdown, and the Swiss crew of Matias Buhler and Nathalie Brugger won the first of the day’s three races. This marked the first time men and women have been on the same crews in Olympic sailing. It’s also the fastest Olympic class, and gives spectators a thrill when crews fly a hull.
Refugees lose, and win
Even defeat ultimately felt like victory for Yolande Bukasa and Popole Misenga.
The two refugees, originally from Congo, competed in judo and they showed that despite losing their country and their families, their spirit remained strong.
Bukasa went out in the first round after losing to 11th-seeded Linda Bolder of Israel.
After the match, which took under two minutes, Bukasa said she was joyful simply making it to the Rio Games.
‘‘I'm very happy even having lost, because I had the chance to fight at the Olympics,’’ she said. ‘‘Someday I think there will be a plaque commemorating the fact that I took part in the 2016 Olympics.’’
Misenga, 24, lost to world champion Donghan Gwak of South Korea.
