Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin win 100m heats

Usain Bolt moseyed out of the starting blocks and cruised to a win in his 100-meter heat; Justin Gatlin pounced at the gun and ran the fastest time of the first round.

Assuming there aren’t any major upsets they will race in one of the most anticipated events of the 2016 Olympics, the 100m final, about 90 minutes later. He’s still a favorite for an unprecedented third straight gold, despite a sore hamstring that forced him from the world championships last month.

Only American Justin Gatlin (10.01), Youssef Meite of Ivory Coast (10.03) and Canadian Andre de Grasse (10.04) went faster.

Others in the mix include Andrew Fisher, a Jamaican who competes for Bahrain, Jamaican Yohan Blake, Americans Marvin Bracy and Trayvon Bromell and Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre. “I’m not used to running this early in the morning in any championships”. He also said the London Games were his last four years ago only to change his mind.

The goal is to pump in almost 1 million gallons of clean water before the synchronized swimming competition takes place Sunday – and even if everything goes right, they will finish barely four hours before it begins. Competition in the finals should include Americans Allyson Felix and Phyllis Francis. Oh wait – this week it’s at the Olympics for the first time since 1904.

Britain’s women’s team pursuit cyclists set a sizzling world record and Juan Martin del Potro won a thriller with Rafael Nadal to reach the men’s tennis final.

Two other members of the “Final Five” will attempt to add to their medal haul. Gabby Douglas, the Olympic all-around champion in 2012, is also in the final, as is defending Olympic uneven bars champion Aliya Mustafina of Russian Federation.

Usain Bolt has won gold in the 100 and 200 meters in each of the past two Olympics.

In tennis, Andy Murray shrugged off a code violation for directing the word “stupid” at the umpire to crush Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-4 and move one win away from becoming the first player to win back-to-back Olympic singles titles.

If this was indeed the end, then Phelps went out in style, with 28 medals overall, having won five golds and a silver in Rio de Janeiro. Play begins at 7 a.m. on the way to the awarding of golf’s first Olympic medals since 1904.

The first leg of the relay, the backstroke, turned out to be a world-record time by American Ryan Murphy, and that pushed the USA team toward an Olympic record time for the complete race. The Americans were out of synch Friday against Canada, but turned up the defense and still won. Australia’s Marcus Fraser is three shots behind Rose on the par-71 course.

Muslim-American Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first U.S. Olympian to wear a hijab during competition, won a bronze medal in the women’s team sabre event as the U.S. beat Italy, 45-30, to clinch third place and the first fencing medal in Rio for the American women.

Phelps ended his Olympic career with 23 gold medals in the vault.

WRESTLING WITH WRESTLING?: It looked like a new sport when the wrestlers took the mat.

The world’s oldest sport underwent major changes after being forced to apply for reinstatement to the International Olympic Committee in 2013.

Matches now feature two 3-minute periods with cumulative scoring, a move created to stop wrestlers from sitting on a lead as they often did under the old best-of-three format.