US wins its first rowing Olympic gold medal in the men’s four class since 1960

VAIRES-SUR-MARNE, France (AP) — When Liam Corrigan yelled out “red!” entering the final stages of the regatta, the rest of the American crew knew it was time to go hard.

They all gave it an extra push, picking up the pace just in time to fend off an attack from their rivals and secure the United States its first rowing gold medal in the men’s four class since 1960. It also was the first rowing gold for the U.S. at the Paris Olympics.

Corrigan, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Nick Mead won the elusive gold on Thursday by beating out New Zealand and defending world champion Britain.

“When you make that call, ‘red!,’ you see ‘red,’” Best said. “You put your bowball out in front, some of the bigger strokes that you take in the race. Liam made that call ‘red!’ and I went with him, and I know Nick went and I could see Brady going because he’s right in front of me.

“That was enough to kind of like double that move and take us into our sprint,” he said. “So it was pretty flawless execution on the call. And we trusted each other to all make that move together. And it was effective.”

The last time the U.S. men’s four had stood on the Olympic podium was in 2012 in London, where it won bronze.

All four Americans who got the gold on Thursday were at the Tokyo Games three years ago but left without any medals. Best, Mead and Corrigan finished fourth in the eight class and Grady finished fifth in the four.

The four rowers have been together since last season, winning silver at the world championships last year and gold at the world cup race in Lucerne earlier this year.

“It’s literally unbelievable,” Corrigan said. “I crossed the line, I thought I was going to have some kind of celebration, but I was just in disbelief, like my hands were on my head. It was just crazy.”

In the men’s double sculls, Ben Davison and Sorin Koszyk came up short of a medal, finishing fourth.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

United States' Michael Grady, Nick Mead, Liam Corrigan and Justin Best celebrate their gold medal in the men's four final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

United States' Liam Corrigan, from left, Michael Grady, Justin Best and Nick Mead celebrate gold during a medals ceremony for the men's four final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

United States' Michael Grady, Nick Mead, Liam Corrigan and Justin Best compete in the men's four final near New Zealand's Tom Murray, Logan Ullrich, Matt MacDonald and Ollie MacLean, front, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

United States' Liam Corrigan, from left, Michael Grady, Justin Best and Nick Mead pose with the gold during a medals ceremony for the men's four final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

United States' Liam Corrigan, from left, Michael Grady, Justin Best and Nick Mead celebrate gold during a medals ceremony for the men's four final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

United States' Michael Grady, Nick Mead, Liam Corrigan and Justin Best celebrate gold in the men's four final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

United States' Liam Corrigan, Michael Grady, Justin Best and Nick Mead celebrate gold during a medals ceremony for the men's four final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

United States' Michael Grady, Nick Mead, Liam Corrigan and Justin Best celebrate gold in the men's four final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday. In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters.

It’s been more than a year since Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 people captive inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its population of 2.3 million people.

In solidarity with Hamas, Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has exchanged cross-border fire with Israel almost daily for the past year. Israel escalated its campaign against the group in recent weeks.

Rumors circulated for weeks over head of the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Gen. Esmail Qaani’s status after an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September. But Qaani, the head of the Quds Force, was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

Here's the latest:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The funeral of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general killed alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah drew the largest crowd of top leaders in the paramilitary organization together Tuesday for the first time since Tehran launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel.

The Guard’s leadership hasn’t been as visible in the two weeks since Iran’s Oct. 1 attack on Israel. The Guard is the main power behind Iran’s theocracy and oversees its arsenal of ballistic missiles — which would be crucial in any future attack on Israel.

At the funeral in Tehran for Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, the Guard’s chief commander, Gen. Hossein Salami, attended alongside President Masoud Pezeshkian and the head of the country’s judiciary. Other Guard generals also attended, including Gen. Esmail Qaani of the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, about whom rumors had circulated for days regarding his status after the strike that killed Nasrallah.

At least two prominent Guard generals were not on hand: Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of Guard’s aerospace division that oversees its missile program, and Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, commander of the Guard’s navy, did not attend.

Iran offered no explanation for their absence, though Israel has threatened to carry out a serious retaliatory strike against Iran.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday.

A strike early Tuesday hit a house in the southern town of Beni Suhaila, killing at least 10 people from one extended family, according to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. The dead include three children and one woman, according to hospital records. An Associated Press camera operator at the hospital counted the bodies.

In the nearby town of Fakhari, a strike hit a house early Tuesday, killing five people, including three children and a woman, according to the European Hospital, where the casualties were taken.

The Israeli military rarely comments on individual strikes. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of sheltering in civilian areas.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — In northern Gaza, where Israel has been waging an air and ground campaign in Jabaliya for more than a week, residents said families were still trapped in their homes and shelters Tuesday.

Adel al-Deqes said his relatives tried to move to another place in Jabaliya in the morning, but the military shelled them.

“We don’t know who died and who is still alive,” he said.

Ahmed Awda, another Jabaliya resident, said they heard “constant bombing and gunfire” overnight and Tuesday morning. He said the military destroyed many buildings in the eastern and northern parts of the camp, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.

“They bombed many buildings; some of them empty buildings,” he said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The head of the expeditionary arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has appeared in television footage aired Tuesday by Iranian state television.

Rumors circulated for weeks over Gen. Esmail Qaani’s status in the time since an Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in late September. But Qaani, the head of the Quds Force, was seen in a black bomber jacket, wiping away tears at an event early Tuesday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport.

While Iranian state television did not acknowledge the rumors, it made a point to film Qaani for over a minute and later share the footage from the airport ceremony online.

Qaani was on hand for the repatriation to Iran of the body of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, 58, who was killed in the airstrike.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Australia’s government has imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on five Iranians contributing to the country’s missile defense program, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday.

Iran’s launch of at least 180 ballistic missiles against Israel on Oct. 1 was “a dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war,” Wong said in a statement.

The fresh sanctions target two directors and a senior official in Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, the director of the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, and the commercial director of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group.

The decision brings to 200 the number of Iran-linked individuals and entities now sanctioned by Australia.

“Australia will continue to hold Iran to account for its reckless and destabilizing actions,” Wong said.

People chant slogans during the funeral ceremony of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People and officials attend the funeral ceremony of the late Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, Gen. Esmail Qaani, mourns during the funeral ceremony of the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Abbas Nilforushan, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in late September, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Mourners carry the coffin of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' deputy commander Brigadier Gen. Abbas Nilforushan who died alongside Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut last month during his funeral in Karbala, Iraq, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli strike hit a tent area in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Pro-Israel protesters holds Israeli flags as demonstrators protest Israel's war against Hamas outside the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A displaced family fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sits next to their tent on Beirut's corniche, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Families fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south, sit in front of the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Mourners carry a picture of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral procession of their relatives, in Maisara near the northern coastal town of Byblos, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Palestinians look at the damage after an Israeli strike hit a tent area in the courtyard of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes on southern Gaza kill at least 15 people overnight

Middle East latest: Israeli strikes on southern Gaza kill at least 15 people overnight