Saya Sakakibara of Australia wins Olympic gold in BMX racing at the Paris Games

MONTIGNY-LE-BRETONNEUX, France (AP) — Saya Sakakibara seriously thought about giving up BMX racing a few years ago. She had suffered a concussion in a crash during the Tokyo Olympics, then had another within the year, and it became impossible not to start thinking about her brother.

Kai Sakakibara had to retire from racing in 2020 after sustaining a serious brain injury at a World Cup event.

“I was really not enjoying it,” Saya Sakakibara said. “After the second concussion, I really thought that was the end for me.”

She had been riding so well before Tokyo, though, that she couldn't help but think of what might have been. So she decided to push on to Paris, knowing full well that if she put everything together at the right time, she was good enough for gold.

It happened on Friday night at the BMX course just outside the city.

Sakakibara beat American rider Alise Willoughby to the first corner and was never tested again, cruising through the jumps and bumps to the top step of the podium. Manon Veenstra of the Netherlands was second and Zoe Claessens of Switzerland third.

Sakakibara’s partner, Romain Mahieu, won bronze earlier in the night to complete a French sweep of the men’s podium.

“After Tokyo,” Sakakibara said, "I think that concussion was probably the start of kind of that emotional roller coaster that I had, and maybe up until that I point I hadn't really revisited or dealt with the emotions that I had after Kai's accident.

“But reflecting back on Tokyo, before the crash I was doing pretty good, and I think there was that burning desire of what could have been. And if i gave it all up then, I would be very, very disappointed that I didn't give it another crack."

Willoughby, a three-time world champion, was shuffled back after the first corner in the finals and finished sixth. Bethany Shriever of Britain, the reigning Olympic champion, was never in the medal mix and finished last in the eight-rider finals.

“It was a tough one. Tough one to swallow,” said Willoughby, whose only medal in four Olympics remains the silver she won in 2016 in Rio. “Just disappointed, obviously, but chin still up, you know?”

The opening heats, which concluded just as a thunderstorm drenched the covered BMX track adjacent to National Velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on Thursday night, were dominated by the three riders considered the medal favorites.

That would be Sakakibara, Shriever and Willoughby, who has won just about everything in her career but Olympic gold.

If there was another favorite, it was Mariana Pajon of Colombia — and she had a much more difficult time.

The two-time Olympic champion and reigning silver medalist failed to finish better than fifth in any of her three heats. That left Pajon to race the dreaded last-chance qualifier. She won, but the extra race may have taken a bit out of her legs.

Shriever and Sakakibara swept each of their semifinal runs, but Willoughby found herself in trouble.

She finished second to Sakakibara in her first run before getting shuffled back to seventh in her second, leaving Willoughby the first rider on the outside with one semifinal to go. She was solidly in second until the final straight when Claessens pulled next to her, but Willoughby used a bike-throw at the line to take second place in a photo finish.

That helped to give her the points necessary to make the finals. It came at the expense of Pajon, who tied with Axelle Etienne of France for the last spot but lost out on the tiebreaker.

Then in the finals, Sakakibara showed that she was the class of the field.

Veenstra and Claessens made for a pair of surprises standing alongside her on the podium.

“I didn't really do great in the semis, and I was just like, ‘OK, go full gas,’” Claessens said. “I'll pick the outside, go full gas and it worked out, and I'm very happy.”

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

Saya Sakakibara of Australia crosses the finish line to win the gold medal in a BMX racing event, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Saya Sakakibara of Australia, left, is congratulated by bronze medal's winner Romain Mahieu of France after the BMX men's and women's racing events at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Saya Sakakibara of Australia, left, and Merel Smulders of Netherlands compete in a BMX racing event, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Saya Sakakibara of Australia celebrates clinching the gold medal in a BMX racing event, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Saya Sakakibara of Australia races to win the gold medal in a BMX racing event, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Saya Sakakibara of Australia, centre, bites her gold medal of the women's BMX, flanked by silver medallist Manon Veenstra of Netherlands, left, and bronze medallist Zoe Claessens of Switzerland, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Bronze medallist Romain Mahieu of France, left, poses with gold medallist Saya Sakakibara of Australia, after the men's and women's BMX racing events, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Romain Mahieu of France, winner of the bronze medal in the men's race, hugs women's gold medallist Saya Sakakibara of Australia, following the BMX racing events, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein faces mounting legal and health troubles some seven years after scores of women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him, helping launch the global #MeToo movement.

On Thursday, he was indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial this fall. The grand jury decision remains sealed until he is formally arraigned in court.

Weinstein has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

Meanwhile, the 72-year-old remains hospitalized following emergency heart surgery — just the latest in an assortment of medical ailments that have cropped up while in custody.

Here’s a recap of where things stand:

In April, New York's highest court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges, ruling that the trial judge had unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.

A new trial was ordered and the tentative start date is Nov. 12.

One of the two accusers in that case has said she is prepared to testify against Weinstein again, but it remains to be seen if the other accuser will also take the stand once more.

Weinstein had been sentenced to 23 years in prison for that conviction.

Earlier this month, prosecutors disclosed that a Manhattan grand jury had reviewed evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein.

They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.

It is unclear when Weinstein will be formally charged on those allegations, given his current health condition. The next court hearing ahead of the retrial is slated for Sept. 18.

It is also unclear how the additional allegations will factor in the retrial. Prosecutors want to include the new charges in the retrial, but Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, saying it should be a separate case.

In 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and another sexual misconduct count after a one-month trial in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

During the trial, a woman testified that Weinstein appeared uninvited at her hotel room during the LA Italia Film Festival in 2013 and that Weinstein became sexually aggressive after she let him in.

Weinstein’s lawyers appealed the conviction in June, arguing the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence that the Italian model and actor had a sexual relationship with the film festival director at the time of the alleged attack.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced Sept. 5 that it had decided to drop two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.’’

In 2022, the agency authorized London’s Metropolitan Police Service to file the charges against Weinstein over an alleged incident that occurred in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the announcement.

Weinstein also faces several lawsuits brought by women accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Among the latest is one from actor Julia Ormond, who starred opposite Brad Pitt in “Legends of the Fall” and Harrison Ford in “Sabrina.” She filed the lawsuit last year in New York accusing Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1995 and then hindering her career.

The majority of lawsuits against Weinstein were brought to a close through a 2021 settlement as part of the bankruptcy of his former film company, The Weinstein Co. The agreement included a victims’ fund of about $17 million for some 40 women who sued him.

Weinstein’s lawyers have regularly raised concerns about his worsening health since being taken into custody following his 2020 conviction.

During his appearances in Manhattan court, he’s regularly transported in a wheelchair and his lawyers say he suffers from macular degeneration and diabetes that’s worsened due to the poor jailhouse diet.

Weinstein’s pericardiocentesis surgery last week was to drain fluid around his heart. His lawyers say his medical regimen causes him to retain water and that he must be constantly monitored to ensure the fluid buildup isn’t deadly.

A judge has granted his request to remain at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital indefinitely instead of being transferred back to the infirmary ward at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges

A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges

FILE — Harvey Weinstein appears for a pretrial hearing in Manhattan criminal court, July 19, 2024, in New York. (Adam Gray/Pool Photo via AP, File)