Games tidbits

GOLF

Stenson encounters a hazard with bite

Henrik Stenson has mastered the toughest layouts golf can offer, navigated sand traps and water hazards. But he elevated his course skills to a new level on Saturday by taking on a small crocodile.

The world No 5 from Sweden, the highest-ranked player at the Games thanks to withdrawals by the top four, took a poke at a caiman in a water hazard on the 10th hole during the third round of the tournament.

Stenson was walking up the 10th fairway when he took a detour to the edge of nearby water to view a caiman. He decided to prod the creature with his club, aided by the fact it was facing away from him, before continuing his stroll.

"A little tickle with a lob wedge," Stenson said. "I thought it could handle that."

A full-sized croc has been seen in the area, but so far it has decided not to become a prominent spectator at the first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years.

Still, it's not as if the smaller specimens lack bite.

"If it had been twice the size, then you probably need to go into the longer irons," Stenson said. "He wasn't too big. He was facing the right way for me."

Stenson went on to birdie the par-5 10th to stand one stroke behind leader Justin Rose of Britain entering the final round.

DIVING

Russian's splashdown amounts to nothing

Russian diver Nadezhda Bazhina landed flat on her back during the 3m springboard competition, achieving the dubious distinction of scoring a rare 0.0.

The sad thing is that Bazhina was on course to qualify for Sunday's final before splashing out. As she came down for her final spring off the board, her left foot almost missed it completely, throwing her off balance. Recovery would have been all but impossible in a sport where the slightest mistake can doom a dive.

SOCCER

Aussie loses bearings trying to quench thirst

New Zealand media wasted no time in lambasting an Australian soccer player who mistakenly tried to drink from the wrong end of a water bottle.

The Stuff news website highlighted Lisa De Vanna's gaffe with a video of the incident, when a teammate grabbed the bottle and turned it the right way round for her. "How many Aussies does it take to use a drink bottle? More than one apparently," the report said.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Backwards logic caps Briton's effort

Showboating British weightlifter Sonny Webster claimed a unique Olympic record on Saturday in the 94kg.

"There's only one record I broke today - the first man to ever compete in the Olympics with a hat on backwards," he said.

"I always wear it that way because if I hit it off, which happens sometimes when I have it on the other way, it would be a no lift," he added.

The 22-year-old Englishman delighted a 4,000-strong crowd with his theatrics, confidently swaggering up to the barbell and then lifting it - all with his baseball cap facing backwards.

"If it's the only record I broke, it's a good one," he said afterward.

Webster, competing in his first Games, lifted 148kg in the snatch and 185kg in the clean and jerk for a combined total of 333kg and sixth place in Group B.

RUGBY

Staggering loss for Down Under squad

Australian rugby players took their post-competition partying a little too far, according to a report.

Australia's Fairfax Media said the team "staggered into the athletes' village at around 9 am on Saturday, much to the bemusement of team officials".

It was a day to forget for the Aussies, who also had chef de mission Kitty Chiller to contend with. "Yes, I read them the riot act," Chiller was quoted as saying.

Australia was knocked out of the Olympic tournament in the quarterfinals by South Africa.

TENNIS

Puerto Rico's Puig at a loss for words

Monica Puig, Puerto Rico's first Olympic gold medalist, wept through her country's national anthem before admitting she didn't know all the words.

Puig, 22, defeated Germany's Angelique Kerber 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the women's singles final on Saturday.

But having lived in Florida since her childhood, the new Olympic champion struggled with the words to La Borinquena.

"My dad emailed me the lyrics, but I didn't really have time to memorize them," said the San Juan-born player who is a long-term Miami resident.

"I heard people singing and I was choking up. I heard the words. I would have started singing if I wasn't choking."

BOXING

Mincronesian puts Wall Street on hold

A boxer put her career on Wall Street on hold to pursue her dream of representing tiny Micronesia at the Games.

Jennifer Chieng lost by a unanimous points decision to US medal hope Mikaela Mayer in their lightweight bout on Friday, the first day of women's boxing in Rio.

But Chieng, 30, a mother who lives in Brooklyn and who took a sabbatical from her job in Manhattan so she could box full time, said she had no regrets.

"I used to be in finance, but I wanted to give my boxing career a serious go, especially when the Olympics was an option, so I switched over to boxing full time," said Chieng, whose mother is from the Philippines and her father Micronesian.

Asked if she planned to resume her day job, Chieng said: "I'm on sabbatical. People ask me if I'm going to return after my Olympic run. I say 'maybe', but I'm having too much fun."

Chieng is the first female boxer from Micronesia to compete at an Olympic Games.