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Lights go out during Team USA vs. Japan men's volleyball game in 2024 Olympics

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber08/02/24
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Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

Team USA and Japan didn’t last too long in their men’s volleyball match on Friday before the lights in the arena went off suddenly, causing a short blackout before play resumed.

The Americans got out to a quick but small lead in the first set, and the teams hadn’t even reached 20 total points in the set when the lights flickered and shut off. After a few moments, the lights returned and the arena was re-lit as play restarted promptly. But for a few seconds, everyone was in the dark.

Take a look at the moment the light vanished in the USA Men’s Volleyball game:

Here was a view of the arena full of phone flashlights as darkness absorbed the building:

Sha’Carri Richardson comes out HOT

By On3’s Nikki Chavanelle

While volleyballl continues indoors, events on the track are getting started, and one American woman is out to a blazing start in her first Olympic games.

Former LSU star Sha’Carri Richardson dominated her heat in the prelims at the Paris Olympics on Friday, clocking a 10.94-second 100m dash. The sprint champion at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Richardson was less than a half-second shy of the world record time of 10.49 seconds.

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Racing in lane six, she had no trouble edging out her heat mates to qualify for the next round. Only two other sprinters posted 100m dash times quicker than Richardson’s in the first round. Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Cote D’Ivoire posted a 10.87, while Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price had a 10.92.

Richardson is being billed as one of the biggest stars of the Olympics, which start next month in Paris. However, she needed to make the team to step into and embrace that role. This time three years ago, she won the Trials, enchanting fans with her personality and style. But she saw that opportunity disappear when she tested positive for marijuana. She was suspended for four weeks. The suspension included the track competition at the Tokyo Olympics.

She pulled herself up from that devastating mistake and won last year’s world title. With the time she most recently ran, Richardson is considered the favorite to take gold over the Jamaican contenders.