东京——周日，在男子400米个人混合泳比赛中，动力强劲的美国队在奥运会泳池中夺得金牌。

其他人也有发光的空间。

东道主日本队获得了第一枚游泳金牌，突尼斯队也登上了领奖台。

卡利什是第一个获得东京奥运会奖牌的美国人，杰伊·利瑟兰获得了奖牌1比2的比分美国人在自由泳比赛中获得银牌。澳大利亚的布兰登·史密斯获得铜牌。

基兰·史密斯在400米自由泳中为美国男子获得另一枚铜牌。突尼斯的艾哈迈德·哈夫纳乌伊在第八跑道出人意料地获胜，而澳大利亚的杰克·麦克洛林在大部分比赛中领先后获得银牌。

美国妇女也尽了自己的一份力量。日本的Yui Ohashi凭借一条充满活力的蛙泳腿赢得了女子400米国际比赛的金牌，但紧随其后的是两名美国选手。

艾玛·韦扬获得银牌，铜牌被哈利·弗利金格获得。

总的来说，前九枚游泳奖牌中有五枚属于美国。

卡利什是奥运名将迈克尔·菲尔普斯的得意门生和前训练伙伴，他以4分9秒42的成绩获得第一名。利特兰以4分10秒28的成绩排名第二，仅领先于史密斯(4分10秒38)。

卡利什展示了他的肌肉，然后爬上泳道绳索，溅起水花，而他的一队队友在几乎空无一人的东京水上运动中心的看台上为他欢呼。

“美亚!“美国!”他们高呼。

卡利什是五年前里约奥运会激烈比赛的银牌得主。现在，27岁的他是世界上最擅长使用四种泳姿的人。

“那是最特殊的一种疼痛，”卡利什说。“我曾发誓，我会尽可能地让这种伤害最小化，并尽我最大的努力去实现它。”

利特兰走过来给了获胜者一个拥抱，确保了美国人在泳池有一个最好的开始。

“回来和蔡斯一起做这件事意义重大，”在里约400 IM比赛中获得第五名的利特兰说。

在一次蒙面的胜利仪式上，他们把自己的奖牌戴在脖子上后，卡利什和利特兰手挽手在甲板上走来走去。

他们没有社交距离。

日本名将濑户大也在预赛中以第九名的成绩完赛，在试图为奖牌争夺战节省体力时犯了一个战术错误，结果令人震惊地未能晋级决赛，美国人抓住了这次机会。

总决赛在东京时间上午举行，而不是他们通常的晚间时段，这是对美国电视网NBC的肯定，NBC希望在美国黄金时间直播总决赛。

这与2008年北京奥运会使用的形式相同，当时菲尔普斯创纪录地获得了8枚金牌。他在里约奥运会后退役，总共获得了23枚金牌，但美国人在后菲尔普斯时代仍然有足够的明星影响力。

在游泳池的另一边，哈夫纳乌伊和奥西·梅鲁利一起获得了来自北非国家突尼斯的金牌。

哈夫纳乌伊以43:43.26触球，随后是麦克洛林(3:43.52)和史密斯(3:43.94)。

“我拼命冲刺最后50分，好像这是一次50分的自由，”史密斯说。“这真是一场有趣的比赛。”

Ohashi帮助弥补了濑户在男子即时通讯中的失败。她以4:32.08获胜。

韦亚特在自由泳比赛中紧追不舍，但以4分32秒76的成绩获得银牌。弗利金格以4分34秒90的成绩获得第三名，而卫冕冠军匈牙利名将卡廷卡·霍斯苏则退居第五。

“在我们看到(卡利什和利特兰1-2)之后，我们有点面面相觑，说，‘轮到我们了，’”韦扬特说。“我认为这真的让我们的团队前进。”

在15000个座位的竞技场看台上，只有媒体、贵宾、官员和游泳运动员周日没有参加比赛。有时气氛异常安静，尽管许多人无视日本组织者的要求，不要发出任何欢呼来帮助阻止新冠肺炎病毒的传播。

看台上有一面鼓，还有几个角来增加气氛。

在第一场比赛前，扬声器播放了英国乐队巴士底狱的歌曲“庞贝”，其中包括歌词“但是如果你闭上眼睛，感觉几乎没有什么变化吗?”

泳池里，一切如常。但在一届因全球大流行而推迟一年的奥运会上，这种感觉确实发生了很大变化，最终在严格的限制下举行，包括禁止所有球迷入场。

当游泳运动员前往甲板参加东京奥运会的第一场游泳决赛时，记分牌上显示了通过视频链接观看世界各地比赛的球迷的蒙太奇。

US starts off strong with 3 swim medals, including 1st gold

TOKYO -- Chase Kalisz led a medal haul by the powerhouse American team at the Olympic pool, taking gold Sunday in the men’s 400-meter individual medley.

There was room for others to shine, as well.

Host Japan claimed its first swimming gold, and Tunisia also got a stint atop the medal podium.

Kalisz was the first U.S, medal winner of the Tokyo Games, and Jay Litherland made ita 1-2 finishfor the Americans by rallying on the freestyle leg to claim the silver. Brendon Smith of Australia earned the bronze.

Kieran Smith grabbed another medal for the American men with bronze in the 400 freestyle. Tunisia's Ahmed Hafnaoui was the surprising winner from lane eight, while Australia's Jack McLoughlin settled for silver after leading much of the race.

The American women also did their part. Japan's Yui Ohashi won gold in the women's 400 IM with a dynamic breaststroke leg, but two Americans were right in her wake.

Emma Weyant earned the silver, while the bronze went to Hali Flickinger.

In all, five of the first nine swimming medals went to the U.S.

Kalisz, a protégé and former training partner of Olympic great Michael Phelps, touched first in 4 minutes, 9.42 seconds. Litherland was next in 4:10.28, just ahead of Smith (4:10.38).

Kalisz flexed his muscles and then climbed atop the lane rope, splashing the water while a contingent of his teammates cheered him from the stands of the nearly empty Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

“U-S-A! U-S-A!” they chanted.

Kalisz was the silver medalist in the grueling event at the Rio Games five years ago. Now, at age 27, he's the best in the world at using all four strokes.

“That one was the most special type of pain,” Kalisz said. “I had vowed that I was going to make that hurt as much as possible and give my absolute best to accomplish this.”

Litherland came over to give the winner a hug, having ensured the Americans got off to the best possible start at the pool.

“To come back and do this with Chase means a lot,” said Litherland, who finished fifth in the 400 IM at Rio.

After putting their own medals around their necks during a masked-up victory ceremony, Kalisz and Litherland walked around the deck arm-in-arm.

No social distancing for them.

The Americans seized their chance after Japanese star Daiya Seto stunningly failed to advance to the final, having finished ninth in the preliminaries after making a tactical error attempting to save his energy for the medal race.

The finals were held in the morning Tokyo time rather than their usual evening slot, a nod to U.S. television network NBC, which wanted to show the finals live in prime time back in America.

That was the same format used at the 2008 Beijing Games, where Phelps won a record eight gold medals. He retired after Rio, having captured 23 gold medals overall, but the Americans still have plenty of star power for the post-Phelps era.

From the far edge of the pool, Hafnaoui joined Ous Mellouli as a gold medalist from the north African country of Tunisia.

Hafnaoui touched in 43:43.26, followed by McLoughlin (3:43.52) and Smith (3:43.94).

“I sprinted my butt off the last 50 like it was a 50 free,” Smith said. “It was a really fun race.”

Ohashi helped to make up for Seto's flop in the men's IM. She pulled away in the breast to win 4:32.08.

Weyant gave chase in the freestyle leg but settled for silver in 4:32.76. Flickinger was third in 4:34.90, while Hungarian great Katinka Hosszu, the defending champion, faded to fifth.

“After we saw (Kalisz and Litherland go 1-2), we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘It’s our turn,’” Weyant said. “I think that really got our team going.”

The only people in the stands of the 15,000-seat arena were media, VIPs, officials and swimmers who weren’t competing Sunday. It was an eerily quiet atmosphere at times, though many ignored requests by Japanese organizers to refrain for any sort of cheering to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

There was a drum in the stands, as well as a few horns to spice things up.

In a striking touch before the first race, the loudspeakers blared the song “Pompeii” by the British band Bastille, which includes the lyrics, “But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?”

In the pool, it was business at usual. But it certainly felt like plenty had changed in an Olympics that were delayed a year by a worldwide pandemic and are finally being staged under tight restrictions that included a ban on all fans.

A montage of fans watching around the world via video links were shown on the scoreboard as the swimmers headed to the deck for the first swimming final of the Tokyo Games.