so instead of drawing hundreds of fans,ou o keep the lights on. he said, i can't sleep, wondering if i'll be able to p e favored cancelling or postponing the olympics, the opening ceremony jrue unusually strong viewership here, the highest for any olympics since the first tokyo games in 1964. japan's early neville hall has helped drive up interest here. the student who may not get a vaccine reservation for months, said she feels torn between pandemic anxiety and wanting to be a good sport. she said, we got to the point where it was too late to cancel the olympics. i think people became resigned to it. it feels like there was no choice. at this major tokyo hospital, the delta variant now

accounts for 70% of all cases, arillingp the wa hospital direcr dr. hiranori sugara said the olympics is partly to blame. even though spectators have been banned at olympic events, crowds are gathering outside venues, so we can assume cases will rise, he said. spiraling cases could force them to start turning away patients. with cases spiking, and beds filling up, medical system collapse is a real possibility, he said. japanese authorities argue that with most senior citizens here now fully vaccinated and more people staying at home, the risk to public health is lower than in the past. cancelling the olympics, they say, is not on the table. lucy craft, tokyo. also in tokyo, the u.s. olympics swim team continues to collect medals. despite having one of the youngest rostersn 1 ofhewiero the

teenn jam jamie yuccas has their story. >> reporter: they are certainly not swimming like it. one of the most decorated o olympians in american history tells us the inexperience might actually be an advantage. and all these teens, including 17-year-old from alaska, might be helping prove her point. >> lydia jacoby, the 17-year-old. alaska has an olympic gold medallist. >> reporter: here in tokyo -- >> going to win gold for the united states. >> reporter: usa swimming picked up -- >> and the americans can celebrate gold. >> reporter: right where it left off five summers ago. but this team looks a lot different t different than it did in rio. a gold medal has been put around michael ' neck. he retired.

ryan lochte failed to qualify. and she retired following a shoulder injury. >> it was just like in shock and no idea what was going on. >> it will be france taking the 16-year-old. >> reporter: that's opened the door for american talent including 15-year-old katie grimes. she's one of 11 teenagers on the team and the youngest athlete representing the united states here in tokyo. grimes tells us she used the time during the pandemic to train harder. >> to work on things, you know, glass half full. i got to train and be prepared for the trials. who knows, maybe i wouldn't have made the team if it happened when it was supposed to. >> reporter: for 63% of the swimmers on this team have never been to the games before. it's not just the youth. it's the inexperience. >>orte in 19, and not yet a senior in

dara torres won gold with team usa. torres would go on to collect 12 olympic medals, becoming the first american swimmer to appear in five olympic games. what are some of the benefits of having so many young swimmers? >> you know, when you go to olympic games, it's the biggest event you've ever been to. all the best athletes in the world are going to be there. with that being said, there's no spectators. there's no crowd. and when you're at an olympic games like that, you feed off the atmosphere. so going into an empty arena might actually work to an advantage to the younger kids because there's not as much pressure. >> reporter: here in tokyo, grimes will swim the 800 free style. alongside superstar teammate katie ledecky. >> she's only 18 years of age. >> reporter: now 24, one gold in the event at the rio olympics in 2016 and made a golden debut in london in 2012 and only 15 years old, the same age as grimes. >> she's been so welcoming.

she's so incredibly kind. and with me being the same age that she was when she made it, i think that she can really relate to me on a lot of things that i'm probably going through and she's such an awesome person. i feel glad to be her teammate and go through this with her. >> reporter: women support women. katie grimes and katie ledecky will race this week in the prelims for the 800 free style. they will be racing in the same heat only two lanes apart from one another. the final will come on saturday. as for that other usa swimming we've been talking to you about, caleb drexel, he already has one medal and is hoping to reach the finals in in both the 50 and 100 free events he is favored in. jamie yuccas at the games in tokyo. half a world away, a small town in england is being credited with inspiring the modern olympic movement 170 years ago. this will town in england has a

big sporting history. it all started with the town's doctor william brooks who worried residents were out of shape. >> he said, we can put on games and get people to get fit so they can compete in these games. >> reporte s in 1850, he created the winlock olympian games. >> you can see there is a program here listing all the events, one, two, three days. >> reporter: back then events were a bit different with athletes racing penny farthing bicycles. >> he started his campaign to revive the modern olympic movement. >> reporter: the winlock games had medals as well as opening ceremonies. >> they had a procession in the town. you couldn't take part in the games if you didn't take part in this procession. >> reporter: in 2012 the london olympics paid tribute to brooks' vision with a torch through the town even naming the mascot after winlock. with the olympic flame now

passed to tokyo, spare a thought for the small-town doctor who changed history. ian lee, cbs news, london. the "cbs overnight news" will be right back. new klondike cones. experience the chocolate tip. examine the full sauce core. bask in a downpour of peanuts. ♪

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mo rocca spo wthe invto of the super soaker. >> this is pvc pipe. this is a coke bottle. >> reporter: this is a coke bottle. >> right. when you pull the trigger, you let the water come out of the bottle and out through the nozzle. >> reporter: when inventor lonnie johnson was designing this toy -- okay, wow. got it. he had no idea what a splash it would make. >> 1,000 packs of full force blast from first shot to last. >> reporter: since the super soaker hit store shelves in the early 1990s, it's racked up more than $1 billion in sales. >> my turn! >> reporter: when johnson was growing up in mobile, alabama, he played with everything, including fire. >> one of my fondest memories actually was when i was mixing rocket fuel in my mother's

kitchen. smoke was spewing out of the pipe. my parents realized what had happened. they told me that i would have to mix my rocket fuel outside from now on. >> reporter: so they just simply admonished you. lonnie, please stop using this as a launch pad. >> reporter: the fuse was lit, and in 1968 he entered a statewide high school science competition with his very own robot. >> it took me over a year to build him, and he wasll remote controlled. >> reporter: he took first place. after earning his masters in nuclear engineering, johnson landed at nasa's legendary jet propulsion laboratory. the most powerful water gun ever. but it was while he was at home in his bathroom trying to design a new kind of water pump that he had a happy accident. >> i was watching what was happening and just kind of turned the water across the bathroom into the bathtub and i said to myself, this would make

a really neat water gun. >> reporter: the super soaker was born. whoa! i'm having a little trouble seeing, but it doesn't matter. johnson then turned his engineering eye on the nerf gun. right in the lip! the success of johnson's work with toys has allowed him to pursue more serious projects at his lab in atlanta. >> so, conceivably one day this technology could be used as a wearable garment that would charge your cell phone. >> reporter: this one called the j-tack is an ambitious project johnson hopes one day allows the conversion of heat into electricity. >> press the button. >> reporter: lonnie johnson was inducted into the alabama engineering hall of fame in 2011. was your mother there when you were inducted into that hal? >>yes.

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earlier this week, i paid a visit to potomac, maryland, just outside washington. some students there took up the challenge to help a disabled man bond with his newborn baby. the result was a life-changing invention. when phoenix king was born four months ago, his parents, jeremy and chelsea, faced a difficult road ahead. >> my husband jeremy had brain surgery just over three years ago to remove a brain tumor which left him with some physical challenges and physical disabilities. >> one big question, how he safely take phoenix for a walk. chelsea, a teacher at a private school in maryland, contacted the head of the school's technology lab. he presented the challenge to his students, including jacob

and ibenka who both hope to study astro physics in college. what was the best part about coming up with this design and seeing that it worked? >> just seeing the ssn rac work >> yeah. >> the we stroll as they call it won two international design awards. >> pull it nice and taut. >> this is nice and is secure. >> they put cinder blocks in it. >> for jeremy it's a god send. >> i never thought i'd be able to do something like this. thankfully, i feel wonderful. i feel like -- ecstatic. >> ecstatic over the simple pleasure of taking a stroll with his family. the students designed and created the we stroll in just four months, and they delivered the prototype to the parents just days after baby phoenix was born. bravo to them. the "cbs overnight news" will be right back.

>> joe: and that is and that's the overnight news for this thursday. for some of you the news continues. check back later. and follow cbs news online at cbsnews.com. from the nation's capital, i'm chip reid. it's thursday, july 29th, 2021. this is the "cbs morning news." stopping the surge. president biden is set to unveil a new strategy to fight the rise in coronavirus cases as more u.s. companies change their own policies. the world waits. still no decision if simone biles will continue to compete at the olympics. her newest message to supporters. scorched earth. the governors of california and nevada toured damage from a ssie ea ad a devaing ea ad a devaing fire season. captioning funded by cbs good morning.

good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. we begin w