That, then is us. Thanks again for your company, and we’ll be back with you in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Peace out.
And of course that thing that’s always coming but never arrives will soon be upon us – or not. Either way, just seven-and-a-half hours from now, the marathon race walk mixed relay gets going. Then there’s the women’s golf, a bunch of taekwondo, canoeing, climbing, and such, with the women’s 100m hurdles and men’s 5000m heats also going down – among other things.
The men’s 800m heats, for example, and the women’s speed cycling final. Actually, there’s loads of cycling in various guises, including the team pursuit final at 5.33pm BST – GB are in that one. And the big track and field finals in the evening are the women’s pole vault, the men’s discus, the men’s 400m – feat. Matthew Hudson-Smith of GB, the fastest man in the world this year – and the men’s 3000m steeplechase.
And so, so much more.
So I guess that’s another lifetime in the books. Cole Hocker of USA, not Josh Kerr of GB or Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, won the men’s 1500m in a terrific race; Winfred Yavi of Bahrain set a new Olympic record winning the women’s 3000m steeplechase; Gabby Thomas of USA took the women’s 200m; Kellie Harrington Ireland retained her women’s lightweight boxing title; and Brazil will play USA in the final of the women’s football. I hate to keep going on, but it’s been wondrous, again.
Who doesn’t love a good celebration? And this is a belter. Harrington had a tricky childhood, discovered boxing, and now look. She is the happiest person in the world right now.
Harrington is tearful and she’s overcome, praying, laughing, crying. “Feel the magic in the air” pumps out of the PA and Harrington can feel it alright, dancing, skipping and jumping. This is beautiful to behold.
Kellie Harrington of Ireland beats Yang Wenlu of China in the women's 60kg boxing final to win gold!
For the second Olympics in a row! History! What an absurd achievement!
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“Kellie, Kellie, Kellie!” chant the crowd. She could ride this out, and she takes some shots looking to stick and move, but with 30 seconds to go, Kellie Harrington looks certain to retain her Olympic title!
Harrington takes the round on all but one of the cards, but Yang’s come out quickly at the start of round two. Harrington, though, lands a body-shot, but then wears a couple. She smiles and, as the cliche goes, that’s a sure sign she felt it. Oh, and then Harrington turns Yang’s chin with an overhand right! That might be the best punch of the fight and she again wins on the cards. Yang needs astoppage to win.
Yang lands a good right, then a hook to the body, and it’s more even now as we near the end of round one, but Harrington finishes with a lovely backhand and I reckon she'll be in front with the judges.
We’ve brought you so much Lympics today that my page is barely running, so please bear with me. But as the crowd cheer her on, Harrington lands a smart overhand, and is shading the exchanges.
It’s Kellie Harrington time! The defending champ is about to get going against Yang Wenlu and the arena are behind her. Here we go!
Some football housekeeping: the men’s bronze-medal match between Egypt and Morocco will be on Thursday at 4pm BST; Germany meet Spain in the women’s equivalent at 4pm on Friday. The men’s final, France v Spain, and women’s final, USA v Brazil, are 6pm Friday and 4pm Saturday respectively.
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Liu of China has beaten Chen of Taipai and will meet Khelif in the final of the women’s 66kg boxing.
USA have beaten Brazil 122-87 in the quarter-finals of the men’s basketball. They meet Serbia next – don’t miss that – while France meet Germany in the other semi.
“Watching in Spain,” writes Cameron Abbey, “they look out on their feet and have done all game. Mentally and physically exhausted, they basically haven’t stopped in any sense since winning the World Cup, and carrying a ton of pressure on top of all that. They just didn’t have anything left to give, and it showed.”
Yup, I’m, sure that’s part of it. The schedule is nuts, the expectation is huge, and their opponents might never play that well again – that’s what it takes to beat them. They remain brilliant.
Brazil beat Spain 4-2 and will play USA in the final of the women's football
I don’t know when Spain last lost, but it was a long time ago. Brazil, though, were almost perfect tonight, and if they play like that again, they can beat USA – who weren’t great against Germany.
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USA now lead Brazil 119-85 in the men’s basketball; we’ve 0.43 left. Meantime, Paralluelo has just missed a chance for her hat-trick, sliding in and missing contact by a fraction. This is almost over, and taking a corner – which comes to nowt – Bonmati looks tearful. She’ll not have expected this.
Paralluelo scores her second, Spain making first contact with a corner, a header at the back of the box allowing her to shoot, and though her first effort is blocked, the rebound falls kindly and she punches home a livener from close range. We’ve got a minimum of three minutes of added time left, and it’s Brazil 4-2 Spain.
That second 66kg semi is up next, and after it a late-night treat: Wenlu Yang of China takes on Kellie Harrington of Ireland in final of the women’s 60kg lightweight division.
Back to the basketball, USA lead Brazil 109-78 with 4.25 of Q4 remaining.
Imane Khelif of Algeria beats Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand to reach the final of the women's 66kg boxing
She was far too good, and doesn’t she enjoy the moment! She;’s guaranteed at least a silver and faces either Nien Chin Chen of Taipei of Liu Yang of China for gold.
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Khelif and Suwannapheng are now deep into the third, and a barrage from the Algerian leaves her opponent facing a standing count. This is over, failing a knockout, and the crowd, full of Algerians, go wild – wilder – at the final bell.
If Coll was raging then, she’ll be incandescing now! She’s just been megged by Kerolin, who charges down a clearance, runs through, steadies, and slots. Brazil lead Spain 4-1 and though there’ll be 15 minutes added on, this is surely over! The Spain keeper has had better nights.
Brazil almost make it 4-1, then there’s a minor row between Coll and Gabi Porthilo in the discussions which follow after the latter obstructs the former trying to start a counter.
Ah, telly give the goal to Salma Paralluelo … and then Putellas hits the bar! Otherwise, it’s tight in the boxing, Khelif – with the arena well behind her – having the better of round one, taking it on all the cards.
With six minutes to go, an own goal gives Spain the tease of a sniff! Brazil lead 3-1!
Back to the basketball, USA now lead Brazil 91-64 in the third. But we’re back to the boxing, where Khelif will take on Janjaem Suwannapheng in the women’s 66kg semis.
We did Josh Kerr’s Eurosport interview but were then overtaken with amazing athletics, so let’s catch up with his BBC edition. He stated his goal but he can’t be disappointed. He controlled his controllables, ran the best physical and tactical 1500m of his life, and if you spend your life worrying about what everyone else does, you’ll never be satisfied. Not unlike Alexander Hamilton in that regard.
He’s still working towards the gold – he’s improved from bronze to silver – at 26, he’s still got time, and he wants it even more now.
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“I realise that nothing unsettles a team like going down early to a ridiculous own goal,” emails Kári Tulinius, “but Spain have looked distinctively second best. I honestly can’t remember a Brazil team that’s looked this cohesive and fluid. If it weren’t for the weight of history behind the US, I’d say that Brazil will go into the final as favourites.”
I’d not say that at this point because they’ve only played like this once. It is, though, great news if we’ve another brilliant team to entertain us, and especially great news if that team is Brazil.
It can’t be the occasion because they’re world champs, but on the other hand the Olympics are special. I guess it might be complacency, or that their high line isn’t helpful to defenders not the sharpest on the turn; or maybe Brazil have just been fantastic.
As you might imagine, I’ve not been able to keep eyes on this game in the way I’d like, but from what I’ve seen Brazil have been by far the better side and our commentators just suggested they could easily be four or five up. What on earth has happened the mighty Spain?
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Oh my goodness gracious me! Priscila leads a counter, times her pass perfectly and Adrian must score! But she punches her shot against the bar! But Gabi Porthilo nods back across and she gratefully dives to head home! Brazil lead 3-0 and there are now 18 minutes to go!
Now 22 to go in the women’s football semi and it’s still Brazil 2-0 Spain. And this is a massive shock – Spain are world champs and have so many of the world’s best players – but they did look vulnerable, especially in behind, in the group stages, and conceding early in the way that did must’ve took a major mental toll.
A palindromic score at the half – get me and my US sporting lingo – in the men’s basketball quarter, USA 63-36 Brazil.
In the second women’s football semi, it’s still Brazil 2-0 Spain, 55 and change gone.
In 15 or so minutes, Imane Khelif will fight in the semis of the women’s 66kg divison. Those of you familiar with my noise will know I’m not short of an opinion and rest assured, I’ve got one on this. But in this blog, we’ll just report the sport.
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Back to the athletics, Asher-Smith is proud of her performance, which is nice to here after her 100m disappointment. She’s really happy for Julien Alfred, she says, who she really likes and has enjoyed seeing her improve.
She was told to go out like mad – “If you die, you die” – so she did, and she doesn’t get that instruction often, the last time being the worlds when she took bonrze, so enjoyed herself having a go at it.
…and Verde takes it! All the judges gave him round three, so Richardson, in front after two, must content himself with bronze; it’s his, he doesn’t have to fight for it.
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It’s a split decision…
A decent round three for Richardson and I think he might’ve nicked this.
There’s been a bit going on, so please forgive my tardiness in marvelling at Mijaín López Núñez, who this evening won gold in the men’s Greco-Roman wrestling, thrashing Yasmani Acosta of Chile 6-0. Very nice, I hear you say – well, he’s now the only person ever to win five consecutive Olympic titles in the same event. Effort.
I say that, but Richardson takes round two on four of the cards and now leads! This final stanza, if we’re to elegantly variate, should be a jazzer.
Verde is the better fighter as we near the end of the second – he’s got a really canny grasp of distance and Richardson is being told to let his hands go.
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In the men’s basketball, USA now lead Brazil 40-21 with 7.53 to go in the second. I think they might be OK.
Time for a ruckus! In the men’s welterweight boxing, Lewis Richardson of GB has just got going in his semi-final against Marco Verde of Mexico.
Goodness me! Gabi Portilho has just put Brazil 2-0 up on Spain! Spain rinsed them by the same score in the group – and it could’ve been many more. But now look! Montse Tomé has a lot of work to do at half-time, which it now is.
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Neita says she gave everything and didn’t let herself down at all – she was so close to a medal in both 100m and 200m, and though she puts a brave face on it, it’s not hard to detect her iontesne disappointment.
Thomas has been the best 20m runner in the world this year and found a fine run when she really needed one. When people consult the record books, no one will see the missing names – though it’s a shame for them and us that they weren’t with us.
My colleague Bryan Armen Graham notes that USA have won individual women’s and men’s flat sprint golds at an Olympics for the first time since Atlanta 1996 (Gail Devers, Michael Johnson).
The race, then! Thomas was away well enough, Asher-Smith away well, but as the stagger unwound, Thomas pulled clear, Alfred powering through for silver and Brown doing Asher-Smith and Neita on the line for bronze as they tied up.
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Gabby Thomas wins gold in the women's 200m in 21.83!
Julien Alfred of St Lucia wins silver, and I’m not sure who took bronze – Brittany Brown I think!
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AND AWAY WE GO!
With no Elaine Thompson-Herah, Sherickah Jackson or Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce involved, this’ll be the first time since 1980 that no Jamiacan has won a medal in this event. Thomas, by the way, never expected to get this good – she studied neurobiology and global health at Harvard and it was only after running the second-fastest ever in 2021 that she re-evaluated her priorities.
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Also involved are Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith of GB, with Brittany Brown of USA and Favour Ofili of Nigeria further medal threats.
But in two minutes, the women’s 200m final will be away! Gabby Thomas looks unbeatable, but Julien Alfred, the 100m champ, is in serious form and will expect to beat her.
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The men’s long jump is almost over. Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the defending champ, leads with 8.48; Wayne Pinnock of Jamaica is second with 8.36; and Furlani of italy is third with 8.34.
In the basketball, USA and Brazil have started their quarter, USA leading 9-4 in the first.
Hocker, by the way, is only 23, so has plenty of time to turn the big two into a big three. We shall see if he goes on from here, or if he’s another Fermín Cacho, who won the 1500 in 1992 and very little else before or after.
We’ve not said much about Cole Hocker, the new Olympic men’s 1500m champ, which says more about us than him. But BBC have nabbed him for an interview and he’s amped.
He can’t put it into words, he just feels so proud of himself for taking advantage of an opportunity. They’re so few and far between and he can leave here feeling proud he took his. It’s by far the loudest stadium he’s ever been in and it’s rare he’s able to sense stuff like that when focused on a race, but here it was “overwhelming in the best possible way”.
“I saw the line, kind of,” he says, “and my body did the rest. “God carried me over the line,” he adds, “there was no feeling or no pain.” Decent gig!
Women’s hammer: Annette Echikuwoke qualified for the women’s hammer throw in the Tokyo Olympics. She didn’t get to go. She lays the blame firmly at the feet of the Nigerian federation. She changed her nationality to the USA, a risky move given the depth of US talent in the event. Brooke Andersen is the 2022 world champion and has the top throw of 2024. DeAnna Price is third on that list, followed by Janee’ Kassanavoid. But Andersen fouled on her three attempts in the Darwinian US Olympic trials. Kassanavoid was well behind. Echikunwoke won and made the Olympic standard. So the USA expected all along to have a medalist in the event. Echikunwoke wasn’t the one they expected, but Nigeria’s loss in this case is clearly the USA’s gain.
Hold tight Winfred Mutile Yavi! The energy she’s got for celebrating after hauling her carcass through an Olympic record is extremely impressive.
Winfred Mutile Yavi of Bahrain wins the women's 300m steeplechase in a new Olympic record of 8:52.76
Peruth Chemuta of Uganda takes silver and Faith Cherotich of Kenya takes bronze. What a race that was!
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Chemutai is flagging and Yavi, who looked finished, looks strong. She streaks to the line, Chemutai comes back once … but Yavi kicks again!
Chemutai still leads as they take the bell but who’s got the kick? The winner will be one of her, Chepkoech or Yavi, but Chepkoech has gone … I think! It’s Chemutai, the Olympic champ, or Yavi, the world champ!
Chemutai leads with two laps to go, Chepkoech behind her, Yavi third. There are two others in the leading grou, but I can’t see who as we move to 600m from the line. This going to be painful – for them – and a buzz – for us.
Chepkoech is second, and Yavi is now back with it, in fourth. We’ve about 100m to go.
Chemutai leads at the moment, one group having broken away; behind her, Yavi is struggling to stay with the pace, but the other big guns are there.
Fancy a breather? Nae such thing! The women’s 3000m steeplechase has just started, and this should be another banger. Winfred Mutile Yavi of Bahrain – she moved over from Kenya is the world champ and best in the world this year; Peruth Chemutai of Uganda is the defending champ; and Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech is the world record-holder.
Camryn Rogers of Canada wins gold in the women's hammer with 76.97m
Silver goes to Annette Echikunwoke of USA and bronze to Jiu Zhao of China.
Germany have beaten India 3-2 in the semis of the men’s hockey. They meet the Netherlands for gold, while India take on Spain for bronze.
Kerr tells Eurosport he’s proud of himself, executing the best 1500m race of his life by over a second. It’s hard to control what others do, he positioned himself well, and with 20-30m to go, he was looking good, but someone else was better on the day.
Told he’s mentally strong, he says he works on it a lot, he was so excited today and though he wanted gold, he’s got silver which is better than bronze. I’d like to hear him asked if he might’ve hung back a little given he must’ve known Ingebrigtsen was ruining himself, but maybe BBC will ask.
Here’s Ingebrigtsen. Asked if he always planned to run that race, he says he planned to win, neatly avoiding it and laughing that it didn’t work. The race was strong, he says, and he found it difficult to slow himself down – I wonder if that’s Kerr and the two world titles he’s lost in the home straight nipping at his heid – so kept on pushing. But the race was 100m too long today and it’s not easy to spend energy wisely.
He does, though, note that the others ran well and you can tell when you’re hitting the wall just before you do. Today, it was just a little bit too early.
Goodness me, disaster for Spain in the football. Coll, their keeper has just hammered a clearance into Paredes, a centre-back, and they trail Brazil 1-0!
Ingebrigtsen will be feeling very, very poorly. I’m surprised his team weren’t into him to make sure he didn’t run like that, but I’m sure this will be a line in the sand for him: he’ll never do that again, and he’ll come back far, far better as a consequence. He doesn’t need the ego of all the patter because he’s the fastest man in the world over the distance. All he needs to do is keep working and keep calm.
I’m absolutely sure of it. I said below that Americans weren’t to be discounted, partially redeeming my Lyles won’t win take from Sunday, and though it was Ingebrigtsen who was defeated by the hype, Kerr might, when he reflects, feel he needn’t have gone with the champ, instead letting him exhaust himself as looked inevitable, while retaining all the power of his kick.
At the risk of sounding a bit too provincial, seeing a feature on all the idiotic trash talk between Ingebritsen and Kerr, then seeing Hocker and Nuguse run them down may be the most satisfying moment for the USA in the Olympics in decades.
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Kerr looks happy enough with silver. He’ll be disappointed, of course, and probably thought it was his with 30m to go. But he ran his race and things went as he planned, Ingebrigtsen perhaps spooked by the enormity of it all, but someone else was better on the day. And the times – not bad eh? Kerr’s is a British record.
Hocker (USA) 3:2765
Kerr (GB) 3:27.79
Nuguse (USA) 3:27.80
Ingebrigtsen (Norway) 3:28.24
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Bronze, by the way, went to Yared Nuguse of USA, who came from 10th and almost nicked silver off Kerr on the line.
In trying to exhaust Kerr, Ingebrigtsen ran the finish out of both of them! Halfway down the home straight, Kerr looked like the champ, the Norwegian finished and out of the medals – Kerr was clearly in his head – but Hocker waited and waited, hugging the kerb, and he was freshest in the last 20! He ran a perfect race to sneak home with everyone looking elsewhere!
Cole Hocker of USA comes out of nowhere to win gold in the men's 1500m!
Astounding, astonishing! Josh Kerr is second!
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Still Igebrigtsen down the back straight, but Cheruiyot is gone and Kerr is there! Kerr runs wide and looks strong!
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Goodness me this is tense. I can’t feel my fingers and my heart is playing happy hardcore beats. Ingebrigtsen leads by two metres from Cheruiyot, Kerr a further two behind. The champ is making the suffer! We’re at the bell, and hold me!
Ingebrigtsen leads, Cheruiyot second, Kerr third; the first lap is 54.8, and the Norwegian is trying to run the finish out of the field. Which means a world record is not out of the question!
And they’re away, Kerr into second immediately and Ingebrigtsen goes to the front. He’ll want to control a quick race, I think, acting as his own pacemaker.
Imagine the tension on that track now. The two favourites have made an already massive event into one of the main events, and everyone is watching. Who can handle that? I don’t know what to do myself and, for the avoidance of doubt, I’m not running. It’s time, people!
But not to his mate Neil Gourlay, who’ll reckon himself capable of a medal; he runs out, and the time for talking is over. Oh, and look out for Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot; if he’s at it, he’s a threat
This is going to be such a race. Earlier today, I watched an interview with Kerr, in which he explained that his trademark sunnies allow him to look at the rest without them looking at him and of course “the rest” don’t like it. There’s something about Kerr’s presence and affable yet menacing confidence that gets to people.
In happier news, the brothers Ingebrigtsen recently released a single, Ingen gjør det bedre (Nobody Does It Better). They called themselves The IngebritZ – clever clever – and translated, the chorus goes like this.
People of Norway
Today we make the king proud
Today we make the king proud
When we lift the gold up
Guess who?
Little Norway, they give it again.
Victory is ours and it goes straight home
Nobody does it better than us
Ingebrigtsen has, sadly, had other stuff going on his life beyond running fast. He and his two older brothers, also athletes – he’s one of seven – have publicised claims that their dad, who coached the, was violent; their dad has denied the allegations.
““We have grown up with a father who has been very aggressive and controlling and who has used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” they said.
“We still feel discomfort and fear which has been in us since childhood.
“Two years ago, the same aggression and physical punishment struck again. It was the drop that made the cup run over.”
Back to the women’s 400m hurdles, Bol wins the final heat in 52.57 with Anna Cockrell of USA also securing a final spot. Jamaica’s Shiann Salmon and Canada’s Savanah Sutherland move through as fastest losers.
In typical Kerr style, he sneaked into the Stade de France at Christmas, visualising himself crossing the line with Larimar, his fiancee, presenting him with a medal. He is certain he’s going to win and you can see it; his rival looks a little less sure. Even though he won the semi, Steve Cram noted a desperation so to do, which suggested he wasn’t running his own race and Kerr is in his head.
Kerr seems a good laugh – he gets that it’s all theatre, even if he still wears a baseball hat backwards and refers to himself in the third person. He’ll want to run the race tactically, looking to be within striking distance at the top of the home straight. Ingebrigtsen seems a little more highly strung – the animus seems to come from him and how much he despises losing – but if he gets his plan right, he’s the fastest man in the field. And don’t forget, if it’s slow – Kerr trying to set up the finish – the American contingent will also be in contention.
Remember: the men’s 1500m final sets off 750, so 18 minutes from now. And I’ll tell you what: much as I love the camaraderie of the pole vaulters and gymnasts helping each other and enjoying each other’s success, you just can’t beat a bit of needle.
(Emma Hayes’) USA beat Germany 1-0 (a.e.t.) to reach the final of the women's football
They’ll meet Brazil or Spain, who kick off at 8pm, in the gold-medal match.
France have beaten Canada 82-73 to reach the semis of the men’s basketball; USA are to come later tonight; in the men’s hockey semi, Germany lead India 3-2 in Q4; and USA’s Alyssa Naeher has just made a save with her leg, while jumping, to maintain her team’s slender 1-0 advantage over Germany with just injury time to play.
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Jie Zhao of China has overtaken Rogers, the favourite, in the women’s hammer, leading with 74.27 versus 74.11.
On reflection, it wasn’t Dough Boy who said it; sincere apologies.
Goodness me, in the long jump, Mattia Furlani of Italy has absolutely taken his first effort off the set, as Dough Boy might say, recording 8.34; that might be enough for gold. Jacob Fincham-Dukes of GB is second on 7.95.
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But back to the here and now, SML storms to victory in 52.13, leaving the rest of the field in the dust; Louise Maraval of France follows her home.
Stuff of legends.
Takling of world records, Sanya Richards-Ross, formerly famed as winner of the women’s even in London, now renowned as a Real Housewife of Atlanta, thinks we’ll get a record in the men’s event too.
A new world record in the men's 400m? 👀
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 5, 2024
Catch the full episode featuring @AtoBoldon, @Adam_Gemili
and @airlavillenie on Inside Track, YouTube and your podcast provider.
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To give you a bit of context, SML was trailing attacking the final hurdle in Tokyo only to power past Delilha Muhammad; both smashed the existing world record, which was 51.90; SML improved it to 51.46, then again to 50.95 at the end of June this year. Bol, though, went sub-51 herself in July, making 50.95, which is to say she’s in form. But it’ll take something – perhaps a world record, given how quick our lilac track is – to stop the champ
McLaughlin-Levrone goes in the second semi, about to get going; the men’s long jump has just started.
The Netherlands win gold in the men's team sprint cycling, breaking their own world record so to do!
Their time is 40.949 – that’s almost a second better than the semi version. GB take silver, Australia bronze.
They’re going to take some catching!
The team sprint final is under way, the Netherlands up at the bell!
Rushell Clayton of Jamaica wins the first semi in 53.00, Jasmine Jones of USA taking second.
Jack Carlin, Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull comprise the GB team while, on the track, the semis of the women’s 400m hurdles are away. The final, on Thursday night, might just be the race of the Games, but at this stage, Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone have been kept apart.
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Next up: GB v hot favourites, defending champs and world record-holders the Netherlands, who won this match-up in Tokyo to take the gold.
Anitdontstop! We’ve got the bronze match in the men’s team sprint, Australia v France. France have never failed to win a medal in this event…
The women’s hammer final is under way and, after Canada’s Ethan Katzberg stromed to gold in the men’s even, his compatriot Camryn Rodgers is trying to do likewise. She leads with 74.11m, Hanna Skydan second with 73.27m.
In the men’s hockey semi, Germany and India are level at 2-2 in the third quarter, while in the fourth, France lead Canada 80-73 in the men’s basketball quarters
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Back to the football … and as I type, Sophia Smith puts USA 1-0 up on Germany in the fifth minute of extra time! She was put through by Swanson and the keeper made it easy by coming right out such that all she needed to do was get the ball past her. Still the rising finish was a fine one, and Emma Hayes’ team are in the final – if they can avoid conceding for the next 25 minutes.
Back to the men’s team pursuit, Australia will face GB in the final having pasted defending champs Italy with a world record 3:40.730, a full two seconds and change quicker than their gold-medal opponents.
The two fastest losers are Christopher Bailey of USA and Samuel Ogazi of Nigeria – they join Hall, Richards, James, Samukonga, Hudson-Smith and Norman in tomorrow’s final.
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As the bend unwinds, Hudson-Smith is well in front, but he’s slowing up. It’s not clear if he’s tired – initially it looks like he is – or if he’s slowing up, race won – it is. He wins in 44.07, with Matthew Norman, the world champion, following him through.
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No rest! Hudson-Smith will now go in the final 400m semi, and he goes off hard.
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But GB hang on! They win in 3:42.151 v Denmark’s 3:42.803! They’ll compete for the gold tomorrow!
It’s so, so close!
…until the bell when suddenly they’re in front! Can they hang on?
But GB are down to Denmark…
And how did he end up with Denmark? A coach said “‘be a rider or an engineer, you can’t do both and be in this system.’ That was his ideological approach to being an athlete. For me that was not a path I was willing to go down, to give up on something that meant so much to me. So I went on my merry way.”
The British quartet are going in the team pursuit, and among them is Dan Bigham, an aerodynamics specialist who was with Denmark in Tokyo – not as a cyclist but as a performance engineer.
“Without engineering, I don’t think I’d be in the sport, at least not to this level,” he said. “There has to be something in the sport that really gets you up and that you’re passionate about.
“For me, as nerdy as it is, it is the application of maths, physics, engineering to the sport. And that in itself has meant that I’ve progressed to the level that I’m at.”
That result tells us that Charlie Dobson is gone, but at 24 he’ll come again. Meantime, it’s still USA 0-0 Germany in the wwomen’s football semi, three minutes of added time remaining.
The second men’s 400m semi is go and Kirani James leads from gun to bend, the 31-year-old 2012 champ battling to the line in 43.79, under pressure from Zimbabwe’s Muzala Samukonga.
Back at the velodrome, round one of the men’s team pursuit is under way. That’s the one staged over 16 lapsm four riders a team trying to cover 4km as quickly as possible with three needing to cross the line.
Goodness me, that is a message from Hall! He wins in 43.95 – only Matthew Hudson-Smith has gone quicker than that this year – and Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago takes second to qualify too. Third is Busang Kebinatshipi of Botswana, with Dobson fourth; they’ll have to wait and see.
Dobson gets away well enough but he’s down around the curve, Hall in front.
We’ve got our first men’s 400m semi about to get away, Charlie Dobson of GB among the runners, but the favourite is Quincy Hall of USA.
There they are, the lads.
Noah Lyles gatecrashed Armand Duplantis' interview after he won gold at the Olympics 🤣🥇
— Eurosport (@eurosport) August 5, 2024
Bromance at its finest 🤝#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/p0JaqJIhdt
What Keely did next? Let’s hope so.
David Martin emails to remind me that it’s not actually the cycling that’s at Bercy, it was the gymnastics; indeed. But United did still lose 4-1 to Boro, so swings and roundabouts or something.
Oh man, Keely has absolutely gone and we’ve only had the first bar of the anthem. Mazal tov, old mate, you’ve absolutely earned those tears.
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In the stadium, Keely Hodgkinson is about to receive her gold medal. I can’t say I approve of the Team GB trackies, especially given the standard, but I absolutely approve of Keely Hodgkinson (she’ll be delighted to learn). I daresay this won’t be the last time we see her on the middle step of the podium; she’s only 22, and I can’t wait to see how good she gets.
I can’t tell you how excited I am for the men’s 1500. We’ll go over properly in due course, but one of the many things about it that I love is that Ingebrigtsen is the faster man – he set a PB of 3:26.73 last month, far better than Kerr’s 3:29.05 – and, given he’s also running the 5000m, the stronger man – and has won more of their contests than he’s lost. But he’s seen Kerr, and his great mate Jake Wightman, go by in the home straight of a major meet. It feels much more like Kerr is in his head rather than the other way around, but if he runs his best race he wins. Problem being, without a pacemaker, that’s not so easily done.
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In the men’s basketball quarters, France lead Canada 52-41, while in the men’s hockey semis, India are 1-0 up on Germany at the end of Q1.
The Netherlands qualify to face GB in the final … with a new world record of 41.191. Er, good luck, guys.
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In Lyon, it’s still USA 0-0 Germany in the first of our women’s football semis; the former are favourites but the latter have had the better of the chances.
Australia have moved on in the team sprint too, and as I type, GB set the fastest time against Germany. The Netherlands are massive favourites and to come, but assuming both teams don’t beat GB’s time, they’re through to the final and the gold-medal match.
While we still can, let’s set up tonight’s absurd menu of activity. After the team sprint, we’ve got the first round of the men’s pursuit, then at 7.05 and 7.10, we’ve for the team sprint medal-matches; in the Stade de France, we’ve got the men’s 400m semis at 6.35, the women’s hammer final at 6.57, the women’s 400m hurdles semis at 7.07, the men’s long jump final at 7.15, and the biggun – the men’s 1500m final, so Josh Kerr v Jakob Ingebrigtsen, at 7.50; and that’s not all because at 8.14 it’s the final of the women’s 3000 steeplechase before we finish off with the final of the women’s 200m – that’s at 8.40. And elsewhere, 8pm sees Brazil v Spain in the second semi of the women’s football, at 8.30 it’s USA v Brazil in the men’s basketball quarter, and we’ll finish with some boxing, including Imane Khelif going for bronze. Phew!
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Anyroad, this is the first round of the men’s event and France have just eliminated Japan following a false start apiece and a slip by the latter.
The velodrome is at Bercy, a place which holds some memories for me. I went to Paris with my ex-wife in the early days of English football all over and schlepped her through the driving rain to the Frog at Bercy, my early-days-of-the-internet research advising me I could watch Manchester United there. We’d tried various places prior to then with no success, but happily we were able to kick off our holiday watching them lose 4-1 to Boro. I’d like to say I’ve changed…
Thanks Dom and evening all. It’s another frankly befuddling night of Olympic SportTM awaiting us so let’s get straight on with it because in the velodrome, we’ve got the men’s team cycling sprint in progress.
There’s a jam-packed evening of action to come with athletics finals, more track cycling and the second half of the footy approaching … and who better than Daniel Harris to guide you through all that goodness?
He’s in the chair now.
So after the women’s team pursuit qualifying, it’s announced that Team GB will race against the USA in the next round, still very much in the shakeup for a medal, but New Zealand have set the pace so far.
Another piece to flag and it’s a lovely one, as Nick Ames interviews the peerless pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis. He’s enjoying life as an Olympic champion:
I was able to have some fried chicken last night and then pizza probably two hours ago, honestly. So we are off to a good start.
Football: It’s still 0-0 at the half-time break between USA and Germany. Pretty unconvincing stuff from Emma Hayes’ side so far, with the Germans enjoying the more clearcut chances in the opening 45. The winners, of course, will face either Brazil or Spain in the final.
Women’s team pursuit cycling: The British quartet are some two seconds behind the leaders from New Zealand after their 4km qualifying run. It’s not ideal from the four women – they at least finished with a burst of pace – but they are into third and will get to race for a medal, with Germany going last and recording the fifth fastest time.
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Golf: So it transpires that an Olympian cannot smoke while participating at their event in the Games; just ask Charley Hull.
Women’s team pursuit cycling: New Zealand have set the bar high in qualifying so far. The Team GB quartet of Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts will commence their 4000m run shortly.
This was a really heartfelt and emotional interview from Andrea Spendolini-Siriex earlier.
Football: There’s a big clash under way between USA and Germany in the women’s semi-final. Where’s your money? It’s currently goalless after half an hour.
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Sky Brown stops by the mixed zone at Place le Concorde and makes her favourite loveheart sign with her hands. She’s buzzing with bronze, that’s for sure. Great scenes.
It's amazing to see these competitors celebrating with each other ❤️🤝
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 6, 2024
GB's Sky Brown has another Olympic bronze to add to the one she won in Tokyo! #BBCOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/JEwcJgh7d3
Skateboarding: Well, that was quite something, a terrific spectacle. And it’s more gold medal glory for Australia. Here’s the snap take from our man Kieran Pender in Paris.
Arisa Trew wins gold for Australia, bronze for GB's Sky Brown
It’s a bronze medal for Sky Brown of Great Britain! Arisa Trew wins the gold and Cocana Hiraki’s final run was enough for her to claim the silver.
For everything Brown has been through with injuries, even competing in these Games with a dislocated shoulder, this is some achievement to match her feat from Tokyo.
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Skateboarding: Sky Brown is guaranteed a medal. It will either be silver or bronze, depending on how Hiraki fares here. Trew will get either gold or silver.
Kusaki pushed the boundaries of physical possibility, everyone thought she’d be worthy of a medal if she landed everything, but unfortunately the Japanese skater couldn’t manage it. Brown still holds silver medal position with two (Wettstein and Hiraki) left to go.
Brown slams her hand down on the course and hugs her opponents … she looks happy. It’s a good routine, but is that an improvement on the second run?
She’s got a huge amount of support in Paris and as the score of 92.31 comes in from the judges there’s cheers around the stands! Is that a medal for Team GB?
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Skateboarding: Sirvio nails her final run, but it’s 88.89 and she will not grab a medal. Sky Brown is currently in the bronze medal position and she embarks on her third and final run now.
In other Olympic news …
Skateboarding: Varella won’t medal, despite a solid run and a score just a tick under 90. The injury-plagued Laso wobbles a couple of times but registers a much improved run, which will score 86.28.
Now, can Trew superseed Brown and Hiraki in the top two? Maybe it’s her pink helmet and knee-pads, but the Australian is a very stylish skater. The crowd love that run! And so do the judges – it’s 93.18 – she’s into the lead.
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Skateboarding: End of the second run.
Hiraki leads from Brown, Trew is in the bronze medal position, with those three the only skaters who have scored more than 90. Wettstein and Varella are just outside the medals. It’s the Brazilian to go now.
Skateboarding: Kusaki again falters, but boy is she attempting some big, brash moves. If she lands them, she could be a medallist. Wettstein also catches her wheels on the obstacles. So her top score is still the 88 from run one.
Here’s Sky Brown’s second run …
Oooh that was so good to watch. Again, it’s a case of whether her final move came in before the clock? Either way, she’ll surely be challenging the top three with that run. It was so stylish and full of character, with Brown’s trademark ‘goofy’ stance.
91.60 – she’s into second!
Cycling: The women’s team pursuit qualifying is under way over at the velodrome, but I shall stick with the skating as the centre of my focus for now. Heaven is a half-pipe and all that …
Skateboarding: Laso is struggling with a back injury by all accounts and it’s showing in her performances so far. Nothing to trouble the medal positions from her, as Trew gets into her work with some really dazzling moves around this park. That looked good to my (amateur) eye, but will the judges agree?
Yes. 90.11 for the Aussie, who goes into second.
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Skateboarding: After one round, and all eight skaters having had one run each, GB’s Sky Brown is in fourth position.
Hiraki pushes over the 90 mark with 91.98; the USA’s Wettstein is in second and Brazilian Dora Varella holds the bronze medal position.
Skateboarding: It’s a false start from Kusaki, an early slip-up meaning she won’t trouble the judges in this first run. Wettstein goes next with a stellar run which may well challenge Varella and Brown towards the top. It does! 88.12 and she moves into the lead.
Hiraki will finish off these first runs.
Goodness me, that’s magnificent from Sky Brown. She went over time and landed harshly on her shoulder as she looked to sneak in a final trick, but I’m not sure it will count towards her score.
She built up some real speed and height on her jumps and the judges are fairly impressed. It’s 80.57. Hmm, could have been more, but she slots into second.
Here’s Sky! Let’s see what she can do …
Skateboarding: Laso loses her board from underneath her towards the end of her first run and records a 58.85; American Trew goes next and, after an eyecatching start, does something similar … 35.53 won’t trouble the medals at all. But of course both skaters will get two more runs.
Next is Sirvio, the young Fin, who struggles to convince throughout a tame-ish routine (by these standards), missing a couple of tricks, notching 71.40.
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Skateboarding: We’re looking for scores pushing towards 90 to have a chance of a medal, with Varella going first with an improved display compared to what she managed in the preliminaries. She’s wearing a big smile and duly gets 85.06.
Here are the runners riders skaters contesting this final:
Bryce Wettstein (USA)
Sky Brown (GBR)
Cocona Hiraki (JPN)
Hinano Kusaki (JPN)
Heili Sirvio (FIN)
Arisa Trew (AUS)
Naia Laso (ESP)
Dora Varella (BRA)
Right, all roads now lead to the Place de la Concorde and this women’s park skateboarding final. It looks like Sky Brown is going to give it a go, despite a further injury setback. What a warrior. The final will commence shortly …
This. This is what the Olympics Games are about.
The USA v China tussle to finish top of the medal table goes on and Beau Dure has given us this assessment of what’s to come ...
China’s gold-silver finish in the women’s platform diving has put China back in front in the gold count, but it won’t affect anyone’s projections because that is one of the least shocking results of the Games.
It might be a quiet day in terms of the race for gold, but the events to watch will be:
women’s hammer throw, where the USA have a good shot even after losing some top talents at trials
women’s 68kg wrestling, where Amit Elor has looked even more fearsome than advertised in demolishing the field to reach the gold-medal match
women’s 200m, where the USA have multiple contenders
women’s lightweight boxing, where China’s Yang Wenlu fights for gold against defending champion Kellie Harrington of Ireland, whose path to victory in Tokyo included a unanimous decision over Algeria’s Imane Khelif
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Sailing – Dinghy races delayed until Wednesday
The men’s and women’s dinghy Olympic medal races have been been postponed to Wednesday, with officials eventually deciding there was not enough wind for them to proceed today.
Gold and silver in the women’s event have been effectively wrapped up by Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands and Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark, with only the bronze medal still to be decided.
In the men’s dinghy, Australian Matt Wearn and Cypriot Pavlos Kontides are set for a potential head-to-head tactical ‘match race’ for gold. Wearn, 28, leads with the lowest points score in the series going into the double-points medal race, with Kontides, 34, the only sailor in the 10-boat fleet who can theoretically beat him to gold. Sailing operates on a low-points scoring system. Reuters
Women's park skateboarding final – Sky Brown's story so far
Brown, a relative veteran in a field which included an 11-year-old skater in the preliminary rounds, is no stranger to injury.
Now 16, she already has years of rehabilitation behind her. When she was only 11 she had to be airlifted to hospital after a horrific accident which saw her fly off her skateboard at the top of a high ramp and land head-first on the floor.
She was unresponsive on arrival, but made a full recovery with only a broken hand and an injured skull. Later she posted a video of herself with a black eye from her hospital bed.
“I don’t usually post my falls or talk about them because I want people to see the fun in what I do,” she said. “But this was my worst fall. I just want everyone to know that it’s OK, don’t worry, I’m OK. I’m just going to get back up and push even harder.”
The year before taking bronze in Tokyo in 2021 she fell from a halfpipe ramp fracturing her skull and breaking her wrist. As well as the shoulder she dislocated just before travelling to Paris, she has also still to recover fully from injuring her knee in April, when she fully tore her MCL and was given a two-month recovery time.
Ahead of the competition, she told Olympics.com: “It’s part of skateboarding; it’s part of life. I’m used to these injuries and overcoming them.”
Cheers, Yara. ‘Fantastic’ is a lot to live up to, but I’ll try.
Man, all the feels for Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix there, but she’s done Team GB and herself proud at these Games. There’s more to come from her and the whole GB diving team after a solid display in the past week or two, for sure.
I’m looking forward to seeing Sky Brown go in the women’s park skateboarding final soon …
There is still more medals to come in skateboarding, wrestling, cycling and athletics but that is all from me today. Thanks so much for tuning in and here’s the fantastic Dominic Booth to take you through the rest of the afternoon.
Women’s volleyball: Two of the semi-finalists are set! Turkey advance after a brilliant five-set clash against China which saw the two teams not only split the first four sets equally 2-2, but also on points, 95-95, before Turkey won the decider 15-12. Italy or Serbia awaits.
Brazil have also reached the last four after beating the Dominican Republic 3-0 in straight sets. They will face the United States or Poland in the semi-finals.
Men’s basketball: The Tokyo bronze medallists Australia are out after losing a thrilling quarter-final against Serbia 95-90 after overtime at the Bercy Arena. The three-times NBA MVP Nikola Jokic took over in overtime on both ends, finishing with 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Patty Mills had 26 points for the Australians, and Josh Giddey added 25.
Patty Mills, Australia’s top scorer, has spoken.
The Olympic Games, this is where it brings the best out of people, teams, countries. This is why you play for these moments. We threw everything at them and it just wasn’t our day. Full credit to Serbia. They’re one hell of a team.
Great individuals on there, great competitors. Their toughness, they played a hell of a game and they grinded it out and got over the hump in the end. But our guys, man, we’ve had a blast. This journey’s been fun. Been there through the thick and thin ups and downs. It’s been a long ride. Learned a lot about ourselves. Learned a lot about myself and what it means to be an Australian competing for your country. And there’s nothing that I enjoy more than that. I love it.
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Men’s basketball: Patty Mills has hit a fall-away two-pointer over Nikola Jokic to tie the game at 82-82 and send the entertaining clash to overtime.
Australia were given the ball with 9.8 seconds lefts after Vasilije Micic hit only one of two free throws at the other end.
The ball ended in Mills’ hands, who initially appeared to fumble it. But he rose for a turnaround fadeaway that found the basket.
And our picture desk has you covered from the best photos from day 11 so far with diving, javelin, sailing, athletics, skateboarding and wrestling all in action
Paris isn’t the capital of the fashion world for nothing and the coolest drip has been on display all throughout the Games. Our acting fashion and lifestyle editor has all the details on featuring glowy eyeliner, Palestine tattoos, bedazzled costumes and, of course, Snoop Dogg.
Women’s diving: A tearful Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix speaks with Eurosport after finishing sixth in the 10m platform final. Her Olympics is done after taking bronze in the synchronised 10m platform earlier in the Games.
The girls did better than me. I just want to give God all the glory for being alive. Honestly, it has been a long three years [since Tokyo Games]. Three years ago I didn’t even want to live so to actually love being alive means more to me than an Olympic medal ever will. I am happy that my family are here.
I’m really happy with how far I have come and the sacrifices that have been made to get me here. Overall, there is a lot more work to do.
It wasn’t my best performance today. I can do a lot better than that. I was just happy to finish strong. I just want to go see my family and go on holiday. I am so tired. I just want to go to celebrate with them. I really felt the support and the love because that is what makes me emotional as well. I am not disappointed in myself.
Women’s skateboarding: Sky Brown has made it into the final of the women’s park skateboarding event, but appears to have injured herself after falling on her third run.
Brown qualified in fourth place on her first exuberant run of 84.75, but on her second run she came off the board when she was attempting her last trick, a final frontside stalefish, where a skater grabs the healside of the board behind their legs with their rear hand.
She got up with a smile and was soon back again, but on her third run she fell only 30 seconds in, skidding and landing heavily, she could be seen holding her left shoulder.
She stayed on the floor of the bowl park for a moment and looked to be in some pain, before her father, Stu, rolled her to the edge of one of the park’s slopes and she climbed up the side.
A visibly upset Brown said she would push through to the final. Her trademark positivity could not disguise the obvious upset she was feeling, when asked about the fall.
“The last one was definitely scary,” she said. “I’m just happy to be here with this crazy crowd and these crazy group of girls. I mean, it’s good to be back at it, three years later. It’s been a fun journey.”
Asked if she was in pain and would be able to compete in the final, she said: “I mean, all I can do is push through, I think at this point, so I’m just gonna fight through it. For team GB, for the girls, for my family, my supporters, you know, we’re gonna fight.
“It’s definitely a little sore, but I’m going to push through it. Having the crowd here hyping me up is going to fire me up.”
The Tokyo silver medallist Cocona Hiraki topped the qualifying standings with a score of 88.07, but the defending champion Sakura Yosozumi missed out on the final by two places.
Team GB’s Lola Tambling did not qualify for the final, but looked as high as a kite with the joy of being an Olympian at 16 after the preliminary round had finished. Tambling, who grew up skating at the skatepark her parents had built, said she was ready for a big party at home in Saltash, Cornwall.
“Everyone is fully backed me like my whole town, everyone is just showing their love and support. They’re gonna to be buzzing and it’s gonna be mad when I go back home – and I just appreciate everyone.”
China take gold and silver in women’s 10m platform, North Korea takes bronze
As expected, Quan Hongchan retains her gold from Tokyo with a final score of 425.60. Her first dive had a high difficulty and was technically stunning and got 10s from all the judges and she somehow topped it with a harder difficulty in the fourth round which propelled her to the top stop. Silver goes to her counterpart Chen Yuxi with a score of 420.70.
The bronze medal is won by North Korea’s Kim Mi Rae, their second medal of the games, with a final score of 372.10. She pipps Canada’s Caeli McKay by about eight points.
Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix finishes in sixth after stuttering in the final rounds. She ended on a high with her final dive but it was not enough to make up the gap.
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Taiwan sports administration threatens legal action over gender row
Taiwan’s sports administration has threatened the International Boxing Association with legal action over its “continued publication of false information” in relation to the gender eligibility row at the Olympic Games in Paris.
At a chaotic press conference on Monday the controversial boxing organisation had doubled-down on claims that the International Olympic Committee had put women’s sport at risk by allowing Lin Yu-ting, representing Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and Imane Khelif, from Algeria, to compete in Paris.
A spokesman for the sports administration said: “The sports administration seriously protests the International Boxing Association’s continued publication of false information, obscuring the facts, and attempting to interfere with the normal conduct of the event regardless of the rights and interests of athletes.
“The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee has also appointed a lawyer to issue a warning letter to the IBA. It reserves the right to take recourse and will file a lawsuit if necessary.”
More from Daniel Boffey in Paris.
Men’s basketball: Australia need to reverse the momentum after Serbia took a 67-65 lead into the final term in their quarter-final. The points have dried up for the Boomers and the team is now up to 15 turnovers – two more than their opponents.
Patty Mills is Australia’s top scorer with 24 points, but he added just four points in the third term. Serbia’s Nikola Jokic has 17 points, seven assists and eight rebounds and is threatening to take over the game.
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The prime minister of Australia confirms that he, and the rest of the country, are indeed getting up early to watch the Australian athletes.
Athletics: Yaroslava Mahuchikh was trending on social media last night after images of her seemingly napping between jumps went viral. The Dnipro-born athlete fled after Russia’s 2022 invasion but itinerant life since did not prevent her triumph in Paris.
The day the Russians invaded, Mahuchikh grabbed as many of her belongings as she could find, stuffed them into her car and left. From a nearby village, the Ukrainian athletics federation sought a route to get her out of the country. The drive to Belgrade took more than three days, incorporating detours and roadblocks, distant explosions and the faint ring of air raid sirens. She now trains in Portugal, having also made her home in Germany, Estonia and Belgium over the past couple of years.
More from Jonathan Liew on the gold medallist here.
You may be chill, but are you 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐩 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 chill? pic.twitter.com/T9DQBIX4nc
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 4, 2024
Women’s diving: After the first three rounds, it is looking very much like a Chinese 1-2 already. The question is who will get the gold. Only 1.6 separates the teammates.
Spendolini-Sirieix is still in fourth having been pipped to third by Kim Mi Rae. Her last entry was poor and while she managed to salvage it mid-air, her splash was too big to get a high score.
Men’s basketball: The Australian guard Patty Mills exploded for 20 points in a feisty first half against Serbia which ended 54-42 in favour of the Boomers. “Fiba Patty”, who has a reputation for upping his game in international play, was devastating with his jump shot, and ended the second quarter eight from 11 from the field. He was supported by Josh Giddey who had 13 points and two assists.
Australia enjoyed a 24-point lead midway through the quarter, but Serbia pulled it back largely thanks to centre Nikola Jokic who has 11 points and four assists at the half. And the crowd at Bercy Arena became involved in the contest when the Serbian guard Aleksa Avramovic dropped to the floor pleading unsuccessfully for a foul, when the Australian centre Will Magnay brushed past him.
Equestrianism: The equestrian governing body (FEI) in charge of the Olympic riding in Versailles has found pictures of horses with blue tongues caused by oxygen shortage during dressage competition, the organisation’s chief vet said.
Horse welfare issues are under close scrutiny at the Olympics as the sport grapples with the fallout from an incident involving the British star rider Charlotte Dujardin that revived ethical debates and fears about its future.
The six-times Olympic medallist Dujardin was provisionally suspended on 27 July after footage emerged showing her whipping a horse’s legs multiple times during training.
The FEI has reviewed pictures from Olympics dressage events taken by one of its photographers, the FEI chief vet Goran Akerstrom said, adding that some of the pictures taken at the dressage Grand Prix last Tuesday showed scenes of harm to animals.
“The concern on those pictures were the blue tongues, likely caused by high rein tension,” Akerstrom said, adding that the double bridles which are mandatory in top-level dressage tournaments also played a role in cutting off oxygen from the tongue, causing “pain or unnecessary discomfort”. Reuters
Women’s diving: The Chinese duo score 82.50 and 90.00 respectively with some stunning dives. Almost no splash. Quan’s especially was technically perfect and she gets 10s all across the board.
Spendolini-Sirieix is in fourth after the first round. Can she splash her way on to the podium?
Women’s diving: Spendolini-Sirieix is third last to go (the divers are going in reverse order of which they qualified in yesterday’s semi-finals). She starts on the board in a handstand position, which she holds for three seconds, before a good flick off and a couple of twists. Her score in round one is 76.80 which puts her in second place.
Updated
Women’s diving: As we wait for the weather in Marseille to cooperate, let’s look at another water event. GB’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix is one of twelve divers taking part. She already won bronze in Paris at the women’s synchronised 10m platform.
The favourites are certainly the two Chinese though: Chen Yuxi and the defending gold medallist Quan Hongchan.
Men’s basketball: Australia’s hustle has helped them to a lead of 31-17 over Serbia at the end of the first quarter. The Boomers had three steals and eight fast break points, and were led by Josh Giddey with eight points and Patty Mills with 12. The NBA stars Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jokic lead Serbian scoring with six points each.
Sailing: The next medal was supposed to be the women’s dinghy final at the Marseille marina but that has been delayed due to the weather.
Women’s skateboarding: Sky Brown falls on her final run and she is clutching her (already injured) shoulder. So it will be her first run of 84.75 that will count for qualification. It is not mathematically confirmed yet that she has made the final (which starts today at 16.30) – there is still another heat – but it is looking comfortable.
Brown clutching her shoulder also shows us that she was in fact doing an invert on her injured one. What a trooper.
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Men’s basketball: The quarter-final between Australia and Serbia is under way at the Bercy Arena in eastern Paris. The competition has moved from Lille to the capital for the knock-out stages, and today’s quadruple-header finishes with Team USA v Brazil this evening.
The Boomers are outsiders after a difficult pool phase, and will be relying on big games from the guards Josh Giddey and Dyson Daniels. The three-times NBA MVP Nikola Jokic is Serbia’s conductor, and he will stretch Australia’s centre rotation led by Jock Landale.
The Opals – Australia’s women’s team – have a quarter-final on Wednesday, also against Serbia.
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Women’s football: More illness news. Germany will be without the captain Alexandra Popp and forward Lea Schüller for their semi-final against the United States.
The German football federation says Popp is sick and Schüller has inflammation in a knee tendon. Popp and Schüller will be replaced by Nicole Anyomi and Sarai Linder in the German squad. Linder returns after an illness in the group stage.
Popp is the only player in the German squad who was involved in Germany won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
The winner of the semi-final match will play either Brazil or Spain in Saturday’s final in Paris. The US beat Germany 4-1 in the group stage. Associated Press
Updated
AOC says 16 Australians have tested positive for Covid
Sixteen Australian Olympians have tested positive for Covid in Paris, but the Australian Olympic Committee has described the numbers as “modest and in line with expectations”.
On Tuesday, the AOC in a statement said that 44 athletes and officials had tested positive for some form of illness detected by the testing (including Covid, influenza and other related illnesses). This came from a total of 85 individuals tested. Thirty-one of those who tested positive were athletes, with 16 having Covid.
“Our testing has been the most extensive and accurate of any Games, allowing early and targeted treatments,” said the Australian team doctor Dr Carolyn Broderick.
“Some illnesses were detected on arrival, others during training or competition and some after competition. With more than 1,000 Australians in team accommodation these results are modest and in line with expectations. We have kept this team training and competing.”
Here is more from Kieran Pender in Paris.
Women’s skateboarding: Sky Brown is now up. In case you missed it, she dislocated her shoulder a couple days ago so she is not full fit. A fantastic clean run from her. She is so smooth and at times you can tell she has trained as a surfer. Highlight was definitely the one-hand invert. I assume that is not on her dislocated shoulder. Her score: 84.75. That puts her in fourth and gives her a spot in the final.
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Women’s skateboarding: GB’s Lola Tambling, got involved in the sport after her father, the former BMXer, built a skatepark for the community. She is now officially an Olympian after her first run starts with a couple of fun tricks. She almost falls off but shows some incredible balance to stay on her board but she runs out of speed and does not finish her course. She gets 73.85 in her first run of three.
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Women’s skateboarding: The athletes from Heat 3 get an introduction. Two Britons in Sky Brown and Lola Tambling, two Americans in Minna Stess and Ruby Lilley and an Aussie in Arisa Trew. The five athletes have a lot of fun cheering in front of the camera and it is clear that they are all friends as they laugh and make fun faces at each other.
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Thanks Dom, sterling shift as always. Not long until Sky Brown now. But before that, we earlier brought you update that the marathon familiarisation session was cancelled but there was no reason given as to why. Here’s the news that we all already knew: it is because of the water quality in the Seine.
Water quality assessments found that levels of Enterococci – an indicator of faecal pollution – were too high in the river.
A statement from World Aquatics said: “The water quality review showed E. coli levels ranged from 326 to 517 (considered “very good” to “good”) at the four collection points taken on 5 August between 5 and 6.00 am.
“However, Enterococci levels exceeded World Aquatics maximum thresholds during the morning review. The latest Enterococci samples (taken between 12.30 and 13.20 on 4 August) showed levels exceeding the maximum acceptable World Aquatics thresholds.”
Another familiarisation session is scheduled for Wednesday morning. The statement added: “With a favourable weather forecast and forward-looking analysis, World Aquatics and Paris 2024 remain confident that the Marathon Swimming competitions on 8 and 9 August will proceed as planned.”
The tests on 4 August cited by World Aquatics were taken before the Seine was used for Monday’s mixed relay triathlon, but at Tuesday’s IOC briefing, Paris 2024 executive director of communications Anne Descamps said the relevant test had been taken in a part of the river not used for the triathlon.
Descamps added that the decision to cancel Tuesday’s session was “taken with an abundance of caution” as there is another session scheduled on Wednesday.
“We have to have familiarisation but there’s another familiarisation event which is planned tomorrow and for Paris 2024, we’re pretty confident in our ability to see what is happening in the weather forecasts will allow us to carry this out in good conditions.”
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And with that, I’ll hand back to Yara El-Shaboury who shall steer you through the next few hours.
The shots of the long jump sandpit are among my absolute favourite Olympic images.
Skateboarding: Hiraki Cocana and Bryce Wettstein from the first heat still lead the preliminary standings in this women’s park event, after what was an error-strewn second heat, in all truth. Lots of falls, lots of mistakes, with 10 skaters to come. We’ll soon see if Sky Brown and Lola Tambling can put themselves towards the top of that leaderboard.
Skateboarding: Taboulet is surely out. The 15-year-old falls for a third successive time and she hangs her head, salutes the crowd and that should be that. Heartbreak for the French home favourite. Zheng Haohao, the 11-year-old from China, also looks to be heading out.
We’re almost at the end of this second of four heats now and we’re getting a clearer picture of the qualification shakeup.
Athletics: India’s javelin hero Neeraj Chopra underlined his claim as the favourite with a single throw today, launching his Olympic title defence with 89.34m in qualification.
He delivered India’s first ever athletics gold three years ago and could be set to bring home another medal with the biggest throw of the day – and his best of the season.
“It was a good throw. Maybe the biggest ever in qualifying for me. All the throwers look in good shape,” he said. “I know I have not reached my peak. I am not yet as good as I would like to be technically or in distance, so I want to improve and throw further. And I want to set an example for other Indian athletes so that we can compete here with the best.”
Grenadian Anderson Peters was second in their Group B with 88.63 on one attempt and hopes to unseat Chopra to add Olympic gold to his 2022 and 2019 world championship titles.
Pakistan’s world silver medallist Arshad Nadeem (86.59) was also among the 12 best performers to move on to Thursday’s final.
German Julian Weber endured fourth-place heartbreak in Tokyo and again at the two most recent worlds, but he’s ready to fight again for the podium as he reached 87.76 on his lone attempt to finish at the top of Group A. Reuters
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Skateboarding: Taboulet goes down again and she looks furious with herself. That's twice in her two runs so far … so all the pressure will be on her third and final run in this heat. The home crowd are still well behind her.
For Michael Phelps, now read Léon Marchand. And here’s how Phelps’ old coach Bob Bowman helped fire the French sensation to Olympic immortality at these Games.
Men’s speed climbing: Right, Indonesia’s Veddriq Leanardo qualifies as the top seed, ahead of Amir Maimuratov of Kazakhstan and the USA’s Sam Watson. World No 1 Wu Pen qualifies as the fifth seed. The next round is the elimination round, where we’ll start to lose athletes.
Women’s park skateboarding: Over at Place de la Concorde, the French home favourite Nana Taboulet has just fallen! She’s currently in action in the second of four qualification heats.
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Men’s speed climbing: World records continue to tumble! Bear in mind this is a fairly new sport, but the athletes continue to push the levels up and up – quite literally. I’ll run through a summary of the seeding heats when they’re finished.
Let’s get to some of your emails:
Krishna Moorthy says: When they make a montage of Paris 2024 the 100m photo finish and the 6.25 WR of Duplantis are bound to lead from the front. Neeraj may easily be part of the opening footage with his certain gold two days from now.
Robert Speed has a theory: So they cancel another familiarisation swim, even though there’s been no rain since yesterday’s mixed triathlon? I think we can all see what’s going on. The Seine is not actually fit for swimming, but they’re having the races in it anyway.
Tristan Bruemmer has a nice message: Hi Dom. This just to say: I love you guys. I live in France, but I’ve followed all the Games on your live blog so far. Nowhere I’d rather get the latest updates, thrills, fun facts, typos and jokes from. Thanks for everything!
Thanks all, especially Tristan. We’ll try and keep the typos to a minimum though!
Men’s speed climbing: Yep, another Olympic record, this time set by the USA's Sam Watson in 4.91. Just to make sure you’re aware, these are the qualification heats, which will set the seeding for later on in the competition.
Men’s speed climbing: Another race, another breaking of the Olympic record, as French hero and climbing great Bassa Mawem is beaten by Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo. This really is super quick; blink and you’ll miss an entire race.
Men’s speed climbing: This really is a superb sport to watch. It’s all over in a matter of seconds. China’s Wu Peng has just rattled up the wall in 5.07 seconds – equalling the Olympic record – against Julian David of New Zealand.
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Women’s park skateboarding: In this opening heat, Bryce Wettstein of the USA has just embarked on her third and final run in qualifying, hitting a score in the mid 80s, which ought to be enough to reach the final. Sakura Yosozumi, one of the favourites, faces an anxious wait after a fall in her final run, with fellow Japanese skater Kokona Hiraki notching the highest score in this heat.
Sky Brown and GB compatriot Lola Tambling both go in the third of the four heats; we’ll update you on that later.
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And here’s some more on that horrifying reveal from Adam Peaty re the Olympic village catering. Yuck.
Our very own David Squires’ latest take is Olympics-themed. Enjoy.
Skateboarding: Team GB’s Sky Brown is among those competing in the women’s park qualifying today, despite suffering a dislocated shoulder in training. She described the incident as “really scary” and how her dad put her shoulder back into place. After clinching a bronze medal at the age of just 13 in Tokyo, hopes are high for the 16-year-old at these Games. At the other end of the age spectrum for Great Britain in skateboarding in Paris is 51-year-old Andy Macdonald. It takes all sorts.
Elsewhere in Paris: A luxury hotel has apologised to tennis great Serena Williams after she complained, in a social media post seen by millions, that she and her family were turned away from its restaurant on Monday.
“Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places but never with my kids. Always a first,” Williams said on X.
Williams, a four-times Olympic gold medallist, was one of the Olympic flame’s torchbearers during the Paris Games’ opening ceremony. She is also among celebrities who have come out to see USA gymnast Simone Biles compete in the Games. Her post was seen by more than 4 million people.
The Peninsula Paris, a five-star hotel whose gourmet restaurant offers a view of the Eiffel Tower, swiftly responded: “Dear Mrs. Williams, Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight. Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved.” A second message followed, saying: “We have always been honuored to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again.” PA Media
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Men’s basketball: Germany lead Greece 65-56 going into the final four minutes of the fourth quarter in their quarter-final clash.
This is a terrific video visualisation of Noah Lyles’ 100m Olympic triumph.
Diving: It’s job done for Team GB athletes Jack Laugher and Jordan Houlden, who have negotiated their way through to the individual 3m springboard final. They have qualified in third and fourth place respectively, with Chinese pair Wang Zongyuan and Xie Siyi setting the standard. The final takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.
Speaking of (Queen) Keely, Sean Ingle has the latest on the 800m champion’s immediate plans for the future. It would be a well deserved holiday, for sure.
Some wholesome content for you this morning – Ella Toone watching her old classmate Keely Hodgkinson win gold.
When your schoolmate wins Olympic gold 🥹
— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) August 6, 2024
🤳 @EllaToone99 x @KeelyHodgkinson 🥇#MUWomen || #Olympics pic.twitter.com/E0RsfABsbO
Athletics: Muir and Bell reflect on getting through their heats …
“Ultimately it was all about trying to qualify for the semi-finals without any hiccups. I did that and it felt really smooth,” said Muir.
“I’m not thinking about the final yet, it is all about the semi-final. It is so easy to get carried away. I’ve been here many times before and always made the final but I never took it for granted. All the focus is on reaching that final.”
Bell said: “I got no sleep last night between [watching] Keely’s gold medal and trying to prepare myself for today. She was absolutely amazing and she is so inspiring. It was all about staying out of trouble and making sure I’d qualified. It was nice smooth running so I am happy with that.
“The track felt great but it’s more about the atmosphere, the crowd roared me on. I hope I get to race with the French girl soon, then you get extra shouts.
“I came as a spectator the other night and it was amazing, so I am so happy I could get out there and race.”
Equestrianism: Sven Guerdat incurs a penalty after hitting a jump and that wraps up the individual gold medal for Germany’s Christian Kukuk. The silver goes to Guerdat while Maikel Van der Vleuten seals bronze for the Netherlands. Two GB riders come in the top 10 but it’s not to be in terms of medals today for the Brits.
Athletics: Team GB’s Victoria Ohuruogu, youngster sister of 2008 Olympic champion Christine, won her 400m repechage heat, with a season’s best time of 50.59 to go through to the semi-finals.
“It’s taken me a while to get my racing feet but I’m really happy with a season’s best at the Olympics,” she said. “It was my gameplan to be very aggressive, I really like running on the outside.”
There were also men’s 110m hurdles repechage heats, while the women’s long jump qualifying got under way. In the women’s 1500m, Laura Muir and Georgia Bell both qualified for the semi-finals.
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Thanks Yara. I’ll start with a summary of this morning’s track and field action, before returning to Versailles …
That’s all from me for now. I will hand you over to Dominic Booth to take you through the showjumping final. Be back in a bit!
Peaty says athletes have found worms in their food from Olympic village
Adam Peaty has claimed athletes at Paris 2024 have found worms in their food as he criticised inadequate catering at the Olympic village.
The six-time Olympic medallist complained about the quantity and quality of food on offer as he said it would affect the performances of athletes.
“The catering isn’t good enough for the level the athletes are expected to perform,” Peaty told the i. “We need to give the best we possibly can.
“Tokyo the food was incredible. Rio was incredible. But this time around? There wasn’t enough protein options, long queues, waiting 30 minutes for food because there’s no queueing system.”
As part of the Games’ sustainability pledges organisers have aimed to make 60% of all meals served meatless and a third plant-based, but Peaty said that did not work for him.
“The narrative of sustainability has just been pushed on the athletes,” he added. “I want meat, I need meat to perform and that’s what I eat at home, so why should I change? I like my fish and people are finding worms in the fish. It’s just not good enough.
“The standard, we’re looking at the best of the best in the world, and we’re not feeding them the best.” PA Media
Surfing: And here is Kieran Pender on Jack Robinson’s’s adjustment to life as a competitor on his path to silver.
Few sporting journeys are linear. And while winning silver at Teahupo’o – beaten only by local charger Kauli Vaast in the final – was the natural evolution of Robinson’s surfing success, it is a triumph that seemed distant when the Australian walked away from the sport six years ago.
For natural surfing ability is not enough to win gold medals and world titles. Some of the best surfers in the world falter in the heat of competition. And after a childhood anointed as the prodigy, the next big thing, competitive life was an adjustment for Robinson. Almost an adjustment too far.
So long, Tahiti. You’ve been good to us.
Surfing: I know those whale photos from earlier left you wanting more. Lucky for you, our picture desk is all over it. Held at Teahupo’o, AKA the ‘wall of skulls’, the Olympic surfing competition saw some epic waves and here are the best snapshots.
Men’s basketball: It is all tied in the quarter-final between Germany and Greece after the first-half. The defending champions have struggled against the underdogs and Giannis Antetokounmpo is as impactful as ever.
Equestrianism: France’s Julien Epaillard gets four faults as the final rider but still gets loud cheers as he finishes in fourth. That means the top three, the only ones that did not fault, will go through a shorter course to determine who gets gold, silver and bronze.
Women’s volleyball: Turkey come from behind to win their quarter-final against China in five sets. An astonishing 42 points of Turkey’s 110 were won by Melissa Vargas.
Team GB end equestrian events in Paris on a low
A grim denouement for Great Britain at the equestrian in Versailles.
Harry Charles did not make it as far as the start line after reporting an ailment with his horse, Romeo 88. “After a small overreach yesterday he is not quite the 110% that he has been the whole games so we are not taking any risks,” said Charles.
Charles’s teammates, Scott Brash and Ben Maher, both produced four faults on a tough course to edge themselves out of the medal positions. From the first 20 riders, only two delivered clear rounds. From 26, it was three.
Team GB’s equestrian medal haul sticks at five.
Equestrianism: Steve Guerdat slots into first with a time of 80.99. He is only the third to clear the course. Keep in mind 26 riders have competed. Are we looking at our gold medallist?
Equestrianism: Here comes the world No 1 Henrik von Eckermann atop of King Edward. They get over the double OK – unlike most of their opponents. But a bit nervy as the horse fights a stride and oooh rider goes one way and horse goes another at the wall and Von Eckermann falls off as King Edward, who seems really spooked, runs away.
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Women’s handball: Denmark has beat the Netherlands 29-25 in the first quarter-final of the day. Anne Mette Hansen with six goals from six shots.
Surfing: In case you missed it, horses are not the only non-humans competing at the Paris Games.
Last night was the final day of the surfing at the French Polynesian island of Tahiti and a surprise guest made an appearance: a whale.
A safe distance from the semi-final match between Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb and Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy, the whale breached and gave spectators (and photographers) the Olympic moment of a lifetime.
Tahiti has several maritime protected zones. In April, Pacific Indigenous leaders – including some from Tahiti – signed a treaty recognising whales as “legal persons,” although such a declaration is not reflected in the laws of participating nations.
Equestrianism: Up comes Scott Brash and Jefferson. And an early four point penalty. It is the back legs on the second part of the double. Multiple riders have struggled on that exact one. The rest of the course goes off without a hitch and Brash slots into fourth.
So no medal for Team GB in the individual showjumping today.
Equestrianism: Yikes! Mexico’s Andres Azcarraga is the first to be eliminated after his horse, Contendros 2, seemed to be wary of the water that is placed after one of the bars. Azcarraga falls off the back of the horse but both rider and horse seem to be OK.
Geoff sends in a timely email: “Surely the showjumping has 30 athletes and their riders competing?”
You’re likely right, Geoff. Seems that no matter how composed the rider is, it all comes down to the horse.
Athletics: The morning session is under way at the Stade de France with the first round of the women’s 1500m.
The defending champion and world record-holder Faith Kipyegon of Kenya is through to the semi-final after finishing fourth in her heat.
Team GB’s Laura Muir and Georgia Bell came second in their respective heats and will continue on while Revée Walcott-Nolan was forced to retire.
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Equestrianism: Huge fist pump from the Netherlands’ Maikel van der Vleuten after he clears the course without a single penalty atop his French-bred Beauville.
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Equestrianism: The United States’s Laura Kraut, and one of the favourites for this event, almost had a perfect run before falling short at the final hurdle. This is clearly a tough course. Germany’s Christian Kukuk currently leads.
Marathon: The marathon swimming familiarisation session scheduled for Tuesday in the River Seine has been cancelled, Paris Olympics organisers said.
“After the daily situation meeting this morning between Ville de Paris, Paris 2024 and World Aquatics, it has been decided that the familiarisation session to take place today, 6 August 2024, is cancelled,” World Aquatics said in a statement.
It did not provide a reason for the cancellation but said further information would be made available later on Tuesday. A team leaders meeting and a coaches briefing would still go ahead as planned.
Training sessions for the swim leg of the triathlon were also cancelled and the men’s race was postponed at the last minute because bacteria levels in the river were too high.
The triathlon mixed relay went ahead as scheduled on Monday after organisers gave the all clear the day before, acknowledging athletes’ demands for more certainty.
French authorities have spent €1.4bn on upgrading the capital’s sewage systems, promising the river will be clean enough for residents to swim in by next summer.
The women’s and men’s marathon swim races are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Reuters
Equestrianism: The world No 2 and defending champion Ben Maher is up with Dallas Vegas Batilly. He clears the first few but then hits a rail. The height is there but the momentum is not. They go through the rest of the course without trouble but that one will likely cost him gold. Maher finishes with a time of 81.70 with four faults.
Gymnastics: There is a credible argument that Simone Biles has been America’s best athlete for more than ten years and she now wields incredible influence.
Bryan Armen Graham writes from the Bercy Arena:
Even on the oldest US women’s gymnastics team since 1952 – the hook behind their Golden Girls nickname – Biles is the den mother of a group that grew up worshipping her and still does. Throughout the week-long competition Biles was front and center offering vocal support and encouragement to teammates and rivals both, embodying the unique camaraderie that sets gymnastics apart from all other sports.
Equestrianism: Canada’s Mario Deslauriers starts off on Emerson. The 59-year-old ends with a time of 82.64 and eight penalties.
Equestrianism: Let’s turn to our first medal of the day – individual showjumping at the Château de Versailles. Thirty athletes are set to compete. Ben Maher is fourth in the start order and Scott Brash is in twentieth.
The Getty Images photographer Hector Vivas has created a series of astonishing images called Layers of the Games, which aim to show in one image the multiple moments that happen in a game or a day of competition in Paris.
I can’t decide if my favourite is from the football or the beach volleyball.
Tennis: Novak Djokovic’s triumphant campaign in Paris could motivate the 37-year-old to keep going for four more years and compete in the Los Angeles Games, his former coach Goran Ivanisevic said.
Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) on Sunday to claim the gold medal and became only the fifth player to achieve a career Golden Slam – winning all four grand slam trophies and the Olympic title.
“Novak didn’t show up in the Wimbledon final, but here you could tell … If they stayed for five more hours on that court, the outcome would have been the same,” Ivanisevic told the Tennis Majors website.
“Novak was flying, he was dancing. People forgot this was his first Olympics final, he felt this is it, he has to seize this opportunity.
“Considering how crazy he is, it wouldn’t surprise me to see him in Los Angeles as well.”
The Croatian Ivanisevic, who helped Djokovic claim nine of his 24 grand slam titles before leaving his team in March, said the Serb was now the firm favourite for the US Open. Djokovic will bid to win a fifth Flushing Meadows title that would see surpass Margaret Court in the all-time list with a 25th major.
“I’m so glad that he finally won this gold. I wish him a 25th Slam, to break the absolute record, and then he can retire, although he’ll never retire, this guy,” Ivanisevic said. “I think he can find the motivation, the gold will lift him. If he plays like this, he’s the man to beat at the US Open.” Reuters
Women’s volleyball: China takes the first set 25-23. Remember matches are best-of-five-set contests. The first four sets are played until one team scores 25 and if the teams are tied at two sets each after four, the fifth set is played to 15 points.
The teams regroup and the DJ in the arena is playing Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen, which the crowd is loving.
If I had to guess, I would say this song has been played approximately 7499232947 times in Paris so far. I think I’ve heard it every day at almost every event I have watched. No complaints – it is a tune.
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Equestrianism: Great Britain’s Harry Charles has withdrawn from the individual showjumping final. Charles, who won team jumping gold on Friday, will not compete due to his horse Romeo 88 not being fit.
He writes on Instagram:
Unfortunately me and Romeo will not start the individual final today in paris. After a small overreach yesterday he is not quite the 110% that he has been the whole games, so we are not taking any risks.
Maybe I’m a little disappointed but honestly not really! He has given me so much and took me beyond my dreams, we’re leaving Paris with a gold medal and more importantly a happy Romeo, so that’s way more than enough for me!
Team GB have a great shot at the medals with two of the best today in Scott [Brash] and Ben [Maher] so we will be on the sidelines cheering them on.
Thank you to everyone for all the support you’ve given me and Romeo throughout the games and making it an experience of a lifetime!
Women’s volleyball: 19-17 to China – it is the first time since the beginning of this match that there is more than one point in this game which tells you how tight it is. Zhu Ting with the fourth spike of the game for the Asian Games champions.
Women’s volleyball: It is all tied up at 16-16 in this quarter-final between China and Turkey. China is playing well as a team but the captain, Eda Erdem has dragged her side level time and time again, with 12/31 attacks.
Thank you Jonathan and hello all! Fifteen gold medals are set to be handed out today and what a range of events, from equestrian to diving and skateboarding.
Before we get to all of that, have a go at our world records quiz. Do you know your Katie Ledecky stats from your Usain Bolt?
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To take you through the next few hours of day 11 it’s over to Yara El-Shaboury. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.
The first action of the day is almost upon us and we begin in South Paris Arena where China are taking on Türkiye in the quarter-finals of the women’s volleyball. It promises to be a close affair with Türkiye ranked fourth in the world, China fifth.
China won all three of their pool matches to qualify for the knockout phase, while Türkiye were resoundingly beaten by top-seeded Italy.
The remaining quarter-finals take place later today with Brazil v Dominican Republic, USA v Poland, and Italy v Serbia.
Boxing’s gender eligibility row shows no sign of ending with the IBA pouring fuel on the fire during a chaotic press conference.
Late in this report from Daniel Boffey and Sean Ingle, the president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, offers some much needed administrative insight.
Asked about his position on the row, the World Athletics president, Sebastian Coe, suggested that the controversy had spiralled due to a lack of clarity around the IOC’s rules.
“It’s unvarnished, have a policy,” he said. “Be clear and have a policy. You’re never going to make everybody happy but you have to plant the flagpole down somewhere and that’s why it was so important for us.
“I did five years on the British Boxing Board of Control as an administrative steward, and I have daughters. How do you think I feel about this? But in a way that’s incidental.
“The most important thing is to have a policy, be clear cut about it and have a policy that you are able to stand behind because it’s your north star. If you don’t, then you get into this sort of territory.”
After leading the gold medal tally in the pool for almost the entirety of the meet, Australia’s swimmers leave Paris pipped at the post by the USA. Attention has already turned to LA 2028.
The return to a four year cycle gives the team time to support the current golden generation and usher through a new group of talented young swimmers. “We have an extra year, we’ll just keep building, we’ll go back to the drawing board,” said Taylor.
There will certainly be change in the years ahead. Emma McKeon, Australia’s most successful ever Olympian, is retiring. And legendary Australian swim coach Michael Bohl, who coaches backstroke superstar Kaylee McKeown, is planning to take 12 months off before deciding whether to retire or return to the sport.
There have been whispers on the pool deck in Paris that Dean Boxall, who oversees the St Peters Western program including Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan, might also take an extended break. Boxall was the most successful coach in Paris, overseeing athletes who won nine gold, six silver and two bronze medals.
There is some serious talent in this picture. In the women’s 5,000m last night Beatrice Chebet did what so few athletes have failed to do in recent years and defeat both Faith Kipyegon and Sifan Hassan in the same race. Kipyegon still has the 1500m to go (her primary event) and Hassan has both the 10,000m and the marathon on her absurd schedule.
It's official 👏
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 5, 2024
Legendary women's 5000m podium ⬇️
🥇 Beatrice Chebet 🇰🇪
🥈 Faith Kipyegon 🇰🇪
🥉 Sifan Hassan 🇳🇱 #Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/miotkAOIDS
Almost every single French medal hope has delivered at these Olympics. And to the list featuring the likes of Marchand, Riner, Ferrand-Prevot, Dupont, and Beaugrand, may soon be added Henry, with the hosts into the final of the men’s football against Spain at the Parc des Princes.
This will be the first time gold in the men’s tournament has been won by a European team since Spain’s victory at Barcelona 1992, it also ends the dominance of Latin American nations after the last five editions of the tournament saw victories for Brazil and Argentina – two each – and Mexico.
It also gives France’s Olympic coach, Thierry Henry, the chance to add to his storied career, having won the World Cup and European Championship with France as a player. This would be his first major honour in a coaching career that is still early in its development.
France’s only men’s Olympic gold came at Los Angeles 1984 and the nation also took silver when the Games were held in Paris in 1900.
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Wrestling is also the sport allowing Iryna Koliadenko to flourish, despite the trauma facing her homeland of Ukraine.
“It’s hard to prepare for competitions because I’m constantly under stress,” she says. “Psychologically it’s very difficult to withstand everything because there’s shelling, people are dying, sometimes there’s no light because the electricity goes off. There are air raid alarms all the time. It’s difficult to switch to the training mindset when you’re already psychologically exhausted and tired but you still need to go there, show some results and get better.”
One of the most extraordinary stories of the Games is playing out in the Greco-Roman wrestling arena where Cuban giant Mijaín López is on course for Olympic immortality.
Who is the greatest Olympian of them all? Ask an American, and they would likely say Michael Phelps. In Cuba, you might get a different answer.
Cuban Greco-Roman wrestler Mijaín López started his bid to become arguably the greatest Olympian of the modern era on Monday, as he moved one grapple closer to an unrivalled fifth consecutive gold in a single event.
After 1hr 25min 39sec of swimming, cycling, and running, the mixed triathlon podium was decided by a photo finish.
Over a few deafening minutes along the Seine, Team GB expected gold, were awarded silver, and were then downgraded to bronze after a wrongly adjudged photo-finish. We always knew a mixed triathlon embracing Paris’s greatest sights would look spectacular. But this was a race that also took the breath away.
Enough of the Games has passed for conclusions to be drawn and the first drafts of history to be written. In the pool, those pages will be dominated by Leon Marchand, but the narrative will remain contested until there is consensus over the participation of China’s delegation.
A swimmer has not owned an Olympics quite like this since Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in Beijing. Every session was sold out, every seat in the media section taken and every stroke stoked great roars of excitement from the French public, who gathered around TV screens in homes, bars, and restaurants around the country to watch. His finals were appointment viewing. He became the great home hero of the Games. And he’s not done. “This is just the beginning,” Marchand said this weekend. “My next goal is Los Angeles 2028.”
The sport needed it. The Olympics started under a cloud, when reports broke that 23 Chinese swimmers had failed drug tests for trace amounts of the banned performance-enhancing drug TMZ and a row broke out between the US Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency about the handling of the case.
Eleven of the 23 were picked to compete here in Paris. One, the breaststroker Qin Haiyang, was subsequently found to have failed another test for a different drug in similar circumstances. Qin said he was the victim of a “European and American plot”, and promised to win medals to “silence the sceptics”.
At the opposite end of the spectrum to Biles in terms of hype and name recognition, Noemie Fox continued Australia’s excellent Olympics with gold in the first every gold medal in the hectic Kayak Cross. It is the Fox family’s third gold of the Games after sister Jess dominated the canoe slalom.
This discipline is a new Olympic event in 2024 that resembles Super Mario Kart on rapids.
Simone Biles has now left the arena, perhaps for the final time at an Olympics. She leaves behind some stunning images from her Paris residency.
Simone Biles was the star attraction early on day 10, but she could only add a silver to her existing haul of three golds in the finals of the balance beam and floor. She was the centre of attention nonetheless.
Although the American did not close out her Paris Olympics with a golden picturesque finish in a chaotic last day of artistic gymnastics, her final day of competition here was rather an exhibition of the sportsmanship and humanity that has accompanied her greatness. After a fall on the balance beam led to a fifth-place finish, Biles won a silver medal on the floor exercise.
With gold medals in the all-around, team and vault competitions, plus the silver medal on the floor exercise, the 27-year-old leaves Paris with four more Olympic medals. She is now the joint-second most decorated female gymnast at the Games with 11 medals in total and she has also extended her own record as the most decorated gymnast of all time, male or female, with 41 Olympic and world championship medals.
Also in the Stade de France Keely Hodgkinson continued her incredible rise. Still only 22 the British 800m star now has a gold medal to go with the silver she secured in Tokyo.
Hodgkinson took the lead 200m into the race, exactly as she had planned. This time, Moraa was right there behind her, but Hodgkinson didn’t let her get up shoulder-to-shoulder. Instead, she pressed on once, coming into the last bend, and then pressed on again coming out of it. She pulled clear down the straight and ran in alone, fresh air between her and the Ethiopian Tsige Duguma, who had overtaken Moraa as she slipped back into the pack trying, and failing, to break into a sprint that would catch Hodgkinson.
It took Hodgkinson thousands of hours to make it to that finish line, and thousands of miles, and a fair few defeats. And in the end she made winning look so very easy that you only wondered how she ever found it so hard to begin with.
But with the greatest of respect to surfing, the standout achievement of day 10 arrived in the Stade de France. It was the Olympic stadium where Armand Duplantis lived up to his billing, cruising to pole vault gold then delighting the full house with an Olympic then world record. He is the superstar athlete of his generation and his performances have pushed his sport lightyears into the future.
The roar is humongous, and focused on him alone. He sets off. In a few seconds he will be earthbound and away, into the crowd, the star of the greatest show on earth.
But let’s leave him right here, sailing through clean clear air, higher than any human before him, a man flying beyond the earthly plane and into immortality.
There has already been a medal for Australia to celebrate today, albeit one that comes under the official banner of day 10 action (that’s what happens when one of the venues is 12 time zones away from the Olympic stadium).
In the men’s surfing final France’s Kauli Vaast took gold ahead of West Australian Jack Robinson.
Local hero Vaast surfed a near perfect heat to claim gold at Teahupo’o, relegating tube-riding maestro Robinson to silver. The 22-year-old Vaast, who grew up in Teahupo’o and has caught some of the best waves of all-time at the perfect reef pass, quickly established dominance in the final and never gave it up, sparking celebrations on spectator boats in the channel and in a small fan zone.
While we’re looking ahead, here’s the view from a specifically Australian perspective.
We’re not in business until 09:00 local time today, whereupon volleyball is the first item on the agenda, namely China v Turkiye in the women’s quarter-finals.
At 09:30 canoe sprint and handball come onto our radar with 10:00 signalling an avalanche of activity, including equestrian, diving, sport climbing, table tennis, and the morning session of athletics.
Here are the choice cuts from yesterday’s action. My particular favourite is the sparkly sailing.
China and the USA have now pulled clear at the top of the medal table and will duke it out for supremacy for the remainder of the Games.
45 countries have now heard their national anthem at these Games, including the tiny Caribbean islands of St Lucia and Dominica after stunning track and field successes.
73 NOCs in total have made it onto the medal table.
Preamble - Day 11 Schedule
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the 11th official day of competition of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
Day ten belonged to Armand Duplantis, who lived up to his billing as the athlete of his generation by captivating the Stade de France en route to a new pole vault world record. Other superstars contributed to another magnificent day of sport without celebrating gold. That includes Simone Biles who had to settle for a solitary silver from her final pair of apparatus finals, and Faith Kipyegon, who was run down by compatriot Beatrice Chebet in the final strides of a controversial 5,000m race.
Elsewhere, Viktor Axelsen defended his badminton gold medal, another Fox - Noemie this time - won on the whitewater, and Team GB got to work in the velodrome. And on an action packed day across the Games there was time for a Tahitian local to triumph on the terrifying Teahupo’o break.
So what can we look forward to today?
Medal Events
🥇 Equestrian – individual jumping (from 10:00)
🥇 Sailing – women’s & men’s dinghy (from 14:43)
🥇 Diving – women’s 10m platform (from 15:00)
🥇 Skateboarding – women’s park (from 17:30)
🥇 Wrestling – men’s greco-roman 60kg & 130kg / women’s freestyle 68kg (from 18:15)
🥇 Hammer – women’s (from 19:57)
🥇 Cycling - men’s team sprint (20:10)
🥇 Long Jump - men’s (20:15)
🥇 1500m - men’s (20:50)
🥇 3000m Steeplechase - women’s (21:14)
🥇 200m - women’s (21:40)
🥇 Boxing - women’s 60kg (23:06)
*(All times listed are Paris local)
Simon Burnton’s day-by-day guide
Athletics: men’s 1500m final
Jakob Ingebrigtsen won gold in Tokyo but since then has twice been pipped by Britons at global tournaments, beaten by Jake Wightman at the 2022 world championships and Josh Kerr at the 2023 event. The 1500m has been a thrilling, hotly contested event in recent years and there are several athletes who could halt the Kerr v Ingebrigtsen hype including another Norwegian in Narve Gilje Nordås, who is coached by Ingebrigtsen’s estranged father, Gjert (who has not been accredited for the Olympics because he faces criminal charges in Norway).
Skateboarding: women’s park final
The 14-year-old Australian and world No 2 Arisa Trew is one to keep an eye on here: last year she became the first female to pull off a 720, and in June was the first to land a 900 (two and a half rotations) and a switch McTwist (if you know you know). The park course is too slow to allow those tricks, but she will be trying to push the boundaries. Meanwhile Sky Brown, who won bronze for Britain at 13 in Tokyo, returns.
Greco-Roman wrestling: men’s 130kg gold final
At the other end of the Olympic age spectrum, Cuba’s Mijaín López, 42 in August, is attempting to become the first athlete to win five consecutive gold medals in the same individual event – and in so doing to present a plausible argument for being the greatest ever Olympian. “I will do it,” he said in March. “The fatigue is there, the physical pain is there, so the mind has to be strong, the motivation has to be even stronger.”
I’m sure I’ve failed to include something notable to you in this short rundown, so feel free to let me know what’s on your agenda by emailing: jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.
I’ll be around for the first few hours of the blog here in Australia, after which I’m handing over to Yara El-Shaboury.
