Right, that’s the end of our live coverage for day 14. Join us again tomorrow for more highs, lows, and the stuff that’s sort of in the middle. I’ll leave you with Daniel Boffey’s roundup of the day’s action. Night!
A reminder of the main events tomorrow morning: things kick off early with the men’s marathon, then there’s women’s golf, last-16 clashes in the men’s and women’s taekwondo, the men’s diving 10m platform semi-final, and bronze medal matches in the women’s handball, table tennis and water polo. There’s also a bronze medal match in the men’s basketball between Germany and Serbia, plus lots and lots of wrestling.
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Jack Snape has been taking in the beach volleyball in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Here’s his take on the action.
Khelif has been speaking to the BBC after her gold medal triumph. “It’s my dream, I’m very happy,” she says. “My family is happy, all of my country Algeria is happy today, fantastic, amazing. I am very happy, eight years to work, eight years tired, eight years, no sleep. Today I’m very happy for the gold medal, I’m an Olympic gold medallist, I’m very happy, that’s it!”
It’s what we’ve all been waiting for: Jonathan Liew on an epic heptathlon rivalry.
Here’s Sean Ingle’s take on Fairly Fabulous Friday. Is that going to catch on, do we reckon? It might!
Women’s beach volleyball: Despite a spirited comeback in the second set, having lost the first, Canada miss out on gold to Brazil. Ana Patrícia Ramos and Duda Lisboa see out a fiery third set, leaving Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson to settle for silver.
Ismaël Bennacer, the Algeria and Milan midfielder, has been one of the first to congratulate Khelif on her gold, tweeting: “Congratulations to our Olympic champion Imane Khelif. Despite the hatred, misinformation and relentlessness, she remained mentally strong to win the gold medal and honour Algeria.”
Félicitations à notre championne olympique Imane Khelif 🥇🇩🇿
— Ismaël Bennacer (@IsmaelBennacer) August 9, 2024
Malgré la haine, la désinformation et l’acharnement, elle est restée forte mentalement pour décrocher la médaille d’or et honorer l’Algérie. 👏
Women’s weightlifting: Speaking of medals for Team USA, Olivia Reeves secured gold in the women’s 71kg division earlier. Here’s the full report.
We’ve got another update from Beau Dure, this time on the medal rivalry between the USA and China:
With two days left, the USA and China each have 33 gold medals.
The USA are in the finals of men’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and the Games’ last event, women’s basketball. They have very good chances in the 4x400m relays. Other gold medals can come in men’s breaking, women’s omnium track cycling, women’s 200m single canoe, women’s 100m hurdles and two men’s wrestling classes. They’re not out of it in women’s golf, and they have a chance in the men’s high jump.
China are favored in women’s team table tennis, men’s platform diving and women’s 81kg weightlifting. They’re 50-50 in women’s middleweight boxing and duet artistic swimming. They have good chances in women’s 200m single canoe (the most notable USA v China showdown), men’s breaking, group rhythmic gymnastics, and men’s 102kg weightlifting.
So the USA could end up in the mid-40s but would more likely be around 39, and they have a floor around 35. China’s ceiling is lower at 42, but their floor is 36 or 37.
Falling short in the gold medal count because of breaking and basketball, two quintessentially US pastimes, would certainly sting.
Imane Khelif wins gold in the women's 66kg boxing
Khelif salutes the crowd as a huge roar goes up. She’s then carried around the stadium on the shoulders of her coaches, raising the Algerian flag in celebration.
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Women’s boxing: Khelif throws some crunching punches, but none of them land. Yang catches her with a southpaw jab. Yang continues to come forward, probing without landing the necessary blows. Yang gambles on a knockout shot but fails to catch Khelif squarely, and the bell goes …
Women’s boxing: Yang looks to up the tempo, but Khelif catches her as she comes forward. The pair trade blows, leaving Yang temporarily off balance before she replies with some solid combinations. Khelif is called up for holding before Yang roars forwards with a sharp right jab. All five judges again give the round to Khelif.
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Women’s boxing: Yang gets a flurry of punches away early on in the first round, forcing Khelif back. Yang, a southpaw, looks faster on her feet. She catches Khelif with a southpaw left, ducking, diving and shifting her weight nimbly. Both fighters swipe at each other at close quarters, Khelif landing some big punches, before the bell goes, with the judges unanimously giving the round to Khelif.
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Women’s boxing: Khelif and Yang are out in the ring, the former in red and the latter in blue. Both get a noisy reception from the crowd.
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Lazizbek Mullojonov wins gold in men's 92kg boxing
As expected, the Uzbek fighter wins the bout. Some thundering punches there, oosh.
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Men’s boxing: In the meantime, we’re into the third round of the men’s 92kg final between Azerbaijan’s Loren Alfonso and Uzbekistan’s Lazizbek Mullojonov. Alfonso needs a knockout …
Women’s boxing: It’s almost time for Imane Khelif to take on Yang Liu in the gold medal bout in the 66kg category.
Well, well, well. It’s me… again. Is this how the relay is meant to work? I feel like we’re stretching the metaphor a bit thin now.
Handing that pesky baton back to Will Magee … don’t drop it Will.
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Men’s football final: Spain provide pain for hosts
Barney Ronay was watching on as Thierry Henry was about to be crowned king of France. Unfortunately for the Arsenal legend, Spain had other ideas and came away with the gold.
‘There will be no home gold medal for France’s footballers at Paris 2024. Instead it was Spain who ended up 5-3 winners of an astonishing men’s final after Sergio Camello scored twice in extra time at the Parc des Princes.
‘This was a genuinely wild game, an eight-goal, two-hour, see-saw thriller, decorated with brilliant goals, saves, comebacks and an added time VAR equaliser. France will feel unlucky not to have made a long spell of sustained pressure tell. The greatest compliment for Spain’s performance was that it was in its best moments just very Spanish.’
Breaking news alert from Andy Bull …
‘Breaking: it’s breaking. The Olympics’ latest summer sport had its gala opening at the pop-up stadium in Place de la Concorde on Friday, where the grand marble statues of the great ladies of France looked down as the DJ dropped the opening notes of Tom Zé’s 1972 hit Dor e Dor, and two young B-Girls, India, 18, from the Netherlands, and Talash, 21, from Afghanistan, took to the stage for the very first battle of the breaking competition. If you hadn’t already guessed that the International Olympic Committee isn’t in Kansas any more, let alone Lausanne, there was a clue coming right up in the opening moments.’
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But better news from Team GB’s relay camp. It could have been better, it could have been worse. All in all, it was a pretty impressive run from GB’s relay teams as they clinched silver and bronze in Paris. Dina Asher-Smith basked in a “phenomenal run” from the women’s 4x100m team and I’m certainly not going to argue…
A man who knows a thing about winning Olympic medals … the four-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis has called on USA Track and Field to ‘blow up the system’ after another debacle for the men’s 4x100m relay team.
The US men extended their relay drought to 20 years without a medal in the relay tonight in Paris, after they were disqualified for an illegal pass.
Taekwondo: Tunisia’s Firas Katoussi wins gold in men’s -80kg
Tunisia’s Firas Katoussi has just become his country’s first Olympic champion in taekwondo after beating Iran’s Mehran Barkhordari 2-0 in the men’s -80kg gold medal contest. Earlier Hungary’s Viviana Marton struck gold in the women’s -67kg … Olympic champion at 18!
Boxing: Muydinkhujaev and Wu clinch gold in men’s 71kg and women’s 50kg
Boxing at the tennis update: the first two finals at Roland Garros have finished with Uzbekistan’s Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev sealing a 5-0 victory against Mexico’s Marco Alonso Verde to win the men’s 71kg class.
China’s Wu Yu then took a 4-1 split decision over Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu in the women’s 50kg final.
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Women’s heptathlon: after a thrilling couple of days, Katarina Johnson-Thompson secured silver and almost a gold. Here’s Lexy Topping’s report.
‘Katarina Johnson-Thompson banished her Olympic demons for good at the Stade de France, taking silver medal in the heptathlon while Belgium’s superlative Nafissatou Thiam won a third consecutive gold in the event and confirmed her position as one of the greatest athletes of the modern era.
To take the gold Johnson-Thompson would have had to take a huge lead on Thiam in the final event, the 800m, and finish just over eight seconds ahead of her rival. But even in this form, it proved beyond her. She came second in their heat in 2min 04.39sec, ahead of Thiam on 2.10.62. Another Belgian Noor Vidts took the bronze medal.’
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Taekwondo: Viviana Marton wins women’s -67kg gold
At the Grand Palais, Viviana Marton has become the women’s -67kg Olympic champion at the age of just 18. She beat Serbian Aleksandra Perisic 2-0 in straight rounds.
If you missed it … Ewan Murray was on hand to deliver some golden news about Toby ‘The Terminator” Roberts. He’s young so … he’ll be back.
Table tennis: China are closing in on a sweep after cruising to gold in the men’s team event. They brushed aside Sweden 3-0. Ma Long and the world No 1 Wang Chuqin beat Anton Kallberg and Kristian Karlsson 8-11, 11-4, 11-3, 6-11, 11-7.
Fan Zhendong then saw off Truls Moregard 10-12, 11-8, 11-9, 11-13, 11-5 before Wang clinched gold with a victory over Kristian Karlsson 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 10-12, 11-2.
Women’s hockey: The Netherlands survived a scare to beat China 3-1 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in regulation to retain their women’s title, giving the Dutch the hockey double after the earlier men’s triumph. Goalkeeper Anne Veenendaal stopped Ma Ning’s penalty to secure the win and hand the Dutch a fifth title. The Dutch women have dominated hockey since first fielding a women’s team in 1984, missing out on a medal only once in 1992.
Beach volleyball: The Australian pair of Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar have been defeated in the bronze medal match by Swiss duo Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner. Under orange skies at sunset metres from the Eiffel Tower, Hueberli and Brunner overcame the Tokyo silver medallists in straight sets, 21-17, 21-15.
The gold medal match between Brazilians Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa and Canadian pair Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson is up next.
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A reminder of the day’s events at the velodrome where there were medals for Team GB. Jeremy Whittle writes:
Team GB’s Elinor Barker and Neah Evans rallied to claim a last-gasp silver medal in the women’s Madison race in the Olympic velodrome, while Jack Carlin took a hard-fought and fractious bronze medal in the men’s individual sprint.
Evans and Barker were still in the bronze medal position with six laps to go before an inspired acceleration from Barker took the final sprint, which was worth double points, and secured Team GB the silver medal.
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Men’s 400m hurdles: Warholm made a flying start but when it came down to the final 150m, Benjamin burst clear and the Olympic champion had to settle for silver.
Brazil’s Alison dos Santos takes the bronze medal.
Rai Benjamin wins 400m hurdles gold
Gold for USA as Karsten Warholm is dethroned!
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World record holder and defending champion Karsten Warholm was the fastest qualifier and is the favourite
Men’s 400m hurdles: home favourite Clément Ducos gets quite an ovation
Men’s 400m hurdles: all eyes back on the track for the final event of the evening
Women’s heptathlon: A reminder that Katarina Johnson-Thompson had to settle for silver but far from being downbeat, she’s just told the BBC: “I can’t even describe the words but I’m just so relieved and so happy that I have an Olympic medal to add to my collection. It was the only one I didn’t have and it’s been so hard getting back to this point.”
Thanks Will. Amazing moment for Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet. Gold in the 5,000 metres in Paris, followed up by 10,000m gold. Extraordinary.
Right, that’s yer lot from me. There’s still plenty more to come tonight, however, so I’ll hand over to Mark Dobson for the next stretch.
Beatrice Chebet wins women's 10,000m gold
With Battocletti breathing down her neck, Chebet kept her cool and maintained an incredible sprint pace at the last to clinch gold. Battocletti takes silver, with a resurgent Sifan Hassan coming from well back to earn bronze.
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Women’s 10,000m: Chebet pulls ahead in the last lap! But wait! Italy’s Nadia Battocletti is roaring forward!
Women’s 10,000m: Team USA’s Parker Valby briefly takes the lead, but falls back almost immediately.
Women’s 10,000m: Kipkemboi gets out in front with four laps to go, with Rengeruk and Chebet close behind.
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Women’s 10,000m: Kenya’s other runner, Lilian Kasait Rengeruk, is helping to up the pressure alongside Kipkemboi and Chebet.
Women’s 10,000m: Ethiopia’s Tsigie Gebreselama puts herself in the mix at the front, pushing ahead of Kipkemboi and Chebet. Seven laps to go.
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Women’s 10,000m: Margaret Kipkemboi, Chebet’s Kenya teammate, makes a move, upping the pace at the front as Chebet holds firm just behind her.
Women’s 10,000m: Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet is going strong near the front, with Australia’s Lauren Ryan pushing into the lead.
Women’s 10,000m: Kazakhstan’s Daisy Jepkemei is now out in front, with Goshima dropping back.
The women’s 10,000m is well under way. Japan’s Rino Goshima is out in front with 16 laps to go, but the group is still tightly packed.
Barney Ronay has tried to make sense of the gleeful chaos in the men’s football final. Here’s his report from the Parc des Princes.
In the women’s shot put, Germany’s Yemisi Ogunleye has taken gold with a thumping 20m throw. New Zealand’s Maddi Wesche earns silver, with China’s Song Jiayuan claiming bronze.
Alexandra Topping’s report on the heptathlon has landed. Huge props to Johnson-Thompson for a hard-fought first Olympic medal, and huge props to Thiam for a frankly unreal third consecutive heptathlon gold.
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Here’s an update from Beau Dure:
Other combined events – biathlon, triathlon, modern pentathlon – have managed to come up with formats in which the first athlete across the line is the winner.
So why is it that decathlon and heptathlon athletes have to cross a finish line and remain collapsed on the track for an agonising wait that would be shorter if someone was sitting in a room with a pencil and paper?
The USA’s Anna Hall, ranked No 1 in the world, is heartbroken. She hardly needs confirmation of the results. Her personal best of 6,988 would have left Belgium’s Nafi Thiam and Team GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson far behind. Instead, despite crossing the finish line in the 800m well before anyone else, she posted a score of 6,615, behind a personal best by Belgium’s Noor Vidts and a national record by Switzerland’s Annik Kälin.
Better news for the USA: the weightlifter Olivia Reeves set an Olympic record in the snatch to take the lead halfway through her competition. But the gold medal count is still starting to tilt toward China, especially if they take a stunning gold in field hockey, where they lead the mighty Netherlands 1-0.
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That’s Spain’s second gold in the men’s football, their last coming back at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Among the gold medallists 32 years ago: Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique.
Spain take gold in men's football final with 5-3 win against France
It’s all over in the men’s football final, Camello making it 5-3 to Spain right at the death. Check out our dedicated live blog, where Rob Smyth will have all the reaction.
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Here’s Kieran Pender’s latest on the men’s individual sprint final, where the Netherlands’ Harrie Lavreysen beat Australia’s Matthew Richardson to gold.
It’s still 4-3 to Spain in the men’s football final with only a few minutes to go. Can France find a way?
Gold for Thiam, silver for Johnson-Thompson in heptathlon
It’s a superb effort by Johnson-Thompson, but not quite enough. She gives Thiam a real scare but, in the end, the gap between her and the gold medallist is around six seconds as opposed to the necessary 8.5.
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Thiam suffers a slight trip, but manages to right herself without too much effort. Johnson-Thompson is going strong, with Anna Hall well out in front.
Next up, can Katarina Johnson-Thompson do the necessary to win heptathlon gold in the 800m? It’s a huge ask, as she is 121 points behind Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam and will have to beat her rival by around 8.5sec.
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The men’s football final is into the second period of extra time. Can France, 4-3 down to Spain, claw their way back level again?
Anning spoke to the BBC after the race, saying: “I’m absolutely blessed. I am a little bit disappointed. I wanted to come away with three things. It was either a medal, a PB or a national record, and I got one of them. I’m just grateful to be in this position with these amazing girls.
“It was tough, I think I let myself have too much work coming into home straight but I just used my strength. This was the goal from the beginning, from the indoor season, I said I wanted to be an Olympic finalist and put myself in contention for a medal so I really can’t complain. It’s been an amazing experience. It’s still not done yet. I’ve got the relay tomorrow.”
In the women’s 400m, Amber Anning came fifth but earned an impressive personal accolade by breaking the British record held by Christine Ohuruogu for the last 11 years. Anning came in at 49.29sec but, ahead of her, Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain and Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland won gold, silver and bronze respectively.
But wait a minute! Spain are back in front, Sergio Camello with the goal to make it 4-3. Not a bad game all told.
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Hello! I don’t know about that, John, but I’ll do my best in treacherous conditions. Over in the men’s football final, it’s still 3-3 as the first period of extra time draws to a close.
The baton is passed now to Will Magee. He won’t drop it.
Women’s basketball report. The Australians just couldn’t get close.
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To complete a mad hour: it’s now 3-3 between France and Spain in extra time. Jean-Philippe Mateta just scored an added-time penalty. Football, sacre bleu. And Spain’s Turrientes just hit the bar!
Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse are the victorious Canadian team, the first since 1996 and Donovan Bailey in Atlanta.
The Americans were all over the show on their changes, and Team GB weren’t much better. Zharnel Hughes didn’t quite get there for the Brits. The Americans had no momentum.
Canada take the men's 4x100m
The old guard do it, with South Africa second, and Team GB in bronze. Team USA made a mess of the baton change. Andre de Grasse took it home for Canada.
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Carlin takes bronze in the track cycling
Carlin goes low and Hoogland goes high, and the Dutchman goes in chase but cannot get there.
Cycling: Jack Carlin gets a reprieve from the commissaires: we’re off again, and Carlin is off the front this time. The coaches shake hands. Away we go…
US afternoon update: When it rains, it pours, and upon seeing the cascading torrents of precipitation at the Stade de France along with other results today, US fans may have been expecting the worst.
The US women took care of business in basketball but not in another sport associated with the USA -- breaking. Neither US woman has qualified for the quarterfinals. Snoop Dogg was at the proceedings, though breaking is more closely associated with East Coast hip-hop. Where was Flavor Flav?
The USA also had setbacks in wrestling, taekwondo and track cycling. Several athletes are still up for bronze, but apparently, the world has decided to sort the medal table by gold medals only rather than using some sensible method of weighting gold (5 pts), silver (3) and bronze (1). When did we vote on this?
So if you’re obsessed with the gold-medal count only, the good news is that the US women managed to keep the baton in their hands in the 4x100m relay, and the USA have another gold as a result.
Next: can the USA win the men’s 4x100m relay without Covid-ridden Noah Lyles?
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The men’s 4x100m teams are coming out. And the talk is of “wet batons”. And no Noah Lyles amid a storm.
The gun goes off, as Carlin moves up and comes across Hoogland. An accident? He cut him right up. The type of move that leads to road rage. He’s already on a warning. Will he be disqualified?
The decider: Jack Carlin goes for cycling sprint bronze against Jefrey Hoogland.
Sha’Carri Richardson took it home for Team USA, her team-mates were Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry. What might have been for Team GB.
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It was Amy Hunt who struggled with the baton and Daryll Neita ran a beauty for Team GB’s anchor leg but she couldn’t get there. VAR on the play? Team GB’s changes may be under scrutiny.
USA takes gold in the wonen's 4x100m
Dina Asher-Smith sets off on a great first run for Team GB, but a couple of ropey baton changes meant they had no way back once Team USA got up a head of steam. Germany take a shock bronze.
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It’s raining very heavily in Paris as the women’s relay teams take to the track.
Tonight’s track and field schedule:
6.30pm - women’s 4x100m relay final
6:37pm - women’s shot put final
6.47pm - men’s 4x100m relay final
7.00pm - women’s 400m final
7.13pm - men’s triple jump final
7.25pm - women’s heptathlon 800m
7.57pm - women’s 10,000m final
8:45pm - men’s 400m hurdles final
USA beat Australia in women's basketball semis
Women’s basketball: The losing feeling was familiar but no less disappointing for the Opals, who recorded defeat in another Olympic contest against the US in their women’s basketball semi-final, going down 85-64 at the Bercy Arena in eastern Paris.
The victory by the Americans was their ninth straight in Olympic competition over the Australians, who have never tasted victory in the match-up. But there were signs that Australia might just end the streak at Los Angeles or Brisbane, given promise shown by young players Ezi Magbegor and 19-year-old guard Izzy Borlase, who top scored for the Opals with 11 points.
Netherlands' Lavreysen wins gold in the men's track sprint cycling
Harrie Lavreysen, Dutch cyclist, takes down Australia’s Matt Richardson, who had no answer. And looks happy enough with his silver.
Back to the men’s track cycling sprint. The bronze match, Jack Carlin takes on Jeffrey Hoogland, and it’s a lengthy sprint between the pair, and Carlin can’t get back up once he’s passed. So, we go to a decider.
Spain lead 3-1 in the men’s football final.
The Americans are on track to secure a place in the women’s basketball gold medal match as they lead Australia at three-quarter time 66-40 in their semi-final.
The Opals put up more resistance in the third quarter, but their outside shooting - just 25% from three-point range – has left them unable to make a dent into the US lead. Breanna Stewart has 16 points for Team USA, adding five points in the third term.
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Italy take women's Madison gold, GB take silver
Eleanor Barker goes for it and gets it her sprint moving up GB from bronze to silver. The Netherlands take bronze. That was Breathless 2000. What a race. The Italians did that by sheer stealth – well done Guazzini and Consonni.
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Denmark go for the burst to steal the Madison lap. Everyone watching each other. Just three laps to go. Italy sitting pretty.
USA are in fourth place as Belgium try and take a lap. Team GB are under pressure. France go on the burst with 14 laps to go. Italy take the sprint, and that’s a consolidation of their lead, with nine to go. The final sprint is double points.
Team GB taking it on, a few others lying in wait. Such a tactical game, the Madison. Italy steal a lap, and move into gold with 26 laps to go. Netherlands in silver, Team Gb in bronze. 25 laps to go. Evans and Barker need to win a lap to get this done.
The Madison has 45 laps to go: Netherlands pull off a smart move to claim a lap, and go into the lead. Team GB are in silver, and looking good for it. That’s after eight laps from 12.
The Madison rages on, with Team GB in the lead, having made a series of long-range attempts at the sprints. Denmark are within a point, the podium separated by two.
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France lead Spain 1-0 in the Parc des Princes, the goal scored by Enzo Millot, set up by Michael Olise.
There is a live performance of Freed From Desire by the actual Gala at the Parc Des Princes. This is incredible. Like finally seeing the real Mona Lisa
— Barney Ronay (@barneyronay) August 9, 2024
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Australia’s women basketballers are losing touch with the USA in their semi-final at the Bercy Arena, and trail 45-27 at half-time.
The Americans’ length and defensive prowess have dominated the interior, and the Opals are shooting just 33% from the three-point line.
Breanna Stewart has 11 points for the US, and Jackie Young has added another 10. Tess Madgen is top scorer for Australia with eight, including a late three-pointer.
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The women’s Madison us getting underway. Death Race 2000, as it resembles. The British pairing of Elinor Barker and Neah Evans looking to win a medal over the 120 laps.
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The gold medal in the sprint: Matthew Richardson of Australia v Harrie Lavreysen, who wins the first by holding off the challenger.
Track cycling time in the velodrome. Team GB’s Jack Carlin is in the bronze medal sprint, up against Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands. Carlin takes the first by slipstreaming, and then taking the first of best of three. Is Jack Carlin’s nickname “4737” by any chance?
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More basketball, this time, the men’s tournament.
Jeremy Boyce gets in touch: “It’s all go in Paris then, so much going on. If KJT has a mountain to climb she could do worse than pick the brains of young Toby Roberts, who has just claimed Gold for doing exactly that. And maybe lobby for its inclusion in a future Octathlon. Personally, I am backing her to Keely Hodgkinson her way to victory tonight over what will surely be 800 very compelling metres.”
Krishna gets in touch: “A wrestler gets disqualified because she weighed in 100g more than the stipulated weight. Fair enough. Rules are rules. A sprinter gets a silver, declares he has covid, possibly infected 1000s. All quiet on the western front. Fair game! Balderdash.”
The Covid stuff is crackers. But riders completed Le Tour de France with it.
Australia have stayed in touch with the USA in the first quarter of the semi-final of the women’s basketball, and trail only 20-16 at the first break.
The Opals could hardly have played any worse early on, and were down by 10 points at one point, giving up 14 fast break points across the period.
But Australia surged back late in the frame in a rally which coincided with the appearance of 43-year-old Lauren Jackson off the bench.
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China have won the team table tennis gold, beating Sweden into silver, and collecting their fifth title in succession – they have won every one since it was introduced in 2008.
“Unlike practically everywhere else in the world, the US likes to rank Olympic achievement by the total medal count – all the gold, silver and bronze accrued by a country’s athletes. The official Olympics website, Google and practically every publication covering the Games outside the USA goes by total gold medals.”
Rob Smyth will be supplying MBM coverage of the men’s football final. Get it here.
Japan’s entry – Ayumi - is dancing to something that sounds rather too like PJ and Duncan’s Let’s Get Ready To Rumble. Ukraine’s Kate throws down some floor work before being met with some headspinning from her opponent from Ukraine – Kate. And Kate wins, which registers as a shock.
For those b-boys and b-girls out there, the women’s breaking is currently in its qualifying stage. The beats are phat etc, and the sport looks a bit like this video but with individual duels.
The weightlifting is decided by a world record, and a Bulgarian. Karlos Nasar is at an incredible 404kg, with Yeison López in silver, way back on 390kg.
Bulgarian 20-year-old sensation Karlos May Nasar becomes the first man in history to break 400kg total in the 89kg weightlifting final.
— Pete Badel (@badel_cmail) August 9, 2024
Nasar adds 11kg to set a new world record in the clean and jerk at 224kg after a snatch of 180kg. pic.twitter.com/yZmc1YM6eq
Huge roars as Imadouchène nails 196kg – he goes to 351kg overall when combined with the snatch – and the lead. That hurt.
At 195kg now. Big support for France’s Romain Imadouchène but he collapses to the floor as soon as he goes for the clean. Venezuela’s Valennilla is next up at 196kg. And nails it, with some pain. And he goes top. Can he do more? His jerk looked uncomfortable.
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Good afternoon, where we are amid the men’s weighlifting. The clean and jerk has gone to 190kg. Canada’s Boady Santavy has just cramped up, and looks in agony. His dad is his coach in this 89kg category. Family feuding going on. He goes to 188kg and can’t do it. No total posted.
That’ll be me done for the day, with John Brewin in for the evening fun. Enjoy.
Some lovely grabs in here, as per.
Rhythmic gymnastics: We’re heading into the last rotation of the individual all-round final, and it’s Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev who has the lead with a total of 109.150. Boryana Kaleyn is positioned for silver, with Sofia Raffaeli in third after sparkling with the clubs as we move to the ribbon.
Golf: I’m just running through a bit of everything now – that’s the beauty of this whole thing, I guess – so off we go to Le Golf National for the women’s individual stroke play. Lydia Ko, the world No 4, is at the top of the leaderboard on -8 after a birdie on the 14th.
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Football: Germany have taken a 1-0 lead against Spain in their women’s bronze-medal match, courtesy of a Giulia Gwinn penalty in the 65th minute. Thirteen minutes and injury time left in that one.
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Sailing: “Max Maeder has won bronze in the kitefoiling - at 17, he’s our youngest ever Olympic medallist, and he’s done it on our 59th National Day as well,” writes Teo Teng Kiat.
Another wonderful story.
The power of the Olympics:
But even after Maloney missed out on a medal, placing fourth in the race, the jubilation continued, with calls on social media for SVG to officially recognise her as a national hero.
Breaking: It’s time to bust a few moves. Snoop Dogg is in attendance for the b-girls round robin stage. If you, like me, are trying to get your head around this, have a read:
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Hockey: A shootout settles the women’s bronze-medal match, with Argentina beating Belgium 3-1 after a full-time score of 2-2. The Argentinians claimed silver in Tokyo and now have six medals in this event. The wait for gold continues, though.
Chen Yiwen wins women's 3m springboard gold!
It was nailed on from quite early in the piece. She had to settle for silver in this event at the world aquatics championships earlier this year, but Chen Yiwen gets the gold this time with a final score of 376.
Maddison Keeney delivers a staggering final dive, with a difficulty of 3.4, to produce her best score of the five rounds, 78.20. She’ll take silver, with Chang Yani getting bronze. GB’s Yasmin Harper finishes fifth.
Diving: South Africa’s Julia Vincent errs with her forward 3 1/2 somersaults in pike, scoring just 38.75, which is good news for Yasmin Harper as the former was third after three rounds of the women’s 3m springboard final. But Harper could only muster 55.50 and is sixth heading into the final round, 14.25 points off Chang Yani in third.
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Diving: Relentless from Chen Yiwen, who opens up a 31.5-point lead at the top of the women’s 3m springboard final standings. It’s shaping into a battle for silver and bronze, with Yasmin Harper of GB still fourth.
Cycling: Now to the men’s sprint semi-finals with GB’s Jack Carlin requiring a victory in the second race after losing the first to Harrie Lavreysen … Carlin is in front, taking his opponent high up the track …. but Lavreysen takes control on the final bend to surge past Carlin and advance to the final! Carlin will have to settle for a go at the bronze medal. After a silver and bronze in Tokyo, and another silver in the team sprint in Paris, his wait for gold continues.
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Sixteen! Madness.
Diving: A tough second round for Grace Reid in the women’s 3m springboard final, scoring just 41.85 with her forward 3 1/2 somersaults in the pike position. Chen Yiwen has a 12-point lead over Australia’s Maddison Keeney. Yasmin Harper is very much in medal contention at fourth but Reid is at the bottom of the standings with three rounds to go.
Diving: After one round of the women’s 3m springboard final, China’s Chen Yiwen leads with 70.50, beginning with the inward 2 1/2 somersaults in the pike position. She claimed gold in the synchronised 3m springboard event.
Sean Ingle reports:
Hello, all. Good to be back. My arrival coincides with the start of the women’s 3m springboard diving final, where Team GB have two representatives: Yasmin Harper and Grace Reid. Harper already has a medal at these Games, having taken bronze in the synchronised 3m springboard event.
Oh look, here’s Taha Hashim – a confirmed expert on the vagaries of air pressure, drag, torque… the laws of physics, the riddles of the universe. You name it, he’s got the answers. Thanks for your company, goodbye!
Cycling: Olympic Records galore in the velodrome during the Women’s Sprint Qualifying! I think it has been set and re-set about five times in this session! The heat inside is said to be around 33-34C – scorchio! I’m not fully on top of the science but I think it is safe to say the high speeds are due in part to the effect the heat has on the air pressure and the wooden floor inside the velodrome – i.e everything is dried out like a sauna which makes it even quicker. I’ll be taking no further questions at this time…
Anyway, Team GB’s Emma Finucane is safely qualified in second position behind Germany’s Lea Friedrich who sets a new WORLD RECORD time of 10.029!
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Athletics: There’s still hope that Katerina Johnson-Thompson can sneak gold in the Heptathlon. It’ll take an incredible run in the 800 metres later this evening to topple Belgian’s Nafi Thiam. Alexandra Topping has been crunching the numbers:
Katarina Johnson-Thompson has a mountain to climb to take the gold medal in the heptathlon after falling behind her rival Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium on day two with only one discipline still to come.
With just the 800m to go on Friday evening in the seven-discipline event, Johnson-Thompson found herself 121 points behind the Belgian, who pulled off a season best in the javelin to propel herself into the lead after six disciplines. The Swiss athlete Annik Kaelin showed grit to go third after a strong long jump and decent javelin in the morning session.
To take the gold Johnson-Thompson – who regained her world title in Budapest last year – would have to take a sizeable lead in the final race and finish eight seconds ahead of Thiam.”
Kayaking: New Zealand’s most decorated Olympian Lisa Carrington has added to her career haul by winning a seventh canoe sprint gold medal alongside Alicia Hoskin.
The men’s 500 metre double sprint gold was scooped by Germany’s Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke with Hungary’s Bence Nadas and Sandor Totka in silver and Australian duo Jean van der Westhuyzen and Tom Green in bronze.
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And here’s Beau Dure with some updates from a US perspective:
Kyle Dake is the only one of the three US wrestlers in action to advance to the semifinals, while others await possible berths in the repechage. Dake, a four-time world champion, showed his intent on improving from his Olympic bronze in Tokyo with two emphatic wins, one stopped early due to technical superiority when the score was 10-0, followed by a pin when he was already far ahead in the score.
In taekwondo, 18-year-old Kristina Teachout came out aggressively against world champion Magda Wiet-Henin of France. While many taekwondo bouts resemble Riverdance, with fighters constantly bouncing on their feet and waiting patiently -- too patiently, too often -- to attack, Teachout took the fight to the French favorite, winning the first round 11-8 and taking the second round 8-0. She’ll face Viviana Marton of Hungary in the quarter finals.”
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Michael Hogan is always good for a chuckle – here’s his take on some Olympic coverage lolz:
Some interesting lunchtime reading about the healthcare available in the Olympic Village:
The US rugby sevens player Ariana Ramsey will leave Paris with more than just a bronze medal. After discovering the Olympic Village provides not only free food to athletes but a suite of free healthcare options, she will be heading home having completed a pap smear and a free eye and dental exam. She even snagged a free pair of prescription glasses. To quote her now-viral TikTok video, “Like, what?”
The Olympic Village – where athletes reside during the Games – began offering free medical care in 1932, according to Sports Illustrated. SI also reported the village offers, cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, and podiatry, with dermatology also being offered to Paralympic athletes, who arrive next week.”
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Cycling: The Women’s sprint qualifying is just getting underway over at the velodrome.
After trying and largely failing to get my head around the Keirin yesterday it seems things are a bit more straightforward with the sprint. Well, durr. Team GB’s Emma Finucane has a strong chance of a medal, the 21 year old from Camarthen is indeed the current World Champion in this event.
It’s all about speed speed speed. The 30 riders are timed over one lap and the fastest 24 will go through to the next round.
Team GB’s Sophie Capewell also has an outside chance of making the podium. The Lichfield rider won bronze at the European Champs last year.
Phew. What a day it has been so far. Frenetic Friday indeed.
This afternoon will see Breakdancing contested in the Olympics for the first time. Here’s a handy crib sheet courtesy of Alexandra Topping – not that you need it, right?
Climbing: Toby Roberts takes to the medal podium and looks completely bewildered as the national anthem begins to parp. He gets a rapturous reception at a packed Le Bourget and rightly so.
A shout out to Team GB’s Hamish McArthur who was in bronze medal position for a long time and finished in fifth place.
Climbing: Great Britain's Toby Roberts wins GOLD!
Amazing scenes as the 19 year old from Surrey doesn’t realise he has the Gold medal in the chalk bag… the news finally sinks in and he’s truly flabbergasted. Roberts has bouldered his way to GOLD in the Men’s boulder and lead final!
Japan’s Sorato Anraku – a 17 year old nicknamed ‘The Octopus’ – was the competitor many thought was nailed on for the top spot but he fell off just behind Robert’s marker at the tip of the wall to a huge 6,000 person gasp at Le Bourget!
What a story - Robert’s dad built him a climbing wall in the garden during lockdown and he only made his debut season in 2022.
Find out more about Toby ‘The Terminator’ in this lovely interview we did before the games began.
Roberts is now 19 and his love for his sport is stronger than ever. He says more than 20 times during this interview that “I love climbing/training/competing/trying hard”. His parents, Tristian and Marina, couldn’t be prouder. “It’s been a privilege – it’s inspiring to see how hard he works,” his dad Tristian says.”
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Canoeing: Women’s double 500m Sprint Final - Double screening like a dopamine searching teenager to keep an eye on another thrilling event – the double canoe sprint final.
An amazing race sees the Chinese pair of Xu Shixiao and Sun Mengya successfully defend their title from Tokyo 2020 – they do it in some style too with an Olympic-best time!
A real scrap for silver and bronze with a photo finish required between Ukraine and Canada! After an age the silver medal is awarded to Liudmyla Luzan and Anastasiia Rybachok of Ukraine and bronze goes to the Canadian pair of Sloan Mackenzie and Katie Vincent.
Climbing: Men’s boulder and lead final: Toby Roberts moves into silver medal position at the top of the wall, can he get the Gold? Every grip hold being accompanied by a sharp intake of breath both in the crowd and on my sofa.
“He’s going up the wall like a Gecko!” says the BBC’s Tim Warwood.
The 19 year old Brit falls off right at the top but is guaranteed a medal. What colour will it be? There is just one climber left…
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Climbing: Men’s boulder and lead final: Team GB’s Toby Roberts is now on the wall and he’s got a real chance of a medal here. Team-mate Hamish McArthur is currently in the bronze medal position. “One tiny slip or mistake and that’s it” says the commentator as the tension escalates with each successful swing and grip.
Mesmerised by this. Like Twister in 3D and 50 metres off the ground (and guys hanging their entire body weight on 2 fingers 😮) #Olympics #PARIS2024 pic.twitter.com/qmtkzVmsbR
— Alison Mitchell (@AlisonMitchell) August 9, 2024
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Climbing: Men’s boulder and lead final – Frenchman Paul Jenft makes a bad error and runs out of clips on the wall, meaning he has to attempt to re-trace his steps which looks impossible and ultimately proves so as he tumbles off after a couple of minutes. A rueful smile and a gallic shrug. Bad news for the crowd favourite but good news for Hamish McArthur who remains in Silver medal position for the moment.
Austria’s Jakob Schubert is next up and he puts up a magnificent display of strength and agility, he looked like he was about to complete all 15 metres of wall but just missed his grip at the last! 96 points from the judges and Schubert goes into first place with four climbers left to go.
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Diving: Just peeking away from the bouldering final to bring you news that Team GB’s Kyle Kothari and Noah Williams have made it through to the men’s 10m platform semi-finals. Qualifying in 9th and 8th place respectively in a field (board?) of 18 competitors. The final is tomorrow at 2pm BST.
Athletics: Alexandra Topping sends an update from the stadium as she keeps an eye on KJT’s main rival for the Gold medal in the women’s Heptathlon:
Well, Thiam may just have taken gold with her very first throw in the javelin - a massive 54.04, a season best for the Belgian, which gives her a massive 939. A champion there, telling this crowd that she wants to hold on to her title. Incredible stuff.If she doesn’t throw further than that, and she totally could do, she will be 121 ahead of Katarina Johnson-Thompson going into the 800m.
KJT is faster than her rival in that discipline, but that will make Thiam very difficult to beat.”
Climbing: Men’s boulder and lead final - I can barely watch this actually, some inner vertigo rising to the surface from deep within. Team GB’s Hamish McArthur is giving off some serious Spiderman energy as he contorts and stretches each sinew to climb up this brutal wall. He does really well to get into the impossible looking fourth section and hangs from one hand at one point, muscles bulging, before finally slipping off with nothing left to give in the arms.
He scores a 72 from the judges (out of 100) that’s a brilliant marker laid down by McArthur. The USA’s Colin Duffy is up next and he can’t quite make it as far, scoring a 68. Huge cheer from the crowd as Frenchman Paul Jenft chalks up for his attempt.
Climbing: Bouldering! As a son of the Peak District where people flock to do this ‘au naturel’ I am very interested to see how this event goes. There’s a 15 metre wall with a steep overhang that the competitors have six minutes to study before they then get another six minutes to climb – basically the higher you get the better your score.
Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur sit in third and fourth place for Team GB. McArthur is going to be the first to attempt the wall, there’s a full and loud crowd in. Chalk those hands, let’s grip.
Athletics: Team GB’s Cindy Sember falls in the final heat of the women’s 100m hurdles semi-finals. Sember clipped the fifth hurdle and then fell straight into the sixth, that looked extremely painful and is a real shame for her. She might not have been necessarily challenging the qualification places but now she’ll never really know. She had a decent start and was there and thereabouts when she fell.
She then shows some real class by stopping for a few words with the BBC just seconds after picking herself up off the track. “I’m really sad. I felt ready. Really sad right now.”
Sport is brutal sometimes.
‘“Scenes” emails Nick Parish who is enjoying the Table Tennis:
“At the South Paris Arena where France are taking on Japan for the bronze medal in the men’s team table tennis. The atmosphere is electric and the crowd went ballistic when French wunderkind (is there a French equivalent for that?) Felix LeBrun saved three match points on his way to taking the second match and putting France 2-0 up in this best of 5. Since then Japan have pulled one back, much to the disappointment of the home crowd.”
The French crowds have been amazing throughout, from archery to diving to Greco-Roman wrestling the passionate support has been notable and the atmosphere in the main stadium wonderfully raucous.
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Thanks Taha and hello all. What a fantastic games this has been and today (day 14!) promises to be a belter. Plenty going on all over the city. From a Team GB point of view – KJT has looked in fine fettle this morning and very relaxed. Fingers, toes and Javelin poles crossed she can bring home a medal from her fourth Olympic games. It’ll all come down to the 800 metres on the track at 19.15pm BST this evening.
It's day 14 at the #Olympics and here's what's on the menu. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/44PmotXJar
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) August 9, 2024
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Right then, I’m hopping off for a bit. In comes my good pal James Wallace.
Sport climbing: At the end of first half of the men’s boulder and lead final, Japan’s 17-year-old star Sorato Anraku is leading with 69.3 points, with USA’s Colin Duffy close behind on 68.3 points. Team GB’s Toby Roberts is in third place on 63.1 points. All three climbers topped two out of the four boulders, while GB’s Hamish McArthur in fourth place topped one and has 53.9 points. Two older legends of the sport, Austria’s Jakob Schubert and Czechia’s Adam Ondra, are further out of touch in fifth and seventh place.
Athletics: That’s another season-best throw from KJT for her final attempt at the javelin, and she has managed up her final score to 45.49 – that gives her an extra 16 points. Every centimetre counts in this competition, she is digging deep here when it matters and it looks like the 31-year-old is determined to take this fight to Thiam.
Don’t forget though, Thiam can throw 50 on a normal day, her season best is 53.
Athletics: GB will have a man in the 800m final, with Max Burgin putting up a personal best of 1:43.50 to qualify with the best time of a third-place finisher in the semis.
Athletics: Katarina Johnson-Thompson puts up a season best of 45.49 with her third effort at the javelin, throwing down a challenge to Thiam. Noor Vidts, also in medal contention, has delivered a personal best of 43.83.
Athletics: In the second 800m men’s semi-final, Team GB have Elliot Giles as their representative and he starts well before dropping to fourth at the 400m mark. Edmund du Plessis leads as we enter the home straight but loses his drive as Marco Arop bursts through for victory, with Gabriel Tual of France second. Giles ends up fifth, du Plessis fourth.
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Athletics: The 800m men’s semi-finals begin, with Team GB represented by Ben Pattison, who has to settle for fourth place as Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati bursts through on the last straight to win the heat and qualify for the final.
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Athletics: The javelin section of the heptathlon kicks off, and KJT starts with a decent 44.64m throw. Thiam, hot on her heels, will be up later and has a season-best of 53.00.
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Athletics: In the second heat of the 4x400 men’s relay there’s home joy, with France victorious and followed by Nigeria and Belgium.
A question: what would you do just before the start of an Olympic race when the camera pans to you for an intro? I’m going for this:
Athletics: In the men’s 4x400m relays, Team GB finish second in their heat, with Matthew Hudson-Smith running his leg, the second, in 43.90. Botswana win it, with USA third.
CAS to hear wrestler Phogat's appeal after disqualification
The incredible case of Vinesh Phogat will enter another chapter today. The Court of Arbitration for Sport has agreed to hear the Indian wrestler’s appeal against disqualification before the gold medal match, after Phogat weighed 100 grams over the allotted 50kg. Phogat, who cut off her hair in a bid to make the weight, received sympathy from the prime minister of India. Phogat subsequently announced her retirement from the sport.
Phogat and the Indian Olympic Association believe she should be awarded a joint silver medal. CAS will sit for the case in Paris at 2pm.
Athletics: After the women’s 4x400m relay heats, we have our finalists. USA and Jamaica were victorious in their respective races, with GB, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland and Canada also through. USA’s quartet of Hayes-Little-Butler-Brown racked up the strongest time of 3:21.44.
Johnson-Thompson stays top in heptathlon ... for now
It has been a tense morning at the Stade de France, where Katarina Johnson-Thompson was hoping to keep her overnight lead going into the last three events of the heptathlon. After four events yesterday she had finished the day with a lead of 48 points, with her long-time rival Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium in second with 4,007 and the younger American challenger Anna Hall in third with 3,956.
KJT has kept her hopes alive, after a shaky start in the long jump. With her third of three jumps she registered 6.40, while Thiam made 6.41 – slightly narrowing the 48-point difference between them to 45.
It was nervy stuff here though. Johnson-Thompson – who has a 6.93 personal best in this discipline – missed her first jump, registering only 4.65. She managed 6.04 on her second, registering the score with a frown. Better for the third though, making her best jump of the morning with 6.40.
So for now it’s still Johnson-Thompson in first, Thiam in second, and the Belgian Noor Vidts has gone into third 104 points behind the leader, after Hall only registered 5.93 in the long jump.
Next up it’s the javelin, one of Thiam’s strongest disciplines and one of KJT’s weakest. Could this all come down to the 800m final tonight? Exciting!
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Heptathlon: Into the final round of the long jump and Martha Araujo of Colombia scores a spectacular 6.61m, her personal best and the best of this event so far. Johnson-Thompson bounds in … and scores 6.40m. She doesn’t look thrilled with herself but that’s a solid jump, taking her back to the top of the overall standings … for now.
Heptathlon: After the first round, the Belgian Noor Vidts has the best effort, with a 6.40m jump. GB’s Jade O’Dowda is second-best with 6.33. Here comes KJT for her second go … she gets past the six-metre line but doesn’t look best pleased, scoring 6.04m. The eyes then move to her rival, Nafi Thiam, who improves on her previous effort with 6.41. KJT’s in a bit of bother.
Heptathlon: Johnson-Thompson sprints in for her first attempt at the long jump … and she doesn’t fly. Something goes wrong in her run-up and she ends up just hopping rather than leaping, scoring a 4.65m jump.
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Heptathlon: As we get ready to start the long jump, it’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson who leads the overall board with 4055 points, building a 48-point lead over Nafissatou Thiam. Anna Hall is third on 3956 points. Johnson-Thompson’s personal best in the long jump is 6.93 metres, higher than all of her fellow competitors.
What’s there to look forward to you ask? The next medal on offer is in the men’s team table tennis, with France competing against Japan for a bronze medal (9am BST). From a Team GB perspective, Katarina Johnson-Thompson will take to the field in the women’s heptathlon, with the long jump event starting at five past nine.
A guide to the new kid on the block at Paris 2024: breaking. It kicks off today.
Golf: The third round is underway in the women’s individual strokeplay. Morgane Metraux is at the top of the overall leaderboard with -8, with China’s Yin Ruoning trailing her by one shot. Nelly Korda, the world No 1, is on -2 after a disastrous 16th hole on Thursday, hitting a quadruple bogey.
Kristof Rasovszky wins gold in the men's 10km swim!
The finish line is in sight and the imperious Kristof Rasovszky doesn’t let his lead slip, despite the relentless pressure from Oliver Klemet. The Hungarian world champion takes Olympic gold, with Germany’s Klemet second and David Betlehem, also from Hungary, taking bronze in front of Domenico Acerenza.
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Marathon swimming: Just want to put this out there: this is a ridiculous thing to subject your body to. Two hours of going full pelt in the water; my arms are tingling just thinking about it.
Marathon swimming: The leaders pass the 9.2km mark in the men’s 10km race, and they’re working against the current. Italy’s Domenico Acerenza has closed that gap between second and third and is firmly in contention to cause the top two of Rasovszky and Klemet some real grief. This is some serious squeaky-bum time.
Marathon swimming: Morning to all those waking up in the UK. This men’s 10km swim is nearing the close, with a significant gap now between the top two and the rest. In front is Kristof Rasovszky, with Oliver Klemet right behind him. Rasovszky took silver in Tokyo, which surely increases the desperation to finish first this time round.
The men’s 10km marathon has now been going for 90 minutes and these athletes are in the red zone for pain and exhaustion. Gregorio Paltrinieri is the first casualty and has slipped back into sixth. I am the other major casualty. I, Angus Fontaine (alas, no relation to Logan Fontaine still sitting sixth), am officially tapping out and bringing in Taha Hashim to bring this race home. Thanks for your company and enjoy the finish!
As Brazil’s Guillerme Costa taps out and becomes another casualty of this gruelling 10km swim, we have the Tokyo medallists reprising their supremacy here in Paris. Kristóf Rasovszky from Hungary still sits first with Germany’s Florian Wellbrock second and Italian stallion Gregorio Paltrinieri third.
The other members of this lead pack are digging deep to overhall that trio with brio. Italy’s Domenico Acerenza, Germany’s Oliver Klemet and another Hungarian in David Betlehem are moving up and Team GB’s Hector Pardoe has moved into seventh. Australia’s Nick Sloman has fallen back but hanging on inside this top ten.
I guess golf is gruelling in its own way and the third round of the women’s individual strokeplay is getting ready to tee off…
Another lead change! Now it’s Kristóf Rasovszky at the front of the pack with a 2.3 second lead over Wellbrock. We saw this happen in the women’s event where, almost by mutual consent, the athletes in first and second took turns breaking the water for the other.
Another swimmer has left the field, with Spain’s Carlos Garach Benito tapping out with exhaustion. He is currently hanging onto a steward’s surfboard and clearly in distress. We’ve also seen a yellow card handed to Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier for over-zealous contact with a rival. Three of these and he’s outta here.
It’s a sure sign this race is getting down to the business end…
The lead pack in this 10km marathon is into lap four and now numbers six swimmers and its leader, Florian Wellbrock, seems to have made his move. The German champion has surged past Kristóf Rasovszky and is now 2.4 seconds in front of the Hungarian. Also in the pack are and Oliver Klemet and the Italian duo of Domenico Acerenza and Gregorio Paltrinieri. The last member of that bunch is a Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier. Australia’s Nick Sloman has moved into seventh but he sits in that peloton pack and is eight seconds off Wellbrock’s pace. His compatriot Kyle Lee is 14th and Team GB’s Hector Pardoe is moving well and is now in 10th.
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Yesterday’s 10km silver-medallist, Australia’s Moesha Johnson, has woken up with multiple cuts and scratches along her arms and hands from contact with the reeds lining the banks of the Seine. Apparently race organisers have pruned that greenery overnight so the men have only the jagged walls – and each other – to contend with.
That tussle for supremacy has seen plenty of blood tinting the whitewater thrash of competitors and it’s now turned literal, resulting in the disqualification of Turkish swimmer Kuzey Tuncelli who seems to have breached the laws that dictate that “A swimmer may not make intentional supportive contact with any vessel, object, or support personnel at any time during the swim.” Tuncelli was sitting in 24th at the time.
The lead pack are hugging those walls now and it’s the green cap of Kristóf Rasovszky heading the field with Florian Wellbrock looming large in second and Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy biding his time in third.
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As the field in the 10km marathon rounds the bend for the third lap, it is Kristóf Rasovszky who has snatched back the lead. The 27-year-old Hungarian is a legend in his homeland after winning the silver medal in this event at the 2020 Olympic Games.
The bloke snapping at this heels is even more accomplished. Florian Wellbrock is a former world record holder in the short course 1500m freestyle, a world champion several times over and a European champ into the bargain. The Bremen Bullet’s first Olympic medal was a bronze in the 1500m in Tokyo. He went two better a few days later winning this 10km event in 1:48:33.7 - 25 seconds faster than Rasovszky in second.
Wellbrock is the man to beat today but today he’s still second behind Rasovszky.
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The men are now swimming upstream in lap two of the 10km race and remain tightly bunched with 10 seconds separating first and 10th place. Kristof Rasovszky has snatched back ascendancy and the German duo Florian Wellbrock and Oliver Klemet are riding his wake in second and third with an Italian duo in Domenico Acerenza and Gregorio Paltrinieri making a charge for the pointy end of the field.
This front pack is heading upstream and hugging the plant-fringed banks of the Seine, risking the snags of the vines and the jags on the walls. Yesterday we saw Australia’s Moesha Johnson collide with a tyre and lose vital seconds on eventual leader but thankfully the only collisions so far have been between the swimmers themselves. Luckily there’s an officious Frenchman blowing a whistle at them. Well done monsieur, that should ensure they desist!
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Australia has two competitors in this swim: Nick Sloman and Kyle Lee.
Sloman is a three-time national champion and got fifth at the World Championships in Doha to qualify for these Paris Games. The Sunshine Coast boy made his first foray into international competition at the 2018 Pan-Pacific Championships in Tokyo, where he secured a bronze medal in the 10km open water event. The 26-year-old Sloman has since established himself as an open water swimming giant, with gold and silver at the FINA Marathon Swim World Series in 2019 and two silver and one bronze medal in 2022.
For all that Sloman says:
My favourite memory is winning bronze in the 25m butterfly (for) six-seven-year-old boys at my first swimming carnival.
Here in Paris Sloman sits 11th and Lee 13th with Germany’s Florian Wellbrock leading and Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri second and Kristof Rasovszky from Hungary hanging tough in third. German Oliver Klemet has taken his spot in fourth with Athanasios Charalampos from Greece in fifth and my French brother Logan Fontaine in sixth.
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As we pass the ten minute mark in the 10km marathon swim it is Florian Wellbrock from Germany who now leads Kristof Rasovszky from Hungary. Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy is third and local hope Marc-Antoine Olivier is swimming beautifully in fourth. I hope he caught Elle Hunt’s awesome feature story last night…
Our early leader in the 10km marathon swim is Kristof Rasovszky from Hungary although Florian Wellbrock from Germany is nipping at his heels. They heads a frantic pack of swimmers who are swimming downstream in lap one. The women did this leg in just over six minutes but the men have managed it in just over five. Of couyrse, the hard work now begins as the field heads upstream, into the current. This leg took 2.5 times longer for the women yesterday. My spies at the Seine say the current is slightly less than what it was yesterday and the water temperature is up from 22 to 23 today.
We move now to the live action in the men’s 10km marathon swim in the Seine. The competitors have been patiently necking hydration gels and bacteria-beating additives on the blocks. We have 31 athletes taking on the river’s cruel currents in the quest for gold. They’re moving to the edge of the barge in readiness… they’re OFF and RACING!
A queen of the Paris track was crowned last night when Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone clinched Team USA’s 100th medal of these Olympics – a gold in the 400m hurdles with a world record thrown in for good measure. Bryan Armen Graham penned this wonderful piece overnight:
McLaughlin-Levrone, who turned 25 on Wednesday, first broke the 400m hurdles world record at the 2021 US Olympic trials, shattered it at the Tokyo Games and has lowered it four more times since, including by nearly three-tenths of a second on Thursday night. In doing so, she became the first American to retain an Olympic title in an individual track race since Michael Johnson’s back-to-back 400m golds in 1996 and 2000. Her winning time of 50.37sec would have been good for third in the second 400m flat semi-final on Wednesday. The owner of seven of the 400m hurdles’ 13 fastest times ever, it’s been more than five years since she lost in the event. So smooth, so efficient, not a wasted movement.
When these Paris Olympics end on Sunday I’m going to miss photo galleries like this…
Raven Saunders made a splash during the women’s shot put qualification by appearing in a full-face black mask and sunglasses, along with dyed green and purple hair. “I’m in full form,” the American said of the outfit. “I had to remind the people, I am who I am.”
Speaking of US dominance of basketball, Serbia almost pulled off one of the all-time Olympics upsets when they had the men’s “Dream Team” on the rack and 76-62 down at the start of the final quarter of last night’s semi-final. Coming into the Paris Games, the US had won gold in eight of the last 10 Olympics, with their last stumble coming in 2004 when they won bronze. Luckily, Steph Curry came to the rescue….
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Heard about the Opal who wanted Gold? Australian basketball GOAT Lauren Jackson is at her fifth Olympics and is yet to win the shiniest medal of all. Instead, at every turn, Jackson and her Opals teammates have been foiled by Team USA whom they meet tonight in the semi-final at Bercy Arena. Can they snap the hoodoo and send Lauren out a winner? Kieran Pender asks: why not?
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The torrent of gold Australia has experienced at these Paris Olympics has finally slowed to a trickle. Not that the green and gold army will be resting on the laurels of their 18 gold so far. They have a few ironmen and ironwomen in the fire on Day 14…
The first event of Day 14 will be the men’s 10km marathon swim in the Seine. If yesterday’s women’s event was anything to go by, the blokes are in for a tough day. Powerful currents played havoc with the field and their efforts to negate them saw many competitors hugging the rutted and ivy-covered walls of the river. That tactic was effective in avoiding the worst of the swirls and eddies but also resulted in plenty of skinned knuckles and skinned feet. If you like blood in the water with your sweat and tears this is the event for you.
In the end, Australia’s Moesha Johnson was beaten in the home stretch by Netherlands iron-woman Sharon van Rouwendaal. Silver-medallist Johnson was gracious in defeat and saluted her training partner:
I knew coming under that bridge as well, no matter which way I took, Sharon might have taken the other option,’ Johnson says. ‘I think we’ve just been together in training through some tough times, and to be there together on the podium just means so much.
If you’re a sports fan for whom too much sport is never enough and yet the athletic endeavour involved in clicking through this link is an exertion too far, here’s your Day 14 buffet of blood, sweat and tears in a handy shopping list cut, pasted and bolded. Better put another pot of coffee on the hob…
15:30: Open Water Swimming Men’s 10km
17:00: Golf Women’s Stroke Play Round 3
17:00: Taekwondo Men’s Welterweight 68-80kg Last 32
17:09: Taekwondo Women’s Welterweight 57-67kg Last 16
17:21: Taekwondo Men’s Welterweight 68-80kg Last 16
18:00: Diving Men’s 10m Platform Preliminary Round
18:00: Gymnastics - Rhythmic Women’s Group All-Around Qualification
18:00: Table Tennis Men’s Team Bronze Medal Match (France v Japan)
18:05: Athletics Women’s Heptathlon Long Jump
18:15: Sport Climbing Men’s Bouldering & Lead Combined Final - Bouldering
18:30: Canoe Sprint Women’s C2 500m Semifinal
18:40: Athletics Women’s 4 x 400m Relay Round 1
18:50: Canoe Sprint Women’s K2 500m Semifinal
19:00: Wrestling - Freestyle Men’s 57kg Repechage Round
19:00: Wrestling - Freestyle Men’s 86kg Repechage Round
19:00: Wrestling - Freestyle Women’s 57kg Repechage Round
19:05: Athletics Men’s 4 x 400m Relay Round 1
19:07: Wrestling - Freestyle Men’s 74kg Qualification
19:10: Canoe Sprint Men’s K2 500m Semifinal
19:14: Wrestling - Freestyle Men’s 125kg 1/8 Final
19:14: Wrestling - Freestyle Women’s 62kg 1/8 Final
19:21: Wrestling - Freestyle Men’s 74kg 1/8 Final
19:23: Athletics Women’s Heptathlon Javelin Throw - Group A
19:30: Athletics Men’s 800m Semifinal
19:30: Canoe Sprint Men’s C1 1000m Semifinal
20:05: Athletics Women’s 100m Hurdles Semifinal
20:10: Wrestling - Freestyle Men’s 125kg Quarterfinal
20:10: Wrestling - Freestyle Women’s 62kg Quarterfinal
20:13: Sailing Men’s Formula Kite Final - Race 2 (rescheduled)
20:17: Wrestling - Freestyle Men’s 74kg Quarterfinal
20:22: Sailing Men’s Formula Kite Final - Race 3 (rescheduled)
20:31: Sailing Men’s Formula Kite Final - Race 4
20:32: Athletics Women’s Heptathlon Javelin Throw - Group B
20:35: Sport Climbing Men’s Bouldering & Lead Combined Final - Lead
20:40: Canoe Sprint Women’s C2 500m Final B
20:40: Sailing Men’s Formula Kite Final - Race 5
20:49: Sailing Men’s Formula Kite Final - Race 6
20:50: Canoe Sprint Women’s C2 500m Final A
21:00: Canoe Sprint Women’s K2 500m Final B
21:00: Modern Pentathlon Men’s Individual Semifinal A - Riding
21:00: Water Polo Men Classification Round 5-8 (Italy v Spain)
21:10: Canoe Sprint Women’s K2 500m Final A
21:20: Canoe Sprint Men’s K2 500m Final B
21:30: Canoe Sprint Men’s K2 500m Final A
21:40: Canoe Sprint Men’s C1 1000m Final B
21:40: Modern Pentathlon Men’s Individual Semifinal A - Fencing Bonus Round
21:50: Canoe Sprint Men’s C1 1000m Final A
22:00: Cycling - Track Women’s Sprint Qualification
22:00: Hockey Women Bronze Medal Match (Argentina v Belgium)
22:20: Modern Pentathlon Men’s Individual Semifinal A - Swimming
22:30: Gymnastics - Rhythmic Women’s Individual All-Around Final
22:30: Taekwondo Women’s Welterweight 57-67kg Quarterfinal
22:35: Water Polo Men Semifinal (Serbia v USA)
22:40: Modern Pentathlon Men’s Individual Semifinal A - Laser-Run
22:40: Taekwondo Men’s Welterweight 68-80kg Quarterfinal
22:41: Cycling - Track Men’s Sprint Semifinal
22:48: Cycling - Track Women’s Sprint 1/32 Final
23:00: Diving Women’s 3m Springboard Final
23:00: Football Women Bronze Medal Match (Spain v Germany)
23:00: Table Tennis Men’s Team Gold Medal Match (China v Sweden)
23:00: Weightlifting Men’s 89kg
23:38: Cycling - Track Women’s Sprint Repechage Round 1
Here are Simon Burnton’s Day 14 highlights…
Friday 9 August Day 14
Women’s breaking
The breaking competition, incongruously held at the historic Place de la Concorde, lasts only two days with the women’s (AKA b-girls) event today and the men (or b-boys) tomorrow. Nicka – the Lithuanian Dominika Banevic, who has been breaking since the age of eight – won the world and European championships last year aged 16 but the two Asian Games finalists, 671 (China’s Liu Qingyi) and Ami (Japan’s Ami Yuasa) are seen as the breakers most likely to make tonight’s final throw down.
Wrestling: men’s 86kg final
There have been rivalries, and then there was David Taylor v Hassan Yazdani. For years it seemed nothing could keep these representatives of clashing cultures of the USA and Iran apart: in Tokyo both breezed through the competition before Taylor’s last-second takedown saw him edge a thrilling final 4-3, and they’ve gone on to meet in the final of every major championship since. But in a stunning upset Taylor, by then unbeaten in two and a half years, lost to Aaron Brooks in the US trials and promptly retired to go into coaching, and this is the start of a new era.
Hockey: women’s final
The Netherlands have dominated women’s field hockey for years: of the 15 World Cups they have reached 13 finals and won nine, including the last three in a row; of 16 European championships they have reached 14 finals and won 12, including the last four; and they have reached the last five Olympic finals, winning three. They top both the men’s and women’s world rankings, the latter by a huge margin. It would be a major surprise if they are not involved in today’s two medal games, but can anyone stop them?
Another Day 13 gold worth its weight in platinum was that won by Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo. The unfancied 21-year-old beat none other than the USA’s 100m winner Noah Lyles to the tape and even sacrificed a few split seconds off his time to thump his chest moments before the line.
Turns out that was an act of triumph but also a tribute to his mother, who died in May. Tebogo later revealed he had taken three to four weeks off because he was struggling to process her death. But with the Paris Games looming and the race of a lifetime nigh, he set his jaw and took to the track wearing spikes that carried his mother’s date of birth.
It wasn’t really clicking for me that she’s really gone. For me, I have to find the reason why I started my athletics journey and why I should continue going on. It was really a beautiful race for me. She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy.
Of all those hundreds of medals, one was perhaps a little more precious. Arshad Nadeem wrote his name into history by winning the men’s javelin final yesterday and becoming the first track and field athlete from Pakistan to win gold at an Olympics. Nadeem entered this competition an underdog but the javelin thrower overcame the odds to become his country’s first medallist since 1992 (when it won a bronze medal in men’s hockey in Barcelona). Nadeem’s record-breaking throw also made him only the fourth athlete to cross the 90m mark in the men’s javelin at an Olympics.
The medal tally of these Paris Olympics continues to expand but the top three remain intact. The USA still lead the way with 30 gold and China sit close behind with 29. There’s daylight between those two superpowers and Australia who sit third with 18 gold.
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the 14th official day of competition at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
Day 13 was a veritable bourguignon of drama, glory and controversy. The US became the first nation to hit 30 gold medals thanks largely to the brilliance of their track athletes. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone led the way by beating her own world record in the women’s 400m hurdles before the Americans clinched more gold through Tara Davis-Woodhall in the women’s long jump. Then Grant Holloway, three-time world champion and silver medallist in Tokyo, cruised to victory in the 110m hurdles.
The only bittersweet moment for the US team came when Noah Lyles was deprived for gold in the 200m final. He had a reasonable excuse, but surely not even the gloriously immodest Lyles couldn’t deny Botswana its first medal of these Games – a gold, no less – when Letsile Tebogo ran the fastest race of his life to deny Lyles the 100-200m double.
There were no medals to be had for Great Britain in track and field on Day 13 but Katarina Johnson-Thompson leads the heptathlon after four events in the seven-event discipline and there was a ray of gold for Team GB in the form of Ellie Aldridge becoming the first Olympic gold medallist in kitesurfing. Similarly, Australia’s river of gold dried up on a day which delivered “only” two silver and two bronze medals, while the Stingers earned a shot at gold with a dramatic comeback win over Team USA in the women’s water polo.
We have a long good Friday before the final weekend of this XXXIII Olympiad. Will Day 14 signal a golden age for your team?
