Otherwise, thanks all for your company – join us again in a few hours.
Though we’re all still savouring today, we also get to tantalise ourselves with thoughts of tomorrow. We’ll be bringing you all of it, naturellement, including Simone Biles on the beam and on the floor – she goes at 11.38am 1.23pm. Otherwise, there’s the usual smörgåsbord of mixed relay triathlon, athletics heats and repechages, wrestling, canoeing, badminton and so on. Oh, and cycling, then a load of athletics including the women’s 5000m and 800m finals, Keely Hodgkinson the hot favourite to win the latter, the start of the men’s 200m, the semis of the women’s, France v Egypt in the men’s football semis, and lots, lots more. Good.
It’s been an absolutely absurd day of sport.
Winning Olympic gold when you lived half your life not thinking you’d ever even compete must be a pretty decent buzz.
This is what it’s all about.
Unfortunately, there’s also bad news.
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I’ve just watched the race again, and in the maelstrom of the moment, missed Kishane Thompson’s desperation as we awaited the verdict. “C’mon, man!” he was hollering into the crowd, perhaps where his team are, and I hope none of us ever experience whatever he must’ve experienced – it feels too profound to simply be called a feeling – in those moments. There’s a look in his eyes.
Earlier today, I had the ridiculous honour of attending the Akwasidae Festival, so I missed this race. But everything i’ve heard about it tells me I’ll need to take a look-in at my earliest possible inconvenience.
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Olyslagers will have to start winning a few, but if she can, she and Mahuchikh have the time to build one of the great rivalries.
My wife has just come home, which means I soon get to watch this race again with someone who’s not seen it. I’ll take it.
I think this is the other race that stands out as one I remember watching and not knowing who’d won it.
Some US woe in the 3x3:
“Say this for Noah Lyles,” also says Beau. “He has elevated the sport in the USA. His flamboyance certainly put a target on his back. People are always waiting with knives out when a US athlete appears arrogant. But he’s doing it for the good of the sport and for the causes in which he believes.”
As per the below, agree with every word. No sportsperson is obliged to save the world, but how can you not love those who do – especially in the context.
The USA will need to keep up this momentum to hold off China, though they’re now tied atop the gold medal count at 19-all. China will rack up more gold in diving and probably weightlifting. The USA will need more wins on the track and some wrestling gold. And breaking, of course, though China could take gold in that as well. But in the USA, we go by total medals, so the 2028 hosts are way out in front.
If we can try to move on for a moment, here’s some sage, brutal candour from Adam Peaty.
I find Jess Ennis saying “Noah has never ever doubted himself,” and she should know. I find his blather entertaining and endearing, but belying anxiety – the grin with which he follows it is what I’d do if I was trying to convince myself as much as anyone else. Now, though, he’ll feel differently every single day for the rest of his life. He’s the Olympic 100m champion, a sporting icon, and a sound bloke. Most of the rest of us would happily settle for one out of three.
I’ll try and find the right place again, but in the meantime, here’s Sean Ingle’s race report.
He had to take every round as it was, he says, when asked if he was concerned after his earlier performances. He was upset after the first round, feeling aggresssion … and then my page crashes.
“You couldn’t have asked for a bigger moment,” he says. “I’ve a biomechanist who comes down and before I came out here, he says ‘it’s gonna be by this much,’” showing a small gap with his thumb and forefinger. “That’s how close it’s gonna be.”
Here’s the new Olympic men’s 100m champ!
Lyles, of course, has the 200m to come and you couldn’t back against him now; you’d have struggled before tonight, never mind now he’s the confidence to know his clarity of thought and speed over the stretch can be relied upon. But spare a thought for Kishane Thompson, who ran 80 perfect metres before the enormity of the situation hit. He'll come again, but tonight he’ll be feeling very poorly; proud too, especially once he’s taken a moment, but goodness me.
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“I had him around 50% to win (and Kerley around 10%), but the semis left me doubting,” returns Beau. “NBC’s crew went dead silent. I think they thought Lyles had taken silver. Or bronze. The result was announced in the stadium long before the commentators said anything.”
Terrified of getting it wrong would be my guess. I’m still feeling it even now.
We’ve not yet heard from the man of the quadrennial, but I’m buzzing for when we do. Lyles said earlier he’d become a bit of celebrated figure in the village – good luck finding somewhere to chill now.
I’ve become kind of popular in the village," he said. ‘Unfortunately, that has come with its own set of challenges, being able to find my own space within the village whether that’s eating or training in the gym.
Some athletes like to leave the village and find their own hotels, but I like to enjoy the whole Olympic event being with other athletes and stuff like that. But it has come with its own challenges of finding my own safe place.’
‘I’m not even the most popular person in the village so I know I’m not the only one who’s had to deal with situations like this. Even though we might be superstars in your eyes, we still are human beings and we do want to be able to have our space and our time. I want to be able to enjoy the Olympics just like you guys are.’
I’m not sure the last time I watched a race and wasn’t sure who’d won it afterwards. Our runners were left there for what seemed an epoch and was probably 20 seconds, no one knowing who was Olympic champ. The nausea the contenders must’ve felt in that moment; I didn’t even know that kind of thing existed.
More detail on the times: Lyles won in 9.784, while Thompson clocked 9.789. Not even a blue Rizla between them.
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I said it was close, and Lyles isn’t the only relieved boy tonight: never has a person been so relieved not to have hit “send”.
OK, that isn’t true, but you get my drift – I think what happened is the camera angle made it look like Thompson was home, because once Lyles passed him, the race was over.
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Places fourth to eighth were all made in world-record time, rrrridiculous.
Noah Lyles (USA) 9.79
Kishane Thompson (Jamaica) 9.79
Fred Kerley (USA) 9.81
Akani Simbine (RSA) 9.82
Marcell Jacobs (Italy) 9. 85
Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) 9,86
Kenny Bednarek (USA) 9.88
Oblique Seville (Jamaica) 9.91
My colleague Beau Dure emails to say he thought Lyles was going to lose too, and I just cannot believe he’s done it. I really couldn’t see a way – he seemed nervous to me, he ran like he was nervous in the first round and looked less good than Seville in the semi. But he ran, if not a perfect race, a perfect 50m and as Thompson, less experienced at this level, tightened up – it’s absolutely mad how a race that lasted 9.79s feels like Ben Hur – Lyles cruised through. I could cry for a year.
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Oh man, Lyles is in the crowd with his mum. “I’m so proud of you,” she tells him shaking her head, but if there’s one thing we know from seeing her on the telly, she was so proud of him already – and rightly so. To be able to think your way through a race in the way he did is a special, special thing, and the way he loosens in the final 40 is a product of all the love, joy and grit he’s ever felt and experienced.
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The race, then. Thompson is away well and Seville closes, Sambini in between them, but Lyles, outside them, focuses on maintaining form and he’s getting stronger as he crosses the line, somehow retrieving a ridiculous gap, Carl Lewis-srtyle, taking Olympic gold by five thousandths of a second! Yes, you read that right! An expletive phenomenal race, one I still don’t really understand, but Noah Lyles is the champ and the fastest man alive!
We’ll do the race in a second, but look at Noah Lyles! We had a good 30 seconds when we hadn’t a clue what’d happened but now Lyles is running towards the crowd, arm aloft, and I’m do happy for Keisha Cane, his mum, who anyone who’s watched Sprint will know is an absolute powerhouse of a titan. Mazal tov to all!
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I do not even know where to start with this! At 80m I don’t even think Lyles had a medal, but that 200m speed endurance saved him – as he told everyone it would! What a moment, what a man!
Kishane Thompson of Jamaica takes silver and Fred Kerley of USA the bronze!
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IT’S NOAH LYLES! NOAH LYLES OF USA WINS GOLD IN THE MEN’S 100M
BY THE BAREST OF MARGINS!!
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WE DO NOT KNOW WHO'S WON!
CHUCK A BLANKET OVER THEM! I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS!
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Time stops, the air is thick and heavy. How do even move your bones when it’s like this? I can barely type! Jacobs closes eyes, visualising, and there’s a pause – we don’t know why – so some bend, then all get down, and it’s showtime. Hold me, people.
The line-up. Some pray, some stare, all are hunted and inspired. This is colossal, a life’s work on the line. Who is the fastest man in the world and who can handle awfulness the best?
1. Bednarek
2. Kerley
3. Thompson
4. Simbine
5. Seville
6. Simbine
7. Lyles
8. Teboco
9. Jacobs
Here come our runners and they’re almost ready, Lyles bouncing about trying to convince himself he’s there.
A funny thing about the 100m: we don’t actually know how fast people can go, because both times we’ve seen something astonishing, the world record broken in the Olympic final, Ben Johnson – yes he was disqualified for cheating but nevertheless – and Usain Bolt – spent the last 20m enjoying the moment rather than running through the tape. I doubt anyone runs better than 9.58 here or even anything close, but you never know.
I can’t see Lyles winning tonight. Oblique Seville ran a PB in the semis and looked to have plenty left, looking over at the American to let him know exactly what was up, while Kishane Thompson looked equally nails. I think it’ll be one of them and I’m going to go for Seville, though if I was risking my life on it, I’d go for Thompson.
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Of our 100m competitors, Noah Lyles of course attracts most attention and rightly so. He loves to chat, loves an outfit, and talks about the things that bother him – most notably racism and mental health. He’s not only running fast, he’s making the world a better place by using his ability to amplify things that are more important than that, which makes him a champion, forever, whatever happens tonight. But, for tonight at least, he won’t see it that way.
Ethan Katzberg of Canada wins the men's hammer with 84.12m
Bence Halasz of Hungary is second and Mykhalo Kokhan of Ukraine is third.
Back to the men’s 100m, we’re around 10 minutes away. Our runners will be making their way to the ante-room wondering who’s going to look at who, who might offer a handshake, some encouragement or something undermining. And given our race will be over in less than 10 seconds, it really, really matters, because there’s no time for anyone to recover and ease themselves into things. We can split things if we like – the gun, the start, the drive, the pick-up and so on – but it’s still almost no time at all to make your life or ruin your day, and no human can address that situation and feel nothing.
The sharp-eyed among you will have noted I declared Katzberg, pictured below, the winner, because telly had a graphic telling me he had. But it turns out they went too early, though it’s almost certain this competition is settled.
He’s got the look!
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The final, by the way, is Tuesday evening. Absolutely do not miss that.
Josh Kerr tells BBC he felt good today and though he got into trouble over how much media he’s done, otherwise it’s all good. You can tell he loves it and his self-confidence is equal parts mortifying and inspiring but it can’t take much to get distracted, either by your opponent of yourself.
Yared Nuguse wins the second men’s 1500m semi in 3:31.72; also through are Hobbs Kessler – Americans love a surname as first name but even by the standard that’s a belter – Neil Gourley of GB, Niels Laros of Netherlands, Timothy Cheruiyot of Keya and Narve Gilje Nordås of Norway.
We’re now into the final round of the men’s hammer, Ethan Katzberg of Canada leading with 84.12m; Bence Halász of Hungary is second with 79.97 and Mykhaylo Kokhan third with 79.39.
I love the way Mahuchikh attacks the bar like it cussed down her mum, but she can’t get over 2.04, though it’s 6cm below the world record she set last month. No matter: Ukraine have a gold medal, she’s the Olympic champion, and she looks a picture of elation. Great stuff.
Meantime, our second men’s 1500m semi is away…
Mahuchikh is a seriously serious athlete. She won gold at the world indoors just days after fleeing Ukraine, and I was actually wrong – she’s not quite ready to go, chilling under a sleeping bag before emerging to milk her moment. And well she might – I’ve a feeling there’ll be more for her in the coming years too.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine wins the women's high jump!
Olyslagers is, if we’re brutal, nowhere near, so Mahuchikh wins and raises the height of the bar to 2.04m, looking to set a new Olympic record. Here she goes…
Olyslagers will take her last go at clearing 2.02m and if she can’t, Mahuchikh takes gold on countback…
Jakub Ingebrigtsen of Norway wins in 3:32.38, Kerr is second. Also through are Cole Hocker of USA, Brian Komen of Kenya, Stefan Nillessen of Netherlands and Pietro Arese of Italy.
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Ingebrigtsen leads at the bell – he wants to beat Kerr as much as he wants to qualify, by the looks of things.
Olyslagers misses her second go at 2.02 … but so does Mahuchikh! She was much closer, bumping it with her buttocks, and I’d expect her to get it next time.
Kerr hits the front but Ingebrigtsen soon overtakes as we come to the end of the first lap.
Aaaand away we go!
Next on the track: the semis of the men’s 1500m or, put another way, Kerr v Ingebrigtsen, the world champ v the Olympic champ, the mouth v the mouth, again. They both run in the first race, and I can’t wait to see how this goes; the tension will be off the scale if both make the final and I’ve not a clue what’s going to happen. We’re so lucky to have both in the same era.
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In the studio, MJ reckons the women’s 800m might see two races, with no one willing to jeopardise their hopes of a medal chasing Hodgkinson, deeming that a futile task. We shall see.
Olyslagers, by the way, also runs Everlasting Crowns, a ministry dedicated to encouraging and teaching athletes and is a member of a Pentecostal Christian group that she prefers to keep to herself.
COME ON NICOLA! She clears 2.00m like it’s nothing and our competition goes on!
Olyslagers is about to go again. Come on Nicola…
…and she laughs at it! That is sensational, and Olyslagers is up next, of course, taking her second go at it … and she’s not too far away, but if she can’t take it out next go, she’s a silver medalist with Mahuchikh taking the gold.
Here comes Mahuchikh trying 2.00m – her world record, set last month and improving a mark 37 years old is 2.10…
Hodgkinson wins easily in 1:56.86, but behind her, Prudence Sekgodiso of RSA looks prettay, prettay good too, and she’ll be a threat in the final. Meantime, screaming: Lamote of France has made the final, and now knows a happiness most of us will never grasp.
Hodgkinson goes straight to the front, looking to control the race, and she’s looking comfy at the bell. How that’s possible when you’ve just run a 57.47 400m I’ve not a clue, but these people are something else.
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Away goes our third and final women’s 800m semi, Keely Hodgkinson looking to assert herself.
Back to the high jump, Mahuchikh and Olyslagers have cleared 1.98m, the others not so much. Eleanor Patterson of Australia and Iryna Herashchenko of Ukraine take a bronze apiece, having not failed at any height till that 1.98m. Our leaders, though, have work to do.
Reekie is as upset as you’d think, telling BBC she’s in the best shape of her life. She’ll go away, chat it through with her coach “and get myself together”.
Her emotions weren’t dissimilar to those of Dina Asher-Smith after her 100m semi. She felt good, the time asked of her was well within her ambit … but when she went to retrieve it, it wasn’t there. It’s impossible not to feel for her, even though, had she done the necessary, someone else would be suffering the exact same heartbreak.
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Duguma’s winning time, by the way, is 1:57.47.
Lamote takes third and Whittaker fourth, both quicker than Gill, who goes out. She’ll be better for the experience, but, and will be back.
Reekie is finished! Duguma is going to win and Shafiqua Maloney of St Vincent powers through the final 20m to take second!
Reekie leads, but Renelle Lamote of France is getting all the encouragement, Duguma of Ethiopia taking over in the home straight as Reekie tires!
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Our second women’s 800m is about to get going, Jemma Reekie – fourth in Tokyo and second-fastest in the world this year behind her teammate, Keely Hodgkinson – among them.
The final of the men’s 100m is 67 minutes away. Tension is building in my north-London box-room, never mind in Paris. There’s nothing like a sprint final – the looming, intimidating knowledge that it’s over as suddenly as it starts, people working four years for under 10 seconds of performance. That, my mates, is pressure.
Back to the high jump, Olyslagers clears 1.98m so, for now, she leads alone. But Mahuchikh looked ominously good in her opening jump.
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Worknesh Mesele of Ethiopia takes second and also qualifies for the final automatically, with Daily Cooper Gaspar of Cuba third. Gill is fourth and I don’t think her time of 1:58.47 will be enough to get her into the final as a fastest loser, but you never know. Moraa, by the way, won in 1:57.86 but looks done-in at the end of it.
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Mary Moraa of Kenya, leaning back in that idiosyncratic style of hers, cruises to the front and looks comfy enough. She’s going to win…
Off goes the first semi in the women’s 800m, 17-year-old Phoebe Gill of GB among then. Natoya Goule of Jamaica leads.
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Let’s call in on the women’s high jump final, where six athletes have cleared 1.95m, Mahuchikh and Olyslagers among them.
Coming up next: the semi-finals of the women’s 800m.
So our 100m final is set! In it will be:
Kishane Thompson (Jamaica) 9.87
Oblique Sevilla (Jamaica) 9.81
Fred Kerley (USA) 9.84
Noah Lyles (USA) 9.83
Akani Simbine (South Africa) 9.87
Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) 9.91
Marcell Jacobs (Italy) 9.92
Kenny Bednarek (USA) 9.93
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That time of 9.80s is the time Jacobs ran winning gold in Tokyo – talking of whom, Jacobs is through to the final as a fastest loser. Joining him in that regard is Kenny Bednarek, meaning Hughes is out.
Kishane Thompson of Jamaica wins the third semi of the men's 100m in 9.80s
He eases up too, looking over, with Kerley finishing second.
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Thompson gets away well and no one’s going to catch him!
Thompson is only 23, so has plenty of improving still to do, but then Oblique Sevilla is too and he just ran like a vet. Usain Bolt, we’ve been told really fancies Seville and thinks he can win this; let’s see how these lot do.
Going in the third and final semi, we’ve got Fred Kerley of USA, the world champ; Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, the fastest man in the world this year; Andre De Grasse of Canada, the defending 200m champ; and Zharnell Hughes of GB, who is capable of all sorts if he’s in nick.
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3x3 basketball: The US men’s and women’s 5x5 basketball teams – loaded with NBA and WNBA stars – are laying waste to all before them. But Americans are beatable in basketball – and in the case of 3x3, very beatable. The men’s team just lost 21-6 to the Netherlands, ending their hopes of qualifying for the next round. That’s quite an achievement since six of the eight teams in the group stage qualify for the knockouts. The team wasn’t exactly filled with stars – mainly college stars or NBA journeyman. It will be interesting to see if they load up for a homes Games at LA 2028.
Jacobs’ time of 9.92s is equal with his fastest this season; he’s currently prowling about off-track waiting to see how the third semi goes and I reckon he’ll be feeling much better about all this.
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Yup, Jacobs is third but his time is quicker than Hinchliffe’s and he’ll expect to make the final from here. Hinchliffe is definitely out, but has the defending champ found a bit of form at the right time?
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Akani Simbine of RSA wins the second semi in 9.90s!
I think Tebogo of Botswana is second, with Jacobs third.
Akani Simbine of RSA is away well and Jacobs has work to do!
The second semi is coming up and it’s not as strong as the first. Marcell Jacobs, the defending champ, goes in lane eight and hasn’t really looked himself lately. I fancy Kenny Bednarek of USA…
3x3 basketball: The US men’s and women’s 5x5 basketball teams - loaded with NBA and WNBA stars - are laying waste to all before them. But Americans are beatable in basketball - and in the case of 3x3, very beatable. The men’s team just lost 21-6 to the Netherlands, ending their hopes of qualifying for the next round. That’s quite an achievement since six of the eight teams in the group stage qualify for the knockouts. The team wasn’t exactly filled with stars - mainly college stars or NBA journeyman. It will be interesting to see if they load up for a homes Games at LA 2028.
Through a few days of the Olympics, the narrative was that the USA were underachieving, especially in the pool. Gold medal favourites took silver and bronze. Medal contenders took fourth and fifth.
They still finished behind their Tokyo gold-medal haul of 11 and well behind their Phelps-driven 16 golds each in Rio and London. They lost the men’s 4x100m medley relay for the first time.
But with Bobby Finke defending his 1500m freestyle, the USA pulled even with Australia with seven gold medals. Then the US women emphatically struck the decisive blow in the rivalry for this year, setting a world record in the 4x100m medley relay.
It’s a second gold medal for Regan Smith and Gretchen Walsh after the mixed medley relay, and it’s a solid career capper for Lilly King, the 2016 100m breaststroke gold medalist. The final word, appropriately, went to Torri Huske, who leaves Paris with three gold medals and two silvers. By the time she entered the pool in the relay, she was racing only against the clock.
The bar, though, has been raised. Leon Marchand is the toast of Paris with four gold medals. Canada’s Summer McIntosh took the first three of what may be an armful of gold medals in her career. Both swimmers, incidentally, train in the United States.
Seville’s time is rounded up to 9.81, a personal best, and actually I did Lyles a disservice: his time of 9.83 is only 0.02 off his PB and his start wasn’t bad … problem being he still lost, comfortably. Louie Hinchliffe was third, Emmanuel Esema of Comoros fourth, Shaun Maswanganyi of RSA fourth, Favour Ashe of Nigeria sixth.
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That was a tremendous run from Seville, and I don’t think Lyles can beat him if he runs like that in the final. He’s under so much pressure because he knows he has to start perhaps better than ever before – and watching the replay we see Sevilla looking over to his left, letting his man know they both know he’s got him beat.
Seville wins in 9.80s, Lyles in second!
Hinchliffe is third and will have to wait.
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And they’re away, Seville looking great and Lyles comes with him…
They take their marks…
Lyles looks a nervous and I’m not surprised. He talks a lot – brilliantly so, he’s great and exactly what athletics needs – but it doesn’t, in mine, come with the certainty he hopes it does, quite the reverse. If he starts well he can win any 100m race, but if he doesn’t, by the time his 200m speed kicks in, it might well be too late.
Hinchliffe, of course, is coached by Carl Lewis. I daresay him deeming you worth his time is a decent boost.
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We’re now watching VT of Louie Hinchliffe’s parents – his dad’s from Rotherham, his mum the Philippines and what a thing that is to celebrate on a dark day like this one. He’s out on the track now, ready for the first semi, in which he’ll face Noah Lyles, whom he beat yesterday, and Oblique Seville – among others.
Our women high-jump finalists are coming out, while on BBC they’re looking forward to the men’s 100m. I may or may not have just called down the stairs to advise my wife she might like Michael Johnson’s mustard-coloured rollneck. Her husband may or may not refuse to countenance such garments, and may or may not be less able to elevate them than this fairly reasonable figure of a man.
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So our 400m semi-finalists are set, Matthew Hudson-Smith of GB the fastest qualifier in 44.78. He’s also the fastest man in the world this year, but will know that the real work starts now.
Charlie Dobson of GB has just own heat six of the men’s 400m in 44.96; Alexander Doom, of Inspector Gadget Belgium is second, and Jevaughan Powell of Jamaica third.
A primer for what should be a jazzer of a competition.
Our women high jumpers are out, Nicola Olyslagers of Australia – the second favourite for the title behind the new world record-holder, Yaroslava Mahuchikh – sits, writing in her journal. How can she even hold a pen?
That swimming arena, though. And that crowd. Andy Jamieson noted the other day that he’s been to 11 Olympics – what a flex! – and never experienced an atmosphere remotely comparable.
Quincy Hall isn’t too fussed what others are doing – “We ready!” he enthuses. He’ll be there or thereabouts.
I guess it seems unlikely that James can win gold at 31, but we know for sure the competition won’t get big on him so you never know.
Kirani James, the men’s 400m gold medalist in London, cruises past the leader in the home straight to win heat five. Canada’s Christopher Morales-Williams is second and Aruna Darshana of Sri Lanka is fourth.
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USA win gold in the women's 4x100m medley, in a new world-record time of 3:49.63!
Australia take silver, China bronze, and that was awesome – actually, genuinely, awesome, not just quite good – so exactly the closer the meet deserved. It’s been an absolute banger.
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USA are battling the clock now, the third butterfly leg almost over and the lead enormous, the world-record line well behind Maggie Mac Neil.
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USA lead through the breaststroke, from Australia, from Canada – but the lead is a significant one.
The women’s 4x100m medley is away, USA’s frankly ridiculous team looking impregnable.
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Quincy – what is it about that name and the 400m? – Hall wins heat four ahead of Samuel Ogazi of Nigeria and Reece Holder of Australia. Hall is now the biggest threat to Hudson-Smith.
Steven Gardiner, defending 400m champion, is out injured
Oh man, that is brutal. The great Shelly-Ann yesterday and now this today. He’s struggled with injury a lot so it’s not a massive shock, but still unpleasant to see – especially the visual finality of an empty lane, when you know the pain, love and tears that have been spent in the pursuit of filling it. Godspeed, old mate.
I love the 400m; do we reckon it’s the hardest of all the single-sport track events? My sense is that it is, given the need to sprint for ages, but there are those, I’m sure, who’d go 800m – which is also nasty.
In the third heat of the men’s 400m, the 1-2-3 is Samukonga of Zambia, Ndori of Botswana and Sito of Italy.
Coming up
Back in the pool, the women’s 4x100m is coming up at 32 minutes past the hour, so nine from now; we’ve got four more heats in the men’s 400m; at 6.55pm BST, it’s the women’s high jump final; then at 7.50pm BST it’s the semis of the men’s 100m with the final at 8.50; and in between them, we’ve the semis of the women’s 800m starting at 7.35 with the same stage of the men’s 1500m going at 8.10.
On the topic of the cycling road race, Beau Dure, one of our US Olympic experts, elucidates thusly:
Kristen Faulkner didn’t do a lot of cycling growing up in Homer, Alaska. She went to Phillips Academy and rowed, swam and ran, then went to Harvard as a rower. She started working as a venture capitalist but took up cycling and turned out to be pretty good at it.
Still, she only made this Olympic team as a track cyclist. It was only after Taylor Knibb gave up her spot to focus on triathlon and the time trial that Faulkner was named to the two-person road race team alongside Chloe Dygert. Faulkner and Dygert will team up again in two days in the women’s team pursuit.
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Back in the men’s 400m we’ve had our second heat; Michael Norman of USA won it easily in 44.10, Jereem Richards of T&T and Busang Kebinatshipi of Botswana came second and third respectively.
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China win gold in the men's 4x100m medley!
Silver for USA, bronze for la France! That was fantastic.
Here comes Pan Zhanle, the 100m freestyle world-record holder and Olympic champ! He’s going to do it for China!
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The crawlers are at it, France from China from USA at the final turn and WHAT A FINISH THIS IS GOING TO BE! WHAT A RACE THIS ALREADY IS!
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Third butterfly leg now, USA forging ahead to try and mitigate China’s advantage on the final leg. But France burst through the middle and this is wild, the arena rabid!
First changeover, it’s China but USA move past them … and Adam Peaty oozes by both!
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In the pool, we’re about to close the men’s meet with the 4x100m medley. Here we go, USA from China from GB early doors. The arena is lahd.
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Hudson-Smith isn’t surprised by how well he ran but wants to win the whole thing. He’s got great runners around him like Christine Ohuruogu and he’s trying to match Tessa (Sanderson) and Denise (Lewis), previous gold-medal winners.
More on the men’s 100m in a minute, but we’ve got the men’s 400m heats on the track at the moment and Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain, the fastest man in the world this year, has just eased to victory in our first race, recording 44.78 and beating Christopher Bailey of USA and Havard Ingvaldsen of Norway into second and third; they qualify too, while the rest move into the repechage.
Other things which concern all of us: the absolute state of things in this world of ours. It’d be nice to just slide in and chat Lympics, but tragically, that isn’t possible. So solidarity to all those under attack right now – all acceptable people are with you, and if you know anyone who is, check in with them to share love and so they know they’re not alone.
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Thanks Geoff and hi everyone. When I look back upon my life it’s always with a sense of shame and the 42ish years I’ve spent watching sport, I’m not sure there are any planet-stopping events that compare to the 100m Olympic finals. The pinnacle was Seoul in 1988, when Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and Florence Griffith-Joyner revolutionised our conception of the possible – I’m not sure anything will ever compare to that, not even Usain Bolt in 2008, 2012 and 2016 – but the point is less the circumstance, more the tension, speed and title. How do they stick on your mark for the gun, but get away quickly; oh my complete and utter absolute days, they’re flying; these are the fastest humans alive. That, my friends, is a lot, and it’s why we’re all here right now. This is going to be epochal, and every single person alive understands that, because every single person alive has, on occasion, run as fast as they can. This concerns all of us.
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Coming up: And another big one in the swimming about to arrive, with the 4x100 medley relay final. There’s the women’s high jump final, and later on the track, the men’s 100 metres.
That’s it from me for today. I’ll hand over to Daniel Harris. Happy Olympics!
Basketball: In the women’s pool match, the USA beat Germany 87-68.
Hockey: Bad news Aussies, the Kookas are cooked. The Dutch oven bakes them 2-0.
Bobby Finke swims a new world record in the 1500m
What a barnstorming swim. He cuts sick on the last 50, huge cadence on those kicks, and while the world record line catches him up from when he was two seconds ahead, he still beats it by half an arm’s length. It was 14:31:02 when Sun Yang set it, but Finke gets 14:30:67.
Paltrinieri blows up on the final lap and ends up five or six metres behind, taking silver in 14:34:55. And Wiffen finishes five further seconds behind in a distant bronze.
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Swimming: One hundred metres to go…
Swimming: Wiffen has drifted way off in third, but Paltrinieri is still trying to stay with Finke, the way Titmus did with Ledecky in the 800 last night.
Swimming: Paltrinieri is ahead of world record place with 300 to go, and Finke is still ahead of him. Over a body length ahead of world record time as it stands.
Swimming: Still ahead of world record pace is Finke, with 500 metres to go. He’s cranking out his 50s at this point.
Swimming: 800 to go. Finke still leading, but with the Italian on his shoulder. Wiffen is firmly in third as well, just staying in touch. Finke is a swimmer who finishes races hard, but he’s gone out so early, it will be interesting to see what he has left. They’re on about world record pace, for the moment.
Swimming: Finke has pushed away hard in the first couple of hundred metres. He’s a body length out at the 300, then Paltrinieri starts to go after him heading towards 400.
Swimming: That field.
France: Damien Joly
Turkey: Kuzey Kuncelli
Tunisia: Ahmed Jaoadi
Ireland: Daniel Wiffen
Italy: Gregorio Paltrinieri
France: David Aubry
USA: Bobby Finke
Hungary: David Betlehem
No Australian qualifier in the event of Kieren Perkins. Two French swimmers, who get a huge ovation.
Swimming: And we’re onto the men’s 1500m…
Hockey: Kookaburras in trouble, the Dutch scored a while back and they’re still leading 1-0 in the fourth quarter.
Sarah Sjöström goes gold again in the 50 free
That was the script! Walsh started really well off the dive in her underwater phrase, Sjöström was in the pack up until about halfway, but she turned on the speed in the second half and ended up what seemed like almost half a length clear at the touch. She didn’t breathe the entire way down the pool. She finishes one 10th outside her world record and one 20th outside her Olympic record.
And a huge result for Australia, with Meg Harris touching in second for the silver medal. She’ll be thrilled with that. Zhang Yufei takes bronze.
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Swimming: The competitors, in order of introduction.
Slovenia: Neza Klancar.
China: Wu Qingfeng
Australia: Meg Harris
Australia: Shayna Jack
China: Zhang Yufei
Poland: Katarzyna Wasick
USA: Gretchen Walsh
Sweden: Sarah Sjoestrom
The latter is the world record holder.
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Swimming: And now we’re going back to the pool, for a huge double: the women’s 50 metre freestyle, followed by the men’s 1500.
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Boxing: Around the ring, quickly.
51kg: David de Pina of Cabo Verde gets a bronze, Dusmatov Hasanboy of Uzbekistan goes to the final.
63.5 kg: Georgia gets bronze via Lasha Guruli, Cuba will fight for gold through Erislandy Alvarez Borges.
80kg: Ukraine final thanks to Oleksandr Khyzhniak, Cuba a bronze for Arlen Lopez Cardona.
92kg: Lazizbek Mullojonov another Kazakh finalist, over Davlat Boltaev who gets bronze for the Tajiks.
Basketball: The USA women leading Germany 49-39 in the third quarter, the top two teams in their group deciding who will finish first and second.
Cycling: Pfeiffer Georgi of Team GB somehow managed to come back and finish fifth in the end. She had lost touch completely at one stage, after having gone out front too early to maintain it. Mighty effort. Margarita Victoria Garcia sixth, and Noemi Rueegg who looked broken on that last Montmartre climb hung tough to take seventh.
Kristen Faulkner scorches the road race route for gold
Cycling: Extraordinary ride for Kristen Faulkner! Last Olympics this race had one of the great surprises, this one is almost as big. Faulkner only started riding road races a few years ago. She got into that front dozen, stayed calm when the front two were way out there, then fought her way back to them in another duo. At that point, she used up Kopecky and then tossed her aside like a used gel. Then produced an audacious attack to get out in front and hammer solo to the finish, across the Pont d’Iéna right underneath the Eiffel Tower.
The remaining three have a sprint on the bridge for silver. Vos takes it, with Kopecky third and Vas the one who has to leave without a medal after a brave day on the bike.
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Cycling: Three kilometres out, and Faulkner attacks! After using Kopecky to help her catch the front pair, she’s charged out front! Using everything she has.
Gold for Chinese Taipei versus China
The men’s badminton doubles is decided! Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin have beaten Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang two games to one.
Cycling: 8km to go as the route starts to flatten out.
Cycling: Kopecky and Faulkner are only 7 seconds behind Vos and Vas!
Cycling: That original group of a dozen is splintering on the final grind up Montmartre. Two out the front, now Faulkner of the USA and Kopecky of Belgium are attacking the front pair and have narrowed the gap. Three behind them, including two Brits, then five further back. Pfeiffer Georgi has blown herself up and disappeared.
Hockey: A big one for the Kookaburras, who have started their quarter-final against the Dutch men’s team. No score in the first quarter.
Cycling: A dozen km to go. Vos and Vas still out the front. You might call that a Vas difference.
Beach volleyball: Australia advance to the quarter-finals! They beat Carolina Solberg Salgado and Barbara Seixas de Freitas of Brazil in straight sets, and celebrate with the beach*side crowd.
Cycling: Vos and Blanka out past 30 seconds now, the Dutch and Hungarian riders. Vos came fifth in that extraordinary road race in Tokyo, when Anna Kiesenhofer attacked, the rest of the attackers were reeled in, and nobody realised that Kiesenhofer was still out there on her own. The rest of the leading pack tussled thinking that they were fighting for gold, because she had crossed the line minutes ahead. Blanka Vas in her first Olympic road race, having competed in BMX as a 19-year-old in Tokyo.
Cycling: Under 20km to go. Deignan and Henderson have caught back up to the front back, while Georgi got reeled in, but now Marianne Vos and Blanka Vas have gone out on their own, the two opening up a 25-second gap now on the second group.
Gold for world No1 Scottie Scheffler in the men's individual strokeplay
Golf: No need for a playoff. Nobody is trying to arrest him either. Scheffler is on the range staying grooved when the news comes through that he can put the club down. There’s another big one for the USA.
Tommy Fleetwood doesn’t challenge for that gold, but makes his par putt for silver, for Great Britain. Bronze goes to Japan, via Hideki Matsuyama
Jon Rahm of Spain was in medal contention but bogeyed five holes, including a double, on the back nine. He finishes with a bogey here after narrowly missing a long putt that overshoots, then missing the medium one coming back the other way.
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Golf: Tommy Fleetwood has gone long and left from the fairway and landed off the green. Not in a bunker or anything, just in the slightly longer grass, but he’d need a miracle to find the hole from there. I assume this is a par 4, they’re not telling us much on screen though. He needs a birdie.
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Cycling: Pfeiffer Georgi is attacking on her own! The other two Brits have dropped off the back of the breakaway, but Georgi has made her own at the front. Still 26km to go.
Beach volleyball: Australia claim the first set against Brazil, the pairing of Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy.
Cycling: The riders in that leading pack: Kopecky, Vos, Longo Borghini, Lach, Rueegg, Deignan, Georgi, Henderson, Faulkner, Garcia, Lippert, Vas.
So three Brits, and singles from Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, USA, Spain, Germany, Hungary.
Cycling: Just over 30 kilometres to go in the women’s road race, and Great Britain have stacked the leading group. A big medal chance if they can hang in there.
Golf: The last roll of the ball is for Tommy Fleetwood, who could tie up Scheffler and force a play-off if he can birdie the 18th.
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Golf: It’s almost over, with leader Scottie Scheffler having finished his fourth round with 62, leaving him at 265 all up.
Badminton: The gold medal match continues in the men’s doubles, between China and Chinese Taipei.
Beach volleyball: Australia are playing Brazil in the women’s round of 16, trailing 16-14 in the first set.
Australia’s flag bearer and three-time Olympic gold medallist Jess Fox has been eliminated from the kayak cross in a quarter-final heat as her sister Noémie qualified for the semis.
The younger Fox took an early lead in the four-woman race and held onto the lead throughout. But her sister got caught up in a duel with Martina Wegman in the early part of the race, and had to work hard to make up ground on Spain’s Maialen Chourraut for much of the 200m course.
She finally caught the Spaniard on the final upstream gate, but couldn’t get past her and ultimately finished fourth, ending her hopes of a third gold medal in Paris. Noémie will feature in the semi-finals, and potentially the final, on Monday.
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Philippines gold in the men's vault
The artistic gymnastics program continues, with each gymnast doing two vaults and registering a combined score. Carlos Edriel Yulo clinches it with 9.433 and a 9.2 on execution, taking gold from Artur Davtyan from Armenia. There’s a bronze for Great Britain too, with a 3-4 finish for Harry Hepworth and Jake Jarman.
Tennis: Thanks Martin. Djokovic is overcome on the clay court of Roland Garros. He sits in his chair with a towel over his face, howling into it. Eventually he gets up, scopes out the seating, and works out a path to climb over some barriers and up through the crowd, up to the second level, to find his family. Down on the court, Alcaraz is still sitting with his head down between his knees, like an airline safety video. He has been flying lately but today was a hard landing.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, today, And indeed for these Olympics. I am back in the grip of BIG NEWS™ next week. Thank you so much for reading. I will see you around again on this website soon. Geoff Lemon is stepping back in to the hotseat for the next couple of hours. Allons-y!
Gold for Novak Djokovic in men's tennis singles! 🥇🥇🥇🎾🎾🎾
Men’s tennis singles: gold for Novak Djokovic! He takes the match 7-6 7-6. Fine margins here and Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) ends up with silver.
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Men’s tennis singles: Djokovic leads the tie-break 5-2
and
Women’s cycling road race: there’s a crash in the Peloton!
It all feels very finely poised in the cycling, the tennis and the golf. What a Sunday of sport to enjoy.
Women’s cycling road race: They are about to hit the first run up Montmartre, a 1km climb with 6.5% gradient and on cobbles. The cyclist must be cursing the organisers. It is an incredible crowd welcoming the Peloton here in Paris.
Men’s tennis singles: it has proved almost impossible to separate these two, but somehow they have to be separated. The second set has gone to a tie-break between Novak Djokovic (SRB) and Carlos Alcaraz (ESP). Djokovic took the first set.
Women’s cycling road race: Fariba Hashimi from Afghanistan, with 54km to go, has decided she might as well go off the front and have a little time in the spotlight. It has been an incredible effort from some of the riders who won’t have featured much in previews of the events. The Peloton has just absorbed the rest of the breakaway. Such a fascinating race – and they have no race radio and much smaller teams than they are used to.
I am not sure Jon Rahm will be wanting to watch today back on his home VHS. He seemed completely in control of the men’s golf. The top of the leaderboard looks like this now …
Scottie Scheffler (USA) 19 under, 17th hole
Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) 18 under, 14th hole
Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 17 under, 16th hole
Women’s cycling road race: with just over 60km to go we are seeing a series of attacks at the head of the Peloton. They are hauling in the leading and chasing group, and also clearly testing each other’s team stengths. Anna Henderson of Team GB and Marianne Vos of the Netherlands have been in the thick of it. The gap between the Peloton and the leading group is down to about a minute.
Gold for Algeria's Kaylia Nemour on the uneven bars! 🥇🥇🥇
The fans in Bercy Arena don’t seem to mind that Kaylia Nemour has opted to compete for Algeria instead of France. The 17-year-old gymnast, fifth in the all-around, landed a routine with a staggering difficulty of 7.200 to win gold on the uneven bars before an adoring crowd.
China’s Qiu Qiyuan was a close second with 15.500. The USA’s Suni Lee, last up in the start order, executed just well enough to take bronze over defending champion Nina Derwael of Belgium.
Heartbreak for Team GB’s Becky Downie, who was flying through a gorgeous routine until her hands simply came off the bar when she appeared to have caught it safely. Without that fall, she likely would’ve been in the mix for bronze. She finished seventh.
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That shooting was intense. I haven’t forgotten there are other big events going on. There has been a crash in the Peloton in the women’s road racing, but I think everybody got back up. Djokovic and Alcaraz are locked 4-4 in the second set, the Serb took the first set. Scottie Scheffler (USA), Jon Rahm (ESP) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) are tied at the top in the men’s golf.
Gold for Chile in women's skeet shooting, with Team GB silver and US bronze! 🥇🥇🥇
Women’s skeet shooting: Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile won her country’s first ever shooting gold as Team GB’s Amber Jo Rutter took silver. 23-year old Austen Jewell Smith of the USA took bronze. The tense battle went to a dramatic shootout between Rutter and Chadid.
There was some controversy as right at the end one of Rutter’s shots was given as a miss, when a video replay showed it may well have been clipped.
Rutter shoots next. One hit, one miss. She protests! The crowd are chanting “Hit! Hit! Hit!”. It is given as a miss. Chadid steps up …
Rutter misses one! If Chadid hits both she gets gold … she hits one, misses one. Another round incoming!
Rutter again hits both! Chadid … does so again! Oh the pressure of this.
Rutter hits her two targets in the shootout. Chadid … does so as well! They can’t be separated!
Chadid gets the next two and takes it to a shootout. The first one to miss essentially misses out on the gold. Wow.
Chadid to shoot. She can afford one miss. She appeals after a target is given a miss by the judges … NO HIT!
Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile has a wobble and two misses, and suddenly her and Team GB’s Amber Jo Rutter are tied on 50 each with six shots to go. Wow.
Women’s skeet shooting: Team GB’s Amber Jo Rutter is guaranteed at least a silver medal! Austen Jewell Smith of the USA wins bronze.
Women’s skeet shooting: Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile has a two shot lead. Team GB’s Amber Jo Rutterb has a one shot advantage over Austen Jewell Smith of the USA in third as the bronze medal is about to be decided in this series.
Men’s tennis singles: they have been grinding away for over two hours now, and still we’ve had no break of serve. Djokovic leads one set to love, it is 3-2 to Alcaraz in the second set.
Men’s golf: Rory McIlroy is on the move. He is tied in third on 17 under with Hideki Matsuyama. Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood are tied in the lead on 18 under. The leaders have finished at the 13th.
Women’s skeet shooting: Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile has only her second miss, and leads by one shot. Slovakia’s Vanesa Hocková hit the first 16 in a row and was in the lead at that point, but she leaves in fourth place. USA, Chile and the US are guaranteed the medals now.
Women’s skeet shooting: four athletes left. One is going to go home without a medal …
Women’s cycling road race: I must put in a word here for Olga Zabelinskaya of Uzbekistan, who has spent the last forty minutes or so on her own chasing the leading group and ahead of the Peloton, without making the move to bridge the gap, just ploughing on in her own solo race.
Women’s skeet shooting: Emmanouela Katzouraki of Greece is the next to depart. Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile has a one shot lead after thirty shots.
Women’s cycling road race: Nora Jenčušová of Slovakia, who was up in the leading group, has had some kind of mechanical, but is back on her bike and racing again.
China’s Fan Zhendong earned redemption by beating Sweden’s Truls Moregard in the men’s table tennis singles final on Sunday to make up for the gold he missed out on three years ago in Tokyo, Reuters reports.
The 4-1 victory adds to China’s gold medal sweep in the sport so far at the Paris Olympics, following his teammates’ earlier triumphs in the women’s singles and mixed doubles.
Men’s golf: Jon Rahm has had two successive bogeys, while Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) had two successive birdies, and they are now level on -18 with six holes to play 👀
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Women’s skeet shooting: Team GB’s Amber Jo Rutter and Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile lead with one miss apiece.
Women’s skeet shooting: Danka Bartekova of Slovakia, the current world champion, is the first to depart.
Honestly just watching both the archery and this skeet shooting this afternoon and I know I wouldn’t be able to hit the target once in either sport. In fact I’m not sure I’d be able to hit the archery target even if they gave me a rifle.
Women’s skeet shooting: Slovakia’s Vanesa Hocková has a lead of one shot now, having hit all of her first sixteen shots. Three competitors are tied for second having had one miss each.
Men’s tennis singles: Novak Djokovic (SRB) wins the tie-break 7-3 and takes the first set!
Women’s skeet shooting: the final of this has started – you might be able to tell if you can suddenly hear seemingly random music in the background, as has accompanied all of the shooting in Paris. Team GB’s Amber Jo Rutter and Slovakia’s Vanesa Hocková are leading from Austen Jewell Smith of the USA and Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile.
Men’s tennis singles: we’ve gone to a first set tie-break.
Men’s tennis singles: It is 6-5 to Novak Djokovic (SRB), and Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) has just saved a set point. They are at deuce again.
Women’s cycling road race: all the leading and chase groups have come together, so there is a bunch of six riders out front, and they have nearly five minutes lead with 106km and seven climbs to go.
Gold for China’s Liu Yang who retains men’s rings title! 🥇🥇🥇
Men’s rings: the latest gymnastics gold is for China’s Liu Yang. The two-time world champion on the rings has successfully defended the Olympic title in won in Tokyo.
Men’s golf: Jon Rahm (ESP) has gone 20 under after the tenth hole.
Men’s rings: Liu Yang of China seems well placed to retain his title from Tokyo. He leads compatriot Zou Jingyuan and Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias with three more gymnasts to go.
Men’s tennis singles: Novak Djokovic (SRB) holds his serve against Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) after an epic game that went to deuce six times, if I counted correctly. It is 5-4, Alcaraz now serving in the first set.
SIxteen years after his Olympic debut at age 19, Brady Ellison came into the magnificent archery venue at the Esplanade des Invalides having won everything he could possibly win in archery except an Olympic gold medal. Two men’s team silvers. Individual bronze. An individual world championship. In Paris, he added a bronze in the mixed team event with top-ranked Casey Kaufhold.
After steamrolling through the elimination rounds, he ran into Korea’s Woojin Kim, who had won two team Olympic golds and three individual world championships but never an individual Olympic gold.
What followed was a final for the ages.
They traded the first four sets – Ellison first, then Kim, then Ellison, then Kim.
The final set was extraordinary. Kim with a 10. Ellison matches. Kim again. Ellison again. Kim again, with a big celebration. Ellison, though, capped off the perfect 30-30 set with a 10 and a little fist bump with his coach.
The shootout arrow is measured in millimeters, and Kim put his just inside the 10 ring, 55.8 mm away. Ellison’s was a tiny margin outside, at 60.7 mm.
Though he missed gold by less than 5 mm, Ellison joined Kim in breaking into huge smiles, celebrating an unforgettable contest.
Men’s golf: talking of the golf, a little movement at the top, where Xander Schauffele (USA) has dropped out of the medal places. Jon Rahm (ESP) is 19 under, and Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) are tied in second, three shots behind.
First world live blogging problems, I know, but as if the tennis, the cycling and the golf wasn’t enough to be keeping on top of, the men’s rings final has just started in the gymnastics.
Women’s cycling road race: there is still a whopping 122km to go here. Nora Jenčušová of Slovakia is up front on her own. Yulduz Hashimi of Afghanistan also made a move, and is about 45 seconds behind her.
There is another chasing group behind that, featuring Hanna Tserakh (Belarus-born neutral athlete), Nguyễn Thị Thật (VIE), Rotem Gafinovitz (ISR) and Fariba Hashimi (AFG).
Men’s tennis singles: everything continues to go with serve here so far. It is 4-4.
Gold for Woojin Kim of South Korea in the men's archery! Silver for USA's Brady Ellison! 🥇🥇🥇🎯
Men’s archery: Woojin Kim wins the one arrows shoot-off. My colleague Geoff Lemon chips into me on chat that it has to be “the harshest decider in sport”. Brady Ellison of the USA has to content himself with silver.
Men’s archery: it is 4-4 and both men have just posted a perfect set of three 10s. I am in awe.
Men’s golf: a bogey from Xander Schauffele (USA) at the eighth means Jon Rahm (ESP) now has a three shot lead.
Men’s archery: Wooseok Lee has won bronze for South Korea, inflicting a 6-0 defeat on Germany’s Florian Unruh. The final, between Woojin Kim of South Korea and Brady Ellison of the USA has started, and Ellison has struck first, opening a 2-0 lead.
Women’s cycling road race: Awa Bamogo of Burkina Faso got caught by the Peloton on the first climb, but now Nora Jenčušová of Slovakia has gone off the front and opened up a 30-ish second gap. She isn’t going to get her picture in the blog, not for personal animus, but because I can’t find one of her from today’s race yet.
Men’s tennis: it is 2-2 here in the first set but the story so far is that Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) has managed to save break points in both of his serving games so far, which is probably not how he visualised starting.
Men’s archery: US archer Brady Ellison, who earlier in the Games added a mixed team bronze to his two prior men’s silvers, his bronze in the 2016 Olympics and his 2019 world championship, has reached the final. That’s up after the bronze-medal encounter.
Men’s golf: the leaders are getting towards the end of the front nine. Jon Rahm (ESP) is 18 under and Xander Schauffele (USA) 16 under after the seventh. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) is in bronze position on 15 under, but Tommy Fleetwood (GBR), Scottie Scheffler (USA) and Nicolai Hojgaard (DEN) are all in the medal hunt too.
Australia’s boxing team captain, Caitlin Parker, is leading by example after securing her country’s first Olympic medal in the women’s event by beating the Moroccan world champion Khadija Mardi in the 75kg quarter-finals.
The split decision victory means Parker is guaranteed at least a bronze, and continues a strong Paris Games for the team, with Charlie Senior also having reached the semi-finals in the men’s 57kg division to guarantee a medal. It is the first time in 64 years that Australia will have won two boxing medals at the same Games.
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Men’s archery: the second semi-final is in the hands of Brady Ellison at the moment. The US archer leads Germany’s Florian Unruh 5-3.
I am not going to lie. At any other time you could probably live blog a women’s cycling road race, a men’s singles tennis final, and day four of a stroke play tournament featuring the world’s top golfers as three individual live blogs. I’ve got to have eyes in the back of my head here, but what an afternoon of Olympic sport ahead of us.
Women’s cycling road race: it is Awa Bamogo of Burkina Faso who has staged the first solo attack. During the season you often say that riders stage an early attack like this to get their sponsor’s name in front of the cameras. No sponsors today, but it is likely to get your photo into the Guardian live blog while I am at the helm.
Men’s tennis singles: Novak Djokovic (SRB) and Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) have started at Roland Garros.
Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz. It's a historic gold medal match at Roland-Garros! 🔥
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 4, 2024
37-year-old Djokovic is the oldest to ever play in the tennis men's singles final at the Olympics. 21-year-old Alcaraz is the youngest.#Paris2024 @Paris2024 @itftennis pic.twitter.com/auxc7o99Hs
Actually, before I go, here’s an interesting email from Beau Dure, who has been watching the track and field like a hawk. A hawk who likes athletics.
“How surprising was Julien Alfred’s win over Sha’Carri Richardson? In retrospect, not very much.
Running for the University of Texas, a long way from the barefoot runs of her youth, Alfred posted what the NCAA lists as one of the most dominant sprint performances in US college sports history in 2023, winning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. She beat Sha’Carri Richardson’s 2019 record of 10.75 in that meet, albeit with a wind-aided mark of 10.72. Same story in the 200 – she bested Abby Steiner’s NCAA record of 21.80 with a wind-aided 21.73. Her 2023 triumph in the 100m was her second straight NCAA title at that distance, and she took down the NCAA record in the 60m indoors.
This year, the wind has been behind Richardson. The US star’s top time of the year was 10.71 at Eugene’s Hayward Field in June, but the wind was 0.8 m/s, which according to one measurement can be adjusted to 10.76. Alfred’s best time before the Olympics this year was a 10.78 with a 1.3 m/s tailwind, but her best wind-adjusted race was a 10.85 into a headwind of 1.0 m/s in Monaco in July. The wind adjustment on that is 10.77, 0.01 behind Richardson.
Alfred was fifth in the world championships last year, 0.28 behind Richardson, but may be partially a result of the tiring college season. With no college season this year and another year of maturity, Alfred surely deserved more pre-race hype than she received.
I had given the USA a 36% chance of winning – mostly for Richardson, with the other two US sprinters being longshots. With Fraser-Pryce out, Richardson’s chances were probably a little better than 50-50. But this isn’t a case of, say, unknown Ethiopian Abebe Bikila turning up in Rome and winning the marathon barefoot. It’s someone who had flown under the radar while everyone focused on the USA, especially Richardson’s long redemption arc, and Jamaica.
It’s not a case of Richardson losing to an unknown. We all should’ve known Alfred well before the semifinals.”
Good afternoon again. London calling. It is I, Martin Belam. I am here with you for the next few hours, and all the sports seemed to have changed since last time I was here. I’ve got the golf, the cycling, the tennis, the water polo, the beach volleyball and the basketball on to start with …
Ok, I’m out of here for a couple of hours. I’ll leave you with Martin Belam.
Archery: The two Koreans up against each other, and Kim Woojin prevails in the shoot-off. He’ll shoot for gold later, while Lee Wooseok will have another match to try to claim a bronze.
Archery: Another shoot-off to decide the first semi-final.
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Cycling: The women’s road race has just started, no doubt that will be a focus through the afternoon.
Hockey: Spain save it! Remarkable defence, they get in the way, deflect the ball square, and the Belgians are out, in disbelief. They were thrown a lifeline but went down anyway. Spain were arguing vociferously against the corner, but composed themselves in time to defend it against a fierce strike.
Hockey: Huge drama here! A penalty corner against Spain with zero seconds on the clock. The referees confer and award it for the ball making contact with the body.
Hockey: Belgium score! Also from a penalty corner I think. A couple of minutes left, and a Belgian cross is nearly turned in! It’s 3-2 and pulsating. There’s a review to see who the ball went out off.
Archery: No third qualifier for Korea, with Kim Je Deok knocked out by USA’s Brady Ellison, who shoots a perfect three 10s in the third and final set to win it. He’s into the semis.
Hockey: Spain score late! Just like in the football last night. Well, not that late, but there are four minutes left in the last quarter and they’re 2-1 up. And as I type, they make it 3-1 with a penalty corner! Spain’s men will go through to the semis unless something crazy happens.
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Archery! One of my favourites at the Olympics. The men’s individual quarter-finals, four of them. Winners go into a semi, which means they’re guaranteed a bronze. Two Korean archers through, with Lee Wooseok beating the Italian Mauro Nespoli, and Kim Woojin beating the Turk Mete Gazoz. Then Florian Unruh of Germany came down to a shoot-off with hometown kid Baptiste Addis – they both shot 10s with their first arrow but Unruh was about a millimetre closer.
Basketball: Canada and Nigeria have started their women’s group match. Early doors, 15 plays 16. Canada can’t progress, Nigeria can if they win, though Australia could still qualify by beating France.
Hockey: Belgium and Spain might be going to penalties at 1-1 in the final quarter of the men’s quarter-final.
Boxing: Nurbek Oralbay will fight for Kazakhstan gold in the men’s 80kg class, after beating Cristian Javier Pinales of the Dominican Republic narrowly 3-2 on votes. And in the battle of the big lads, Loren Berto Alfonso Dominguez who is boxing for Azerbaijan has won a 4-1 points decision over the Spanish fighter Emmanuel Reyes Pla. That’s the 92 kilo division.
Athletics: The qualifiers for the men’s 110m and the women’s 400m hurdles happened earlier. Too many names to recount, but Guardian US readers may be interested to know that qualified fastest, one tenth away from the Olympic record, while Daniel Roberts is also through, and Team GB enthusiasts will want to follow Tade Ojora. The semis aren’t until Wednesday and the finals Thursday.
For the women, Femke Bol qualified fastest after her wild relay run last night, ahead of three United Statesians in Jasmine Jones, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Anna Cockrell, who was presumably up at dawn. The British rep in there is Lina Nielsen.
Tennis: The Spanish women’s doubles pair have knocked off the Czechs in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2 to win bronze.
I can’t glean when Djokovic and Alcaraz will start the men’s singles final, but sometime today.
Individual dressage gold at the horse party
Equestrian: Look, I’m not qualified to pass judgement on horse dancing, and not convinced by a sport where you need to own a country estate to participate. But Laudruf-Dufour looks a little less fluid than Bredow-Werndl in her routine performed to a schmaltz medley of Celine Dion, Adele, and some other bits and pieces. And so it proves, she comes in fifth despite scoring high yesterday.
Which means Bredow-Werndl takes gold and Werth silver in a German eins-zwei, and Charlotte Fry holds onto bronze for Great Britain.
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Equestrian: Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, which must be fun to write on immigration forms, reads her audience well. She finishes with a series of piaffes while playing Edith Piaf! Probably not the first to think of it, but it’s going to play well en France. And she cracks a 90! The first to do it today, the defending champ, and now it’s just about whether Cathrine Laudruf-Dufour can channel her hyphen into a podium performance.
Equestrian: Carl Hester is out of the medals, with the Dutch rider Dinja van Liere scoring 88.432 on Hermes, the winged messenger or the handbag, for third spot. Two riders to come.
“Technically I think it’s God Save the King now?” advises Mark Hooper. “Tbf she did include the French national anthem too.”
Years of conditioning, Mark. No contest on the better anthem, either, even if the French one is a bit… murdery.
Fencing: France beat China in the end, 45-35.
Boxing: Billal Bennema has taken France into the gold bout in the men’s 51kg. Yunior Alcantara Reyes gets a bronze for the Dominican Republic. Sofiane Oumiha has won for France in the 63.5kg semi, with Wyatt Sanford bronze for Canada.
Fencing: So, USA have beaten Egypt, Italy beat Poland, and the France-China match is finally back underway in the men’s team foil table of eight.
“Thank you for the 105,000 words so far,” writes in David Hahn. “I’m not sure who was responsible for coining my favourite ones at 0934 - ‘season’s beast’. Can we have a report of a personal beast later on?”
We all have our personal beasts, David. At the Grauniad, it’s the humble typo.
(And I’m blaming Martin for that one, which he now can’t correct because we’ve stitched him up.)
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Fencing: There’s some huge kerfuffle in the France-China match. The scores are 40-32 to France, but combat has been suspended for at least ten minutes now. The whole French team were out on the… mat? course? stage? for a while there. Now there are officials everywhere. Lots of arms folded and glum faces. Must be some sort of protest, some of the Chinese officials were debating with judges earlier. I have no commentary of this match, so if somebody knows what’s going on, do email me.
Equestrian: Fabulous ride from Charlotte Fry on Glamourdale, although doing it to a club remix of God Save the Queen is indescribably naff. Tempting fate by combining a neutral jury and a national anthem. But she has supreme control. Doesn’t quite get to the top, but goes to the silver slot. Hester to bronze. Three riders left.
Hockey: Belgium and Spain are scoreless in their men’s quarter-final.
Basketball: Belgium have thrashed Japan 85-58 in the women’s basketball pool match. They’re both stuck behind USA and Germany though in Group C, so that’s the end of the Games for both teams. USA and Germany play in a few hours to determine who finishes top.
Equestrian: Isabell Werth goes to the gold medal spot! Sorry, Carl, you’re bumped. Four riders to come, so she doesn’t have it in the bag, but it was an amazingly well controlled ride from the German veteran of seven Olympics.
Equestrian: “It’s a big week for a ten-year-old mayor,” says the commentator, which yes, is frankly astonishing for someone so young to ascend to such an office. Wait, let me check that.
Tennis: In the women’s doubles bronze match, Spain’s Busca and Sorribes Torno have taken the first set from Czechia’s Muchova and Noskova. I guess the Czechs couldn’t get muchova the net.
Equestrian: Speaking of the equestrian, we’re near the business end of the individual dressage. German champion Isabell Werth is the fifth-last rider. Carl Hester is currently leading for GB with Becky Moody in third. Daniel Bachmann Andersen of Denmark is in the silver spot.
Snoop Dogg Watch: He’s at the fencing today. Did the horsies yesterday.
Fencing: In the men’s foil team event, several matches ongoing and one has finished. Japan thrashed Canada by 19 points. Currently, France is bossing China, Egypt and the US are tightly placed, and Italy is leading Poland 30-27. Teams have to reach 45 to win.
Boxing: Chang Yuan of China has advanced to the gold medal match in the women’s 54kg division, beating Pang Cholmi of North Korea.
Long jump: We have our qualifiers for the men’s final.
Greece: Miltiadis Tentoglou
Czechia: Radek Juska
China: Wang Jianan
Suisse: Simon Ehammer
Croatia: Filip Pravdika
Italy: Mattia Furlani
Jamaica: Wayne Pinnock
Great Britain: Jacob Fincham-Dukes
China: Mingkun Zhang
Colombia: Arnovis Dalmero
Jamaica: Carey McLeod
Germany: Simon Batz
The best was 8.32, which is about 60cm off the world record.
Sailing: There’s been a delay in the sailing, which has happened in a lot of the open water events due to weather or pollution or other things. Homicidal birds? Not sure. Anyway, the men’s kite event was supposed to have started a moment ago but it has been postponed until 1pm at the earliest, which is 100 minutes from now.
Australian boxer Caitlin Parker guaranteed a medal
She has just won a points decision against Khadija Mardi of Morocco, with four out of five judges going her way. The Estonian judge had a dissenting score on two of the three rounds, which is interesting. Mardi really didn’t get in there to attack, even near the end when she probably needed a KO to advance. Parker was able to dance around to run the clock, then threw in some punches near the end. She’s in the semi-finals which means a bronze for the loser, and a gold-silver punch-off for the winner. That semi is on Thursday against China’s Li Qian.
That’s in the women’s 75kg class, the highest weight.
Updated
Good morning, European time! Good evening to anyone in that part of the world, or perhaps you’re enjoying an afternoon somewhere. Either way, it’s heading up towards the lunchtime hour, which is sacred on the continent where the Olympics take place, and we have a cavalcade of sport continuing in the next couple of hours. Archery, boxing, sailing, athletics, basketball, plenty more.
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I counted up last night from our stats platform, and since I fired up the live blog for the opening ceremony that Friday night, between us all we’ve written over 105,000 words of live blogs on these Olympics. Some of them even had the letters in the right order. I’m off for a break now, so the next few hundred are coming from Geoff Lemon. See you in a bit …
Simone Biles has joined the voices arguing that media questioning of athletes directly after events isn’t exactly subtle. She has posted to social media to say:
You guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics. Let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for.
Athletics: blink and you miss it, the heats for the men’s 110m hurdles have started in Stade de France. Rachid Muratake (JPN), Enrique Llopis (ESP) and Eduardo Rodrigues (BRA) are the first three to qualify.
Absolute jubilation at the end for India there in the men’s hockey, and you can’t say they didn’t deserve it. The way they celebrated at the end of regulation time having held the match to 1-1 while being a man down for so long, you felt that mentally they were in a stronger place to win the shootout.
Men’s hockey: India beat Team GB in the shootout 4-2!
Men’s hockey: India win the shootout 4-2! Team GB are heading home. India played 42 minutes a man down, and were under the cosh for a lot of that time. They had nerves of steel in the shootout.
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Men’s hockey: Great Britain blink first in the shootout. India lead 3-2. Conor Williamson skied his attempt, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay made no mistake. Team GB miss their fourth!
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Men’s long jump: qualifying is taking place for this event too today. Radek Juška of the Czech Republic with 8.15m and Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece with 8.32m are the first two to reach the qualifying standard.
Men’s hockey: the stats have all been in Team GB’s favour, with 11 shots and ten penalty corners, but the one that counts is the score. It has finished 1-1. It will be a shootout to decide who goes to the semi-finals between India and Great Britain.
Men’s hockey: I’m beginning to bite my nails as it remains India 1-1 Great Britain with two minutes left of this quarter-final. India have had to play two-thirds of the match with a man down.
Daryll Neita of Team GB was back in 200m action this morning, after finishing fourth in the women’s 100m last night. She said when she’d got back to her accommodation last night her coach had told it her she was allowed one Instagram post and then had to sleep.
Asked on Eurosport if finishing fourth in the 100m gave her even more motivation for the 200m, she told viewers:
One thing about me is that I don’t give up. I’ve been called ‘Miss Momentum’ which I like, because I’ve just got to carry on the momentum, believing in myself. Trust me, the motivation is more than ever.
Women’s hammer throw: group A of the qualification contest has finished in Stade de France. Camryn Rogers of Canada and Annette Nneka Echikunwoke of the USA were the only two athletes to reach the 73m qualification standard, so they are assured of places in the final.
All athletes meeting the qualification standard or at least 12 best performers advance.
Another bit of withdrawal news – Team GB having to adjust the marathon lineup with Clara Evans coming in to replace the injured Charlotte Purdue.
Charlotte Purdue has withdrawn from the women’s marathon on the 11 August due to an ankle injury.
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 4, 2024
Clara Evans has been called up as a late athlete replacement for Team GB in the marathon. It will be her debut appearance at the Olympic Games.#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/kWFTHA1vrN
Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson has pulled out of the 200m. The two-time world champion had already withdrawn from the 100m. It is another blow to Jamaica’s running team, after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also withdrew from the 100m.
Athletics: newly crowned women’s 100m Olympic champion Julien Alfred has safely progressed through round one of the 200m in the first heat just hours after her triumph. She won it in 22.41 seconds.
“I’m really tired” she said afterwards, in maybe understatement of the Olympics so far. She told viewers on Eurosport that her plan had been to attack the first bend to “get it done.”
Hosts France are in a men’s football Olympics semi-final tomorrow against Egypt. Philippe Auclair is in Paris, and has this on how Thierry Henry has harnessed the Olympic flame to stake a claim for the France job …
Men’s hockey: it is 1-1 between Great Britain and India at half-time. The Indian goal came from Harmanpreet Singh via a penalty corner, just minutes after India were on the receiving end of a red card. Lee Morton equalised from close range in the 27th minute.
Dressage individual Grand Prix freestyle: you can’t really explain the Olympic schedule to a horse so I imagine there were some very surprised looking equine faces in the stables this morning going “What, again?”
It is the individual competition today. Glamourdale, Hermes, TSF Dalera BB and Freestyle will be the four to watch after their impressive scores in the team event yesterday.
Oh, and their riders – Charlotte Fry (GBr), Dinja van Liere (Ned), Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (Ger) and Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour (Den). I’ll be surprised if the medals go anywhere else.
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Men’s hockey: that red card seems to have irked India into a different gear – they have just taken a 1-0 lead against Great Britain.
Women’s 3000m steeplechase: Team GB’s Lizzie Bird has just made a stunning late move in the second heat, and with a dip at the line she moved from seventh place to fourth place in the final 30 metres, just squeezing through on inside of the track. She qualifies for the final.
No such luck for teammate Aimee Pratt in the first heat, who despite posting a season’s beast was well off the qualifying pace.
Men’s handball: a comfortable 40-27 win for Sweden over Japan means the Swedes go through. The last remaining quarter-final spot from Group A will be decided tonight when Spain face Croatia. A draw will be enough for Spain to progress in that, Croatia need the win.
Men’s hockey: it is still 0-0 between Great Britain and India in the quarter-final here but a controversy as a red card is shown to Amit Rohidas for a high stick in the face. It looked accidental and the India team are very unhappy with the decision.
Beach volleyball: both the men’s and women’s competitions have reached the round of 16 elimination stage, and those match-ups happen throughout today and tomorrow. Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Boebner of Switzerland are the first pair through to the quarter-finals after victory over Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia of China 2-0.
Triathlon mixed relay training cancelled due to water quality in Seine
Paris Olympics organisers have cancelled Sunday’s swimming training session for the triathlon mixed relay event after recent heavy rain affected water quality levels in the Seine river, Reuters reports.
The decision was made late on Saturday after tests showed water quality did not meet the required threshold after rain on 31 July and 1 August.
The mixed relay race is scheduled for Monday.
“We are expecting an improvement on the conditions in the next hours, but not to a level to which the swim familiarization planned for tomorrow can take place,” organisers said in a statement.
“In view of these conditions, we have decided to cancel the swim familiarisation tonight to avoid late communication to athletes.”
Pollution in the Seine after heavy rains had caused the men’s race to be postponed for a day, after swimming practice sessions were cancelled two days in a row.
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Athletics: the morning session has begun in Stade de France. I do love a bit of distance and endurance, and the first event on the track is the first heat of the women’s 3,000m steeplechase. Aimee Pratt goes for team GB. Peruth Chemutai of Uganda is setting the early pace. The first five qualify.
Men’s hockey: the tournament has reached the quarter-final stage. Defending champions Belgium face Spain at 12.30, the Netherlands face Australia at 17.30 and Germany play Argentina at 8pm. First up though is a tasty looking clash between eight-times champions and Tokyo bronze medallists India and Great Britain. That is 0-0 after five minutes.
I put the curse of the commentator on France’s Thomas Chirault there. As soon as I mentioned he was in front, Mete Gazoz of Turkey, the defending champion, showed why he is a champion, and came back from 3-1 down to win on a single arrow shootout. Sorry, France.
Men’s handball: in Group A Sweden, Spain and Croatia are all locked on four points and only two can progress. Spain play Croatia in the final group game at 9pm tonight Paris time. The opening match today is Sweden v Japan, who are already eliminated. Sweden are doing their best to give themselves the chance to progress. They lead 16-9 at half-time.
Men’s archery individual: a lot of excitement from the host fans at Invalides at the moment as in the opening match today France’s Thomas Chirault has opened up a 3-1 lead against defending champion Mete Gazoz of Turkey. This is a qualification match for the quarter-finals. I did joke in the comments yesterday that this sport looks like it would be an awful lot easier if they just stood nearer the targets.
Men’s golf: play has begun at Le Golf National on the final day of the men’s competition. Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele are in the lead on 14 under, with Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood starting today a shot behind. The leaders tee off at 12.39 Paris time, so we are some ways away from the business end of that yet.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce shares 'disappointment' after withdrawal
One woman who was missing from the stellar lineup in last night’s 100m race was the legendary Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce from Jamaica.
Reuters reports that on Instagram overnight she has posted that she struggled “to find the words” to describe “the depth of disappointment” that she is feeling.
She continued:
I know that my supporters share and shoulder this disappointment with me. The support of my fans, my country and the larger community has rooted me in immense gratitude that has sustained me throughout my career. With every step and win, you all have been there for me. My faith has always affirmed my trust in the journey.
The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that Jamaica’s chef de mission Ian Kelly confirmed Fraser-Pryce’s withdrawal was due to an injury sustained during her warm-up, after reports surfaced online that it had been because she was denied entry to the venue.
Fraser-Pryce has won eight Olympic medals in total, and is still scheduled to run with the Jamaicans’ 4x100m relay team.
She will always be a legend to me, anyway, just for rocking up that time and destroying the field in her son’s sports day race for the mums.
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Ewan Murray has been in Paris, and offers this diary of his week …
Hello! Thank you Megan. It is Martin Belam here in London. It has just gone 9am in Paris which is, as ever, the cue for lots of the action to start. If you have just joined us, here is what we have lined up in the medal department today …
Medal events
🥇 Golf – men’s stroke play (from 9am)
🥇 Equestrian – dressage individual grand prix freestyle (10am)
🥇 Tennis – women’s doubles / men’s singles (12pm)
🥇 Cycling – women’s road race (2pm)
🥇 Table Tennis – men’s singles (2.30pm)
🥇 Archery – men’s recurve individual (2.33pm)
🥇 Badminton – men’s doubles & singles / women’s singles (3pm)
🥇 Gymnastics – men’s rings, vault, parallel bars & horizontal bar / women’s uneven bars, beam & floor exercise (from 3pm)
🥇 Shooting – women’s skeet / men’s 25m rapid fire pistol / mixed skeet (3.30pm)
🥇 Swimming – women’s 50m freestyle & 4×100m medley relay / men’s 15oom & 4×100m medley relay (from 6.30pm)
🥇 Fencing – men’s team foil (7.10pm)
🥇 Athletics – women’s high jump / men’s hammer throw & 100m (from 7.55pm)
[All times local to Paris]
Alas my liveblogging time has come to an end, but I will leave you in the very capable hands of my colleague Martin Belam. He’ll guide you through the next few hours, covering the initial excitement of day nine. Enjoy and I’ll catch you next time!
We’re getting close to 9am Paris time, which means there are plenty more events about to begin – those earlybird badminton players were just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s what is happening as soon as we get to 9am:
Beach Volleyball: Round of 16 match between China and Switzerland.
Golf: Men’s individual stroke play round 4.
Handball: Men’s preliminary round match between Sweden and Japan.
Shooting: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol qualification.
Volleyball: Women’s preliminary round match between Italy and Türkiye.
I will never tire of talking about Simone Biles. I hope to one day be a very old woman sitting in a rocking chair, rabbiting on to my great-grandchildren about how I was alive to witness her dominance. She has been the highlight of the Games for me and I loved Tumaini Carayol’s story about her seventh gold medal.
So often in gymnastics, the higher difficulty attempted, the more execution deductions they receive as they strain to perform these extremely difficult skills. The remarkable part of Biles’s first vault, and so many of her skills, is how the execution is also elevated despite the mindblowing difficulty. She was rewarded with a 9.4 execution score.
Reader Pete Garvey has got in touch about the day eight images and his heart was firmly at the Stade de France track.
I fully agree with on not getting past Simone Biles. She was astonishing in the women’s vault final and is undoubtedly the GOAT, but the other standout picture and performance for me came Julien Alfred winning the gold in the women’s 100m final for Saint Lucia. It was an astonishing performance by her and I feel very proud of her and what she has accomplished.
I was gutted for Daryll Neita. I hope she can qualify and get a medal in the women’s 200m race and let’s see if Dina Asher Smith can too. Here is hoping.
Badminton is the first sport to get underway today – it’s currently 8:30am Paris time and the women’s singles badminton semi final between Republic of Korea’s An Se Young and Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung is up first.
This Olympics hasn’t been short on controversy, but having not one, but two controversies about surfboard designs wasn’t on my bingo card. Australian surfer Jack Robinson has had to paint over a design on his board that garnered complaints over it being offensive in parts of East Asia, while Brazilian Joao Chianca was reportedly told to remove an depiction of the Christ The Redeemer statue. Kieran Pender has all the surfboard controversy here.
OK, it’s time to get back to Snoop Dogg. He’s been popping up around the place all through the Olympics, most notably supporting Simone Biles at the gymnastics, which has been the go-to event for celebrities. But yesterday he decided to make an appearance at the equestrian, which was unusual not just because of the relative lack of star power, but also because Snoop Dogg has a fear of horses. But in one of the more unexpected inspirational stories of Paris 2024, he overcame his fear and went to the dressage with Martha Stewart. You have to read the whole story, it doesn’t get less bizarre.
Another great story out of Stade de France on Day 8 was Thea LaFond winning Dominica’s first ever Olympic medal, taking gold in the triple jump with a 15.02m jump. Dominica sent only four athletes to the Paris Games, so it is a remarkable achievement for the small island nation.
Thea LaFond just secured Dominica their first ever Olympic medal, and it's GOLD! 🇩🇲🥇 pic.twitter.com/7JcPOXUP3t
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 3, 2024
Like many people, I watched Sprint – the Netflix documentary covering the highs and lows of the fastest runners in the world. I loved it – the fascinating stories behind life on the track had me captivated. So that only made last night’s huge upset in the women’s 100m even more incredible. While the world was watching Sha’carri Richardson and Shericka Jackson, Julien Alfred was quietly going about her business and getting ready to rip up the script. From running barefoot in her school uniform at home in St Lucia to blitzing the field in Paris, hers is a story that we will surely hear more about in the future.
Some absolutely sensational shots in here that really capture all the emotion of day eight. Personally I can’t go past this fantastic shot of Simone Biles, but I’d love to know what your favourites are? You can let me know via email – the link is at the top of the page.
The track cycling will get underway on day 10 and hot off the presses, here is Kieran Pender’s fantastic interview with Australian coach Tim Decker. From small town South Australia to the world stage, this is a truly fascinating story.
It’s been pretty heartbreaking to witness the way people respond to athletes who don’t meet their expectations. It’s something we see a lot of in professional sport, but for some of these Olympians who are thrust into the spotlight from having virtually no public attention, it must be even harder to take. Olli Hoare has had a particularly hard time of it after not making it through the repechage for the 1500m. What can be done to combat social media abuse and getting people to realise athletes are only human?
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It’s been interesting seeing the way Nielsen have made their predictions and adjusted as the Olympics have gone on. Do you think they’re on the money with this virtual medal table?
🔨 - A simple adjustment to our original #Paris2024 #VirtualMedalTable for how the top countries have performed in the first 8 days produces the attached forecast for the end of the #Olympics.
— Gracenote Olympic (@GracenoteGold) August 3, 2024
The original pre-Games forecast is here: https://t.co/qvYMw51Gr7 pic.twitter.com/EDjG6CxKAc
Kieran Pender has been hard at work in Paris and has this great story about how Australia’s women are leading the way in bringing home the gold this Olympics.
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The women’s high jump is gearing up to be a hotly contested event after Ukranian Yaroslava Mahuchikh jumped a record 2.10m at the Diamond League three weeks ago. But Australians Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson are determined they can match her. The final is on today and it’s sure to be thrilling. Jack Snape has this great interview with Olyslagers to get you up to speed before it all kicks off.
While we’re on the topic of medals, let’s check out the medal tally. China retain top spot, while the US has clawed their way back into the second. The host nation France are sitting comfortably in third, with Australia sliding down to fourth as the swimming begins to wrap up. Great Britain, Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy, Netherlands and Canada round out the top 10 with plenty more medals still to be won.
If you’re all about the medals, there are plenty up for grabs today! Here’s what you can expect:
Medal Events
🥇 Golf – men’s stroke play
🥇 Equestrian – dressage individual grand prix freestyle
🥇 Tennis – women’s doubles / men’s singles
🥇 Cycling – women’s road race
🥇 Boxing – women’s 54kg / men’s 51kg, 63.5kg, 80kg, 92kg
🥇 Table Tennis – men’s singles
🥇 Archery – men’s recurve individual
🥇 Badminton – men’s doubles & singles / women’s singles
🥇 Gymnastics – men’s rings, vault, parallel bars & horizontal bar / women’s uneven bars, beam & floor exercise
🥇 Shooting – women’s skeet / men’s 25m rapid fire pistol / mixed skeet
🥇 Swimming – women’s 50m freestyle & 4x100m medley relay / men’s 15oom & 4x100m medley relay
🥇 Fencing – men’s team foil
🥇 Athletics – women’s high jump / men’s hammer throw & 100m
🥇 Surfing – men’s & women’s shortboard
Day Nine Schedule
There is so much in store for us all today, it’s that most wonderful point of the Olympics where we have some swimming and athletics crossover, which is always chaotically amazing. You can check out the live schedule to get all the latest updates and times in your timezone.
For those in Australia, we also have quite a lot of Australians in action – you can read all about it and get the event times in this great guide.
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the ninth official day of competition of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
I hope you’ve all been enjoying it so far – here in Australia there have been a lot of late nights and early mornings, but Australian sports fans are well accustomed to dealing with sport induced sleep deprivation.
Day eight was full of action, with probably the biggest news of the day being the huge upset of St Lucia’s Julien Alfred taking out the 100m women’s gold ahead of Sha’carri Richardson. Elsewhere on the track, Dutch runner Femke Bol came from nowhere to drag her team to victory in the 4x400m mixed relay. There was more Simone Biles magic, as the star gymnast picked up her seventh gold medal, and over in the pool Katie Ledecky got the better of Ariarne Titmus to win her fourth 800m gold in a row. Snoop Dogg stole the show at the equestrian (words I never could have imagined typing in my wildest dreams) and Remco Evenepoel picked up the gold for Belgium in the men’s cycling road race.
So that’s the whirlwind tour, but we’ll do a deeper dive over the next few hours and very soon I’ll be getting into the day nine schedule and what to expect and look forward to throughout today! I’ll be your host for the next three hours or so, so settle in, relax and let’s get into some Olympics!
