More images added to our gallery of the best day one pictures:
Updated
Thank you very much for joining us today for as much action as we could get our hands on. Do no worry, we will be back to do it all again tomorrow from bright and early in the morning.
I will leave you with the best two sporting moments of this opening Saturday.
Rafa Nadal might drop out of the singles in Paris and focus on his doubles partnership with Carlos Alcaraz.
“We are going to make the decisions that we think are most appropriate as a team to try to have the best chances of bringing medals home for the Spanish team, to try to give ourselves the chances of that happening,” Nadal said. “Sometimes more is more, sometimes more is less, but with that I’m not saying that I’m not going to play at all.”
There is plenty of football going on around France. Find out what happened today.
Kerber beats Osaka in straight sets. A very good start for the German. The Japanese really fell away, losing the final three games of the match.
Kerber breaks Osaka in the second set to make it 4-3. She looks to be closing in on victory …
Updated
Oh Sanguk wins sabre gold for South Korea
Oh Sanguk of South Korea won the gold medal in the men’s sabre individual event, with Tunisia’s Fares Ferjani taking silver, and Italian Luigi Samuele the bronze.
Updated
Rafa Nadal spoke after he and Carlos Alcaraz won their first doubles match of the Olympics.
“We played well,” said Nadal. “It has been a very tough start against a great couple, they are so good, they are used to playing together. It has been an emotional night, an electrifying night, amazing crowd and to play with Carlos in this court has been so special. Just super happy about the victory and to give us the chance to keep going.”
Nadal was at the centre of one of the biggest wow moments of the opening ceremony when he received the Olympic torch from Zinedine Zidane at Trocadero.
“Yesterday was a super emotional moment for me too,” said the 38-year-old. “I can’t thank enough Paris and France to give me that honour. I’m still with the emotions very high, just enjoying every single moment and let’s see what’s going on.”
One for our Australian readers, courtesy of Mike Hytner.
Away from the pool, Angelique Kerber won her first set against Naomi Osaka. The German is set to retire at the end of the Olympics. Could she earn a fairytale ending in Paris?
The USA men’s football team are on the board.
Duncan Scott: “We are pretty disappointed finishing fifth but that is our highest ever finish in the relay, so we have to feel good about it.”
Snoop Dogg is at the aquatics centre and is celebrating the men’s gold in the stands. He is very much enjoying life at the moment.
USA win men's 4x100m Freestyle gold
It was a very fast pace from the off with China leading the way after the first leg but USA reeled them in an opened up a gap on second. Italy ended up battling Australia for silver but the Europeans were edged out while USA stormed to gold by a distance.
Updated
The turf, he knows. The corridors and the dressing rooms, he knows. The way the noise rolls around the stands, the winding route the coach takes into the guts of the stadium, this he knows. But the open spaces, the daunting feeling of freedom, of flying into the teeth of a gale, this part is new. It is a journey Antoine Dupont has barely begun, and yet here, it ends.
Jonathan Liew on Dupont and glory.
Australia win the women's 4x100m freestyle gold
It was an incredible race until the very end. Australia, USA and China were the frontrunners for the vast majority of the 400m. Meg Harris put in an incredible shift on the final leg to earn victory for Australia and an Olympic record. USA second and China third.
Updated
Next up in the pool, it’s the 4x100m freestyle finals. The women are up first. Australia are the favourites but they will not be gifted the gold, that’s for sure.
Alexandra Topping on the very, very tight security in Paris.
The second men’s 100m breaststroke semi-final sees Qin win, Kamminga second and Corbeau third.
We could now witness a swim-off for a place in the final after a tie for fourth place between Imoudu and Viberti. More as we get it …
Peaty wins the first men’s 100m breaststroke semi-final in front of his son George and girlfriend. He was in control for almost the entire race and never looked like being caught by any of his competitors. Fink finished second and Martinenghi. Wilby end up in fifth.
Updated
Adam Peaty wanders out for the men’s 100m breaststroke semi-final. He is looking pretty confident as he struts to the pool. James Wilby is the second Britain in this race.
Updated
Kieran Pender was at the pool to witness that impressive Titmus win.
The newly-formed double pairing of Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz have made it through at Roland Garros a 7-6(4) 6-4 defeat of Argentininian sixth seeds Maximo Gonzales and Andres Molteni.
The took a bit of time to find their feet on court but eventually proved themselves to be too strong for the South Americans.
Egypt’s first ever female boxer to qualify for the Olympics exited the Games without throwing a punch on Saturday when she failed to make the weight for the 54kg contest.
Youmna Ayyad had been due to fight heavily fancied Uzbek Nigina Uktamova, but weighed in almost a kilogram too heavy and was disqualified. The Egyptian Olympic Committee said it was launching an immediate investigation into the disqualification.
“Youmna was scheduled to compete in the 54 kg category, and she gave her weight to federation officials at midnight before the bout and it was OK,” a furious EOC treasurer and national boxing federation chief Mohamed Abdel Aziz Ghoneim told Reuters.
“In the morning when she underwent the official weigh-in she was 900 grams over her weight and was disqualified.
Youmna, 21, was not immediately available for comment.
Titmus speaks: “The Olympics is not about the time, it’s about getting to the wall first. I wasn’t at my best, the girls threw everything at me ... I’m really happy to defend my title”
Do you remember the 1924 Olympics? No? Do not worry, Jonathan Wilson does.
Successfully retaining your Olympic title in the pool is impressive and Ariarne Titmus has done it in an incredible field of swimmers.
Updated
Titmus wins women's 400m Freestyle gold
The Australian had to dig deep to edge out McIntosh and Ledecky in the final stages.
It was always billed as a titanic tussle between some of the biggest and best in the but it turns out Timus is still a cut above the rest. She was leading but had the 17-year-old McIntosh all the way, not to mention Ledecky just behind. The crowd knew what an incredible standard they were witnessing and rose to their feet to celebrate such an historic Olympic moment.
Updated
Dupont made the difference for France in the men’s rugby sevens with an incredible performance.
German Märtens wins men's 400m Freestyle gold
It is a fantastic swim from Lukas Märtens who just holds off Winnington and Kim.
Updated
A solid start to proceedings for Team GB. They are not used to getting medals on the opening day.
Much has been made about the robustness of the Olympic Village’s cardboard beds but one didn’t prove up to the test for top Japanese gymnast Shinnosuke Oka.
Oka, who produced a strong performance on the first day of the Paris Games in the men’s qualification on Saturday, said a “water leak” from the bath had caused damage to the cardboard frame of his bed, forcing him to seek a swap.
“The cardboard sort of collapsed because of a water leak, from, er, bathwater,” the 20-year-old first-time Olympian said coyly, with an embarrassed smile.
Oka said he noticed himself sinking gradually on the bed as he slept, and then realised that the frame was warped. “It kind of messed up my back. Not enough to affect my performance or anything but I thought, ‘I probably don’t want to sleep this way for the rest of the time’.”
The cardboard bed frame was introduced at the Tokyo 2020 Games for sustainability reasons - a central theme for Paris 2024 organisers. The mattresses are made of the same material used in fishing nets and are made by the Japanese brand Airweave.
The first women’s 100m butterfly semi-final ends with an Olympic record for Gretchen Walsh. A statement of intent from her. Angelina Kohler came second.
Updated
Our trendy Paris 2024 live schedule is the place to find out what is going on at the Olympics.
France’s main man on the basketball court produce the goods in a victory against Brazil.
The swimming pool is the subject of a lights show and they are playing ‘Will Grigg’s on Fire’. The atmosphere is building.
Kat Petersen emails to say: “Re Gary’s question earlier this afternoon about “the Olympian at these Games who has done the least to earn their spot” – there are two Spanish lads currently playing in the tennis doubles one of whom is ranked 876th and the other doesn’t even have a ranking… no idea who they are or how they got there.”
These lads go by the name Nadalcaraz.
When surfing was added to the Olympics ahead of Tokyo 2020, many in the surf world expressed hesitation. Some even conveyed outright hostility. “Surfing in the Olympics will never work,” offered one observer. Other commentators felt similarly: “Surfing isn’t an Olympic sport for a reason.”
Kieran Pender on the joys of surfing.
France beat Fiji to win men's rugby sevens gold
The stadium erupts as the whistle goes as France win their first gold of the Olympics. Dupont made the difference in the second half to lead the host to victory with some electric rugby that Fiji could not cope with.
Updated
For English fans, the good news is that Aaron Grandidier is born and bred in London, so if France do hold on to win this final, then Team GB can claim a gold. That’s how it works, right?
Dupont comes off the bench and produces some absolute magic down the left wing, ending with Aaron Grandidier crossing for a try to make it 14-7 to France.
Updated
It is 7-7 at half time in the men’s rugby sevens. There was a huge roar when France levelled things up. Fiji are favourites, I think, but the French are giving it their all.
Updated
A musical review on the only decent bit of last night’s opening ceremony.
A brief roundup of today’s men’s football …
Argentina earned a 3-1 win over Iraq in Lyon and Spain outclassed the Dominican Republic 3-1 in Bordeaux in the men’s Olympic soccer tournament on Saturday.
Argentina recovered from their chaotic opening loss to Morocco and boosted their chances of reaching the next round as they went top of Group B on goal difference. The other game in the group saw where Ukraine claim a dramatic 2-1 win over Morocco in St Etienne.
Debutants Dominican Republic’s first Olympic goal was not enough to stop the Spaniards who scored twice in the second half to clinch a quarter-final spot with their second Group C win.
Uzbekistan crashed out of their first Olympics after a 1-0 loss to Egypt in Nantes in the second fixture in Group C.
Back out on the rugby pitch, we have the men’s sevens final. Fiji will place France, with the hosts desperate to give their fans the gold.
There will be plenty of focus on the pool tonight as four gold medals will be won. We have the finals of the men’s and women’s 400m Freestyle, 4x 100m men’s and women’s Freestyle relay.
And a bit more on the Priestman ban.
South African win Men's Rugby Sevens Bronze
It was a cracking match as South Africa defeated Australia 26-19.
Updated
Needless to say, it was an easy win for Djokovic.
Fifa ban Priestman for year over drone scandal
The Canada women’s football team head coach Bev Priestman has received a one-year ban by Fifa after an analyst was caught filming a New Zealand training session with a drone.
Canadian officials Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander have also been banned, while the IOC have deducted six points from the team at the Olympics.
Nick Ames is our rowing expert. He’s watched some fine stuff today.
That must be a difficult conversation to have with your wife. "I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good is I was the flag bearer, the bad …”
Japan’s world number two table tennis mixed doubles team, Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto, were eliminated by North Korea’s Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong 4-1 in the first round at the Paris Olympics, losing the chance to retain the country’s gold medal.
The 49-minute match at the South Paris Arena ended in a shocking defeat for the Japanese pair, who were considered top contenders for the title and challengers to the Chinese team.
“I think they played as well as other top countries like South Korea and Germany today,” Harimoto said of the North Koreans who will face Sweden in the quarter-finals.
Updated
Thanks Adam. And what a five hour it shall be!
And that’s me done. Loved it. Thanks for your company. Stick with the blog through the next five hours with Will Unwin. The best of that: night one at the pool. Bye!
Around the grounds one more time for me…
Men’s hoops: France 62 Brazil 56, in the final quarter
Men’s hockey: India 2 New Zealand 1, just after half time
Women’s beach volleyball: Australian pair Mariaffe and Clancy are a set up over Chinese duo Xue and Xia.
New Zealand, Kenya and Argentina won their consolation games in the Men’s Rugby 7s – the medal matches are coming up inside the hour
Men’s volleyball: Poland smashed Egypt 3-0 – they are the team to beat
Sean Inglis has been working on the Seine/Triathlon story. Bit going on here.
And here’s the full schedule – quite helpful when planning out your days.
Write up of Team GB’s Anna Henderson’s silver in the women’s time trial.
GOLD for Kazakhstan! Kazakh Yeldos is, at last, an Olympic champion!
Judo, Men 60kg. Both of these men won bronze medals at Tokyo – they know each other well. The crowd sings the national anthem – can they inspire a gold medal performance? Ooh, this is on tenterhooks – Smetov is a mistake away from blowing it but he has the only point on the board. 30 seconds to go! Atmosphere sensational. The clock stops with 20 seconds; they return to their starting positions. Mkheidze gives it absolutely everything in attack but Smetov holds on, runs the clock down and wins the Olympic championship! A world title almost a decade ago, the TV expert tells me, and he now earns himself the medal they all want – Olympic gold.
Updated
Judo, Men 60kg. A huge moment for the home nation with Frechman Luka Mkheidze in the gold medal bout against Kazakh Yeldos Smetov. Fight!
Updated
Jill Biden hanging out with Flavour Flav? It happened today at the Team USA water polo match against Greece. The first lady doing her thing, Flav there as a hype man.
I love all the support Women’s Water Polo is getting,,, ya boy is so appreciative that the First Lady came to the First Game . THANK YOU @flotus Dr. Jill Biden for all the support of you and your family 🙏🏾🫶🏾#olympics pic.twitter.com/QHe53NTpsa
— FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) July 27, 2024
Back to the men’s time trial briefly. I neglected to mention that Team GB’s Josh Tarling was flying along until he picked up a puncture. He still finished in fourth position, but only 19 seconds away from claiming gold – what could’ve been! “Must be heartbreaking,” writes Jonathan. “An unbelievable effort up against the world road and time trial Champions.” Sure was. The young gun from Wales was a world champion in the junior competition in 2022 and has time on his side.
Judo, Men 60kg. Before we know it, it’s golden score time again. Can Georgia win a rare Olympic medal with Giorgi Sardalashvili? It’s Francisco Garrigos, who was bounced out at semi final stage, who he must overcome. But he can’t pull it off! The Spanish athlete was up against it, with two cautions to his name, but he held on and took his chance when he came, spinning him onto his back. Next up: the gold fight.
Time for another trip around thge grounds. In the men’s hockey the Germans are flying, leading France 8-1. Top seed Poland have starting their men’s volleyball tournament nicely, two sets to love up against Egypt. France’s men’s basketball team are highly fancied and have earned a 39-36 lead over Brazil at half time. India and New Zealand are a goal apiece in the men’s hockey nearing half time.
Judo, Men 60kg. It’s the same rhythm here – two bronze medals then a gold to be decided over the next 15 minutes. The first is heading to Japan, with Ryuju Nagayama flipping Turkey’s Salih Yildiz to bounce him out of the bout. As the commentator notes, he was here for gold not bronze so there’s no big celebration but he can be proud of how he closed that out – a clinical finishing move!
GOLD for Japan! Natsumi Tsunoda has done it.
Judo, Women 48kg. Gold medal match! And it’s over in regulation! Never in doubt, Japan’s Natsumi Tsunoda dictated terms after nailing a vital throw with her leg to shake off Mongolian Bavuudorjiin Baasankhüü then never looked back. After going ever so close her semi she got out of that and is now an Olympic gold medal winner. Three times a world champion, she’s too strong and too good when it matters.
Updated
Evenepoel is doubled over in tears. There’s a lot to be said for holding your nerve when going in as the raging hot favourite, as he did. So many have struggled with those expectations on this bigger and different stage but he’s nailed it. Well played.
GOLD for Belgium! Remco Evenepoel is the Olympic champion
The world champ has enough of a buffer, getting to the line 14 seconds ahead of his Italian competitor. The bronze also goes to Belgium, Wout van Aert is third.
Updated
Cycling, Men’s Time Trial. It’s a race in two, the Italian Filippo Ganna is closer than it looked a few minutes ago. They’re both going for it – here we go. “That was a stunning final third of the race by Ganna!” says the TV caller. Over to you Remco Evenepoel – he cannot cruise this now. He’s led all race… to the business end!!
Cycling, Men’s Time Trial. Lucas Plapp (AUS) is out of the race but I’m unclear why – there’s been nothing on television as yet. He was in the hunt for a medal, too. Remco Evenepoel looks to be putting a gap in them – just needs to stay on the bike.
Judy, Women’s 48kg. Does every bout end up in extra time? On the evidence of what I’ve seen this afternoon, it feels this way. Back to the pocket-rocket teenager Tara Babulfath from Sweden up against Kazakh Abiba Abuzhakynova, who claimed bronze at the world championships earlier this year. It’s all over! Babulfath has laid a complex hold on the floor and makes Abuzhakynova throw in the towel – lovely, if slightly brutal, stuff from the 18-year-old. She’s the winner of an Olympic medal!
Updated
“To ‘medal’ is clearly wrong,” writes Bob Hughes “but I’m getting used to it. On my train yesterday, however, the guard said the rear carriages had ‘not platformed’”
Yikes. Where does this end?
Andrew Benton has a view too: “This is a bit (ok, a lot) off-topic, but your ‘medal’ point has set me off...why-oh-why-oh-why is everything these days about ‘impact’ in writing on the web? What’s wrong with ‘effect’ and ‘affect’? And ‘upcoming’ too, there is a perfectly good word that has been around for ages that we should be using much more, and it’s called ‘forthcoming’ (as used in the Guardian). Many, many times ‘upcoming’ is redundant in a sentence online, such as an ‘upcoming event in August’ - you don’t need upcoming as August is clearly in the future! Seethe, seethe.... Nice that English is so responsive and dynamic though.”
I best leave this topic be, I don’t want to raise anyone’s blood pressure!
Cycling, Men’s Time Trial. It’s going according to plan for top-ranked Belgian Remco Evenepoel, who reached the 13.1km checkpoint (the course is 32.2km) some 7.4 seconds quicker than anyone else. We’ll get his 22km split shortly; there are nine of the 34 riders still on the course. Australian Lucas Plapp remains in the medal hunt.
What a celebration. Boukli is in tears, her support crew are too. “You win the bronze medal in judo,” says the TV commentator. “You don’t get it as a consolation prize.”
There’s another bronze medal match to come – they award two in this event, one via the repechage process and then another for the losing semi-finalists.
Updated
France wins their first medal!
Judo, Women’s 48kg: into the bronze medal match, with French fighter Shirine Boukli there via the repechage and taking it to extra time against Laura Martinez from Spain. The crowd are up and about – are they about to see France’s first medal of their home games? 90 seconds into golden point time, they re-set. Oh, a big hold… can she pin her for ten seconds to get the point and the win? So close! The TV refs are taking a look to see if the Spanish athlete has gotten out of the hold incorrectly…. she has! It’s a medal for the French! Shirine Boukli, bronze medalist.
Updated
Actually, one more yarn before we get to the sport. A beauty, too – via Reuters.
High jumper Gianmarco Tamberi issued a profuse apology to his wife on Saturday after his wedding ring slipped off his finger while he was serving as Italy’s flag bearer on a boat in the Seine River during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. “Too much water, too many kilos lost in the last few months or maybe the irrepressible enthusiasm of what we were doing,” Tamberi, who won gold at the Tokyo Games, wrote on Instagram in a post directed at his wife, Chiara Bontempi Tamberi.
“Probably all three things, the fact remains that I felt it (my ring) slip away, I saw it fly.... I followed it with my gaze until I saw it bounce inside the boat.”
Tamberi said that his wedding ring then bounced into the waters of the Seine in what he described as “a few moments that lasted forever.”
“But if it really had to happen, if I really had to lose it, I couldn’t imagine a better place,” Tamberi added. “It will remain forever in the riverbed of the City of Love.”
Tamberi said the mishap would be an excuse to renew vows and get married again, and perhaps serve as an impetus to earn more Olympic hardware.
“May it be a good omen to return home with an even bigger gold!” he wrote. (Reuters)
Around the grounds, shall we? To begin, in men’s football Egypt leads 1-0 in the 29th minute. Oh, scratch that – there’s an equaliser! Or is there? No… offside! As you were, my friends. “The offside is clear,” says the commentator.
In that same comp, Argentina got their must-win victory over Iraq, saluting 3-1. Spain defeated Dominican Republic by the same margin. Ukraine lead Morocco 1-0.
In women’s water polo action, Team USA knocked off Greece 15-6. How about men’s handball? Norway over the line 36-31 in a high-scoring affair against Argentina.
More men’s team sport with basketball (I assume this’ll be balanced by plenty of women’s matches on Sunday), where Brazil lead the hosts France 19-10.
That’ll do for now. Back to where the medals are being won in judo and road racing.
A nice little nugget on the women’s 48kg judo final – up soon. From Mark O’Connor: “No Mongolian woman has ever won Olympic gold, they have only ever won two total, both in Beijing. History beckons.”
Their competitor, Bavuudorjiin Baasankhüü, is the current world champion. She’ll be the crowd favourite after the controversy in the other semi, where the Swedish teenager was eliminated by the video ref and had a good old meltdown.
Richard Smith has an answer for Gary Naylor. “Can I suggest that French guy DuPont? Am a keen watcher of 7s and have never seen him before this year. Am guessing his dad’s one of the coaches.” Now we’re talking.
Russell Yong has a related good’un, too. “An interesting story from the last Games: Nathan Crumpton, who had previously represented the United States in the skeleton in the 2018 Winter Olympics, switched his affiliation to American Samoa and represented them in 100m sprint in 2021, having never run a competitive sprint or even had athletics experience beyond some jumping in his university days. World Athletics gives out universality slots to countries considered under-represented nations, which was how Crumpton qualified; given that, if you delved enough you’d probably find someone in a similar position.”
So what you’re saying is I need to dust off my running spikes and get citizenship from a tiny Micronesian island state before 2028? If that’s what it takes.
Judo, Men 60kg. A local in the gold medal bout! It’s Luka Mkheide, the bronze medal winner from Tokyo, is the first through to the final giving the French hosts a chance to secure a gold medal on afternoon one. And straight into the second semi final, Kazakhstan’s Yeldos Smetov is grappling with Spaniad Francisco Garrigos. The former has a couple of Olympic medals, the latter won the world champs last year.
Into golden score – make that deep into golden score, nearly four minutes now – the Spanish combatant is pinged for negative judo and that’s enough to see him off! It’ll be France v Kazakhstan for gold. A time-honoured rivalry? Probably not. But what it would mean for both nations to collect a gold medal before stumps on day one.
Updated
Cycling, Men’s Time Trial. Five riders have progressed behind the 22km time check, leaving 10km to the finish line. Italian Alberto Bettiol has the lead for now on that measure, for what little it’s worth. On the other side of the card, ten riders are still to jump, and will do so across the next 14 minutes or so. For British readers, that includes Josh Tarling who will depart fifth last – the Welsh 20-year-old won this event at the Junior World Championships in Australia a couple of years ago. Speaking of the Aussies, who won the women’s event through the brilliant Grace Brown (she won it by a mile, too!), watch for Lucas Plapp – setting off now.
Are we conceding defeat on medal being used as a verb? Is it too late to turn back the tide? Big Haydos on the cycling comms just said it three times in one minute.
A significant moment for Team GB in the pool earlier today.
Eva Okaro broke new ground in Paris on Saturday as she became the first black woman to represent Team GB in the pool at the Olympics, aged just 17.
Okaro swam the women’s 4x100m freestyle second leg, in a head-to-head against the USA’s two-time Olympic champion Simone Manuel, and helped Britain into second in their heat, qualifying for the final in seventh place.In competing at la Defense Arena, Okaro joined Alice Dearing, the first black woman to swim for Team GB in the open water race in the Tokyo Games three years ago, as a pioneer for her sport.
“I don’t really get distracted by things like that,” she told the PA news agency. “That’s one of my strengths, just being in the moment every time.
“But thinking about that now is exciting. Being the person a lot of young kids kind of look up to and I just like to keep trying to be that role model and try as hard as I can.
Updated
Cycling, Men’s Time Trial: Righto, 34 competitors in this final with Belgian Remco Evenepoel the man to beat, scheduled to depart last. To be honest, I’m finding it hard to concentrate as yet because the expert commentator on the world feed sounds like Matthew Hayden and that’s sent me down a wormhole. More soon.
Some anger over one of the bits from last night. Per Reuters…
A parody of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous fresco ‘The Last Supper’ featuring drag queens in the Olympic opening ceremony in Paris has sparked fury among the Catholic church and far-right politicians, while supporters praised its message of tolerance.
The unprecedented ceremony on the Seine River, which drew millions of viewers around the world, included a tableau celebrating the French capital’s vibrant nightlife and reputation as a place of tolerance, pleasure and subversiveness.
It recreated the famous biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion, but with a group of drag queens, a transgender model and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine Dionysus.
The Catholic church in France criticised the segment.
“This ceremony has unfortunately included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we very deeply deplore,” the Conference of French bishops said in a statement.
Far-right politicians in France and elsewhere took to social media to express their disgust.
“To all the Christians of the world who are watching the #Paris2024 ceremony and felt insulted by this drag queen parody of the Last Supper, know that it is not France that is speaking but a left-wing minority ready for any provocation,” far-right politician Marion Marechal said in a post on X.
Her Italian counterpart, Matteo Salvini, added: “Opening the Olympics by insulting billions of Christians in the world was really a very bad start, dear French. Sleazy.”
American billionaire Elon Musk, who cemented his shift towards right-wing politics by endorsing Donald Trump earlier this month, said it was “extremely disrespectful to Christians”.
France, while proud of its rich Catholic heritage, also has a long tradition of secularism and anti-clericalism. Blasphemy is not only legal, but also considered by many as an essential pillar of freedom of speech in a democratic society.
“In France, people are free to love how they please, are free to love whoever they want, are free to believe or not believe,” Thomas Jolly, the ceremony’s artistic director, told reporters on Saturday when asked about critics.
Some commentators said the controversy was just another example of 21st century culture wars turbocharged by a 24-hour news cycle and social media.
“Everyone has to take offence it seems,” David Aaronovitch, a BBC Radio 4 presenter said on X. “Leonardo is one of the most famous images in the Western world and has been pastiched, parodied and altered tens of thousands of times.”
One of the pastiche’s protagonists was unapologetic, however.
“It wouldn’t be fun if there were no controversy. Wouldn’t it be boring if everyone agreed on this planet?” Philippe Katerine, the blue naked man in the scene, told BFM TV a day after the show. (Reporting by Michel Rose and Julien Pretot in Paris and Giselda Vagnoni in Rome, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
While we wait for the men’s 60kg, get this into you: the first of our daily photo galleries. These will be a joy throughout the fortnight, worth returning to often.
Judo, Women’s 48kg. We’re going upstairs to find out if Babulfath has been rubbed out for holding Tsunoda’s straight arm in an unfair way? No! The call goes her way! They continue. We’re 120 seconds into this with arm locks the main attacking move. Make that 165 seconds. “Absolutely engrossing,” says the commentator. Oh no! The Swedish teenager has been rubbed out. A bit blow-up follows. She did something called “snapping back,” getting her into strife. There’s a risk she’ll be kicked out of the bronze medal bout as well according to the TV expert. “You cannot do that. I cannot remember the last time I’ve seen that face-to-face with a referee.”
Well, it matters not: the 31-year-old from Japan, Natsumi Tsunoda, is advancing to the gold medal bout, where she’ll take on Bavuudorjiin Baasankhüü (Mongolia).
Judo, Women’s 48kg. It’s nil-all with a minute to go. The Swede is just 18 and to the untrained/naked eye looks the more likely to snag a point here. The gong has sounded – we’re into extra time now, which means golden score. Drama!
Judo, Women’s 48kg. I missed the start but let me tell you that an athlete with a sensational name from Mongolia, Bavuudorjiin Baasankhüü, will be grapping for gold! She blitzed Paraguay’s Gabriela Narvaez 10-zip in the first semi. We’ll learn more about her in just a moment though because the second semi is about to begin, between Sweden’s Tara Babulfath and Japan’s Natsumi Tsunoda. Fight!
Updated
Matt Ebden was smashed by Novak Djokovic earlier, but at least he retained his sense of humour about it all. He’ll be a much stronger show in the doubles.
When it wasn't going Matthew Ebden's way so he asked if any fans wanted to take his place 😅#BBCOlympics #Olympics #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/wVd0vbkmpO
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 27, 2024
“Hi Adam.” Good afternoon to you, Gary Naylor. “Can the live blog hive mind help here? I’d love to know the Olympian at these Games who has done the least to earn their spot. I’m sure less than the benchmark 10,000 hours will have been put in by some competitors (though many, many more by most of course), but did anyone start a sport this year and find themselves on a barge last night?”
A great question, one that I ponder myself every four years. No solution as yet. But who has come from the clouds to be here at Paris 2024 – does anyone know?
Fiji join France in the Men's Rugby Sevens Final
Men’s Rugby Sevens: At the semi-final stage here and the defending champs Fiji are on storming into another gold medal match! Sticking another three on the board with 40 seconds to go, they have an insurmountable 24-7 lead. What a terrific result. They will take on France for the biggest prize of all, who beat South Africa 19-5.
Another try for Fiji! “A stunning second half,” says the TV caller – the scores were level at 7-7 at break and piled on 24 unanswered points thereafter.
The final is a touch over three hours away, straight after the bronze medal match.
Updated
Phew. What’s next? Three gold medals so far today – China 2, Austalia 1. Three more this afternoon before a busy night: the men’s time trial and a couple over in the judo. I’ll plug into both after a lap around the grounds, so to speak.
GOLD for Australia's Grace Brown! GB's Henderson takes silver
Anna Henderson gets the silver for Team GB ahead of Chloe Dygert (USA) into bronze, by one second, who lost time in the scrap. A wonderful, joyous response from the veteran Brown – what a way to cap her career, an Olympic champion!
Updated
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: Nobody can catch Grace Brown! She’s going to be the Olympic champion! Dygert (USA) is competing for silver from here with 1km to go.
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: Brown crosses the line 90 seconds faster than Anna Henderson of Team GB! One rider to go, it’s the world champ Dygert. Scenes!
Kathy Watt won Australia’s first gold on day one at Barcelona 32 years ago. Can Grace Brown, another road racer from rural Victoria, do the same here in Paris? Would be a huge moment for the veteran, retiring after this season. Go on!
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: Just 10 riders to left to finish! Team GB’s Anna Henderson was through the time check quickest until Grace Brown overtook her just now. All eyes on the favourite Chloe Dygert (USA)… and she’s five seconds behind Brown! The Australian is in the gold medal position with 10 km to go!
The Aussie men got the points earlier against Spain in the hoops, much to the satisfaction of Mark O’Connor. “French colour commentator with the ‘awwww Pa-TEEEE’ before this even hits is your XXXIII Olympiad moment until further notice.”
Dude's hitting a fadeaway 3 going right with the clock running down. Nothing you can do about that.pic.twitter.com/pk2YO7A08i
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) July 27, 2024
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: 21 finisher, 14 to go. Up top for new, New Zealand’s Kim Cadzow who has a 5.65 second advantage over Audrey Cordon Ragot.
But the major story is whether all the big chances can stay on their bikes. Belgian Lotte Kopecky has taken a huge tumble losing her back wheel! She was the fastest yet to the 22km split – that’s a huge moment. She’s back on right away, made of tough stuff, but it’s going to require something special from her to get back.
Men’s Volleyball: Italy have finished the job against Brazil, knocking off the former giant 25-23, 27-25, 18-25, 25-21. In Men’s Basketball, Germany have easily accounted for Japan 97-77. Over at the Men’s Handball, it’s Holland 10-8 winners over Hungary. To the beach (shocker of a day for it) for Men’s Beach Volleyball, Sweden’s pair have knocked off the Australians in straight sets – how does that happen, exactly?! More team sports coming your way through the course of the afternoon.
Cycling, Women’s Time trial: Jeremy Boyce informs me that we are now up to four riders coming off, with American Taylor Knibbs falling twice. “She still posted a great time and had a face on as she passed the finish line, who can blame her?” That’s the good old Olympic spirit you’re going to hear plenty about.
Men’s Football: Argentina has gone 1-0 against Iraq in the 13th minute via Thiago Almada. Having won the gold medal the last two times, they are already in a spot of bother having lost to Morocco in a match played before the cauldron was lit.
Updated
Men’s Tennis: shock and awe stuff from Novak Djokovic, carving up Aussie Matt Ebden 6-0, 6-1 in 53 minutes – thanks for coming, catch you in the doubles. As for Carlos Alcaraz, he’s also through in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 over Lebanon’s Hady Habib.
Men’s Hockey: Australia held on against Argentina. Here’s Mike Hytner’s recap:
The Australian men’s hockey team survived a late scare against Argentina to get off to a winning start with a narrow 1-0 victory.
Blake Govers scored the only goal of the game at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium, firing into the net from a penalty corner in the last second of the first half. It stayed 1-0 until Argentinians nearly found an equaliser right at the death but despite a manic goal-mouth scramble the Kookaburras were able to secure an ideal start to their campaign. Ireland are up next for the world No 4 side, before matches against Belgium, New Zealand and India follow.
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: all riders away! Chloe Dygert, the world champ, is last to depart. Brit Anna Henderson was the fourth last to go, with riders from Austria, Christinia Schweinberger and Australian Grace Brown making up the final four.
Brown has announced her retirement at age 32, so it’s now or never for her. She did win this event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games two years ago.
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: “Conditions are atrocious,” writes Jeremy Boyce, who is watching the French TV coverage. "There have already been two women down, both on the same bend, more to come? The most slippery are the white-painted areas around junctions, roundabouts, etc. They’re a total skid pan, then anything recently repaired with smoothed fine tar. Commentators are worried for the riders.”
And a queston from Mark Wilson. Does anyone know the answer? “What’s is the tube-like thing in a box which the medalists get along with their medals?”
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: Elisa Longo Borghini leaves the gates to a huge cheer. The 32-year-old Italian has enjoyed a massive career, taking two Olympic bronze medals in the road race at Rio and Tokyo – she’s ighly fancied here. France’s best medal chance, Juliette Labous follows her down the ramp. History is against her though: a home nation has never won a medal in the women’s time trial, TV says.
Seine water quality leads to doubts about triathlon
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: In the two minutes I’ve been watching, two riders have crashed off their bikes. The wet weather is an ongoing talking point.
More on that here from Reuters – all eyes on the Seine:
Paris 2024 organisers said they are confident the triathlon events will take place as scheduled on Tuesday even though the recent rainfall might lead to Sunday’s training session being cancelled due to concerns over the water quality in the Seine.
“The rain that has fallen on Paris over the last 24 hours is likely to impact the quality of the water in the Seine over the next 24 to 36 hours,” organisers said in a statement to Reuters.
“Depending on current water quality levels and the conditions expected over the next 24 hours, it is possible that the familiarisation (athlete training) scheduled for Sunday 28 July at 8 a.m. may be cancelled.”
A decision on whether the training will be held will be made at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Sunday.
“We are nonetheless confident in our ability to organise the events as planned from 30 July. Given the weather forecast for the next 48 hours, we expect the water quality to return to below limits within the next 24 to 36 hours,” the statement said.
“As observed in July, with summer conditions (more sunshine, higher temperatures, prolonged absence of rain) water quality is improving significantly.”
Cycling, Women’s Time Trial: 10 of the 35 competitors are still to take off in the pouring rain. Looking at the split times (taken at 22km of the 32.4km course) the Afghanistan rider Yulduz Hashimi is leading the way by 30 seconds. She’ll be overtaken eventually, but it’s quite something that she and her sister Fairiba are taking part in these Hames despite the Taliban government’s ban of women’s sport.
Speaking of rain... skateboarding postponed and tennis delayed
Reporting here from Press Association:
Adverse weather conditions in Paris have led to the Olympic men’s street skateboarding being postponed by 48 hours until Monday. An elaborate opening ceremony to officially get the Games under way on Friday was blighted by heavy rain, which refused to relent overnight and early into Saturday morning.
Skateboarding organisers have therefore been forced into a hasty rescheduling of the men’s street event, which was supposed to start on Saturday at midday but has now been pushed back.
Other events were also affected, with the start of play in the tennis on the outside courts delayed at Roland Garros.
While Court Philippe Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen have roofs and were able to begin on time at midday, all the others were covered by orange tarpaulins.
British trio Jack Draper, Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans are scheduled back-to-back on Court Six and were among those forced to wait, with Katie Boulter also due to play outside on Court 11.
Updated
It’s chucking it down with rain. At the equestrian, where it is team and individual dressage qualification day (I’ll catch up on the main results later), it’s unpleasant but I suppose not that big of a deal? Time trial cycling, however…. yikes. As Joe Pearson notes in Indianapolis: “The course is absolutely drenched. Man, that’s got to be anxiety-inducing for the riders. And the viewers.” Not wrong. I’ll go there next.
Updated
Men’s volleyball: Brazil struck back, taking the third set 25-18 to get on the board. But Italy, at 17-14, aren’t far from wrapping this up in four sets. There are Proper Olympic events and Not Serious Olympic Events, and volleyball is firmly the former. Looking forward to watching hours and hours of it over the next two weeks.
Men’s tennis: Djokovic makes a statement! Aussie Matt Ebden, more a doubles operator, has conceded the first set to the no1 seed without winning a game. Wow.
What’s that? You want to see one of the greatest finishes ever? Bruce McAvaney calling Flintoff home in the 400 hurdles at Seoul. One of my earliest life memories.
Speaking of Australia… here’s a round-up! Very handy, I’ll be reading this every day as I watch old clips (guaranteed tears) of Debbie Flintoff, Duncan Armstrong and co.
Cycling – Women’s Time Trial: It’s straight to the medals here, with five of our 35 competitors out of the starting gate. Jumping down the list to the end, American Chloe Dygert takes off in about 40 minutes from now – that’s the world champion in this event from 2019 and 2023. Aussie Grace Brown takes off 90 seconds before her – this could be the first medal for the green and gold at Paris 2024.
Updated
“Afternoon Adam.” Hello, Guy Hornsby! “Great to have you back on the Olympic blog. It’s been a cracking day so far with GB diving bronze (handed to us after Australian heartbreak), rowing, gymnastics and Adam Peaty in the pool. It all comes at you so fast. Really looking forward to the rugby 7s semis as well as the road race cycling. How on earth do you keep up with it? It must feel like trying to OBO ten T20 games at the same time!”
Yes, spinning plates! Speaking of the cricket, the Windies had a great first session. As for the diving, I was at the theatre with my four-year-old when the Australian duo botched their final crack. But they’ll make up for it in the drink later on where there is a chance Australia can win three medals in a session for the first time. Can’t wait.
Men’s hockey: I mentioned the Dutch are coming into this as the top team in the world, what I didn’t spot is that they just knocked off South Africa 5-3. Tidy start.
Men’s volleyball: Italy are two sets up against Brazil! I was working on the men’s gold medal match at Earls Court in 2012 and remember well the utter devastation of the Brazilian men after throwing away a two-set advantage against Russia, their coach breaking down in tears at the press conference. This time around, the Italians are entering the 12-team tournament ranked no4 in the world, Brazil No6. Poland, who haven’t won gold in this event since Montreal, are the team to beat on paper.
Updated
Men’s hockey: it’s three-quarter time in Australia v Argentina. The Kookaburras went 1-0 in the 30th minute and have maintained that advantage. Earlier today, Belgium saw off Ireland 2-0 and Team GB sorted out Spain 4-0. I was disappointed to see last night that Pakistan, who won this event three times in 1960, 1968 and 1984, haven’t qualified this time around. Oooh, as I prepare to hit send, Tom Wickham goes within an inch of doubling the advantage for the men in green and gold. 10 minutes to go. If you’re wondering, the Dutch are the gold favourites.
French Open and Wimbledon champ Carlos Alcaraz is on court. And there’s nothing easy about his first game of the tournament against Lebanese right-hander Hady Habib. The man ranked 275 in the world got a look at a break point but wasn’t able to convert, the Spanish superstar getting his act together to hold with an ace. Despite his recent run, Alcaraz isn’t the no1 seed – that’s Novak Djokovic, who claimed the bronze medal way back in 2008. The Beijing winner was Rafa Nadal, who appeared at the business end of the opening ceremony, and is competing in Paris unseeded.
Updated
Thank you, Martin. I’m Feeling Very Olympic Today! I’ve had a great time doing these blogs over the last few Summer/Winter games, very much looking forward to getting my teeth into day one from Paris, where over the next five hours there will be four gold medals up for grabs, along with plenty else of interest.
Just on those medals, so we’re all on the same page:
1330 BST: Cycling, Women’s Time Trial
1532 BST: Cycling, Men’s Time Trial
1500 BST: Judo – Women 48kg followed by Men 60kg
Between times, I’ll have a close eye on tennis, hockey, volleyball, basketball, badminton – the lot! Tuck into the first afternoon of a great fortnight. And stay in touch with me throughout by dropping me a line or pinging me a tweet.
That is it from me for today. I am going to hand you on to Adam Collins. I will be back with you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day / evening / night / morning!
Poland’s Iga Świątek has progressed. She went through a sticky patch in the second set, and at one point while Irina-Camelia Begu was serving she seemed poised to take the match to a third set. But it wasn’t to be for the Romanian. Świątek won 6-2 7-5.
The tennis schedule has been hugely disrupted on the outer courts by the weather, but according to the order of play Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Australia’s Matthew Ebden should be up next in a men’s singles first round match. Your guess may be as good as mine here though …
South Africa have just scored a lovely goal in the men’s hockey, but it will presumably end up a consolation, as the Netherlands now lead that match 5-2 in Pool A in the third quarter and have seemed well in control. In Pool B, Australia and Argentina have just reached half-time locked at 0-0.
Number one seed in the women’s singles tennis Iga Świątek isn’t having things all her own way. She has just broken Irina-Camelia Begu’s serve to make the second set 5-5, having won the first.
I only had it on in the background and so wasn’t following Australia v Spain too closely in the men’s basketball, but Reuters reports that Spain’s Usman Garuba, who plays for the Golden State Warriors in the NBA, was booed by the corwd after being involved in incidents with first Josh Green and then Josh Giddey. Angelica Medina for Reuters described the encounter as “feisty”.
Greece and Canada are the other two sides in Pool A, and they face each other at 21.00 local time tonight. Australia play Canada on Tuesday 30 July.
In Pool B, in a match that is nearing the end of the first quarter, Germany narrowly lead Japan.
Some quotes from Team GB’s Scarlett Mew Jensen, who won a bronze medal earlier today. She told the BBC “I am very much lost for words, a month ago I didn’t think I would be here. To be up on the boards and to come away with that … I can’t imagine anything better.”
Her diving partner Yasmin Harper told viewers: “We’re so excited, we are so pleased with ourselves. We came into this event knowing this is what we want and we had to stand on the boards and deliver and I’m so proud that we were able to do that this morning.”
It would not be an Olympic Games without a diplomatic incident. Reuters reports that IOC president Thomas Bach will speak personally with South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol to apologise after his country was mistakenly introduced as North Korea at one point in yesterday’s opening ceremony.
The Olympics has a clumsy track record with this. You may recall that in 2012 the North Korean women’s football team nearly refused to compete after their team was introduced on the big screen at Hampden Park in Glasgow next to South Korea’s flag.
I mentioned earlier that there was a lot of tennis happening. Well, there was meant to be a lot of tennis happening, but the weather has had other ideas. Poland’s Iga Świątek, the number one seed, is in action. She is one set up and leading the second set against Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania.
Fourth seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy is also ahead by one set against Ana Bogdan of Romania, but as yet everything else is washed out.
The covers are on the outer courts at Roland-Garros, and there are some rather forlorn looking spectators still braving it out there in the rain in the hope play might start at some point.
In team sports, Australia beat Spain in the men’s basketball 92-80. Egypt got the better of Hungary 35-32 in the men’s handball. There have been three quick goals in the men’s hockey between the Netherlands and South Africa. Netherlands took the lead in the second minute, South Africa replied in the sixth, and Netherlands went back in front in the tenth minute. It is 2-1 with twelve minutes played. Italy and Brazil have just started their men’s volleyball match, and Australia face Argentina in men’s hockey in a match which starts in about ten minutes’ time.
One other thing about the Olympics, it always generates fantastic photos. Here are a few from this morning’s action.
More swimming action at the Paris La Defense Arena. Australia, the USA and China were the fastest three in the women’s 4×100m freestyle relay heats. Sweden, France, Canada, Great Britain and Italy also made tonight’s final. The Australian quartet were 1.72 seconds faster than the US.
The men’s 4×100m freestyle relay heats have finished too. China were fastest, with Australia in second. Great Britain were 0.12 faster than the USA who came in fourth. Canada, Italy, Hungary and Germany also progressed.
If you want to look out for more medal action, then I have good new, there is plenty left today. At 14.30 local time the women’s individual time trial race is on in road cycling. The men’s competition follows at the very precise time of 16.32. Around the same time the women’s -48kg and men’s -60kg judo competitions also reach a conclusion.
At 19.00 in Paris there is the rugby sevens bronze match, followed by the final at 19.45. South Africa and France play the first semi-final at 15.30, Fiji and Australia contest the second at 16.00.
And then later in the evening there are the four swimming finals I mentioned earlier, and in the fencing there are the finals of the women’s épéee indivdual, and men’s sabre individual.
We’ve got our first “Team GB bite their medals” picture of the Games with Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen and their bronze medals in the frame …
There is a joyous picture of silver medallists Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook too, who won the USA’s first medal of, no doubt, many this Olympics.
Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani also got the message about the wackier the pose you pull after winning, the more chance there is I will put you in the live blog.
Katie Ledecky beats Ariarne Titmus as both women progress to 400m freestyle final
Last time in Tokyo we had the unusual situation where the swimming heats were being run in the evening session, with the corresponding finals the following morning. That is not how most swimming meets run, but was partially done for television timing reasons. For Paris 2024, we are back to the usual model of heats in the morning and then finals in the evening.
You will not be surprised to learn that Katie Ledecky is safely through in the women’s 400m freestyle. The Olympic record holder finished 0.27 seconds ahead of Australia’s world record-holder Ariarne Titmus. They were in the same heat, and finished as the two fastest of the eight women to make the final. That will be at 19.52 local time tonight.
In the men’s 400m freestyle, Germany’s Lukas Maertens was fastest, just a tenth of a second ahead of Brazil’s Guilherme Costa. Both Elijah Winnington and Samuel Short of Australia also made the final.
The heats for the men’s and women’s 100m freestyle relay are closing out the morning session.
Tonight sees four finals – the men’s and women’s 400m freestyle and those two relays, and also semi-finals in the women’s 100m butterfly and the men’s 100m breaststroke. Britain’s Adam Peaty is safely through in the latter.
Here is the first picture of a medal ceremony from Paris, with China winning gold in both the 10m air rifle mixed team shooting.
You can find the fledgling medal table here by the way. China are out in front with two golds, the USA and South Korea joint second with a silver apiece, and Great Britain and Kazakhstan are joint fourth with a bronze each.
I will recap the rowing in a bit, but Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne and Rebecca Wilde of Great Britain have just been pipped at the line by Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors of New Zealand in the first heat of the women’s double sculls. Both pairs go through to the semi-finals, as do the USA pairing of Sophia Vitas and Kristi Wagner who finished third in that one.
A quick round-up of where we are. In play at the minute are matches in the men’s basketball, where Australia lead Spain, and the men’s handball which is very close between Hungary and Egypt. Belgium beat Ireland 2-0 in the men’s hockey. On top of that, about one million tennis matches have just started at Roland-Garros. There is also rowing, fencing, judo, artistic gymnastics and swimming taking place. I’m going to need another coffee …
There is a lot going on. I am based in London and so naturally thrilled that Team GB have claimed their first medal, but that really was such a disappointment for Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith of Australia, who had looked all set to be placed third until their final dive. You can see what it meant Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen when they saw the scores coming up. The Australian pair are devastated.
China adds second gold in synchronised 3m springboard final as US and Great Britain claim silver and bronze
China have claimed a second gold in the Paris Olympics, with a dominant display by Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard final.
The USA claimed its first medal with Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook taking silver, 23.04 points behind the Chinese pair.
Team GB’s Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen took bronze after a heart-breaking moment for Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith of Australia. Mistakes on their final dive saw them slip out of the medal positions. It is the first ever podium finish by Team GB in the event.
Updated
Team GB men win their opening hockey match against Spain 4-0
Team GB have beaten Spain 4-0 in the opening match of Pool A in the men’s hockey competition at the Paris Olympics.
Two goals from Gareth Furlong, and a goal apiece from Nicholas Park and Rupert Shipperly saw the team safely through their first fixture.
The teams are organised in two pools of six, with the top four in each pool progressing to the quarter-finals. France, Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa make up the rest of the pool.
Great Britain will next play South Africa, tomorrow at 20.15 local time.
In Pool B, defending gold medallists Belgium currently lead Ireland by 2-0 in the fourth quarter.
We are approaching the end of the third round of five in the women’s synchronised 3m springboard final.
Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen of China enjoy a commanding lead. Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook of the USA sit in the silver medal position, with Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith of Australia in bronze.
Italy, Germany and Great Britain lie 4th, 5th and 6th and are beginning to lose touch with the medal position.
I’ve been totally gripped by that shooting final, and in the meantime Germany did end up beating Japan in that men’s volleyball pool match which went to a fifth deciding set.
China wins first gold medal of Paris Olympic Games 2024 in 10m air rifle mixed team shooting
Lihao Sheng and Yuting Huang have claimed the first gold medal of the Paris Olympic Games 2024 for China with a close fought 16-12 victory over South Korea in the final of the 10m air rifle mixed team. Kazakhstan earlier won the bronze in the event.
It is the first of 14 medals expected to be awarded today. Overall 329 gold medals are available in Paris.
Updated
Team GB have added a third goal against Spain in the men’s hockey – it is now 3-0.
At the moment it looks like the first gold medal is going to China, but it is close. They lead South Korea 8-6 in the 10m air rifle mixed team event. First to 16 claims the title.
A quick scoot around the team events going on. Team GB still lead Spain 2-0 going into the fourth quarter in the men’s hockey in Pool A. Belgium have a 1-0 lead over Ireland in Pool B.
Japan v Germany in the men’s volleyball has gone to a fifth deciding set after a prolonged and contentious end to the fourth set.
In men’s basketball, Australia have taken an early lead against Spain, while in the men’s handball, Egypt are narrowly leading Hungary after ten minutes.
The gold medal match between China and South Korea in the 10m air rifle mixed team shooting has begun. This should deliver the first gold medal of the Games.
Over at the Aquatics Centre, the women’s synchronised 3m springboard final is about to start. Among the competitors are Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen of Team GB, Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith of Australia, and Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook of the US. Eight pairs are competing in total, including Viktoriya Kesar and Anna Pysmenska of Ukraine.
Men's street skateboarding competition postponed due to weather conditions
Reuters reports the men’s street skateboarding competition at the Paris Olympics has been postponed due to the weather.
Organisers said in a statement the competition has been rescheduled to 29 July.
A media centre representative said the skaters were unable to compete because the surface of the street course was too slick due to persistent rain early on Saturday, making conditions unsafe.
It is a quirk of the draw, but I feel like everywhere I look, Spain are playing. At 11am local time, in less than five minutes, the men’s basketball competition gets under way with Spain v Australia in Pool A. Here is a view of fans queueing earlier to get into the Pierre-Mauroy stadium.
In the men’s volleyball Japan and Germany are tightly poised. Japan lead two sets to one, but the fourth set is 21-20 to Germany. Tense.
Kazakhstan’s Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev have won the first medal of the 2024 Olympics! They claim bronze in the 10m air rifle mixed team event after defeating Germany comfortably 17-5 in the bronze medal match. China and South Korea will now compete for gold in the event.
Team GB lead Spain 2-0 at half-time in the men’s hockey in Pool A. The Pool B match between reigning champions Belgium and Ireland has started now too, and stands at 0-0.
Spain have emerged victorious in the handball against Slovenia, 25-22 in the end. It was closely fought – sometimes almost physically fought – and Slovenia held the lead at times, but the bronze medallists from Tokyo scored a flurry of goals in the closing ten minutes.
The bronze medal contest between Kazakhstan and Germany in the 10m air rifle mixed team contest in Chateauroux has begun.
Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev are representing Kazakhstan, and Maximilian Ulbrich and Anna Janssen representing Germany. Kazakhstan have taken an early lead.
Gareth Furlong has extended Team GB’s lead over Spain to 2-0 in the men’s hockey with a goal from a penalty corner. It is a bit harsh on goalkeeper Luis Calzado who had just pulled off a stupendous stop seconds before.
Australia’s Tara Rigney has won her heat in the women’s single sculls. She finished nearly seven seconds ahead of Spain’s Virginia Diaz Rivas.
Updated
Team GB have just taken the lead against Spain in the men’s hockey with a couple of minutes of the first period to go. Nicholas Park with an unstoppable rising shot after stealing the ball in the middle of the pitch. 1-0.
Updated
Japan have been staging a bit of a comeback in the men’s volleyball against Germany. After losing the first set, they won the second, and now lead in the third 15-12. I know people moan about the expense and over-expansion of the Games, but come on, there is sport everywhere you look. What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.
Slovenia and Spain has got a bit testy in the men’s handball. With just under twenty minutes to go it is tied at 15-15, and after some pushing and shoving both teams are temporarily down to six men.
The fencing and judo competitions have got under way now, just as the men’s single sculls heats have come to an end in the rowing. Sverri Nielsen of Denmark won the sixth and final heat there. The 15 rowers who did not qualify will compete in a repechage round tomorrow. There will now be six heats in the women’s competition, with Australia’s Tara Rigney in the first of them.
Updated
In about five minutes Team GB and Spain will open the men’s field hockey competition. They are in a pool of six teams, alongside the Netherlands and South Africa who play at 12.45pm local time, and Germany and hosts France, who will take the field at 5pm local time. Four teams from the six progress to the quarter-finals.
Argentina, Australia, Belgium, India, Ireland and New Zealand are in Pool B, and their match-ups today are:
10.30 CET: Belgium v Ireland
13.15 CET: Australia v Argentina
17.30 CET: India v New Zealand
Belgium are reigning champions, having broken Australian hearts with a penalty shootout win in the final in Tokyo in 2021 after the sides drew 1-1. The pair face each other again in Pool B on Tuesday evening in Paris.
Slovenia have an 11-8 lead over Spain at half-time in the men’s handball. That is the opening match in Pool A, where six countries are competing for four spots in the quarter-finals.
The first gold medal we are expecting today will be in the 10m air rifle mixed team. There is a qualification round, and then the teams placed third and fourth contest a bronze medal match, followed by a final featuring the best ranked two teams.
Last time out in Tokyo, China dominated the shooting medals, and Lihao Sheng and Yuting Huang are in pole position. They will contest the gold against South Korea. Kazakhstan and Germany will battle it out for bronze. Those contests are at 9.30 CET.
Updated
Germany have taken the first set in their men’s volleyball match with Japan. In this competition there are three pools of four teams. The top two sides and two third-placed nations with the best record progress to the quarter-finals. USA and Argentina are the other two teams in Pool C with Germany and Japan. Those two face each other at 9pm local time tonight.
Updated
Laura Kenny is writing for us during these Games, and she says that she would have won a gold medal in being nervous when she was competing. You can read her column here …
Mihai Chiruță of Romania has won the second heat in the men’s single sculls. The top three in each heat progress to the quarter-finals. Thomas Mackintosh of New Zealand won the first heat.
Dressage has been in focus in the buildup to the Games, especially in Great Britain, for all the wrong reasons. The actual event gets under way this morning at Château de Versailles at 9.30 local time. There are 64 riders and horses competing for spots in the Grand Prix finals, which are next weekend. Germany’s Julia Krajewski rides first on Nickel 21.
Updated
Good morning from London, Martin Belam joining you here. The action has begun in earnest with early starts for handball, rowing, shooting and volleyball. Spain’s men are tied 3-3 with Slovenia in the handball, and Germany are stretching out an early 13-8 lead against Japan in the men’s volleyball. Thomas Mackintosh of New Zealand has won the first heat in the men’s single sculls. We are well and truly under way.
Updated
Thank you for joining me for this opening leg of what is going to be an incredible fortnight. The first baton pass is to Martin Belam, whose fingers are still sore from his superb opening ceremony coverage, so please be nice to him. I’ll see you back here tomorrow when there’ll be a medal table to pore over. À bientôt!
Updated
Shooting, in case you didn’t know, is being staged in the town of Chateauroux, around three hours drive south of Paris. It’s previous claim to fame was the birthplace of Gerard Depardieu.
We’re just five minutes away from handball, volleyball, rowing and shooting entering the fray. Remember the first medals of the Games are likely to arrive in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team two to three hours from now.
Are you ready for the 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 day of #ShootingSport at #Paris2024? ✨#ISSF | #HitTheMark pic.twitter.com/JgF6NKZeUo
— ISSF (@issf_official) July 27, 2024
These early events are a chance to acclimatise to the Paris 2024 palate. I think the branding of the Games has been magnificent, from the emblem Marianne, through the mascots Les Phryges, to the coat-of-arms pictograms.
I’m not sold on the various shades of purple everywhere though, and the badminton is a case in point with the green court and purple signage a bit muted and underwhelming for my taste.
Updated
It's time for men's #handball 💫 The South Paris Arena 6 at the #Paris2024 Olympic Games welcomes the 12 men's teams for some more splendid handball #Olympics history 👊 Schedule 👇
— International Handball Federation (@ihfhandball) July 27, 2024
What to look forward to today 👉 https://t.co/BQClxAbobh pic.twitter.com/AfYo4j9ywj
There’s a healthy crowd in the Porte de la Chapelle Arena for the start of the badminton. The venue, otherwise known as Adidas Arena, is one of the few major builds of the Paris Games.
When it comes to the new buildings, the results are more mixed. The €138m Adidas Arena stands like a shimmering datacentre at the knotted intersection of the Périphérique ring road and the A1 highway at Porte de la Chapelle, on the northern edge of the city centre. Designed by NP2F and SCAU, it is a sleek addition to a neighbourhood once known for its “crack hill” of drug dealers, landing like a streamlined spaceship of urban renewal. It’s an intriguing thing, sharing a similarly knowing faux-industrial language to 6a’s MK Gallery in Milton Keynes. The interior volumes protrude from a raised planted deck, joined by a jaunty wooden A-frame canopy, like a cluster of objects on a table top. A playful semicircular window looks out from the eastern facade, adorning the polished flank with a big smile. The 8,000-seat arena will host Olympic badminton and rhythmic gymnastics, then live on as a concert venue and home for the American-owned Paris Basketball club. Oddly, the official Paris 2024 website boasts that “most of the building materials will be bio-based (principally wood)”, yet the bunker-like edifice is made almost entirely of concrete and clad with energy-intensive aluminium. Did someone spill the bucket of greenwash?
Day one of the Paris 2024 Olympics is under way!
After all the build-up, logistics, and an extraordinary opening ceremony, it is three off-Broadway badminton group contests that kick-off the formal schedule of Paris 2024.
In the women’s singles Group N, He Bing jiao (CHN) takes on Keisha Fatimah Az Zahra (AZE).
In the mixed doubles Group B it’s Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung (KOR) v Koceila Mammeri and Tanina Mammeri (ALG), and in Group D it’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping (CHN) v Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai (USA).
Updated
Among the early starters in the badminton is Dorsa Yavarivafa. Born in Tehran, studying Sports and Exercise Science at Middlesex University, and training in Milton Keynes, Yavarifava is representing the Refugee Olympic Team (EOR). She relocated to the UK with her mother at age 15 due to safety concerns. She applied to be a part of the Refugee Athlete Scholarship programme in 2023, and was selected for the Refugee Olympic Team nearly a year later.
Here’s more on the most inspiring team at the Games, with Angelique Chrisafis.
Created in 2015, the Refugee Olympic Team first took part in the 2016 Rio Games, with 10 athletes in three sports. But this year it has grown to 37 athletes, whose countries of origin range from Iran, Syria and Afghanistan to Eritrea and South Sudan, competing in 12 sports including cycling, swimming, taekwondo, judo and breaking. The team is so important for the IOC that the refugee athletes will appear in second position at the Paris opening ceremony, after Greece, carrying the Olympic flag.
We’re now just 15 minutes away from the start of the action on day one of the Paris Olympics. And that action is badminton.
If you don’t know your back alley from your shuttlecock, fear not, because here’s one we made earlier.
It is not out of the question that Australia will leave the Paris Games as the leading nation in the pool. Normally it’s an honour reserved for the USA but the Dolphins have taken a deep squad full of record-breaking talent to France. But will they be swimming in the fast lane? Elsie Grover-Jones takes us to pool school.
The pool is shallower than the 3m standard, at 2.30m and there have been some questions raised over the effect this will have. The starting platforms have fins that allow swimmers to really push off at the gun. And one of France’s faces of the Games, swimmer Léon Marchand, believes it will live up to expectations.
“The pool is superb,” he said. “I loved the feeling I had in the water, the depth which is the same along the entire length. So you feel like you’re swimming fast and that’s cool. It’s a beautiful pool.” If swimmers are feeling fast in the pool at La Défense, we could yet see some new world records.
Updated
While the Boomers will naturally commandeer the attention of Australian basketball followers, there is a second nation at the Paris Games that owes a lot to the NBL: South Sudan. Kieran Pender explains why.
South Sudan are very much a second team for Australian fans to cheer on. Four members of the 12-man squad play in Australia’s National Basketball League – Bul Kuol, Jackson Makoi, Majok Deng and Sunday Dech – while a fifth, Kuany Kuany, lived in Australia before relocating to the United States for college. Another Australian, Thon Maker, had a last-minute eligibility appeal rejected after the former Boomers player switched basketball allegiances. Other members of the team play in the NBA, Serbia, China, Israel and Rwanda.
While the US sleeps and Europe awakes, we’ll train our focus for a little while on Australia. There are plenty of Aussies in action on day one, from the Boomers in the morning to Grace Brown in the afternoon, and Ariarne Titmus this evening.
Speaking of Grace Brown, here she is with our own Kieran Pender.
Since the last Olympics, across nine individual time trials, Brown has only finished off the podium once – fourth on stage eight of last year’s Tour de France Femmes. All of which leaves Brown on the precipice of an Olympic medal in late July, when she rolls down the start ramp in cycling’s first event of the Games, just a day after the opening ceremony. Three years of hard work have come to this – a race against the clock around the streets of Paris, across 32.4 km of flat terrain.
In case you wondering, the dreadful weather of the opening ceremony hasn’t lifted. However, the rain is forecast to have cleared by this evening and the rest of the opening week should be much more summery.
Hello and welcome to a rainy day 1 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games regatta! The temperatures have cooled down but the atmosphere is heating up as racing starts in 90 minutes in Vaires-sur-Marne 😍
— World Rowing (@WorldRowing) July 27, 2024
📸 World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell#Paris2024 #Rowing pic.twitter.com/ev40Su5ycC
The opening ceremony is also an opportunity for the IOC President to make a political statement. Thomas Bach’s can be distilled into “dream with us”. Sean Ingle had the watching brief.
The hope in Bach’s speech? Well that came when he referenced the hope that these Games could be a force for good at a time where the horrific war in Ukraine continues to rage, and the awful images from Israel and Palestine have dominated our screens for the past nine months continue.
If you missed some, or all, of the rain-soaked action, Jon Henley has distilled the spectacle into a handy top-five.
What did you make of the opening ceremony? Brilliant? Kitschy? Hubristic? Barney Ronay’s sketch of the event covers all bases, and ensures that from now on Celine Dion must be referred to as The Canadian Messi.
It was complex, nuanced, fun, energetic, diffuse, diluted, and too spread out. It turns out there’s a good reason why big events are held in stadiums.
At the top of the page you will find links to the day-by-day guide, the medal table, results, and the live schedule. These will be our north stars for the next fortnight, making sure we’re always on top of the action.
And from that day-by-day guide, here’s what Simon Burnton thinks you should be watching today.
Saturday 27 July Day 1
Shooting
With a scheduled end of 11.50am local time the 10m mixed team air rifle is expected to pip the women’s synchronised 3m springboard diving by a matter of minutes to be the first gold medal decided in Paris. Whichever wins the race there’s a good chance the anthem played at the end will be the same: the latest world championships in both events were won by Chinese athletes (though they will be hotly contested, and Britain’s Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen claimed world championship silver in the diving last year).Men’s rugby
Antoine Dupont, France’s captain, missed the Six Nations to throw himself into Olympic preparations, declaring a gold medal “the holy grail of the sport, as simple as that”, and organisers have scheduled the men’s final in the hope that he will help them get their Games off to the best possible start. It is far from a done deal, though: France failed to reach the final four in the sport’s two previous Olympic outings, while Fiji have won both golds.Men’s handball
In the past two Olympic finals Denmark beat France (in Rio) and France beat Denmark (in Tokyo). Of the five world championships in the past decade France have won two and Denmark the most recent three, extending their unbeaten run in the event to 28 games by beating France in last year’s final. This year they play on the first day of the men’s tournament, though it would be no surprise if they meet again when the medals are decided on 11 August.
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the first official day of competition of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
Following a spectacular opening ceremony on the river Seine it’s time to get down to business. Over the course of the day competitors in 24 sports will showcase their skills, with badminton getting the show on the road at 8:30am local time.
At 9am handball, rowing, shooting and volleyball join the party, with equestrian under way half-an-hour later.
The first medals of the Games will be won around 11:30am local time with the shooters in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event not hanging around.
The gold rush continues with China expected to continue its domination of the diving competition, beginning with the women’s synchronised 3m springboard.
The women’s individual time trial (cycling) begins at 2:30pm local time, followed by the men.
In judo, the 60kg men and 48kg women will be going for gold. The men’s skateboarding street final will light up the Place de la Concorde. While fencing begins its distribution of precious metal.
Other events not to miss include:
Australia’s Boomers take on Spain at 11am local time (7pm AEST).
Swimming heats begin at the same time, featuring the first instalment of the Katie Ledecky v Ariarne Titmus duel in the pool after the two superstars were drawn alongside each other in heat three of the 400m freestyle. They will no doubt meet later on in the final in what promises to be one of the races of the Games.
Antoine Dupont will light up the Stade de France at 3:30pm local time when France’s rugby sevens outfit continue their campaign with a semi-final against South Africa. Should Les Bleus make it to the gold medal match Paris may witness the greatest atmosphere of the Olympics on the opening day.
But if water polo is more your jam, you could instead tune in to the USA beginning their quest for a fourth consecutive gold medal in the women’s tournament when they face Greece in Group B.
And finally, the most spectacular backdrop of the Games will reveal itself from 7pm Paris time when (conditions permitting) the surfing competition begins in Teahupo’o.
I’m sure I’ve failed to include something notable to you in this short rundown, so feel free to let me know what’s on your agenda by emailing: jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com or, if you’re still rummaging around in the post-Twitter dumpster fire, find me on X @jphowcroft.
I’ll be around for the first couple of hours of the blog, after which it’s over to Martin Belam, Adam Collins, and Will Unwin.
On your mark. Get set. Go!
Updated
