Morocco v Argentina: play to resume at 6pm BST
The live score is confirmed: Morocco 2-1 Argentina. The players and officials are back out on the pitch, warming up. Otherwise, the stadium is completely empty. A reminder that this match kicked off nearly four hours ago. There is expected to be around three minutes of play before full-time. Madness!
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“After watching a seemingly interminable Copa América final a week ago, my Argentine wife and I are now reliving the chaos that follows the Albiceleste”, emails Andy Gordon. “Before restarting the match, maybe the staff want to check the ventilation shafts in the stadium”.
Here is our take, as we scramble to make sense of what has happened.
Argentina goal disallowed, Morocco v Argentina to resume after match suspended
Some confusion to clear up, the men’s football match – in which Argentina scored a 106th-minute equaliser leading to ugly scenes between fans and the players – has not actually finished. It appeared that the referee blew the whistle for full-time after the goal, but he actually suspended the match due to the crowd trouble. That means the final minutes of the match will be resumed at a later date, in what some are reporting as a behind-closed-doors game. Here’s the latest from Reuters:
After order was restored in Saint-Etienne and the teams had left the field, they discovered that the match had not been completed but suspended by officials.
The venue manager told Reuters the game had been interrupted and had not resumed yet, adding that a decision about whether the match would be completed was being discussed. The Olympics website also showed the match as “interrupted”.
And we’re just hearing reports that Cristian Medina’s goal for Argentina has actually been disallowed by VAR for offside, more than an hour after the players left the field. So, assuming that it is true, the score is still Morocco 2-1 Argentina. Absolute chaos!
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Full-time in the men’s rugby sevens: Ireland 10-5 South Africa.
A winning start in Paris! 🙌#Ireland7s pic.twitter.com/edbB9KmCDQ
— Ireland 7s (@Ireland7s) July 24, 2024
A reminder that there are three pools of four teams. The top two in each group will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, with the two best third-placed teams also making the last eight, with teams ranked by points, then head-to-head result, then points difference, then points scored.
In the men’s competition, France are the favourites, so it was a bit of a shock to see them draw 12-12 with the USA earlier. The hosts could easily have lost, too.
In the women’s competition, New Zealand are the heavy favourites, followed by Australia and France. Team GB are very much seen as outsiders.
Simone Biles, arguably the biggest superstar at these Olympics, looks in good spirits during training today.
And if you missed this earlier …
World No 1 Jannik Sinner out of the Olympics with tonsillitis
The No 1-ranked male tennis player in the world, Jannik Sinner, has withdrawn from the Paris Olympics due to tonsillitis, the Italian said on Wednesday.
Sinner won his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this year and reached the semi-finals of the French Open.
“I am saddened to inform you that unfortunately I will not be able to participate in the Paris Olympic Games,” Sinner wrote in a post on X. “After a good week of clay training I started to feel unwell. I spent a couple of days resting and during a visit the doctor found tonsillitis and strongly advised me against playing.
“Missing the Games is a huge disappointment as it was one of my main goals for this season. I couldn’t wait to have the honour of representing my country in this very important event. Good luck to all the Italian athletes who I will support from home.”
Sinner’s withdrawal means world No 2 and 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic will be the top seed in the men’s singles draw, which will be made on Thursday.
Sinner is the latest of a number of tennis players to withdraw from the competition, with Olympic silver medallist Marketa Vondrousova and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz pulling out of the tournament on Monday.
Other notable absences from the tennis at the Games include world No 3 Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur, Emma Raducanu, and Ben Shelton.
And while we’re talking about reasons to be cheerful, Elsie Grover-Jones and Huzaifah Khan have written this great little preview about the things they are most looking forward to at Paris 2024.
Olympic women’s football will be a must-watch: although Great Britain failed to qualify there is some enthralling action in store. The former Chelsea Women manager, Emma Hayes, leads an Alex Morgan-less USWNT into her first tournament as manager. They will challenge the likes of Spain, the 2023 World Cup winners, for the gold medal.
There will be plenty of youthful talent on display, with players to look out for such as Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí and Barbra Banda of Zambia. Paris 2024 will also be the last dance for Marta, the footballing legend aiming to retire on a high note with Brazil. The group stage begins on Thursday 25 July with the final on Saturday 10 August, a day after the men’s final.
In the pool, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty will target a third straight gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke. The 29-year-old took a mental health break last year but has the fastest time in the world this year. China’s Qin Haiyang, however, has emerged as a formidable rival to Peaty. The heats take place on Saturday 27 July with the final the next day.
Olympic gymnastics rarely disappoints. The four-times champion, Simone Biles, will go for gold in the women’s floor exercise with what is sure to be the most difficult routine of the competition. After qualifiers on Sunday 28 July, you can see Biles on Monday 5 August in the floor exercise and balance beam finals. In the men’s competition, Great Britain’s Max Whitlock has said these will be his last Games, with the 31-year-old aiming to retain his pommel horse title. Whitlock can make history by becoming the first Olympic gymnast to win four medals on the same piece. His qualification will be on Saturday 27 July before the final on Saturday 3 August.
One of the most talked-about events lasts for only around 10sec. Blink and you’ll miss it: the men’s 100m final takes place on Sunday 4 August. Noah Lyles is the man to beat and the American’s preparation has been perfect – he set a personal best in victory at last weekend’s Diamond League in London. Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, who ran a world’s best time of 9.77sec this year, will challenge Lyles for gold.
In the women’s 100m all eyes will be on another US athlete, Sha’Carri Richardson, eager to perform after missing Tokyo 2020 due to a positive test for cannabis. The final falls on Saturday 3 August, but Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah will not defend her title due to injury. Team GB’s Dina Asher-Smith will aim to win a first individual Olympic medal in this event, but faces stern competition from Richardson, plus the Jamaicans Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
In the women’s 800m, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson is in fine form, coming off a win at the Diamond League where she set a British record, running 1min 54.61sec, the sixth-fastest time in history. Hodgkinson is one of the favourites to win gold for Great Britain, and aged just 22, may become the new face of British athletics. She could be helped by the absence of Athing Mu, who failed to reach the Games after falling during a qualifier in Oregon last month. The 800m women’s final is set for Monday 5 August.
The much talked-about Breaking will make its Olympic debut on Friday 9 August, following its success at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. It will not feature at the next Games, in LA 2028, so this looks like your one chance to see it at the Olympics. Each event will contain 16 competitors facing off one-on-one and improvising to music played by a DJ. The women’s final is on Friday 9 August and the men’s final is on Saturday 10 August, where athletes will compete to become the first (and probably only) Olympic Breaking champion.
Think I am actually looking forward to the opening ceremony on Friday, which is not something I thought I would ever write. Normally they are such sincere, drab, elongated, self-important things. But this year’s opening ceremony is going to be a bit different.
Think I can relate to a lot of this from James Colley.
It feels a little embarrassing to be a grown adult excited for the Olympics. I am not sure why. Perhaps it’s the unequivocal joy. That feels childish. Why would I believe something good could happen? When was the last time something good happened?
Oh, it’s so easy to be cynical about things. I’m really good at it too. If I were to play to my strengths, I should go on about how devastating the Olympics is to the economy of the host nation, how commercial elements have hijacked every last corner of the games, and I could maybe even make some vague reference to the carbon emissions required to get all the athletes to Paris, but not in such a way that would necessitate me actually looking up statistics.
But I don’t want to do that. I want to be excited for the Olympics.
Some men’s rugby sevens results to catch you up on.
Argentina 31-12 Kenya.
Fiji 40-12 Uruguay
France 12-12 USA
Marcus Tupuola scored a second-half try for USA to tie the game with the hosts, but Madison Hughes missed the conversion!
Full-time: Morocco 2-2 Argentina.
An absolutely mental start to the men’s football.
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Kind of cool that Team USA are taking the train around France.
🇺🇸 @TeamUSA has landed in Lille! Ready to bring the heat in their first match on July 28th against Serbia! 🏀#Paris2024 | #Basketball pic.twitter.com/Fviq0TYWqj
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 24, 2024
Around 1,000 French police officers will form an “anti-terror perimeter” around Israel’s opening football match against Mali at the Olympic Games in Paris after the game was designated as high risk.
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A full-time result from Group C of the men’s football: Uzbekistan 1-2 Spain.
Oh my wordddddddddddd! Argentina equalise in the 106th minute against Morocco! Cristian Medina bundles home the leveller after a goalmouth scramble in the men’s football. It’s currently 2-2 and we are still playing!
Andy Murray suggest his singles career is over and will only play doubles at the Olympics
Andy Murray has almost certainly played the last singles match of his career after revealing he was set to play only doubles at the Paris Olympics. The 37-year-old confirmed on Tuesday that his fifth Games would be his final event, but he has still not fully recovered from the surgery to remove a spinal cyst he had a week before Wimbledon.
Murray will instead focus on doubles alongside Dan Evans as he chases a fourth Olympic medal. Asked if he was in shape to play singles, Murray said: “I need to make that decision this evening but I don’t think so. Obviously me and Dan have made the commitment to each other that (doubles) was what we were going to prioritise.
“I think Dan is still going to play singles but last week he did a lot of doubles practice, that’s what I was predominantly practising in training when I was in Greece and since we’ve been here, we’ve been practising and playing doubles sets together. That gives the team and us the best opportunity to get a medal, realistically.
“My back is still not perfect and the potential of playing two matches in a day is maybe not the best.”
Murray also made a late decision not to make a final appearance in singles at Wimbledon, meaning his last outing on his own will have been the retirement against Jordan Thompson at Queen’s Club forced by his back injury.
He recovered sufficiently to make an emotional farewell in doubles alongside his brother Jamie at Wimbledon and will hope the Olympics provides a fitting goodbye. PA Media
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“I think he plays in the United Arab Emirates, Not Saudi Arabia”, corrects Teo Teng Kiat, regarding my post on Morocco’s goalscorer, Soufiane Rahimi. Right you are, apologies.
That game is not in added time, with Morocco leading Argentina 2-1!
We’re also underway in the rugby sevens between France and USA, where the host nation have taken an early 5-0 lead.
Some fresh quotes emerging after Tunisian wrestler, Amine Guenichi, was handed a four-year doping ban on the eve of the Games.
“Guenichi was banned for deliberately not complying with anti-doping testers,” the Tunisian federation technical director Montaser Obaidi told Reuters. “Last November, the testers came to his room at the elite training centre and he refused to open his door and after several hours only provided them with a urine sample, which returned negative. He then underwent two blood tests that also proved negative.”
Guenichi won the gold medal at the Arab Games last year in the men’s Greco-Roman 130kg category.
Hello everyone. We head straight back to the men’s football. Some updated scores for you, we are about 68 minutes into both matches.
Argentina 1-2 Morocco
Soufiane Rahimi, a 28-year-old who plays his club football in Saudi Arabia, has got both of the goals for the African side. Giovanni Simeone, son of Diego, has come off the bench to pull one back for the World Cup winners.
Uzbekistan 1-2 Spain
Sergio Gómez, who has just left Manchester City for Real Sociedad, puts Spain ahead on the hour mark after seeing a penalty saved moments earlier.
My Olympics stint is done for today. Michael Butler is on hand to guide you through the afternoon.
The International Boxing Association has accused the IOC of doing too little to reward boxers and demanded prize money at the Olympics. In an open letter, the IBA said medals were not enough reward for athletes at the Games.
“Medalists should receive those ultimate prizes made of the corresponding metals,” the IBA said. “Currently, Olympic medals do not reflect their value, which is disrespectful to the athletes who train hard for many years and sacrifice so much to reach the highest level.”
The IOC decided a year ago to strip the IBA of recognition over its failure to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues. The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an IBA appeal in April.
“Athletes are those who bring substantial income to the IOC, which is absolutely not acknowledged. Olympic medallists do not receive prize money, even though the IOC profits significantly from TV rights, sponsors, and ticket sales,” the IBA said.
“It is obvious that this enormous profit is only possible because of the athletes, their coaches, and sports federations. This needs urgent change now.”
The IOC does not offer cash prizes for medals. It does, however, redistribute part of the revenues the Games generate to stakeholders, including international federations and national Olympic Committees. It also supports athletes through its Olympic Solidarity fund.
The IBA, led by Russian Umar Kremlev, has been in an dispute with the Olympic body since its exclusion. The boxing competition at the Paris Games is being organised by the IOC but the Olympic body has said it cannot continue doing that, with the sport’s spot for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics in doubt. Reuters
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What was expected to be a simple coronation of Salt Lake City as the 2034 Winter Olympic host turned into complicated Olympic politics on Wednesday, as the IOC pushed Utah officials to end an FBI investigation into a suspected doping cover-up.
In a separate decision earlier in Paris, the 2030 Winter Games were awarded – with conditions – to France for a regional project split between ski resorts in the Alps and Nice. That project needs official sign-off from the national government which is still being formed after elections in France earlier this month.
Men’s rugby sevens: Argentina v Kenya is next up, in Group B, before France v United States in Pool C in half an hour or so.
Men’s football: Soufiane Rahimi has put Morocco 1-0 ahead against Argentina, while Eldor Shomurodov has equalised from the penalty spot for Uzbekistan against Spain.
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Australia 21-14 Samoa is a final score from Stade de France in the sevens.
The Tunisian wrestler, Amine Guenichi, has been ruled out of Paris 2024 after being handed a four-year doping ban, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
The source declined to be named. Guenichi won the gold medal at the Arab Games last year in the men’s Greco-Roman 130kg category. Reuters
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Spain lead Uzbekistan 1-0 in the men’s football. Marc Pubill of Almería got the goal.
Argentina v Morocco remains goalless.
Sevens matches last 14 minutes, which looks more than enough, judging by the speed and physicality of the action. At half-time, Australia and Samoa are locked at 7-7.
“It’s like chess, but exhausting chess,” observes the BBC co-commentator.
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Dujardin’s career in tatters after horse whipping costs her damehood
The distressing video of Team GB equestrian star Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse 24 times in a private coaching session has cost her a damehood, official sources have told the Guardian.
The 39-year-old was widely expected to be handed the honour if, as expected, she won another dressage medal in Paris. That would have her seven medals – equalling Jason Kenny’s record tally for a British Olympian. However Whitehall sources have confirmed that any such honour is now off the table.
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Australia and Samoa are out on the Stade de France turf.
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The rugby sevens is nearly upon us.
Mark Nawaqanitawase lines up for Australia’s men against Samoa at Stade de France in less than 10 minutes. Nawaqanitawase has 11 caps for the Wallabies after being called up by Eddie Jones. But the Olympic sevens will be his last action as a union player before he returns to rugby league with the Sydney Roosters.
France face the United States at 15.30 BST.
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Thanks Yara, hello again everyone.
Luke McLaughlin is back and will take you through the rest of the afternoon’s affair. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the start of the Games!
Football at Paris 2024 begins
Our first sporting event kicks off at the 2024 Paris Olympics: Argentina v Morocco and Uzbekistan v Spain.
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Tennis fans will surely be excited at the prospect of watching a legend and a legend in the making play together in Paris. Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz have been the main focus of the Olympic tennis competition starting on Saturday.
But the two are tempering expectations a little bit. Nadal was quick to say that their talent will not necessarily lead to results.
I understand a little bit the morbid illusion of seeing us play together but let’s not think that this translates into success, I think it’s a mistake. Carlos hasn’t played many doubles and I haven’t played many doubles or many singles lately.
We are going to do our best to try, at least, to leave with the peace of mind of having done everything possible to get where we can get [but] obviously, we have not been able to prepare together for a tournament like this, where there are other doubles teams that have been preparing.
Good vibes and minimal training. Sounds like a winning recipe to me. ¡Vamos!
Dujardin video will 'exacerbate existential crisis in Olympic dressage'
Sophie Kevany has some reaction from experts and activists on horse welfare after the video of Charlotte Dujardin repeatedly striking a horse with a long whip during a training session emerged.
Julie Taylor is a horse welfare activist and the author of I Can’t Watch Anymore, a book that argues for removing equestrian sport from the Olympics. She says:
Dujardin, for over a decade, has been the poster girl for the idea the international equestrian federation [FEI] is turning dressage around in a more horse friendly direction. That narrative has been completely blown out of the water by the video footage that has emerged of Dujardin repeatedly whipping the legs of her pupil’s horse.
Of all the riders in the world this could have happened to, from the FEI’s point of view, this is the most difficult. It has tarnished an image of a person they held up as a paragon of horse friendly training. If this had been another rider, known to be harsh [with their horses], they could have simply thrown them under the bus and moved on. But not Dujardin. This will exacerbate the existential crisis in Olympic level dressage circles.
Prof Paul McGreevy, a veterinary ethologist at University of Sydney’s School of Veterinary Science, on what the Dujardin incident means for dressage:
Dressage as a sport is in trouble and there is a raft of welfare issues that mean the dressage world needs to get its house in order. Given that the standard you walk past is the standard you accept, horse people around the world are appreciating they can no longer look away.
This video is damning in the face of the current threat to horse sport’s social licence to operate (SLO), the construct that all industries need to retain public approval of what they are doing. The SLO is so important that World Horse Welfare is now publishing ways to retain horse sport’s social licence.
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Ahead of the Games, the Olympians are having a good time testing out their infamous cardboard beds. Take a look at some of these shenanigans.
Five water polo players test positive for Covid-19
Five Australian women’s water polo players have tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the Paris Games, the country’s Olympic team chief Anna Meares said on Wednesday.
Meares added that the cases were confined to the water polo team.
“There is training this afternoon. And again, if those five athletes are feeling well enough to train, they will and they are following all the protocols that we have. I can confirm that the whole of the water polo team has been tested as well,” Meares said in a press conference.
“They’ve been wearing their masks, they’re isolating from other team members when they’re not training, they’re not going into the high-volume areas of the allotment, like the gym and the performance pantry, and more broadly, we have our respiratory illnesses protocol in place.” Reuters
In just over 30 minutes, our first Olympics events will get under way with the football. Argentina will take on Morocco in Group B. Yes, football at the Olympics is basically an under-23 tournament but still exciting to see the blend of young talent with a few big names.
Here are the teams:
Argentina (4-4-2): Rulli; Garcia, Di Cesare, Otamendia, Soler; Almada, Hezze, Medina, Zenon; Beltrán, Álvarez
Morocco (4-2-3-1): El Kajoui; Hakimi, Boukamir, Targhalline, El-Ouadi; Richardson, El Azzouzi; Akhomach, El Khannous, Ben Seghir; Rahimi.
Team GB’s flag bearers have yet to be confirmed. However the Times report that it will probably be Tom Daley and Helen Glover carrying the flag on Friday.
Whoever it is will follow in the footsteps of Hannah Mills and Moe Sbihi who had the honour in Tokyo.
Thanks Luke, and hello all! Let’s start with some opening ceremony news. Coco Gauff has been named the female flag bearer for US team, joining LeBron James.
She will be the first tennis athlete to carry the American flag at a Olympic Games.
Gauff is set to make her Olympic debut in Paris. She had qualified for Tokyo 2020 but had to opt out because she tested positive for Covid-19 right before she was supposed to fly to Japan.
She and James were chosen as flag bearers by Team USA athletes.
Gauff is seeded No 2 in singles at the Olympics, matching her current WTA ranking behind the world No 1 Iga Swiatek.
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Lunchtime for me, Yara El-Shaboury is taking over.
Don’t forget to bookmark the live schedule, results and medal table.
Our Paris 2024 Olympics homepage is here.
The women’s football kicks off tomorrow at Paris 2024.
In the latest edition of Moving the Goalposts, our weekly women’s football email, Sophie Downey assesses the favourites, the outsiders and the key talking points:
And you can sign up for Moving the Goalposts here.
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If you’re only just tuning in, here is today’s Olympics-related content (so far):
For almost the entire history of basketball, the No 1 thing that would help a person succeed was height. From Wilt Chamberlain to Shaquille O’Neal, the taller a player, the better. While size still matters, thanks to the talent of the 6ft 2in guard Stephen Curry, shooting is prized as much as any other attribute. The four-time NBA champion and two-time MVP is bringing his shooting ability to the Olympics.
Russian chef arrested in Paris over alleged ‘large scale’ Olympic Games plot
A Russian chef who has lived in France for 14 years has been arrested on suspicion of plotting with a foreign power to stage “large scale” acts of “destabilisation” during the Olympic Games in Paris.
The 40-year-old man was arrested during a raid of his apartment in central Paris on Sunday where a document linked to an elite Russian special forces unit operating under the command of the FSB, an heir to the KGB, was reportedly found.
This year’s men’s Tour de France and Giro d’Italia champion, Tadej Pogacar, has revealed the Slovenian federation’s decision not to select his girlfriend, Urska Zigart, for the Olympics was a factor in his withdrawal from Paris.
Jeremy Whittle reports:
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Why do Olympians have to sleep on anti-sex cardboard beds?
Huzaifah Khan has the answer:
Salt Lake City to host 2034 Winter Olympics
Salt Lake City was awarded the 2034 Winter Olympic Games on Wednesday following a vote of the International Olympic Committee. The US city, that hosted the 2002 Winter Games, earned 83 votes out of 89 at the IOC session, having been named the preferred choice in June.
Meanwhile, via PA:
The French Alps have been confirmed as hosts of the 2030 Winter Olympics at an IOC session in Paris. The award is subject to guarantees by the next French prime minister, and ratification by the national assembly by a deadline of 1 March 2025.
The Games are set to take places at venues across the northern and southern Alps, with ice events staged in Nice on the Cote d’Azur. The IOC president, Thomas Bach, said: “We have full confidence in France to organise an outstanding edition of the Olympic Winter Games, with the same creativity, imagination and flair we are currently experiencing at Paris 2024.”
It will be the fourth time the Winter Olympics have been staged in France, following the inaugural edition in Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968, and 1992 in Albertville.
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Without wishing to drone on about football (here all week), next up is a piece from Ryan Baldi on six US men’s players who can use this summer’s Olympics as a springboard for the 2026 Fifa World Cup:
“Horses don’t volunteer,” Peta’s US senior vice president, Kathy Guillermo, told Sean Ingle. “They can only submit to violence and coercion.
“It’s time for the Olympics to move into the modern era.”
Call for equestrian ban after video shows Dujardin whipping horse
Sean Ingle’s report from Paris on the Dujardin latest:
“A video has emerged of the Team GB equestrian star Charlotte Dujardin repeatedly striking a horse with a long whip during a training session. The incident has led the animal rights group Peta to call for all equestrian events to be banned from the Olympic Games.”
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Few places in the world are as ominously named as the Tahitian surf spot Teahupo’o, which translates literally as “wall of skulls”. The left-hand reef break gets its name from the nearby village where it’s said a tribal battle once ended with the victors displaying their enemies’ skulls, but the macabre moniker also tells you all you need to know about this beastly wave.
During south and southwest swells, great slabs of ocean cascade over the coastline’s shallow, razor-sharp corals, creating barrels measuring upwards of 10ft. The waves at “Chopes” are as heavy as they come and the wipeouts deadly serious. In its 128-year history, the modern summer Olympic Games may never have witnessed sport as wild as this.
It would certainly appear like there’s not much left to prove for Simone Biles. Her presumptive status as the greatest gymnast ever was conferred years before she’d racked up a record-shattering 37 medals between the Olympics and world championships. Since winning her first national title in 2013, she has won every all-around competition in every meet she has entered, often by stupefying margins. And yet here she is, continuing to toy with the outer limits of human potential while doing the hardest gymnastics of her life, the 27-year-old face of the US Olympic movement on the brink of still more history.
Dujardin whips horse more than 20 times in video shared with Guardian
Video has emerged of one of Team GB’s biggest stars, Charlotte Dujardin, whipping a horse more than 20 times in one minute when she was conducting a coaching session with a young rider in a private stable four years ago.
The 39-year-old, who won six dressage Olympic medals in London, Rio and Tokyo, has been banned from the Paris Olympics over allegations that she whipped a horse.
Here is the latest from Sean Ingle:
And here is Rachel Hall’s profile of Dujardin:
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Fox and Ockenden to carry Australian flag at opening ceremony
Tokyo gold-medal winning paddler Jess Fox and Kookaburras veteran Eddie Ockenden have been chosen to carry the Australian flag at the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, chef de mission Anna Meares announced on Wednesday.
Fox and Ockenden will lead the Australian delegation during the ceremony on Friday, which will take place on boats along the Seine in central Paris. Between them, the pair have won seven Olympic medals during storied careers in national colours – Paris is Fox’s fourth Games and Ockenden’s fifth.
The moment will be particularly special for Fox, who was born in France and retains family connections to the country – her mother and coach, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, competed in two Olympics for France. Fox is the most successful paddler in history, with over a dozen world titles to her name, but an Olympic gold eluded her in London and Rio before finally arriving in a moment of joy three years ago in Tokyo.
Ockenden, a stalwart of the Australian hockey team, made his national debut in 2006 and has competed at every Olympics since, in Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo and now Paris. The Kookaburras won the silver medal three years ago, along with bronze medals in 2008 and 2012. Ockenden has also won four consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medals with the Kookaburras.
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Russian man 'suspected of planning to destabilise Olympics' arrested
French police have arrested a Russian man suspected of planning to destabilise the Olympics, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
The 40-year-old man was detained on Tuesday after police raided his house at the request of the Interior Ministry, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Evidence found at his home raised “fears of his intention to organise events likely to cause destabilisation during the Olympic Games,” it said.
Relations between France and Russia have been deteriorating as the president, Emmanuel Macron, is a prominent critic of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and a strong supporter of the Kyiv government. French authorities have repeatedly flagged suspected Russian disinformation campaigns, while Russia has arrested a French researcher on espionage charges.
The arrested man has been placed in pre-trial detention and may face up to 30 years in prison, the statement said. Russia’s embassy in Paris said it had not received official notification of the detention. “We proactively asked them for clarification. We will seek a reaction,” it said in a statement.
The Olympics officially begin on Friday with a spectacular but logistically fraught opening ceremony along the River Seine. France has rolled out its biggest ever security operation for the Games, which take place against a backdrop of wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, speaking in a radio interview, said the Russian man was suspected of planning “destabilisation,” which could take the form of disinformation or other types of attack.
Le Monde, citing several European intelligence agencies, said authorities had found an identity card on the Russian man that suggested he worked for a unit under the command of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
Last month, French police arrested a 26-year-old Ukranian-Russian man after he blew himself up with explosive materials in a hotel room north of Paris. He was being investigated by France’s domestic spy agency on suspicion of participation in a terrorist conspiracy and bomb plot.
Also in June, Russia arrested French researcher Laurent Vinatier for allegedly failing to register as a foreign agent while gathering information on the Russian military.
He is part of a growing list of foreign nationals detained in Russia who have found themselves caught up in the crisis in relations between Russia and the West during the Ukraine war. Reuters
Returning for a moment to women’s football, a rather scandalous tale broke overnight, European time:
New Zealand’s Olympic Committee says their women’s football team had their training session disrupted by a drone flown by a staff member of the Canadian team. Defending Olympic champion Canada and New Zealand – the Football Ferns – meet in their opening match at the tournament on Thursday.
In honour of both the imminent Paris Olympics and the centenary of the 1924 Olympics, also in Paris, here is a rerelease of this superbly watchable true-story parable of patriotism, faith and meritocratic success within the system, much admired by Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Joe Biden. It was produced by David Puttnam, who had discovered the story of the devout Christian athlete Eric Liddell refusing to run on Sunday and commissioned a terrifically punchy and sympathetic script from Colin Welland (whose victorious Oscar night cry of “the British are coming!” was destined to be endlessly and ironically re-quoted at moments of British failure and disappointment in Hollywood). It was Welland who incorporated Jewish sprinter Harold Abrahams into the film (as well as another gold medallist, Douglas Lowe, who refused any involvement and had to be written out).
You really need to read that Andy Bull piece on the boxer Cindy Ngamba, which is as brilliant on the sporting side as it is on the UK’s ludicrously cruel hostile environment for refugees and asylum seekers:
“Some people, the first time they get hit, they get frightened. But what that boy did made me. Because I thought: ‘Oh, so that’s it, that’s what it is like to get punched, that’s all it is.’ So when that boy hit me, he made me fall in love with boxing.”
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“Surely,” writes Phil Grey on email, “… if Julián Álvarez wins a gold medal for Argentina, the only things he has left to win are an Oscar and a Nobel Prize.”
I don’t know about that, Phil. There’s La Liga, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 to think about, among others, before he switches to acting or some kind of scientific research.
But Olympic gold would be a nice addition to the Fifa World Cup, Copa América, and the 22-23 treble with Manchester City, not to mention the Argentinian domestic title he won with River Plate. Harry Kane he is not. He’s only 24!
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“On any given day, any opponent can beat anyone,” the USWNT’s Emma Hayes said yesterday of the women’s football competition in France. “Shocks in the women’s game don’t exist anymore. I think we need to reframe our focus a little bit and have respect for the rest of the world.
“My only focus is on winning the first game. It’s always a mistake when you think in any other way … you have to win the group, only then can you be in a position to discuss anything else.”
The US women’s team kick off against Zambia, in Group B, tomorrow. Here is Suzanne Wrack on how Hayes, the former Chelsea Women head coach, is in at the deep end at these Paris Olympics:
It’s the stink of the gym Cindy Ngamba remembers best. Sweat, leather and bleach. It was like nothing she had ever smelled, and she loved it. She was 15, and had just finished football training when she saw these boys come into the changing rooms at her youth club. They were steaming in the heat and it looked, to her, like they were on fire. She was curious, walked past them through the door and saw more of them, some working heavy bags, some fighting shadows, some sparring in a ring. It was the first time she had ever seen anyone box. “And I said to myself, right then: ‘This, this is what I want to do.’”
Those rugby sevens fixtures for later are allowing my cynicism to melt away, replaced by real excitement.
I’ll be able to catch the first 30 minutes of Guinea v New Zealand in mens’ football … or Egypt v Dominican Republic … or a bit of both?! Before Ireland v South Africa in the sevens at 16.30 BST. Bring it on. I’ll be locked into France’s curtain-raiser in the sevens before that too, naturellement.
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Footballistically, there are eight men’s fixtures coming up today. France v United States at 20.00 BST will be the highest-profile among them:
Group B: Argentina v Morocco (14.00)
Group C: Ukbekistan v Spain (14.00)
Group A: Guinea v New Zealand (16.00)
Group C: Egypt v Dominican Republic (16.00)
Group B: Iraq v Ukraine (18.00)
Group D: Japan v Paraguay (18.00)
Group A: France v United States (20.00)
Group D: Mali v Israel (20.00)
Note that you can filter the live schedule by individual sports.
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The waiting, as cliche-peddlers are fond of saying, is nearly over. You will find today’s sporting schedule via the link below.
France and Antoine Dupont kick off their eagerly-awaited men’s rugby sevens campaign against the United States at 15.30 BST. Ireland v South Africa at 16.30 BST is a highly significant fixture given recent goings-on in the 15-a-side game, not to mention last year’s Parisian pool-stage dust-up at the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand v South Africa will follow at 20.30 BST and there’s a bit of recent history there too.
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In case you missed it last night, here is Rachel Hall’s profile of Charlotte Dujardin, after the very significant news of her withdrawal and subsequent ban:
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From an Australian perspective, the Olympics really begin today. First up the Australian Olympic Committee will name the nation’s two flag-bearers ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony. The smart money for the female flag-bearer is Jess Fox, Tokyo gold medallist and the most successful canoeist of all time. Fox was born in France and has family here - her mother/coach represented France at two Olympics, adding a touching local element. Hockey veteran Eddie Ockenden is among the names being touted as potential male flag-bearers.
The first Australians to see action in Paris will then kick off this afternoon, with the men’s Rugby Sevens squad facing Samoa and then Kenya later this evening. While the Australian women won gold in Rio, the men have never reached a medal match, but hopes are high.
The other major Australian moment today will be the Matildas’ final training session and media opportunity before their Olympic football campaign begins tomorrow against Germany in Marseille. The team has been sweating on a few injury woes, so expect an update tonight on whether key players are fit. I’m in Marseille now - there’s not quite the same Olympic buzz as Paris, but it’s a stunning day on the Mediterranean.
Andy Bull considers what the Covid-hit 2020 Tokyo Olympics meant for Japan and for the Olympic movement: and what these Games in Paris may come to represent for France and the wider world:
“Once it was over, the hosts were so very keen for everyone to please leave that they gave athletes 48 hours to get out of the country. A year later, the Associated Press quoted a Japanese academic studying the legacy of the Games as saying “people don’t want to talk about it or even think about it” …
“If Tokyo ended up becoming the Covid Games, the Paris edition – taking place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East and the unavoidable sense that Emmanuel Macron’s own grand national project is listing beneath his feet – has already been reframed as the Conflict Games.”
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I am not entirely clear on how having a former BBC weather forecaster in-house is going to help Team GB win medals. But good luck to them.
Team GB have hired the former BBC weather forecaster, Penny Tranter, as they seek an extra one per cent in their bid for a big medals haul in Paris.
As well as providing daily weather reports, Tranter, who worked for the BBC from 1992 to 2008, has been brought on board to predict longer-term patterns amid fears these Games will be the hottest on record.
Temperatures in the French capital are currently in the mid-20s degrees Celsius but it is forecast to get hotter next week. In an attempt to offset the carbon footprint, Paris organisers have rolled out a number of initiatives, the most high-profile of which is following the lead of Tokyo 2020 and having all beds at the Olympic village made from recycled cardboard.
To improve sleep for their athletes, Team GB brought 942 blankets and 578 mattress toppers. UK Sport issued a target of between 50 and 70 medals for Team GB . If they win 70, it would represent their best result at an overseas Games, beating the 67 they won at Rio 2016.
They have also brought with them a freight weight in excess of 22 tonnes in food and drink supplies alone, which includes 6,500 bags of sweets, salted popcorn, 22,000 cereal bars, 700 jars of whole earth peanut butter and more than 1,000 boxes of muesli.
More than 1,000 bottles of squash have also been brought across the Channel as well as 945 boxes of English Breakfast tea - estimated to contain 47,250 tea bags. A total of 85,000 items of kit have been distributed thanks to the efforts of 400 staff and volunteers. (PA Media)
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When Paris’s gigantesque, city-centre Olympic Games opening ceremony begins on Friday night, with boats full of athletes gliding side by side down the River Seine in a configuration not seen since the days of King Louis XV, there is more at stake than France’s global image.
The president, Emmanuel Macron, who has promised the Olympics will “light up people’s hearts” in a “summer of French pride”, is depending on the Games to restore morale in a deeply divided nation, which only weeks ago he had warned could be facing “civil war”.
Quite boldly, Paris wants to outdo all previous Olympic Games on every possible front – dazzling visuals, sustainability, gender equality, even by confounding expectations as a famously meat‑eating nation by providing the most ever vegetarian food.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to our live Paris 2024 coverage on the day the sport begins: football and rugby sevens are both due to kick off later.
From a British perspective, the agenda is dominated by news that the dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin, who was aiming to become Britain’s most decorated female Olympian at these Games, has been banned after alleged mistreatment of a horse.
Dujardin yesterday withdrew from the Olympics, and apologised, before news of her ban came later. More on that story, and lots of other stuff, coming up.
