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= PARIS 2024 =
From Lane One
The Paris Games are underway and thrilling in the pool, on the court, and with the majestic Eiffel Tower above it all.
However, Sunday is also 28 July, exactly 40 years since the opening of the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad in Los Angeles, an event which changed the entire direction of the Olympic Movement.
Coming off of the capture and murder of Israeli at Munich 1972, the billion-dollar financial debacle of Montreal 1976 and the U.S.-led boycott of the Moscow 1980 Games, there were many who were sure that there would be no Los Angeles Games in 1984. But there was.
Opening 40 years ago today in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the 1984 Games shattered the molds of the past and offered a new pathway forward that not only revolutionized the Olympic Movement, but sports around the world, forever:
● A private, non-for-profit corporation organized the Games and had a surplus of $232.5 million, used to promote youth sports in Southern California and endow the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the National Governing Bodies with support that continues today.
● Completely new approaches to television rights sale and corporate sponsorship caused the International Olympic Committee to take over the sales of both on a worldwide basis, raising its quadrennial income into the millions.
● Existing venues were used wherever possible, with just three sports facilities built: a cycling velodrome at Cal State Dominguez Hills (replaced by the multi-venue Dignity Health Sports Park), a swimming pool at USC (still there) and a shooting range in Chino (still in operation today).
● Volunteers were used for most of the workforce – 33,500 of them – to augment an organizing committee which had 1,750 staff as of 1 June 1984, but more than 100,000 with all of the staff and vendors, by 28 July.
● Los Angeles was the only bidder for the 1984 Games (no, Tehran never bid). There were only two bidders in 1981 for the 1988 Games. But after Los Angeles, there were suddenly six enthusiastic bids from Europe and Australia and the Games were back in business. And the success of football at the Games led directly to the 1994 FIFA World Cup coming to the U.S. and the founding of Major League Soccer.
There are dozens more innovations introduced by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee that endure to today in Paris, including the format of the accreditation system, the use of temporary pools, the beyond-the-Games period Olympic Arts Festival, a years-long youth sports program, the introductions of technologies to the Games such as voicemail and electronic mail and many more.
I was honored to be the head of Press Operations for the LAOOC and the Editor-in-Chief of the Official Report. What came out clearly was the vision, most especially of five individuals who made the key decisions that brought to Games to Los Angeles and made it successful: John Argue, the bid architect, in collaboration with L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley, LAOOC President Peter Ueberroth, Executive Vice President and General Manager Harry Usher and key advisor, television sales architect and ceremonies producer David Wolper.
They had a lot of help, of course, but remembering the Rocket Man, the 84 grand pianos playing “Rhapsody in Blue,” the greatest card stunt in history and then the Games, it’s worth taking a moment to see how far a nearly-broke IOC has come with the Paris Games of 2024.
~ Rich Perelman
¶
● Les Temps ● The updated forecast shows slight cooling, with rain possible on 30-31 July – the dates of the triathlons – and showers on 6 August:
● 29 July (Mon.): High of 89 (F) ~ low of 67, sunny
● 30 July (Tue.): 95 ~ 71, cloudy
● 31 July (Wed.): 86 ~ 69, possible storms
● 01 Aug. (Thu.): 82 ~ 64, possible storms
● 02 Aug. (Fri.): 82 ~ 64, sunny
● 03 Aug. (Sat.): 80 ~ 65, cloudy
● 04 Aug. (Sun.): 80 ~ 63 cloudy
● 05 Aug. (Mon.): 79 ~ 65, cloudy
● 06 Aug. (Tue.): 81 ~ 63, rainy
● 07 Aug. (Wed.): 76 ~ 60, cloudy
● 08 Aug. (Thu.): 77 ~ 58, cloudy
● 09 Aug. (Fri.): 77 ~ 59, cloudy
● 10 Aug. (Sat.): 78 ~ 60, cloudy
● 11 Aug. (Sun.): 78 ~ 60, cloudy
The triathlon is scheduled for 30-31 July and the mixed relay for 5 August; the open-water swimming is slated for 4-5 August.
The triathlon training session in the Seine for Sunday was cancelled, but Paris 2024 Communications Director Anne Deschamps told the morning news conference:
“Still very confident with the weather forecast for the next 48 hours, the water quality will be improved and thanks to all the work that has been undertaken by our public stakeholders, we saw the water quality of the River Seine improve significantly over the last week. So, we are still very confident.”
● Medals & Teams ● After two full days of competition (26 of 329 events), the U.S. leads with 12 medals overall (3-6-3), followed by France (8: 3-3-2) and Japan (7: 4-2-1). Australia also has four golds, but six medals in total.
Our exclusive TSX team rankings, using an eight-place, 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring by event, give a much more “diverse, equitable and inclusive” view of the relative achievements of the teams:
● 1. 111, United States
● 2. 84, Italy
● 3. 80 1/2, France
● 4. 78, China
● 5. 75, Australia
● 6. 69 1/2, Japan
● 7. 58 1.2, Germany
● 8. 58 1/2, Korea
● 9. 47, Great Britain
● 10. 30 1/2, Brazil
● 11. 27, Canada
● 12. 20, Belgium
A total of 48 National Olympic Committees have scored points to far.
● Paris 2024 ● The organizing committee announced that it has now sold more than nine million Olympic tickets, out of the total of 10 million available.
¶
Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet told the FrancsJeux.com site that Teddy Riner and Marie-Jose Perec, who lit the cauldron at the Friday opening, did not know they would be involved until the day of the show:
“I called them late Friday morning to ask them to light the cauldron.
“For me, Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner embody all the magic of French sport. Their choice was obvious. And they got involved in the adventure of the Paris 2024 Games from the start. I knew they would be available and that they would accept. I waited until the last minute to let them know because I wanted to keep it a secret for as long as possible.”
¶
The opening continues to draw criticism in some quarters for depictions of scenes which have offended Christian groups, especially with regard to a re-imagined portrayal of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, “The Last Supper,” Deschamps, the Paris 2024 Communications Director, told reporters on Sunday morning:
“There was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. On the contrary, I think that [producer] Thomas Jolly tried, with the intention to celebrate community tolerance – that was his words yesterday – and looking at the result of the polls [86% in France liked the ceremony], that we shared, we believe this mission was achieved.
“If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.”
¶
Polish state television TVP dismissed announcer Przemyslaw Babjarz for comments made during the Friday opening, which included a response to the segment including “Imagine” by John Lennon:
“A world without skies, nations and religions, this is the vision of the world that should embrace everyone. This is the vision of communism, unfortunately.”
TVP’s statement explained, “We inform you that after yesterday’s scandalous words, Przemyslaw Babjarz has been suspended from his official duties and will not comment on the competitions during the Olympic Games.”
¶
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Saturday that 19 people were arrested on Friday in connection with the Olympic opening.
● Archery: Women’s Team
The South Korean women came in having won all nine editions of this event in Olympic competition and won again – just barely – over China, 5-4.
Hun-young Jeon, Si-hyeon Lim and Su-hyeon Nam won the first end by 56-53, then 55-4 for a 2-0 lead. But China came back to score 54-51 and 55-53 wins, so a shoot-off commenced.
Jeon and Nam shot 10 and 9 and Lim finished with a shot barely inside the 10 ring and a 29-27 victory, 29-27. Very, very close.
Mexico, third at the 2023 Worlds, won the bronze by 6-2 over the Netherlands. The U.S. team of Casey Kaufhold, Catalina GNoriega and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez was eliminated in the preliminary round by Chinese Taipei, 5-1.
● Canoe: Women’s Slalom K-1
Australia’s Jessica Fox, the greatest women’s slalom racer ever, grabbed her first Olympic gold in this event, adding to her fourth World Championships wins, with an error-free performance in the final.
Fox led the qualifying at 92.18 (0 penalties), but was only eighth in the semi. But in the final, she recorded a 96.08 time with no penalties and that was good enough. Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska, the 2023 Worlds bronze winner, was second at 97.53 (0) and Kimberley Woods (GBR), the 2023 Kayak Cross Worlds winner, got third at 98.94 (0). No one else broke 100 seconds.
Fox, now 30, had won silver-bronze-bronze in this event at London-Rio-Tokyo, but now has a K-1 gold to go with her Tokyo C-1 gold. And the C-1 and Kayak Cross are still to come.
American Evy Leibfarth was 15th in qualifying and did not advance to the final.
● Cycling: Women’s Mountain Bike
France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, 32, won Worlds golds in 2015-19-20-22-23, dominated the event, winning the seven-lap race in 1:26:02, nearly three minutes up on 2022 Worlds bronze medalist Haley Batten of the U.S. (1:28:59) and Rio 2016 gold medalist Jenny Rissveds (SWE: 1:29:04). Dutch star Puck Pieterse was fourth (1:29:25).
Ferrand-Prevot made history as the first French Olympic medal winner in this event, and raced away from the field by the end of the second lap. Batten was chasing a medal on the descent of lap four but broke a wheel; she recovered quickly. By lap six, she and Rissveds had separated from the rest of the field and Batten extended her lead for silver on the final lap.
Fellow American Savilla Blunk was 12th.
● Fencing: Men’s Epee; Women’s Foil
Japan scored its first-ever Olympic medal in men’s individual Epee as Koki Kano, an Olympic gold medalist as a member of the Japanese Team in Tokyo, scored an upset win over the 2018 World Champion, France’s Yannick Borel, 15-9.
Egypt’s Mohamed Elsayed won a tight match for the bronze medal over Tibor Andrasfi (HUN), 8-7.
In women’s Foil, defending Olympic champion Lee Kiefer opened with a tight, 15-13 win in the round-of-32, , then 15-9 in the round-of-16, 15-4 in the quarters and then a tense, 15-10 win over two-time World Champion Alice Volpi of Italy, to get to the final once again.
Her surprise opponent was teammate Lauren Scruggs, who got past two-time World Champion Arriana Errigo (ITA) by 15-14 in the quarters and then Canada’s Eleanor Harvey, 15-9, in the semis. So it was an all-American final for the first time ever in this weapon, with Kiefer winning decisively, 15-6 for her second straight Olympic gold. It’s the third time that it’s been done, with the last a three-peat by Valentina Vezzali in 2000-04-08.
Harvey won the bronze against Volpi, 15-12
● Judo: Men’s 66 kg, Women’s 52 kg
Four-time World Champion Hifumi Abe added a second Olympic gold to his resume with a win over Brazil’s Willian Lima in the men’s 66 kg class. Lima was a surprise, having reached only the round of 16 in three prior World Championships.
Abe’s win was the sixth straight Olympic Games with a medal for Japan in this event. In the bronze-medal matches, Denis Vieru (MDA) defeated Walide Khyar (FRA) and Gusman Kyrgyzbayev (KAZ) defeated Strahinja Buncic (SRB).
After Abe and sister Uta Abe won golds on the same day in Tokyo in 2021, it could have happened again, but Uta was defeated in the round-of-16. Instead, it was Tokyo 2020 48 kg gold medalist Distria Krasniqi (KOS) who was trying for a second straight Olympic gold – up a weight class – but was edged in the final by waza-ari by Diyora Keldiyorova (UZB).
In the bronze-medal matches, Amandine Buchard (FRA) defeated Reka Pupp (HUN) and Larissa Pimenta (BRA) beat Odette Giuffrida (ITA).
Uta Abe was defeated in her first-round match; said Hifumi, “When my sister lost, I was shocked and I felt bitter all day. But I had to fight. I’m so glad I could get a gold medal for the sake of my sister.”
● Shooting: Men’s 10 m Air Pistol; Women’s 10 m Air Pistol
China scored a second shooting gold with 2022 World 50 m Pistol winner Yu Xie shooting 10.0 on each of his final two shots to edge Italy’s Federico Maldini, 240.9 to 240.0. Italy’s Paolo Monna was third at 218.6.
Let’s call this surprising. None had won Worlds medal in this event before and Xie and Maldini were 14th and 19th in this event at the 2023 World Championships. But they are on the Olympic podium now. It’s China’s fourth Olympic gold in the 10 times this event has been held.
Korea won its second shooting gold as well, in the women’s 10 m Air Pistol and went 1-2 with Ye-jin Oh setting an Olympic record of 243.2 points, ahead of teammate Yeji Kim (241.3). Neither had previously won a Worlds medal in this event, and it’s the first-ever Olympic medals for Korea in this event.
India’s Manu Bhaker won the bronze – India’s first medal in this event – at 221.7.
● Skateboarding: Women’s Street
Japan scored gold and bronze in this event in skateboarding’s debut in Tokyo, but improved to gold and silver in Paris. Coco Yoshizawa, 14, won the gold this time, ahead of teammate Liz Akama (15).
They were 1-2 in qualifying and Yoshizawa had the no. 2 score on her run – Akama led, 89.26 to 86.80 – but had massive scored in tricks four and five of 96.49 and 89.46 to compile 272.75 points. Akama scored 92.07 and 84.07 on her first two tricks, but then flamed out and won silver at 265.95.
Brazil’s Rayssa Leal, the Tokyo silver winner and now 16, was fifth after her run but had big scores of 86.98 and 89.11 on two of her tricks and won bronze at 253.37. Americans Poe Pinson (222.34) and Paige Heyn (173.23) finished 4-5.
● Swimming: Men 400 m Medley-100 m Breast;
Women’s 100 m Butterfly
The La Defense Arena was crazy for home favorite Leon Marchand, the world-record holder in the men’s 400 m Medley, and he took the lead on the Fly leg, just ahead of Daiyo Seto (JPN). Marchand stayed in front of Seto and Carson Foster of the U.S. after the Backstroke.
Marchand swam away from the field on the Breast leg and Foster came up on Seto, taking second at the turn to Freestyle. But Marchand was all alone and racing only against the world record and won in 4:02.95, the no. 2 performance in history.
A tight battle for second saw Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita come up on the final leg for second over Foster, 4:08.62 to 4:08.66. Seto faded to seventh in 4:11.78. Foster won a U.S. medal for the 10th straight Games in this event, but the first time since 1984 that the U.S. had not won a gold or silver in the event.
The men’s 100 m Breast had Britain’s Adam Peaty – the world-record holder – trying for an Olympic three-peat, but he was slightly behind China’s 2023 World Champion Haiyang Qin at the turn, by 0.05.
But the field closed in on Qin and Peaty in the final 25 m, with Italy’s 2020 Olympic bronze winner Nicolo Martinenghi inching closer and closer, with American Nic Fink also moving up. As Qin faded, Martinenghi pushed to the wall and touched first in 59.03, and Fink caught Peaty at the wall and they tied for silver in 59.05. The top four were separated by just 0.08, and Qin faded to seventh in 59.50.
Gretchen Walsh set a world record of 55.18 in the women’s 100 m Butterfly at the U.S. Trials and she and Torri Huske were in lanes 4-5 in the final in Paris. Walsh had a tiny lead on China’s Yufei Zhang at the turn, but then Huske stormed in the final 25 m to overtake both and got the final stroke to the wall to win in 55.59 (equal-6th performance all-time) to 55.63. Zhang, one of the Chinese swimmers who tested positive in 2021, was third in 56.21. Defending champ Maggie Mac Neil (CAN) was fifth in 56.44.
The U.S. last went 1-2 back in 1984. Huske was fourth in Tokyo, but now Olympic champ; it’s the first U.S. win in this event since 2012, when Dana Vollmer won in London.
Elsewhere:
● Basketball ● The U.S. men opened against Serbia in Lille and the Serbians immediately went up to 10-2, requiring a time-out by U.S. coach Steve Kerr. But guard Steph Curry hit a three and the U.S. got the lead at 14-12 and ended the quarter up by 25-20.
The star of the half was Kevin Durant – his first appearance with the U.S. team – scoring a sensational 21 points on 8-8 shooting, including 5-5 from three. LeBron James added 12 on 5-5 shooting and the Americans sizzled at 22-33 (67%) in the half, compared to 19-37 (51%) for Serbia, and led by 58-49.
Serbia was within 69-59 with five minutes to play in the third, but the U.S. ran off a 15-6 run to the end of the quarter to run away at 84-65. The Americans were 10-17 from the floor in the quarter vs. 5-18 for the Serbs. Over.
The final was 110-84, with Durant scoring 23 points in 16:44 of playing time. The U.S. finished at 62% from the field to 42% for Serbia, with James adding 21, 15 from Jrue Holiday, 12 from Devin Booker and 11 from Curry.
In Group C, the U.S. will next meet South Sudan – which came within 101-110 of beating the U.S. in their exhibition game – on the 31st in Lille. South Sudan handled Puerto Rico in its opener on Sunday, 90-79, but suffered an indignity when the wrong national anthem was apparently played.
In the Saturday opener, Australia defeated Spain, 92-80, in Group A and Canada beat Greece, 86-79, despite 34 points for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Germany, the FIBA World Cup champions in 2023, defeated Japan, 97-77, in Group B and Victor Wembanyama had 19 for France in its 78-66 win over Brazil.
● Beach Volleyball: Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng, the 2023 World Champions, started their Olympic campaign with a tight, 21-16, 21-11 win over Czechs Barbora Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova.
● Football ● The U.S. women had their second pool-play match against Germany – the 2022 European runners-up – in Marseille, and had quite a half, scoring in the 11th as Sophia Smith rushed in from the left side to finish a Trinity Rodman cross for a 1-0 lead.
The German equalized in the 22nd, as Guilia Gwinn sent a right-footed shot diagonally to the left corner of the U.S. goal, the first score in the sixth game that Emma Hayes (GBR) has been the American coach.
No worries, the U.S. pressure paid off in the 26th as Mallory Swanson scored on a rebound, and then Smith got a second in the 44th for a 3-1 lead, sending a right-footed shot from outside the box into the goal.
The second half was just as active, but with less scoring. Both sides had chances and U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher made a couple of sprawling saves to keep the Germans at bay. Finally, in the 89th, sub striker Lynn Williams took a left-side lead pass from Swanson, had space and sent a line-drive into the net for the 4-1 final.
The score wasn’t close, but the statistics were, with the U.S. at 54% possession, but the Germans with a 12-10 edge on shots. The U.S. will finish group play against Australia (1-1), which beat Zambia, 6-5, in Nice.
● Gymnastics ● The U.S. women were impressive in qualifying, piling up a total of 172.296 points, winning the third rotation group and advancing to the final. Italy was next best at 166.861.
In a true show of strength, the U.S. was 1-3-4 in the All-Around, with Simone Biles leading at 59.566, followed by defending A-A champ Suni Lee at 56.132 and then Jordan Chiles at 56.065! Only two can advance from one country, however. Brazilian star Rebeca Andrade, the 2022 World A-A Champion, was second at 57.700.
In the apparatus qualifying, the U.S. advanced seven out of a possible eight to finals:
● Vault: Biles led at 15.300, Andrade was second (14.683) with Jade Carey third at 14.433 and Chiles was fourth (14.216); only the top two from a country can advance.
● Uneven Bars: Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour was the leader at 15.600, with Lee third (14.866) and Biles ninth and a non-qualifier (14.433). Chiles tied for 13th and Hezly Rivera was 20th.
● Beam: China’s Yaqin Zhou led with 14.866, followed by Biles (14.733), then Andrade (14.500) and Lee (14.033), with Chiles tied for 14th (13.600).
● Floor: Biles and Chiles were 1-3 at 14.600 and 13.866, with Andrade second at 13.900. Lee was 24th (13.100).
The women’s team final is on Tuesday.
● Swimming ● First up was the men’s 200 m Freestyle, with Luke Hobson winning the first semi in 1:45.19, ahead of 400 m Free winner Lukas Martens (GER: 1:45.36). Romania’s Olympic favorite David Popovici, the 2022 World Champion, led Tokyo silver winner Duncan Scott in the second semi, 1:44.53 to 1:44.94. Hobson’s time ranked third overall.
China’s Qianting Tang, the 2024 World Champion, won the first women’s 100 m Breaststroke semi in 1:05.83. South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker-Smith – the Tokyo runner-up – won the second semi, leading most of the way, in 1:05.00, with Mona McSharry (IRL) passing Rio 2016 Olympic champ Lilly King of the U.S. late for second, 1:05.51 to 1:05.64. They were the top three qualifiers for the final.
Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, the 2022 World Champion, turned on the jets late to take semi one of the men’s 100 m Backstroke, edging Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (FRA) and Pieter Coetze (RSA), 52-58 to 52.63 (tie). American Ryan Murphy, the Rio 2016 champion, faded in the final 20 m and was fourth in 52.72, but made it into the final.
Jiayu Xu (CHN), the Rio silver medalist, had the lead at the turn of the second semi and held strong to win in 52.02, the fastest qualifier. Apostolos Christou (GRE), the 2024 Worlds bronzer, was second, but well back at 52.77, with American Hunter Armstrong unable to make a charge and finished a non-qualifying fifth in 53.11, after winning the Worlds golds in February at 52.68.
The women’s 200 m Free was the final qualifying race of the night, with American Claire Weinstein winning the first semi in 1:55.54, a lifetime best. Favorite Ariarne Titmus led an Aussie 1-2 in the second semi at 1:54.64 with Mollie O’Callaghan in 1:54.70 and Tokyo runner-up Siobhan Haughey (HKG) third in 1:55.51
● Water Polo ● Italy defeated the U.S., 12-8, in the men’s Group A opener, outscoring the U.S. 4-1 in the first period and 4-2 in the third. Hannes Daube led the U.S. with three scores. Group play continues through 5 August.
= PREVIEWS: MONDAY, 29 JULY =
(19 finals across 11 sports)
● Archery: Men’s Team
As with the women, South Korea has been dominant, winning the last two Olympic golds, with three-time individual World Champion Woo-jin Kim on both squads; Korea has, in fact, won five of the last six. They’ve also won the last two Worlds in 2021 and 2023. Turkey and Japan were 2-3 at the 2023 Worlds; the U.S. did not qualify a men’s team.
● Canoeing: Men’s Slalom C-1
Slovenia’s 37-year-old Benjamin Savsek was the Olympic winner in Tokyo, and owns two world titles, including in 2023. He’s the favorite. But 2022 World Champion Sideris Tasiadis (GER), Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK), France’s Nicolas Gestin and Paolo Ceccon (ITA) are also in the mix.
● Cycling: Men’s Mountain Bike
Swiss Nico Schurter won the Rio 2016 gold and owns 10 World Championships golds, so any time he is in the race, he has to be considered as a favorite. But so is defending Olympic champ Tom Pidcock (GBR), , also the 2023 World Champion.
South Africa’s Alan Hatherly, Denmark’s Simon Andreassen, and American Chris Blevins have all won World Cup races this season and are contenders.
● Diving: Men’s 10 m Synchro
China’s Junjie Lian and Hao Yang have won this event at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Championships and are the favorites. But China was upset in Tokyo, as Britain’s Tom Daley and Matty Lee won, ending a streak of five straight Chinese golds in the event.
At the 2024 Worlds, Britain’s Daley and Noah Williams won silver and Kirill Boliukh and Oleksii Sereda (UKR) won bronze and they are back again.
● Fencing: Men’s Foil; Women’s Sabre
Italy’s Tommaso Marini won the 2023 Worlds over American Nick Itkin and France’s Enzo Lefort defeated Marini at the 2022 Worlds, with Itkin winning a bronze. So all three are contenders. Hong Kong’s Ka Long Cheung was a 2022 bronze and Kyosuke Matsuyama (JPN) won a 2023 bronze, and American Alexander Massialas, the Rio runner-up and Gerek Meinhardt, a two-time Olympic Team bronze winner … and Lee Keifer’s husband!
Remember the fracas with Ukraine’s four-time World Champion Olha Kharlan in the women’s 2023 World Championships in Sabre, where she was disqualified for not shaking hands with a Russian she defeated in an early round? Well, she qualified and could be contending for her fifth career Olympic medal. Japan’s Misaki Emura is probably the favorite, winning the last two world titles.
France has two major contenders in world no. 1 Sara Balzer, the 2023 European silver medalist and Manon Brunet, the Tokyo bronze medalist and 2023 European champion.
● Gymnastics: Men’s Team
The men’s gymnastics team final will continue the U.S. quest for a medal, with Japan and China favored to contend for gold. Those two have combined to win five of six Olympic golds in the event this century, while the last U.S. men’s team medal was a bronze in 2008.
The Chinese led the qualifying at 263.028, ahead of Japan (260.594), with Britain third (256.561) and the U.S. in fifth (253.229).
● Judo: Men’s 73 kg; Women’s 57 kg
Japan’s Soichi Hashimoto has won five Worlds medals in this weight class, including the 2017 world title, but no Olympic medals. He’ll be contending against 2023 World Champion Nils Stump (SUI), runner-up Manuel Lombardo (ITA), bronze winner Muradjon Yuldoshev (UZB) and 2024 World Champion Hidayet Heydarov (AZE).
Korea’s Mi-mi Huh won the 2024 Worlds gold in the women’s 57 kg class, defeating Canada’s Christa Deguchi in the final. Can they do it again? Deguchi won the 2023 Worlds gold against Japan’s Haruka Funakubo, who lost in the 2022 final to Brazil’s iconic Rafaela Silva, the 2016 Olympic champ and a two-time World Champion.
Meanwhile, Tokyo winner Nora Gjakova (KOS) and silver winner Sarah-Leonie Cysique (FRA) are also back, and Ukraine Daria Bilodid, the Tokyo 2020 bronze winner at 48 kg has moved up two classes to challenge.
● Shooting: Men’s 10 m Air Rifle; Women’s 10 m Air Rifle
Sweden’s Victor Lindgren is the 2023 World Champion, but will face China’s Tokyo 2020 runner-up, Lihao Sheng, the 2022 Worlds bronze medal winner, and Danilo Sollazzo (ITA), the 2022 Worlds silver medalist.
Croatia’s Petar Gorsa (36) was the 2018 Worlds runner-up; possibly a surprise in Paris? Same for countryman Miran Maricic, the bronze winner, but only 27.
China’s Yuting Huang, already a winner in Paris in the women’s 10 m Team Air Rifle event, is a likely favorite, but will have to deal with home favorite Oceanne Muller of France, the 2023 European Games winner, and Norway’s Jeanette Heff Duestad, the 2023 European Championships winner.
Sagen Maddalena of the U.S. won a 2022 Worlds silver in the Team event and was the 2023 Pan Am Games gold medalist.
● Skateboarding: Men’s Street (rescheduled)
American Nyjah Huston has world titles from 2010-12-14-17-18-19, but did not medal in Tokyo, finishing seventh. But he’s back and looking for a medal this time. Japan swept the 2023 Worlds with Sora Shirai, Kairi Netsuke and Yuto Horigome, also the 2021 World Champion.
Aurielen Giraud (FRA) took the 2022 Worlds and Gustavo Ribeiro (POR) has two Worlds medals, including silver in 2022.
● Swimming: Men’s 200 m Free-100 m Back;
Women’s 200 m Free-100 m Breast-400 m Medley
There are clear favorites in the 200 m Freestyles, with Romania’s David Popovici the one to beat in the men’s race, with 400 m Free winner Lukas Martens (GER) and Luke Hobson of the U.S. in the mixed for medals.
The U.S. won six straight men’s Olympic 100 m Backstroke titles in a row from 1996-2016, but Ryan Murphy – the Rio winner – finished third in Tokyo. He’s back and at 29 is the world leader in the event at 52.22. But he will have to contend with teammate Hunter Armstrong, the 2024 World Champion, Italy’s 2023 Worlds runner-up Thomas Ceccon (ITA) and China’s Jiayu Xu.
The women’s 200 m Free with defending champion Ariarne Titmus and Australian teammate Mollie O’Callaghan expected to go 1-2. American Claire Weinstein won a semifinal and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey is in the mix for a medal.
Lilly King, the Rio 2016 Olympic champ and Tokyo bronze winner, will try for a third straight medal in the women’s 100 m Breaststroke final. But she is only third on the 2024 world list behind 2024 Worlds winner Qianting Tang (CHN) and South Africa’s Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Tatjana Schoenmaker-Smith, the two semifinal winners.
Summer McIntosh will be in the pool again, facing off again with American Katie Grimes in the women’s 400 Medley, where they went 1-2 in the 2023 World Championships. Britain’s Freya Colbert and Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko were 1-2 at the 2024 Worlds in February and are contenders.
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Elsewhere, the U.S. women’s basketball team – undefeated in 55 straight games in Olympic play – will open pool play against Japan in Lille.
= INTEL REPORT =
● Anti-Doping ● The International Testing Agency announced two doping positives and provisional suspensions in Paris, against Iraqi men’s 81 kg judoka Sajjad Ghanim Sehen Sehen (anabolic steroids metandienone and boldenone) and Nigerian women’s 60 kg boxer Cynthia Temitayo Ogunsemilore (for the masking agent furosemide).
Both can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s Anti-Doping Division set up in Paris.
● Football ● “Drone-gate” as it has been nicknamed, has made defending women’s champion Canada’s path out of the group stage a question mark. In the wake of Canada’s admission that a coach flew drones over a New Zealand training session, FIFA’s Appeal Committee announced Saturday:
● “[A]n automatic deduction of six points from the Canadian Soccer Association’s Women’s representative team’s standing in Group A of the [Olympic Football Tournament], and a fine of CHF 200,000, and
● “[Coach] Beverly Priestman, [analyst] Joseph Lombardi and [assistant coach] Jasmine Mander: each official suspended from taking part in any football-related activity for a period of one year.
“CSA was found responsible for failing to respect the applicable FIFA regulations in connection with its failure to ensure the compliance of its participating officials of the OFT with the prohibition on flying drones over any training sites.”
Preistman [GBR] had already withdrawn as coach and Lombardi and Mander had been sent home by the Canadian Olympic Committee. The COC was considering appealing the six-point penalty as it impacts the players, who had nothing to do with the drone surveillance project.
Canada defeated New Zealand, 2-1, in its opener and has games against France and Colombia coming up in Group A.
The scandal has expanded to the men’s team, with reports of a possible use of drones at the recent Copa America held in the U.S.
● Wrestling ● There has been a fair amount of chirping about one problem or another at the Olympic Village, but not everyone is unhappy. Take women’s U.S. national team coach Terry Steiner, who wrote in an online blog for TheMat.com:
“I started my day by grabbing a cup of coffee right outside our village apartment. There are a few Grab & Go stations around the village. You can order coffee of your choice and my favorite a chocolate croissant or other bakery items and walk away. Everything is free inside the village. All food items, water, coffee, tea, etc.… is free of charge for any Olympic Delegation Member that has access inside of the village.
“We also have free laundry service. You drop it off before 10:00 a.m. and you can pick it up after 6 p.m.. There are free bikes you can grab and ride throughout the village as well. It is all about customer experience. The Host Committee puts in a lot of work to make the Olympic Experience something that will last in our memories for a lifetime. It is truly special to be a part of it, I feel very humbled and blessed to have this experience again.”
He accompanied six U.S. wrestlers who met the news media:
“[O]ur representatives were, [women’s Freestyle:] Sarah Hildebrandt, Helen Maroulis, [men’s Freestyle:] Kyle Dake, Kyle Snyder, [Greco-Roman:] Adam Coon and Kamal Bey. They did such an unbelievable job. I wish everyone could have heard their responses to the media’s questions. It was a pleasure to sit and listen to them. They showed so much maturity in their thought processes.
“America should be very proud of the kinds of answers they gave. They stressed having gratitude for what they have the opportunity of doing, focusing on the process of winning and staying in the moment. They know what is at stake, but they are so at peace with themselves. Winning is the byproduct of an outstanding process. Making the right decisions in their lives day after day, year after year. The true riches of this sport is the development of the human being. Every parent in America should have the opportunity to listen to what they talked about and how struggles and strive for perfection has built them into very solid human beings.”
So it’s not all problems. The wrestlers are still in training; competition starts on 5 August.
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