Home2024 Olympic GamesPARIS 2024 Review & Preview: Paris 2024 “confident” triathlon will be held; Eiffel Tower Rings; U.S. figure...

PARIS 2024 Review & Preview: Paris 2024 “confident” triathlon will be held; Eiffel Tower Rings; U.S. figure skating medals award on 7 August

The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★

To get The Sports Examiner by e-mail: sign up here!

Friends: Boffo! Yes! Our 39th and 40th donors raised your giving to 101.4% of our technical costs for the rest of 2024! No complaints if you would like help get us a little ahead. We can use all the help we can get! ★

= PARIS 2024 =
From Lane One

The figure skating Team Event at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China, finished on 7 February 2022.

The medals will be presented 913 days later, on Wednesday, 7 August 2024 at the Champions Park in Paris, during the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.

That was confirmed on Monday by the International Olympic Committee at its daily news conference, with the U.S. and Japan now confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport as the gold and silver-medal winners, following the disqualification of Russia due to the doping positive from women’s skater Kamila Valieva.

It is not clear whether the bronze medalist will be decided by that time, as the International Skating Union declared Russia in third place, seemingly ignoring its own scoring rules, and with a filing by Canada to be declared as the bronze-medal winners now in the decision stage at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

A second series of medal ceremonies will take place at the Champions Park as well, two days later, on 9 August at 1:55 p.m. Paris time, with re-allocations ceremonies of medals of events whose results have been changed due to doping positives from Russia and elsewhere. Two Americans are in line to receive golds from the London 2012 Games: Erik Kynard in the men’s high jump and Lashinda Demus in the women’s 400 m hurdles.

The ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. Paris time (11 a.m. Eastern time). The Champions Park, a temporary facility located near the Eiffel Tower, is a new concept for 2024, essentially an in-city festival space with music daily, but also a visit from Olympic medal winners to make appearances between 5:30 and 7 p.m. daily and interact with the crowd of up to 11,000. It opened Monday.

Said IOC spokesman Mark Adams (GBR):

“We wanted this to be settled as quickly as possible, for everybody concerned, for all the athletes. It’s the athletes that we care about. Unfortunately, when the legal process gets involved, the wheels can move very slowly, and as you see, once we have a result, we have expedited matters to make sure the allocation can be here, somewhere suitable.

“You can never replace the moment of winning, the moment of victory and the medal allocation during the Games, but we felt and the athletes agreed that this is as good a place as any, and, like everyone, it seems a shame for the delay, but the process has to be followed properly, and the process has been followed properly, the medals are being allocated at last and the athletes and their families and their teams can celebrate properly, finally.”

It’s about time, and, to be real, a more exciting format for the medal ceremony for the U.S. team members – Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou, Karen Chen, Alexa Knierim, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Zachary Donohue, Madison Chock and Evan Bates – as the Beijing Winter Games were held with very limited attendance due to Covid, and there should be thousands at the Champions Park in Paris.

If you have to wait more than 900 days to get your medals, getting a trip to Paris thrown into the bargain isn’t a bad way to go.
~ Rich Perelman

Etienne Thobois, the Paris 2024 chief executive, told reporters that 200,000 tickets had been sold since the start of the Games, at the rate of about 40,000 day, mostly for football matches “because that’s the place where the most tickets are available.”

Paris has sold more than nine million tickets, the most ever for an Olympic Games.

“The decision will be taken at 4 o’clock in the morning, based on samples taken 24 hours in advance within the framework of a protocol which was agreed with the international federation, which has the final say. The decision is taken together with the organizers, the IOC and the international federation. The decision will be taken at 4 a.m. and the delegations will be immediately informed so that the athletes can be notified as quickly as possible. An a statement will be made at 4 o’clock in the morning.”

That’s from Thobois, explaining the process by which the decision on holding the swimming portion of the triathlon in the Seine River. He explained:

“We’re monitoring very closely, the level of the Seine is going down very rapidly. The weather forecast is bright and shiny, and specifically today, it’s going to be hot so we’re confident that we will be able to hold [the event], even though we canceled the familiarization [swim] this morning, the competition tomorrow and Wednesday and we still have a contingency plan that is in place for Friday, in case.

“As far as we are concerned, we are still confident to be able to hold the competition tomorrow.”

● Paris ● Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, during a France Bleu radio interview, said that she would like to see the Olympic Rings remain on the Eiffel Tower into the future and that the images of 10 French women shown during the Olympic opening and the hot-air balloon “cauldron” placed on permanent display after the Games:

“There are three symbols that we must focus on so that they can remain as a legacy. There are the Olympic Rings on the Eiffel Tower, the cauldron, an extraordinary, magnificent object, and the place in which it is located is magnificent. There are also the very beautiful statues that we saw emerge in the sorority painting and about which I have long said to myself that they would also have their place in Paris, particularly in the 18th arrondissement.

“These three magnificent symbolic artistic objects deserve all our attention. They are undoubtedly part of iconic objects, a legacy of the Games that we will want to keep. But we have to work on it.”

The cauldron, in the Tuileries Garden, is being viewed daily by about 10,000 spectators, who need to obtain a ticket for a specific time to prevent overcrowding. As for the Rings and the Eiffel Tower, Christophe Dubi (SUI), the IOC’s Executive Director for the Olympic Games, was enthusiastic:

“It’s a great source of pride, to have the Rings that can be kept in place. … It is phenomenal.”

IOC spokesman Adams further explained:

“It’s one of the, if you like, minor reforms of Olympic Agenda [2020], President [Thomas] Bach has wanted the [Olympic] Rings to be more present. The Rings, after the Sydney Olympic Games were taken down from the bridge, so we are very happy if a city or a region or a country wants to have the Rings, but that is entirely in the first place something here for the Parisians, the Mayor and so on, to discuss.

“Do we like the Rings to be seen in an Olympic city, absolutely. Should they remain, I think that’s a question for Paris and for the French people.”

● 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:

30 July (Tue.): High of 98 (F) ~ low of 71, sunny
31 July (Wed.): 88 ~ 70, cloudy
01 Aug. (Thu.): 83 ~ 65, possible storms
02 Aug. (Fri.): 83 ~ 62, cloudy
03 Aug. (Sat.): 81 ~ 65, cloudy
04 Aug. (Sun.): 80 ~ 64 cloudy
05 Aug. (Mon.): 80 ~ 66, cloudy
06 Aug. (Tue.): 79 ~ 64, rainy
07 Aug. (Wed.): 78 ~ 61, morning rain
08 Aug. (Thu.): 79 ~ 61, morning rain
09 Aug. (Fri.): 79 ~ 60, cloudy
10 Aug. (Sat.): 78 ~ 59, cloudy
11 Aug. (Sun.): 79 ~ 60, cloudy

The triathlons are scheduled for 30-31 July and the mixed relay for 5 August; the open-water swimming is slated for 4-5 August.

● Medals & Teams ● After day three of competitions, the U.S. and France are piling up the medals:

● 1. 20, United States (3-8-9)
● 2. 16, France (5-8-3)
● 3. 12, Japan (6-2-4)
● 3. 12, China (5-5-2)
● 5. 10, Great Britain (2-5-3)
● 6. 9, Australia (5-4-0)
● 6. 9, South Korea (5-3-1)
● 8. 8, Italy (2-3-3)
● 9. 5, Canada (2-1-2)
● 10. Five tied with three each.

In our TSX team rankings, using a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 points system and a much better representation of team achievement, the U.S. continues to lead:

● 1. 175 1/2, United States
● 2. 157, France
● 3. 139, China
● 4. 127 1/2, Japan
● 5. 127 Italy
● 6. 124, Great Britain
● 7. 110, Australia
● 8. 96 1/2, Korea
● 9. 79 1/2, Germany
● 10. 62 1/2, Canada
● 11. 37, Brazil
● 12. 31, Kazakhstan

A total of 54 countries have scored points so far.

● Television ● NBC was thrilled with the fast-overnight audience estimates for Friday’s opening ceremony, with a total audience of 28.6 million for the live coverage and primetime show, plus 666,000 on Spanish-language Telemundo Deportes.

That’s 29.3 million across the U.S., way up on recent Games:

2021: 17.9 million for Tokyo (Covid-impacted)
2016: 26.5 million for Rio de Janeiro
2012: 40.7 million for London

Saturday’s fast-national data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics showed a total audience of 32.4 million across all platforms, far ahead of the first competition day at Tokyo 2020 (17.7 million), counting live afternoon programming and the primetime show. That’s slightly better than the 31.8 million total audience for NBC’s day 2 broadcast of the 2016 Rio Games.

Sunday was even better, with 41.5 million total audience delivery, almost double the 21.7 million audience for Tokyo 2020’s first Sunday and much better than the Day 3 total of 31.5 million from Rio 2016.

● Errata ● Thanks to sharp-eyed reader Olivier Bourgoin, who corrected Sunday’s error calling U.S. women’s football striker Trinity Rodman, ”Tiffany” Rodman. No doubt, she’s a jewel, but that’s not her name. Sorry.

= RESULTS: MONDAY, 29 JULY =
(19 finals across 11 sports)

● Archery: Men’s Team
South Korea won its third straight Olympic gold in this event, defeating France in the final by 5-1, and three-time individual World Champion Woo-jin Kim won his third gold as a member of all three teams.

The French were a surprise in second – its first-ever event in this event – but Turkey’s bronze was not, out-shooting China, 6-2. It’s also turkey’s first Olympic medal in this event.

● Canoeing: Men’s Slalom C-1
There was no stopping France’s Nicolas Gestin in the C-1. The 2023 Worlds silver winner, he was the last man on the course and ripped off the fastest run on the course at 91.36 – with no penalties – to win a home gold.

Slovenia’s 37-year-old Benjamin Savsek was the defending champion and started eighth, posting the no. 2 time on the course (94.93), but missed a gate and suffered a 50-second penalty to finish 11th. Instead, it was Adam Burgess (GBR: 96.84) for the silver and Matej Benus (SVK), the Rio silver medalist, claimed the bronze (97.03).

● Cycling: Men’s Mountain Bike
Defending Olympic champ Tom Pidcock (GBR) wanted to get to the front and he did early, but got all he could handle from France’s Victor Koretzky, a two-time winner on the UCI World Cup circuit this season.

Koretzky led Pidcock by 36 seconds after lap 3, but Pidcock passed South Africa’s Alan Hatherly and Koretzky to lead by the end of lap 7 and then at the end in 1:26:22, nine seconds better than the French star. Hatherly was a close third, finishing 11 seconds back in 1:26:33, and he and Kortezky won their first Olympic medals. Riley Amos was the top American, in seventh at 1:28:08.

● Diving: Men’s 10 m Synchro
How could you doubt China’s Junjie Lian and Hao Yang, who won this event at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Championships?

No need. They won at 490.35, comfortably ahead of Britain’s Tom Daley and Noah Williams, who were the silver winners at the 2024 Worlds (463.44) won silver; Daley now has won bronze-gold-silver in this event in the last three Games.

A distant third was Canada’s Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor -Murray at 422.13, up from fifth at the 2024 Worlds.

● Equestrian: Eventing
Germany’s Michael Jung returned to the top of the podium on the individual Eventing final, winning his third gold – also in 2012 and 2016 – but with a new horse (Chipmunk FRH), standing second after Dressage, first after Cross Country and with only four penalty points in Jumping, won at 21.80.

Australia’s Christopher Burton (Shadow Man) was third going into Jumping, but had only 0.4 penalties to move from third to second at 22.40, while Laura Collett (GBR, with London S2) had 4.8 penalties to drop to third with 23.10. Boyd Martin (Fedarman B) was the top U.S. finisher in 10th (32.10).

With Britain finishing 3-4-21 individually, that was good enough for the team title, with 52.50 points, ahead of France (87.20) and Japan (93.80). The U.S. was ninth (128.50). It’s Britain’s second straight Olympic win, and Collett and Tom McEwen won their second straight Olympic Team golds.

● Fencing: Men’s Foil; Women’s Sabre
Hong Kong’s Ka Long Cheung scored the final two points of the gold-medal match to repeat as Olympic men’s Foil champ with a tingling, 15-14 victory over Italy’s Filippo Macchi. It’s only the third time for a repeat Olympic champ in the event and the first since Christian d’Oriola (FRA) in 1952 and 1956!

Macchi was a surprise, ranked 13th worldwide and having a career total of three World Cup or Grand Prix medals! The bronze went to American Nick Itkin, the 2023 Worlds silver winner, who overcame Japan’s Kazuki Iimura, 15-12, for the bronze. It’s the U.S.’s fifth men’s Foil medal ever and only the second since 1960.

France had two major contenders in the women’s Sabre, with world no. 1 Sara Balzer, the 2023 European silver medalist and Manon Apithy-Brunet, the Tokyo bronze medalist and 2023 European champion. They ended up meeting in a classic in the final, with Apithy-Brunet edging Balzer for the gold, 15-12.

It’s France’s second-ever medal in the event, as Apithy Brunet won the Tokyo bronze. Olha Kharlan, the four-time World Champion from Ukraine who was involved in the mess with a Russian loser at the 2023 Worlds that clouded her qualification for Paris, won the bronze anyway – her third, after 2012 and 2016 – by defeating Korea’s Se-bin Choi, 15-14.

● Gymnastics: Men’s Team
Japan came in as the favorite and delivered, placing second on Floor and Parallel Bars, third on third on Vault and winning the Horizontal Bar to score 259.594, just enough to edge out China (259.062) for its second gold in the last three Games. It’s the sixth straight Games with a medal for Japan in this event and the fifth straight for China.

The U.S. qualified fifth, and were consistent, finishing second on Vault, Rings and Horizontal Bar, third on Floor and Pommel Horse and fourth in Parallel Bars to claim the bronze at 257.793, well clear of Great Britain (255.527). It’s the first U.S. men’s team medal since 2008.

For the U.S., Asher Hong scored 14.133 or better in four events and Fred Richard scored 14.033 or better in his four.

● Judo: Men’s 73 kg; Women’s 57 kg
Gold for 2024 World Champion Hidayet Heydarov (AZE), who defeated surprise finalist Joan-Benjamin Gaba (FRA) in the final, despite both being issues yellow cards.

Japan’s Soichi Hashimoto, the 2017 World Champion, won his first Olympic medal with a bronze-medal victory over Akil Gjakova (KOS) and Adil Osmanov (MGL) took the other with an upset over Italy’s 2023 Worlds bronzer Manuel Lombardo.

Canada’s Christa Deguchi, the 2023 World Champion, won a rematch of the 2024 Worlds final, which she lost against Korea’s Mi-mi Huh. Deguchi won this time and took Canada’s first gold or silver in the event. Huh won Korea’s first medal in the event since 1996.

France’s Tokyo silver medalist Sarah-Leonie Cysique won one bronze and Japan’s Haruka Funakubo, the 2022 Worlds runner-up, defeated Brazil’s 2016 Olympic winner, Rafaela Silva for the other. It’s the third straight for a bronze in this weight class for Japan.

● Shooting: Men’s 10 m Air Rifle; Women’s 10 m Air Rifle
China’s Lihao Sheng moved up from silver at Tokyo to take the gold in Paris (his second of the Games), scoring an Olympic Record of 252.2 in the final. That was enough to defeat Sweden’s 2023 World Champion, Victor Lindgren (251.4), with Miran Maricic (CRO: 230.0) in third.

In the women’s 10 m Air Rifle final, 16-year-old Hyo-jin Ban won a thriller in a shoot-off with China’s Yuting Huang, the 2022 Worlds runner-up. Tied at 251.8 after 24 shots, Ban shot 10.4 to Huang’s 10.3 to win the gold. It’s Korea first medal in the event since 2002 and its first win since 1992.

Swiss Audrey Gogniat took the bronze at 230.3, ahead of American Sagen Maddalena in fourth (207.7).

● Skateboarding: Men’s Street
Japan’s Yuto Horigome, the defending champion and 2021 World Champion, scored a sensational 97.08 on his final trick to score 281.14 and win the Street gold, edging American Jagger Eaton, who led all the way to the final round.

Eaton, the 2021 World Champion and Tokyo bronze medalist, scored 91.92 as the no. 2 run of the day and then got trick scores 93.87 and 95.25 for a total of 281.04. Fellow American Nyjah Huston, the six-time World Champion, was a disappointing seventh in Tokyo, but was solid in Paris, scoring 93.37 for the best run and had scoring tricks of 92.79 and 93.22 on his first two to finish with the bronze at 279.38.

● Swimming: Men’s 200 m Free-100 m Back;
Women’s 200 m Free-100 m Breast-400 m Medley
There was no doubt that Canada’s 17-year-old sensation Summer McIntosh – the world-record holder – was going to win, and she did.

McIntosh was first at the end of the Fly leg, with a big lead over American Katie Grimes, the 2023 Worlds runner-up, and Grimes got closer after the Backstroke leg. But McIntosh was strong on the Breast leg and moved away, while Grimes was getting heat from behind from Freya Colbert (GBR) and fellow American Emma Weyant, the Tokyo runner-up.

McIntosh was unchallenged on the way to gold in 4:27.71 – the no. 5 performance in history (she has four of the five) – but Grimes and Weyant were 2-3 at the final turn and finished that way, in 4:33.40 and 4:34.93. Colbert was fourth in 4:35.67.

The men’s 200 m Free had 2022 World Champion David Popovici (ROU) as the favorite, but 400 m Free winner Lukas Martens (GER) was first at the 100 m. They were 1-2 at the final turn and Luke Hobson of the U.S. was suddenly in the picture with 40 m to go. But Popovici found an extra gear in the final 15 m and touched first – somehow – in 1:44.72, with Britain’s Matthew Richards – in lane one – getting the touch for silver in 1:44.74 and Hobson got the bronze in 1:44.79. Britain’s Duncan Scott, the Tokyo runner-up, was fourth in 1:44.87; just 0.15 across the top four. Martens ended up fifth in 1:45.46.

China’s Jiayu Xu, the Rio 2016 silver medalist, had the lead in the men’s 100 m Back final at the turn, with Rio 2016 winner Ryan Murphy of the U.S. – out in lane two – in close attendance. Murphy got to the front with a brilliant underwater following the turn, but Italy’s 2022 World champ Thomas Ceccon surged in the final 20 m to get the lead and passed Murphy, winning in 52.00. Xu came up and got Murphy in the final meter or so for silver, 52.32 to 52.39. For the brilliant Murphy, it’s his seventh Olympic medal and third in this event (gold-bronze-bronze) in the last three Games.

China’s Qianting Tang, the 2024 World Champion, led at the turn of the women’s 100 m Breast final, ahead of Ireland’s Mona McSherry, a 2021 Worlds Short-Course bronze winner. But Tokyo silver winner Tatjana Schoenmaker-Smith (RSA) pulled through in the middle of the final lap and got to the front with 10 m to go and touched for the win in 1:05.28, with Tang at 1:05.54 and McSharry fading slightly to third in 1:05.59. American Lilly King, the Rio 2016 winner and Tokyo bronze medalist, was seventh at the turn and moved up to tie for fourth at 1:05.60, 0.17 behind her winning mark at the Olympic Trials.

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus was going for a double-double in the 200 and 400 m Frees in Tokyo and Paris, but Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, the Tokyo silver winner, was the leader at 50, 100 and 150 m in the women’s 200 Free final! Titmus came into the lead on the final turn, but it was 2023 World Champion and teammate Mollie O’Callaghan who had the best move in the last 25 m and edged ahead to stay, winning in an Olympic Record of 1:53.27, the no. 7 performance of all-time. Titmus was scond in 1:53.81 and Haughey a very deserving third in 1:54.55. American Claire Weinstein, 17, finished eighth in 1:56.60.

Elsewhere:

● Basketball ● The U.S. women won their 56th straight game in Olympic play, pushing aside Japan in Lille, 102-76. The Americans had a 22-15 lead at the half, 50-39 at half and 79-56 at the end of three quarters.

Center A’ja Wilson led the U.S. with 24 points on 10-16 shooting (and 13 rebounds) and sharpshooting guard Breanna Stewart led the U.S. with 22 points on 11-15 from the field. Kelsey Plum and Sabrina Ionescu added 11 each. Japan was led by Maki Takada with 24. The U.S. outshot Japan, 55-38%.

● Beach Volleyball The U.S. team of Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, the 2023 Worlds bronze medalists, defeated Australia’s Tokyo silver winners, Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in straight sets, 21-16, 21-16, in pool play to move to 2-0 in Paris.

● Rugby Sevens ● The U.S. women were fourth during the 2023-24 Sevens Series season and fifth at the Grand Finals and moved into the quarterfinals in Paris with a 17-7 win over Great Britain. They’ll play New Zealand next, the seasonal winner in the Sevens Series (four tournament wins), on Tuesday.

● Swimming ● World-record holder Regan Smith of the U.S. had no trouble winning her first semifinal in the women’s 100 m Backstroke, in 57.97, with Canada’s Kylie Masse – the Tokyo runner-up – second in 58.82. Defending Olympic champ Emma McKeon (AUS), the former world-record holder, led at the turn of semi two and then had to stretch a bit to beat Katharine Berkoff of the U.S., 57.99 to 58.27.

● Tennis Just a second-round match, but the 60th meeting between Serbia’s top-seeded Novak Djokovic and Spain’s Rafael Nadal, with Djokovic winning 6-1, 6-4, to eliminate the 38-year-old Spaniard.

= PREVIEWS: TUESDAY, 30 JULY =
(12 finals across 8 sports)

● Fencing: Women’s Team Epee
Estonia, South Korea and Italy won the medals in Tokyo, but Poland took the 2023 World title from Italy, with the Koreans third. In 2022, the Koreans took the Worlds gold, over Italy, with Poland third.

But looking at the individual women’s Epee results in Paris, France had three of the final 16, and the U.S. and Ukraine each had two. The French were fourth at the 2022 Worlds and might be a hot pick on their home pistes.

● Gymnastics: Women’s Team
All eyes on Simone Biles as the U.S. women compete in the team final, trying for their third gold medal in the last four Olympic Games. The American women have won this event in the last seven Worlds and are favored again. Biles suffered what appeared to be a minor left calf injury during the qualifying, but still put up the highest individual All-Around score.

The American women scored 172.296 in the qualifying, well ahead of surprising Italy (166.861), China (166.628) and Brazil (166.429). If the U.S. executes its plan, it should be another gold, after silver in Tokyo.

● Judo: Men’s 81 kg; Women’s 63 kg
Japan’s Takanori Nagase is the defending Olympic champion from Tokyo and is ready to defend, along with bronze winners Shamil Borchashvili (AUT) and Belgian Matthias Casse, the 2021 World Champion and world-ranked no. 1.

They will be challenged by no. 2-ranked Tato Grigalashvili (GEO), the 2022-23-24 World Champion (who beat Casse in two finals), 2022 and 2023 bronzer Joon-hwan Lee (KOR), and Dutch star Frank de Wit, the 2021 Worlds bronze medalist. A surprise pick might be Israel’s 2019 World Champion, Sagi Muki, now ranked no. 18.

French fans will be pulling for Tokyo winner Clarisse Agnegnenou to repeat, and she is the favorite, having won Worlds golds in 2014-17-18-19-21-23. However, bronze winner Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (CAN) is back, as is 2023 Worlds silver winner Andrea Leski (SLO) and bronze winners Szofi Orbas (HUN), and Joanne van Lieshout (NED), who won the 2024 Worlds gold over Angelika Szymanska (POL).

● Rugby Sevens: Women
New Zealand, Australia and France all powered through their groups with 3-0 records, with the U.S. looking next best at 2-1.

Australia beat New Zealand in Rio and New Zealand beat France in Tokyo, and Australia (three wins), New Zealand (four wins) and France were the best teams in the 2023-24 Rugby Sevens Series. The Aussies beat France in the women’s Grand Finals in June and are likely to do so again.

● Shooting: Men’s Trap; Mixed Team 10 m Air Pistol
The men’s Trap final is on, with the U.S. having the 2022 World Champion in Derrick Mein. Croatia’s Giovanni Cernograz is the reigning World Champion and was the 2012 Olympic champ, but Tokyo 2020 winner Jiri Liptak (CZE) and bronze winner Matthew Colley-Smith (GBR, also the 2019 World Champion) are both back.

Not to be overlooked are Italy’s 2019 Worlds runner-up Mauro de Filippis, or American Will Hinton, a member of the U.S. Team winners at the 2023 Worlds, with Mein.

In the Mixed Team 10 m Air Pistol event, Turkey will face Serbia for the gold and India and Korea will compete for the bronze. The Turks – Sevval Tarhan and Yusuf Dikec – were 2023 Worlds silver medalists in this event, behind India and Korea won the silver at the 2022 Worlds.

The Serbs – Zorana Arunovic and Damir Mikec – will be looking for redemption after finishing fourth in this event in Tokyo.

● Surfing: Men’s and Women’s Shortboard
In Tahiti, the surfing finals will be on, with Brazil’s 2024 World Champion Gabriel Medina and two-time World Champion Filipe Toledo, American John John Florence and Australia’s Jack Robinson all stars on this year’s World Surfing League tour. Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi is back and won the Tokyo silver and Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam won the World Surfing Games silver in 2023.

The U.S. has defending champ Carissa Moore back in the women’s competition, who will be challenged by 2023 World Champion Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA), France’s two-time Worlds medalist Joanne Defray and Americans Caroline Marks and Caitlin Simmers.

● Swimming: Men’s 800 m Free-4×200 m Free Relay;
Women’s 100 m Back

Defending Olympic men’s 800 m Freestyle champ Bobby Finke is ready to defend his title, made somewhat easier by the withdrawal – due to injury – of 2023 World Champion Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia. However, Finke is only no. 6 on the 2024 year list, with 2024 World Champion Daniel Whiffen (IRL), Australia’s 400 m Free silver winner Elijah Winnington and Sam Short, Italy’s Tokyo silver winner Gregorio Paltrinieri and others ahead of him. Will he have that famous kick he showed in Tokyo?

Great Britain, the U.S. and Australia went 1-2-3 in the men’s 4×200 m Free relay at the 2023 Worlds, and China will also challenge in 2024. The British have four of the top nine performers on the world list and are clear favorites; the U.S. have four of the top 13.

The women’s 100 m Backstroke final should be a classic between Olympic champ Kaylee McKeown of Australia and new world-record holder Regan Smith of the U.S. Between them, they own the top seven performances of the year, followed by American Katharine Berkoff and Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan. Smith’s world mark of 57.13 is definitely in danger.

● Table Tennis: Mixed Doubles
This is only the second appearance of Mixed Doubles in the Games after it was held for the first time in Tokyo. China’s Chuqin Wang and Yingsha Sun are the favorites after winning the Worlds gold in 2022 and 2023, but the North Korean duo of Jong Sik Ri and Kum Yong Kim – seeded 16th! – are a surprise in the final.

The bronze-medal match has South Korea’s Jonghoon Lim and Yubin Shin, who reached the 2023 Worlds quarterfinals against the veteran Hong Kong pair of Chun Ting Wong and Hoi Kem Doo, the 2023 Worlds bronze medalists.

● Triathlon: Men
Assuming the full event is held – swimming, cycling and running – French hopes are on 2022 World Champion Leo Bergere and Pierre LeCorre, Britain looking to 2020 Olympic silver winner Alex Yee, plus New Zealand’s Tokyo bronze winner Hayden Wilde and 2020 Olympic winner Kristian Blummenfeldt (NOR) all contenders. The U.S. has an outside shot for a medal with Morgan Pearson.

= INTEL REPORT =

● Olympic Games 2024: Paris ● The French newspaper Le Parisien reported that police arrested 44 members of a group called “Extinction Rebellion” who had plans for sabotage during the Games.

A car driven by one activist had bales of straw, mats and 35 buckets of water. An Extinction Rebellion social-media post said the protest had been canceled “following the crackdown on activists prior to it starting.”

Airline travel to France is down during the Games period, as the Olympics is keeping people away who might otherwise visit in another year. And CNBC reported that airlines which had jacked up prices are now discounting them in hopes of getting last-minute flyers. And:

“Like the airlines, many hotels raised rates to take advantage of the tourism bump, only to discount them following a spring season of slow bookings.

“Still, average rates are up nearly 70% this July, from 202 euros last year to 342 euros during the Olympic period, Paris’ tourism board said. Estimates from the travel price comparison website Trivago show rates have jumped even more, up 85% year on year in Paris, and 131% in Lille, which is hosting some of the Games’ basketball and handballs competitions.”

So those who did go are really paying for it.

● Press-Radio-TV ● On the same day that the head of the Olympic Broadcasting Services, Yiannis Exarchos (GRE) made extensive comments at the Paris 2024 Main Press Center about the importance of fair reporting of women in sport, Eurosport fired longtime swimming commentator Bob Ballard (GBR) for a sexist comment.

Following the victory ceremony for the Australian women in the 4×100 m Freestyle Relay on Saturday, Ballard, 82, was heard saying, “Well, the women just finishing up. You know what women are like… hanging around, doing their make-up.”

On Sunday, Eurosport issued a statement:

“During a segment of Eurosport’s coverage last night, commentator Bob Ballard made an inappropriate comment.

“To that end, he has been removed from our commentary roster with immediate effect.”

The Russian news agency TASS reported that it had the accreditation of its four journalists revoked by the Paris 2024, citing government instructions. The TASS report included:

“The revocation of accreditation from TASS journalists was a total surprise for us. …

“The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee cited the decision of the French authorities when it deprived the journalists of their legitimate right to do their job but it provided no concrete claims or reasons for such a decision.”

● Beach Volleyball ● There were some boos on Sunday for Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, 29, who was convicted of child rape in 2016 and served 13 months in prison in Great Britain and The Netherlands out of a four-year sentence in Britain, where the offense occurred.

Van de Velde was selected for the 2024 Dutch team, playing with Matthew Immers and world-ranked no. 11, lost to Italy’s Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula by 22-17, 19-21, 15-13.

Questions about whether van de Velde should have been allowed to play were directed to the International Olympic Committee, which explained that the selection process for athletes is up to the respective National Olympic Committees. Spokesman Mark Adams (GBR) said that he understood that van de Velde is not staying in the Olympic Village, but at a hotel arranged by the Dutch NOC.

● Cycling ● American cyclist Haley Batten won the women’s Mountain Bike silver, but was docked CHF 500 for “failure to respect the instructions of the race organization or commissaires,” going through a service lane alongside the course.

Her silver medal was not challenged.

● Football ● The French Public Prosecutor’s office said it has opened an inquiry into death threats against three Israeli athletes, and a racist incident at the Israel vs. Paraguay men’s football match at the Parc de Princes in Paris on Sunday.

A report cited about 50 or more fans “dressed in black, masked and carrying Palestinian flags unfurl a banner saying ‘Genocide Olympics'” and one “made gestures of an anti-Semitic nature.” The Paris 2024 organizers filed a police complaint. Paraguay won the match, 4-2.

● Sailing ● Pretty good fan turnout for the first day of sailing in Marseille, with 8,000 filling up the Club 2024 viewing area onshore, to watch the 49er and 49erFX classes. Pretty good!

You can receive our exclusive TSX Report by e-mail by clicking here. You can also refer a friend by clicking here, and can donate here to keep this site going.

For our updated, 547-event International Sports Calendar for the rest of 2024 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!

Must Read