Home1996 Olympic GamesPARIS 2024 Review & Preview: Titmus wins women’s 400 Free, U.S. takes men’s 4x1 Free relay; yes,...

PARIS 2024 Review & Preview: Titmus wins women’s 400 Free, U.S. takes men’s 4×1 Free relay; yes, the opening was “political”

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= PARIS 2024 =
From Lane One

The Paris 2024 opening made a big impression, not only for the audacious use of the Seine River for the parade of athletes, but also for the inclusion of so many cultural and political touchstones, especially for France, but also elements that were pointed out elsewhere.

Paris 2024 ceremonies chief Thomas Jolly was not at all apologetic, telling a Saturday morning news conference (as interpreted online):

“The Olympic Games, and this ceremony, is naturally a political moment with a big ‘P.’ It’s the city, in the Greek sense. There’s the city, there’s the country, there’s the world, so naturally we speak about ‘us.’

“And as far as we speak about us, we are political. The idea is not to be subversive, or to shock people, or to mock people, not at all. The idea is to say that we are – a big ‘we’ – we had Republican ideas, we had ideas about inclusion, about generosity, about solidarity, things I believe we need most.”

As for the rain, there ceremonies team had been assured 10 days earlier that 26 July should be sunny. They had to improvise very late in the process and did remove some dancers from locations which were slippery and dangerous.

Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet said that the segment that featured its sponsor LVMH as reflective of their partnership with the organizing committee, and not any part of a contractual agreement.

It was also explained that the “Olympic flame” and the hot-air balloon cauldron actually had no fire at all, but CO2 combined with water vapor in a sustainability demonstration combined with a lot of lighting, instead of gas. This “electric flame” was developed by Paris 2024 partner EDF.

In all, there were about 6,800 athletes from 205 delegations in the Seine parade and more than 300,000 spectators. The overnight television audience in France was 27.7 million, about 41% of the entire population.

Reporters praised the ceremony, but noted it wasn’t perfect.

There was an embarrassment as the public address introduction of the South Korean team – formally the Republic of Korea – was as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” in French and English.

That’s the formal name for North Korea. The South Korean delegation noticed, and the International Olympic Committee issued a statement, including:

“An error occurred in our broadcast when introducing the team of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the Republic of Korea during the Opening Ceremony, we apologise sincerely.”

IOC spokesman Mark Adams called the incident, “clearly, deeply regrettable and we apologize wholeheartedly.”

The Olympic flag was also apparently flown upside down during the ceremony during the protocol segment of the program. And a media bus returning to the Main Press Center hit a street pole, throwing some passengers to the floor.

Stuff happens. It was still great.
~ Rich Perelman

● Les Temps ● With multiple changes due to rain on Saturday, weather in Paris is officially an issue. The forecast has more sun and more rain, which could prove troublesome for the triathlon later in the week:

28 July (Sun.): High of 80 (F), low of 61, sunny
29 July (Mon.): 89 ~ 68, sunny
30 July (Tue.): 93 ~ 71, cloudy
31 July (Wed.): 87 ~ 69, possible storms
01 Aug. (Thu.): 85 ~ 64, cloudy
02 Aug. (Fri.): 83 ~ 64, sunny
03 Aug. (Sat.): 84 ~ 65, cloudy
04 Aug. (Sun.): 81 ~ 63 cloudy
05 Aug. (Mon.): 78 ~ 64, cloudy
06 Aug. (Tue.): 79 ~ 62, cloudy
07 Aug. (Wed.): 78 ~ 61, rainy
08 Aug. (Thu.): 79 ~ 60, cloudy
09 Aug. (Fri.): 78 ~ 61, cloudy
10 Aug. (Sat.): 79 ~ 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.

● Medals & Teams ● After the first day of medal action, the U.S. and Australia both have five (3-2-0 for Australia, 1-2-2 for the U.S.). France has four medals and China and Italy won three each.

Of course, TSX prefers our eight-place, 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring by event, giving a much more “diverse, equitable and inclusive” view of the relative achievements of the teams:

1. 61, Australia
2. 47, United States
3. 40 1/2, France
4. 40, China
5. 32 1/2, Italy
6. 30, Germany
7. 25 1/2, Korea
8. 25, Great Britain
9. 19 1/2, Kazakhstan
10. 19, Belgium

A total of 37 National Olympic Committees scored points on day one.

= RESULTS: SATURDAY, 27 JULY =

● Shooting: Mixed Team 10 m Air Rifle
As has become traditional, the first medals of the Games were awarded in shooting, with China defending its gold medal in the Mixed 10 m Air Rifle with Lihao Sheng and Yuting Huang winning over Jihyeon Keum and Hajun Park (KOR), 16-12. Kazakhstan won the bronze, 17-5, over Germany.

● Cycling: Men’s Time Trial; Women’s Time Trial
The women’s Time Trial went first, over a wet, flat, 32.4 km course, and came down to the final two riders. In the final 10 riders, the lead moved from no. 9 Lotte Kopecky (BEL), then to no. 6 Juliette Labous (FRA), to no. 5 Demi Vollering (NED), to no. 4 Anna Henderson (GBR) and then to no. 2 Grace Brown of Australia.

That left Chloe Dygert of the U.S. as the last one up, and despite a brief crash, she was able to challenge Henderson’s split times, but could not touch Brown, the national time trial champion and a winner earlier in the year on the UCI Women’s World Tour. She won in 39:38.24, by a huge margin over Henderson (41:09.83) with Dygert third (41:10.70). Taylor Knibb of the U.S. also crashed and finished 19th (43:03.46).

It’s Australia’s first-ever medal in this event, but the sixth time in the eight times it has been held that the U.S. has won a medal.

The men’s time trial, over the same course, produced fabulous results for cycling-mad Belgium, as Tour de France third-placer and 2023 World Time Trial Champion Remco Evenepoel won in 36:12.16, ahead of two-time World Time Trial champ Filippo Ganna (ITA: 36:27.08).

Belgium’s Wout van Aert, a three-time World Cyclo-Cross champ, took the bronze at 36:37.79; American Brandon McNulty was fifth (37:16.60), and Magnus Sheffield, who had a crash, was 16th (38:05.24).

It’s not only Belgium’s first-ever gold in the event, but its first medal since 1924 in Paris, when Henri Hoevenaers won the silver! Ganna won Italy’s first medal in the Time Trial since 1932!

● Diving: Women’s 3 m Synchro
As expected, China took the gold, with World Champions Yani Chang and Yiwen Chen winning with 337.68 points, ahead of Americans Saran Bacon and Kassidy Cook (314.64) and Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen (302.28). The Chinese won all five dives.

In the seven editions of this event at the Games, China has now won six times. It’s the second time the U.S. has won a medal in this event, also a silver in 2012 with Kelci Bryant and Abigail Johnston.

● Fencing: Men’s Sabre; Women’s Epee
Korea was always a contender, with men’s Sabre bronze medals in Rio and Tokyo, but finally broke through with a gold from 2019 World Champion Sang-uk Oh. He defeated surprise finalist Fares Ferjani – 13th-seeded from Tunisia – by 15-11 in the final.

Italy’s Luigi Samele, the Tokyo 2020 runner-up, took the bronze by defeating top-seeded Ziad Elsissy (EGY), the 2023 Worlds bronze winner, 15-12. Mitchell Saron was the best American finisher, reaching the round-of-16.

The women’s Epee final had world no. 1 Vivian Man Wai Kong (HKG) eking out a difficult, 13-12 win over France’s Auriane Mallo-Breton, only 12th at the 2023 World Championships. Kong had won bronze medals at the 2019 and 2023 Worlds, but collected the first-ever medal in this event for Korea.

Hungary’s 10th-seeded Eszter Muhari won the bronze over 12th-seeded Nelli Differt (EST), 15-14.

● Judo: Men’s 60 kg; Women’s 48kg
The men’s final saw Yeldos Smetov (KAZ) finally get to the top of the podium. He won a silver at Rio 2016, then bronze in Tokyo and finally completed his medal set with a gold over France’s Luka Mkheidze by waza-ari, despite receiving two yellow cards. Mkheidze also moved up, having also won a bronze in Tokyo.

Spain’s 2023 World Champion Francisco Garrigos and Japan’s Ryuju Nagayama won the bronze-medal matches.

Japan’s Natsumi Tsunoda, the 2023 World Champion, took the women’s 48 kg final by defeating 2024 World Champion Baasankhuu Bavuudorj of Mongolia by waza-ari after 2:54. It’s the first Olympic win for Japan in this weight class since 2004!

Sweden’s Tara Babulfath, the 2024 Worlds bronzer, and Shirine Boukli (FRA) took the bronze medals.

● Rugby Sevens: Men
Fiji came in having won both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 tournaments and roared into the final once again by smashing Australia, 31-7, in its semifinal. It was rewarded with a match with home-standing France – at the Stade de France – a 19-5 winner over South Africa.

In the final, it was all for Les Blues, who dominated with a 28-7 victory for its first-ever medal in the Olympic rugby sevens. It was 7-7 at half, but Aaron Grandidier Nkanang scored 21 second into the second half, Antoine Dupont got a try at 5:30 and he got a second at 7:28 to finish the scoring.

In the third-place match, South Africa defeated Australia, 26-19. It’s South Africa’s second Olympic bronze, also in the debut tournament in 2016. The U.S. placed eighth, losing the 7-8 final to Argentina, 19-0.

● Skateboarding: Men’s Street
Due to the rain, this was re-scheduled for 29 July (Monday).

● Swimming: Men’s 400 m Free-4×100 m Free Relay;
Women’s 400 m Free-4×100 m Free Relay

German Lukas Martens, the world leader and qualifying leader, took the lead right away and led Korean Woo-min Kim and Elijah Winnington (AUS) at 100 m, 200 m and Martins, Kim and Sam Short (AUS) led at 300 m. Martens extended his lead at the turn at 350 m and held on to touch first in 3:41.78. Winnington came back to pass Kim for second, 3:42.21 to 3:42.50, with Short fourth (3:42.64). American Aaron Shackell, in his first Games at 19, finished eighth in 3:47.00.

The eagerly-awaited women’s 400 m Freestyle had Rio 2016 champ Katie Ledecky as the qualifying leader, just ahead of Tokyo 2020 winner (and world-record holder) Ariarne Titmus of Australia (4:02.46) in heat three. In the final, Titmus got out best and she and McIntosh turned first at 100 m, with Ledecky fourth. Paige Madden moved up to third by 150, but Titmus and McIntosh were moving away by 250 with Ledecky third. Titmus was the clear leader by 300 m, with only McIntosh close.

Titmus finished in 3:57.49, the no. 9 performance of all time, and McIntosh was second in 3:58.37, with Ledecky hanging on for third in 4:00.86, two and a half seconds slower than her time at the Olympic Trials. It’s her 11th career Olympic medal. Madden finished sixth in 4:02.26, just 0.18 off her lifetime best.

Titmus defended her Tokyo 2020 victory and is the first repeater in the event since Martha Norelius of the U.S. in 1924 and 1928.

In the women’s 4×100 m Freestyle Relay, the favored Australians swam their best legs first, with Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack and had the lead after two legs, with China the closest. The U.S. was fourth with Kate Douglass and Gretchen Walsh, but Huske moved up to second at 300 m and it became a battle on the final leg.

Australia’s Meg Harris – third at their trials – had to swim the fastest leg of the day at 51.94 to hold off the hard-closing Simone Manuel of the U.S. (52.61) and China’s Qingfeng Wu (52.31) to win in an Olympic Record of 3:28.92, the no. 2 performance of all time. The Americans set U.S. record of 3:30.20 in second (no. 5 performance all-time), with China at 3:30.30 (no. 7).

It’s the fourth straight gold for Australia in this event, although closer than some expected.

The men’s 4×100 Free Relay started China taking the lead with wold-record holder Zhanle Pan at 46.92 over Jack Alexy (47.67), but Chris Guiliano got the lead for the U.S. on the second leg with a fast 47.33.

Then the 6-6 Hunter Armstrong – better known until this year as a backstroker – took over and blew the race apart. His sensational 46.75 leg gave the U.S. a lead it would not relinquish and with star Caeleb Dressel on anchor (47.53), the U.S. was a convincing winner in 3:09.28. It’s Dressel’s eighth Olympic gold.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Rio 2016 100 m Free winner Kyle Chalmers put in a 46.59 finisher to move up to second in 3:10.35, passing Italy (3:10.70) in third, with China fourth (3:11.28).

Elsewhere:

● Beach Volleyball ● The U.S. women’s duo of Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth – favorites for a medal – won their opener against Canada’s Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec, 21-17, 21-14.

● Football ● The U.S. men’s team got off to a good start in its second match, against New Zealand in Marseille, as Djordje Mihailovic scored on a fourth-minute penalty

Off a free kick in the 12th, defender Nathan Harriel headed the ball, which bounced to the ground. He kicked it and when New Zealand could not clear, defender Walker Zimmerman slammed the rebound into the net for a 2-0 lead.

The U.S. stayed on offense and in the 30th, got another score on a rebound, by midfielder Gianluca Busio, whose shot came right back to him and he sent another shot forward that ricocheted off a defender and into the Kiwi goal for a 3-0 advantage. The U.S. had only 40% of possession in the half, but out-shot New Zealand, 7-1.

The second half was a little more cautious for the U.S., but sub striker Griffin Yow crossed from the left side to midfielder Paxten Aaronson in the middle of the box, who sent a left-footed shot into the right side of the net for a 4-0 lead in the 58th.

Jesse Randall got a goal for New Zealand in the 78th to finish the scoring, and ended with 52% possession, but the U.S. had 19 shots to 9.

● Gymnastics ● The men’s team qualifying was led as expected by China (263.028) and Japan (260.594), with Great Britain, Ukraine, the U.S. (5:253.229), Italy, Switzerland and Canada advancing to the team final.

China’s Boheng Zhang had the best All-Around score at 88.597, followed by Shinnosuke Oka (JPN: 86.865) and defending A-A champion Daiki Hashimoto (JPN: 85.064, including a fall on the horizontal bar). American Fred Richard qualified in 10th (83.498) and Paul Juda qualified in 13th (82.865).

The U.S. qualified one apparatus finalist, Stephen Nedoroscik, second on the Pommel Horse.

● Hockey ● U.S. women opened vs. Argentina in Pool B and lost, 4-1.

● Swimming ● In the women’s 100 m Butterfly semis, U.S. champ Gretchen Walsh – the world-record holder – looked very bit the favorite, winning semi one easily with an Olympic Record of 55.38! Teammate Torri Huske won semi two in 56.00, trailed by China’s Yufei Zhang (56.15) and defending champ Maggie Mac Neil (CAN: 56.55).

In the men’s 100 m Breaststroke semifinals, Britain’s Adam Peaty – trying for a three-peat – led all qualifiers at 58.86, with 2024 World Champion Nic Fink second in the first semi in 59.16. China’s Haiyang Qin, the 2023 World Champion, won semi two in 58.93.

● Tennis ● Most of the schedule was wiped out due to the rain and is being rescheduled, but some of the later matches finally got in.

● Volleyball ● The U.S. men opened against Argentina, winning in straight sets, 25-20, 25-19, 25-16. Next will be Germany, on the 30th.

● Water Polo ● The defending champion U.S. women opened in Group B with a 15-6 victory over Greece, taking a 3-0 lead in the first and 9-2 at half. Jenna Flynn scored four goals (three in the first half) and Jovana Sekulic, Tara Prentice and Maggie Steffens had two each.

= PREVIEWS: SUNDAY, 28 JULY =
(13 finals across 8 sports)

● Archery: Women’s Team
This event has been held nine times in Olympic competition and South Korea has won all nine. However, in a startling development, they failed to win a medal at the 2023 Worlds in Berlin, as Germany won over France, with Mexico third; the Koreans lost to Indonesia in the round of 16.

Possible again? Yes. Likely? No.

● Canoe: Women’s Slalom K-1
The biggest star in women’s slalom, Australia’s Jessica Fox, will be the focus of the women’s K-1 final, where she has won silver-bronze-bronze in the last three Games, but is a four-time World Champion in the event. Start of a sweep for her in all three women’s slalom events?

● Cycling: Women’s Mountain Bike
The women’s cross-country (XCO) world title has mostly belonged to France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, 32, who has Worlds golds from 2015-19-20-22-23. She has to be the favorite again, with teammate Loana Lecomte and Dutch star Puck Pieterse – 2-3 at the 2023 Worlds – certain to challenge again

Longshots: Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds, the 2016 Olympic champ, and American Haley Batten, both of whom have won World Cup races this season.

● Fencing: Men’s Epee; Women’s Foil
Defending men’s Epee champion Romain Cannone won a bronze at the 2023 Worlds and is in the mix with winner Mate Tomas Koch (HUN) and Davide Di Veroli (ITA), the 2023 runner-up. Cannone won the 2022 Worlds gold, beating another strong Paris contender, Kazuyasu Minobe (JPN), in the final.

Defending Olympic champion Lee Kiefer will try for a second straight gold in the women’s Foil fencing tournament. She’s won bronze at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, but also two Grand Prix titles in 2024. Italy’s two-time World Champions, Alice Volpi and Arianna Errigo, figure to be in her way, as will home favorite Ysoara Thibus, the 2022 World Champion.

● Judo: Men’s 66 kg, Women’s 52 kg
One of the best memories of Tokyo 2020 was the same-day gold medals for brother and sister Hifumi Abe and Uta Abe in the men’s 66 kg and women’s 52 kg class. They are back to try for the double-double!

They are certainly favored: they both are four-time World Champions and both won titles at the 2018, 2022 and 2023 Worlds!

● Shooting: Men’s 10 m Air Pistol; Women’s 10 m Air Pistol
Nine countries have won medals in the men’s 10 m Air Pistol in the last four Games, and the merry-go-round could continue. Tokyo silver medalist Damir Mikec (SRB) made the final, as did German star Christian Reitz, the Rio 2016 Rapid-Fire Pistol gold medalist. China has 24-year-old Yu Xie, who won the Worlds 50 m Pistol gold in 2022 and Korea’s Won-ho Lee is back after finishing fourth at the 2022 Worlds.

Tokyo Olympic women’s bronze medalist Ranxin Jiang (CHN) is back, and teammate Xue Li took the 2023 Worlds bronze in this event. Vietnam’s Thu Vinh Trinh and Hungary’s Veronika Major are clear contenders. Korea’s Yeji Kim won a World Cup 25 m Pistol event this year

● Skateboarding: Women’s Street
The Olympic debut in Tokyo saw Momiji Nishiya (age 13) win over Rayssa Leal (BRA: 13) and Funa Nakayama (JPN: 16). They are still stars, although older, with Leal winning the 2022 Worlds, with Nishiya third and Nishiya taking bronze again in the 2023 Worlds.

Japan’s 2023 Worlds winner was Yumeka Oda, all of 17, who beat Leal for gold last year.

● Swimming: Men 400 m Medley-100 m Breast;
Women’s 100 m Butterfly

The man who may be France’s face of the Games will be in the men’s 400 m Individual Medley: Leon Marchand. He won the 2023 world title in world-record time (4:02.50) and comes in as the favorite. He’ll be chased by 2024 world leader Carson Foster of the U.S., Japan’s three-time World Champion Daiya Seto and 2024 World Champion Lewis Clareburt (NZL).

Britain’s Adam Peaty will be trying for an unprecedented third straight Olympic gold in the men’s 100 m Breaststroke. He’s the world leader at 57.94, but will have to deal with China’s 2023 World Champion and American Nic Fink, the 2024 World Champion.

The women’s 100 m Butterfly has American world-record setter Gretchen Walsh being chased by Tokyo bronze winner Emma McKeon (AUS), as well as American teammate Torri Huske and 2024 World Champion Angelina Kohler (GER). This is going to be great.

In preliminary action, women’s gymnastics team qualifying will feature Simone Biles and the favored U.S. women, and the U.S. men’s team opens with Serbia and NBA superstar center Nikola Jokic in Lille, and the U.S. women’s football squad has its second match in pool play against Germany – the 2022 European runners-up – in Marseille.

= INTEL REPORT =

● Olympic Games 1996: Atlanta ● Saturday marked a sad anniversary, of the 1:25 a.m. bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta by terrorist Eric Rudolph. The device killed one, injured 111 and a photographer died later of a heart attack while running to the scene.

Rudolph was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to four life terms for this and two other bombings.

● NCAA ● NCAA athletes are all over Paris, and a continuous-updated list shows that 1,217 of its athletes are at the Olympic Games, with 385 on the U.S. team (out of 592!), followed by Canada (131), Australia (44), Nigeria (38) and Germany and Jamaica (34).

In terms of the top schools: USC (58), Stanford (54), California and Michigan (41), Florida (39), UCLA (34) and LSU (33). Of the 1,217, 1,166 are from Division I schools.

● Boxing ● Sad news that Samoan boxing coach Lionel Elika Fatupaito passed away on Friday, at the Olympic Village due to a cardiac arrest.

● Swimming ● Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Australia’s Tokyo 200 m Breaststroke gold medalist Zac Stubblety-Cook said he is considering a protest if he is on the victory stand with China’s Haiyang Qin, who won the 50-100-200 m Breast events at the 2023 World Championships. He is well aware of the potential sanctions under Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter:

“Everyone probably is aware of Rule 50 here and the repercussions that happen with that. I think potentially we could see protests in other events as well. Personally I think I will make a decision probably on the day.

“But you know at the end of the day, I’m a clean athlete and I’m trying to abide by those rules and I just hope my competitors do the same. …

“It’s obviously disappointing to hear that news and hear about the pre-Tokyo 23 athletes testing positive, some multiple times.

“And for me, racing someone that was one of those athletes and finding out he was one of those athletes was disappointing. “I think it’s less about what country they came from and more about the system and how the system ultimately feels like it’s failed. And that’s the truth.”

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