Thursday, September 19, 2024
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Simone Biles, U.S. women's gymnastics headline top events on July 28 at the Paris Games

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After a busy full day of competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, big names close out the first weekend.

Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera made their Paris debuts on the U.S. gymnastics team in qualifications Sunday.

Team USA men’s basketball will face three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and Serbia to start group play. It will mark the first Olympic Game in Stephen Curry‘s career and the first for LeBron James since 2012.

U.S. women soccer’s quest for its record-extending fifth gold medal continues with a matchup against Germany. The U.S. comfortably defeated Zambia 3-0 on Thursday and faces a Germany squad also coming off a win.

Top events to watch

  • 11:15 a.m. ET: Basketball, U.S. men’s team vs. Serbia

  • 2:30 p.m. ET: Swimming, medal rounds for men’s 400m individual medley, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 100m butterfly; semifinals for men’s/women’s 200m freestyle, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 100m breaststroke

  • 3 p.m. ET: Soccer, U.S. women’s team vs. Germany

A full list of the July 28 schedule can be found here.

Here are some of the top moments from Sunday’s action:

Nadal disrupted by young fan

PARIS — One of the unwritten rules in the fan’s guide to mid-match tennis revelry is knowing exactly when you can shout for your favorite player.

Sadly, one young child in attendance at Roland-Garros learned that lesson the hard way Sunday afternoon.

As 14-time French Open champ Rafael Nadal of Spain was tossing up a ball for a 40-love serve late in the first set of his singles opener against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, the child in the upper deck of Philippe-Chatrier Court suddenly broke the pre-serve quiet to shout the legend’s name: “Rafa!”

Immediately, an audible, yet hushed, gasp echoed across the venue.

The exclamation broke Nadal’s concentration. He ended up catching the ball with his hand instead of hitting it, regrouping and taking a deep breath before eventually tossing it back up in the air and firing off the serve.

Ultimately, the supportive yet ill-timed shout had no effect. Nadal quickly closed out the first set seconds later, winning 6-1. Nadal did, however, stumble as he started his second set, dropping the first three games. — Coley Harvey

Snoop Dogg shows love to Simone Biles

With women’s gymnastics qualification in full swing today, Snoop Dogg showed up at Bercy Arena to support Team USA — as well as sport some distinctive merchandise.

Under his custom Olympic jacket, Snoop Dogg boasted his allegiances less subtly, rocking a white T-shirt emblazoned with “USA” … as well as Simone Biles’ face.

PARIS — As injuries and illnesses continue to mount among tennis players at the Olympics, another unexpected name has appeared in the men’s singles draw: Petros Tsitsipas.

The 24-year-old from Greece, and the younger brother and doubles partner of Stefanos, Tsitsipas was announced as the replacement for Cameron Norrie on Sunday after he withdrew due to injury.

Why is this so unexpected? The 24-year-old Tsitsipas is a doubles specialist who has played just six tour-level singles matches in his career. His career-high singles ranking is No. 727, which he achieved three years ago. Tsitsipas is currently unranked. He has never played in singles at a Grand Slam.

While most tournaments, including majors, allow for lucky losers from qualifying to be named as replacements, the Olympics has no such qualifying draw. Instead, only players who are named to a country’s official roster one week before the start of the Games are eligible to play in any draw. As a result, when a singles player withdraws after the rosters are set but before play begins, their spot will go to a doubles player. Some also play singles, but others have little or no experience.

And Tsitsipas isn’t the only player who surprisingly found his way into the singles draw in Paris. Australia’s Matthew Ebden, also unranked in singles, hadn’t played a singles match in over two years before being tapped to replace Denmark’s Holger Rune. He lost 6-0, 6-1 to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in just 53 minutes in the first round on Saturday. And Portugal’s Francisco Cabral, who has never played a tour-level singles match, is also now in the draw, having replaced injured Australian Alex de Minaur.

Djokovic criticized the policy after his win on Saturday.

“I don’t think it’s a good image for the sport, to be honest,” Djokovic said. “There were a lot of singles players that have plenty of time, that were alternates, that could have been called to come. This part I don’t get.”

Ebden told Djokovic at the end of the match he was now officially retired from singles.

Tsitsipas will play Holland’s Tallon Griekspoor on Sunday in the day’s final match on Court 10. — D’Arcy Maine

South Sudan’s run in men’s basketball isn’t over

Just over a week ago, South Sudan came close to pulling off one of the greatest upsets in basketball history when it took Team USA to the wire in a 101-100 loss. That game was merely an Olympic tuneup, though, and South Sudan’s first official contest at the Games proved Cinderella’s slipper still fits.

Powered by Carlik Jones’ 19 points, South Sudan upset Puerto Rico 90-79 on Sunday morning, marking the country’s first win ever in Olympic basketball.

U.S. leads field in women’s gymnastics

The Americans faced some challenges in qualifying but ended the day in first place after Subdivision 2, leading by nearly 5½ points. The team will easily qualify into Tuesday’s team final, where they will be the gold medal favorites.

After strong bar routines in the final rotation, Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee currently sit in the first two spots in the all-around, with Lee edging teammate Jordan Chiles by less than a tenth of a point. With only two gymnasts per country allowed into the all-around and individual event finals, Chiles, in third, misses out.

Biles and Jade Carey are in the first two spots on vault, so both should easily qualify to vault event finals, with Chiles an unlucky third place on vault as well. On bars, Lee is in third and Biles in eighth. Lee’s spot should be secure, but since only the top eight qualify, Biles may get bumped.

On beam, Biles and Lee are second and third, respectively, and on floor, Biles and Chiles are first and second. Defending Olympic champion Carey, who fell on floor earlier in the day, will miss out on floor finals.

Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour is currently first on bars, and China’s Zhou Yaqin leads beam.

A Team USA volleyball legend prepares for her final ride

With a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, a silver medal at London 2012 and a gold medal at Tokyo 2020, Jordan Larson doesn’t lack for team accolades in Olympic volleyball. Having been named the event’s Most Valuable Player at the 2020 Games, she doesn’t lack for personal ones, either. Now 37, Larson has set her sights on this year’s Games being her last with USA volleyball, but her journey to reach that decision was a winding one. — READ MORE

Injury questions for Biles, but Team USA powers through

PARIS — After three rotations, the U.S. has opened a sizeable lead of nearly three points over China and Italy in Subdivision 2. But Sunday hasn’t been completely smooth for the gold-medal favorites. After a solid start on balance beam, the U.S. women moved to floor, where their lineup includes world and Olympic champions and is typically where they shine. But trouble started early. Reigning Olympic all-around champion Sunisa Lee stepped out of bounds on her second pass. Then, after Chiles came through with another solid performance, reigning Olympic floor champion Jade Carey struggled from the start. She stepped out of bounds on three of her four passes, and on her final pass, she pulled up into a single tuck, sat down and rolled onto her back. The team will drop her 10.633 and she and will miss the floor final.

Throughout her teammates’ routines, there was a lot of chatter about Biles’ left calf. She was seen talking with her coaches and USAG team doctor Marcia Faustin about pain in her left leg. Biles seemed to signal that she was fine and performed with her left ankle and lower calf taped. Once again, she delivered. The routine wasn’t perfect and she was clearly dealing with pain, but she earned a session-high 14.6 for her performance.

Then the team moved to vault, where it has earned a reputation for power and difficulty. Biles warmed up her eponymous skill, the Yurchenko double pike, but again seemed to be dealing with pain. Despite all that happened before it, the U.S. looked like the best team in the world on this rotation. Lee stuck one of the best double-twisting Yurchenkos in recent memory, Chiles nailed her Yurchenko double twist (as well as a Lopez second vault), Carey redeemed herself with two finals-worthy vaults and Biles landed her eponymous “Biles II” Yurchenko double pike for a 15.8, the highest score on any event so far. She then went back and hit her Cheng vault, to lead the way into vault finals. Biles leads the all-around in Subdivision 2 and Chiles leads Lee by more than four-tenths with only bars to go. It will be a race for the all-around final between Chiles and Lee, with only two per country able to qualify. But they head to bars, Lee’s best event. — Alyssa Roenigk.

Heroics from the cap catcher

The athletes are the stars of the show in Paris, but the support staff is essential to the Games running smoothly as well. Sunday morning proved that after U.S. swimmer Emma Weber lost her swimming cap in the pool — thus calling into action a man in a speedo, tasked with clearing the pool of the lost item.

The “cap catcher,” as he was dubbed by the broadcast team, quickly proved to be a fan favorite among spectators, as the crowd roared their approval.

Simone, Suni and U.S. team start off strong

PARIS — With the stands packed with U.S. fans and A-list celebrities — we see you, Tom Cruise, Anna Wintour and Jessica Chastain! — the U.S. women’s gymnastics team started competition Sunday afternoon at Bercy Arena, and after one rotation have more than a one-point lead over Italy and China in its subdivision.

Tokyo Olympian Jordan Chiles started the competition for Team USA and set the tone with a solid beam set that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Rookie Hezly Rivera had a few issues but stayed on and set up reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee, who changed her mount after podium training, and performed well enough to likely earn a spot in beam finals later in the week. And then there was Simone Biles, who nailed one of her best beam routines in recent memory. When she landed, she grabbed her heart and ran to her coach, Cecile Landi. The U.S. leads its subdivision by more than a point over Italy and China. — Alyssa Roenigk

Previewing women’s gymnastics

Simone Biles and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team begin their quest for “redemption” Sunday. It’s no surprise the seven-time Olympic medalist will anchor three of the four lineups during qualifying, which utilizes a four-up, three-count format in which teams drop their lowest score on each event.

Reigning Olympic all-around champion Sunisa Lee will anchor the U.S. on uneven bars, and Biles, Lee and two-time Olympian Jordan Chiles will compete in the all-around, a necessity if a gymnast wants a chance to qualify for Thursday’s final. The top 24 gymnasts will make the final, but only two per country are eligible.

Team USA gymnasts — four of whom competed in Tokyo — say they aren’t turning their minds to individual finals until the work of winning team gold is complete.

“I think when we go out on the floor for the first time, we’re going to be really emotional, really excited and grateful to be back out there because we’ve all wanted it bad for the past three years,” said reigning Olympic floor champion Jade Carey, who competed in Tokyo as an individual. “We’re really driven by that redemption and we want to have a different experience this time around.”

Setting the tone for Sunday’s competition falls on Chiles, who leads off the team in its first rotation on the balance beam. Carey and 16-year-old rookie Hezly Rivera will each compete in two events during qualifying. Lee will perform the final routine of the afternoon for the U.S. women on uneven bars, her specialty.

The lineups:

Balance beam: Chiles, Rivera, Lee, Biles

Floor: Lee, Chiles, Carey, Biles

Vault: Lee, Chiles, Carey, Biles

Uneven bars: Rivera, Chiles, Biles, Lee

— Alyssa Roenigk


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