Merci, Paris: Final thoughts from the 2024 Olympic games.

I review Paris 2024 and the moments that made it memorable. I also discuss Team GB’s performance, the IOC and ponder what to expect from the LA games in 2028.

So, that’s it. 16 days of incredible action in Paris have come and gone. We saw world records fall, incredible performances and drama.

As ever when the Olympics ends, you’re left with a feeling of sadness.

You can’t turn on the tv at 8am in the morning and gorge yourself on sport and you miss the events that you never watch outside of an Olympics but are thoroughly entertained by.

You debate whether you have the time to participate in these lesser-known sports and then fantasise about visiting the hosts for your next holiday.

Paris passed these criteria, which in my mind, makes it a very successful Olympiad.

The Parisians showcased their city in all its glory. The opening ceremony along the Seine was a brave change from tradition. The cycling road races, marathon and triathlon passed stunning landmarks, the Grand Palais was home to taekwondo and beach volleyball took place under the Eiffel Tower.

But the performances of the host nation’s athletes were also critical to the success of the games.

Cometh Léon Marchand, who won three golds and one bronze in the pool to become the undisputed face of the games.

French judo legend Teddy Riner won two gold medals in Paris to add to his impressive career haul and who can forget that all-French podium in the men’s BMX racing.

For Team GB, it has also been a memorable Olympics. Great Britain surpassed their Tokyo total by winning 65 medals.

Granted there are those who will view not winning as many golds as a regression. But then you must consider that the country is still living in glow of London 2012.

This was the Olympics that saw the last of those legends - like Andy Murray and Tom Daly - retire. Helen Glover and Adam Peaty are also contemplating their futures.

But with-it, Great Britain will still be able to enjoy the likes of Tom Piddock and Alex Yee in the coming years.

Then, we have the new generation of Emma Finucane and Toby Roberts to look forward to. The British cycling and rowing teams also have recovered from past disappointments and could, in time, dominate again.

British Athletics have also had a good Olympics. It was their best performance since 1984 in Los Angeles.

Keely Hodgkinson stormed to 800m gold at the age of 22 and team GB won a medal in every relay race for the first time in an Olympic games.

Perhaps, there is disappointment that Josh Kerr, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson narrowly missed out on gold.

But that would be a disservice to the phenomenal performances of the USA’s Cole Hocker and Quincy Hall who denied them.

Or to Nafi Thiam, the generational athlete from Belgium who won her third straight Olympic heptathlon title.

Elsewhere on the track, Mondo Duplantis cemented himself as the greatest men’s high jumper in history after breaking the world record for a ninth time on route to the Olympic title.

Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands won the marathon after also taking bronze medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m days before.

For the United States, Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone were the standout performers. They won multiple gold medals to help the USA dominate the Athletics schedule.

The USA’s great rivals Jamaica suffered a torturous time in Paris, only winning one gold medal in the men’s discus.

Hopefully, the Jamaican sprinters can recover quickly from this disappointment as this rivalry is so important for athletics.

In cycling, Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen squashed all before him to win three golds in the velodrome.

We also saw the triumphant return of Simone Biles. Biles received extreme criticism after mental health issues plagued her performances in Tokyo.

However, she fought back to win three golds and a silver in one of the strongest Olympic gymnastics competitions in history.

American celebrities also made their mark in Paris. Snoop Dogg was never too far away from a venue in his role as ambassador for LA 2028.

Also, Tom Cruise spectacularly abseiled into the Stade de France at the closing ceremony before receiving the Olympic flag. It was the start of a brilliant segment that gave us a glimpse of what to expect from LA in four years’ time.

Like the best Olympic hosts, it will be LA’s responsibility to put a spin on this grand institution. It will be the Hollywood Olympics. Epic, loud, brash and promoting everything Americana!

New sports are due to arrive with the inclusion of flag football, baseball/softball, cricket, lacrosse and squash.

Breaking will make way after only one Olympics and there are still questions over boxing’s involvement.

The international boxing association (IBA) have been marred in accusations of corruption and bribery since Tokyo. This led to the international Olympic committee (IOC) taking control of the sport for Paris.

The controversy over Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting’s eligibility in the women’s tournament then reignited the row between both organisations.

Boxing’s inclusion in the LA games now rests upon the national governing bodies breaking away to form a new global organisation to run the sport.

Either way, it is imperative that amateur boxing survives, and the Olympics keeps providing the platform for the next generation of fighters.

Thomas Bach has been caught up in this row, but it isn’t thought of as the reason for him stepping down as the president of the IOC.

Whoever takes over will have to guide the Olympic movement through a few years of turbulence before the eyes of the world reach LA.

But for now, the IOC and Paris should be congratulated on delivering another entertaining and spectacular Olympic games.

Day 15 and Day 16 – The final two days of competition at Paris 2024

The two final days of competition in Paris. Sifan Hassan wins the women’s marathon, Dutch cyclist Harrie Levreysen and American athlete Gabby Thomas win their third golds, and Team GB surpass their medal haul from Tokyo.

TOP STORY – Sifan Hassan win’s the women’s marathon after also securing medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m

Dutch long distance runner Sifan Hassan sensationally won the women’s marathon after a tight sprint to the finish with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa. Her time of 2 hrs 22.55 was an Olympic record.

Hassan also won bronze in 5,000m and 10,000m in Paris to become the first athlete to compete - let alone reach the podium - in all three events in one Olympics. Kenyan Hellen Obiri won bronze.

ALSO, IN ATHLETICS

In the high jump, Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won a nail-biting men’s competition after a jump off with American Shelby McEwan.

Both athletes were tied at 2.36m after their three jumps but then decided not to share gold to find an undisputed winner.

Kerr eventually prevailed after the bar was lowered to 2.34 after both failed jumps at 2.38m and 2.36m.

It is a stunning result for the New Zealander who also beat reigning champions Mutaz Barshim and Giancarlo Tamberi. Barshim took the bronze medal.

Great Britain’s 400m men and women’s teams both broke the British records to win bronze. It means that team GB have now a medal in every relay event in an Olympics for the first time in history.

The USA won gold in the women’s race with Gabby Thomas winning her third gold of the games. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won her second gold.

Femke Bol lead the Netherlands to silver and has now won a complete set of medals in Paris.

Nicole Yeargin, Victoria Ohuruogu, Amber Anning and Laviai Nielsen ran for Great Britain. It was Yeargin, Anning and Nielsen’s second bronze of the games after finishing third in the mixed 4x400m relay.

The USA also won the men’s 400m after breaking an Olympic record in the event. Rai Benjamin picked up his second gold of the games. Letsile Tebogo led Botswana to the silver medal, adding to the gold he won in the 200m.

Matthew Hudson-Smith and Alex Haydock-Wilson led the British team to bronze and secured their second medals in Paris. Lewis Davey and Charlie Dobson won their first Olympic medals in the race.

Elsewhere, Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola broke the Olympic record to win the men’s marathon in a time of 2 hrs 06.26. Belgium’s Bashir Abdi and Kenyan Benson Kipruto won the silver and bronze medals.

Faith Kipyegon broke the women’s 1500m Olympic record in a time of 3:51.29 to win gold. Jessica Hull of Australia won silver and Great Britain’s Georgia Bell unexpectedly took bronze.

Jakob Ingerbrigtsen recovered from his 1500m disappointment to win the 5000m Olympic title.

TAEKWONDO

Caden Cunningham reached the men’s +80kg Olympic final in the Grand Palais before narrowly losing 2-1 to Iran’s Arian Salimi.

Cunningham won the first round before being comfortably beaten in the second. The third round was even until Salimi caught Cunningham with a kick to the head.

Cunningham struggled to recover but left with a well-deserved silver medal. Team GB have won a medal in Taekwondo at every Olympics since Athens 2004.

Rebecca McGowan narrowly missed out on a medal after losing to Nafia Kuş of Türkiye in her bronze final.

ARTISTIC SWIMMING

Isabelle Thorpe and Kate Shortman won an unexpected silver medal in the women’s duet.

Thorpe and Shortman overcame poor funding to reach Paris and then performed the routine of their lives to take silver with a score of 558.5367.

China’s Liuyi and Qianyi Wang won gold with bronze going to the Netherlands.

DIVING

Team GB’s Noah Williams won his second medal in Paris after securing bronze in the men’s individual 10m platform.

Williams scored 497.35 points out of his six dives to finish third behind Cao Yuan of China and Japanese diver Rikuto Tamai.

Williams won silver alongside Tom Daley at the beginning of the games. Cao’s gold meant that China completed a clean sweep of Olympic titles in diving.

TRACK CYCLING

Team GB’s Emma Finucane won her third medal of the games after securing bronze in the women’s sprint. She won bronze in the keirin and gold in the women’s team sprint.

Her team-mate Sophie Capewell finished 5th.

Jack Carlin was unable to finish the men’s keirin final after horrifically crashing on the final lap. He had to receive medical attention on the track but according to reports was fine in the hours after.

Dutch rider Harrie Lavreysen won his third gold medal of the games with Australian’s Matthew Richardson and Matthew Glaetzer winning silver and bronze.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Emily Campbell grabbed team GB’s 65th and last medal of the games by winning bronze in the women’s +81kg category.

Campbell finished with an overall total of 288kg. She lifted 126kg in the snatch lift and 162kg in her clean and jerk lift.

It is her second Olympic medal after winning silver in Tokyo. China's Li Wenwen won gold and South Korea’s Park Hye-Jeong took silver.

BASKETBALL

In a star studded men’s final, Steph Curry scored 24 points in the USA’s victory over the hosts France.

France held on for as long as they could but just couldn’t compete with the star power of the United States who ran out 98-87 winners. Serbia won the bronze medal.

In the women’s final the USA narrowly beat France 67-66 to take to the gold medal for the 8th successive time.

France led by 10 ten points at the beginning of the third quarter, but the USA fought back to lead by three points in the closing moments.

France then thought they had tied the game on the buzzer when Gabby Williams hit a shot from distance, but her foot was ruled to have been inside the three-point line.

France had to settle for silver with Australia winning the bronze medal.

FOOTBALL

Emma Hayes’ USA team won the women’s Olympic title after edging out Brazil at the Parc des Princes.

Mallory Swanson scored the only goal of the game. Germany won the bronze medal after beating Spain 1-0.

WATER POLO

Serbia won the men’s gold medal after beating rival Croatia 13-11. The USA beat Hungary 11-8 in the bronze medal match.

In the women’s final, Spain beat Australia 11-9 to secure gold whilst the Netherlands edged out the USA 11-10 to win bronze.

HANDBALL

In the men’s final Denmark beat Germany 39-26 to win the Olympic title. Spain won the bronze medal after beating Slovenia 23-22.

Norway beat hosts France 29-12 in the women’s gold medal match. Denmark won the bronze after beating rivals Sweden 30-25.

MODERN PENTATHLON

British Olympic champion Kate French was unable to defend her modern pentathlon title after pulling out with illness. Her team-mate Kerenza Bryson finished ninth.

Blanka Guzi of Hungary won gold, Elodie Clouvel won silver for France and Seong Seungmin won bronze for South Korea.

CLIMBING

British climber Eric McNeice finished 5th in the women’s boulder and lead final. Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret retained her title from Tokyo with USA’s Brooke Raboutou winning silver. Austrian Jessica Pilz took bronze.

VOLLEYBALL

France defended the Olympic title in the men’s volleyball beating Poland 3-0. The USA won the bronze medal after beating Italy 3-0.

The Italian women’s volleyball team avenged the men’s defeat by beating the USA 3-0 to win the gold medal.

Brazil beat Türkiye 3-1 to win bronze.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Beach volleyball came to an end under the spectacular gaze of the Eiffel Tower. Sweden beat Germany 2-0 to win the men’s gold and Norway beat Qatar 2-0 to win the bronze.

GOLF

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won the women’s Olympic golf title at Le Golf Nationale. She finished 10 under par. Esther Henseleit of Germany won silver and Lin Xiyu of China won bronze.

Day Fourteen: Toby Roberts win Team GB’s 14th gold

19-year-old Toby Roberts wins team GB’s 14th gold in sports climbing, the British 4x100m relay teams both win medals and Nafi Thiam wins her third Olympic heptathlon title.

TOP STORY - 19-year-old Toby Roberts wins Team GB’s 14th gold medal

Team GB’s Toby Roberts has sensationally won gold in the boulder and lead event in sports climbing.

The 19-year-old from Surrey scored 155.2 across both disciplines to beat Japan’s Sorato Anraku, 17, and Austria’s Jakob Schubert, 33, to win the Olympic title.

Roberts was third after the boulder event and needed 73 points from his lead climb to claim a medal.

At one point, he hung one handed before climbing further up the wall to surpass the bronze and silver medal marks.

Roberts then passed Schubert’s total to take first place before falling to score 92.1 points with only Anraku left to climb.

The Japanese climber easily reached Schubert’s mark before approaching Roberts’ score. However, the 17-year-old dramatically slipped which meant that the British climber had unexpectedly become Olympic champion.

It has been a remarkable first two years of senior competition for Roberts who had won several world cup medals before winning last years’ Olympic European qualifying event in Laval, France.

ATHLETICS

Belgian heptathlon star Nafi Thiam has won the Olympic title for the third time in a row after holding off Britain’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson in a thrilling conclusion to the event.

Thiam ended the first day of competition 48 points behind Johnson-Thompson with the long jump, javelin and 800m to go.

In the long jump, Thiam surprisingly jumped 6.41m. A centimeter more than Johnson-Thompson despite it being one of her favourite events.

It was a blow for the British athlete who failed to give herself a comfortable lead going into the javelin.

Now, it was Thiam that had the chance to gain the advantage in her strongest event. The Belgian didn’t disappoint, throwing a 54.04m compared to the Britons 45.49m.

Thiam now held a 121-point lead heading into the final event. It also meant that Johnson-Thompson had to run 8.5 seconds faster than Thiam in the 800m to claim gold.

The Briton ran a superb personal best of 2:04.90 to finish in second place. However, Thiam also ran well and finished in a time of 2:10.62. It was enough to win gold by 2.78 seconds.

In the standings, Thiam finished 36 points ahead of Thompson-Johnson who won a well-deserved silver medal.

This heptathlon cemented Thiam as one of the greatest multi eventers in history having won the Olympic, world and European titles numerous times.

Even then, Thiam was pushed all the way by Johnson-Thompson. This silver was her first medal won in the Olympics after four attempts.

Johnson-Thompson has made it clear that she will continue in the sport for as long as she remains competitive.

It is good news for track and field as we will get to see these two do it again at next year’s world championships.

Noor Vidts of Belgium won the bronze medal.

The men’s and women’s 4x100m relays took centre stage in the Stade de France and once again lived up to its billing.

Great Britain grabbed silver in the women’s race. Dina Asher-Smith and Imani Lansiquot ran a brilliant first and second leg before handing over to Amy Hunt.

Hunt recovered from a difficult changeover to keep Team GB in contention but then miscommunicated with Daryll Neita. They also recovered before Neita produced a storming run for the line.

However, she couldn’t quite catch Sha’Carri Richardson who won gold for the USA. It’s a fitting end to the games for Richardson who added gold to her 100m silver medal in Paris.

Then, team GB men’s team won bronze. The race was marred by yet another changeover failure by the USA. Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek ran into each other and were later disqualified.

On the final leg, GB’s Zharnell Hughes produced a storming run to take third but were pushed out by South Africa in second. Andre De Grasse’s Canadian team won gold.

It is a poignant medal for the men’s relay team. Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake were stripped of their Tokyo silver medals after CJ Ujah tested positive for doping.

Hughes and Mitchell-Blake ran in the final, but Kilty also qualifies for a medal as he ran earlier in the heats.

Youngsters, Jeremiah Azu and Louie Hinchcliffe also won their first global medals as part of the relay team.

Elsewhere, the USA’s Rai Benjamin beat Norway’s Karsten Warholm to win the men’s 400m hurdles.

British athlete Amber Anning finished 5th in the women’s 400m with a personal best and a British record of 49.29. Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won gold with an Olympic record.

TRACK CYCLING

Team GB’s Jack Carlin won bronze after beating Dutch rider Jeffrey Hoogland 2-1 in the men’s sprint.

However, it was not without controversy when Carlin rode into Hoogland early in the deciding sprint.

It was ruled as accidental but that didn’t stop Carlin from being booed on the podium after he won the final race.

Emma Finucane broke the British record in the women’s sprint qualifying round before advancing to Saturday’s quarter finals. British team-mate Sophie Caldwell also qualified.

DIVING

Yasmin Harper came 5th in the women’s 3m individual springboard. Chen Yiwen of China won gold for China. They can complete a clean sweep of diving gold medals with a win in the men’s 10m platform on Saturday.

BASKETBALL

The USA women’s team are through to the Olympic final after comfortably beating Australia 85-64. In the other semi-final, France drew 66-66 with Belgium in normal time. However, France prevailed in the epic 81-75 in overtime.

Both the men’s and women’s finals will be contested between the hosts France and the favourites USA. They were the dream finals coming into Paris.

FOOTBALL

The Spanish men’s team have completed a golden summer in football after beating France 5-3 after extra time.

The hosts went 1-0 up in the 11th minute. Then, Spain scored three goals in 10 minutes to lead 3-1 at half time.

France fought back and made it 3-2 in the 79th minute and then pressured for an equaliser. It came in third minute of stoppage time when VAR awarded France a last gasp penalty.

Jean-Philippe Mateta converted, and the game went into extra time.

However, French joy in the Parc des princes was short lived as Spain scored two goals in extra time to win the Olympic title.

Morocco claimed the bronze medal after beating Egypt 6-0.

HOCKEY

The Netherlands won the women’s Olympic title again after winning 3-1 on penalties. They drew 1-1 with China in normal time. Argentina won the bronze medal after beating Belgium 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

HANDBALL

Germany will face Denmark in the men’s Olympic handball final after coming through two very close semi-finals.

Germany beat Spain 25-24 and Denmark beat Slovenia 31-30. The final is on Sunday.

WATER POLO

In the men’s water polo tournament, Croatia beat Hungary 9-8 and Serbia beat the USA in the semi-finals. The medal finals are on Sunday.

Australia beat the USA 6-5 on penalties in an epic women’s semi-final. The match was drawn 8-8 in normal time in a rivalry that dates back to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

In the other semi-final Spain beat the Netherlands 5-4 on penalties after a 14-14 draw.

BREAKING

Ami Yuasa of Japan won breaking’s first ever Olympic gold medal in the b-girl category. Ami beat Dominika Banevič – known as Nicka – of Lithuania 3-0 in the final. China’s Liu Qingyi – known as 671 - won the bronze medal.

Day Thirteen: A stunning night at the Stade de France.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone wins the women’s 400m hurdles in world record time, Letsile Tebogo shocks the world in the men’s 200m and Ellie Aldridge wins Team GB’s 13th gold medal in the women’s kite surfing.

TOP STORIES – A stunning night in the Stade de France

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone destroyed the world record for the sixth time to retain the Olympic 400m hurdles title in the Stade de France.

The American’s storming run in a time of 50.37 was the second time she has broken the record this year, finishing well ahead of Dutch rival Femke Bol.

Between them they have run 17 out of the 20 fastest times in history, making this race one of the most eagerly awaited events of the athletics schedule in Paris.

However, Bol faded on the final straight and could only finish third. Anna Cockrell of the USA claimed the silver.

Letsile Tebogo of Botswana shocked the world by beating Noah Lyles and Kenneth Bednarek to win the men’s 200m title. His time of 19.46 broke an African record and won his country’s first Olympic gold medal.

Lyles and Bednarek were favourites going into the race. Lyles won the 100m title last Saturday and was chasing three golds in Paris. Bednarek was consistently the fastest in the heats and semi-finals.

Little of that mattered to Tebogo who shot out of the blocks before running superbly on the bend and catapulting down the home straight to comfortably beat the two Americans.

After the race, news broke that Lyles had been suffering from covid. Despite being physically exhausted after the race, his performance was enough to take bronze. Bednarek won silver.

The USA’s Grant Holloway won the men’s Olympic 110m hurdles title.

He has consistently been the best 110m runner in the last four years but could only win silver in Tokyo.

Nonetheless, Holloway destroyed the field in this race to add Olympic gold to his 2019, 2021 and 2023 world gold medals.

Daniel Roberts of the USA won a distant silver and Jamaican Rasheed Broadbell took bronze.

Team GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson leads the heptathlon after four events. She finished day one 24 points ahead of Belgian rival Nafi Thiam with three events to complete.

On day one, Johnson-Thompson ran a season best in the 100m hurdles before posting her best clearance in the high jump for five years.

Next up was the shot put, historically an event that the Liverpudlian has struggled in. But on her third attempt she went further than 14m for the first time of her career.

The final event of the day was the 200m in which Johnson-Thompson finished second. The time and points could have been better but with only the javelin left of her weaker events there is a quiet optimism that it could be her time.

However, Thiam has won multiple world and Olympic titles and remains the favourite.

In other news, Great Britain’s men and women’s 4x100m relay teams have both qualified for the final and Laura Muir is through to the 1500m final.

SAILING

Ellie Aldridge won Team GB’s 13th gold medal after winning the women’s kite in Marseille. Aldridge won two races in the final series and stormed to an easy victory in the last contest to win the first Olympic title in this event.

Lauriane Nolot of France won silver and Annelous Lammerts of the Netherlands won bronze.

TRACK CYCLING

Great Britain’s Emma Finucane won a bronze medal in the women’s keirin to add to the gold she won in the team sprint.

Finucane needed a photo finish to qualify from her semi-final heat and began the final at the back of the six strong pack.

However, once the derny – a motorbike that sets the pace for the first three laps – had left the track, she overtook several riders and managed to hold onto third after an extremely close final lap.

New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews won gold and Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw took silver. Finucane’s teammate Katy Marchant finished fourth.

Finucane, 21, will be back in the velodrome for the individual sprint. She is the current world champion.

Elsewhere in the velodrome, Ethan Hayter failed to win a medal in the men’s omnium. The gold was won by French rider Benjamin Thomas in his home games.

Jack Carlin is through to the men’s sprint semi-finals.

BOXING

Refugee fighter Cindy Ngamba lost to Atheyna Bylon by a 4-1 split decision in her women’s middleweight semi-final. She was already guaranteed a bronze medal.

Ngamba has lived in Bolton for over a decade but has not yet managed to gain British citizenship despite training with the British team.

DIVING

Jack Laugher and Jordan Houlden – the bronze medalists in the 3m synchro - couldn’t reach the podium in the men’s individual 3m springboard final. Houlden finished 5th and Laugher finished 7th.

Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper have qualified for Friday’s women’s event.

TAEKWONDO

Bradley Sinden heartbreakingly missed out on a bronze medal after being unable to compete in his last match due to injury. He narrowly missed out on the final after losing to Macedonia’s Miljana Reljikj in the semi-finals.

British Taekwondo legend Jade Jones was knocked out in the first round of the 57kg division.

Jones was again attempting to become the first athlete in Taekwondo to win three gold medals after winning the Olympic title at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

CLIMBING

Erin McNeice is into the women’s lead/boulder finals after qualifying 7th out of eight.

McNeice is the third British climber to reach an Olympic final after Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur qualified yesterday for the men’s final.

HOCKEY

The Netherlands are the men’s Olympic champions after beating Germany on 3-1 on penalties. The match ended 1-1 in normal time.

In the bronze medal match, India beat Spain 2-1.

BASKETBALL

The USA are once again through to the men’s Olympic final after surviving a scare against Serbia.

The American’s trailed by 13 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, however LeBron James and Steph Curry dragged them to victory.

The USA eventually won 95-91 with Curry scoring 36 points and James scoring a triple double.

In the other semi-final, France beat Germany 73-69 to set up a showdown in Paris between the hosts and the best team in the world. The final is on Saturday night.

HANDBALL

Host nation France are also through to the men’s Olympic handball final after beating Sweden 31-28. Norway beat Denmark 25-21 in the other semi-final.

Day Twelve: Team GB’s 1000th Olympic medal and a British athlete is denied gold on the line again.

Team GB win their 1000th Olympic medal and Quincy Hall beats Matthew Hudson Smith in the 400m to become the latest American to deny a British athlete gold.

TOP STORY – Quincy Hall denies Matthew Hudson Smith in the 400m

Matthew Hudson-Smith narrowly missed out on a gold medal in the men’s 400m after being pipped on the line by Quincy Hall of the USA.

He ran a European record of 43.44 which made him the fifth fastest 400m runner in history.  But that was not enough to quell Hall’s storming run for the line. The American ran a personal best of 43.40 to win the Olympic title.

Hudson-Smith has been excellent this year. He previously broke the European record twice to add to the silver medal he won in the world championships last year in Budapest.

It has been a long road for Hudson-Smith who suffered from mental health issues that kept him out of the Tokyo games.

Whilst gold was not the outcome he wanted, what he has achieved since is something to be proud of.

Elsewhere, 100m Olympic champion Noah Lyles qualified comfortably for the 200m final. Kenny Bednarek was once again fastest in the semi-finals, as he was in the first round. Andre De Grasse failed to qualify.

Team GB’s Amber Anning is through to women’s 400m final on Friday after posting a personal best time of 49.47. She won a bronze medal in the mixed 4x400m earlier in the week.

TRACK CYCLING

Great Britain and Australia went head-to-head once again in the Olympic men’s team pursuit final.

This time it was Australia who won gold after an incredibly close contest that saw the lead change hand several times.

However, on the last lap Ethan Hayter nearly slipped off his saddle which cost vital time. The world record holders took advantage of the mistake and raced home for gold.

Nonetheless the British quartet – of Hayter, Charlie Tanfield, Dan Bigham, Ethan Vernon and Dan Bigham – had the honour of winning Great Britain’s 1000th medal in Olympic history. Italy came third.

Shortly after, the GB women’s team pursuit won bronze after beating Italy. They earlier missed out on the gold medal race by 0.2 seconds - to the USA - despite breaking the British record.

Elsewhere, Emma Finucane and Katy Marchant are through to the women’s keirin quarter-finals.

Also, Jack Carlin and Hamish Turnbull are both through to the men’s sprint quarter-finals.

CLIMBING

British duo Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur are through to Friday’s boulder/lead Olympic final

19-year-old Roberts qualified in second place with a score of 122.2. McArthur had a nervous wait but qualified in 8th.

HOCKEY

The Netherlands beat Argentina 3-0 in the first women’s semi final to reach their sixth successive Olympic final. Luna Noa Fokke, Laura Nunnink and Yibbi Jansen scored the goals.

In the other semi-final, China beat Belgium 3-2 on penalties after drawing 1-1 in normal time.

DIVING

Jack Laugher and Jordan Houlder qualified for the Thursday’s 3m springboard final. Laugher finished third and Houlder finished fifth.

Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper are through the semi-finals in the women’s event.

IN OTHER NEWS...

Team GB’s Andy MacDonald competed in the men’s park skateboarding competition at the age of 51. His best score of 77.66 wasn’t enough to qualify for the final but then he was competing against skaters in their teens and early twenties!

Today, the International Olympic committee relocated several medals from the 2022 Beijing winter Olympics.

Russia initially won figure skating gold two years ago until Kamila Valieva tested positive for doping. She was eventually banned for four years by the world doping agency after the case went through the court of arbitration for sport.

American’s Madison Chock and Vincent Zhou were upgraded to gold with Japan and Canada receiving their silver and bronze medals.

Despite a two year wait the athletes finally got their medal ceremony in front of a packed stadium at the Stade de France.

Day Eleven: Cole Hocker shocks the world

The USA’s Cole Hocker surprises Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win 1500m gold, Gabby Thomas wins the women’s 200m and Team GB’s cyclists are on the verge of more medals.

TOP STORY – USA’s Cole Hocker shocks the world in the 1500m and Gabby Thomas storms to women’s 200m title.

Cole Hocker of the USA surprisingly beat British world champion Josh Kerr and reigning Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win a stunning gold in the 1500m Olympic final.

Ingebrigtsen started the race quickly to encourage Kerr to keep pace with him. Kerr kept his distance for a time but then attacked the Norwegian in the last 300m.

Kerr finally caught Ingebrigtsen on the final straight, but both didn’t notice Hocker surging through on their inside.

Ingebrigtsen tired and was then overtaken by the medalists. Kerr pushed for gold but was beaten to the finishing line by Hocker who won the gold medal in an Olympic record time of 3:27.65.

Kerr undoubtably wanted gold to add to his world title last year in Budapest. However, his time of 3:27.78 was a new British record.

USA’s Yared Nuguse won bronze with a personal best.

Gabby Thomas won the women’s 200m Olympic title with a time of 21.82.

The American has been the fastest woman of the year in the 200m and now finally adds a global title to the silver and bronze medals she won at the world championship and the last Olympics.

100m champion Julien Alfred won silver with Brittany Brown winning the bronze medal. Brown edged out British duo Dina Asher Smith and Daryll Neita by four-hundredths of a second.

Elsewhere, Team GB medal hope, Matt Hudson-Smith is comfortably into Wednesday’s 400m final after winning his semi-final in a time of 44.07.

TRACK CYCLING

Great Britain won a silver medal in the men’s team sprint. They were soundly beaten in the final by the Netherlands after they broke the world record in a time of 40.949.

There was no shame in losing to the Dutch who won the Olympic title in Tokyo before winning several european and world honours before Paris. Australia won the bronze medal.

The GB men’s team pursuit will race for gold after beating reigning world champions Denmark in their heat in a time of 3:42.151

They were behind for much of the race but managed to catch the Danes with a lap to spare. They will face rivals Australia in the final who broke the world record in their heat.

The women’s team pursuit finished third fastest and set a new British record in qualifying. They face the USA in the next round but will need to beat them by 1.5 seconds to contest the gold medal race.

BOXING

Irish boxing superstar Kellie Harrington retained her women’s lightweight Olympic title by beating Yang Wenlu of China in a 4-1 split decision.

Irish fighters have now won gold in this division in three of the last four Olympics. Katie Taylor won the first at London 2012.

Team GB boxer Lewis Richardson lost to Mexico's Marco Verde by split decision in the semi-final of the men’s light middleweight division.

Despite losing the first round, Richardson then boxed superbly in 2nd and 3rd and felt that he had done just enough to get through to the final.

However, the judges scored the fight 3-2 in favour of the Mexican. Richardson was already guaranteed a bronze medal and was Britain’s sole survivor after the others were knocked out of their tournaments early.

SKATEBOARDING – WOMEN’S PARK FINAL        

Sky Brown won bronze in the women’s park final in Skateboarding.

The British 16-year-old’s involvement in the competition was in doubt last week after she dislocated her shoulder in a fall in training.

However, Brown finished third in qualifying to ease concerns about her fitness for the event. In the final, Brown’s first run scored 80.57 to put her in fourth position.

Her final two runs were much improved, scoring 91.660 and 92.31 to put her into the silver medal position.

Then, Japan's Kokona Hiraki skated brilliantly on her last run to push Brown into bronze. It is Brown’s second bronze medal after coming third in Tokyo when she was 13.

Australia's Arisa Trew won gold.

DIVING

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix finished sixth in the women’s 10m platform final. She won bronze in the sychronised event but was well beaten the individual final. Nonetheless has been a successful Olympics for British diving.

The gold and silver medals went to Chinese duo Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi. North Korean Kim Mi-rae won bronze.

In the men’s 3m springboard, Jack Laugher and Jordan Houlden are through to Wednesday’s semi-final. Laugher qualified in third place with Houlden in fourth.

FOOTBALL

Former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes’ USA team are through to the women’s final after beating Germany in the semi-final. Sophie Smith scored the only goal of the game in extra time.

Brazil are also through to Saturday’s final after beating Spain 4-2.

In the men’s competition, host nation France beat Egypt 3-1 to reach Friday’s final. Crystal Palace’s Jean-Phillipe Mateta scored a brace whilst Michael Olise made it safe in extra time.

In the other match, Spain beat Morocco 2-1. Fermin Lopez equalised for Spain after Soufiane Rahimi’s opener for Morocco. Juanlu Sanchez scored the winner with five minutes to play.

The finals will be played at Paris St-Germain’s Parc des Princes.

WRESTLING

Mijaín López of Cuba won his 5th Olympic gold medal in a row after beating Chile’s Yasmani Acosta in the final of the 130kg division.

López's first gold was in Beijing in 2008. He has since won the Olympic title in London, Rio and Tokyo.

After winning the gold medal in Paris he took his boots off in the middle of the mat to signal the end of his career at the age of 41.

HOCKEY

In the men’s Hockey semi-finals, the Netherlands beat Spain 4-0 before Germany beat India 3-2. The finals are on Thursday.

Day Ten report: Keeley Hodgkinson and GB women’s cyclists take gold.

Keely Hodgkinson wins the women’s 800m athletics title and the British cycling women’s team sprint break three world records on route to gold.

TOP STORIES - Keely Hodgkinson storms to 800m athletics gold.

Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson won the 800m Olympic title to end her wait for a first global gold medal.

Hodgkinson led from the front early on, but Kenyan Mary Moora was in close pursuit as the bell sounded for the last lap. Moora attempted to pass Hodgkinson on the back straight but the 22-year-old, two-time European champion held strong.

As the race entered the final straight, Hodgkinson kicked on and won the race in a time of 1:56.72.

It was a well-deserved win for Hodgkinson. She was beaten to gold in Tokyo and at the last world championship by USA’s Athing Mu. Mu failed to qualify for Paris after a fall in the US trials.

However, Hodgkinson has had a spectacular year. She consistently ran the world’s best times, broke the British record and defended her European title before winning Olympic gold.

ALSO, IN ATHLETICS

Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis broke his own world record to win the pole vault title.

The reigning Olympic and three-time world champion had already won the event with a jump of 6m before breaking the Olympic record of 6.10m.

Duplantis then raised the height to 6.25m in an attempt to break the world record for a ninth time. He sensationally cleared the bar and cemented his reputation as the greatest jumper in history.

Elsewhere, Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita are through to the women’s 200m final. Favourite Gabby Thomas and 100m Olympic champion Julien Alfred also qualified with ease.

In the men’s 200m, Kenny Bednarek qualified fastest in the heats. Reigning champion Andre De Grasse and 100m champion Noah Lyles also qualified comfortably for the semi-finals.

TRACK CYCLING – GB’s Women’s team sprint break three world records to win gold

Track cycling started in the Velodrome on Monday, and we didn’t have to wait long for Great Britain to win their first gold medal.

Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane beat New Zealand in the women’s team sprint final in a world record time of 45.186.

The world record was broken an astonishing four times during this event - three times by Great Britain and once by Germany.

It became apparent that nothing other an exceptional performance would be enough to win the Olympic title.

21-year-old Finucane – who performed superbly on the last lap - is set to be the new golden girl of women’s cycling.

She is already the youngest women’s world individual sprint champion in history and will be competing in this event later in the week. She will also compete in the keirin.

Germany beat Canada in the bronze medal race.

In the men’s team pursuit, Great Britain finished qualification second fastest behind the Netherlands who broke an Olympic record. Their first round is on Tuesday with the final taking place on Wednesday.

GYMNASTICS

Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade completed a full set of medals in Paris after winning gold in the women’s floor final.

Andrade’s excellent routine scored 14.166 which was enough to force Simone Biles into second after the American landed outside of the floor area in her effort.

It is Biles’ fourth medal of the games after winning golds in the vault, individual and team all round events. Her compatriot Jordan Chiles won bronze.

Earlier in the day, Italy’s Alice D'Amato surprisingly won gold in the women’s balance beam with a score of 14.366. Biles had to settle for fifth after uncharacteristically falling off the beam.

Sunisa Lee and Andrade also surprisingly finished outside of the medals with China’s Zhou Yaqin taking silver and Italian Manila Esposito winning bronze.

CANOE SLALOM – KAYAK CROSS

Kayak Cross has proved why it has been included in the Olympics by providing drama and excitement in abundance.

Four competitors are launched down a white-water course before navigating four gates, performing an eskimo roll underwater and then paddling to the finish line.

Team GB’s Kimberley Woods came to Paris as the reigning world champion and qualified easily for the final.

She started strongly early in the race and then made a mistake before being overtaken by the other three competitors.

Woods fought back strongly but initially crossed the line outside of the medals. Fortunately, Germany’s Elena Lilik was disqualified, and Woods was awarded her second bronze medal of the games after competing in the K1 event.

Australia’s Noemie Fox won gold and Angèle Hug of France won silver.

In the men’s race, Joe Clarke recovered from a disastrous start to win silver. The world champion was crowded out by his rivals early on but stormed back through the course and crossed the line in second.

New Zealand’s Finn Butcher won gold and Noah Hegge of Germany won bronze.

TRIATHLON

Great Britain have now won a medal in every event in the Triathlon after Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sam Dickinson and Beth Potter won bronze in the mixed relay.

GB led after Yee’s excellent first leg but then traded the lead with Germany throughout the second and third.

Dickinson managed to gain the upper hand and gave Potter a five second lead going into the final leg.

Potter was caught at the end of her bike ride by Germany’s Laura Lindemann and USA’s Taylor Knibb.

The duo then looked like they were going to break away from Potter in the final run, but she fought back.

Then, there was an exciting sprint for the finish line with Potter appearing to have edged out Knibb for the silver medal.

However, Team GB were later downgraded to bronze after closer inspection of the photo finish showed that the American crossed the line before Potter.

Nonetheless, it was an excellent performance from the quartet which topped off an impressive Olympic campaign for British triathlon. Germany won the gold medal.

BADMINTON

Chinese duo Huang Yaqiong and  Zheng Siwei have won the Olympic mixed doubles title after beating South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun 21-8 21-11.

However, in the city of love, it was Huang’s boyfriend – a fellow Olympian – who stole the headlines by proposing to her moments after her victory lap. Who says romance is dead?

HOCKEY

Great Britain’s women’s team were beaten 3-1 by the Netherlands in the quarter finals. The Dutch got off to the best start possible when Xan de Waard scored in the first 46 seconds.

GB rode their luck but equalised when Hannah French tapped in a rebound from a penalty corner.

GB needed to hold on until half time, but Luna Fokke scored just before the end of the second quarter with a controversial goal that shouldn’t have stood after a referral.

The Dutch drove in the second half and Fokke scored her second of the game to give her team an unassailable lead.

The women’s hockey team will come away disappointed, but it has been an excellent run having won medals in the last three Olympics.

DIVING

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix is through to the women’s 10m platform final after qualifying in third place.

The British 19-year-old diver has already won bronze in Paris with Lois Toulson in the synchronised event. Unfortunately, Toulson failed to qualify for Tuesday’s individual final.

CLIMBING

19-year-old British climber Toby Roberts has made a solid start in the men’s boulder/lead qualification round.

Roberts finished third in the boulder section with the lead qualification due to take place on Wednesday.

Both scores will then be combined and the top eight will compete in Friday’s final.

Paris 2024 weekend roundup: Five thousandths of a second

A weekend round up from Paris 2024. Noah Lyles wins the men’s 100m Olympic title by five thousandths of a second, Novak Djokovic finally wins tennis gold and Team GB win several medals including gold in the men’s eight rowing.

TOP STORY - FIVE THOUSANDTHS OF A SECOND

The USA’s Noah Lyles has won the men’s 100m Olympic title after what is being described as the best final in the event’s history.

Lyles only finished second in his semi-final but saved his best performance for the blue-ribbon event of the Olympics.

He initially got off to a slow start and was last in the first 30m. However, Lyles stormed back in the final 70m but it was too close to call as the athletes crossed the finish line.

The athletes had a nervous wait while the umpires checked the photo finish to determine the medalists.

After what felt like an age the results were finally declared. Lyles won in 9.79 and edged out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by five thousandths of a second to add the Olympic title to the 100 and 200m world title he won in Budapest last year. 

It is the first of three Olympic golds that Lyles is aiming for in Paris. His bid for immortality continues in the 200m and men’s 4x100m relay later in the week.

Fred Kerley won the bronze medal. British duo Louie Hinchcliffe and Zharnel Hughes were knocked out in the semi-finals.

MORE ATHLETICS

On Saturday, Julien Alfred of St Lucia won the women’s 100m title in a time of 10.72 despite poor weather. The run broke a national record and won St Lucia’s first Olympic medal.

World champion Sha’Carri Richardson had to settle for silver after a slow start. Her American teammate Melissa Jefferson edged out Great Britain’s Daryll Neita to win the bronze.

It was an open final after Jamaican’s Shelly-Anne Fraser Pryce and Shericka Jackson withdrew earlier in the competition.

Great Britain’s mixed 4x400m relay team won bronze in a national record time of 3:08.01. Dutch superstar Femke Bol ran a brilliant last leg to break the European record and secure gold for the Netherlands. The USA took silver despite breaking the world record in the semi-finals.

Elsewhere, several British track stars are safely through to their respective semi-finals.

Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith recovered from their 100m disappointments to qualify for the women’s 200m. Matt Hudson Smith and Charlie Dobson also won both their 400m heats.

Josh Kerr has qualified for Tuesday’s 1500m final after a fascinating semi-final duel with rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Keely Hodgkinson has qualified for Monday’s 800m final.

TENNIS

Novak Djokovic finally won an Olympic gold medal after beating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) at Roland Garros.

Both sets were decided on a first to seven tie-break after they couldn’t be separated in normal play.

The Serbian comfortably won both and there were emotional scenes at the end as he celebrated with his team and supporters.

Djokovic becomes only the 5th player in history to win the golden slam in singles competition. Before the Paris games only Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal had won all four majors and the Olympic title.

Lorenzo Musetti of Italy won bronze.

GYMNASTICS

Simone Biles won her third gold medal of the Olympics after winning the vault. Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade once again pushed Biles all the way but just couldn’t get the better of the American.

Biles won with a score of 15.300 with Andrade taking the silver with 14.966. USA’s Jade Carey won bronze.

Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan won the men’s pommel horse final with a score of 15.533. McClenaghan has now won every major championship after winning three European, two worlds, a commonwealth and Olympic title.

Max Whitlock could only finish fourth in his last competition but ends an excellent career after winning six Olympic medals including three golds.

Harry Hepworth became the first British gymnast to win an Olympic medal on the vault after securing bronze. Jake Jarman came fourth in the vault but then won bronze on the men’s floor.

SWIMMING

Katie Ledecky won the women’s 800m freestyle title for the fourth time to become America’s most decorated female Olympian.

The win was her fourth medal in Paris. It was also Ledecky’s ninth Olympic gold and 14th medal overall.

Léon Marchand won his fifth medal of the games when his French team won bronze in the men’s 4x100m relay. China won gold and USA won silver.

Adam Peaty’s GB team finished fourth in the race. Peaty’s future remains uncertain after he suggested that he may retire after Paris.

ROWING

The Great Britain’s men’s eight won the Olympic title after a thrilling race on the last day of the rowing competition.

Team GB and the Netherlands were neck and neck for half of the race, but the British took control with 700m to go. They eventually crossed the line a second ahead of the Dutch and were physically exhausted after the race. The USA won bronze.

In the women’s eights, Great Britain edged out Australia to win a bronze medal. Romania won gold and Canada took silver.

It is a fitting end for GB’s rowers who failed to win a single gold in the last Olympics in Tokyo.

They fought back superbly in Paris, winning eight medals to make it their best overseas Olympics.

JUDO

Judo superstar Teddy Riner has won his second gold in Paris after his French team beat Japan 4-3 in the mixed team judo final.

France and Japan were tied 3-3 going into the deciding fight. Riner dramatically scored an ippon to beat Tatsuru Saito and defend the title France won in Tokyo.

It has been the perfect week for Riner who lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony and won the +100kg Olympic title on Friday.

CYCLING

Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel won the men’s road race despite suffering a puncture and having to change bikes with three kilometers to go. It was Evenepoel’s second gold of the games after winning the time trial title earlier in the week.

The USA’s Kristen Faulkner won the women’s race.

SHOOTING

Great Britain’s Amber Rutter won silver in the women’s skeet after a controversial shoot-off.

Rutter and Chile's Francisca Crovetto Chadid were tied on 55 out of 60 shots and in the third round of the shoot-off.

Then, in the fourth round, one of Rutter’s shots was controversially ruled a miss despite replays showing she hit the clay.

Despite protesting the call, the judges stuck with their initial decision. Chadid hit her remaining shots to win gold.

The USA’s Austen Smith won bronze.

GOLF

There was an exciting end to the men’s singles at Le Golf Nationale with Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood tied on 19 under par on the 17th hole.

However, the American narrowly won gold after Fleetwood bogied on the 17th and then made a mistake on the 18th. Fleetwood settled for silver with 18 under par.

Scheffler secured the Olympic title with 19 under par.  The bronze medal went to Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, finishing on 17 under par.

EQUESTRIAN

Great Britain’s equestrian team have now won five medals at Paris 2024.

Lottie Fry won bronze in the individual dressage on Sunday after also winning bronze in Saturday’s team dressage event. Carl Hester and Becky Moody also starred in the team.

WINDSURFING

Team GB’s Emma Wilson won a bronze medal in Windsurfing’s winner takes all final.

Wilson won eight out of 14 of the qualifying races and finished comfortably at the top of the standings.

However, unlike other sailing events the final is contested as a winner takes all race rather than taking other results into account.

Wilson finished third after starting well but then struggled later in the race. Italy’s Marta Maggetti won gold and Israel’s Sharon Kantor won silver.

BOXING

Team GB’s Lewis Richardson is guaranteed at least a bronze after beating Zeyad Eashash by split decision in the men’s light middleweight division. His semi-final will be on Tuesday when the medal bouts move to Roland Garros.

Cindy Ngamba is also guaranteed a bronze medal in the women’s middleweight division after beating French fighter Davina Michel by unanimous decision.

HOCKEY

Great Britain men’s Hockey team are out of the Olympics after a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to India in the quarter finals.

India were reduced to ten men after Amit Rohidas was sent off for catching William Calnan in the face with a high stick.

However, it was India who took the lead when Harmanpreet Singh scored against the odds. Lee Morton equalised for team GB and then dominated the 3rd and 4th quarters without reward.

The game went into a penalty shoot-out and it was India who prevailed 4-2 after Conor Williamson and Phil Roper were denied by the Indian goalkeeper.

It is a sad end for Great Britain who had hoped to win their first Olympic medal since 1988 in Seoul.

Paris 2024 Day Seven report: Team GB’s medal rush continues

On day seven, Team GB won seven medals including three golds, Léon Marchand and Teddy Riner won another Olympic title for the French, and the Athletics schedule got underway.

TOP STORIES – Emily Craig and Imogen Grant complete an unbeaten Olympic cycle in rowing.

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant won Great Britain rowing’s second gold in Paris after capturing the women’s lightweight double sculls Olympic title.

Craig and Grant overtook Romania early on and then dominated. They finished a full length ahead of the Romanians with a time of 6:47.06. Greece finished third.

The British duo haven’t lost a race since narrowly losing the Olympic final in Tokyo three years ago. They have since won the world title and broken the world record.

Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George had to settle for the silver medal in the men’s coxless pair. They led for most of the race but were then dramatically pipped on the line by Croatia. Switzerland won bronze.

Bryony Page holds all of trampolining’s marbles

British gymnast Bryony Page won the Olympic trampolining title after a stunning performance in her final routine.

The score of 56.480 lifted her into the gold medal position above Viyaleta Bardzilouskaya and Canada's Sophiane Methot.

The result means that Page now holds the Olympic, World and European titles. She won the silver medal in Tokyo, three years ago.

EQUESTRIAN SHOWJUMPING

Ben Maher, Harry Charles and Scott Brash unexpectedly won the team show jumping gold medal in Versailles.

Team GB had not won this event since London 2012 but they qualified strongly in third for the final.

Maher has now won his third Olympic gold after winning an individual title in Tokyo.

It is Great Britain’s second gold in Eventing in Paris.

SWIMMING

Léon Marchand won his fourth gold medal of Paris 2024 when he broke the Olympic record in the men’s 200m individual medley.

The Frenchman also became the fourth swimmer to win four individual titles in one Olympics. The others were Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Kristen Otto.

British swimmer Duncan Scott took silver. Scott has now won eight Olympic medals since his debut at Rio 2016.

Earlier in the session, Ben Proud won silver in the 50m freestyle.

DIVING

Team GB have now won a medal in all four synchronised diving events after Jack Laugher and Anthony Harding won bronze in the men’s 3m synchronised springboard.

The final was close between the three medalists. Laugher and Harding comfortably finished in third with a score 438.15, six points behind silver medalists Mexico and eight points behind Olympic champions China.

JUDO

French Judo legend Teddy Riner, 35, won his fourth Olympic gold in the 100kg final in front of a raucous crowd in his home town. Riner scored an ippon to defeat Kim Min-jong of South Korea.

Riner – who has also won two Olympic bronze medals – is now the most decorated judoka of all time.

BMX RACING

Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte failed to win a medal in the men’s and women’s BMX racing final.

Kye Whyte fell badly in the second race of the men’s semi-final and had to go to hospital to be treated.

In the final, France won all three medals much to the delight of the Parisian crowd.

Beth Shriever won all three races in her semi-final but suffered from a bad start in the final. She was then crowded out on the first jump and was never able to recover. Australia’s Saya Sakakibara won gold.

ATHLETICS DAY ONE

In the women’s 100m heats, Marie-Josee Ta Lou, was the fastest with a time of 10.87. Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce and world champion Sha’carri Richardson are also comfortably through.

British contingent Dina Asher Smith, Imani Lansiquot and Daryll Neita also qualified. Neita posted a season’s best time of 10.92.

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson pulled out of the 100m earlier in the week to concentrate on the 200m after suffering from injuries.

Team GB’s 1500m world champion Josh Kerr ran a season’s best in his first heat to reach the semi-finals. His great rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen also qualified in his heat. They remain on course for a showdown in Paris on Tuesday.

GB medal hopeful Keely Hodgkinson is also through to the semi-finals of the women’s 800m after comfortably winning her heat.

TENNIS

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz have set up a blockbuster Olympic final at Roland Garros after winning their semi-finals. Djokovic beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-2 and Alcaraz beat Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1 6-1.

Alcaraz beat Djokovic in the Wimbledon final in June.

In the mixed doubles Olympic final, Czech duo Tomas Machac and Kateřina Siniaková beat Zhang Zhizhen and Wang Xinyu of China 6-2 5-7 10-8 to win mixed doubles gold. Canada’s Auger-Aliassime won the bronze medal.

HOCKEY

Team GB men’s hockey lost their final pool match 2-1 to Germany. Despite the defeat GB comfortably qualified in third position. They will play India in the quarter-finals.

Day Six report: Never even liked tennis anyway.

Andy Murray’s illustrious career comes to an end at Roland Garros, Simone Biles wins another Olympic title and Great Britain’s rowers win another three medals.

TOP STORY – Andy Murray’s career comes to an end

Andy Murray’s career came to an end at Roland Garros after he and Dan Evans lost 6-2 6-4 to USA’s Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz.

The American duo were dominant throughout the match with Murray and Evans only showing brief glimpses of another comeback.

Murray has had a distinguished career. He has won two Wimbledon titles, the US Open and led Great Britain to a Davis Cup.

He also won gold at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics and been world number one in the era of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

Following Murray’s career has been a stressful and emotional experience at times but there is no doubt that he will be missed.

He later joked online that he “never even liked Tennis anyway.”

Elsewhere at Roland Garros, Carlos Alcaraz is through to the men’s semi-finals after beating America’s Tommy Paul 6-3 7-6. He is joined by Djokovic who beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5 6-3.

Katie Boulter and Heather Watson are out of the women’s doubles after losing 3-6 1-6 to Italian duo Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani in the quarter-finals.

GYMNASTICS

Simone Biles secured her second gold medal in Paris after winning the women’s all-round gymnastics title.

After two rotations, Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade and reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee led Biles in the standings.

The eventual silver and bronze medalists performed superbly but were ultimately unable to beat the greatest gymnast of all time.

Biles finished with an excellent floor routine and won with a score of 59.131. She becomes the first female gymnast to win multiple all-round golds since the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

ROWING

Team GB’s rowing team won more medals in Paris today than they did in the whole of the Tokyo Olympic regatta.

Two-time Olympic champion Helen Glover was made to settle for silver in the women’s coxless four after narrowly losing out on a gold medal to the Netherlands.

Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten exchanged the lead with the gold medallists several times before being edged out by 0.18 seconds.

In the men’s coxless four, David Amber, Freddie Davidson, Matt Aldridge and Oli Wilkes recovered from a difficult start to win bronze.

In the first final, Rebecca Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne unexpectantly won bronze in the women's double sculls.

SWIMMING

Katie Ledecky won her 13th Olympic medal to become the most decorated female Olympian of all time after the USA won silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Australia set an Olympic record to win gold in a time of 7:38:08. China won the bronze medal.

Léon Marchand continued his march towards a fourth Olympic gold by winning his semi-final in the 200m individual medley.

HOCKEY

Great Britain men’s team had to come from behind for the third match in a row to beat the hosts 2-1.

Goals from Zach Wallace and James Albery secured the victory to move into second place in Pool A and qualify for the quarter finals. They play world champions Germany in their last match on Friday with a win needed to top the pool.

GB women’s team have also qualified for the quarter finals after beating the USA 5-2 in Pool B. They went 1-0 down early on before Sophie Hamilton equalised. Tess Howard scored a brace in the second quarter to put GB 3-1 up before the US pulled one back before half time.

However, Hannah French and Sarah Jones scored two goals in quick succession to secure qualification with one match to play. They play Argentina in their last match with a win needed to avoid a harder quarter final match.

BMX RACING

Team GB’s Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte are through to the men’s and women’s semi-finals in BMX Racing. Shriever - the current women’s Olympic champion – won all three races to qualify comfortably in the high-octane event.

Whyte had a tougher time. The silver medallist from Tokyo finished fifth, third and fourth in his three races despite suffering with a back injury.

The semi-finals are on Friday.

TEAM GB INJURY NEWS

Team GB’s 16-year-old sensation Sky Brown has dislocated her shoulder ahead of next Tuesday’s Skateboarding event. According to BBC Sport, she is now in a race against time to prove her fitness.

Brown won a bronze medal in Tokyo at the age of 13.

British Athletics medal hopeful Jake Wightman has been forced to withdraw from the Olympics after suffering from a hamstring injury.

The 2022 1500m world champion had been concentrating on the 800m since being plagued with injuries in the last few years.

Day Five report: Léon Marchand becomes a legend

French swimmer Léon Marchand wins two individual gold medals in 90 minutes and Team GB win two golds in triathlon and rowing.

TOP STORY – Marchand becomes an Olympic legend in the pool

Léon Marchand won two Olympic golds medals in one night to cement his name amongst the legends of the sport.

The French swimmer broke the Olympic record in the 200m butterfly with a time of 1:51.21. He returned 90 minutes later to break the Olympic record in 200m breaststroke in 2:05.85.

Marchand became the first swimmer since 1976 to win two individual golds on the same day. It was also the first time a swimmer has completed the 200m breaststroke and butterfly double in the same meet.

Elsewhere in the pool, American swimming legend Katie Ledecky won her eighth Olympic gold medal after retaining the women’s 1500m freestyle title.

Chinese swimmer, Pan Zhanle broke the world record in the 100m freestyle with a time of 46.40 to win the gold medal. Australian Kyle Chalmers won silver, and David Popovici secured bronze to win his second medal of the games.

TRIATHLON

Great Britain’s Alex Yee won men’s Triathlon gold after incredibly overtaking leader Hayden Wilde on the final straight.

Yee, was 15 seconds behind the New Zealander during the running leg but managed to reign him in after a phenomenal last push. He won the race in a time of 1:44.43. The bronze medal went to France’s Léo Bergere.

Yee has now won two Olympic golds and one silver in his career. He will be back later in the week to defend the mixed relay title.

On Wednesday morning, Team GB’s Beth Potter won bronze in the women’s race. The triathlon was finally given the go ahead after being postponed several times due to pollution in the river Seine.

ROWING

The British quartet of Lauren Henry, Lola Anderson and Georgina Brayshaw and Hannah Scott won gold in the women’s quadruple sculls.

The 2003 world champions were neck and neck with the Netherlands but managed to narrowly drag themselves across the line first in a time of 16.31.

It was GB Rowing’s first Olympic title since Rio 2016 after they failed to win a gold medal in Tokyo. Great Britain should add to this tally in the coming week.

BMX FREESTYLE

Team GB’s Kieran Reilly won silver in the men’s BMX freestyle in Paris after posting a score of 93.91 on his final run.

The reigning world champion was first in qualifying but was pipped to the gold medal by Argentina’s José Torres Gil with a score of 94.82. France’s Anthony Jeanjean won the bronze medal.

Australian Olympic champion Logan Martin missed out on a medal after falling in both his runs.

DIVING

Great Britain’s Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix won bronze in the women’s 10m synchronised platform. Their score of 304.38 was enough to edge out Canada after an incredible fifth dive.

China won the gold medal, and the silver went to North Korea.

BOXING

Lewis Richardson became the only British boxer to reach the quarter finals after beating Vakhid Abbasov by split decision in the men’s middleweight division. He is now one win away from guaranteeing a bronze medal.

Earlier in the day, Chantelle Reid lost a 3-2 split decision to Morocco’s Khadija Mardi in the first round of the women’s middleweight competition.

Refugee boxer Cindy Ngamba won her first fight to progress to the quarter-finals of the middleweight division.

Ngamba was born in Cameroon before moving to the UK when she was 11. The 25-year-old currently trains with team GB despite being denied British citizenship last year.

HOCKEY

Great Britain women’s team beat South Arica 2-1 to keep their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals alive.

Kayla de Waal opened the scoring for South Africa via a penalty corner. GB faced elimination before Amy Costello equalised just before half time. Their performance improved in the second half and were rewarded when Hannah French scored the winner with a sublime finish in the third quarter.

They have now moved into fourth in Pool B and will play the USA and Australia in their final matches on Thursday.

TENNIS

Carlos Alvarez and Rafa Nadal lost their men’s double quarter final against Austin Krajicek and Ranjeev Ram 2-6 3-6.

Alcaraz was also in action in the singles, he beat Roman Safiullin his third-round match 6-4 6-2. He was joined by Novak Djokovic who beat Dominik Koepfer 7-5 6-3

In the women’s doubles, British pair Heather Watson and Katie Boulter are through to the quarter finals.

Also, three-time grand slam champion and Rio Olympic silver medallist Angelique Kerber retired at Roland Garros after losing in the women’s singles.

Paris 2024 Day Four: A quiet day, they said.

Day four was billed as one of the quieter days for Team GB. Two gold medals, Andy Murray and an action packed evening in the pool proved it was anything but! Elsewhere, Simone Biles won her fifth Olympic title.

TOP STORIES – An incredible night in the pool and two more golds for Team GB

The Great British quartet of Matt Richards, James Guy, Tom Dean and Duncan Scott have retained their Olympic 4x200m men’s freestyle relay title.

It was a tight race going into the final leg, but Scott pulled away from the pack in the last 25m to win the final in a time of 6:59.43. USA won silver and Australia won bronze.

It is a remarkable achievement for the four swimmers who – according to BBC Sport – became the first relay team in Swimming or Athletics to retain an Olympic title.

Elsewhere in the pool, Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen won gold in the 800m freestyle by breaking the Olympic record in a time of 7:38.19. It has been an incredible two years for Wiffen who won the 800m and 1500m freestyle world titles in 2023.

France’s Léon Marchand is still on course for four gold medals in Paris after winning both heats in the men’s 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke.

Earlier on day four, Nathan Hales won Great Britain’s third gold medal in the men’s trap shooting. Hales destroyed the Olympic record by hitting 48 out of 50 shots in his first games.

The British shooter now holds both World and Olympic records at the age of 28. In qualifying, he hit 123 shots out of 125.

China's Qi Ying won silver and Guatemala's Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas won bronze.

GYMNASTICS

Simone Biles received a standing ovation as she helped the USA reclaim the women’s team Olympic title with a score of 171.296

Biles starred in her vault, bar and floor routines in a superb performance that hopefully banishes the bad memories of Tokyo 2020.

She famously withdrew from the event and was then unfairly criticised by sections of the American media.

Biles took a two-year hiatus before triumphantly returning to capture her fifth Olympic gold. She will be back later in the games to compete in the individual events.

Italy took silver in the event and Brazil edged out Great Britain to win bronze.

TENNIS

Andy Murray and Dan Evans are sensationally through to the men’s doubles quarter finals after saving two match points in a championship tiebreaker to beat Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen

Murray and Evans started fast and comfortably won the first set 6-3. In the second set they missed two match points and really should have won it before being forced into a tiebreaker. The Belgians eventually won the second set 6-7 (8-10).

It felt that the momentum had shifted during the decisive championship tiebreaker. The Brits squandered several points on serve before finding themselves 9-7 down.

However, with Murray on the brink of retirement they fought back, winning four straight points to win the match.

Murray was understandably exhausted after another rollercoaster that was reminiscent of his career. But for now, the show rolls on at Roland Garros.

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are also through to the quarter finals after beating Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 10-2 in another championship tiebreaker.

Jack Draper was eliminated from the men’s singles after losing 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 2-6 to American Taylor Fritz.

RUGBY SEVENS

New Zealand beat Canada 19-12 in a fantastic women’s rugby sevens final in the Stade de France.

Canada were in dream land at half time leading the reigning Olympic champions 12-7. However, tries from Michaela Blyde and Stacey Waaka in the second half secured another gold medal for New Zealand. They beat the USA 24-12 in the semi-final earlier in the day.

For Canada, it is a well-deserved silver medal after they shocked Australia 21-12 in their semi-final.

Australia were surprisingly beaten again in the bronze medal final. The USA won 14-12.

HOCKEY

GB men’s team fought back from 2-0 down with eight minutes to play to draw 2-2 with the Netherlands. Lee Morton scored twice late on to earn a point.

They beat Spain and drew with South Africa in their previous matches and are now well placed to qualify for quarter-finals. GB play hosts France and world champions Germany in their remaining matches.

BMX FREESTYLE

Kieran Reilly has qualified for the men’s BMX freestyle final. The reigning world champion finished with a score of 91.68. It was the highest score in qualification. Reilly will go into Wednesday’s final as the favourite.

Unfortunately, Charlotte Worthington – the reigning Olympic champion - was eliminated in the qualification round of the women’s event after finishing 11th.

TRIATHLON

The men and women’s triathlon were again postponed due to pollution in the River Seine. This has been frustrating for the organisers who have yet been unable to showcase the event due to the high levels of e-coli found in the water.

They hope that the events can take place on Wednesday or Friday morning but with bad weather due to return in Paris there is now a nervous wait.

The BBC have reported that if the swimming section of the triathlon cannot be held the event will become a duathlon with just cycling and running taking place.

Paris 2024 Day Three Report: Team GB’s best start to a modern two-week Olympics

Team GB win six medals on day three including two gold medals in mountain biking and eventing. It is Team GB’s best start to a modern two-week Olympics.

TOP STORIES

Team GB won their first gold medal of Paris 2024 after retaining their team eventing title at Versailles.

Laura Collett, Tom McEwan and Ros Canter narrowly led France in the standings over night with just the showjumping event to go on Monday morning.

However, an outstanding performance ensured that GB were comfortable winners, finishing with 91.30 penalty points, 12.3 ahead of the hosts with 103.60 points who took silver. Japan won the bronze medal.

Collett returned a few hours later to win bronze in the individual eventing competition. Germany’s Michael Jung won gold and Australia’s Christopher Burton won silver.

Tom Pidcock sensationally won Britain’s second gold of the day in the men’s mountain bike race. Pidcock suffered a puncture on the fourth lap that cost him 40 seconds and knocked him down to ninth as the race entered its final stages.

However, the Olympic champion from Tokyo made his way back through the leading pack before remarkably catching French rival Victor Koretzky on the seventh lap.

They swapped the lead several times on the last lap but Pidcock eventually pulled clear before the final straight. He finished 9 seconds ahead of Koretzky to retain his Olympic title.

DIVING

Tom Daley won his 5th Olympic medal after securing silver in the synchronized 10m platform alongside Noah Williams.

The British pair performed six superb dives and finished with a score 463.44 to comfortably finish in the medal places. Chinese duo Yang Hao and Lian Junjie took gold with a score 490.35. Canada won the bronze medal.

It is likely to be Daley’s last games after previously competing in Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo.

SWIMMING

Great Britain’s Matt Richards won silver in the men’s 200m freestyle final but was pipped to gold by Romanian David Popovici by two hundredths of a second. USA’s Luke Hobson won bronze.

It is Richards’ second Olympic medal after winning 4x200m relay gold in Tokyo. He will be back in the pool to defend that title and compete in the individual men’s 100m freestyle.

17-year-old Canadian sensation Summer Macintosh won her second medal of Paris 2024 by dominating the 400m women’s individual medley.

Her winning time of 4.24.38 was three seconds outside of her world own record. Americans Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant won the silver and bronze medals. British swimmer Freya Colbert came fourth.

In other news, Adam Peaty tested positive for covid on Monday morning after initially feeling unwell after his 100m breaststroke silver. His inclusion in the relays later in the week is now uncertain.

CANOE SLALOM

Adam Burgess won silver in the men’s canoe slalom final. His time of 96.84 put him into the lead with one paddler to go. However, France’s Nicolas Gestin produced a superb performance to win the gold medal in a time of 91.36. Slovakian Matej Benus won bronze.

GYMNASTICS

The men’s team gymnastics final ended in dramatic fashion when China’s Su Weide dramatically fell off the horizontal bar twice.

China led the standings going into the competition’s final rotation but were overtaken by Japan to steal the gold medal off their rivals. The USA won the bronze medal with Team GB finishing fourth.

ROWING

Team GB’s men’s and women’s eights are comfortably into Saturday’s finals after winning their heats. The women’s team finished with a time of 6.16.12. The men’s posted a time of 5.37.04.

TENNIS

Novak Djokovic remains on course to win his first Olympic gold medal after beating Rafael Nadal 6-1 6-4 to progress to the men’s third round at Roland Garros. Nadal will return in the men’s doubles when he teams up with compatriot Carlos Alcaraz.

Dan Evans will also have to rely on the doubles as he was easily beaten 6-1 6-2 in the singles second round by Stefanos Tsitsipas. Evans and Andy Murray’s second round doubles match is on Tuesday.

RUGBY SEVENS

Women’s GB beat South Africa 26-17 in their crunch final pool match to qualify for the quarter-finals.

However, they were easily beaten by the USA 17-7 after a disappointing second half performance.

HOCKEY

Team GB women’s team now have an uphill struggle to qualify for the knockout stages after losing 4-0 to Australia. They have lost both matches so far in Paris and must now beat South Africa in their next match on Wednesday.

BOXING

Great Britain’s boxers are having a difficult games to say the least. This time it was Delicious Orie’s turn to fall fail of the judges, losing a split decision to Davit Chaloyan in the super-heavyweight division.

It means that Team GB have only two boxers left having already had four fighters eliminated in the first round.

TEAM GB’S BEST START TO A MODERN OLYMPICS

According to freelance journalist Sam Freedman, this has been Team GB’s best start to a modern two-week Olympics having never won ten medals by the end of the third day of action.

On his X account Freedman made the following comparisons to the previous four Olympics.

“London 2012: No gold + three medals. Rio 2016: One gold + four medals. Tokyo 2020: Three golds + seven medals. Paris 2024: Two golds + ten medals.”

Paris 2024 Day Two report: Simone Biles returns to the Olympics. Team GB win two more medals

TOP STORY

Simone Biles triumphantly returned to Olympic gymnastics by scoring a total of 59.566 across all disciplines including the women’s vault and women’s floor.

The stands were also littered with American celebrities to see Biles and her team top the all-round standings.

Biles will have to wait for the other divisions to be completed before knowing which finals she will compete in. However, her score would have won the last three world championships.

There was some concern early on that Biles was suffering with a calf injury and had heavy strapping on her leg before her floor routine.

But her spectacular performance eased those concerns and signalled to the world that one of sport’s greatest athletes had returned. Biles left gymnastics for two years after Tokyo 2020 after suffering from mental health issues.

Biles will add to her seven Olympic medals in Paris, but the question is how many?

MORE FRENCH GOLD

French rider Pauline Ferrand-Prevot won the women’s mountain bike race on home soil. There were emotional scenes as she crossed the finish line on Elancourt Hill after finishing nearly three minutes ahead of her competitors to take gold. Great Britain’s Evie Richards finished 5th.

France’s Leon Marchand won the first of a possible four golds in the pool by destroying the rest of the field in the 400m individual medley.  His time of 4:02.95 broke the Olympic record that was set by the great Michael Phelps.

TEAM GB – Another silver and bronze medal

Adam Peaty missed out on a gold medal by two hundredths of a second in the 100m breaststroke final. He was beaten by Italy’s Nicolò Martinenghi in a pulsating race that could have gone either way.

This silver was Peaty’s sixth Olympic medal since his debut in Rio 2016. He will return for the relay races later in the week.

Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods won bronze in the women’s Canoeing Slalom K-1. Woods made a mistake early in her run but completed the course in 98.94. Jessica Fox won Australia’s fourth gold medal of the games with a time of 96.08.

ROWING

In rowing, British Olympic royalty Helen Glover – along with Rebecca Shorten, Esme Booth and Sam Redgrave – are through to the women’s coxless four final after easily winning their heat. The final will be on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Team GB men’s coxless four are also through to Thursday’s final.

The Women’s lightweight double sculls and Men’s coxless pair comfortably qualified for their semi-finals. They are considered both considered favourites to win gold.

HOCKEY

Great Britain’s women’s hockey team lost to Spain in their opening match of the Paris games.

All three goals came in the first 10 minutes. Laura Barrios opened the scoring for the Spanish before Giselle Ansley equalised for Great Britain. Lola Riera’s winner in the 9th minute of the first quarter proved decisive. Great Britain will play Australia in their next match with ground to make up to qualify for the quarter finals.

The men’s team drew 2-2 with South Africa in their second match of the games.

RUGBY SEVENS

In rugby sevens, Great Britain beat Ireland 21-12 in their opening match of Pool B at the Stade de France.

It was a surprising victory considering that Ireland were considered to be one of the favourites for a medal before the games.

However, they were thrashed 36-5 by the 2016 Olympic champions Australia later in the day. They now need to beat South Africa on monday to qualify for the semi-finals.

BOXING

There are now only three boxers left for Team GB after Rosie Eccles suffered a controversial split decision loss to Aneta Rygielska in the Welterweight division.

Yesterday, Charley Davison was also knocked out of the competition by dubious scorecards. Decisions like these do the sport no favours after years of complaints regarding judging.

Amateur Boxing have been stung by allegations of corruption and bribery since Tokyo. It led the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to threaten the International Boxing Association (IBA) with expulsion from LA 2028 unless they reformed.

Considering that the Olympics has been the launchpad for some of the greatest fighters in history, it would be a shame if a generation of young boxers missed out due to incompetence by the governing body.

TENNIS

At Roland Garros, Andy Murray delayed his retirement in an incredible men’s double match to reach the second round.

Murray and Dan Evans won an incredible 11-9 final set tie breaker after saving 5 match points from 9-4 down.

The British duo lost the first set before their serve being broken in the second set. They recovered to win it 7-6.

For now, the two-time gold medalist’s swansong continues.

In the singles, Rafael Nadal won his first-round match in a three-set thriller to set up a second-round showdown with Novak Djokovic.

An Olympic gold medal is all that eludes Djokovic as he looks to cement his status as the greatest ever. However, Nadal is the undisputed king of clay having won 14 titles at Roland Garros.

Tuesday’s match will be their 60th  meeting between the two legends. It could be one for the ages.

Paris 2024 Day One: Antoine Dupont makes Rugby history and Team GB off to a solid start.

THE STORY OF DAY ONE

70,000 French supporters packed the Stade de France to see Antoine Dupont lead France to a stunning 28-7 victory over Fiji in the Rugby Sevens to give the hosts their first gold medal of the Olympics.

The gold medal match was on a knife edge at half time with the score drawn 7-7.

However, Dupont – the golden boy of French Rugby – scored two tries and assisted another to deny the Fijians their third straight Olympic gold after winning the competition in Tokyo and Rio.

It is a marvellous achievement for the home nation considering they failed to qualify for Tokyo 2020.

It is also a moment of vindication for Dupont who raised eyebrows earlier in the year for opting to concentrate on Rugby 7’s rather than competing in the Six Nations championship.

Earlier in the day France beat South Africa 19-5 in the first semi-final before Fiji beat Australia 31-7.

South Africa beat Australia 26-19 in the bronze medal match.

TEAM GB OFF TO A SOLID START

Team GB had not won a medal on the first day of an Olympics since Athens 2004. However, in Paris they got off to a solid start.

Great Britain’s first medal of Paris 2024 came in the women’s synchronized 3m springboard at the aquatics centre where Yasmin Harper & Scarlett Mew Jensen won bronze after a dramatic last round.

Harper and Mew Jensen’s score of 70.68 in their final dive got them into contention for a medal but knew their Australian rivals needed to make a mistake in theirs.

A slip during the Australian routine meant that their score only amounted to 48.60, short of the required 58.68 to overtake the British duo.

Chinese duo Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen comfortably won the gold medal with the United States winning silver.

Team GB’s second medal of the day came in road cycling.

Anna Henderson won silver in the women’s individual time trial with a time of 41:09.83 She finished 90 seconds behind Australian gold medalist Grace Brown.

The race took place under treacherous conditions on the streets of Paris and was marred by several crashes.

However, Brown made the course and conditions look easy and won with a time of 39:38.24. Henderson wasn’t expected to finish in the top two in Paris but added Olympic silver to the European silver medal she won last year.

In the men’s time trial, 19-year-old Josh Tarling could only manage fourth after a puncture cost him several seconds halfway through his ride.

The reigning European champion made up for the lost time but was two seconds short of a bronze medal.

It will feel like a disappointment for now but with many Olympics to come I doubt we have heard the last of Josh Tarling.

In the Pool, Adam Peaty is through to Sunday’s 100m breaststroke final after winning his heat and semi-final.

This now sets up a showdown with China’s Qin Haiyang. If Peaty wins he will become only the second man after the great Michael Phelps to win Olympic gold in the same discipline at three consecutive Olympics.

Max Whitlock is also chasing history in Gymnastics as he qualified for next Saturday’s Pommel horse final.

In Hockey, Great Britain’s Mens team beat Spain 4-0 in their opening match of Pool A.

Goals from Tom Boon, Alexander Hendrickx and a brace from Gareth Furlong secured a comfortable victory despite Spain squandering several chances. They will play South Africa in their second match on Sunday evening.

In the ring, Charley Davison controversially lost her first-round fight against Hatice Akbaş on a split decision. It reduces the number of Team GB boxers to five going into day two.

Paris 2024

The 33rd Olympiad is just days away. I crunch the numbers, discuss what it means for Paris and the Olympic movement and briefly look forward to Friday’s unprecedented opening ceremony.

The 33rd Olympic games are now just days away. 10,714 athletes from 206 countries will compete in 329 events across 32 sports.

Paris will become only the second host city – after London – to hold its 3rd Olympics (previously hosting in 1900 and 1924).

But for the French capital, hosting this Olympics has been decades in the making, bidding for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 games before losing out to Barcelona, Beijing and London.

Paris attempted a final time for these games and were helped when three rival candidates withdrew leaving just Los Angeles to beat.

However, in an unprecedented move, the International Olympic committee (IOC) chose to elect Paris as the host for 2024 with Los Angeles hosting the next games in 2028.

According to the IOC, Paris 2024 has cost $4.38bn, with private companies providing 100 percent of the funding. For the Paralympics, only 4 percent of public funding will be used.

It is a far cry from the days when the onus was on the host city to provide such funding.

The IOC has been criticised for previous games – particularly in Montreal and Athens - when the cities suffered financial hardships due to the amount of public money spent on the games without leaving a significant legacy behind.

However, that is not a fate that will beset Paris. These Olympics will be the most sustainable in history.

The Stade de France will be used as the ‘Olympic stadium’ for the athletics and rugby sevens before returning to host concerts, football and rugby for the French national teams, long after the games have finished.

The i newspaper also reports that 95 per cent of venues in Paris already exist or will be constructed temporarily in front of the city’s most famous landmarks.

In fact, only the Aquatics centre, the La Bourget climbing venue, and the Porte de la Chapelle arena have been purposely built for Paris 2024, all of which have been earmarked for use within their communities well beyond the games.

The Olympic village – located in Saint Denis - will also be converted into housing after the games, building on a legacy set by London 2012 when the Olympic Park helped transform parts of East London.

Of course, there will still be political criticisms.

Scaremongering about travel chaos and overcrowding around the host city is often written about in the lead up to an Olympics before being quickly ironed out and forgotten once the sport begins.

However, this will be a critical games for the Olympic movement after Tokyo 2020 was severely disrupted due to the covid pandemic.

There is also hope that Paris 2024 may act as a unifier after years of political division in France due to the rise of the far right.

But for now, it’s about the sport.

The eyes of the world will be on the Seine on Friday when the opening ceremony is due to take place outside of the Olympic stadium for the first time.

A parade of boats will transport the athletes 6 kilometers down the river to Trocadéro, when the games will be declared open underneath the spectacular gaze of the Eiffel Tower.

Then, it’s about the action and drama. The stories of hard work, dreams, redemption, victory and defeat.

It promises to be an incredible 16 days.

DEFEAT IN BERLIN AND SOUTHGATE RESIGNS

Picture credit: CNN/Getty

Spain have won their fourth European Championship after defeating Gareth Southgate’s England in Berlin.

Mikel Oyarzabal’s 86th minute winner finally broke the English resilience after controlling most of the second half and squandering several chances.

As English legs tired, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo found themselves in acres of space. Two quick passes cut through the English defence before reaching Oyarzabal.

His movement caused confusion amongst the English centre-backs before passing the ball out to the left to Marc Cucurella.

Oyarzabal’s clever movement had left Marc Guéhi out of position and John Stones was unaware of the Real Sociedad man’s run behind him.

For a moment, it looked like Kyle Walker was going to prevent Cucurella’s excellent pass into the box.

However, he was a fraction too late.

Oyarzabal slid in and knocked the ball past a helpless Jordan Pickford to win Euro 2024 and damn England to their second straight final defeat.

As expected, Spain dominated possession in this final.

Nico Williams and Yamine Lamal were dangerous in the first half but superb defending from Luke Shaw and John Stones kept them at bay.

England’s opportunities were limited.

Harry Kane had a shot charged down and Phil Foden’s effort from a free kick was straight at the keeper.

England would have been quietly happy with their first half performance despite being made to work hard by the slick passing and movement of Luis de la Fuente’s side.

There was hope that Rodri coming off injured at half time would help Gareth Southgate’s team.

That was short lived.

Spain broke the deadlock two minutes into the second half after they had considerably quickened the pace of the game.

Lamal finally broke free from Shaw’s attentions and dribbled to the edge of England’s 18-yard-box.

Declan Rice and Guéhi couldn’t keep up with the 17-year-old. His pass found the oncoming Williams who was completely unmarked.

Williams smashed the ball past Pickford and into the bottom right corner to give Spain a 1-0 lead.

Then, with full control of the midfield, Spain launched wave after wave of attacks that England couldn’t cope with.

Olmo and Alvaro Morata should have extended the lead before Williams had a long-range effort fly just past Pickford’s post.

Yamal should have also topped off a sensational tournament but was denied by an excellent save by the England goalkeeper.

Spain should have been out of sight and Southgate needed to make changes before the inevitable happened.

Cole Palmer came on for England in the 70th minute and his impact was immediate. His pass found Bukayo Saka.

Saka’s run down the wing finally forced the Spanish to retreat into their own half. He got the better of Aymeric Laporte before finding Jude Bellingham.

Bellingham nudged the ball back to Palmer, whose side footed shot from the edge of the area beat Unai Simón to equalise.

The majority of the Olympiastadion in Berlin erupted and for a short time, it felt like England were in the ascendency.

But Spain wrestled back control and outplayed England before Oyarzabal’s strike to make it 2-1.

Southgate’s team would get one more chance at salvation.

A corner from Palmer was met by a powerful header from Stones. It was saved by Simón but Guéhi reacted quickly with another header to send the ball back towards the goal.

Olmo cleared the ball off the line but only into the path of Rice. His header went agonisingly wide, and with it ended the hope of a fairytale ending for Southgate and England.

Gareth Southgate officially resigned on Tuesday afternoon.

History will look kindly on a manager who had re-galvanised the love and desire for the national team.

Who takes over in still uncertain. However, Southgate leaves behind a legacy and platform in which the new manager can build.

For Spain, it was a deserved victory.

They beat Croatia, Italy, Germany and France on route to Berlin, and in truth, they should have won this final more convincingly.

Having now won the Nations League and European Championships; they stand on the edge of another era of dominance.

They will be the favourites – along with Argentina – at the 2026 World Cup.

Spain Starting X1:  U. Simon, D. Carvajal, R. Le Normand, Aymeric Laporte, M. Cucurella, R. Rodri, R. Fabian, L. Yamal, D. Olmo, N. Williams, A. Morata.

Subs: M. Zubimendi (46), M. Oyarzabal (68), F. Nacho (83), M. Merino (89).

England Starting X1: J. Pickford, K. Walker, J. Stones, M. Guehi, L. Shaw, K. Mainoo,     D. Rice, B. Saka, P. Foden, J. Bellingham, H. Kane.

Subs: O. Watkins (61), C. Palmer (71), I. Toney (89).

I know that was then, but it could be again.

Picture credit: TSN

And so, on to Berlin.

Spain stands on the precipice of another era of dominance. The days of tiki-taka, Xavi and Iniesta have passed but their legacy remains intact.

The passing and movement that is synonymous with the Spanish football remains. But this team have now added two young wingers in Nico Williams and Yamine Lamal that have ripped up Euro 2024.

I’m not sure what you were doing when you were 16. I was hanging out at Wood Green snooker club and trying to order a warm pint of Strongbow.

Yamal, on the other hand, was attending La Masia, playing for Barcelona and starring in an international tournament. It is quite the achievement.

Then, there is Rodri, who has been instrumental for Luis de la Fuente’s team.

The best midfielder in Europe was unbeaten in 73 domestic matches before losing the FA Cup final with Manchester City.

His form has continued for Spain at Euro 2024, scoring against Georgia in the last 16 whilst producing superb performances against Croatia, Italy, Germany and France on route to the final.

To cement their status as favourites, Spanish teams have won 26 out of 26 finals across the World Cup, European championships, Champions League and Europa League since 2001.

They’re as close to invincible as it gets.

But if there’s anything we have learned from this England team in the last four weeks is that nothing is inevitable.

They have had an easier route to Berlin but one filled with drama.

England haven’t managed to put together a solid performance over 90 minutes like the Spanish, but Gareth Southgate has showed an ability to make full use of his 26-man squad.

They had to call upon Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka to provide moments of magic when elimination looked more likely.

When that wasn’t possible, Cole Palmer and Ollie Watkins amongst others made the difference, and dramatically dragged their country across the line.

Despite suffering personally from the criticisms, this is a team that is united, resolute and refuses to be beaten.

But more than that, Southgate has said this is a team “that wants to be loved,” in the aftermath of England’s Semi-final win against the Netherlands.

“When you’re doing something for your country and you’re a proud Englishman, you don’t feel that back and all your read is criticism, it’s hard.”

“So, to be able to celebrate a second final is very special. Especially with the fans that travel, our travelling supporters are amazing.”

“If I wasn’t on the grass, I would have been drinking a beer and celebrating like they were. We are kindred spirits in many ways”.

It was an emotional rallying cry for unity ahead of England’s first final on foreign soil.

The other two were played at Wembley.  The first, 1966. The second, a painful penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy three years ago at Euro 2020.

But that was then.

On Sunday, the nation will be with Gareth Southgate. The pubs and box parks will be full but the chances of winning a second major title may be more hopeful than realistic.

However, there hasn’t been an English manager that has avenged failures or re-written history like this one.

Sometimes, in football the stars align and provide the unlikeliest of stories.

It makes you hope that England have more than just a puncher’s chance against Spain. It makes you believe that it could be again.

Moments like these

Picture credit: Sky News and Reuters

I review Wednesday’s Semi Final against the Netherlands. I praise Gareth Southgate, criticise myself and relive that last minute goal from Ollie Watkins.

England are through to their second straight European Championship final after more late drama in Dortmund.

The hero this time was Oliver George Arthur Watkins. He has only been used sparingly at Euro 2024, playing 20 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Denmark in the group stages.

On the 81st minute, Watkins’ patience was rewarded, coming on for a tiring Harry Kane. England needed to get up the pitch.

With 90 minutes gone, the game seemed destined for extra time.

Then, Declan Rice brought the ball out of defence and drove forward. His pass was wayward, but Kobbie Mainoo managed to get the slightest of touches on the ball that kept the attack alive.

The ball arrived at the feet of Cole Palmer. He turned and played a magnificent through ball to Watkins.

He had stretched the Dutch defence but Stefan De Vrij looked comfortable.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, Watkins turned and found half a yard of space. He fired his shot between the legs of De Vrij, across Bart Verbruggen and into the left corner of the net.

Pandemonium erupted in the stands. Watkins – with pure joy on his face – ran over to the English substitutes before being mobbed.

It was a sledgehammer blow to Ronald Koeman’s team and there was barely any time to react. England were into the final.

Gareth Southgate’s substitutions were inspired.

They didn’t come too late; they changed the game and gave his players a foothold to win this semi-final.

It proved that journalists, podcasters and armchair bloggers - like me - don’t know Southgate’s players like he does.

We were so quick to lambast and criticise that we forgot Southgate’s teams had a knack of providing so many special moments during his tenure.

But, England still had to suffer in Dortmund.

Xavi Simons 7th minute rocket put the Netherlands into the lead after dispossessing Rice.

England responded well and played their best football of the tournament. They were rewarded in the 18th minute when the referee and VAR gave England a fortuitous penalty.

Bukayo Saka was splendid again down the right, cutting in before his shot ricocheted to Kane. Kane’s shot went harmlessly over the bar.

Or so we thought.

VAR asked the referee to check whether Kane had been fouled after his shot. After a consultation with the pitch side monitor, the referee awarded a penalty.

It was a ridiculous decision.

Granted those ‘fouls’ are regularly given outside of the box in European competitions but what was Denzel Dumfries supposed to do? Kane had kicked Dumfries on his follow through. The Dutch had every right to feel aggrieved.

The England captain equalised from the spot - his third goal of the competition - to put his team in to the ascendency.

Phil Foden was at the heart of everything good for England and he was so unlucky not to score. First having a shot cleared off the line before rattling the crossbar with a long-range effort.

The Dutch fought back, and Dumfries also hit the crossbar with a brilliant header from a corner.

At half time, Ronald Koeman made changes to nullify England. They worked, and the game became a battle of attrition.

The Dutch eventually took control and had the better chances. Jordan Pickford was called into action after a Virgil Van Dijk shot from close range.

England thought they had knicked it when Saka turned in Kyle Walkers cross from the right. However, Walker had marginally strayed offside and the game remained on a knife edge.

Then, the magic happened.

Influential changes from a much-maligned coach. And Watkins of Aston Villa - via Brentford, Exeter and Weston-super-mare – wrote himself into English football folklore.

England will play Spain in Berlin in the Euro 2024 final. They will be massive underdogs against a team that has swept all before them.

But that is a Sunday problem.

For now, let’s rejoice. The dream is still alive. Moments like these are what football is all about.

Can England get past Ronald Koeman’s Dutch?

Picture credit: Sky Sports

Wednesday’s Euro 2024 final semi-final between England and the Netherlands will only be their 4th meeting in a major tournament. I discuss the previous three and explain why England will have to defeat a familiar foe in order to reach the final.

There has never been much of a rivalry between the Netherlands and England in the modern era.

There have been countless friendlies and a Nations League semi-final between both nations.

But you would have to go back to the late 80’s and mid 90’s for the significant battles in major competitions.

It was a time when Ronald Koeman and his brother Erwin were instrumental in terrorising England.

15th June 1988, Düsseldorf, Euro 88

England and the Netherlands met in their second group game at Euro 88. Both teams needed to win after losing their opening games to Republic of Ireland and the Soviet Union.

Ronald and Ernie Koeman lined up for the Netherlands alongside great names like Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard.

However, this game is best remembered for Marco Van Basten's hat trick. He systematically destroyed England to give the Dutch a 3-1 victory.

The win was the Oranje’s first on route to winning their only major tournament.

In the final, Van Basten scored one of the greatest goals in European Championship history in a 2-1 win over the Soviet Union.

16th June 1990, Cagliari – World Cup Italia 90

Bobby Robson's England had a chance for revenge against the Dutch at Italia 90. It was the second game in a group that included Ireland and Egypt.

England had several chances. Gary Lineker, Paul Gascoigne and Bryan Robson really should have scored in an improved performance from Euro 88.

However, it wasn't to be.

The game ended in an unspectacular 0-0 draw. England won the group, and the Dutch went through as one of the best third place teams.

Both teams were beaten in the knockout stages by arch-rivals West Germany. The Dutch lost 2-1 in the last 16 before England were beaten on penalties in the semi-final.

West Germany went on to win the World Cup.

13th October 1993, Rotterdam – USA 94 World Cup Qualifier

The Dutch needed to beat England to have any hope of qualifying for USA 94. England could afford a draw knowing that that their last match was against San Marino.

It was the game that the Koeman brothers became hated in England.

Ronald should have been sent off for a professional foul on David Platt before putting the Dutch 1-0 up with an exquisite free kick.

If this game was played in the modern era, then Erwin also would have been sent off after a horrific challenge on Paul Parker.

However, the referee chose not to. Much to the disgust of England manager Graham Taylor.

A young Denis Bergkamp added a second before the end of the match.

England had failed to qualify for the World Cup and Graham Taylor was unceremoniously sacked from the job.

18th June 1996, Wembley – Euro 96

England appointed Terry Venables in preparation for their first home tournament since 1966.

England's campaign started slowly with a 1-1 draw with Switzerland but had exploded into life after a 2-0 win over Scotland.
It continued at Wembley where England finally got the better of the Dutch in a major competition.

Alan Shearer's 23rd minute penalty gave England the lead.

In the second half, Teddy Sheringham's header made it 2-0 and began an English blitz that saw them score three goals in ten minutes.

Paul Gascoigne terrorised the Dutch in the build up to Shearer's second of the game.

He then combined with Sheringham, who laid the ball off to Shearer. He smashed it into the top corner to make it 3-0.

5 minutes later Sheringham tapped in England's fourth after Edwin Van der Sar failed to keep hold of a long-range shot.

Patrick Kluivert got a consolation goal for the Dutch. It was enough for them to get through to the knockout stages on goal difference.

England had won the group and finally had a sense of revenge after failing to qualify for USA 94 at the hands of the Dutch.

10th June, Dortmund – Euro 2024

The Koemans will look to destroy English hopes again on Wednesday. This time from the bench.

Ronald returned for his second stint as Dutch manager after Qatar 2022. Erwin became his assistant.

The Netherlands came to Euro 2024 on good form. They finished second to France in qualifying having lost both of their games to them.

However, the Dutch recovered well from these defeats by beating every other team in the group including nail biting away wins in Greece and Ireland.

If there is a criticism of the Dutch, it is their inability to beat the larger nations.

So often in major tournaments they perform superbly in the group stages only to be beaten in the knockout stages by the first quality team they play against.

That has changed at this tournament. They beat Poland and drew with France before losing an entertaining game with Austria in Group D.

It was enough to finish as one of the best third placed teams to advance to the knockout rounds.

By the time the last 16 came the Dutch were battle-hardened. They comfortably beat Romania 3-0 before having to suffer in their 2-1 quarter final win against Türkiye.

Despite being criticised by the Dutch press, Koeman’s Netherlands have been more creative than England.

They scored nine goals at Euro 2024 and at the time of writing Cody Gakpo is the tournament’s top goalscorer.

The Oranje have conceded five goals at Euro 2024. England have the individual talent to breach their defence but will need to improve their performance if they are to get the better of Ronald Koeman’s team.

However, Gareth Southgate’s squad have already shown that they have little regard for history or the failures of the past.

These players hadn’t even been born when the Koemans were a consistent thorn for England.

Those traumas are for an older generation, and one that hopes that their demons can be exorcised once more.