Pinned
The United States men’s basketball team took their second step toward a gold medal in Paris on Wednesday. The team was looking to make amends for a sub-par performance against South Sudan less than two weeks before facing them in Paris, and did precisely that with a 103–86 win.
The United States played South Sudan in a game they were favored to win by more than 40 points going into the game in London on July 20. But they needed a layup from LeBron James with only eight seconds remaining in regulation to take the lead and escape an upset with a 101–100 win.
One of the areas that was getting a fair amount of attention before the game was the lack of playing time for Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum. Tatum, the NBA Finals MVP, played 16 minutes against South Sudan in the previous matchup and is coming off a marvelous postseason run in the NBA but failed to get on the floor in the United States’ 110–84 win against Serbia.
History Was Made: In a historic day for legendary swimmers, American swimmer Katie Ledecky took her 8th gold and 12th Olympic medal. French swimmer Leon Marchand set multiple records and took the gold in the 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter breaststroke in the same evening.
A Clean Seine: In the morning, triathletes took a dip in the Seine river after last-minute testing showed the water had met the quality levels. Cassandre Beaugrand of France took gold in the women's triathlon and Alex Yee of Great Britain took gold in the men's triathlon.
Tennis Upset: Spain's Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz lost to Team USA's Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in doubles, ending Nadal's last Olympics. Meanwhile, the American duo advanced to the semifinal.
Leon Marchard of France made history for the second time on Wednesday taking gold in the 200-meter breaststroke nearly two hours after he broke an Olympic record when he won the gold in the 200-meter butterfly.
Marchand, who has made his name as a national legend at the Paris Olympics, is also now the first French swimmer to win three gold medals, and he did it all in the span of less than one week.
Pan Zhanle of China smashed his 100-meter freestyle world record in the Olympic pool with a 46.40 time.
The next three swimmers were a second behind Pan, but only a hundredth of a second apart from each other: Kyle Chalmers of Australia took silver with 47.48, David Popovici of Romania took the bronze with 47.49, and Nandor Nemeth of Hungary narrowly missed the podium with 47.50.
Team USA women's basketball lost their second 3x3 match in a row, this time 20-17 to Azerbaijan.
The team, which won gold last time, still has a chance to stay in the running if they win their next pool games.
Team USA won its women's water polo match against Italy 10-3 in the preliminaries, on track for a potential four-gold streak.
The team will play France next in the preliminaries on Aug. 2.
Katie Ledecky took the gold and made it look easy.
Expectations were high for Ledecky to score her eighth gold medal, tying her with Jenny Thompson as the most decorated USA female swimmer in the summer Olympics.
Team USA will play Japan in the women's soccer quarterfinals on Aug. 3.
The team won gold at the 2012 Olympics, and this is the first time the team has won all of its preceding group matches since.
Team USA's Beiwen Zhang won her second match, against Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam, and has advanced to the Round of 16.
In a bid to spark a stronger performance, the U.S. men’s basketball team is making significant changes to its starting lineup for their second group stage game against South Sudan.
Jayson Tatum, who sat out entirely in the team’s opening loss to Serbia will make his Olympic debut as a starter. He replaces Jrue Holiday in the backcourt. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis will step in in place of Joel Embiid.
Leon Merchand has once again etched his name into the Olympic record books capturing the gold in the 200-meter butterfly with a stunning come-from-behind victory.
The French swimmer who trains at Arizona State delivered a breathtaking final 50 meters to overtake the previously dominant Kristof Milak of Hungary and set a new Olympic record in the process.
Team USA's Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram won a two-set match against Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in men's tennis doubles quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals.
This ends what is expected to be Nadal's last Olympics and puts Krajicek and Ram in the running for the medal.
Team USA's Torri Huske had an early lead in the 100-meter freestyle but was overtaken by Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden just meters from the wall.
Huske won the silver with a time of 52.29 and Sjostrom, who won silver in the 50-meter freestyle in Tokyo 2020, took home the gold with a time of 52.16, short of her world record seven years ago at 51.71 seconds.
Oka Shinnosuke of Japan won the gold in the men's artistic gymnastics all-around event, making this the fourth consecutive gold for Japan.
China took both silver and bronze, with Zhang Boheng placing second and Xiao Ruoteng third.
Despite a shaky start on the pommel horse, U.S. gymnast Frederick Richard showcased his talent and resilience throughout the competition. He saved his best for last, delivering a solid floor routine that highlighted his power and unique style.
Though a small stumble on his final tumbling pass prevented a perfect ending, Richard’s overall performance earned him a 13.200 on the floor, bringing his overall total to 82.166.
In a blow for the US women’s soccer team, midfielder Samantha Coffey was sent off just three minutes into the match against Australia after incurring a second yellow card in the Olympic tournament.
Coffey’s absence will be a significant loss for the team as they head into the knockout stage. However, her yellow cards will be cleared after the quarterfinals, meaning she could rejoin the team if they advance to the semifinals.
The U.S. women’s volleyball team secured a comeback to secure a hard-fought victory and clinch a spot in the knockout round.
After dominating the first two sets, the Americans found themselves facing a potential setback as Serbia roared back to level out the match.
Spain and Japan clinch their spots in the quarterfinals after dominant performances in Group C matches. Spain, already assured a place in the quarterfinals, completed a perfect group-stage campaign with a 1-0 victory over Brazil.
Meanwhile, Japan secured their place with a 3-1 win over Nigeria. The victory propelled the team past Brazil in the standings and into the knockout rounds.
Both teams will now look to build on their momentum as they face off against their respective quarterfinal opponents.
American tennis duo Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul advanced to the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles tournament with a straight-set victory over Dutch pair Robin Haas and Jean-Julien Rojer, 6-3, 6-4.
Fritz and Paul will face off against Great Britain’s Andy Murray and Dan Evans.
American tennis player Danielle Collins lost in the women's tennis singles quarterfinals to Iga Swiatek of Poland, who is ranked No. 1 in the world.
At 4-1 in the third set, Collins, who had returned to the court after receiving medical treatment, was seen speaking to the umpire and heard saying "yeah, I can't play" before the match was called. Collins was the last of the Team USA women tennis players still in the running for a medal.
Australian Jessica Fox has cemented her status as one of the greatest canoe slalom athletes by winning the gold in both the K-1 and C-1 events at the Paris Olympics.
Just days after securing the K-1 title in Vaires-sur-Marne, Fox delivered another performance to defend her C-1 crown.
Featherweight Jahmal Harvey defeated Luiz Gabriel Oliveira of Brazil in the preliminaries 3-2 and will advance to the quarterfinals on Aug. 3.
Harvey, 21, is Team USA's best chance at a boxing medal.
Team USA's Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula lost to Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic in a tiebreaker third set and their second match in women's tennis doubles.
Muchova and Noskova will advance to the quarterfinals. Both Gauff and Pegula are out in women’s singles, but Gauff is still playing in the mixed doubles matches with Taylor Fritz.
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain beat Roman Safiullin, a Russian playing as an Independent Neutral Athlete, and will advance to the quarterfinals.
Alcaraz won this year’s French Open and will next play Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in Saturday's quarterfinals.
Team USA’s Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng won against Clemence Viera and Aline Chamereau of France in two sets, remaining undefeated in the pool beach volleyball matches.
The second set was close, but a block by Cheng won Team USA a match point and ended the game before a third set.
Shericka Jackson of Jamaica confirmed that she has withdrawn from the 100-meter race and is only running the 200-meter, in which she is a two-time gold medalist.
Teammate Shashalee Forbes will be running the 100-meter sprint.
Team USA's men's saber team narrowly lost to Iran 45-44. and have been eliminated early from the event.
Two-time gold medalists Team South Korea is still in the running for the gold, and have advanced to semifinals.
The French Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has denied Team Canada's appeal of a six-point penalty in women's soccer after the team's coach was removed over alleged involvement in a drone spying incident.
Coach Bev Priestman denied involvement in spying but was suspended in the wake of the scandal.
Team USA's Tommy Paul won his men's tennis singles match against Corentin Moutet of France, securing a spot in the quarterfinals.
He is also competing in men's doubles with Taylor Fritz.
Team USA's Perris Benegas won silver in the BMX freestyle event after two smooth runs and a final score of 90.70. Three years ago, Benegas took fourth in Tokyo, just missing the podium.
In a surprising turn of events, Team USA's Hannah Roberts, the favorite for the gold, did not win a medal. She crashed out of both runs, failing to finish her second. Roberts had won silver in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and is a five-time world champion in a sport that has only held seven such events.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia won against Dominic Koepfer of Germany to advance to the quarterfinals in men's tennis singles.
Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam winner, holds 98-titles, but in the Olympics he has only ever taken the bronze.
Briton Alex Yee ran a perfectly-paced 10km to snatch a dramatic Olympic triathlon gold on Wednesday, overhauling a fading Hayden Wilde of New Zealand in brutal conditions in Paris.
Yee and Wilde immediately forged clear, but the New Zealander, bronze medallist in Tokyo, surprisingly made an early move with Yee, widely regarded as the fastest runner in the field and silver medallist three years ago, declining to respond.
France's Cassandre Beaugrand won gold in the women's triathlon on Wednesday, delighting home fans and clinching the country's first-ever Olympic medal in the individual triathlon.
Athletes dived into the Seine on Wednesday for the Olympic women's triathlon after water tests showed lower levels of bacteria, ending days of uncertainty over whether the central Paris swim was viable after heavy rains.
The triathlon, conceived as a central showpiece of the Paris Olympics, starts and finishes at the Alexandre III bridge in the heart of the French capital and takes athletes along a section of the Champs-Elysees, passing monuments including the Musee d'Orsay.
When the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle made its debut on the Olympic program in Tokyo three years ago, Katie Ledecky won by more than four seconds.
This time, it could be an even bigger margin.
Still chasing the only major title he lacks after surpassing longtime rival Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic faces Dominik Koepfer of Germany in the third round at Roland Garros.
Carlos Alcaraz, who won the French Open at the same venue last month, plays Roman Safiullin of Russia.
It was a hot, steamy day at the Paris Olympics. Indoors and outdoors, the Games kept going.
Simone Biles and Team USA powered to Olympic gold in women’s gymnastics. Victor Wembanyama led France to a dramatic 94-90 win over Japan in men's basketball, and Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz moved into the quarterfinals of the men's doubles tournament in tennis.
US Men’s Basketball Looks to Keep Rolling
The U.S. men coasted past Serbia 110-84 in the Olympic opener, but the Americans could face a tougher battle against South Sudan on Wednesday.Team USA needed a layup by Lebron James with eight seconds remaining in the game to knock off the South Sudanese 101-100 in an Olympic warmup on July 20.