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France clinched gold medal at the men’s rugby sevens competition of the 2024 Paris Olympics, whereas Australia’s Ariarne Titmus won gold at the women’s 400m freestyle swimming competition. read more
 "France clinch rugby sevens gold; Ariarne Titmus wins women's 400m freestyle swimming competition")
Antoine Dupont, seen by many as the world's best 15-a-side player, came off the bench to mastermind an extraordinary second-half performance that saw him score twice and create another try for Fiji's first-ever Olympic loss. AP
Antoine Dupont led from the front as France secured gold medal in men’s Rugby Sevens at the 2024 Paris Olympics, beating two-time champions Fiji 28-7 on Saturday (July 27). Dupont, seen by many as the world’s best 15-a-side player, came off the bench to mastermind an extraordinary second-half performance that saw him score twice and create another try for Fiji’s first-ever Olympic loss.
“It’s a huge reward for us, for rugby, for all the country,” an ecstatic Dupont told reporters afterwards.
“We really felt that we were representing not only rugby but the whole of French sport. We are really proud to start off the Olympics like that,” he added.
Your Olympic medalists 🤩
France 🥇
Fiji 🥈
South Africa 🥉#Paris2024 | #RugbySevens pic.twitter.com/F790Y84Qg5
Fiji got off to a flying start, breaking several French tackles and offloading sweetly to release Joseva Talacolo for a try under the posts with just over one minute on the clock.
But to the delight of a raucous Stade de France crowd, Les Bleus were quickly back on terms, Andy Timo delivering a perfectly timed pass out of contact to enable Jefferson-Lee Joseph to dot down.
French coach Jerome Daret started star man Dupont on the bench, as he has for most of the tournament, but unleashed his main playmaker at half-time with the sides level. The impact was immediate.
Dupont broke down the wing from the restart, outpacing Fijian legend Jerry Tuwai to run half the length of the pitch and pop a try-scoring pass inside to Aaron Grandidier Nkanang.
And who else but Dupont was on hand to win it for France, a quick tap penalty catching the Fijian defence napping and darting himself under the posts.
Australia take lead in swimming showdown against USA
Australia took the lead in their swimming showdown against the United States at the Paris Olympics by claiming two of three gold medals on the first full day of competition. Ariarne Titmus turned one of the most anticipated races of the Games into a blowout when she left Katie Ledecky in her wake at La Defense Arena. Titmus led from start to finish in the 400-meter freestyle Saturday night.
The queen of the 400 meters is Ariarne Titmus 🇦🇺
The battle of the queens took place at Paris La Défense Arena in Nanterre! Ariarne Titmus, Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky 💦#Paris2024
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La patronne du 400 mètres est Ariarne Titmus 🇦🇺
Le combat des reines a bien eu lieu à… pic.twitter.com/Ph9Ki2aHkf
The Australian star known as “The Terminator” handed Ledecky a second straight Olympic defeat in an event the American won at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Titmus faced her stiffest challenge from 17-year-old Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh, but she won comfortably as McIntosh claimed the silver. Ledecky settled for bronze.
Titmus swept the 200 and 400 free in Tokyo, and she is going for the same double in Paris. Ledecky is going for a double in the 800 and 1,500. Australia then made it two out of two against the Americans in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, claiming their fourth straight Olympic title in that event.
The quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris set an Olympic record with a winning time of 3 minutes, 28.92 seconds.
The Americans — Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel — rallied to take silver. China took bronze.
The US finally got its first gold in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay. The Americans were anchored by Caeleb Dressel, who won the eighth gold medal of his career. Australia took the silver.
The first gold medal of the Paris Olympics went to China when Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao beat South Korea’s Keum Jihyeon and Park Hajun in the final of the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event Saturday morning.
Shortly before that, Kazakhstan’s Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev became the first medalists of the Games when they beat Germany’s Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich 17-5 for the bronze.
Djokovic beats Eben, perplexed by Olympic rules
Novak Djokovic was perplexed by the Olympics rules after his 6-0, 6-1 rout in less than an hour against an overmatched Matthew Ebden, a 36-year-old doubles player from Australia who hadn’t competed in a tour-level, main-draw singles match since June 2022. Djokovic felt other singles players deserved a spot at the Olympics instead of Ebden.
Ebden was in Paris to compete in men’s doubles, where he’s been as high as No. 1 and currently is No. 3 and has won two major championships. That made him available for the singles competition when 16th-ranked Holger Rune of Denmark pulled out because of a wrist injury.
Ebden was not the first doubles player asked to fill in, but he was the first to say yes. He hadn’t even practiced singles in about two years until playing a tiebreaker in training on Friday.
In other tennis action, Rafael Nadal is not sure whether he will compete in singles, saying after he paired with Carlos Alcaraz to win their first-round doubles match Saturday night that he wants to “make the smartest decision possible to have the best chances to bring (a) medal back home.”
Nadal’s first match in singles, against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, is scheduled for Sunday. Also, Angelique Kerber eliminated Naomi Osaka 7-5, 6-3 in the first round in a matchup between former No. 1-ranked players with multiple Grand Slam titles.
Rain continues to cause trouble
Rain continued from the opening ceremony through the first full day of competition and caused several postponements and delays at the Paris Olympics.
Men’s street skateboarding was supposed to start Saturday but was pushed to Monday because of the showers. The start of play in the scheduled tennis matches on the 10 smaller courts at Roland Garros was delayed because of rain, but action started as scheduled in the two main stadiums that have retractable roofs.
The rain could threaten the water quality for swimming in the Seine when the triathlon begins Tuesday with the men’s event at the Alexander III bridge next to Grand Palais.
Hong Kong win third ever Olympics gold
Fencer Vivian Kong won Hong Kong’s third ever Olympic gold medal, disappointing the home crowd as she beat France’s Auriane Mallo-Breton 13-12 in sudden death in the women’s epee final.
Kong wiped away tears after she clinched the title, having held her nerve when she trailed 7-1 in the second period and with a passionate home crowd, including President Emmanuel Macron, urging Mallo-Breton on.
Kong’s gold emulates that of fellow fencer Cheung Ka Long in the men’s foil in Tokyo three years ago and sailor Lee Lai Shan who won the women’s sailboard title at Atlanta 1996.
Mallo-Breton’s medal is the first for France in the women’s individual epee since the 2004 Games in Athens.
Wembanyama sparkles to give France winning start in basketball
Victor Wembanyama scored a joint team-high 19 points as hosts France shrugged off a slow start to beat Brazil 78-66 in their opening game of basketball.
France won silver in Tokyo three years ago and are hoping to go one better at home, boosted by the presence of last year’s top NBA draft pick and rookie of the year Wembanyama.
The French trailed by eight after the first quarter in Lille before taking charge in the second and third periods, with Nicolas Batum also contributing 19 points.
France play Japan in their second Group B game on Tuesday. World champions Germany beat Japan earlier in the day to launch their Olympic campaign, led by 22 points from Orlando Magic forward Franz Wagner.
Australia, bronze medallists at the last Olympics, took down Spain 92-80 with five different players reaching double digits in points, including Jock Landale who top-scored with 20.
Canada held off Greece 86-79 despite 34 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo in the second Group A game.
Canada women’s football team points deducted
Away from the sporting action, Canada’s women’s football team were deducted six points by FIFA and their coach Beverly Priestman suspended for a year after a drone spying scandal.
A drone was used over a New Zealand training session ahead of Canada’s first match, which they won 2-1.
The punishment leaves the defending champions on minus three points in Group A, putting their future in the tournament in serious doubt.
With inputs from agencies
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