Biles and company dominate, Durant has big return, Nadal to battle Djokovic
US women’s gymnastics dominate team round. A historic US gold is made in fencing. Mackenzie Salmon breaks down our top moments from Sunday’s events.
Sports Seriously
It is the third full day of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and we have another packed schedule today. Frederick Richard, Brody Malone and the U.S. men’s gymnastics team compete in the team final. The Olympic swimming schedule today features five finals, with U.S. backstroke specialist Ryan Murphy and breaststroker Lilly King highlighting the lineup.
The U.S. women’s basketball team plays for the first time at the 2024 Olympics, facing Japan.
At least seven U.S. squads are competing across six team sports, 25 sports in total are in action, and USA TODAY Sports will bring you live results, medal count, highlights and more throughout the day. Follow along.
The USA TODAY app brings you every Team USA medal — right when it happens. Download for full Olympics coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and much more.
The United States men’s gymnastics team is sitting in third place as it searches for its first medal since winning bronze in 2008. Follow along for updates.
American skateboarders Jagger Eaton and Nyjah Huston finished second and third in the men’s street finals, earning Team USA a silver and bronze medal.
Japan’s Yuto Horigome won the gold medal, jumping ahead on his final attempt. Horigome also won the gold in Tokyo, while Eaton took bronze.
Her stiff arms and TikTok account have gone viral, and she has convinced Jason Kelce to become a rugby fan.
There might not be another athlete having a better time than Ilona Maher thus far at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Team USA women’s rugby sevens star is going mainstream with the way she runs through opposing players on the field and entertains her fans on social media.
Here’s what else you should know about Maher as she leads Team USA in women’s rugby. — Mark Giannotto
British swimmer Adam Peaty has tested positive for COVID, Team GB said Monday, a day after he narrowly missed out on the 100-meter breaststroke gold at the Paris Olympics.
Peaty shared the silver with American Nic Fink after both finished 0.02 seconds behind Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi.
The Briton had said he woke up unwell on the day of the race, although he declined to use that as an excuse. Peaty also struggled to speak after the race with a hoarse throat.
“He is hopeful to be back in competition for the relay events later in the swimming program,” Team GB said in a statement.
The relay events will take place later this week. — Reuters
Nellie Biles is happy to see the joy back on her daughter’s face at the Paris Olympics, but she told USA TODAY Sports on Monday her heart skipped a beat when Simone Biles briefly left Sunday’s qualifying session after tweaking her calf.
“Well, I was worried about that,” Nellie Biles said after an appearance on NBC’s TODAY show.
“Then I saw her up there to do that Yurchenko (double pike on the vault), I’m like, ‘For real?’ And then I gave her the thumbs up to see if she was OK and she nodded, so I’m like, ‘OK, she’s fine,’ and she went and she threw it. It was great. It was great. I’m like, ‘OK, then I guess you’re fine.'”
Both Biles’ mother and brother, Ron Jr., said Monday they’re thrilled to see her healthy and happy ahead at these Paris Olympics.
“I’m very proud as a mother to watch her and see her enjoying what she’s doing,” Nellie Biles said. “It’s different. Every time I watch her compete. It all depends on where she’s at mentally, and now I could tell that she’s in a very good place and she’s enjoying it. And you know, it is so good to see. It is so good to see.” — Dave Birkett
Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal, 6-1, 6-4, in a second-round matchup at Roland-Garros.
Djokovic made quick work of Nadal in the first games, and jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second. Nadal stormed back to even the set at 4-4, but then Djokovic found his footing to close it out.
The U.S. women’s field hockey team tied Spain 1-1 on Monday to move to 0-1-1 in pool play at the Paris Olympics.
Sophia Gladieux got the Americans on the board first with a goal in the 14th minute, but Spain’s Begona Garcia hit the equalizer six minutes later.
Team USA will take on Australia on Wednesday.
Simone Biles will do all four events in women’s gymnastics team finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, passing on the chance to get a little bit of rest in a competition that is both lengthy and stressful. This despite tweaking her left calf during qualifying.
Biles will anchor the U.S. women’s gymnastics team on vault, balance beam and floor exercise, and go second-to-last on uneven bars. Jordan Chiles, who got aced out of the all-around final because of the silly two-per-country rule, also will do four events. She’ll lead off on vault, bars and balance beam, and will go second on floor exercise. — Nancy Armour
U.S. track and field star Noah Lyles says this might be his final Games staying in the athlete housing.
Lyles told reporters Monday that residing in the Olympic Village has cause him some mental stress.
“I’ve become kind of popular in the village,” Lyles said. “Unfortunately, that has come with its own set of challenges, being able to find my own space within the village whether that’s eating or training in the gym. Some athletes like to leave the village and find their own hotels, but I like to enjoy the whole Olympic event – being with other athletes and stuff like that. But it has come with its own challenges of finding my own safe place. It’s kind of hard for me to find that space within the village and I don’t want to leave. But it’s definitely something I feel like after this Olympics I’m gonna have to have conversations higher up. Whoever that’s in charge of that and making that more available and more aware.”
Read more from Tyler Dragon about what Lyles had to say.
American fencer Nick Itkin advanced to the semifinals in the men’s individual foil set for Monday night.
Itkin, ranked No. 2 in in the world entering the competition, beat Italy’s Guillaume Biachi 15-14 in the quarterfinals Monday afternoon. Next he’ll face Italy’s Filippo Macchi. Making his second appearance in the Olympics, the 24-year-old Itkin won a bronze in team foil at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
American fencer Gerek Meinhardt, husband of two-time gold medalist Lee Kiefer, is out of medal contention in the men’s individual foil. After dominating China’s Haiwei Chen 15-7 in the round of 32, he lost to France’s Enzo Lefort 15-10 in the round of 16.
Meinhardt, 34, is making his fifth appearance at the Olympics and still has a chance to medal in the team foil competition Aug. 4. He won Olympic bronze medals in Rio in 2016 and in Tokyo in 2021 in team foil. — Josh Peter
PARIS — Chase Budinger and Miles Evans had their work cut out for them. So did the friends and families who came to cheer them on against Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, who represented the host country France. But Budinger and Evans dominated all the way through, winning the best-of-three 21-14 and 21-11. And so did their fan contingency that included their team parents and neighbors – who made up a fraction of the crowd at Centre Court under the Eiffel Tower.
The Americans were in synch throughout while the French looked disjointed at times. The crowd implored them with an impromptu rendition of the national anthem prior to the second set. It didn’t work.
Budinger, the former NBA player, used his size to be a presence at the net and throw the French tandem off their game. He also rarely swung hard and instead dumped the ball over the jumping block, the ball falling safely in the sand for point after point. His block at the net ended the match and he raised his arms toward the cheering section triumphantly. — Chris Bumbaca
The U.S. men’s gymnastics team is competing in the 2024 Olympics team final today. Frederick Ricahrd, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Asher Hong and Stephen Nedoroscik are aiming to secure the Americans’ first Olympic medal since 2008, when the U.S. men won bronze.
Follow our team for live coverage.
PARIS — The U.S. women’s rugby team suffered their first defeat of the Paris Olympics.
The U.S. women’s rugby squad scored the game’s initial try and took and early 7-0 lead, but France rallied back in front of their home crowd at Stade de France.
France scored 24 unanswered points to take a commanding 24-7 advantage. Naya Tapper scored a try late in the second half, but it was too little too late as the French women took the victory, 31-14.
France’s Séraphine Okemba had a game-high four tries in the win.
Despite the loss, the U.S. rugby squad (2-1) will advance to the quarterfinals to face a country to be determined. The U.S. women have never won an Olympic medal in rugby sevens. — Tyler Dragon
Of the 12 American medals as of early Monday, nine have been won by female athletes. The U.S. has already had fencing (Lee Kiefer, gold, and Lauren Scruggs, silver), diving (Sarah Bacon & Kassidy Cook, silver), mountain biking (Haley Batten, silver) and cycling (Chloe Dygert, bronze), as well as a growing haul of medals from Olympic swimming (with Torri Huske winning gold in the 100 butterfly).
It’s similar to the Tokyo Games, when out of the USA’s 113 medals, most of any country, 66 were won by female athletes and 41 by men (six were in mixed events). The 58.4% of medals won by U.S. women in Tokyo was their highest-ever percentage.
Three of the final 16 in men’s foil hail from the United States.
No. 2 seed Nick Itkin beat Alex Tofalides of Cyprus 15-10 to advance against No. 18 seed Abdelrahman Hussein Tolba of Egypt.
Gerek Meinhardt, the husband of gold medalist Lee Kiefer, will take on the No. 5 seeded Enzo Lefort of France. Alexander Massialas, the No. 8 seed, will square off against No. 9 seed Kazuki Iimura of Japan.
Joshua Edwards, the No. 1 seed in the boxing tournament for men’s super heavyweight, lost a 3-1 decision to Diego Lenzi of Italy to have his 2024 Paris Olympics come to an abrupt ending.
Jagger Eaton, who won bronze in the men’s street at the Tokyo Games, qualified for this year’s finals with the highest score during prelims.
Eaton has said, looking back on Tokyo three years later, there are “tons” of things he would do differently. One seems rather obvious.
“Not walk in with a broken ankle,” Eaton told USA TODAY Sports in April. “That was just miserable.”
Two Team USA entries have advanced to the eventing individual final as Olympic Games Paris 2024 equestrian competition continues Monday afternoon at the Chateau de Versailles.
Boyd Martin riding Fedarman B tied for 11th in qualifying with a score of 32.10, while Elisabeth Halliday was 15th aboard Nutcracker with a score of 34.80.
Germany’s Michael Jung and Chipmunk FRH came in first in the qualifying round with a score of 21.80.
The top 25 moved through to the final round, which is scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday afternoon.
Between the two of them is a whopping 46 Grand Slam men’s titles.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are facing off in the Paris Olympics at Court Philippe-Chatrier, Roland Garros. You can catch all the action on Fubo or Peacock.
Our 2024 Paris Olympics medal count tracker updates after every single medal event.
Elizabeth Tartakovsky, Magda Skarbonkiewicz and Tatiana Nazlymov each suffered defeats in the round of 32 for women’s sabre at the Grand Palais in Paris on Monday.
PARIS — Johanne Defray of France needed four stiches for a head wound Saturday, underscoring the danger of surfing at the famous Teahupo’o break in Tahiti. It’s not just the powerful wave. It’s the shallow, sharp coral reef.
No helmet, no mercy.
“Yesterday on my first wave I had a fall,” Defay said. “It just went so big, I went straight into the coral with my head, I had four stitches.
“They made me go through the concussion protocols and the results were so-so, so they made me go through them all again this morning. … There’s no trauma, so we’re happy.” — Josh Peter
Team USA’s swimmers advanced in their respective events during qualifying Monday morning at the Paris La Defense Arena. Here’s a look at what happened in the pool:
Women’s 400m IM – Emma Weyant and Katie Grimes posted the fastest two times in the semifinals to advance to the evening’s final. Weyant’s time of 4:36.27 was 0.97 faster than Grimes’ 4:37.24. The third fastest time came from Canada’s Summer McIntosh, a 4:37.35.
Women’s 100m backstroke – Katharine Berkoff and Regan Smith each won their heats Monday morning. Berkoff was the fastest in the field with her 57.99, while Smith, the world record-holder in the event, was second-fastest at 58.45. The only other swimmer to go under 58.50 was Kaylee McKeown of Australia, who had a time of 58.48. The semifinals are Monday, with the final to be held Tuesday evening.
Men’s 800m freestyle – Bobby Finke placed third in his heat and moved into the final with the fifth-fastest time at 7:43.00, 0.93 off the 7:42.07 pace set by Ahmed Jaouadi of Tunisia. Luke Whitlock’s time of 7:49.26 was not among the top eight that advanced to the final, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
Simone Biles will next compete in Paris in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday (12:15 p.m. ET). Here’s her full Olympics schedule:
- The women’s team final begins at 12:15 p.m. ET Tuesday, July 30.
- The women’s all-around final is at 12:15 p.m. ET Thursday, Aug. 1.
- The women’s vault final is at 10:20 a.m. ET Saturday, Aug. 3.
- The women’s uneven bars final is at 9:40 a.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 4.
- The women’s balance beam final (6:36 a.m. ET) and floor exercise final (8:20 a.m.) are Monday, Aug. 5.
Simone Biles has left her mark on the sport of gymnastics. In addition to her record number of medals − she has 37 at the world championships and Olympics, more than any other gymnast, male or female − Biles has five skills named after her. Skills are named after the first gymnast to do them in a major international competition, like the world championships or Olympics. She has two on vault, two on floor exercise and one on balance beam. Here’s are the Simone Biles moves named after her. — Nancy Armour
Simone Biles and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team could bring home a lot of souvenirs from the Paris Olympics.
Biles qualified for four of the five individual finals − all-around, floor, vault, beam − and the Americans have the maximum two gymnasts in all but the uneven bars final. If it weren’t for the two-per-country rule, Jordan Chiles would be in the all-around and vault finals, too. Suni Lee made the bars and beam finals; Jade Carey joins Biles in the vault final; Jordan Chiles joins Biles in the floor final. — Nancy Armour
PARIS — Olympic organizers canceled triathlon training for the swimming leg for the second day in a row Monday because of Seine river pollution levels, yet said they were “confident” medal events would be held this week.
The men’s individual triathlon is scheduled to start Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. local time, with the women’s individual event to be held on Wednesday.
One option for organizers is to delay outdoor swimming events by a day. As a last resort, they will cancel the swimming leg. Marathon swimming could be moved to a river east of Paris. — Kim Hjelmgaard
American Sagen Maddalena barely missed out on a shooting medal in the women’s 10-meter air rifle Monday morning.
Maddalena, a 30-year-old U.S. Army sergeant, finished fourth of eight finalists, being eliminated in a shoot-off. She scored a 9.8 on her final shot, while Switzerland’s Audrey Gogniat posted a 10.7 to secure the bronze medal.
South Korea’s Ban Hyo-jun, only 16 years old, edged China’s Huang Yuting for the gold medal by the smallest of margins and equaled an Olympic record with an overall score of 251.8. — Gentry Estes
Here are some Olympic schedule highlights. Peacock is streaming every sport and event live as it unfolds in Paris.
(All times Eastern)
- Swimming heats start at 5 a.m. The finals for the women’s 400m IM, men’s 200m free, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 100m backstroke and women’s 200m free start at 2:30 p.m. NBC is airing the finals, USA Network is airing the heats.
- The men’s gymnastics team final starts at 11:30 a.m. The U.S. men are aiming to medal for the first time since 2008.
- Women’s basketball has four group stage games: Nigeria vs. Australia (5 a.m.), Germany vs. Belgium (7:30 a.m.), Canada vs. France (11:15 a.m.), U.S. vs. Japan (3 p.m.)
- Other sports in action: Archery, badminton, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe slalom, cycling mountain bike, diving, equestrian, fencing, handball, field hockey, judo, rowing, rugby sevens, sailing, shooting, surfing, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, water polo.
NBC is airing and streaming the Paris Olympics from all angles: Peacock is streaming every sport and event live as it unfolds; NBC, USA Network, CNBC and E! are carrying various live events and replays throughout the day. Here are 6 tips and tricks for getting the most out of Peacock during the Olympics.
(All times Eastern)
- The U.S. women’s field hockey team plays Spain in pool play at 7:15 a.m. USA Network is airing.
- The U.S. women’s rugby sevens team plays France in pool play at 9:30 a.m. NBC is airing.
- The U.S. women’s water polo team plays Span in group play at 9:35 a.m. USA Network is airing.
- The U.S. is competing in men’s beach volleyball against France at 10 a.m. NBC is airing.
- The U.S. women’s volleyball team plays China in pool play at 11 a.m. USA Network is airing.
- The U.S. women’s basketball team is facing Japan in group play at 3 p.m. USA Network is airing.
- The U.S. is competing in women’s beach volleyball against Australia at 4 p.m. NBC is airing.
(All times Eastern)
- Shooting: 10m air rifle women’s final (3:30 a.m.), 10m air rifle men’s final (6 a.m.)
- Diving: Men’s synchronized 10m Platform Final (5 a.m., E!)
- Equestrian: eventing team jumping final (5 a.m. E!), eventing individual jumping final (5 a.m., E!)
- Cycling mountain bike: men’s cross-country (8:10 a.m., USA Network)
- Archery: men’s team bronze match (10:48 a.m.), men’s team gold match (11:11 a.m.)
- Judo: Six medal matches (11:18 a.m. start)
- Canoe Slalom: men’s canoe single final (11:20 a.m., E!)
- Gymnastics: men’s team final (11:30 a.m.)
- Swimming: women’s 400m IM (2:30 p.m.), men’s 200m free (2:43 p.m.), men’s 100m backstroke (3:22 p.m.), women’s 100m breaststroke (3:32 p.m.), women’s 200m free (3:48 p.m.). NBC airing all the finals.
- Fencing: women’s sabre individual finals (2:50 p.m.), men’s foil individual finals (3:15 p.m.)
(All times Eastern)
- Heats for the following events start at 5 a.m.: women’s 400m IM and 100m backstroke; men’s 800m free
- Semifinals for the following events start in the afternoon: women’s 100m backstroke (3 p.m.)
- Today’s finals: women’s 400m IM (2:30 p.m.), men’s 200m free (2:43 p.m.), men’s 100m backstroke (3:22 p.m.), women’s 100m breaststroke (3:32 p.m.), women’s 200m free (3:48 p.m.)
The U.S. women begin their quest for an eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal. The Americans, ranked No. 1 in the world, play No. 9 Japan. The U.S. and Japan are grouped with Germany and Belgium in the tournament.
Ryan Murphy has been one of the best backstrokers in the world, claiming gold at the 2023 world championships in the 100-meter back. He also took silver in the 200 back at worlds and led off the USA’s gold-medal winning 4×100 medley relay. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Murphy swept the gold medals in the 100 and 200 back. He comes into Paris with six Olympic medals.
It could be a big night in the pool for the Americans. Lilly King is a medal favorite in the women’s 100 breaststroke. King has won medals at the last two Olympics in the event (gold in Rio and bronze in Tokyo).
All cap. And a very little Speedo.
The 2024 Paris Olympics are underway, and as is the case with the Olympic Games, sometimes those who aren’t athletes take center stage. Enter “Bob the Cap Catcher.”
During the women’s 100-meter breaststroke on Sunday morning, American swimmer Emma Webber lost her swimming cap at the bottom of the pool. While common sense would dictate that a swimmer would just jump in after it, that’s, apparently, not the case.
Instead, a hero came to the rescue, in all his glory: Dubbed “Bob the Cap Catcher” by the NBC broadcast booth, a man of unknown origins in a small, flowery Speedo walked across the stage for all to see and dove to the rescue. — Joe Rivera
Medals are being handed out left and right with the 2024 Paris Olympics in full swing, but hardware isn’t the only thing Olympians are getting on the podium.
From footage and photos taken at medal ceremonies, winners can be seen receiving a slim, mysterious box in addition to the medals they receive. It’s an intriguing item, leaving viewers pondering as to what could be inside.
So what’s in the box? — Jordan Mendoza
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