Key events
The first action of the day isn’t for another couple of hours, and it all starts with another busy schedule of badminton from 8:30 local time. Then we have some beach volleyball, handball, rowing, shooting and volleyball (9:00), archery, gymnastics and fencing (9:30).
And after a few gray days the weather clears up and the City of Light is bathed in golden sunshine.
The medal table after one day of the Games is a nice read for Australia. They lead the way with three gold medals and equal the US haul with five medals. With more swimming finals tonight, there is every chance they will hold that position for another day.
Introduction – Day Two Schedule
Jonathan Hoecroft
Hello everyone and welcome to the live broadcast of the second official competition day of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
The Games kicked off yesterday with China slogging and diving to the first two gold medals of the fortnight, and France’s rugby sevens team securing one of the most popular triumphs of the Olympics, even at this early stage. But day two begins with Australia top of the medal table after an extraordinary run of successes, particularly in the pool.
What can we expect today?
Medal Events
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Shooting – 10m air pistol men & women (from 9:30)
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Mountain bike – women’s cross country (from 14:10)
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Judo – men 66kg / women 52kg (from 16:00)
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Archery – women’s team (from 16:48)
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Skateboarding – Women’s Street (from 5pm)
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Canoe Slalom – women’s kayak single (from 17:45)
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Swimming (from 20:30) – Men’s 400m medley / Women’s 100m butterfly / Men’s 100m breaststroke.
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Fencing (from 20:50) – ladies individual foil / men individual epee.
*(All times mentioned are local times in Paris)
Simon Burnton’s Daily Guide
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Swimming
Between 2014 and 2020, Team GB’s Adam Peaty won every available gold medal in the 100m breaststroke – including at two Olympics, two Commonwealth Games and three world championships – and broke the world record five times. But he retired from the pool after Tokyo, citing mental health issues. He returned last October, with his eyes set on this day. His main rival will be Qin Haiyang, the Chinese breaststroke king, who completed a triple of the 50m, 100m and 200m at the 2023 world championships. -
Men’s basketball
The United States has won 16 of the 20 gold medals in men’s basketball, including the last four, and with LeBron James on one all-star team, they are inevitably favored for another. James’ notable teammates include Stephen Curry, a four-time NBA champion, two-time NBA MVP and by a huge margin the NBA’s all-time three-point leader, who is remarkably playing in his first Olympics at age 36. Today, they open their tournament against a Serbian team that boasts this year’s NBA MVP in Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. -
Women street skateboarding
Japan won four of the six women’s skateboarding medals in Tokyo, including both gold, and in the street discipline they have five of the current top seven in the world (in park they have four of the top six). But world number 3 Rayssa Leal has high expectations. Nicknamed freckles (little fairy – after her first viral video, in which she attempted a heelflip in a fairy costume at age seven and eventually pulled it off successfully), Leal won silver in Tokyo at age 13, has since improved and will be sprinkling some magic at La Concorde.
I’m sure I’ve forgotten something of note for you in this brief round-up, so please let me know what’s on your agenda by emailing [email protected] or, if you’re still rummaging through the post-Twitter bin, find me at X @jphowcroft.
The first few hours of my blog will be here in Australia, then I will hand over to Martin Belam in the UK.