If the first day at Paris 2024 is anything to go by, sports fans are in for quite a thrilling ride over the next couple of weeks, with both on- and off-field events proving as interesting as they were contoversial in many respects - and the Olympics aren’t even officially underway yet.
Day “minus two” saw the rugby sevens and men’s football get underway, with the latter seeing a pitch invasion, the stadium cleared, an injury-time equaliser ruled out and the final minutes played behind closed doors, culminating in Argentina losing to Morroco - and all that was after the Canada Women’s team had sent home two staff members for spying on a rival’s training session.
Away from the football, more reaction from Charlotte Dujardin’s fall from grace continued and now Paula Radcliffe has raised eyebrows by suggesting she wishes “the best of luck” to a convicted child rapist who is competing at the Games this month.
It’s quite the collection of incidents before the official opening ceremony even takes place - and on Thursday we’re bringing you the start of women’s football, more rugby sevens plus two sessions of archery and women’s handball getting underway. Follow the live blog below for all the latest news and updates from Paris:
Paris 2024 Olympics | Latest events and news
- Handball and archery begin, women’s football also underway Thursday
- Paula Radcliffe apologises after ‘best of luck' message to rapist Olympian
- Andy Murray confirms withdrawal from Olympics men’s singles
- South Korean archer Lim Sihyeon sets first world record of Paris 2024 in qualifying
- South Africa secure last eight spot as rugby sevens men’s quarter-finalists confirmed
Olympics 2024: New Zealand beat Ireland to avoid Fiji quarter-final
15:52
Harry Latham-Coyle
Nervy stuff in Saint-Denis, but the All Blacks Sevens edge out Ireland thanks to Andrew Knewstubb’s excellent conversion from the right after Ngarohi McGarvey-Black’s levelling score. That means that New Zealand avoid a quarter-final dance with Fiji, topping Pool A ahead of their opponents.
Why the Paris 2024 opening ceremony will be like nothing the Olympics has seen before
15:50
Harry Latham-Coyle
A spectacle along the river Seine is expected to draw more than a billion viewers around the world at this Friday’s opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
For the first time in history, the event’s curtain-raiser will not be held inside a stadium, with France’s capital wishing to showcase its Parisian landmarks. A 6km river parade will take place along the Seine – passing the Notre-Dame and the Louvre – with nearly 600,000 people in attendance.
‘My English GCSE was harder’: Team GB archer Megan Havers fires first shot as South Korea target world records
15:40
Harry Latham-Coyle
In the shadow of Napoleon’s tomb, a 16-year-old from Leicester became the first Team GB athlete to compete at Paris 2024.
Megan Havers, who attended her school prom just a few weeks ago, fired the first shot in anger in the women’s archery ranking round.
“I like to shoot first, so I don’t get in my own head, that’s my rule,” said Havers. “It’s a cool thing to be the first athlete to compete, but I didn’t do it deliberately!”
It is fitting that a teenager got Team GB underway, given there are 14 of them in the squad and that these Games signal the passing of the baton from the London 2012 generation.
Olympics 2024: Women’s football soon to get underway
15:30
Harry Latham-Coyle
It was a mad start for the men yesterday, so what will the women have in store as the footballing action at Paris 2024 continues? Defending gold medallists Canada and World Cup winners Spain are among the first sides in action in half an hour or so.
To tee you up rather nicely, Karl Matchett has picked out ten faces to watch at the Olympics:
Olympics 2024: South Africa sevens thrash Japan to book quarter-final place
15:19
Harry Latham-Coyle
A brief hiccup for the Blitzboks at the start of the second half, but otherwise a just about perfect performance. A 49-5 win is comfortably enough for South Africa to secure a last eight spot at Samoa’s expense - we’ll confirm that quarter-final line-up after Ireland vs New Zealand, which is next up at the Stade de France and concludes men’s pool play.
Olympics 2024: South Africa on course
15:09
Harry Latham-Coyle
A proper blitz from South Africa in that first half, cutting Japan to ribbons. Five tries, all converted by Tristan Leyds, and a half-time lead of 35-0 that has them romping into the last eight as things stand.
Heat, rats and sewage in the Seine: Paris battles a host of problems before Olympic Games begin
15:05
Lawrence Ostlere
It is forecast to rain in Paris on Friday, and for organisers of the Olympic Games, that could be a problem. Not because the rain might put out the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony (this actually happened during a storm in Montreal in 1976, and the flame had to be reignited with a cigarette lighter), but because stormwater washes wastewater into the River Seine.
Levels of E coli bacteria in the Seine are being monitored by stressed organisers and frazzled scientists on a constant basis, and over the past few weeks those readings have been on a hygiene knife-edge. The river is meant to host open water swimming and triathlon events next week, but heavy downpours could tip readings back towards unsafe territory, as they have been for most of the year. It is no wonder the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, put off last week’s swimming stunt for as long as she possibly could.
There is confidence among organisers that the dry mid-July weather has done enough to lower pollution levels and avoid the drastic option of cancelling the swimming leg and turning the triathlon into a duathlon, but it is just one of a number of issues that have weighed on them in the build-up to these Games.
Olympics 2024: South Africa need big win to progress to quarter-finals of rugby sevens
15:00
Harry Latham-Coyle
So, if my maths is correct, the Blitzboks need to beat Japan by 21 points to usurp Samoa for a last eight place with the United States having locked up one of the spots available to a third-placed finisher. We’re up and running in Paris.
Olympics 2024: Fiji top Pool C; France progress as runners-up
14:53
Harry Latham-Coyle
The hosts threw on Antoine Dupont off the bench, but it’s Fiji who finish pool play the stronger, showing off their defensive steel and offloading brilliance in just about equal measure to maintain their perfect Olympic record. Through they go top of the pool to secure a theoretically easier quarter-final. A late try from Andy Timo does makes sure that France pinch second spot in the pool from the United States, though all three will be in action in the last eight a little later.
Olympics 2024: France level with Fiji at half-time
14:39
Harry Latham-Coyle
An electric atmosphere at the Stade de France, ripples of the national anthem beefily belted out as the hosts match it with Fiji. The physicality is off the scale as two of the biggest-hitting sides on the sevens circuit duel. It’s level pegging at five points apiece at the interval, Aaron Grandidier Nkanang romp up the right replied to by Jerry Tuwai, showing all of his class and calm to pop up in the right place at the right time.
Olympics 2024: France vs Fiji next on deck
14:27
Harry Latham-Coyle
World Rugby are anticipating a record crowd for a sevens event today, with as many as 120,000 tickets likely to be sold. It helps, of course, to have Antoine Dupont on show to bring the home crowd in - can he and France inflict a first defeat at the Olympics on Fiji’s men?
Olympics 2024: United States progress to quarter-finals
14:20
Harry Latham-Coyle
A valiant effort from Uruguay, a nation with a vastly smaller rugby population base than many of their rivals at Paris 2024, but the USA eventually had too much pace and potency for Los Teros. Lucas Lacamp has been in flying form since returning from injury last year, and he and old stager Perry Baker scorched a trail into the last eight for Mike Friday’s men.
Olympics 2024: Paris transport shuts down ahead of opening ceremony
14:15
Harry Latham-Coyle
One day before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, transportation in much of the French capital is beginning to wind down – with the prospect of chaos on Friday and over the weekend.
Simon Calder has more:
Australia investigate Olympic swimming coach over ‘serious error of judgement’ before Paris 2024
14:05
Harry Latham-Coyle
Australian Olympic officials may send one of the team’s coaches home for saying he hopes a South Korean swimmer he has worked with can beat his Australian rivals in the 400 metres freestyle when the meet starts on Saturday.
Michael Palfrey told media this week he hoped world champion Kim Woo-min would win gold in the event in which Australia‘s Sam Short and Elijah Winnington are also contenders.
Paris 2024 Olympics: Australia take top spot in rugby sevens Pool B
13:56
Harry Latham-Coyle
A rather impressive performance from John Manenti’s Australia, felling SVNS series champions Argentina to secure progression as group winners to the last eight. A couple of eye-catching touches from Mark Nawaqanitawase in there, with stalwarts Nick Malouf and Henry Hutchison also going well.
Next up...the USA, who know a win over Uruguay will be enough to take them through regardless of what happens between in the encounter between Fiji and France that follows.
Novak Djokovic hails ‘legend of our sport’ Andy Murray ahead of Scot’s swansong
13:50
Harry Latham-Coyle
Novak Djokovic hailed Andy Murray as a “legend” of tennis, but insisted he does not have any retirement plans of his own as he prepares to compete at Paris 2024.
Murray is set to bid farewell to the sport at Roland Garros after confirming earlier this week that he will retire after the Games.
The 37-year-old’s announcement also marks the beginning of the end for tennis’ ‘big four’ era, which includes the already-retired Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic.
Why is there no Team GB football team at Paris 2024 Olympics?
13:40
Harry Latham-Coyle
Team GB will of course not be represented in football at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with both men’s and women’s teams missing out for vastly different reasons. Oscar Pick explains.
Olympic Games opens investigation into football chaos after Argentina v Morocco
13:35
Harry Latham-Coyle
Speaking of Argentine football, an investigation has now been opened into the chaotic scenes at the end of their opening match against Morocco in Saint-Etienne yesterday:
Paris 2024 Olympics: Samoa beat Kenya to earn chance of last-eight place
13:28
Harry Latham-Coyle
Dominant stuff from Samoa, producing a smart performance to negate Kenya almost entirely. The Pacific Islanders keep their opponents scoreless to give themselves a decent shot at a quarter-final berth, though they’ll have to wait for results in the other two groups.
Argentina and Australia are already through, with the pair contesting top spot in Group B next. Out Argentina come to big boos again, that rivalry transplanted in after recent events in the footballing world.
Olympics gymnastics schedule: Every event, date and start time at Paris 2024
13:25
Harry Latham-Coyle
Let’s hope that means that Simone Biles is able to play a full part in a busy gymnastics schedule in Paris. Here’s your guide of what to watch when during the course of the Games.
Paris 2024 Olympics: Simone Biles lands impressive trick in gymnastics preparation
13:20
Harry Latham-Coyle
One of the stories of this Olympics will be the return of Simone Biles, three years after her tilt in Tokyo was ended prematurely by the “twisties”. The great American gymnast has been out doing some preparation on a variety of apparatus today, testing out the balance beam and acquainting herself with the arena in Bercy, but the most positive sign came during podium practice - Biles landed the Yurchenko double pike, the most dangerous vault in gymnastics, just about perfectly.
Paris 2024: Olympics easier than GCSEs, claims teenage archer after first British involvement
13:10
Harry Latham-Coyle
Teenage archer Megan Havers fired Team GB into Paris 2024 Olympic action when she released her first arrow at the Esplanade des Invalides.
Havers, fellow debutant Penny Healey and Tokyo 2020 veteran Bryony Pitman were the first Britons to compete at these Games, their preliminary ranking round moved a day earlier than its traditional opening day morning slot due to the venue’s proximity to the Seine, down which athletes will float in Friday’s opening ceremony.
Havers, who turned 16 in December, is the youngest of all the Olympic archers in Paris, but in May underwent a challenge she maintains was tougher than taking her first shot on a steamy morning in the French capital.
She said: “Definitely the GCSEs (were harder). That took a lot more effort.
Paris 2024 Olympics: Day two of rugby sevens about to get underway
12:58
Harry Latham-Coyle
It was a spectacular day of rugby sevens at the Stade de France yesterday, 69,000 fans in to watch Antoine Dupont and co. duel in the Saint-Denis sunshine. Each side has one more pool game to play to determine who makes this evening’s quarter finals - remember, the top two in each group plus the best two third-placed finishers progress to the last eight.
Samoa and Kenya are first out on the pitch.
‘Equal at the Olympics’: Paris Games lauded for launching women’s sports into long-awaited era of equality
12:55
Harry Latham-Coyle
The focus on gender equity at the Paris Olympics is the latest win in a terrific run of progress for women’s sports, tennis champion and pioneer Billie Jean King has said, as organisers trumpet the progress made for women at the Games.
The Paris Games are the first to see an equal split of the quota places between female and male athletes, a landmark moment for the Olympic movement that the IOC has been chasing for years.
Paris 2024: Kevin Durant expecting tough test in Olympics basketball
12:45
Harry Latham-Coyle
There is little surprise that the United States are the hot favourites for the men’s basketball in Paris, an array of all-stars on the USA’s squad as they seek a fifth successive gold. But with greater and greater representation from overseas in the NBA each year, a number of nations may be eyeing an upset. France pushed Team USA very close in the final in Tokyo, while individuals like Serbia’s Nikola Jovic and Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo have the firepower to trouble even this loaded American roster.
“Everybody is a contender,” the USA’s leading Olympic points scorer Kevin Durant said ahead of competition getting underway. “Everyone is here for a reason.
“We’re playing against 64, 65 NBA players in Paris. So you know they’re the best in the world.”
Olympics 2024: What are the new sports and events for Paris?
12:35
Harry Latham-Coyle
Want to know a little bit more about the new events and disciplines you can expect to see in Paris? Jack Rathborn’s expert guide has you covered:
Why the Paris 2024 opening ceremony will be like nothing the Olympics has seen before
12:25
Harry Latham-Coyle
It should be a dry evening tomorrow, though, with thousands of Parisians set to line the banks of the Seine for an opening ceremony with a difference. Oscar Pick explains why it should not be missed:
How athletes are preparing to beat the heat at Paris 2024
12:15
Harry Latham-Coyle
There’s weekend rain forecast in Paris, but temperatures are set to soar into the thirties next week, posing problems for athletes already struggling to keep cool in the heat of battle. Getting your strategy right could be key to Olympic success:
Paris 2024: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could meet in second round of men’s singles tennis
12:05
Harry Latham-Coyle
Novak Djokovic, chasing the one major honour he has not yet won, is the top seed in the men’s singles in the absence of world number one Jannik Sinner, who withdrew on Wednesday with tonsilitis.
And there could be a blockbuster second-round clash between the Serbian and 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal after they were placed in the same section of the draw.
Nadal, who skipped Wimbledon to continue training on clay after a first-round French Open defeat to Alexander Zverev, will surely privately be cursing his luck again.
He said: “I’m always happy to be in this amazing city and of course this place. Roland Garros is, as everyone knows, the most special place for me in the world of tennis.
“I’m just excited to have the chance to be back here. This year I was not able to spend a lot of time at Roland Garros. The Olympics is completely different and I’m just trying to enjoy every moment.”
The Charlotte Dujardin horse-whipping scandal puts dressage’s Olympic future at risk
11:55
James Toney
There is one North Star at the Olympics, one inalienable truth that guides this movement through uncertain times. Athletes measure success in gold, silver and bronze but the International Olympic Committee is a bit more brutal about the real bottom line.
Without sponsors and broadcasters, the Olympics would be a shell event, which is why the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) may soon be forced to make some difficult decisions about the future of dressage.
The whistleblowing lawyer who reported Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin to the FEI insists the incident is just the tip of the iceberg – and the sport simply cannot afford any more negative headlines.
10 players to define Olympic football at Paris 2024: Marta, Michael Olise and more
11:45
Karl Matchett
In the days leading up to Friday’s official opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics, several of the longer-running events are already up and running - including football in both men’s and women’s events.
While the women have full international squads on show, men’s teams are generally an U23 event with up to three overage exceptions per squad - meaning a blend of some of the world’s best and the most exciting up-and-coming youngsters across the entirety of Olympic football this summer.
Here we’ve picked out ten players whose performances and selections could define the football memories and medals at Paris 2024.
Paris 2024 Olympics: Netherlands hold on for win over battling Angola
11:35
Harry Latham-Coyle
Underway with a victory in Group B of the women’s handball are the Netherlands, though their opening encounter with Angola was tougher than the Dutch might have liked. Angola are real African heavyweights in the sport, missing out only once at the continental championships this century, and showed all of their qualities in launching a second half fight back.
But the Dutch did, in the end, have just enough to secure a narrow 34-31 victory. The top four in each group will progress to the quarter-finals, with hosts and defending champions France also in Group B.
What does AIN mean at the Paris Olympics?
11:30
Harry Latham-Coyle
Russian and Belarusian entrants will instead compete under the AIN banner. Here is what it stands for and what you can expect to see if one of the individuals becomes an Olympic champion:
Why are Russia and Belarus banned from the Paris Olympics?
11:20
Harry Latham-Coyle
You will note the absence of Russia and Belarus from the medal table over the next couple of weeks, even though there are athletes from both nations competing in Paris. Here’s why:
Olympics pundits and commentators for BBC and Discovery+
11:10
Harry Latham-Coyle
Viewers in the United Kingdom will enjoy the insight of plenty of past Olympic greats with both Discovery+ and the BBC unveiling strong line-ups of presenters, commentators and pundits for Paris 2024.
Just like at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, every moment from the French capital will be shown live on Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service with extensive television coverage on Eurosport’s television channels.
The BBC has also struck a deal with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to continue to provide free-to-air coverage of the Games up to and including 2032.
Paris 2024 Olympics: World record on opening day of archery action!
11:09
Harry Latham-Coyle
Well well well. We thought it might be a quiet day at the archery as seedings are determined before the action intensifies over the weekend, but South Korea’s Lim Sihyeon has other ideas. The 21-year-old has set a new world record in the women’s individual recurve, recording 694 of a possible 720 points to take top spot in the seeding.
How Keely Hodgkinson can spark a ‘golden era’ for British athletics at Paris Olympics
11:00
Harry Latham-Coyle
Could it be a vintage Games for Team GB at the Stade de France? Ben Bloom examines the runners and riders hoping for medal success, led by Keely Hodgkinson.
Olympics athletics schedule: Every event, date and start time at Paris 2024
10:53
Harry Latham-Coyle
And here’s when you’ll be able to watch Katarina Johnson-Thompson and the rest of the athletics stars in Paris.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson: ‘France will always have a special place in my heart’
10:43
Jack Rathborn
The ghosts of Tokyo frame Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s quest to “complete the set” at the Paris Olympics. Even if she has already exorcised her demons, with an astonishing second world title in Budapest last year, the 31-year-old is bidding to follow in the footsteps of Jessica Ennis-Hill once again by winning gold in the heptathlon.
Emma Hayes details Olympic-sized task for USA to regain standing as women’s football elite
10:33
Karl Matchett
Emma Hayes has grit and guile; the question remains will that be enough for gold. The former Chelsea coach was in combative mood as she put the final touches to the USA’s preparations for the Olympic women’s football tournament.
Expectation management is often the name of the game in these seemingly endless days before the Olympic flame actually ignites. Some like to beat their chest and talk themselves up, others - from the ‘no-one puts more pressure on me than me’ school of sports psychology - prefer to fly under the radar.
Hayes - as we’ve come to learn from her seven Women’s Super League titles - doesn’t overthink this stuff, she just tells it like is it.
Paris 2024: Denamrk open handball competition with victory
10:26
Harry Latham-Coyle
We’ve seen a few sporting tussles between Denmark and Slovenia this summer, with the two nations meeting at Euro 2024 before Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar duelled at the Tour de France. The latest encounter between the pair has come on the opening day of handball action, with Denmark’s women starting strongly with a 27-19 win.
The Netherlands currently hold a narrow lead over Angola in the second of the day’s fixtures. The group stage action is taking place at the Porte de Versailles expo centre before a relocation to Lille for the knockout rounds and the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
Paris 2024: Romanian athlete hit with doping ban before Olympics
10:20
Harry Latham-Coyle
Romanian athlete Florentina Iusco will not compete at the Paris Olympics after global sport’s top court partially upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appeal on Thursday following her positive test for a banned substance last year.
The 28-year-old, who competes in the long jump and triple jump, tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic on WADA’s prohibited list, in an out-of-competition doping control in April 2023.
The analysis of both her A and B samples confirmed the result, resulting in an anti-doping rule violation.
Romania’s National Anti-Doping Organisation sanctioned her only with a reprimand on February 1 with no period of ineligibility on the basis that she was not at fault or was not negligent.
However, after WADA appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the arbitrator determined she had failed to exercise the standard of care required for a “no significant fault or negligence” finding.
CAS imposed a two-year ban on Iusco backdated to February 1 and disqualified all of her results from April 23 last year.
The 28-year-old finished ninth in the triple jump at the recent European Championships in Rome.
Paris 2024 Olympics: Angelique Kerber confirms retirement
10:14
Harry Latham-Coyle
Joining Andy Murray in bowing out among the tennis stars bowing out of the sport after these Olympics will be Angelique Kerber, the German has confirmed. Kerber, like Murray a three-time grand slam champion, won a silver at Rio 2016 as part of a remarkable year that brought titles at the Australian Open and Flushing Meadows and a Wimbledon final.
“Paris 2024 will mark the finish line of the most incredible journey I could have ever dreamed of growing up with a racket in my hand,” Kerber announced on Instagram. “There are many more things I want to say and people to thank, which I will do once I completed my last match…but for now, I will take the time and soak up every second of this final episode on court.”
Paris 2024 Olympics | Latest events and news
10:04
Karl Matchett
Israel’s participation in the Paris Olympics got under way amid a ring of steel and a chorus of boos at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.
Over 1,000 French police, including masked counter-terrorist officers, created an additional security barrier prior to the nation’s clash with Mali in their first game in the men’s football competition.
Israel’s national anthem was booed by some sections in the approximately half-full stadium prior to kick-off, and a group of spectators sto