Paris Olympics 2024: What you need to know right now

Reuters
August 6, 2024 11:50 MYT
Simone Biles of United States in action, Paris 2024 Olympics - Artistic Gymnastics - Women's Balance Beam Final - Bercy Arena, Paris, France, August 05, 2024. - REUTERS/Hannah Mckay
PARIS: Simone Biles had to settle for silver on Monday in the floor exercise final, after missing out on a medal in the balance beam, on the last day of artistic gymnastics at the Paris Games.
Sweden's Mondo Duplantis thrilled the crowds at the athletics by breaking his own world record in the pole vault, having already retained his gold medal.
Over in Tahiti, the swell is building and should deliver overhead waves for the final day of surfing.
Here's what you need to know about the Olympics so far.
THE SOARING SWEDE
Sweden's Mondo Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record when he cleared 6.25 metres at the third attempt, having earlier retained the Olympic gold medal with a 6.00 metre leap.
He captivated the crowds at the end of the athletics session, which had earlier seen Britain's Keely Hodgkinson win the 800 metres and Kenya's Beatrice Chebet the 5,000.
GOLD IN THE VELODROME
Britain's women set a world record in the qualifying rounds for the Olympic track cycling team sprint as the competition began at the National Velodrome.
Katy Marchant, Sophie Capewell and Emma Finucane clocked 45.472 seconds for their three laps of the 250 metre track -- beating the previous mark of 45.487 set by China this year.
SILVER FOR BILES
Biles suffered a shocking defeat in the floor exercise final, after two costly errors allowed Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade to snatch an unexpected gold.
Biles was dealt more disappointment in the women's gymnastics balance beam event, won by Italian Alice D'Amato, and where the American was fifth.
China's Zou Jingyuan retained the Olympic parallel bars title, picking up his third medal of the Games and giving his country a second gymnastics title.
Japan's Shinnosuke Oka won his third gold medal of the Paris Games with a powerful and precise routine on the horizontal bar in a final rife with mistakes.
CHASING BARRELS
The final day of surfing at Tahiti's Teahupo'o will see Brazil's Gabriel Medina and American Caroline Marks look to claim surfing's rarest prize, with clean offshore trade winds set to deliver six-eight feet waves.
TRIATHLON
Germany won the Olympic triathlon mixed relay.
There was a photo-finish for second place, initially announced for Britain and then switched to the United States, though neither team were aware of the change until they were lining up in the wrong places for the medal presentation.
France finished fourth.
BOXING GENDER DISPUTE
The two female boxers at the heart of a gender dispute at the Paris Olympics will stay in the competition for as long as they keep winning because they meet all eligibility criteria, the International Olympic Committee said.
The two were disqualified from the 2023 World Championships after a sex chromosome test ruled both of them ineligible, the International Boxing Association said.
The boxing competition at Paris 2024 is taking place under IOC rules after the Olympic body stripped the IBA of its status as the global governing organisation for the sport.
KAYAK CROSS OLYMPIC DEBUT
Australia's Noemie Fox won the gold medal in the Olympic women's kayak cross at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Monday. New Zealand's Finn Butcher won gold in the men's event.
French teenager Titouan Castryck was sensationally knocked out of the men's quarter-finals despite finishing first in his race following a penalty for missing a gate.
RECORD VIEWINGS
The Paris Olympics will see a record number of hours of broadcast production, and ratings across many major territories are on a 12-year high, boosted by the city's iconic landmarks which are integrated into these Games, the Olympics' broadcasting chief told Reuters.
ATHLETICS
Norway's Karsten Warholm cruised through his 400 metres hurdles heat, setting himself on a collision course with key rivals Rai Benjamin of the United States and Brazilian Alison dos Santos in his Olympic title defence.
Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic opened her assault on the Olympic women's 400 metres title, clocking the quickest time of Monday morning's preliminary round in near-perfect conditions at Stade de France.
CLIMBING
Polish speed climber Aleksandra Miroslaw beat her own world record twice in the women's speed climbing qualification round.
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