Paris Olympics 2024 live day two updates (2024)

LeBron James and Simone Biles took center stage on the second day of the Paris Olympics 2024, ahead of a mammoth showdown in the swimming pool later.

After her struggles three years ago at the Tokyo Games, Biles made a stunning Olympic return with an eye-catching beam routine in gymnastics qualifying. That was despite an early injury scare, with US coach Cecile Landi telling reporters Biles had “just a little pain in her calf”.

Later on LeBron, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and co. turned on the style as Team USA dismantled Serbia 110-84. It was the perfect start to the side’s bid for a fifth consecutive gold medal.

All eyes turned to the swimming pool in the closing hours of the second day. Great Britain’s Adam Peaty was denied a third consecutive 100m breaststroke gold by Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi in a huge upset, while home favorite Leon Marchand delighted a boisterous crowd by winning gold in the 400m individual medley final.

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1. Japan - 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medals
2. Australia - 4 Gold and 2 Silver medals
3. United States - 3 Gold, 6 Silver and 3 Bronze medals
4. France - 3 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze medals
5. South Korea - 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medals

Canada kept their Olympic medal hopes alive with a dramatic comeback win over hosts France on Sunday evening.

Canada began the day on minus three points in Group A having been docked six points by FIFA over a drone-spying scandal.

The punishment, which Canada says they will appeal, left their hopes of qualification for the knockout stage hanging in the balance ahead of tonight’s meeting with hosts France.

Head coach Bev Priestman was absent for the game in Saint-Etienne after being given a year-long suspension for her part in the spying scandal, which centers on the use of drones to watch Group A rivals New Zealand’s training sessions before the start of the Games.

Australia’s 6-5 victory over Zambia earlier on Sunday meant only maximum points from their two remaining group-stage games would be enough to keep them in the tournament.

One was born into the sport; the other wandered her way into it. One is history, the first American to win Olympic gold in foil, a woman who considers it her job to grow her sport; the other is the future, the NCAA foil champion and the benefactor of the road her opponent has paved.

One is a soon-to-be doctor, who fearlessly speaks out about reproductive rights for women. The other is a junior philosophy major at Harvard, who proudly speaks about being a Black woman in a sport not typically reserved for people of color.

On a glorious Sunday evening in Paris, the two American women, Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs, said en guarde beneath the expansive glass dome of the Grand Palais, a stunning monument built for the 1900 World Fair, in the country in which the sport was started by King Louis XIV in the 17th Century, to decide a gold medal.

It was, to say the least, quite the Olympic moment.

Kiefer, older and more experienced, won the gold with ease, 15-5, ripping off her mask in celebration before embracing Scruggs and exchanging high fives.

What a shock it was to see Italy’s Nicole Martinenghi sneaking through there to take gold.

“In my heart I’ve already won,” Peaty tells the BBC afterwards as he breaks down in tears.

A crestfallen Adam Peaty has just been interviewed by the BBC. He was unable to hold back the tears as he discussed missing out on gold by 0.02 seconds.

💬 “I’m not crying because I came second, I’m crying because it took so much to get here. It has been incredibly hard, to win it once and then win it again. And then to find new ways to do it. Everything happens for a reason. In my heart I’ve won. These are happy tears because I have given my best every single day.”

There have been a few upsets today but this is by far the biggest.

Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi has just won the 100m breaststroke final, denying Great Britain’s Adam Peaty a historic third consecutive gold.

Peaty came second, an astonishing 0.02 seconds behind the Italian and dead level with American Nic Fink! They will both win a silver.

The U.S. women’s rugby team has defeated Brazil 24-5 for their second victory of the day.

Alev Kelter put Team USA on the board first, but Brazil tied the game at five apiece after a major injury to Gisele Santos.

From there on, it was all Team USA. They scored right before stoppage time and kept their foot on the gas the rest of the way.

Team USA has now improved to 5-0 in pool play over the last two Olympics.

It’s evening time in Paris and so now feels like a good moment to quickly recap all of today’s medal winners.

Archery

Women’s team

• Gold: South Korea
• Silver: China
• Bronze: Mexico

Canoe Slalom

Women’s kayak single

• Gold: Jessica Fox, Australia
• Silver: Klaudia Zwolinska, Poland
• Bronze: Kimberley Woods, Britain

Mountain biking

Women’s cross country

• Gold: Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, France
• Silver: Haley Batten, United States
• Bronze: Jenny Rissveds, Sweden

Judo

Women’s 52kg

• Gold: Diyora Keldiyorova, Uzbekistan
• Silver: Distria Krasniqi, Kosovo
• Bronze: Larissa Pimenta, Brazil and Amandine Buchard, France

Men’s 66k

• Gold: Hifumi Abe, Japan
• Silver: Willian Lima, Brazil
• Bronze: Gusman Kyrgyzbayev, Kazakhstan and Denis Vieru, Moldova

Shooting

Men’s 10m air pistol

• Gold: Xie Yu, China
• Silver: Federico Nilo Maldini, Italy
• Bronze: Paolo Monna, Italy

Women’s 10m air pistol

• Gold: Oh Ye-jin, South Korea
• Silver: Kim Ye-ji, South Korea
• Bronze: Manu Bhaker, India

Swimming

Men’s 400m individual medley

• Gold: Leon Marchand, France
• Silver: Tomoyuki Matsush*ta, Japan
• Bronze: Carson Foster, United States

Women’s 100m butterfly

• Gold: Torri Huske, United States
• Silver: Gretchen Walsh, United States
• Bronze: Zhang Yufei, China

Skateboarding

Women’s street

• Gold: Coco Yoshizawa, Japan
• Silver: Liz Akama, Japan
• Bronze: Rayssa Leal, Brazil

WOW. American Torri Huske beats teammate Gretchen Walsh to win gold in the women’s 100 fly! Team USA goes 1-2.

Walsh is the world record-holder in the event and set an Olympic record here last night in the semis. She led at the halfway point, too.

Andy Murray has won Wimbledon twice, the US Open once, 14 Masters 1000 events and already has two Olympic gold medals, plus a silver to boot. But in a long and distinguished career he hasn’t had many better moments on a tennis court than this.

At one point Murray and Dan Evans were trailing Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel 6-2, 2-0. They then fought back to claim the second set before rapidly falling to a 9-4 deficit in the best-of-10 tiebreak to decide the match.

It promised to be the end of Murray’s glorious career. So of course he had to come back and win. Murray and Evans went on to win the next seven points, stunning their Japanese opponents and booking a spot in the second round. Madness.

What a stunning performance and the French crowd are in raptures!

That’s a new Olympic record for Leon Marchand, who just took gold in the men’s 400-meter individual medley to the absolute delight of the home crowd. What a moment for France.

Coco Gauff has cruised into the second round of the women’s singles with a routine 6-3, 6-0 victory over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.

Gauff will next face Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle for a spot in the top 16.

Fellow American Jessica Pegula also enjoyed a winning start, defeating Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-3, 6-4.

The USWNT’s second match projects to be their toughest in the group stage, kicking off against Germany at the top of the hour.

Emma Hayes makes no changes to her lineup from Thursday’s win over Zambia, which ended in a decisive 3-0 win.

A win today would all but ensure that the United States will win its group and, with it, a more favorable draw for the quarterfinal. Any dropped points will require them to match or exceed Germany’s result In Wednesday’s group finale.

You can follow play-by-play coverage of that match with Michael Dominski by clicking here.

Well he wasn’t going to go out with a whimper, was he…

The last time we checked in on the men’s doubles match between Great Britain and Japan Andy Murray and Dan Evans were trailing 6-2, 2-0.

But they have fought exceptionally hard in this second set and have just won a razor-sharp tiebreak to ensure that this match, which could well be Andy Murray’s swansong, is going to go the distance.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games is the first Olympics in history to have an equal number of male and female athletes.

• Paris (2024) - 50 percent
• Tokyo (2020) - 47.8 percent
• Rio (2016) - 45 percent
• London (2012) - 44.2 percent
• Beijing (2008) - 42.4 percent
• Athens (2004) - 40.7 percent
• Sydney (2000) - 38.2 percent
• Atlanta (1996) 34 percent

Greetings from Paris La Defense Arena, home to the greatest concentration of Leon Marchand fans in the country right now.

Lines to get in to see him possibly win his first Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley were absolutely insane. That's the first final on tap here tonight, and I'll recommend we all stay on World Record Watch for that and the women's 100 fly, which is second.

Marchand owns the WR in the 400 IM and will feed off the home crowd, and Gretchen Walsh just set an Olympic record in the 100 fly semis last night. She broke the WR in this event at U.S. Olympic trials in June.

For just the second time in modern Olympic history, the U.S. is going to win gold and silver in a fencing event. Defending Tokyo gold medalist Lee Kiefer beat Italy's Alice Volpi on Sunday to advance to the gold-medal match in women's foil. Earlier, fellow American Lauren Scruggs beat Canada's Eleanor Harvey to do the same.

The only two other instances of Americans going 1-2 in an Olympic fencing event were both medal sweeps. One was in 2008, when Mariel Zagunis took gold, Sada Jacobson brought home silver, and Rebecca Ward earned bronze in women's sabre. The other: 1904, when Albertson Van Zo Post, William O'Connor and William Grebe went 1-2-3 in the one-and-done men's singlestick event.

Kiefer, 30, and Scruggs, a 21-year-old who is still a college student at Harvard, go for gold at 9:45 p.m. Paris time Sunday.