Tag: Paris Olympics 2024

Novak Djokovic found his rhythm in the punishing heat to beat Germany’s Dominik Koepfer and reach the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics 2024 on Wednesday, staying on track for an elusive gold.

The Serbian top seed, who crushed Rafael Nadal in the previous round, came through 7-5, 6-3 and will face world number 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last eight.

“I’m soaking wet, honestly. It’s a very, very humid day as it was yesterday. I just hope it rains so it cools down the temperature a bit and the air.

“But it is what it is. You have to kind of accept and embrace the conditions and it’s the same for you and your opponents so you have to try to make the best out of it.”

The 24-time Grand Slam champion broke Koepfer early but the German world number 70 returned the favour in the next game to get back on serve.

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Novak Djokovic, a three-time French Open champion on the clay courts at Roland Garros, took the first set 7-5 when Koepfer went long to concede another break.

As the sun beat down on Court Philippe Chatrier, Djokovic found his groove, surging into a 3-0 lead to take a grip on the second set, sealing the win with a minimum of fuss.

He has yet to drop a set in three rounds of tennis in Paris.

The 37-year-old, searching for his first trophy in 2024, is still wearing strapping on his right knee after undergoing an operation in June.

He was a bronze medallist on his Olympic debut in 2008 but is targeting gold in Paris to complete his staggering collection of trophies.

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Tearful Coco Gauff crashed out of the Paris Olympics at the hands of Donna Vekic on Tuesday after a heated row with the umpire as Rafael Nadal prepared to return to the baking courts.

With temperatures rocketing into the mid-30s Celsius at Roland Garros, officials activated a heat protocol, allowing a 10-minute break between the second and third sets.

In the first match on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Vekic shocked Gauff 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals, but the match was overshadowed by a lengthy row between the US Open champion and the chair umpire.

Coco Gauff, the flag-bearer for the United States at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony alongside NBA star LeBron James, made a fast start but squandered three set points before her Croatian opponent won the first-set tie-break.

The pair swapped breaks early in the second set but the match came to a standstill at the end of the sixth game as an emotional Gauff pleaded her case with the umpire.

At 30-40, Vekic hit a return deep to Gauff’s forehand, which the American mishit into the net.

Vekic’s shot was called out but the call was overruled by the chair umpire and the point was awarded to the Croat, giving her the break. Gauff argued her shot was compromised by the initial call.

“I have to advocate for myself all the time,” a weeping Gauff, 20, said on court. “I’m getting cheated in this game. You guys are not fair to me.”

Later, a more composed Coco Gauff called for a video review system at Roland Garros to match those in place at other Grand Slam venues.

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“I can’t say I would have won the match if I would have won that point but, for sure, being not a break, whereas maybe replaying that point can make a big difference in that game,” she said.

Vekic, ranked 21, briefly lost her composure, slipping to 0-40 on her own serve before recovering to hold, and she broke again to seal victory.

The Wimbledon semi-finalist said the row over the line call was a “tricky situation”.

“After that, the crowd, it was not so easy,” she said. “I lost my concentration for a couple of points, but I’m happy that I managed to come back in that game because it was an important game.”

Germany’s defending men’s champion Alexander Zverev coasted into the third round with a 6-3, 7-5 win over 39th-ranked Czech Tomas Machac.

In the women’s draw, three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany progressed to the quarter-finals along with US eighth seed Danielle Collins and China’s Zheng Qinwen.

Women’s world number one Iga Swiatek targets a 24th straight win on the clay courts of Paris against China’s Wang Xiyu in the evening session.

Rafael Nadal, a 14-time French Open champion, was swept off court by old rival Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the pair’s 60th meeting on Monday.

The 38-year-old, immortalised in a statue at Roland Garros, has been plagued by injuries in recent years and is now 161st in the world.

Rafael Nadal said after his painful defeat to Djokovic that he would make a decision on his future after the Paris Olympics.

But the Spaniard, who won singles gold at the 2008 Beijing Games and doubles gold in Rio in 2016, can still collect a medal in the doubles alongside current French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.

They take on Dutch pair Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof.

Britain’s three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray, playing his final tournament, is in action later alongside doubles partner Dan Evans.

READ: Paris Olympics Men’s triathlon postponed due to Seine pollution

The men’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics was postponed just hours before it was due to get underway on Tuesday after last-ditch water quality tests in the River Seine revealed unhealthy pollution levels, organisers said.

In a blow to Olympic officials who have repeatedly vowed that the Seine would be safe for athletes to swim in, organisers said the men’s event would be delayed by 24 hours and take place immediately after the women’s race on Wednesday.

A joint statement from Paris 2024 and World Triathlon blamed the excessive pollution caused by the heavy rain that deluged the French capital on Friday and Saturday.

“Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterate that their priority is the health of the athletes,” the statement said after a meeting held at 3:30 am local time (0130 GMT).

“The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held.

“Unfortunately, meteorological events beyond our control … can alter water quality and compel us to reschedule the event for health reasons.”

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Paris Olympics’ organisers had already cancelled training sessions in the Seine scheduled for Sunday and Monday because of unsafe pollution levels caused by last week’s rain.

But they had expressed confidence that the pollution would drop in time for Tuesday’s race given the bright, sunny conditions in Paris this week which helps keep bacteria levels down.

French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) over the last decade to clean up the Seine, including in major new water treatment and storage facilities in and around Paris.

But heavy downpours still overwhelm the city’s underground drains and sewage system, leading to untreated effluent being released into the waterway.

After an exceptionally wet spring and start to summer, the Seine had been consistently failing water tests until the beginning of July, causing a major headache for Paris 2024 organisers.

Levels of the E.Coli bacteria — an indicator of faecal matter — were sometimes 10 times higher than authorised limits.

The triathlon is the first Olympic event scheduled to take place in the river, before marathon swimming in the second week of the Games.

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Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal at the Paris Olympics on Monday, claiming a 6-1, 6-4 victory in the pair’s 60th and potentially last meeting.

It was 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic’s 31st win in a rivalry which began on the same Roland Garros clay courts in 2006.

Nadal was largely outclassed in the much-anticipated encounter, only coming briefly to life when he won four games in a row in the second set.

“I’m very relieved,” said Djokovic. “Everything was going my way, I was 6-1, 4-0 up but I played a sloppy service game and gave him chances.”

He added: “I never thought back in 2006 that we’d still be playing each other almost 20 years later.”

In a sign of the wear and tear the pair have endured in recent months, Novak Djokovic wore a protective strapping around his right knee while Rafael Nadal’s right thigh was heavily strapped.

But Djokovic played freely, forcing Nadal to scamper around Court Philippe Chatrier where the Spaniard had collected 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles.

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The Serb raced to a 4-0 lead, on the back of a double break, and held for 5-0 before Nadal stopped the rot much to the relief of a packed, sweltering crowd.

Djokovic pocketed the one-sided opener when 2008 Olympic gold medallist Nadal ballooned a forehand wide of the mark.

The statistics made grim reading for the 38-year-old who managed to eke out just four points off the Djokovic serve in the first set.

There was no respite for Nadal, playing just his seventh tournament of an injury-plagued season, as Djokovic again carved out a double break for a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Rafael Djokovic, seeking a first Olympic gold medal to add to his 24 Grand Slam triumphs, surprisingly handed Rafael Nadal a lifeline when he served up a double fault to be broken for the first time.

Nadal retrieved the second break to claw his way back from 0-4 to 4-4 as the top seed went suddenly off the boil.

Novak Djokovic responded in style, a drop-shot leaving Nadal flat-footed as the Serb broke for 5-4 on a fourth break point and clinched victory in style with an ace.

Despite his defeat on Monday, Nadal still has hopes of a Paris Olympics gold medal in the men’s doubles where he is playing alongside Carlos Alcaraz.

READ: Pakistan shooters Joseph, Kishmala continue dismal run at Paris Olympics

Pakistan shooters Gulfam Joseph and Kishmala Talat’s dismal run at the Paris Olympics continued as the duo failed to proceed in another event on Monday.

The duo of Joseph and Kishmala competed in 10m air pistol mixed doubles but failed to make it into the next round.

The Pakistan shooters could only manage 571 points out of 600 and finished 14th out of 17.

As a result, both Pakistan shooters Gulfam Joseph and Kishmala Talat have been knocked out of all 10m air pistol competitions.

However, Kishmala will represent Pakistan in the 25m Pistol Women’s qualification on August 2 while Ghulam Mustafa Bashir will partake 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s Qualification on August 4.

Remember, Pakistan had an unwanted start to their Paris Olympics 2024 campaign as their shooters Gulfam Joseph and Kishmala Talat failed to qualify for the 10m air pistol finals in respective categories.

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Joseph, one of seven Pakistan athletes competing in the games, had to finish in the top eight to make it into the next round.

But he was left far behind the other competing shooters and could finish 22nd out of 33 with 571 points out of 600.

Notably, Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema also failed to qualify for the next round.

Meanwhile, Kishmala Talat also suffered the same fate as she failed to qualify for the 10m women’s air pistol final after finishing 31st out of the 44 shooters. She scored a total of 567 points out of across six series.

Pakistan contingent for Paris Olympics:

Athletics: Arshad Nadeem, Faiqa Riaz, Salman Iqbal Butt (support staff), Dr. Ali Sher Bajwa (support staff).

Swimming: Mohammad Ahmed Durrani, Jehanara Nabi, Lt Col (retired) Ahmed Ali Khan (support staff).

Shooting: Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, Gulfam Joseph, Kishmala Talat), Col Junaid Ali (support staff), Gennady Solodovnikov (support staff).

Contingent officials: Mohammad Shafiq (chef de mission), Javaid Shamshad Lodhi (deputy chef de mission); Zainab Shaukat (admin officer).

READ: Pakistan swimmers Durrani, Jehanara fail to qualify for next round

Pakistan athletes continued their disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics 2024, as swimmers Ahmed Durrani and Jehanara Nabi failed to qualify for the next round in their respective events.

Ahmed Durrani participated in the men’s 200-meter freestyle swimming event and unfortunately finished last in his heat.

In the initial 200-meter heat, he ranked fourth out of four swimmers, completing the race in 1 minute and 58.67 seconds. He was unable to match his previous best time of 1 minute and 55 seconds.

Later, he ended up in 25th place out of 25 swimmers. His time was 11 seconds slower than the swimmer who secured the final spot for the semifinals.

In the women’s 200-meter freestyle swimming competition, Jehanara Nabi finished in 26th place out of 30 swimmers. Despite putting up a strong effort, she was unable to break into the top 16.

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Prior to swimmers, Pakistan’s shooters Gulfam Joseph and Kishmala Talat also failed to qualify for the 10m air pistol finals of the Paris Olympics 2024.

Joseph, one of seven Pakistan athletes competing in the games, had to finish in the top eight to make it into the next round.

But he was left far behind the other competing shooters and could finish 22nd out of 33 with 571 points out of 600.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s Damir Mikec topped the leaderboard of the Paris Olympics’ Men’s 10m air pistol competition with 584 points while Italy’s Federico Nilo Maldini and Christian Reitz were the other shooters in the top three.

Notably, Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema also failed to qualify for the next round.

Meanwhile, Kishmala Talat also suffered the same fate as she failed to qualify for the 10m women’s air pistol final after finishing 31st out of the 44 shooters. She scored a total of 567 points out of across six series.

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China took the first gold of the Paris Olympics on Saturday, as the rain that dampened the opening ceremony took its toll on the first full day of sporting action.

In a closely fought final of the mixed-team 10-metre air rifle, teenage duo Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting outscored Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun from South Korea 16-12, Kazakhstan grabbing the bronze.

The rain already claimed one sporting casualty early Saturday as the wet weather which deluged Friday night’s audacious festival on the River Seine continued to cause headaches.

The men’s street skateboarding competition, due to take place at the Place de la Concorde in the historic heart of Paris, was postponed until Monday due to rain overnight, Paris Olympics organisers said.

The downpours also disrupted play at the opening rounds of tennis at Roland Garros, with no action on the 10 uncovered outside courts until 13:30 local time (1130 GMT), organisers said.

Torrential rain had lashed participants and spectators in Friday’s amphibious opening ceremony, where around 7,000 athletes paraded along the Seine in an armada of boats before a show-stopping finale which climaxed with a glittering light show at the Eiffel Tower and a performance from singer Celine Dion.

The ceremony received broadly favourable reviews, with France’s centre-right Le Figaro daily describing it as “full of surprises but often disjointed.”

The International Olympic Committee however was forced to apologise however for a gaffe during the ceremony that saw South Korea’s athletes incorrectly introduced as North Korean in the glittering Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

“We deeply apologise for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC said in a post on its official Korean-language X account.

Elsewhere on the sporting front, swimming, badminton, rowing, cycling, hockey and basketball get under way along with the surfing competition, nearly 16,000 kilometres (9,950 miles) kilometres away on the French Pacific island of Tahiti.

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Swimming will take centre-stage at the La Defense Arena for the women’s 400m freestyle — one of the most-anticipated events of the entire Olympics involving three swimmers who have held the world record.

Australia’s defending champion Ariarne Titmus will dive in as favourite after clocking the second-fastest time ever last month behind only her own 3min 55.38sec world best.

She stunned US rival Katie Ledecky in an electric Tokyo final three years ago, with the American great gunning for revenge.

Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh, also a former world record holder, completes the hotly favoured trio.

Other gold medals on offer on the first night of action in the pool come in the men’s 400m freestyle and the men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle relays.

Reigning French Open champions Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz are among the top draws on the first day of action on the clay courts of Roland Garros — weather permitting.

Women’s world number one Swiatek is first on court against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, with Alcaraz to follow against Lebanese world number 275 Hady Habib.

But the biggest focus will be on the men’s doubles, with Alcaraz teaming up with 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal in a Spanish dream pairing.

Chinese shooters Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao will start as favourites for the first gold of the Games after a dominant victory at last year’s world championships in Baku.

Medals will also be on offer Saturday in the diving pool, with the women’s synchronised 3m springboard final, where another Chinese pairing, Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen, are favourites to strike gold.

The first cycling medals of the Paris Olympics will be decided with the men’s and women’s individual times trials taking place on a challenging 32.4-kilometre course.

French rugby fans will flock to the Stade de France to see if Antoine Dupont can lead the host nation to gold in rugby sevens.

France however must overcome South Africa in Saturday’s semi-finals to reach the gold medal match against the winner of the other last-four clash between holders Fiji and Australia.

READ: Pakistan shooters Joseph, Kishmala fail to qualify for 10m air pistol final

Pakistan had an unwanted start to their Paris Olympics 2024 campaign as their shooters Gulfam Joseph and Kishmala Talat failed to qualify for the 10m air pistol finals.

Joseph, one of seven Pakistan athletes competing in the games, had to finish in the top eight to make it into the next round.

But he was left far behind the other competing shooters and could finish 22nd out of 33 with 571 points out of 600.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s Damir Mikec topped the leaderboard of the Paris Olympics’ Men’s 10m air pistol competition with 584 points while Italy’s Federico Nilo Maldini and Christian Reitz were the other shooters in the top three.

Notably, Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Singh Cheema also failed to qualify for the next round.

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Meanwhile, Kishmala Talat also suffered the same fate as she failed to qualify for the 10m women’s air pistol final after finishing 31st out of the 44 shooters. She scored a total of 567 points out of across six series.

Pakistan will compete in shooting, athletics and swimming in the Paris Olympics. Out of the seven athletes four of them earned direct qualification while sprinter Faiqa Riaz and swimmers Jehanara Nabi and Mohammad Ahmed Durrani will feature in the biggest sporting event on the basis of the universality places.

Meanwhile, star javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem and swimmer Jehanara Nabi have been chosen as Pakistan’s contingent flag-bearers for the prestigious event.

Among the 11 officials, six are the officials of the contingent, including the chef de mission, deputy chef de mission and an admin officer.

Pakistan contingent for Paris Olympics:

Athletics: Arshad Nadeem, Faiqa Riaz, Salman Iqbal Butt (support staff), Dr. Ali Sher Bajwa (support staff).

Swimming: Mohammad Ahmed Durrani, Jehanara Nabi, Lt Col (retired) Ahmed Ali Khan (support staff).

Shooting: Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, Gulfam Joseph, Kishmala Talat), Col Junaid Ali (support staff), Gennady Solodovnikov (support staff).

Contingent officials: Mohammad Shafiq (chef de mission), Javaid Shamshad Lodhi (deputy chef de mission); Zainab Shaukat (admin officer).

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The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics began Friday, an unprecedented and ambitious show with up to 7,000 athletes parading down the River Seine past the historic monuments of the French capital despite the risk of rain dampening spirits.

For the first time in Olympic history, the opening ceremony is taking place outside the main stadium, with some 300,000 people watching in person from specially built stands on the river banks, and another 200,000 from overlooking balconies and apartments.

As tradition dictates, the Greek delegation had the honour of leading out the flotilla, as the cradle of the modern Olympic movement.

In an ambitious, high-risk departure from past opening ceremonies, the athletes will sail down the river in an armada of 85 boats.

The show will blend both French culture and history and great Olympic moments of the past while US pop star Lady Gaga wowed the crowd of VIPS and spectators with an early performance in the ceremony.

Despite the forecast of heavy rain, and a wave of attacks which paralysed France’s high-speed rail network early Friday, organisers were confident of pulling off the audacious ceremony.

Chief Games organiser Tony Estanguet said before the show there would be some modifications if it was wet, but he insisted the weather would not dampen the mood.

“It’s going to be a beautiful moment, it’s going to be a great party,” he added.

Basketball superstar LeBron James, who will be one of two Team USA flagbearers along with tennis star Coco Gauff, was seen being equipped with a clear plastic poncho to protect him from the predicted deluge just before the teams boarded the boats.

Long queues had formed at access points along the Seine hours before the start of the parade.

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After passing scanners and checkpoints, the first arrivals discovered the numerous floating stages installed in the river channel and bridges that have been festooned with flags and the pink-and-purple colours of the Games.

“The atmosphere is really friendly,” said 75-year-old Frenchman Jean-Yves Herve, who watched the show with his grand-daughter.

“There are lots of foreigners, we’re enjoying it. It’s good for France.”

A huge security operation was in place for the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, with a security perimeter erected along both banks of the Seine.

The ceremony will be guarded by 45,000 police and paramilitary officers and another 10,000 soldiers and 22,000 private security guards will complete the security operation.

Police snipers were positioned on high points along the river, which is overlooked by hundreds of buildings.

French security forces are on their highest alert to prevent terror attacks spoiling the start of the first Olympics in Paris in 100 years, while acts of sabotage from hostile foreign powers were also a known risk.

French officials refused to comment on the identity of those responsible for the rail sabotage who appear to have had a sophisticated understanding of the network.

Far-left French anarchists have a history of targeting the train network with arson attacks.

Suspicions might also fall on Russia, which French President Emmanuel Macron has said in the past was planning to target the Games.

Around 3,000 dancers are set to perform amid Paris Olympic opening ceremony from the banks of the river and monuments including Notre-Dame cathedral in a show that will promote diversity, gender equality and French history.

The landmarks and architecture of the City of Light are set to feature as a backdrop both to Friday night’s show and much of the sport afterwards.

Paris’s vision is for a more cost-effective and less polluting Olympics than previous editions, with competitions set to take place at historic locations around the capital.

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The Paris Olympics are set to open in a spectacular and unprecedented ceremony on the river Seine on Friday but hours before the show France’s rail network was paralysed by what officials said were acts of sabotage.

The parade on Friday evening will see up to 7,500 competitors travel down a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats.

But early Friday, French rail operator SNCF said the country’s high-speed network had been targeted by “malicious acts” aimed at paralysing the system.

Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said it was an “outrageous criminal act” and Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera described the attacks as “downright appalling”.

French security forces have warned for months of the danger of attacks aimed at destabilising the Games.

Compared to the Covid-blighted 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed by a year and opened in an empty stadium, the Paris opening ceremony will take place in front of 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs and celebrities from around the world.

Rain threatened to blight the ceremony after forecasters said there was a 70-80 percent chance of rain during the ceremony.

President Emmanuel Macron told a pre-Games dinner for heads of state and government: “Tomorrow you will have one of the most incredible opening ceremonies.”

The line-up of performers is a closely guarded secret but US pop star Lady Gaga and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura — the most listened-to French-speaking singer in the world — are rumoured to be among them.

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It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, a decision fraught with danger at a time when France is on its highest alert for terrorism.

For months, organisers have been dogged by questions about whether they would need to scale back or move the procession, but they had insisted throughout that there was no Plan B.

A huge security perimeter has been erected along both banks of the Seine, guarded around the clock by some of the 45,000 police and paramilitary officers who will be on duty on Friday evening.

Another 10,000 soldiers are set to add to the security blanket along with 22,000 private security guards.

The opening ceremony is likely to define the mood for the rest of the July 26-August 11 Games, which organisers have pledged will be “iconic”.

Around 3,000 dancers are set to perform from the banks of the river and nearby monuments, including Notre Dame Cathedral, in a show that will promote diversity, gender equality and French history.

The landmarks and architecture of the City of Light, one of the world’s best-loved destinations, is set to feature as a backdrop both to Friday night’s show and much of the sport afterwards.

Paris’ vision is for a more cost-effective and less polluting Olympics than previous editions, with competitions set to take place at historic locations around the capital.

For scheduling reasons, some events have already started, including the football, rugby sevens and archery — the latter taking place in front of the golden-domed Invalides, the final resting place of Napoleon.

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