The Guardian

Paris 2024 Olympics day nine: Djokovic beats Alcaraz in tennis final, Rutter wins shooting silver as Hepworth claims vaulting bronze – live

By Geoff Lemon (now) Martin Belam and Megan Maurice (earlier),

15 hours ago

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0kWPNi_0un4qqXT00 — Novak Djokovic of Team Serbia celebrates match point against Carlos Alcaraz of Team Spain. Photograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

4.13pm BST

Philippines gold in the men's vault

The artistic gymnastics program continues, with each gymnast doing two vaults and registering a combined score. Carlos Edriel Yulo clinches it with 9.433 and a 9.2 on execution, taking gold from Artur Davtyan from Armenia. There’s a bronze for Great Britain too, with a 3-4 finish for Harry Hepworth and Jake Jarman.

4.07pm BST

Tennis: Thanks Martin. Djokovic is overcome on the clay court of Roland Garros. He sits in his chair with a towel over his face, howling into it. Eventually he gets up, scopes out the seating, and works out a path to climb over some barriers and up through the crowd, up to the second level, to find his family. Down on the court, Alcaraz is still sitting with his head down between his knees, like an airline safety video. He has been flying lately but today was a hard landing.

4.02pm BST

That is it from me, Martin Belam, today, And indeed for these Olympics. I am back in the grip of BIG NEWS™ next week. Thank you so much for reading. I will see you around again on this website soon. Geoff Lemon is stepping back in to the hotseat for the next couple of hours. Allons-y!

4.02pm BST

Gold for Novak Djokovic in men's tennis singles! 🥇🥇🥇🎾🎾🎾

Men’s tennis singles: gold for Novak Djokovic! He takes the match 7-6 7-6. Fine margins here and Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) ends up with silver.

4.01pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: Djokovic leads the tie-break 5-2

and

Women’s cycling road race: there’s a crash in the Peloton!

3.57pm BST

It all feels very finely poised in the cycling, the tennis and the golf. What a Sunday of sport to enjoy.

3.56pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: They are about to hit the first run up Montmartre, a 1km climb with 6.5% gradient and on cobbles. The cyclist must be cursing the organisers. It is an incredible crowd welcoming the Peloton here in Paris.

3.54pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: it has proved almost impossible to separate these two, but somehow they have to be separated. The second set has gone to a tie-break between Novak Djokovic (SRB) and Carlos Alcaraz (ESP). Djokovic took the first set.

3.52pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: Fariba Hashimi from Afghanistan , with 54km to go, has decided she might as well go off the front and have a little time in the spotlight. It has been an incredible effort from some of the riders who won’t have featured much in previews of the events. The Peloton has just absorbed the rest of the breakaway. Such a fascinating race – and they have no race radio and much smaller teams than they are used to.

3.50pm BST

I am not sure Jon Rahm will be wanting to watch today back on his home VHS. He seemed completely in control of the men’s golf . The top of the leaderboard looks like this now …

Scottie Scheffler (USA) 19 under, 17th hole
Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) 18 under, 14th hole
Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 17 under, 16th hole

3.41pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: with just over 60km to go we are seeing a series of attacks at the head of the Peloton. They are hauling in the leading and chasing group, and also clearly testing each other’s team stengths. Anna Henderson of Team GB and Marianne Vos of the Netherlands have been in the thick of it. The gap between the Peloton and the leading group is down to about a minute.

3.38pm BST

Gold for Algeria's Kaylia Nemour on the uneven bars! 🥇🥇🥇

The fans in Bercy Arena don’t seem to mind that Kaylia Nemour has opted to compete for Algeria instead of France. The 17-year-old gymnast, fifth in the all-around, landed a routine with a staggering difficulty of 7.200 to win gold on the uneven bars before an adoring crowd.

China ’s Qiu Qiyuan was a close second with 15.500. The USA’s Suni Lee, last up in the start order, executed just well enough to take bronze over defending champion Nina Derwael of Belgium .

Heartbreak for Team GB ’s Becky Downie , who was flying through a gorgeous routine until her hands simply came off the bar when she appeared to have caught it safely. Without that fall, she likely would’ve been in the mix for bronze. She finished seventh.

Updated at 3.46pm BST

3.35pm BST

That shooting was intense. I haven’t forgotten there are other big events going on. There has been a crash in the Peloton in the women’s road racing , but I think everybody got back up. Djokovic and Alcaraz are locked 4-4 in the second set, the Serb took the first set. Scottie Scheffler (USA), Jon Rahm (ESP) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) are tied at the top in the men’s golf.

3.32pm BST

Gold for Chile in women's skeet shooting, with Team GB silver and US bronze! 🥇🥇🥇

Women’s skeet shooting: Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile won her country’s first ever shooting gold as Team GB ’s Amber Jo Rutter took silver. 23-year old Austen Jewell Smith of the USA took bronze. The tense battle went to a dramatic shootout between Rutter and Chadid.

There was some controversy as right at the end one of Rutter’s shots was given as a miss, when a video replay showed it may well have been clipped.

3.31pm BST

Rutter shoots next. One hit, one miss. She protests! The crowd are chanting “Hit! Hit! Hit!”. It is given as a miss. Chadid steps up …

3.29pm BST

Rutter misses one! If Chadid hits both she gets gold … she hits one, misses one. Another round incoming!

3.28pm BST

Rutter again hits both! Chadid … does so again! Oh the pressure of this.

3.28pm BST

Rutter hits her two targets in the shootout. Chadid … does so as well! They can’t be separated!

3.26pm BST

Chadid gets the next two and takes it to a shootout. The first one to miss essentially misses out on the gold. Wow.

3.25pm BST

Chadid to shoot. She can afford one miss. She appeals after a target is given a miss by the judges … NO HIT!

3.23pm BST

Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile has a wobble and two misses, and suddenly her and Team GB ’s Amber Jo Rutter are tied on 50 each with six shots to go. Wow.

3.19pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: Team GB ’s Amber Jo Rutter is guaranteed at least a silver medal! Austen Jewell Smith of the USA wins bronze.

3.18pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile has a two shot lead. Team GB ’s Amber Jo Rutterb has a one shot advantage over Austen Jewell Smith of the USA in third as the bronze medal is about to be decided in this series.

3.17pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: they have been grinding away for over two hours now, and still we’ve had no break of serve. Djokovic leads one set to love, it is 3-2 to Alcaraz in the second set.

3.15pm BST

Men’s golf: Rory McIlroy is on the move. He is tied in third on 17 under with Hideki Matsuyama . Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood are tied in the lead on 18 under. The leaders have finished at the 13th.

3.12pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile has only her second miss, and leads by one shot. Slovakia ’s Vanesa Hocková hit the first 16 in a row and was in the lead at that point, but she leaves in fourth place. USA, Chile and the US are guaranteed the medals now.

3.08pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: four athletes left. One is going to go home without a medal …

3.07pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: I must put in a word here for Olga Zabelinskaya of Uzbekistan , who has spent the last forty minutes or so on her own chasing the leading group and ahead of the Peloton, without making the move to bridge the gap, just ploughing on in her own solo race.

3.04pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: Emmanouela Katzouraki of Greece is the next to depart. Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile has a one shot lead after thirty shots.

3.01pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: Nora Jenčušová of Slovakia , who was up in the leading group, has had some kind of mechanical, but is back on her bike and racing again.

3.00pm BST

China ’s Fan Zhendong earned redemption by beating Sweden ’s Truls Moregard in the men’s table tennis singles final on Sunday to make up for the gold he missed out on three years ago in Tokyo, Reuters reports.

The 4-1 victory adds to China’s gold medal sweep in the sport so far at the Paris Olympics, following his teammates’ earlier triumphs in the women’s singles and mixed doubles.

2.55pm BST

Men’s golf: Jon Rahm has had two successive bogeys, while Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) had two successive birdies, and they are now level on -18 with six holes to play 👀

2.54pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: Team GB ’s Amber Jo Rutter and Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile lead with one miss apiece.

2.53pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: Danka Bartekova of Slovakia , the current world champion, is the first to depart.

2.52pm BST

Honestly just watching both the archery and this skeet shooting this afternoon and I know I wouldn’t be able to hit the target once in either sport. In fact I’m not sure I’d be able to hit the archery target even if they gave me a rifle.

2.49pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: Slovakia ’s Vanesa Hocková has a lead of one shot now, having hit all of her first sixteen shots. Three competitors are tied for second having had one miss each.

2.46pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: Novak Djokovic (SRB) wins the tie-break 7-3 and takes the first set!

2.41pm BST

Women’s skeet shooting: the final of this has started – you might be able to tell if you can suddenly hear seemingly random music in the background, as has accompanied all of the shooting in Paris. Team GB ’s Amber Jo Rutter and Slovakia ’s Vanesa Hocková are leading from Austen Jewell Smith of the USA and Francisca Crovetto Chadid of Chile .

2.38pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: we’ve gone to a first set tie-break.

2.35pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: It is 6-5 to Novak Djokovic (SRB), and Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) has just saved a set point. They are at deuce again.

2.34pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: all the leading and chase groups have come together, so there is a bunch of six riders out front, and they have nearly five minutes lead with 106km and seven climbs to go.

2.32pm BST

Gold for China’s Liu Yang who retains men’s rings title! 🥇🥇🥇

Men’s rings: the latest gymnastics gold is for China’s Liu Yang . The two-time world champion on the rings has successfully defended the Olympic title in won in Tokyo.

2.31pm BST

Men’s golf: Jon Rahm (ESP) has gone 20 under after the tenth hole.

2.25pm BST

Men’s rings: Liu Yang of China seems well placed to retain his title from Tokyo. He leads compatriot Zou Jingyuan and Greece ’s Eleftherios Petrounias with three more gymnasts to go.

2.21pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: Novak Djokovic (SRB) holds his serve against Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) after an epic game that went to deuce six times, if I counted correctly. It is 5-4, Alcaraz now serving in the first set.

2.19pm BST

SIxteen years after his Olympic debut at age 19, Brady Ellison came into the magnificent archery venue at the Esplanade des Invalides having won everything he could possibly win in archery except an Olympic gold medal. Two men’s team silvers. Individual bronze. An individual world championship. In Paris, he added a bronze in the mixed team event with top-ranked Casey Kaufhold.

After steamrolling through the elimination rounds, he ran into Korea’s Woojin Kim, who had won two team Olympic golds and three individual world championships but never an individual Olympic gold.

What followed was a final for the ages.

They traded the first four sets – Ellison first, then Kim, then Ellison, then Kim.

The final set was extraordinary. Kim with a 10. Ellison matches. Kim again. Ellison again. Kim again, with a big celebration. Ellison, though, capped off the perfect 30-30 set with a 10 and a little fist bump with his coach.

The shootout arrow is measured in millimeters, and Kim put his just inside the 10 ring, 55.8 mm away. Ellison’s was a tiny margin outside, at 60.7 mm.

Though he missed gold by less than 5 mm, Ellison joined Kim in breaking into huge smiles, celebrating an unforgettable contest.

2.15pm BST

Men’s golf: talking of the golf, a little movement at the top, where Xander Schauffele (USA) has dropped out of the medal places. Jon Rahm (ESP) is 19 under, and Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) and Tommy Fleetwood (GBR) are tied in second, three shots behind.

2.13pm BST

First world live blogging problems, I know, but as if the tennis, the cycling and the golf wasn’t enough to be keeping on top of, the men’s rings final has just started in the gymnastics.

2.11pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: there is still a whopping 122km to go here. Nora Jenčušová of Slovakia is up front on her own. Yulduz Hashimi of Afghanistan also made a move, and is about 45 seconds behind her.

There is another chasing group behind that, featuring Hanna Tserakh (Belarus-born neutral athlete), Nguyễn Thị Thật (VIE), Rotem Gafinovitz (ISR) and Fariba Hashimi (AFG).

2.05pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: everything continues to go with serve here so far. It is 4-4.

2.04pm BST

Gold for Woojin Kim of South Korea in the men's archery! Silver for USA's Brady Ellison! 🥇🥇🥇🎯

Men’s archery: Woojin Kim wins the one arrows shoot-off. My colleague Geoff Lemon chips into me on chat that it has to be “the harshest decider in sport”. Brady Ellison of the USA has to content himself with silver.

1.59pm BST

Men’s archery: it is 4-4 and both men have just posted a perfect set of three 10s. I am in awe.

1.51pm BST

Men’s golf: a bogey from Xander Schauffele (USA) at the eighth means Jon Rahm (ESP) now has a three shot lead.

1.48pm BST

Men’s archery: Wooseok Lee has won bronze for South Korea , inflicting a 6-0 defeat on Germany ’s Florian Unruh . The final, between Woojin Kim of South Korea and Brady Ellison of the USA has started, and Ellison has struck first, opening a 2-0 lead.

1.46pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: Awa Bamogo of Burkina Faso got caught by the Peloton on the first climb, but now Nora Jenčušová of Slovakia has gone off the front and opened up a 30-ish second gap. She isn’t going to get her picture in the blog, not for personal animus, but because I can’t find one of her from today’s race yet.

1.42pm BST

Men’s tennis: it is 2-2 here in the first set but the story so far is that Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) has managed to save break points in both of his serving games so far, which is probably not how he visualised starting.

1.38pm BST

Men’s archery: US archer Brady Ellison , who earlier in the Games added a mixed team bronze to his two prior men’s silvers, his bronze in the 2016 Olympics and his 2019 world championship, has reached the final. That’s up after the bronze-medal encounter.

1.36pm BST

Men’s golf: the leaders are getting towards the end of the front nine. Jon Rahm (ESP) is 18 under and Xander Schauffele (USA) 16 under after the seventh. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) is in bronze position on 15 under, but Tommy Fleetwood (GBR), Scottie Scheffler (USA) and Nicolai Hojgaard (DEN) are all in the medal hunt too.

1.32pm BST

Australia’s boxing team captain, Caitlin Parker , is leading by example after securing her country’s first Olympic medal in the women’s event by beating the Moroccan world champion Khadija Mardi in the 75kg quarter-finals.

The split decision victory means Parker is guaranteed at least a bronze, and continues a strong Paris Games for the team, with Charlie Senior also having reached the semi-finals in the men’s 57kg division to guarantee a medal. It is the first time in 64 years that Australia will have won two boxing medals at the same Games.

Updated at 1.33pm BST

1.28pm BST

Men’s archery: the second semi-final is in the hands of Brady Ellison at the moment. The US archer leads Germany ’s Florian Unruh 5-3.

1.26pm BST

I am not going to lie. At any other time you could probably live blog a women’s cycling road race, a men’s singles tennis final, and day four of a stroke play tournament featuring the world’s top golfers as three individual live blogs. I’ve got to have eyes in the back of my head here, but what an afternoon of Olympic sport ahead of us.

1.23pm BST

Women’s cycling road race: it is Awa Bamogo of Burkina Faso who has staged the first solo attack. During the season you often say that riders stage an early attack like this to get their sponsor’s name in front of the cameras. No sponsors today, but it is likely to get your photo into the Guardian live blog while I am at the helm.

1.21pm BST

Men’s tennis singles: Novak Djokovic (SRB) and Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) have started at Roland Garros.

1.17pm BST

Actually, before I go, here’s an interesting email from Beau Dure, who has been watching the track and field like a hawk. A hawk who likes athletics.

“How surprising was Julien Alfred’s win over Sha’Carri Richardson? In retrospect, not very much.
Running for the University of Texas, a long way from the barefoot runs of her youth, Alfred posted what the NCAA lists as one of the most dominant sprint performances in US college sports history in 2023, winning the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. She beat Sha’Carri Richardson’s 2019 record of 10.75 in that meet, albeit with a wind-aided mark of 10.72. Same story in the 200 – she bested Abby Steiner’s NCAA record of 21.80 with a wind-aided 21.73. Her 2023 triumph in the 100m was her second straight NCAA title at that distance, and she took down the NCAA record in the 60m indoors.
This year, the wind has been behind Richardson. The US star’s top time of the year was 10.71 at Eugene’s Hayward Field in June, but the wind was 0.8 m/s, which according to one measurement can be adjusted to 10.76. Alfred’s best time before the Olympics this year was a 10.78 with a 1.3 m/s tailwind, but her best wind-adjusted race was a 10.85 into a headwind of 1.0 m/s in Monaco in July. The wind adjustment on that is 10.77, 0.01 behind Richardson.
Alfred was fifth in the world championships last year, 0.28 behind Richardson, but may be partially a result of the tiring college season. With no college season this year and another year of maturity, Alfred surely deserved more pre-race hype than she received.
I had given the USA a 36% chance of winning – mostly for Richardson, with the other two US sprinters being longshots. With Fraser-Pryce out, Richardson’s chances were probably a little better than 50-50. But this isn’t a case of, say, unknown Ethiopian Abebe Bikila turning up in Rome and winning the marathon barefoot . It’s someone who had flown under the radar while everyone focused on the USA, especially Richardson’s long redemption arc, and Jamaica.
It’s not a case of Richardson losing to an unknown. We all should’ve known Alfred well before the semifinals.”

1.17pm BST

Good afternoon again. London calling. It is I, Martin Belam. I am here with you for the next few hours, and all the sports seemed to have changed since last time I was here. I’ve got the golf, the cycling, the tennis, the water polo, the beach volleyball and the basketball on to start with …

1.16pm BST

Ok, I’m out of here for a couple of hours. I’ll leave you with Martin Belam.

1.16pm BST

Archery: The two Koreans up against each other, and Kim Woojin prevails in the shoot-off. He’ll shoot for gold later, while Lee Wooseok will have another match to try to claim a bronze.

1.12pm BST

Archery: Another shoot-off to decide the first semi-final.

Updated at 1.14pm BST

1.07pm BST

Cycling: The women’s road race has just started, no doubt that will be a focus through the afternoon.

1.06pm BST

Hockey: Spain save it! Remarkable defence, they get in the way, deflect the ball square, and the Belgians are out, in disbelief. They were thrown a lifeline but went down anyway. Spain were arguing vociferously against the corner, but composed themselves in time to defend it against a fierce strike.

1.05pm BST

Hockey: Huge drama here! A penalty corner against Spain with zero seconds on the clock. The referees confer and award it for the ball making contact with the body.

12.59pm BST

Hockey: Belgium score! Also from a penalty corner I think. A couple of minutes left, and a Belgian cross is nearly turned in! It’s 3-2 and pulsating. There’s a review to see who the ball went out off.

12.57pm BST

Archery: No third qualifier for Korea, with Kim Je Deok knocked out by USA’s Brady Ellison, who shoots a perfect three 10s in the third and final set to win it. He’s into the semis.

12.55pm BST

Hockey: Spain score late! Just like in the football last night. Well, not that late, but there are four minutes left in the last quarter and they’re 2-1 up. And as I type, they make it 3-1 with a penalty corner! Spain’s men will go through to the semis unless something crazy happens.

Updated at 1.13pm BST

12.51pm BST

Archery! One of my favourites at the Olympics. The men’s individual quarter-finals, four of them. Winners go into a semi, which means they’re guaranteed a bronze. Two Korean archers through, with Lee Wooseok beating the Italian Mauro Nespoli, and Kim Woojin beating the Turk Mete Gazoz. Then Florian Unruh of Germany came down to a shoot-off with hometown kid Baptiste Addis – they both shot 10s with their first arrow but Unruh was about a millimetre closer.

12.48pm BST

Basketball: Canada and Nigeria have started their women’s group match. Early doors, 15 plays 16. Canada can’t progress, Nigeria can if they win, though Australia could still qualify by beating France.

12.45pm BST

Hockey: Belgium and Spain might be going to penalties at 1-1 in the final quarter of the men’s quarter-final.

12.44pm BST

Boxing: Nurbek Oralbay will fight for Kazakhstan gold in the men’s 80kg class, after beating Cristian Javier Pinales of the Dominican Republic narrowly 3-2 on votes. And in the battle of the big lads, Loren Berto Alfonso Dominguez who is boxing for Azerbaijan has won a 4-1 points decision over the Spanish fighter Emmanuel Reyes Pla. That’s the 92 kilo division.

12.40pm BST

Athletics: The qualifiers for the men’s 110m and the women’s 400m hurdles happened earlier. Too many names to recount, but Guardian US readers may be interested to know that qualified fastest, one tenth away from the Olympic record, while Daniel Roberts is also through, and Team GB enthusiasts will want to follow Tade Ojora. The semis aren’t until Wednesday and the finals Thursday.

For the women, Femke Bol qualified fastest after her wild relay run last night, ahead of three United Statesians in Jasmine Jones, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Anna Cockrell, who was presumably up at dawn. The British rep in there is Lina Nielsen.

12.34pm BST

Tennis: The Spanish women’s doubles pair have knocked off the Czechs in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2 to win bronze.

I can’t glean when Djokovic and Alcaraz will start the men’s singles final, but sometime today.

12.31pm BST

Individual dressage gold at the horse party

Equestrian: Look, I’m not qualified to pass judgement on horse dancing, and not convinced by a sport where you need to own a country estate to participate. But Laudruf-Dufour looks a little less fluid than Bredow-Werndl in her routine performed to a schmaltz medley of Celine Dion, Adele, and some other bits and pieces. And so it proves, she comes in fifth despite scoring high yesterday.

Which means Bredow-Werndl takes gold and Werth silver in a German eins-zwei, and Charlotte Fry holds onto bronze for Great Britain.

Updated at 12.39pm BST

12.20pm BST

Equestrian: Jessica von Bredow-Werndl, which must be fun to write on immigration forms, reads her audience well. She finishes with a series of piaffes while playing Edith Piaf! Probably not the first to think of it, but it’s going to play well en France. And she cracks a 90! The first to do it today, the defending champ, and now it’s just about whether Cathrine Laudruf-Dufour can channel her hyphen into a podium performance.

12.17pm BST

Equestrian: Carl Hester is out of the medals, with the Dutch rider Dinja van Liere scoring 88.432 on Hermes, the winged messenger or the handbag, for third spot. Two riders to come.

12.15pm BST

“Technically I think it’s God Save the King now?” advises Mark Hooper. “Tbf she did include the French national anthem too.”

Years of conditioning, Mark. No contest on the better anthem, either, even if the French one is a bit… murdery.

12.12pm BST

Fencing: France beat China in the end, 45-35.

12.11pm BST

Boxing: Billal Bennema has taken France into the gold bout in the men’s 51kg. Yunior Alcantara Reyes gets a bronze for the Dominican Republic. Sofiane Oumiha has won for France in the 63.5kg semi, with Wyatt Sanford bronze for Canada.

12.08pm BST

Fencing: So, USA have beaten Egypt, Italy beat Poland, and the France-China match is finally back underway in the men’s team foil table of eight.

12.07pm BST

“Thank you for the 105,000 words so far,” writes in David Hahn. “I’m not sure who was responsible for coining my favourite ones at 0934 - ‘season’s beast’. Can we have a report of a personal beast later on?”

We all have our personal beasts, David. At the Grauniad, it’s the humble typo.

(And I’m blaming Martin for that one, which he now can’t correct because we’ve stitched him up.)

Updated at 12.12pm BST

12.06pm BST

Fencing: There’s some huge kerfuffle in the France-China match. The scores are 40-32 to France, but combat has been suspended for at least ten minutes now. The whole French team were out on the… mat? course? stage? for a while there. Now there are officials everywhere. Lots of arms folded and glum faces. Must be some sort of protest, some of the Chinese officials were debating with judges earlier. I have no commentary of this match, so if somebody knows what’s going on, do email me.

12.04pm BST

Equestrian: Fabulous ride from Charlotte Fry on Glamourdale, although doing it to a club remix of God Save the Queen is indescribably naff. Tempting fate by combining a neutral jury and a national anthem. But she has supreme control. Doesn’t quite get to the top, but goes to the silver slot. Hester to bronze. Three riders left.

11.56am BST

Hockey: Belgium and Spain are scoreless in their men’s quarter-final.

11.55am BST

Basketball: Belgium have thrashed Japan 85-58 in the women’s basketball pool match. They’re both stuck behind USA and Germany though in Group C, so that’s the end of the Games for both teams. USA and Germany play in a few hours to determine who finishes top.

11.50am BST

Equestrian: Isabell Werth goes to the gold medal spot! Sorry, Carl, you’re bumped. Four riders to come, so she doesn’t have it in the bag, but it was an amazingly well controlled ride from the German veteran of seven Olympics.

11.47am BST

Equestrian: “It’s a big week for a ten-year-old mayor,” says the commentator, which yes, is frankly astonishing for someone so young to ascend to such an office. Wait, let me check that.

11.46am BST

Tennis: In the women’s doubles bronze match, Spain’s Busca and Sorribes Torno have taken the first set from Czechia’s Muchova and Noskova. I guess the Czechs couldn’t get muchova the net.

11.43am BST

Equestrian: Speaking of the equestrian, we’re near the business end of the individual dressage. German champion Isabell Werth is the fifth-last rider. Carl Hester is currently leading for GB with Becky Moody in third. Daniel Bachmann Andersen of Denmark is in the silver spot.

11.40am BST

Snoop Dogg Watch: He’s at the fencing today. Did the horsies yesterday.

11.39am BST

Fencing: In the men’s foil team event, several matches ongoing and one has finished. Japan thrashed Canada by 19 points. Currently, France is bossing China, Egypt and the US are tightly placed, and Italy is leading Poland 30-27. Teams have to reach 45 to win.

11.33am BST

Boxing: Chang Yuan of China has advanced to the gold medal match in the women’s 54kg division, beating Pang Cholmi of North Korea.

11.30am BST

Long jump: We have our qualifiers for the men’s final.

Greece: Miltiadis Tentoglou
Czechia: Radek Juska
China: Wang Jianan
Suisse: Simon Ehammer
Croatia: Filip Pravdika
Italy: Mattia Furlani
Jamaica: Wayne Pinnock
Great Britain: Jacob Fincham-Dukes
China: Mingkun Zhang
Colombia: Arnovis Dalmero
Jamaica: Carey McLeod
Germany: Simon Batz

The best was 8.32, which is about 60cm off the world record.

11.21am BST

Sailing: There’s been a delay in the sailing, which has happened in a lot of the open water events due to weather or pollution or other things. Homicidal birds? Not sure. Anyway, the men’s kite event was supposed to have started a moment ago but it has been postponed until 1pm at the earliest, which is 100 minutes from now.

11.15am BST

Australian boxer Caitlin Parker guaranteed a medal

She has just won a points decision against Khadija Mardi of Morocco, with four out of five judges going her way. The Estonian judge had a dissenting score on two of the three rounds, which is interesting. Mardi really didn’t get in there to attack, even near the end when she probably needed a KO to advance. Parker was able to dance around to run the clock, then threw in some punches near the end. She’s in the semi-finals which means a bronze for the loser, and a gold-silver punch-off for the winner. That semi is on Thursday against China’s Li Qian.

That’s in the women’s 75kg class, the highest weight.

Updated at 11.37am BST

11.11am BST

Good morning, European time! Good evening to anyone in that part of the world, or perhaps you’re enjoying an afternoon somewhere. Either way, it’s heading up towards the lunchtime hour, which is sacred on the continent where the Olympics take place, and we have a cavalcade of sport continuing in the next couple of hours. Archery, boxing, sailing, athletics, basketball, plenty more.

Updated at 11.11am BST

10.59am BST

I counted up last night from our stats platform, and since I fired up the live blog for the opening ceremony that Friday night, between us all we’ve written over 105,000 words of live blogs on these Olympics. Some of them even had the letters in the right order. I’m off for a break now, so the next few hundred are coming from Geoff Lemon. See you in a bit …

10.57am BST

Simone Biles has joined the voices arguing that media questioning of athletes directly after events isn’t exactly subtle. She has posted to social media to say:

You guys really gotta stop asking athletes what’s next after they win a medal at the Olympics. Let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for.

10.54am BST

Athletics: blink and you miss it, the heats for the men’s 110m hurdles have started in Stade de France. Rachid Muratake (JPN), Enrique Llopis (ESP) and Eduardo Rodrigues (BRA) are the first three to qualify.

10.51am BST

Absolute jubilation at the end for India there in the men’s hockey, and you can’t say they didn’t deserve it. The way they celebrated at the end of regulation time having held the match to 1-1 while being a man down for so long, you felt that mentally they were in a stronger place to win the shootout.

10.46am BST

Men’s hockey: India beat Team GB in the shootout 4-2!

Men’s hockey: India win the shootout 4-2! Team GB are heading home. India played 42 minutes a man down, and were under the cosh for a lot of that time. They had nerves of steel in the shootout.

Updated at 11.07am BST

10.44am BST

Men’s hockey: Great Britain blink first in the shootout. India lead 3-2. Conor Williamson skied his attempt, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay made no mistake. Team GB miss their fourth!

Updated at 10.44am BST

10.35am BST

Men’s long jump: qualifying is taking place for this event too today. Radek Juška of the Czech Republic with 8.15m and Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece with 8.32m are the first two to reach the qualifying standard.

10.33am BST

Men’s hockey: the stats have all been in Team GB’s favour, with 11 shots and ten penalty corners, but the one that counts is the score. It has finished 1-1. It will be a shootout to decide who goes to the semi-finals between India and Great Britain .

10.29am BST

Men’s hockey: I’m beginning to bite my nails as it remains India 1-1 Great Britain with two minutes left of this quarter-final. India have had to play two-thirds of the match with a man down.

10.27am BST

Daryll Neita of Team GB was back in 200m action this morning, after finishing fourth in the women’s 100m last night. She said when she’d got back to her accommodation last night her coach had told it her she was allowed one Instagram post and then had to sleep.

Asked on Eurosport if finishing fourth in the 100m gave her even more motivation for the 200m, she told viewers:

One thing about me is that I don’t give up. I’ve been called ‘Miss Momentum’ which I like, because I’ve just got to carry on the momentum, believing in myself. Trust me, the motivation is more than ever.

10.21am BST

Women’s hammer throw: group A of the qualification contest has finished in Stade de France. Camryn Rogers of Canada and Annette Nneka Echikunwoke of the USA were the only two athletes to reach the 73m qualification standard, so they are assured of places in the final.

All athletes meeting the qualification standard or at least 12 best performers advance.

10.13am BST

Another bit of withdrawal news – Team GB having to adjust the marathon lineup with Clara Evans coming in to replace the injured Charlotte Purdue .

10.10am BST

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson has pulled out of the 200m. The two-time world champion had already withdrawn from the 100m. It is another blow to Jamaica’s running team, after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also withdrew from the 100m.

10.03am BST

Athletics: newly crowned women’s 100m Olympic champion Julien Alfred has safely progressed through round one of the 200m in the first heat just hours after her triumph. She won it in 22.41 seconds.

“I’m really tired” she said afterwards, in maybe understatement of the Olympics so far. She told viewers on Eurosport that her plan had been to attack the first bend to “get it done.”

9.59am BST

Hosts France are in a men’s football Olympics semi-final tomorrow against Egypt. Philippe Auclair is in Paris, and has this on how Thierry Henry has harnessed the Olympic flame to stake a claim for the France job …

9.53am BST

Men’s hockey: it is 1-1 between Great Britain and India at half-time. The Indian goal came from Harmanpreet Singh via a penalty corner, just minutes after India were on the receiving end of a red card. Lee Morton equalised from close range in the 27th minute.

9.50am BST

Dressage individual Grand Prix freestyle: you can’t really explain the Olympic schedule to a horse so I imagine there were some very surprised looking equine faces in the stables this morning going “What, again?”

It is the individual competition today. Glamourdale , Hermes , TSF Dalera BB and Freestyle will be the four to watch after their impressive scores in the team event yesterday.

Oh, and their riders – Charlotte Fry (GBr), Dinja van Liere (Ned), Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (Ger) and Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour (Den). I’ll be surprised if the medals go anywhere else.

Updated at 10.15am BST

9.35am BST

Men’s hockey: that red card seems to have irked India into a different gear – they have just taken a 1-0 lead against Great Britain .

9.34am BST

Women’s 3000m steeplechase: Team GB ’s Lizzie Bird has just made a stunning late move in the second heat, and with a dip at the line she moved from seventh place to fourth place in the final 30 metres, just squeezing through on inside of the track. She qualifies for the final.

No such luck for teammate Aimee Pratt in the first heat, who despite posting a season’s beast was well off the qualifying pace.

9.30am BST

Men’s handball: a comfortable 40-27 win for Sweden over Japan means the Swedes go through. The last remaining quarter-final spot from Group A will be decided tonight when Spain face Croatia . A draw will be enough for Spain to progress in that, Croatia need the win.

9.28am BST

Men’s hockey: it is still 0-0 between Great Britain and India in the quarter-final here but a controversy as a red card is shown to Amit Rohidas for a high stick in the face. It looked accidental and the India team are very unhappy with the decision.

9.16am BST

Beach volleyball: both the men’s and women’s competitions have reached the round of 16 elimination stage, and those match-ups happen throughout today and tomorrow. Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Boebner of Switzerland are the first pair through to the quarter-finals after victory over Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia of China 2-0.

9.13am BST

Triathlon mixed relay training cancelled due to water quality in Seine

Paris Olympics organisers have cancelled Sunday’s swimming training session for the triathlon mixed relay event after recent heavy rain affected water quality levels in the Seine river, Reuters reports.

The decision was made late on Saturday after tests showed water quality did not meet the required threshold after rain on 31 July and 1 August.
The mixed relay race is scheduled for Monday.

“We are expecting an improvement on the conditions in the next hours, but not to a level to which the swim familiarization planned for tomorrow can take place,” organisers said in a statement.

“In view of these conditions, we have decided to cancel the swim familiarisation tonight to avoid late communication to athletes.”

Pollution in the Seine after heavy rains had caused the men’s race to be postponed for a day, after swimming practice sessions were cancelled two days in a row.

Updated at 9.17am BST

9.09am BST

Athletics: the morning session has begun in Stade de France. I do love a bit of distance and endurance, and the first event on the track is the first heat of the women’s 3,000m steeplechase . Aimee Pratt goes for team GB. Peruth Chemutai of Uganda is setting the early pace. The first five qualify.

9.06am BST

Men’s hockey: the tournament has reached the quarter-final stage. Defending champions Belgium face Spain at 12.30, the Netherlands face Australia at 17.30 and Germany play Argentina at 8pm. First up though is a tasty looking clash between eight-times champions and Tokyo bronze medallists India and Great Britain . That is 0-0 after five minutes.

8.47am BST

I put the curse of the commentator on France ’s Thomas Chirault there. As soon as I mentioned he was in front, Mete Gazoz of Turkey , the defending champion, showed why he is a champion, and came back from 3-1 down to win on a single arrow shootout. Sorry, France.

8.40am BST

Men’s handball: in Group A Sweden, Spain and Croatia are all locked on four points and only two can progress. Spain play Croatia in the final group game at 9pm tonight Paris time. The opening match today is Sweden v Japan , who are already eliminated. Sweden are doing their best to give themselves the chance to progress. They lead 16-9 at half-time.

8.37am BST

Men’s archery individual: a lot of excitement from the host fans at Invalides at the moment as in the opening match today France ’s Thomas Chirault has opened up a 3-1 lead against defending champion Mete Gazoz of Turkey . This is a qualification match for the quarter-finals. I did joke in the comments yesterday that this sport looks like it would be an awful lot easier if they just stood nearer the targets.

8.26am BST

Men’s golf: play has begun at Le Golf National on the final day of the men’s competition. Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele are in the lead on 14 under, with Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood starting today a shot behind. The leaders tee off at 12.39 Paris time, so we are some ways away from the business end of that yet.

8.23am BST

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce shares 'disappointment' after withdrawal

One woman who was missing from the stellar lineup in last night’s 100m race was the legendary Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce from Jamaica.

Reuters reports that on Instagram overnight she has posted that she struggled “to find the words” to describe “the depth of disappointment” that she is feeling.

She continued:

I know that my supporters share and shoulder this disappointment with me. The support of my fans, my country and the larger community has rooted me in immense gratitude that has sustained me throughout my career. With every step and win, you all have been there for me. My faith has always affirmed my trust in the journey.

The International Olympic Committee said in a statement that Jamaica’s chef de mission Ian Kelly confirmed Fraser-Pryce’s withdrawal was due to an injury sustained during her warm-up, after reports surfaced online that it had been because she was denied entry to the venue.

Fraser-Pryce has won eight Olympic medals in total, and is still scheduled to run with the Jamaicans’ 4x100m relay team.

She will always be a legend to me, anyway, just for rocking up that time and destroying the field in her son’s sports day race for the mums.

Updated at 10.22am BST

8.11am BST

Ewan Murray has been in Paris, and offers this diary of his week …

8.09am BST

Hello! Thank you Megan. It is Martin Belam here in London. It has just gone 9am in Paris which is, as ever, the cue for lots of the action to start. If you have just joined us, here is what we have lined up in the medal department today …

Medal events

🥇 Golf – men’s stroke play (from 9am)
🥇 Equestrian – dressage individual grand prix freestyle (10am)
🥇 Tennis – women’s doubles / men’s singles (12pm)
🥇 Cycling – women’s road race (2pm)
🥇 Table Tennis – men’s singles (2.30pm)
🥇 Archery – men’s recurve individual (2.33pm)
🥇 Badminton – men’s doubles & singles / women’s singles (3pm)
🥇 Gymnastics – men’s rings, vault, parallel bars & horizontal bar / women’s uneven bars, beam & floor exercise (from 3pm)
🥇 Shooting – women’s skeet / men’s 25m rapid fire pistol / mixed skeet (3.30pm)
🥇 Swimming – women’s 50m freestyle & 4×100m medley relay / men’s 15oom & 4×100m medley relay (from 6.30pm)
🥇 Fencing – men’s team foil (7.10pm)
🥇 Athletics – women’s high jump / men’s hammer throw & 100m (from 7.55pm)

[All times local to Paris]

8.01am BST

Alas my liveblogging time has come to an end, but I will leave you in the very capable hands of my colleague Martin Belam. He’ll guide you through the next few hours, covering the initial excitement of day nine. Enjoy and I’ll catch you next time!

7.55am BST

We’re getting close to 9am Paris time, which means there are plenty more events about to begin – those earlybird badminton players were just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s what is happening as soon as we get to 9am:

Beach Volleyball: Round of 16 match between China and Switzerland.

Golf: Men’s individual stroke play round 4.

Handball: Men’s preliminary round match between Sweden and Japan.

Shooting: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol qualification.

Volleyball: Women’s preliminary round match between Italy and Türkiye.

7.48am BST

I will never tire of talking about Simone Biles. I hope to one day be a very old woman sitting in a rocking chair, rabbiting on to my great-grandchildren about how I was alive to witness her dominance. She has been the highlight of the Games for me and I loved Tumaini Carayol’s story about her seventh gold medal.

So often in gymnastics, the higher difficulty attempted, the more execution deductions they receive as they strain to perform these extremely difficult skills. The remarkable part of Biles’s first vault, and so many of her skills, is how the execution is also elevated despite the mindblowing difficulty. She was rewarded with a 9.4 execution score.

7.39am BST

Reader Pete Garvey has got in touch about the day eight images and his heart was firmly at the Stade de France track.

I fully agree with on not getting past Simone Biles. She was astonishing in the women’s vault final and is undoubtedly the GOAT, but the other standout picture and performance for me came Julien Alfred winning the gold in the women’s 100m final for Saint Lucia. It was an astonishing performance by her and I feel very proud of her and what she has accomplished.

I was gutted for Daryll Neita. I hope she can qualify and get a medal in the women’s 200m race and let’s see if Dina Asher Smith can too. Here is hoping.

7.32am BST

Badminton is the first sport to get underway today – it’s currently 8:30am Paris time and the women’s singles badminton semi final between Republic of Korea’s An Se Young and Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung is up first.

7.26am BST

This Olympics hasn’t been short on controversy, but having not one, but two controversies about surfboard designs wasn’t on my bingo card. Australian surfer Jack Robinson has had to paint over a design on his board that garnered complaints over it being offensive in parts of East Asia, while Brazilian Joao Chianca was reportedly told to remove an depiction of the Christ The Redeemer statue. Kieran Pender has all the surfboard controversy here.

7.17am BST

OK, it’s time to get back to Snoop Dogg. He’s been popping up around the place all through the Olympics, most notably supporting Simone Biles at the gymnastics, which has been the go-to event for celebrities. But yesterday he decided to make an appearance at the equestrian, which was unusual not just because of the relative lack of star power, but also because Snoop Dogg has a fear of horses. But in one of the more unexpected inspirational stories of Paris 2024, he overcame his fear and went to the dressage with Martha Stewart. You have to read the whole story, it doesn’t get less bizarre.

7.05am BST

Another great story out of Stade de France on Day 8 was Thea LaFond winning Dominica’s first ever Olympic medal, taking gold in the triple jump with a 15.02m jump. Dominica sent only four athletes to the Paris Games, so it is a remarkable achievement for the small island nation.

6.54am BST

Like many people, I watched Sprint – the Netflix documentary covering the highs and lows of the fastest runners in the world. I loved it – the fascinating stories behind life on the track had me captivated. So that only made last night’s huge upset in the women’s 100m even more incredible. While the world was watching Sha’carri Richardson and Shericka Jackson, Julien Alfred was quietly going about her business and getting ready to rip up the script. From running barefoot in her school uniform at home in St Lucia to blitzing the field in Paris, hers is a story that we will surely hear more about in the future.

6.43am BST

Some absolutely sensational shots in here that really capture all the emotion of day eight. Personally I can’t go past this fantastic shot of Simone Biles, but I’d love to know what your favourites are? You can let me know via email – the link is at the top of the page.

6.35am BST

The track cycling will get underway on day 10 and hot off the presses, here is Kieran Pender’s fantastic interview with Australian coach Tim Decker. From small town South Australia to the world stage, this is a truly fascinating story.

6.23am BST

It’s been pretty heartbreaking to witness the way people respond to athletes who don’t meet their expectations. It’s something we see a lot of in professional sport, but for some of these Olympians who are thrust into the spotlight from having virtually no public attention, it must be even harder to take. Olli Hoare has had a particularly hard time of it after not making it through the repechage for the 1500m. What can be done to combat social media abuse and getting people to realise athletes are only human?

Updated at 7.13am BST

6.14am BST

It’s been interesting seeing the way Nielsen have made their predictions and adjusted as the Olympics have gone on. Do you think they’re on the money with this virtual medal table?

6.04am BST

Kieran Pender has been hard at work in Paris and has this great story about how Australia’s women are leading the way in bringing home the gold this Olympics.

Updated at 6.33am BST

5.53am BST

The women’s high jump is gearing up to be a hotly contested event after Ukranian Yaroslava Mahuchikh jumped a record 2.10m at the Diamond League three weeks ago. But Australians Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson are determined they can match her. The final is on today and it’s sure to be thrilling. Jack Snape has this great interview with Olyslagers to get you up to speed before it all kicks off.

5.44am BST

While we’re on the topic of medals, let’s check out the medal tally. China retain top spot, while the US has clawed their way back into the second. The host nation France are sitting comfortably in third, with Australia sliding down to fourth as the swimming begins to wrap up. Great Britain, Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy, Netherlands and Canada round out the top 10 with plenty more medals still to be won.

5.33am BST

If you’re all about the medals, there are plenty up for grabs today! Here’s what you can expect:

Medal Events

🥇 Golf – men’s stroke play
🥇 Equestrian – dressage individual grand prix freestyle
🥇 Tennis – women’s doubles / men’s singles
🥇 Cycling – women’s road race
🥇 Boxing – women’s 54kg / men’s 51kg, 63.5kg, 80kg, 92kg
🥇 Table Tennis – men’s singles
🥇 Archery – men’s recurve individual
🥇 Badminton – men’s doubles & singles / women’s singles
🥇 Gymnastics – men’s rings, vault, parallel bars & horizontal bar / women’s uneven bars, beam & floor exercise
🥇 Shooting – women’s skeet / men’s 25m rapid fire pistol / mixed skeet
🥇 Swimming – women’s 50m freestyle & 4x100m medley relay / men’s 15oom & 4x100m medley relay
🥇 Fencing – men’s team foil
🥇 Athletics – women’s high jump / men’s hammer throw & 100m
🥇 Surfing – men’s & women’s shortboard

5.19am BST

Day Nine Schedule

There is so much in store for us all today, it’s that most wonderful point of the Olympics where we have some swimming and athletics crossover, which is always chaotically amazing. You can check out the live schedule to get all the latest updates and times in your timezone.

For those in Australia, we also have quite a lot of Australians in action – you can read all about it and get the event times in this great guide.

5.06am BST

Preamble

Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the ninth official day of competition of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

I hope you’ve all been enjoying it so far – here in Australia there have been a lot of late nights and early mornings, but Australian sports fans are well accustomed to dealing with sport induced sleep deprivation.

Day eight was full of action, with probably the biggest news of the day being the huge upset of St Lucia’s Julien Alfred taking out the 100m women’s gold ahead of Sha’carri Richardson. Elsewhere on the track, Dutch runner Femke Bol came from nowhere to drag her team to victory in the 4x400m mixed relay. There was more Simone Biles magic , as the star gymnast picked up her seventh gold medal, and over in the pool Katie Ledecky got the better of Ariarne Titmus to win her fourth 800m gold in a row. Snoop Dogg stole the show at the equestrian (words I never could have imagined typing in my wildest dreams) and Remco Evenepoel picked up the gold for Belgium in the men’s cycling road race.

So that’s the whirlwind tour, but we’ll do a deeper dive over the next few hours and very soon I’ll be getting into the day nine schedule and what to expect and look forward to throughout today! I’ll be your host for the next three hours or so, so settle in, relax and let’s get into some Olympics!