The Guardian

Paris Olympics day 15: marathon gold for Ethiopia, diving, taekwondo and more – live

By with Taha Hashim James Wallace and Megan Maurice(earlier)Adam Collins (now),

9 hours ago

1.58pm BST

Taekwondo: Caden Cunningham gets it done! The Team GB combatant will get his shot at a medal later this afternoon. “It was a slow and cagey match,” the commentator tells me of his win. “For the semi-final we will see him accelerate the pace.” That will be, if I’m reading this right, in about an hour of a half from now and the gold medal final is later tonight.

1.52pm BST

Taekwondo: Some Team GB action in the men’s 80kg+ quarter-finals, Caden Cunningham (4th seed) getting the point for taking the first round over Cuba’s Rafael Alba (12th). The winner of this is likely to run into Cheick Sallah Cissé in the semi-final, the Cote d’Ivoire star who won gold at Tokyo; those semi-finals are a couple of hours from now. Back to the bout in front of me, Rafael has had the better of the second round – it will go to a deciding third after they have a quick drink of water.

1.45pm BST

Golf: Lydia Ko with a stunning tee shot at the par-three eighth; she’ll put from five feet to advance her lead to three after nailing a timely birdie on the seventh. The New Zealand superstar has her mojo now.

1.41pm BST

“Adam.” Hello, Aoife Mac Cana. “ You and your colleagues have kept me sane with your quick off the draw reporting (sprinkled with great British humour) while I was in Paris and then on to Nice for some much-needed respite after a thrilling few days at the Olympics. You all deserve a few days on Riviera sunloungers! I’m sure your editor will approve.”

Thank you! As it happens, having blogged the first full day of the Games a fortnight ago, I’ve spent ten days in Spain. In theory a family holiday, and of course it was, but I missed very little of what has gone down at Paris and hope my four-year-old daughter remembers as much about this when she grows as up as I do from Seoull 1988 when I was her age!

Indeed, this is my first Olympic memory – a wonderful one.

1.35pm BST

Rhythmic Gymnastics : It’s the group all-round final and it’s all-round hoops in the air as I pop it on – five of them to be precise, how very Olympic of the Chinese quintet… and they finish their routine with I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You – love that. With their 36.95 they’ve jumped ahead of France, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan with Bulgaria, Italy and Israel to come. After they leave the floor, the ribbons and balls follow.

1.30pm BST

Diving: thinking ahead to aquatic centre for the first time – a final of 12 men will compete in the 10m platform final. From a GB perspective, it includes Noah Williams who won a silver with Tom Daley in the synchronised. But let’s cut to the car chase here: it’ll take something staggering to knock off Cao Yuan or Yang Hao from China, who easily advanced in positions one and two in the semi. The former won this event in Tokyo and the latter won the syncro. It begins in half an hour from now.

1.26pm BST

France wins their 15th gold medal!

Men’s Volleyball: Whoa, I missed this – it is the business end of the gold medal match! France are two sets to nil up against Poland and 23-19 in the third; they’re two points away from defending their Olympic title. Make that one point! Poland keeps the first out and gets the serve back at 20-24. A lift is called against the French; to 21-24 – a time out is called by the host nation. Wow, a stunning serve from the No9 Wilfredo Leon – an ace. And now it’s back to 23-24 with an emphatic smash from Jakub Kochanowski. But the next serve is long, the job is done! South Paris Arena is PUMPING. Prior to Tokyo 2020, their best result was a bronze in this event and now this French team are back to back Olympic champions. Bang!

Updated at 1.42pm BST

1.19pm BST

Women’s golf: let’s start here. We’re well into the final round for the last few groups with New Zealand’s Lydia Ko even par through five holes but still in front on -9. The issue she has is that both Yin Ruoning (China) and Hannah Green (Australia) are -4 on the day and a shot behind. As I type, Ko out of the rough lands her approach on the sixth to within 25ft of the hole. It won’t be an easy two-putt but silver medal winner at Rio has experience.

1.09pm BST

Thanks, Taha! Some shift that, what a day of action so far. I got up in time to watch the men’s marathon and didn’t disappoint – what a stunning Games these have been. I can’t quite it is the penultimate afternoon.

But some afternoon we will have together! It will include…

Rhythmic Gymnastics – all-round final
Diving – men’s 10m platform final
Handball – women’s gold medal match (Norway/France)
Table tennis – women’s gold medal team match (China/Japan)

… and all that’s just in the next hour!

From there:

Water polo – women’s gold medal match (Australia/Spain)
Breaking – I will not be watching this, but I’ll tell you who won
Weightlifting – women’s 81kg final
Football – women’s gold medal match (Brazil/USA)
Modern Pentathlon – men’s final
Cycling – men’s Madison final
Wrestling – 5 divisions worth of medals! Whoa!

Wish me luck trying to stay on top of all of this. Help me out along the way by dropping me the occasional note or pinging me a tweet .

1.00pm BST

Right then, enough from me. Adam Collins is in the building.

12.56pm BST

Katie Vincent wins women's canoe single 200m gold!

I’ve missed a bit of canoe action but am on it now, watching final A of the women’s canoe single 200m … and there’s a photo-finish between Canada’s Katie Vincent and USA’s Nevin Harrison … and it’s Vincent who gets gold with a world-best 44.12, with Harrison on … 44.13. Gutting for the American. Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys is third.

Updated at 1.48pm BST

12.44pm BST

Gold for Liu Huanhua in the men's 102kg weightlifting!

Now to some heavy stuff: the men’s 102kg. Akbar Djuraev of Uzbekistan looks distraught after failing to lift 232kg for a new Olympic record in the clean and jerk; it means he’ll have to settle for silver as China’s Liu Huanhua pips him by two with a final total of 406kg lifted. Yauheni Tsikhantsou takes the bronze.

12.30pm BST

Janja Garnbret wins the women's boulder and lead final!

Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret has her second Olympic gold medal, racking up 84.1 in the lead to push USA’s Brooke Raboutou to silver and Austria’s Jessica Pilz to bronze. The tears flow for the champion after a dominant display across both boulder and lead, having faced some serious pressure from Raboutou. Erin McNeice has to settle for fifth.

Updated at 1.51pm BST

12.21pm BST

Climbing: And another medalist confirmed, ending McNeice’s chances in the women’s boulder and lead final. Jessica Pilz scores a cracking 88.1 with her lead effort that takes her to second place. Now just Janja Garnbret to come.

12.15pm BST

Climbing: Brooke Raboutou is in tears – happy ones – after completing her lead climb in the women’s boulder and lead final because she’s guaranteed herself an Olympic medal with a total of 156 points. Erin McNeice is third … but Janja Garnbret is still to come after topping the boulder leaderboard.

12.07pm BST

Climbing: Wowzers, Ai Mori of Japan nearly makes it top of the wall in the women’s boulder and lead final , falling just short to secure a score of 96.1. That takes her top over Erin McNeice and that looks a significant blow to the GB athlete’s hopes of a medal.

Updated at 12.13pm BST

12.00pm BST

Basketball: Serbia beat Germany 93-83 in the men’s bronze match , with 19 points apiece for Nikola Jokic and Vasilijie Micic. Consolation for the Serbians after coming so close to defeating the star-studded USA side in the semis.

11.51am BST

Some concerning news from the wrestling.

11.49am BST

Climbing: Out comes GB’s Erin McNeice, 20 years old, to begin her go on the lead in the women’s boulder and lead final. She’s certainly got a shot at bronze here. She has a few issues getting to the 10-point mark, and with three minutes to go, climbs to the 30-mark. Watching this is doing something to my forearms. She begins to find her flow, getting to the 60-mark before eventually letting go with a score of 68.1. Her final total is 127.6. Now the long wait to see where it takes her in the final count.

11.35am BST

Climbing: A lot of sport climbers also have big reputations in traditional rock climbing, and USA’s Brooke Raboutou, who stands second after the boulder phase of the women’s combined final, is one of them.

Boasting an Instagram following of 395,000 that will surely grow with her exposure in the Olympics, Raboutou has been a climbing sensation since age 9 . She comes from a climbing family – her father, Didier Raboutou of France, won medals in some of the earliest international climbing competitions, and her mother, Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou, also found success in the Climbing World Cup’s early years and now runs a climbing gym in Colorado that has trained several Olympians.

Updated at 11.37am BST

11.32am BST

Taekwondo: Rebecca McGowan of Team GB, silver medalist in the middleweight event at the 2023 world championships, flings her legs rather effectively to defeat Venice Traill in the women’s +67kg round of 16.

11.21am BST

Taekwondo: Team GB’s Caden Cunningham is through to the quarter-finals of the men’s +80kg event where he’ll meet Cuba’s Rafael Alba.

11.12am BST

OR alert:

11.03am BST

Table tennis: In a continuation of my bronze-medal admin, South Korea have one themselves after victory over Germany in the women’s team third-place match.

11.00am BST

Water polo: For the first time in the history of women’s water polo at the Olympics, Team USA miss out on a medal. The Netherlands have beaten them 11-10. USA won gold at London, Rio and Tokyo after the event was introduced 24 years ago in Sydney.

Updated at 11.02am BST

10.51am BST

Diving: Good news for the two Team GB divers in the men’s 10m platform, with Kyle Kothari and Noah Williams both through to the final.

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4gINVF_0utZn9uw00 — Britain's Noah Williams competes in the men's 10m platform semifinal. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/AP

Updated at 10.57am BST

10.49am BST

Climbing: They’re done with the boulders in the women’s boulder and lead final, with Janja Garnbret leading the way on 84.4 points, Brooke Raboutou trailing her on 84. Team GB’s Erin McNeice is joint-fourth on 59.5, so still very much in contention for a medal, with Australia’s Oceania McKenzie third on 59.7. The lead event begins at 11.35am BST.

10.39am BST

Handball: And the bronze in the women’s comp goes to … Denmark, who beat Sweden 30-25. The Danes won this event three times in a row from 1996 to 2004. For the Swedes it’s another loss in the bronze match; they lost out on a medal to Norway at the Tokyo Games.

Updated at 10.59am BST

10.28am BST

Climbing: GB’s Erin McNeice has dropped down the standings after scoring 9.6 on the fourth boulder in the women’s boulder and lead final. McNeice will take a score of 59.5 into the lead section of the event, with Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret at the top of the leaderboard with 74.8 – and she’s still got one boulder to go.

10.17am BST

Diving: Time for a look at the men’s 10m platform semi-final where there are two GB athletes in contention, Kyle Kothari and Noah Williams. Williams took silver alongside Tom Daley in the 10m synchronised event but it’s Kothari who has a higher score after four rounds, taking him to 10th in the standings. Williams is 14th out of 18 – the top 12 advance to the final. There are two rounds still to go.

10.02am BST

Climbing: Now it gets tough for GB’s Erin McNeice in the women’s bouldering and lead final , as she fails to score any points on the very difficult third boulder, which has a very steep start. She had five attempts but couldn’t get into the low zone.

Updated at 10.20am BST

9.55am BST

Thanks, Jim. I’m also tuning in to the women’s bouldering and lead final , with the competitors on the boulder side of things. France’s Oriane Bertrone matches Erin McNeice, scoring 24.9 on her second wall, taking her to 49.9, too. As someone who struggles to climb a long flight of stairs, my respect for these athletes is high.

9.47am BST

Climbing: That is my stint done as I acknowledge the arrival of Taha Hashim who is currently chalking himself up and swinging his way impressively into the live-blogging chair.

Team GB’s Erin McNeice has had an amazing start in the women’s bouldering and lead final . She takes the maximum 25 points off the second wall and sits on 49.9 points out of 50! Over to you Taha. Goodbye.

9.38am BST

Climbing: After Toby ‘The Terminator’ Roberts’ epic Gold medal climb yesterday it is now time for the women’s final in the boulder and lead. This event was such a thrill to watch yesterday. The tension as the competitors dangle off the wall, somehow cling on with spidey strength and manage to thrust their way up it’s unforgiving face was quite something.

Team GB’s Erin McNeice will be trying to emulate the success of her teammate in a tough and talented field.

9.22am BST

Men’s Marathon Results:

🥇Tamirat Tola (ETHIOPIA): 2:06:26 OR
🥈Bashir Abdi (BELGIUM): 2:06:47
🥉Benson Kipruto (KENYA): 2:07:00

Team GB’s Emile Cairess was hugely impressive, he does find a wellspring of energy from somewhere deep within and crosses the finish line in fourth position!

What a run from Cairess and what a story – he only qualified for the Paris Olympics after finishing in third place in this year’s London Marathon a few months ago.

Boris Starling and Robert Lewis are the quickest off the draw to name the last man to win a marathon medal for Great Britain:

“Am I a total tragic not just to remember the name of Charlie Spedding, but the fact that he was beaten by a 39-year-old Carlos Lopes and Ireland’s John Treacy?”

Nope, not at all Boris, in fact it seems like you should be doing an Olympics liveblog for a national newspaper. You probably know the answer to Owen Harris’ question too:

“Anyone know the reason for the official pootling alongside the chase pack on a Boris bike. I am finding them incredibly distracting…”

I think they might be pace-setters? Or camera-operators? Or they are just on the way to the corner shop for a baguette and a pack of Gauloises?

Updated at 10.18am BST

9.12am BST

Men's Marathon: Tamirat Tola wins the Gold medal!

The Ethiopian has dominated the streets of Paris this morning, with the Hotel des Invalides glinting in the background he crosses the line in an Olympic record time of 2:06.26 and takes in the adulation with his nation’s flag draped over his slight shoulders. What a run!

Steve Cram calls the moment with his usual eloquence:

On the toughest of days, on the toughest of courses. He’s shown resilience to cope with the course and the other competitors. An incredible time on this course.”

Updated at 9.13am BST

9.08am BST

Marathon: Tamirat Tola is now 15 seconds clear of his Ethiopian team-mate Deresa Geleta. The crowds are cheering wildly as the chasing pack of Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, Kenya’s Benson Kipruto and Akira Asasaki of Japan try snd close the gap. Tola has a sneaky look behind to see if there’s any danger of a serious challenge incoming but I think he’s got this in the bag.

Team GB’s Emile Cairess in sixth position and has a slight chance of getting into medal contention. It’s been a great run from him, Great Britain’s last medal in the men’s marathon came forty years ago in 1984. Plentiful kudos and a half eaten slice of marmalade on toast to the first person to email in with that man’s name…

Updated at 9.09am BST

8.58am BST

Diving: Over at the aquatics centre the men’s 10m platform semi -final is about to get going at 9am BST. Team GB’s Noah Williams and Kyle Kothari are in contention and should be eyeing a place in the final. Remember – no splash = good. Big splash = bad .

8.54am BST

Taekwondo: Caden Cunningham is through to the quarter finals in the men’s 80kg + competition! A confident victory for the lad from Huddersfield, he’ll be in action again this afternoon.

8.50am BST

Marathon: They are getting down to the business end in the men’s marathon. Can anyone catch Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia? His lead is about 11 seconds with ten kilometres to go.

Team GB’s Emile Cairess put the burners on to go up the hill towards Versailles, getting himself into the silver medal position briefly bu het might have burnt himself out a little as he’s passed by a few runners as it flattens out. “This is where it gets hard, really hard” says Steve Cram.

8.44am BST

Taekwondo: Team GB’s Caden Cunningham has just started his bout against Niger’s Abdoul Razak Issoufou Alfaga in the men’s 80kg + competition. The winner will take a place in the quarter finals and it is a good start for Cunningham – as I type he’s been awarded the first round 6-5! One more needed to progress…

Updated at 9.15am BST

8.28am BST

Laura Kenny has been brilliant on the BBC tv coverage the last fortnight - full of insight, passion and a charming sense of fun and self deprecation. She’s been writing for us throughout the games too:

I feel a little sad the Paris Olympics are almost over because I’ve had a blast. These have been my first Games as a spectator and commentator, rather than as a competitor, and I have felt the power and joy of sport all over again. There have been so many amazing stories from athletes at contrasting stages of their careers and four British women have provided my personal highlights. Emma Finucane , Katarina Johnson-Thompson , Keely Hodgkinson and Bryony Page have all, for different reasons, captivated me in Paris.”

Updated at 8.28am BST

8.25am BST

Golf: The final day of the women’s competition is just getting into its swing under blue skies at Le Golf National. New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux top the leaderboard currently – tied at nine under par.

8.22am BST

Day 15 of the games will see an epic 39 medals decided . The men’s marathon has just past the half way stage in 1:04:51 which whilst seemingly superhuman to the likes of me and thee (yes, you) isn’t the fastest time. It is warm in Paris and the course is particularly demanding. The drone camera hovers above a majestic looking Versailles and Paula Radcliffe and Steve Cram on the BBC commentary are doing their utmost to sprinkle some historical facts into proceedings, Paula has just delivered a husky riff on Louis XVI as Eliud Kipchoge be struggles with a stitch and falls behind the leading pack.

8.06am BST

Thanks Megan and hello everyone. I’ll be with you for the next few hours. Paris is looking a picture this morning, the marathon runners pounding the city’s famous streets in pursuit of Olympic glory. It ain’t too bad here in South London either, though a coffee and some toast is the main thing being pursued.

8.00am BST

Men’s marathon: Elroy Gelant from South Africa has been leading the chase pack as they grind up the hill towards Faniel, but Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola has taken over and looks to be adding some pace to the chase. Tola won the marathon at the World Championships in Oregon in 2022 with a time of 2:05:36, so he is definitely a contender. The gap has closed to 19 seconds, so Faniel needs to keep up his speed if he wants to hold on to the lead.

And with that, I’m signing off! Enjoy the rest of the day, stay hydrated and cheer well. It’s shaping up to be a fascinating day.

7.53am BST

Men’s marathon: The runners have reached the first real hill of the race now – not the one that might get them walking, but a testing hill nonetheless. Faniel remains in the lead, with a chase pack trying to hunt him down. Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya – the race favourite – is in that pack and they are all keeping pretty close together as they try to close the 23 second gap that Faniel has opened up.

7.43am BST

Men’s marathon: We’ve had our first breakaway runner – Eyob Faniel from Italy has decided to make a go of it and dashed out in front. He placed 20th in Tokyo with a time of 2:15:11 so probably not someone we’re looking at as a potential gold medallist, but in these conditions, anything is possible.

7.33am BST

Men’s marathon: We’re just at the 10km mark now and Yang from China is in the lead, but it’s still a fairly contained group at the moment. The streets have been lined with spectators along every metre of the course so far. It must be incredible for the athletes who are probably used to having some lonely stretches of road when they run. We’re approaching the first big hill now, so we’ll see how the athletes respond to it.

7.28am BST

John Wyver has got in contact by email to ask a question.

I’ve really loved the Guardian blogs over the past fortnight - many congrats to you and your colleagues - and I’ve mostly very much enjoyed and appreciated the BBC coverage; their “studio” analysts have been especially strong.

But one thing has bugged me about the BBC “studios” -- the persistent presence of the irritating little red triangular mascots, either alone or in small groups, in all of the wide shots. Do you know if this is a contractual stipulation by the IOC and/or Discovery?

I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to this question. However, I was at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 and you couldn’t turn around without bumping into some iteration of Borobi – the blue koala mascot of those games. But Borobi was incredibly popular unlike whatever this red thing is, so I’m not sure if we’re comparing apples and apples here. But it does often feel like mascots are omnipresent figures to the point that it must be stipulated somewhere that they have to be. Does anyone else know the answer to this question?

7.20am BST

Men’s marathon: The athletes have passed the 5km mark now and have gone past the first hydration station – very important in this humidity. The commentators are discussing the possibility that the runners may walk up the 16% graded hill, which is basically unheard of. I’m very much looking forward to seeing if they do!

Updated at 7.21am BST

7.13am BST

A little interlude to talk about the women’s basketball with the final taking place tomorrow. The US made the gold medal match for the eighth consecutive time, defeating Australia comprehensively.

7.09am BST

Men’s marathon: A little stop by Abdi Nageeye who appeared to get a rock in his shoe, but he’s made up the ground pretty easily and is sitting just at the back of the group. We’re 2.1km in and everyone is still running as a group so far, no one is making an early breakaway in this kind of heat.

7.02am BST

Men’s marathon: And we’re off! A nice flat bit of course to start and plenty of people out on the streets cheering them on.

Updated at 7.05am BST

6.57am BST

Men’s marathon: There have been some comments that this is the toughest Olympic marathon course ever, with climbs of up to 16 and 17% and very high humidity in Paris today. It’s currently 17 degrees Celsius in Paris and 78% humidity, heading for a top of 29 degrees. Paris humidity is truly stifling at the best of times, so let’s see how they manage.

Updated at 7.05am BST

6.54am BST

We’re getting very close to the start of the men’s marathon, which is very exciting because I am one of those freaks who loves watching long distance running. I have run exactly one (1) marathon in my life and it was the third hardest thing I have ever done. The speed that these guys run 42.195km in is baffling and I will never get tired of watching them run. The big rivalry to watch out for today is between Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele – both are getting on in years, but they’re still pushing for gold. This is a testing course, so we will see if that becomes an equaliser or sways things in favour of the younger athletes. It all starts in about five minutes, so stay with me and I’ll take you through the start of it before my shift on the blog concludes.

6.46am BST

The women’s football final is shaping up to be a brilliant one, between the US who have found form at the right time after a disappointing World Cup performance last year and Brazil – featuring the legendary Marta. Both teams are looking incredible at the moment and it should be a closely contested battle. Karen Carney’s column will get you up to speed before the big match.

6.36am BST

Jerry Spring has sent in a lovely email about sport climbing, which I was delighted to receive.

Glad you have enjoyed climbing. If you’ve never tried it , i hope you can get to your local gym or outside. It is just pure fun as you say.
Sadly there are some issues over some athletes restricting their weight and potential longterm effects on joints... but there is increasingly awareness so I hope these get resolved.
More positively, it is the camaraderie that is so special. If you haven’t noticed before, check out how the climbers study the boulder and lead problems together before the final today and willingly share advice ...even at this level of competition. Plus I’ve never heard anything about climbers dissing each other etc or trying to cheat in any way in years of watching IFSC comps... so refreshing ... compared to certain other sports. Yes footy, I’m looking at you.

Jerry, I have tried climbing and I am quite terrible at it, which only makes me appreciate these athletes all the more. They make it look so easy that every time I try it I’m sure I’m about to nimbly scramble up the wall just like them, only to fail miserably.

Weight restriction in athletes is such a devastating topic – one I wrote about earlier this year in fact . I hope the increasing awareness of it in sport climbing – and all sports – leads to it being resolved as well.

6.26am BST

Former athletes weighing in angrily on something currently happening in their sport is one of my favourite genres, so I was delighted to see that Carl Lewis has some opinions about batons. He wants to ‘blow up the system’ and while I’m not entirely sure what that means, I’m very excited to find out.

6.16am BST

Imane Khelif has had to weather an absolute storm over the past couple of weeks and she managed to put it behind her to go out and win gold in the women’s 66kg boxing category yesterday. Khelif was understandably proud and defiant in victory and the huge between her and her opponent – China’s Yang Liu – after the match was a very special moment. Tumaini Carayol captured the whole match beautifully, including this quote from Khelif.

I am fully qualified to take part in this competition. I’m a woman like any other woman. I was born a woman, I lived a woman, I competed as a woman, there’s no doubt about that. [The detractors] are enemies of success, that is what I call them. And that also gives my success a special taste because of these attacks.

6.04am BST

There are some big medals up for grabs at Stade de France tonight, including what is shaping up to be a fascinating race for the women’s 1500m title. Australia’s Jess Hull has had an outstanding season on the track – can she cap it off with becoming the first Australian to make the podium in the 1500m?

5.48am BST

Sport climbing has been another one of my favourite events this Olympics, so I really enjoyed this story from Ewan Murray about British teenager Toby Roberts and his incredible gold medal winning effort. It features this great quote from Roberts:

I’ve always just liked to climb stuff.

I think there’s a lot to be said for sports where teenagers who just like mucking about and doing stuff are winning (see also: skateboarding, breaking) rather than the rigid programs that often steal childhoods away in sports like gymnastics and swimming. I’m sure there is a lot of intense training that goes into these newer sports, but the young athletes in them still seem to have a sense of childlike joy and a real love of just giving it a go.

5.38am BST

And now we must move on to one of my favourite moments of Paris 2024 so far, which happened in the beach volleyball gold medal match late last night / early this morning depending on your timezone. Let me set the scene…

The imported sand was angry that day my friends. The atmosphere was seething as the Canadian and Brazilian players stormed up to the net, yelling in each other’s faces, as an official tried to get in between and send them back to their ends. They persisted, getting more and more worked up before finally retreating. The referee gave one of the Canadians a yellow card and both teams stood fuming at their respective ends. Suddenly, the opening bars of John Lennon’s Imagine filled the air and the fuming players couldn’t stop tiny smiles creeping on to their faces, before eventually succumbing to laughter and the tense atmosphere evaporated. There has not been a more perfect Olympic musical moment since the injured, last placed 50km race walker entered Stadium Australia to the tune of The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

5.24am BST

OK, we need to talk about Raygun. This morning, Australians woke up to discover that the women’s breaking (or B-Girl) competition had been run and won, but it wasn’t the winner who was on the world’s mind, nor was it Australia’s 18 gold medallists. It was Rachel ‘Raygun’ Gunn, who everyone was talking about. This story refers to the ‘online hate’ but I don’t know that I’d describe it that way, though maybe I’d feel differently if I was on the receiving end. Ridicule might be a better word, but even that feels a bit strong. From what I’ve seen it’s been more of a gentle poking fun, which I think most Australians can appreciate.

Updated at 6.25am BST

5.12am BST

And speaking of medals, I’m keen to get your thoughts on this. We all know the Americans love to make the medal tally ranked on total medals rather than golds. Here in Australia we’re big fans of the status quo, as total medals would send us plummeting down the table faster than a 10m platform diver. But we’re also big fans of the ‘per capita’ argument, especially once the swimming finishes.

But a new contender has entered the arena via Robert C Duncan, a retired astrophysicist from the University of Texas, and Andrew Parece, a strategy consultant and vice-president of Charles River Associates in Boston, Massachusetts, who have come up with the Goldilocks method.

This ranks countries according to how improbable their medal counts would be if all people in competing countries worldwide had equal propensity per capita for winning medals. Therefore, the expected number of medals a nation is expected to win scales with population size. For instance, because the US population is about 13 times larger than Australia’s, the US is expected to win 13 times more medals at the Games.

You can read all about it in Jackson Ryan’s fascinating piece and let me know what you think – the link to email me is at the top of the page.

5.04am BST

Before we get too deep into breaking down all the action, let’s check in on the medal tally. Despite most of the ‘girt’ sports being finished, Australia has managed to hold on to third place behind the US and China, who both have a frankly ridiculous amount of medals. Japan, Great Britain and France are all in close succession and with plenty of medals still on offer, anything can happen. Well, not anything, no one is getting near the US and China, but definitely some things can happen.

5.00am BST

Preamble

Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the 15th official day of competition at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

What an action packed Olympics it has been so far! We have seen some truly incredible feats so far, witnessed magical and emotional moments, seen dreams realised and others shattered to pieces. Today is another big day, with lots on the agenda, beginning with the men’s marathon, which is being held at a very Australian-friendly time. We see you and we appreciate you marathon organisers.

There was plenty of excitement on day 14 and perhaps nothing lit up the internet more than Australian breaker Rachel ‘Raygun’ Gunn with a performance that sparked a million memes. We’ll come back to those a bit later on!

The women’s beach volleyball wrapped up under the gaze of the Eiffel Tower with Brazil winning a hard-fought gold medal match, while Canada took silver and somehow famously landlocked nation Switzerland won bronze? S pain added to their football dominance with gold in the men’s competition , but couldn’t add a medal in the women’s to their trophy cabinet, going down to Germany in the bronze medal match.

Imane Khelif fought back against the storm of online and real world hate she has endured with an inspirational performance to win gold for Algeria, Nafi Thiam put in a brilliant ‘jack of all trades’ performance to win the heptathlon gold for Belgium and t he 4x100m relays were full of drama , with Canada winning the men’s event ahead of South Africa and Great Britain and the US taking out the women’s event with Great Britain getting silver and Germany bronze.

Today is going to be another huge day, so keep up to date with everything that’s happening by visiting our live schedule, which will give you up to date timings for all the events in your timezone.