Australia continues to lead the medal count at the 2024 Paris Olympics
The second day of the Olympic Games in Paris has ended, and the Australian team continues to lead the medal count. This is reported by a Lenta.ru correspondent.
A total of 13 sets of awards were contested. Australian athletes won one gold medal: Jessica Fox won the women’s slalom canoe singles. The US team moved up to second place, winning three gold, six silver and one bronze medal. The French took third place with three gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
On the second day of competition, Russians were represented only in tennis. Five athletes played in the first round of singles, and two more in doubles.
IOC apologises for certain aspects of opening ceremony
The organization said it welcomed the clarifications provided by the Paris Games organizing committee regarding the event. It noted that it was not the organizers’ intention to show disrespect to any religious group. The purpose of the opening ceremony was to celebrate community.
Photo: Loic Venance/Reuters
Previously, the IOC removed a video of the best moments from the 2024 Olympic Games opening ceremony from the Internet. When trying to watch the video on the Olympics YouTube channel, users saw a black screen with the message “Video unavailable.” The same problem arose on the website of the Games’ organizing committee.
Communications director Anne Descamps attributed the removal of the video with parts of the ceremony to geoblocking. At the same time, Descamps apologized for the ambiguous interpretation of the fragment depicting the Last Supper at the ceremony.
We tried to celebrate the tolerance of society, we believe that the figures we cited prove that we succeeded. If there are people who are offended, we certainly apologize
Russian tennis players continue their performance in Paris
17-year-old Mirra Andreeva lost to Poland’s Magda Linett in the first round match with a score of 3:6, 4:6. But the athlete still has a chance to win a medal – she will play in pairs with Diana Schneider and in mixed with Daniil Medvedev. Ekaterina Alexandrova also dropped out of the Olympics, losing to China’s Yuan Yue with a score of 5:7, 7:6 (7:0), 2:6. Alexandrova will also continue to compete in the 2024 Olympics in doubles with Elena Vesnina.
Schneider, who beat Italian Elizaveta Cocciaretto 6:2, 7:5, and Roman Safiullin, who defeated Chilean Alejandro Tabilo 6:4, 6:4, advanced to the second round of the Olympics. However, Safiullin, who was paired with Medvedev, was eliminated in the first round. The athletes lost to Germans Kevin Kravitz and Tim Puetz — 4:6, 4:6.
First Russian to End Olympics
Russian tennis player Pavel Kotov failed to advance to the second stage of the tennis tournament in singles. The athlete lost to Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland. Kotov won only two games, the score was 1:6, 1:6. He became the first Russian for whom the Olympics ended, as the tennis player was only entered in singles.
Photo: Aurelien Morissard/AP
After the match, Kotov, in an interview with Match TV, called the experience of performing at the Olympics interesting. At the same time, he admitted that the opening ceremony of the Games left a bad taste in his mouth.
Michael Phelps’ record falls
French swimmer Leon Marchand won gold in the 400-meter individual medley. The athlete covered the distance in 4 minutes and 2.95 seconds, setting an Olympic record. He surpassed the achievement of American Michael Phelps (4 minutes 3.84 seconds), which he set 16 years ago at the 2008 Games in Beijing. Marchand also holds the world record for this distance – 4 minutes 2.50 seconds.
Silver in this discipline was won by Japanese Tomoyuki Matsushita. American Carson Foster came in third.
Skateboarder Wins Olympic Gold at 14
14-year-old Japanese Koko Yoshizawa became the Olympic champion in street skateboarding, scoring 272.75 points. Her compatriot Liz Akama took second place. Third place went to Brazil’s Raisa Leal.
Yoshizawa missed out on becoming the youngest Olympic champion in Summer Games history. That is skateboarder Momiji Nishiya, who won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the age of 13 years and 330 days.
Pedophile Volleyball Player Booed at Olympics
Spectators were not pleased with the performance of Dutchman Steven van de Velde in beach volleyball. After his name was announced before his first match of the tournament, the spectators began to whistle. They also expressed disapproval during his serves. The 29-year-old volleyball player played in pairs with Matthew Immers, who was met with applause.
IOC Communications Director Mark Adams said that the decision to allow van de Velde, who was previously convicted and served a sentence for raping a minor, to participate in the Olympics was made by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the Netherlands and that the possibility of the athlete repenting for his actions should be allowed.
The crime happened ten years ago, this is in no way an excuse, but the general rule is that we must allow for the possibility of remorse.
Van de Velde was convicted in the UK in 2016 of having sex with a 12-year-old girl. Under UK law, any sexual contact with a minor, regardless of consent, is considered rape. Dutch law has different wording. The athlete was sentenced to four years in prison, after which he served part of his sentence in England and was then extradited to the Netherlands.
Source: Lenta
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
