Yahoo Sports Olympics AM: Let the Games begin

Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.

A return to normalcy

Paris 2024 formally begins today with an Opening Ceremony unlike any other. After Tokyo and Beijing were clouded by COVID, the real Olympics are finally back.

From Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel:

It was a cold night in an outdoor stadium in the mountains of South Korea, the closing ceremony to the 2018 Winter Olympics. Athletes walked in the Parade of Nations, all with beaming smiles, some wearing shiny medals around their neck. A K-pop boy band performed. So did a local children’s choir.

IOC president Thomas Bach declared the prior 16 days a grand success, dubbing them “The Games of New Horizons.” Little did anyone know what was on that horizon. COVID-19. Controversy. Isolation. Absurdity.

The Olympics haven’t been the Olympics since that night near PyeongChang, making today’s rekindling of the cauldron in Paris even that much more anticipated.

If virtually everyone else in the world has moved on from the pandemic, it is finally the Olympics’ turn to return to normalcy. So welcome to the Olympics. A real one this time.

As the world again gathers this week, this time in Paris no less, the memories of daily Chinese swabs seemingly scraping brains and Japanese safety workers wiping down goal posts during halftime of outdoor soccer games have slowly, thankfully, mercifully faded.

From all corners of the Earth, young athletes watch the Olympics on television and then, duly inspired, work their entire life to reach this singular goal — to just get there, let alone medal. No one expects dystopia. They expect … Paris.

Strolling around the Eiffel Tower. A big family dinner at a street cafe near Notre Dame. Attending other events. Hearing the roars of the crowd. Camaraderie with competitors — from the village breakfast table to the post-competition nightclub.

“The stage is set: the athletes are ready, all of France is ready,” Bach said last week. “All of us are looking forward to an unforgettable celebration of Olympic sport and French culture.”

Read the full story.

Photos of the day

⚽️ USA 3, Zambia 0: The USWNT cruised in their opener behind a blistering first half, scoring on a beautiful finish from Trinity Rodman and a brace from Mallory Swanson, all in an eight-minute span.

🏉 A valiant effort: U.S. men’s rugby reached the quarterfinals with a victory over Uruguay during Thursday’s early window, but fell to Australia later in the day to end their medal chase.

🎯 New world record: South Korea’s Lim Si-hyeon set a new world record in Thursday’s archery prelims, scoring 694 points to break the mark set five years ago at the world championships.

🇺🇸 First Lady in Paris: Jill Biden spoke to a group of Team USA athletes on Thursday before a training session, even taking part in a stationary relay drill with some runners.

Has Canada been cheating for years?

We didn’t even make it to the Opening Ceremony before a spying scandal rocked the Olympics.

Catch up quick: A Canadian women’s soccer staffer was caught flying a drone over a New Zealand practice earlier this week ahead of their group stage game.

• The staffer was detained and eventually sent home from the Games after French police searched his hotel room and recovered the drone footage.

• Following their 2-1 win over New Zealand on Thursday, Canada Soccer announced that head coach Bev Priestman was also being sent home.

The plot thickens: Priestman’s dismissal coincided with a TSN report alleging that Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have been relying on drones for years. The women’s team allegedly used them to spy on opponents during the Tokyo Olympics — where they won gold.

Team USA is proudly funded by family, friends and fans like you. When you give to the Team USA Fund, 100% of your donation goes to athletes and the programming that supports them. Donate today.

Athlete spotlight: Perry Baker made history on Thursday, becoming the first man to score four tries in an Olympic rugby sevens match in Team USA’s 33-17 win over Uruguay. The Americans won’t medal (the best they can finish is fifth), but this man deserves his flowers.

• Age: 38

• Hometown: Daytona Beach, Fla.

• Fun fact: He went to the same high school (Spruce Creek) as 12-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte.

• Stats: Baker is tied with compatriot Carlin Isles for the most rugby sevens tries in the Olympics (9) and ranks second all-time in career tries (293).

How he got here: Baker played college football at D-II Fairmont State (W.V.) and was signed by the Eagles in 2011 before a knee injury ended his NFL career. He played two seasons in the Arena Football League before switching to rugby at age 26, where he became a two-time World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year (2017-18).

What’s next: Perry plans to retire after Paris. “I want to coach the sport, promote it more and just make it more accessible,” he told NBC Sports. “For me, that’s the greatest thing an Olympic athlete can do — make a difference in your community, use your platform to make the world and people around you better.”

A letter from the CEO… Here’s USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland on this Transformational Decade of Sport.

“Ahead of the Opening Ceremony, we invite you to join this celebration of sport and Team USA, to embrace the pursuit of the impossible, the strength of national pride, the diversity of competitions and athletes alike, and the collective values inherent in sport and in those of us who cherish it. … Together, we rise. One nation, one team, one incredible future. One for all.”

Quick links: Team USA | Athletes | Shop

Watchlist: Opening Ceremony

Today’s historic Opening Ceremony (1:30pm ET, NBC) will see each nation’s delegation ferried down the River Seine. If you can’t catch it live, NBC will replay the ceremony in primetime (7:30pm).

The route: 94 boats carrying over 10,000 athletes will travel nearly four miles from the botanical gardens to the Trocadéro — which sits across the river from the Eiffel Tower — passing other iconic landmarks along the way like the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral.

• Flag bearers: LeBron James and Coco Gauff (who was born during LeBron’s rookie season!) will carry the flag for Team USA. See all the flag bearers.

• Music: Celine Dion will reportedly give her first performance in four years in a star-studded duet alongside Lady Gaga.

The big mystery: Who will light the cauldron?

Lightning round

🤫 A Quiet Place: On the eve of the Olympics, the heart of Paris is silent. No horns blaring. No engines revving. There’s only wind, and conversation, and the gentle, tourist-luring sigh of an accordion playing “La Vie en Rose” somewhere nearby.

🎾 Dream matchup: 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic and 22-time major winner Rafael Nadal will meet in the second round at Roland-Garros if they win their openers.

🔥 Train lines attacked: Arsonists carried out coordinated attacks on France’s high-speed train line on Friday, paralyzing parts of the country’s rail network ahead of the Opening Ceremony.

🐐 The GOAT doing GOAT things: Simone Biles nailed her signature Yurchenko double pike, the most dangerous vault in gymnastics, during Thursday’s training session.

🎾 Murray withdraws: Andy Murray — the only tennis player with two Olympic singles gold medals — has withdrawn from singles and will only play doubles in his final event before retirement.

Paris trivia

The Eiffel Tower was the tallest human-made structure in the world (1,024 feet) from 1889 to 1930, when it was surpassed by what building?

Hint: It held the title for just 11 months before the Empire State Building (1,250 feet) surpassed it.

Answer at the bottom.

In non-Olympics news…

Trivia answer: Chrysler Building in Manhattan (1,046 feet)

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.