Yahoo Sports Olympics AM: Paris 2024 in review

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Day 1: USA and China earn first golds

The U.S. won their first gold medal on the first full day of competition (Sat. July 27), winning the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. China also won their first gold that day in air rifle, and the two nations ultimately ended up with 40 golds each — the first time in Summer Olympics history there was a tie at the top.

More from Day 1:

• “Race of the Century”: Australia’s Ariarne Titmus successfully defended her 400m freestyle gold medal against Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh (silver) and American legend Katie Ledecky (bronze).

• France stuns Fiji: The host nation beat two-time defending champion Fiji in the Men’s Rugby Sevens Final, handing them their first ever loss in the event (17-1).

• “Nadalcaraz” opens with a win: The dream doubles pairing of Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal won their opener. They ended up losing in the quarters.

Day 1 recap

Day 2: Hometown hero

Léon Marchand, the 22-year-old face of the Paris Games, lived up to the hype in his first event, setting an Olympic record to win the 400m IM by nearly six seconds. He’d go on to win four golds; only 15 countries won more.

More from Day 2:

• Coco matches Venus: Coco Gauff, 20, became the youngest American woman to win a singles match at the Olympics since Venus Williams in 2000.

• Strong start for U.S. men’s hoops: Team USA beat Serbia in their opener, 110-84, as LeBron James and Kevin Durant combined to shoot 17-22 from the field for 44 points.

• Simone and Suni advance: Simone Biles and Suni Lee qualified for the individual all-around final, marking the first time in Olympics history that two former champs would compete in that event.

Day 2 recap

Day 3: Photo of the century

Brazil’s Gabriel Medina recorded the highest single wave score in Olympic history (9.90), and Jerome Brouillet captured him exiting the wave in one of the coolest photos ever taken.

More from Day 3:

• USA takes bronze: Bespectacled hero Stephen Nedoroscik nailed his pommel horse routine to help the men’s gymnastics team win their first medal since 2008. Please go watch this celebration. Sports!

• Novak beats Rafa: Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal, 6-1, 6-4, in their 60th and perhaps final meeting to take a 31-29 lead in their head-to-head rivalry.

• Teen phenom: 17-year-old Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh, who’d already won silver in the “Race of the Century,” took her first of three gold medals in Paris (200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM).

Day 3 recap

Day 4: “F Around and Find Out”

Team USA won team gymnastics gold, joining the 1996, 2012 and 2016 teams. During their press conference, they gave themselves a NSFW nickname — “F.A.A.F.O” — in a viral video filmed by some guy named Kendall Baker.

More from Day 4:

• 3,000 medals: Team USA won its 3,000th medal (Summer and Winter combined). No other country has won more than 1,500.

• Rugby walk-off: The U.S. women’s rugby sevens team won bronze in spectacular fashion, taking it the length of the field for a game-winning score as time expired.

• Back in the quarters: The USMNT blanked Guinea, 3-0, to advance to the Olympic quarterfinals for the first time since 2000.

Day 4 recap

Day 5: Queen of the 1500

Katie Ledecky destroyed the field by more than 10 seconds in the 1500m freestyle final for her first gold. By the time she left Paris, she’d have 14 medals (9 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze), making her the most decorated American female Olympian of all time.

More from Day 5:

• Marchand’s double: Before this year, no one had ever won a medal in butterfly and breaststroke at the same Games. France’s Léon Marchand did it in the span of 116 minutes, and both medals were gold.

• A star is born: Turkey’s Yusuf Dikeç went viral for having the most casual shooting stance you’ve ever seen for a silver medal-winning Olympian. By the end of the Games, other athletes mimicked his stance to celebrate their own victories.

• Canada advances: The Canadian women’s soccer team advanced to the quarterfinals despite being docked six points for their drone-spying scandal.

Day 5 recap

Day 6: The fight that sparked a culture war

Italy’s Angela Carini quit 46 seconds into her bout against Algeria’s Imane Khelif. The moment sparked a culture war and became one of the biggest stories of the Olympics.

More from Day 6:

• Biles rallies to reclaim gold: Simone Biles took gold in the women’s individual all-around, rebounding from a brutal performance on bars to win her sixth gymnastics gold, an American record.

• Back on top: Team USA rowing won gold in the men’s four for the first time since 1960 behind the crew of Justin Best, Nick Mead, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan.

• Andy says farewell: Andy Murray, the only man to win two singles golds, played the final match of his career in a doubles loss to Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.

Day 6 recap

Day 7: Fisher makes history

Grant Fisher took bronze in the 10,000m final with an unbelievable finish, becoming the second American to medal in the event since 1964. The top 13 finishers all broke the Olympic record in a historically fast race, which was won by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei.

More from Day 7:

• Four golds, four records: Léon Marchand became the fourth swimmer ever with four individual golds in a single Olympics — and he set the Olympic record in all four (200m IM, 400m IM, 200m breast, 200m fly).

• Teddy’s four-peat: France’s Teddy Riner, who opened the Games by lighting the Olympic Torch, became the first man to win four gold medals in judo.

• USMNT fizzles: The U.S. men’s soccer team lost 4-0 to Morocco in the quarterfinals, extending their 120-year Olympic medal drought.

Day 7 recap

Day 8: Ledecky, Hancock join four-peat club

Team USA’s Katie Ledecky (800m freestyle) and Vincent Hancock (skeet shooting) became just the sixth and seventh athletes in history to win four gold medals in the same individual event.

More from Day 8:

• What a comeback! Femke Bol led the Netherlands to gold in the mixed 4x400m relay with a stunning anchor leg after taking the baton in fourth place.

• St. Lucia’s on the board: Julien Alfred won the women’s 100m final for St. Lucia’s first-ever Olympic medal.

• Crouser’s three-peat: American Ryan Crouser became the first man to win three straight Olympic shot put gold medals, while teammate Joe Kovacs claimed his third straight silver.

Day 8 recap

Day 9: Lyles wins gold in photo finish

Noah Lyles won 100-meter gold in a thrilling photo finish, becoming the first American to earn the title of “World’s Fastest Man” since Justin Gatlin in 2004.‌ How close was it? Lyles (9.784) beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson (9.789) by five one thousandths of a second, which is less time than it takes to blink.

More from Day 9:

• Djokovic finishes the job: Novak Djokovic finally won gold in an epic match against Carlos Alcaraz, becoming the fifth player to complete the career golden slam.

• Scottie is inevitable: Scottie Scheffler shot a final-round 62 to win gold by a stroke over Great Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood and continue his incredible 2024 season.

• Finke sets record, extends streak: Bobby Finke set a world record in the 1500m freestyle to win Team USA’s first men’s individual swimming gold in Paris, extending a streak that dates back to 1904.

Day 9 recap

Day 10: Gold medal in sportsmanship

As maddening as it is that they’re taking away Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal in floor, they can’t take away one of the lasting images of the Paris Olympics: Chiles and Simone Biles bowing down to Brazilian gold medalist Rebeca Andrade.

More from Day 10:

• Mondo breaks his record, again: Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record (6.25 meters) for the eighth time since 2020 to win his second straight Olympic gold.

• Surfing finale: After multiple delays due to surf conditions, the competition finally ended with Team USA’s Caroline Marks and France’s Kauli Vaast, a Tahiti native surfing on his local break, taking gold.

• What a shot! Worthy de Jong drained a walk-off shot from distance to lift Netherlands to gold in 3×3 basketball.

Day 10 recap

Day 11: The best 1500m ever

The 1500m final, billed as a race between Great Britain’s Josh Kerr and Norway’s Jakob Ingebritsen, turned into the Cole Hocker show in an electric sprint to the finish. He charged past the favorites to become the fourth American man ever to win 1500m gold.

More from Day 11:

• Historic five-peat: Cuban wrestler Mijaín López became the first Olympian to win gold in the same individual event five times and retired after his victory.

• The wrestler who never loses: Amit Elor, 20, became the youngest American wrestler to win an Olympic gold. Hardly a surprise given she’s never lost a match in five years of senior competition.

• Hoops heaven: Team USA, France, Germany and Serbia advanced to the men’s semifinals during perhaps the greatest day of basketball that has ever been played in a single location.

Day 11 recap

Day 12: You can’t outrun a dog

American Quincy Hall unleashed a stunning comeback to win 400m gold in 43.40 seconds, the fourth-fastest time ever. “You can’t outrun a dog,” he said. “A dog is going to chase you forever.”

More from Day 12:

• Faulkner makes history: Kristen Faulkner, who’d already pulled off a surprise victory in road cycling, added team pursuit gold to her medal haul, becoming the first American woman to win gold in multiple disciplines at the same Olympics.

• The weight is over: 20-year-old weightlifter Hampton Morris took bronze in the men’s 61kg division, becoming the first American man to win an Olympic weightlifting medal since 1984.

• Two in a row: Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali became the first man since 1936 to win two straight golds in the 3,000m steeplechase.

Day 12 recap

Day 13: A league of her own

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone smashed her own world record in the 400m hurdles (50.37 seconds) to take gold by a comically-wide margin of 1.5 seconds. Her time was so fast that she would have qualified for the 400m final — the race without 10 hurdles.

More from Day 13:

• Phew! The U.S. erased a 17-point deficit to beat Serbia, 95-91, behind huge games from Steph Curry (36 points, 9-14 3PT) and LeBron James (16 pts, 12 reb, 10 ast).

• Botswana’s first gold: Letsile Tebogo upset Americans Kenny Bednarek (silver) and Noah Lyles (bronze) in the 200m final to win Botswana’s first-ever Olympic gold.

• World record, bronze medal: American speed climber Sam Watson climbed a 49-foot overhanging wall in 4.74 seconds, a new world record, but settled for bronze.

Day 13 recap

Day 14: Sha’Carri’s first gold

Sha’Carri Richardson won her first gold medal thanks to a blistering anchor leg in the women’s 4x100m relay after a series of clean handoffs between Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry. Speaking of clean handoffs, the less said about the U.S. men’s 4x100m relay, the better.

More from Day 14:

• Khelif wins gold: Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won gold and dismissed her critics, calling them “enemies of my success.”

• Spain’s golden summer: Less than a month after winning Euro 2024, the Spanish men won gold for the first time since 1992 with a 5-3 victory over France.

• Breaking’s biggest star: Australia’s Rachael Gunn, aka B-girl Raygun, didn’t score a single point but her viral routine was the talk of the internet as breaking made its Olympic debut.

Day 14 recap

Day 15: Yes, Chef!

Steph Curry, the greatest shooter to ever live, scored 12 of his 24 points in the final three minutes to lift Team USA to basketball gold, while 39-year-old LeBron James won MVP. What a tournament. What a moment in time.

More from Day 15:

• Back on top: The USWNT beat Brazil, 1-0, to win their first Olympic gold since 2012 and ninth major tournament (five Olympics, four World Cups), which is more than all other teams combined (eight).

• 4x400m relay sweep: The U.S. men and women both took gold in the 4x400m relay to close out the track & field program with 34 medals and 14 golds, their most at a single Olympics since 1984.

• Welcome to the Hall of Fame: New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (-10), who came to Paris one win shy of qualifying for the LPGA Hall of Fame, took gold by two strokes at Le Golf National.

Day 15 recap

Day 16: Eight straight

The U.S. women’s basketball team won its eighth consecutive gold medal by the narrowest of margins, erasing a 10-point second-half deficit against France to win 67-66. Of the USA’s 61 straight Olympic victories, this was just the third by single digits.

More from Day 16:

• Hassan’s historic treble: Dutch runner Sifan Hassan won gold in the marathon after having already claimed bronze in both the 5,000m and 10,000m. She’s the first woman to medal in those three events in at the same Olympics.

• Back on the podium: The U.S. men’s water polo team, whose 10 medals rank second all-time, won bronze to return to the podium for the first time since 2008.

• Au revoir, Paris: The greatest Olympics in recent memory — and certainly one of the best ever — came to an end with a star-studded Closing Ceremony.

Day 16 recap

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