Australia tops the medal table, while France ends Fiji’s dominance in rugby sevens.
The medal ceremony at the Paris Olympics began on the fourth day of the event, following Friday’s massive opening ceremony on the River Seine.
Australia currently leads the medal table with the United States (5), followed by France (4), who won their first ever Paris 2024 gold medal on Saturday, and China (3).
But the wave of controversies on and off the field of competition somewhat overshadows the sporting side of the event.
Let’s take a look at the latest news from Paris.
A Canadian soccer coach has been suspended and stripped of six points from the team following a spying scandal
FIFA has stripped Canada of six points and suspended three coaches for a year during the Paris Olympics women’s soccer tournament after two assistant coaches were caught using drones to watch a New Zealand opponent before Wednesday’s clash.
The sanctions include a fine of nearly 208,000 euros for the Canadian soccer federation in a scandal that escalated at the Summer Games.
France ended Fiji’s dominance to win rugby sevens gold
Antoine Dupont scored two tries and set up another on Saturday to give France a coveted gold medal and end two-time champions Fiji’s Olympic dominance in rugby sevens.
The world’s best rugby player was spared in the second half thanks to the tactical perfection that set the tone with his first touch and then led France to a 28-7 victory.
China wins first gold in Paris, aims for flawless diving
China’s Zhang Yan and Chen Yiwen topped Beijing’s decades-long women’s synchronized 3m springboard event on Saturday.
The team is aiming to win eight of the eight diving medals in Paris after missing out on the historic feat at Tokyo 2020 by just one margin.
Australia won the women’s 400m freestyle and topped the medal table
This race was announced as one of the most anticipated events of the Paris Olympic Games and Ariarne Titmus made it a real success. The Australian swimmer earned the gold medal in the women’s 400m freestyle and led from start to finish, living up to her nickname “Terminator”.
The Georgian shooter became the first woman to participate in ten Olympic Games
Georgian shooter Nino Salukvadze became the first woman to participate in 10 Olympics during her career, which started representing the Soviet Union.
Salukvadze has participated in every Summer Olympics since 1988, when he won gold. She set her latest record when she entered the range for the women’s 10m air pistol qualification on Saturday and still finished 38th.
But he will have a chance to win a medal in the 25m pistol event on Friday.
Recent tests show that the quality of the Seine water was low when the mayor of Paris took a bath
Analysis by the Eau de Paris monitoring body showed that E. coli exceeded the single safety limit of 900 colonies per 100 milliliters set by European regulations at the time, on July 17, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo went swimming.
Heavy rain during the opening ceremony has reignited concerns about whether the long-polluted waterway will be clean enough to host the swimming events.
The French bishops opposed the Olympics and called them “a mockery of Christianity”.
At Saturday’s opening, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper was allegedly reinterpreted with drag queens and a nearly naked Dionysus.
This scene was not unequivocally welcomed by the bishops’ conference of the French Catholic Church, who called it “a mockery and mockery of Christianity” and addressed their “opinions” to “Christians on all continents who suffer from the anger and provocations of some”. scenes”.
But Thomas Jolly, the show’s artistic director, said his desire was “neither to mock nor to shock, but to be provocative”.
“Above all, I wanted to convey a message of love, a message of inclusion, and it was not divided in any way. »
The presentation of athletes as North Koreans at the opening ceremony angered South Korea
Olympic organizers said they were “deeply sorry” for portraying South Korean athletes as North Koreans at the opening ceremony in Paris on Friday.
Seoul authorities have requested a meeting with IOC president Thomas Bach over the incident and also plan to send a “strong government-level complaint” to the French government.
Bach called South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday to apologize for the incident.
A Polish journalist was fired for calling “Imagine” a “view of communism.”
Polish public television suspended a journalist who reacted to the performance of John Lennon’s song “Imagine” during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, calling it a “view of communism”.
Przemyslaw Babiarz will not be allowed to make any other comments about the Paris Olympics
Lennon’s song asks us to imagine neither heaven nor hell, nor countries nor estates.
“Unfortunately, this is a vision of communism,” Babiarz said at the event.
Partial removal of traffic jams in Paris
Metal barricades blocking streets and closed metro stations are making life difficult for Parisians ahead of Saturday’s massive opening ceremony.
But now that it’s all over, many hope that parts of the city center will reopen. The Pont des Invalides, which spans the Seine near the Eiffel Tower, was already open on Saturday and police barriers were being dismantled.
“I hope things will be a little more flexible in the coming days,” said Antonio, who is Portuguese and has lived in Paris for 42 years. “We have to make a lot of laps. »