With the second day of Olympic action already upon us, let’s take a look around at some of the highlights and storylines to watch so far in Paris.
Biles Overcomes Injury Scare to Lead All-Around Qualifying
Four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles survived an injury scare to post the top qualifying score in the women’s all-around on Sunday, more than three points ahead of American teammate and defending champion Suni Lee.
Biles began her day on the balance beam, scoring 14.733 before leaving the floor with U.S. team doctor Marcia Faustin. The 27-year-old could be heard saying she felt something in her left calf, but she returned with tape and nailed her floor routine en route to a score of 14.600 — the highest of the day.
The vault, which caused Biles issues a few years ago in Tokyo, posed no problems this time around. Her signature Yurchenko double pike vault earned her a score of 15.800, by far the highest in the world this year.
Biles picked up her lowest score during the final event, uneven bars (14.433), but it was enough to give her a total of 59.566 that comfortably led the field. Lee finished with a score of 56.132 to punch her ticket to Thursday’s all-around final.
France Wins First Paris Gold in Men’s Rugby Sevens
France captured its first gold medal of the Paris Olympics in men’s rugby sevens, marking the country’s first medal of any color in the sport.
Two-time defending champion Fiji came into the match riding a 17-game winning streak in the Olympics and took an early 7-0 lead on Saturday. After France leveled the score at 7-7, Antoine Dupont emerged from the bench and flipped the momentum of the match over the course of just seven minutes. He set up the try that gave France its first lead, then scored two more himself to put the game out of reach in a 28-7 victory over Fiji.
South Africa beat Australia, 26-19, in the bronze medal match.
Spanish Stars Nadal, Alcaraz Advance in Doubles Debut
Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal and up-and-coming star Carlos Alcaraz made their Olympic doubles debut together on Saturday, taking down the sixth-seeded Argentine duo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, 7-6(4), 6-4, to advance to the second round.
It was the second match of the day for Alcaraz, who won his singles match earlier in the morning, but he had to shake off the nerves of playing with his idol. He lost his first game serving in the opening set, then faced two break points in his second service game before ultimately holding. The Spaniards also went down 3-0 in the second set only to rally back and get a huge break at 4-4 to all but clinch the victory.
Nadal is competing in his fourth and final Olympics, searching for his third gold medal after winning singles in 2008 and doubles in 2016. The 38-year-old was unsure whether he would be healthy enough to play his first singles match on Sunday morning, but he went ahead with his match against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, whom he beat in three sets to set up a second-round battle with Novak Djokovic.
U.S. Water Polo Captain Dealing With Tragic Family Death
The sister-in-law of U.S. women’s water polo team captain Maggie Steffens died Tuesday after traveling to Paris to support her.
Lulu Conner, the 26-year-old sister of Steffens’ husband, Bobby Conner, was said to have suffered “a medical emergency.” Steffens dropped a small bouquet of flowers into the Seine River during Friday’s opening ceremony in her honor.
The 31-year-old Steffens scored two goals on Saturday to help the Americans start their quest for an Olympic four-peat with a 15-6 win against Greece. The performance upped her Olympic scoring total to 58 career goals, the most in history.
USA Men’s Basketball Begins Title Defense Against Serbia
The U.S. men’s basketball team faces three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic’s Serbia squad in its first matchup on Sunday morning, where Kevin Durant is expected to make his return from a calf injury.
The Paris Olympics are the first Summer Games featuring stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Durant on the same team together. Team USA is in Group C this year along with Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico.
Earlier on Sunday morning, South Sudan collected its first-ever Olympic victory with a 90-79 win against Puerto Rico. South Sudan, the world’s newest country that has no indoor basketball facilities, took Team USA to the buzzer last week in a 101-100 exhibition loss.
Nadal and Alcaraz is such a rude doubles team what 😭😭