Key events
Inspired by the words of the Bishop of Pennsylvania, Ethelbert Talbot, and echoed into infamy by Pierre de Coubertin, at a reception given by the British government on 24 July 1908, the Olympic creed has evermore stood as: “The important thing in life is not the triumph, but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well.”
And nothing embodies it like Eric Moussambani AKA “Eric the Eel”…
Eighteen gold medals are up for grabs at the 2024 Games today.
Of all the simmering rivalries at this Paris Olympiad, one that comes to an angry boil tonight is the duel in the pool for the 4x200m women’s freestyle relay title. Team USA, spearheaded by women’s GOAT Katie Ledecky, will face off against their arch-rivals Australia, as led by Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus.
Australia won gold in the prestige women’s 4x200m in Beijing 2008 before the USA exacted revenge at London 2012 and Rio 2016. Both awesome foursomes finished behind the People’s Republic of China and the Americans at Tokyo 2020. With Australia having won the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay gold with an Olympic record, the USA will be desperate to square the ledger.
Or will the Aussie beef burger-fueled China shock the world again?
Here are some of the events and when to watch (all in Paris times):
Track and Field
The Men’s 20km Race Walk, 7:30am
Women’s 20km Race Walk, 9:20am
Shooting
Men’s Smallbore Rifle, Three Positions, 9:30am
Rowing
Women’s Double Sculls, 11:18am
Men’s Double Sculls, 11:30am
Women’s Four, 11:50am
Sailing
Men’s Skiff, 2:43pm
Women’s Skiff, 3:43pm
Judo
Men’s Half Heavyweight (100 kg/220 lbs.), medal rounds begin, 5:18pm
Women’s Half Heavyweight (78 kg/172 lbs.), medal rounds begin, 5:49pm
Canoe Slalom
Men’s (K-1) Kayak Single, 5:30pm
Gymnastics
Women’s Individual All-Around, 6:15pm
Fencing
Women’s Team Foil, 7:10pm
Swimming
Women’s 200m Butterfly, 8:30pm
Men’s 200m Backstroke, 8:38pm
Women’s 200m Breaststroke, 9:11pm
Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay, 10:03pm
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the sixth official day of competition at this Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
Day five was filled to the gills with thrills, spills, tears and cheers. Host nation France are celebrating Léon Marchand’s extraordinary double-gold performance last night in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke – two triumphs hours apart that gave the 22-year-old from Toulouse his third individual gold at these Games. That dull roar hanging in this morning’s air is the echo of 15,000 French roaring as Marchand hauled in hot-favourite, Hungary’s world record holder Kristóf Milák, with inches to spare.
Team Great Britain are also exultant after a glorious day five highlighted by the gold medal-winning feats of Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott, Lauren Henry and Georgie Brayshaw in the women’s quadruple sculls crew and Alex Yee in the men’s triathlon, who pulled off a home-straight heist worthy of France favourite gentleman burglar Arsène Lupin himself. It vaults Team GB into fifth on the medal table behind China, Japan, France and Australia. Despite Katie Ledecky winning her eighth Olympic gold medal in the 1500m freestyle and tying the record for the most gold medals by a US woman, Team USA are a surprising seventh, but keeping their powder dry.
For Australia, dizzy highs – Jess Fox clinching her second gold of the Games with victory in the canoe slalom course at Vaires-sur-Marne – came with desultory lows, as the Matildas’ Olympic tilt ended in tears after losing 2-1 to the USA in their final pool game. Despite being without star striker Sam Kerr, the “Tillies” arrived in Paris as genuine medal contenders after capturing hearts with a fourth-place finish at the 2023 World Cup. Instead, they’re heading home early after the controversy-riven Canadians then delivered a coup de grace to the girls in gold by upsetting Colombia to progress.
It set Canada-Australia relations back another notch after the Maple Leafers beat the Boomers in the basketball and upset Australia’s world champion rugby sevens side in the semi-final to send them home without a medal. A Bryan Adams-ban on Sydney radio is currently being enforced by way of revenge.
Day five’s most anticipated – and controversial – moment came when Paris “reversed the tide of history” and declared the River Seine waters fit to host the men’s triathlon. Regardless of whether competitors copped a dose of E.coli with their broccoli, the event was a spectacle that never seemed quite possible until it was actually under way. Heavy rain, hysterical headlines and Netflix programming certainly didn’t help.
Day six promises even more blood, sweat, tears and glory…