Key events
Thanks Luke, greetings all. Organisers are probably jumpy for any high-profile bonanza, but there are clearly jitters all-round for tonight’s opening ceremony given today’s disruption in France. Protests on a number of fronts – local, national and international – may well be gravitating to Paris over the coming weeks.
There are contingency plans in place if protests make the planned 6km parade along the Seine untenable – “we have fallback scenarios, plan Bs and plan Cs”, Emmanuel Macron said last month – but I think it’s fair to say that there’s a substantial security presence in France’s capital today. Alternative options for tonight’s ceremony include a smaller ceremony in the Trocadéro area or shifting the whole thing into the Stade de France.
If you missed anything, here’s the Olympics-related content we’ve published today, on a European morning when arson attacks on France’s high-speed rail network have soured the mood.
Let’s hope for a peaceful afternoon leading into this evening’s opening ceremony … handing over to my colleague, Stuart Goodwin, for the next bit.
Jack Snape
Australia’s top athletes are out to make their mark on Paris over the coming weeks, their best endeavours leaving a powerful, if fleeting, impact on the French capital. But many of the several thousand Australians who live locally have already made an enduring impression on French life.
Fox McInerney, owner of coffee shop Good News and roastery Cayo, says Australian cafe culture has taken hold in the past decade, and there are now more than 10 Australian-owned or run businesses in central Paris providing an alternative to the dominant local brand Cafés Richard.
What is Flavor Flav doing at the Olympics wearing a Team USA water polo helmet? Jay Cohen, of the Associated Press, explains all:
Flavor Flav stopped for hugs, handshakes and high-fives as he made his way around the Team USA House at the Paris Games on Thursday. He never stopped smiling.
“This is quite an experience for me right now, you know, because the only time I’ve ever seen the Olympics was on TV,” Flav said. “You know what I’m saying? But I always wanted to see what it felt like being there. So now I got the opportunity to be here. It’s the best.”
Flav, a founding member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy, is in Paris as part of his duties as the official hype man for USA Water Polo — a partnership that came together after he connected with US captain Maggie Steffens on Instagram in May.
The 65-year-old Flav is embracing his new responsibilities with his usual brand of seemingly boundless enthusiasm. “I’m so ready, man. … I’m so hype right now about this sport,” said Flav, wearing a custom USA Water Polo clock. “I wish I was playing it. I’m hyping myself up right now to ask them to let me on the team.”
The road to Flav‘s Olympic debut began when Steffens posted on Instagram about her experiences with the US women’s program, which has won an unprecedented three straight gold medals going into Paris.
While paying tribute to her teammates and expressing love for her gruelling sport, Steffens also highlighted the financial struggle for most Olympic athletes. Flav’s manager brought the issue to his attention, and he promised his assistance.
“As a girl dad and supporter of all women’s sports – imma personally sponsor you my girl … whatever you need. And imma sponsor the whole team,” Flav commented on Instagram.
That exchange turned into a unique sponsorship deal between Flav — legal name William Jonathan Drayton Jr. — and USA Water Polo. Flav made an undisclosed financial contribution to the women’s programme as part of the five-year agreement, and agreed to collaborate on social media.
He is planning to attend the Olympic openers for the US women and men. The women face Greece on Saturday, and the men play Italy on Sunday.
Flav, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Public Enemy in 2013, prepped for his Paris experience by attending two women’s games. He also jumped into the pool with the women’s team.
“I tried it. I got to try it to see what it feels like,” Flav said. “And boy, I was in the water with the girls for like seven minutes. And I was treading water for seven minutes. And I’m not going to lie. But that was like the hardest seven minutes in my life.”
Flav said he “got lucky” and connected on two goals against Ashleigh Johnson — considered the best goaltender in the world. The significance of the moment was not lost on Johnson, the first black woman to play water polo for the U.S. Olympic team.
“We saw the video come out … It was so cool to see it,” Johnson said. “I read through the comments and I see people asking questions about water polo and people of colour wanting to start playing. And that’s a different community than I’ve seen talk about our sport.”
That is something Flav hopes to see more of as he continues to cheer on the US teams. “When it comes down to water polo … it’s not really about people of colour. It’s about people that love to play it,” he said. “Water polo is for all races, all colours of people.”
Barney Ronay
“We need to re-enthuse.” This was probably the closest Emmanuel Macron came to a tearful cri de cœur during his latest address on the eve of France’s Olympic Games. It is a reasonable enough statement in itself, although one that may be more accurate with the removal of the “re” part. Welcome to Paris 2024, the 33rd modern Olympic Games, and the first to have basically crept up over your shoulder with a shrug and a pffft and an arch of the brow.
Worrying about the Olympics is of course an Olympic tradition in its own right. The temptation is always there to fret over the scale, the purity, the basic vitality of this four-yearly global anachronism.
Sticking with the US rap/hip-hop theme for a moment, here’s Flavor Flav, at a Team USA Water Polo press conference today:
Snoop Dogg carries Olympic flame in Paris
Snoop Dogg, as promised by organisers, has been carrying the Olympic flame in Paris today.
“Snoop, who was born in Los Angeles – host of the 1932, 1984 and 2028 Games – limbered up for his Olympic stint by posting a time of 34.44 seconds over 200 metres during a special exhibition race at the US trials in Oregon last month.”
Is US men’s basketball’s era of Olympic domination coming to an end?
Oren Weisfeld takes a look:
“The 2024 Olympic Games are shaping up to be the most competitive international men’s basketball tournament of all time, with powerhouse nations such as Canada, Australia, Spain, France, Germany and Serbia loading up on talent as they aim to take down the juggernaut Team USA.
The American men have won gold at each of the last four Olympics and have assembled “The Avengers” in hopes of doing so again. Led by LeBron James and Stephen Curry, Team USA is packed with NBA All-Stars being coached by NBA champions. But unlike many other teams they will face at the Olympics, this American roster had not played together until a series of warmup games in the last few weeks. And despite their significant talent advantage, they will have less time than any other team to come together, put their NBA habits aside, and play Fiba basketball, which has different rules such as smaller courts and shorter games, as a unit.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee CEO, David Shoemaker, said new information from Soccer Canada showed suspended women’s head coach Bev Priestman was likely aware of the drone use that has caused a scandal at the Paris Olympics.
The COC removed head coach Priestman on Thursday following her suspension by Canada Soccer following complaints from New Zealand that Canada flew drones over two of their training sessions. Assistant Andy Spence will coach Canada for the remainder of the Games.
Shoemaker also said he is comfortable with Canada’s women’s team remaining in Paris to defend their Olympic gold medal amid rumblings that the team should be disqualified over the drone scandal that has thrust the team into the spotlight.
“One of the key pieces of information was the conclusion from Canada Soccer that (Priestman) needed to be suspended based on their accumulation of facts,” Shoemaker said during on Friday.
“I’ve seen some of the information they have, and we gathered some additional information ourselves that made me conclude that she was highly likely to have been aware of the incidents here.” Reuters
A century has passed since Paris last hosted the Olympics.
John Windmill has compiled a gallery of fascinating photos:
The official Olympics X account going alllllll the way back to 1996 and Celine Dion’s performance at the opening ceremony in Atlanta:
Nick Ames
At the time, Lola Anderson had written it off as a cringeworthy adolescent whim. She was far from the only youngster to have been swept along by the endless summer of London 2012 and, watching Great Britain surge down Dorney Lake towards one of their four rowing golds, was struck by “this massive wave of inspiration”. Her love for the sport had been growing and, at 14, this was the moment to spell out a plan for the future.
She ran to find her diary and started writing. “My name is Lola Anderson and I think it would be my biggest dream in life to go to the Olympics and represent Team GB in rowing and, if possible, win a gold medal,” read the entry. But immediately self-consciousness set in. Looking back now it is easily diagnosable. “Teenage girls don’t necessarily have the most belief in ourselves and I got very embarrassed,” she says. “I kinda thought ‘That was a really cocky, arrogant thing to have written’. Back then, on a good day I wasn’t capsizing. I ripped the page out and threw it in the bin.”
Chinese swimmer says doping testers part of ‘European and American’ plot
Daniel Boffey
A world record holding Chinese swimmer has accused doping testers at the Olympic Games of being part of a “European and American” plot to unsettle China’s team.
Qin Haiyang, who holds the record for the men’s 200m breaststroke and is seen as one of Adam Peaty’s main obstacles to claim a three-peat in the 100m, claimed on social media that the vigorous testing of Chinese athletes at the Paris Games was an attempt to disturb their rhythm.
“Is anyone running a book on the viewing figures for the Opening Ceremony?” emails Gary Naylor. “Like Eurovision Song Contests, this metric only comes in billions. One feels a bit 20th century, three feels a bit Trumpian, so will M. Macron settle for a comfortable two billion? I suspect so.”
This sort of talk always reminds me of the superb opening to Simon Kuper’s 1994 book, “Football Against the Enemy”. (Figures right/wrong at time of writing):
“No one knows how many football fans there are. World Cup USA 1994, Inc has put out a booklet claiming the TV audience for the Italian World Cup was 25.6billion (five times the world’s population) and that 31 billion are expected to watch the American World Cup.”
Emma Hayes will lead the US women’s national football team into competitive action for the first time at the Games. The early signs are encouraging, writes Alexander Abnos:
Note, I mentioned the opening ceremony starts at 7pm BST: but it seems it’s actually 6.30pm. I wouldn’t want you to miss the start.
French rail network hit by arson attacks before Olympics opening ceremony
From Angelique Chrisafis in Paris: an updated story on the arson attacks on France’s high-speed rail network:
“France’s high-speed rail network has been hit by coordinated “malicious acts” including arson attacks that have brought major disruption to many of the country’s busiest rail lines hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.”
“France is Édith Piaf, it’s also opera, it’s rap, it’s a whole range of musical styles,” said Thomas Jolly, creative director of the opening and closing ceremonies. “France is cheese, but it’s also the pretzel, and it’s also couscous.”
A snippet there from Simon Burnton’s day-by-day guide to the best bits in Paris in the coming days and weeks:
Cath Bishop
British rowing at the Olympics used to be all about the men’s coxless four who maintained an incredible winning streak across five Olympics over two decades. That chain was broken painfully at Tokyo in 2021. At the time, some interpreted this as symptomatic of a crisis in the British rowing team that won just two medals: one silver, one bronze. Yet just three years later that break seems to have liberated the team from a legacy that had become more of a burden than advantage and kickstarted some overdue modernisation. This summer, it’s genuinely difficult to say which is our “top boat” because there is a broader spread of talent across boat classes than there has ever been.
Here’s your regular reminder to bookmark the schedule, results, medal table, and even our 2024 Olympics homepage.
Meanwhile – from last month – here’s Barney Ronay on why contributing something for our efforts is a wonderful idea and will make you an all-round better person.
What’s occurring today?
Not very much until the opening ceremony, beginning at 6.30pm BST.
On the official Olympics website schedule, there are three events listed for this morning: 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Pre-Event Training (8am), 10m Air Pistol Men’s Pre-Event Training (9am), and 10m Air Pistol Women’s Pre-Event Training (10.45am). All distinctly missable.
Tumaini Carayol
The last time Simone Biles attempted to vault in a competition arena at the Olympic Games, all hell broke loose. As Biles launched herself into her extremely difficult Amanar vault, she completely lost track of herself in the air, only managing one and a half twists instead of the planned two and a half. After withdrawing from the team final, Biles would spend most of her Olympic experience in the stands.
Three years on, Biles returned to the Olympic competition floor on Thursday morning as the women’s gymnastics teams worked their way through podium training, the one chance gymnasts will have to train inside the Bercy Arena before the gymnastics competitions begin with the men’s qualifications on Saturday.
Canada football coach removed from Games amid claims of ‘previous drone use’
The Canadian Olympic Committee has removed women’s national football head coach Bev Priestman for the remainder of the Paris Games following an alleged drone spying scandal.
The COC said in a statement released early Friday that assistant coach Andy Spence would lead the defending gold medallists for the remainder of the tournament.
Simone Biles is known for her high-flying, boundary-pushing gymnastics skills, but she can be just as impressive off the competition mat in support for fellow athletes.
Biles helped German gymnasts snag seats on a packed bus to the Bercy Arena on Thursday when non-athletes intended to remain in their seats for the 45-minute ride. The arena is where the Paris 2024 gymnastics events are being held.
“Not only standing up for herself and her mental health but also fighting for us to get a seat (on) the overly packed bus toward the arena,” German Sarah Voss, 24, posted on Instagram following Thursday’s podium practice.
The two-times Olympian Voss’s story showed a photo of a custom, heart-shaped pin adorned with Biles’ signature. Trading pins at the Olympic Games has become customary among athletes, volunteers and other participants as a gesture of friendship and camaraderie.
Voss’s teammate, the three-times Olympian Pauline Schaefer-Betz, also posted a story this week after receiving Biles’ pin. “This one is special,” wrote 27-year-old Schaefer-Betz, who with Voss has been setting gymnastics trends by wearing full-length unitards for comfort and modesty.
Biles may be the most decorated gymnast on the world stage, but has battled mental health issues and uses her experiences to inspire and support other athletes. The 27-year-old’s empathy was on display last month when the reigning Olympic all-around champion, Sunisa Lee, was producing a shaky performance at US national championships. Biles pulled Lee aside and gave her a pep talk.
“She understands more than anyone the pressure and has had to deal with the worst, so it really helped to have her in my corner,” Lee, 21, said of Biles after the competition. Reuters
The five-times Olympic gold medal winner Laura Kenny – a Guardian columnist for Paris 2024 – answers your questions on how to get back into cycling, her favourite other sports, and when she realised she was the fastest in the world
(I guess that surreal image below, of the artwork reproduction in the river, is not part of the opening ceremony, otherwise organisers wouldn’t allow it to be photographed. But there it is anyway.)
No fewer than 288 hair and makeup artists will be on duty for tonight’s opening ceremony.
Here is David Hills with five things to look out for:
Vandals target France’s high-speed rail network
Vandals targeted France’s high-speed TGV network with a series of coordinated actions that brought major disruption to some of the country’s busiest rail lines before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
The state-owned railway operator said arsonists had targeted installations along the lines connecting Paris with the country’s west, north and east and that traffic would be severely disrupted during the weekend.
“Last night, the SNCF was victim of several acts of vandalism on the Atlantic, Northern and Eastern high-speed lines. Fires were deliberately set to damage our installations,” the SNCF said in a statement.
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra condemned the vandalism. “It’s completely appalling,” she told BFMTV. “To target the games is to target France.”. Reuters
“France’s live-action experiment in the great man theory of history is going to roll on into the semi-finals on Saturday, where they will play South Africa.”
Andy Bull was at the Stade de France last night to witness Antoine Dupont steering the hosts through to the semi-finals in rugby sevens:
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Friday’s 2024 Olympics live blog.
It’s time for lift-off in Paris, as Angelique Chrisafis reports from the French capital:
“It is billed as the biggest open-air show on Earth – a spectacle so ambitious it will shut down a city centre and its airspace, mobilise 45,000 police and several army units and has taken two years to rehearse in secret.
When the Paris Olympics opening ceremony begins on Friday night, it will be the first time the theatrical curtain-raiser for the world’s biggest sporting event has taken place outside a stadium.”
