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Olympic medalist Simone Biles is on another level — it's hard to argue against it. Biles has brought a daring and innovative approach to gymnastics, continuously working to elevate the standard for the sport as a whole. Most recently, in late July, Biles made an official submission to the FIG Women's Technical Committee for a new element on the uneven bars to be named after her, according to the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). The skill comprises of a clear hip circle with 1.5 turns, or precisely 540 degrees, transitioning into a handstand. The skill is a variation of an element performed by Canadian gymnast, Wilhelm Weiler, and Biles has completed the move throughout her career. Although exact details are uncertain, there is considerable speculation that Biles will perform the new element at the start of her uneven bars routine in Paris.
After review from the FIG, the committee has deemed it a difficulty value of "E" on a scale from "A" to "J" which means, if performed successfully, Biles could be awarded 0.5 points in difficulty. Almost surprisingly enough, out of all of the gymnastics events, uneven bars is actually considered the weakest event for Biles. So what does Biles need to do to have the move officially named after her? Biles would have to perform it with her technical capacity, and without major fault, in at least one phase of her competitive time at the Olympic games in Paris.
Simone Biles has submitted an original skill on the Uneven Bars! 🚨#Paris2024 | #Gymnastics pic.twitter.com/OSaQCouvId
— FIG (@gymnastics) July 26, 2024
The four-time gold medalist is no stranger to having gymnastics moves named after her, though. The decorated gymnast has five elements named after her already, consisting of two tumbling skills performed for her floor routine, two vaults (yes — including that incredible Yurchenko Double Pike which is even more impressive in slo-mo), and a dismount on balance beam. While practicing in Paris before her official competition.
There is only one Olympic gymnast to have more skills than Biles named after them: the now-retired Nellie Kim of URS, a retired Soviet and Belarusian. Kim has a total of seven skills named after her.
Biles isn't the only athlete this year to bid for potential new skills this year. Hailing from São Paulo, Brazil, and defending her gold medal from the 2021 Tokyo Games, Rebeca Andrade is slated to attempt a new vault. That said, the acclaimed athlete won't be attempting just any vault, Andrade will potentially perform one of the hardest iterations: a whopping 1080 degree Yurchenko triple twist, per the FIG. The triple is described as a roundoff onto the springboard, followed by a back handspring onto the vault, launching into a back somersault with three twists before concluding. Also, from the Netherlands, gymnasts Naomi Visser and Lieke Wevers are touted to perform a new skill for floor exercise: a triple-turn with the leg positioned horizontally. If both gymnasts successfully perform the skill during the 2024 Games, it will be named after both Visser and Wevers.
We'll be standing by with bated breath to see if Biles and the other gymnasts successfully complete their skills. Even if Biles doesn't, she is an undeniably dominant force for the sport of gymnastics, pushing to exceed her limits and inspiring the next generation of athletes each time she competes. This year at the Paris Games is no exception.
Before they stood with their arms wrapped around each other in a brotherhood forever etched into U.S. Olympic lore, Brody Malone, Frederick Richard, Asher Hong, Paul Juda and Stephen Nedoroscik were collegians.
Yes, the dreams the members of the U.S. men’s gymnastics team had fostered since childhood began in small gyms scattered across the country. But they became tangible at Stanford, Michigan and Penn State.
So when it was time for those dreams to become fully, vividly realized inside a raucous Bercy Arena on Monday night, they leaned on the experiences they gained during all those meets in all those sometimes sparsely filled gyms that taught them about pressure and teamwork and belief.
Yes, the bronze medal the Americans so emphatically earned ended a 16-year drought on the sport’s biggest stage.
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Yet it was also a message to athletic directors at the dozen schools that still have Division I gymnastics — and to be honest, to the ones that don’t, too — that the sport is worth saving.
“If you want to keep seeing USA Gymnastics and Team USA on a gymnastics podium, at least on the men’s side, you’re going to have to give us more opportunities to compete in college,” said Juda, who is in graduate school at Michigan.
Opportunities that are in danger of vanishing quickly thanks to a rapidly evolving college sports landscape. It’s a reality the five men who stood on the podium with their arms around each other are only too aware of.
Richard, a rising junior at Michigan, has made it his life’s mission to bring more people to a side of the sport that — at least in the U.S. anyway — has long plugged along anonymously.
And while he’s carved out a rapidly expanding niche on social media, Richard is savvy enough to understand the one thing guaranteed to attract people to men’s gymnastics isn’t a viral video, but hardware like the medal he kept grabbing in the giddy aftermath.
“My goal even here was to make a statement that the U.S. is getting stronger and stronger and we’re only (going up),” Richard said. “And I think we did that today. I think a lot of young boys watching are inspired by us.”
That’s the way it was for Richard as a kid in the Boston suburbs. There were pictures on the wall at the gym of the medal-winning 2004 and 2008 U.S. men’s Olympic teams. Richard would stare at the pictures and wonder how those teams put all the pieces together.
“It looks like they all came together on the same day and just did like these perfect routines,” Richard said. “And you’re like, how is that possible?”
Richard found out firsthand.
The Americans didn’t record a major fall during any of their 18 routines in the final and finished closer to second-place China than fourth-place Britain. They leaned into the energy from a vocal contingent of U.S. fans that offered a hint of what it might look like in Los Angeles four years from now.
Mostly, however, they leaned on each other and their experiences to shake off an iffy qualifying session on Saturday in which they finished a sloppy fifth.
“We just told each other we were gonna treat it like an NCAA championships because we’ve all been there,” Malone said. “And it’s high pressure competing for a team. And it’s no different this competition. I mean yeah, this one’s a little bit different, a little bit bigger. But same concept.”
With perhaps a much more impactful result.
Nedoroscik is 26. Malone is 24. Juda is 23. Hong and Richard are 20. There is a feeling of real momentum within the U.S. men’s program for the first time in a while. Yet to keep it going, the pipeline behind them needs to keep churning.
There was a sense in the 2010s that the U.S. had grown stale in part because those at the core group at the top grew a little too comfortable due in part to a lack of competition from those trying to catch them.
Sam Mikulak went to three Olympics with teams that had considerable talent. He never came home with a medal, though on Monday night he was chatting with Nedoroscik as he prepared for his pommel horse set that served as the exclamation point.
While they talked, Mikulak told Nedoroscik to stay calm, that 80 percent of his best would be good enough. To soak in a moment Mikulak dreamed of but never quite grasped.
And when Nedoroscik gracefully swooped from one end of the horse to the other, his hands working dutifully in tandem on an event that has given the Americans fits for years, the bronze that felt in some ways like gold was won.
Standing there in the aftermath, Mikulak couldn’t help but speculate about what might lie ahead.
“I think the guys are going to be hungry for more,” he said. “And hopefully this spurs men’s gymnastics in the US like never before.”
Swimming’s next generation of stars claimed the spotlight at the Paris Olympics on Monday night, a brash group that comes from all over the globe.
Summer McIntosh, the 17-year-old phenom from Canada.
David Popovici, a 19-year-old from Romania.
Mollie O’Callaghan, a 20-year-old speedster who took down her mighty Australian teammate, Ariarne Titmus.
Throw in an Italian gold medalist, and another from South Africa, and it was clear that swimming’s reach stretches far beyond the traditional powerhouse, the United States. In all, 10 different nations divvied up 15 medals on this night.
Sure, the Americans collected some hardware on Day 3 at La Defense Arena. But it was all silver and bronze, with longtime stalwarts such as Ryan Murphy and Lilly King touching behind other nations.
McIntosh claimed the first gold medal of her rapidly blossoming career with a dominating victory in the 400-meter individual medley.
Popovici won a stirring duel to take the men’s 200 freestyle, which featured three different leaders on the final lap.
Then perhaps the biggest surprise of all: Titmus, the world-record holder and defending gold medalist in the women’s 200 free, was knocked off by O’Callaghan.
Titmus, who had started the games with a dominant victory in the 400 freestyle, could only stand off to the side this time, applauding her teammate’s come-from-behind victory.
McIntosh seemed to take it all in stride. Maybe it’s because she competed at the Tokyo Olympics at age 14, so she sort of feels like a veteran now.
“Every single time I get to race on the world stage, I learn more and more about handling it mentally and physically and emotionally and trying not to get too high or too low,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh collected her first medal of any color on the opening night of swimming, taking a silver in the 400 free behind Titmus — and ahead of Katie Ledecky.
Now, McIntosh has the most prized color of all.
“I try to take every event very individually and just do my work, but starting off for me — getting on the podium — is definitely a great way to start,” McIntosh said. “You try to continue to get better and better.”
She pushed the pace hard through the first half of the grueling race — the butterfly and backstroke legs — to leave everyone in her wake except American Katie Grimes.
McIntosh was under her own world-record pace, but couldn’t keep it going. She touched in 4 minutes, 27.71 seconds, more than three seconds off the mark of 4:24.38 she set at the Canadian trials in May.
But it was more than enough to blow away the field in the Olympic final.
She’s got a grueling schedule in Paris which includes two more individual races — the 200 butterfly and 200 IM.
There are no plans to celebrate just yet.
“I mean, obviously I’m super happy with this gold,” McIntosh said. “But now I’m all about the 200 fly on day five.”
Grimes, who is also swimming the open water event in Paris, held on to claim the silver in 4:33.40. The Americans also grabbed the bronze when Emma Weyant touched in 4:34.93.
Another teen rules
Popovici made the teenagers 2-for-2 on the night, and it took everything he had.
After the final flip, American Luke Hobson edged in front. Then Britain’s Matthew Richards, out in Lane 1, pushed to the lead. Finally, it was Popovici getting to the wall first in 1:44.72 -- a mere two-hundredths ahead of Richards, with Hobson just 0.07 back to earn the bronze.
Britain’s Duncan Scott, the silver medalist in Tokyo three years ago, finished in 1:44.87 to miss out on the podium this time. The top four were separated by a mere 0.15 seconds.
The new ‘Terminator’
Titmus, the Australian star known as “The Terminator,” was heavily favored in the 200 free, especially after setting a world record last month at the Australian trials and knocking off a stellar field in the 400 free.
But she couldn’t hold off O’Callaghan, who was fifth at the halfway point and third on the final flip. The youngster surged past both Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong and Titmus on the final 50 for an Olympic-record time of 1:53.27.
Titmus slipped to the silver in 1:53.81, while Haughey held on for bronze in 1:54.55.
Gold for Italy, again
Thomas Ceccon gave Italy its second gold in as many nights at La Defense Arena, rallying to win the men’s 100 backstroke.
China’s Xu Jiayu led at the turn, just ahead of Murphy — the 2016 gold medalist. Ceccon was third, but he switched to another gear on the return lap.
The Italian, who has held the world record since the 2022 world championships in Budapest, now has a gold medal to go with it after finishing in 52.00.
Xu claimed the silver (52.32), while the 29-year-old Murphy settled for the bronze for the second Olympics in a row at 52.39.
Ceccon followed the lead of Nicolo Martinenghi, who grabbed Italy’s first gold at the pool with a victory in the 100 breaststroke Sunday night.
South African triumph
Tatjana Smith gave South Africa its first swimming gold of the games with a victory in the women’s 100 breaststroke.
She held off China’s Tang Qianting with a time of 1:05.28, while the silver medalist touched in 1:05.54.
It was quite a race for the bronze, which went to Ireland’s Mona McSharry in 1:05.59 — a hundredth of a second ahead of King and Italy’s Benedetta Pilato, who tied for fourth.
King, who has said this will be her final Olympics, was denied the sixth medal of her career.
Looking ahead
In the only semifinals of the night, Australia’s Kaylee McKeown and Regan Smith of the U.S. set up a much-anticipated duel in the women’s 100 backstroke.
They each won their heats, with Smith posting the fastest time (57.97) and McKeown right on her heels (57.99).
McKeown is the reigning Olympic champion and former world-record holder — a mark that Smith snatched away with a time of 57.13 at the U.S. trials last month.
A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Brittney Griner dominated the paint and helped the U.S. win its Olympic opener as the Americans chase an unprecedented eighth straight gold medal.
Wilson had 24 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots to help the U.S. beat Japan 102-76 on Monday night.
“Points in the paint and controlling the boards are going to be huge for us moving forward,” Wilson said. “So if we can continue that, I feel like we’re in good shape.”
Stewart scored 22 points and the Americans now have a 56-game Olympic winning streak that dates to the 1992 Barcelona Games.
The U.S. also beat Japan in the final at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago for its seventh straight gold medal.
Now Monday’s victory tipped off the run to keep that streak going.
“We played this team for a gold medal, you know, not too long ago. And the way they play is unorthodox. They shoot a lot of threes. They’re fast. They make you play in a different style,” said Diana Taurasi, who is trying to win an unprecedented sixth gold medal. “And I think you saw those different moments where we struggled a little bit, and then we got used to it.”
Stewart, who is playing in her third Olympics, said there were some nerves before the game.
“It was great to get this first win under our belt. A team like Japan is a dangerous team if you really let them get going and us to just kind of build that trust on the fly I think is really important,” Stewart said. “And now we kind of know the tone and the standard of, you know, what we’re going to do game in and game out.”
Japan, which was severely undersized against the U.S., used its frenetic style of shooting 3s off drives to the basket to try and keep the game close.
It worked for about 17 minutes as Japan only trailed 37-32 with 3:01 left before the half. The U.S. then scored 13 of the final 19 points before break, including a three-point play by Wilson with 8.2 seconds left to open up a double-digit lead.
“When it came to our strengths, it was our depth and our height,” Wilson said. “And we tried to punish them in the paint, but also on the defensive end, staying in front of them because Japan is a team that’s really like to rip and run and that’s not like us. So it made us play out of our defensive schemes, which made us lock in even more so I’m just glad about the presence that we have.”
The Americans, who next play on Thursday against Belgium, put the game away in the third quarter. Chelsea Gray had nifty passes to Wilson for easy scores and the U.S. was off and running. Japan never threatened.
Maki Takada scored 24 points, and Mai Yamamoto added 17 for Japan, which hit 15 3-pointers. The U.S. made only four of its 20 3-point attempts.
This was Griner’s first game internationally since she spent time in a Russian prison in 2022 after she was sentenced to nine years in jail for drug possession and smuggling. Playing for her country again was a far-fetched idea at that point. Ten months later, she was free after a high-profile prisoner exchange.
Now, 19 months later, she’s suiting up for the U.S. in the Paris Games — her first trip to play overseas since returning from Russia.
Griner was huge in the 2021 gold medal game, scoring 30 points. It was the most points scored by an American player in a gold medal contest.
She had 11 points and nine rebounds Monday. With Wilson grabbing 13, the Americans had a dominating 56-27 advantage on the boards. They also held a huge 64-22 edge on points inside.
Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plum each added 11 points for the Americans.
The U.S. had a scary moment in the second quarter when Kahleah Copper collided with Rui Machida on Japan and was down for a minute before getting up and walking off and holding her side. She returned in the fourth quarter and looked fine.
Coach Cheryl Reeve said she talked to Copper before putting her back in and the wing said she was fine.
The game capped a busy day of basketball. Nigeria pulled off a surprise victory over Australia — only the second in the history of the Olympics for an African country. Germany won its Olympic debut, beating Belgium and host France topped Canada in front of a spirited crowd.
Novak Djokovic, who won, and Rafael Nadal, who lost, met at the net and hugged after playing at the Paris Olympics in the 60th — and quite possibly last — installment of a record-breaking and often riveting rivalry between two tennis greats who share a mutual respect if not a close friendship.
This 6-1, 6-4 victory for Djokovic came in only the second round of the Summer Games — instead of a Grand Slam final, like nine previous head-to-head encounters — and it was not the most scintillating contest, either, other than for a 20-minute interlude in the second set, when Nadal’s final push made things briefly competitive after he ceded 10 of the initial 11 games.
Afterward, neither Nadal, who is 38, nor Djokovic, 37, was willing to concede they won’t play each other again, even if that seems likely. Nadal certainly seems as if he could be close to retirement; he’s had two injury-filled seasons, needed hip surgery a little more than a year ago, and spoke in 2023 about 2024 being his farewell.
But he’s not done at these Olympics, pairing with Carlos Alcaraz in doubles for Spain, and said Monday he’s a bit tired of getting asked every day about his future.
“I cannot live every single day with the feeling that it’s going to be, or not going to be, my last match. I come here, I try my best, I play. And when I decide to stop playing, or when I decide to keep going, I will let you know. I don’t know,” Nadal said. “If I feel that I am not competitive enough to keep going or physically I am not … ready to keep going, I will stop, and I will let you know.”
What was clear for the first 1 1/2 hours against Djokovic is that Nadal was diminished, nowhere near the skilled and ever-hustling version of himself that won a record 14 French Open trophies on the same red clay at Roland Garros that is hosting Summer Games matches.
He acknowledged as much after leaving Court Philippe Chatrier, where fans repeatedly tried to encourage him with chants of “Ra-fa! Ra-fa!”
“Playing against Novak without creating damage to him, and without having the legs of 20 years ago, is almost impossible,” said Nadal, whose right thigh has been taped up for all of his matches in Paris.
Djokovic was asked whether this might mark the end of head-to-head competition between the pair.
“Of course it can be, but we don’t know that. It really depends on many different factors,” the Serbian said. “I just hope for the sake of our rivalry, and the sport, in general, that we’ll get to face each other once, maybe a few times, on different surfaces, in different parts of the world, because I feel like it can only benefit the sport. But I don’t know how he feels in his body, what his plans are.”
Djokovic owns 24 Grand Slam titles, and Nadal 22, the two highest men’s totals in the century-plus history of the sport. Both have been ranked No. 1, and no pair of men has played each other more often in the professional era. They are two-thirds of the so-called Big Three of men’s tennis, along with Roger Federer, who retired with 20 Slam titles, a cohort that enjoyed unprecedented success and prompted endless debates about which is the “GOAT” — “Greatest of All Time.”
But Nadal, a gold medalist in singles and doubles at past Olympics, and Djokovic, who says adding a gold to his otherwise glittering resume is a priority, are accustomed to meeting — and fans are accustomed to watching them — in the latter stages of events. It happened much earlier this time because while Djokovic is the top seed at the Olympics, Nadal’s ranking is outside the top 150 on account of a lack of matches.
The place was packed, from the press seats where there was jostling for space, to the highest spots in the upper deck, for what felt like a historic occasion. Rapper Snoop Dogg sat beside tennis icon Billie Jean King; Vogue editor Anna Wintour was with film director Baz Luhrmann.
“You could feel the tension coming into the match, but also incredible hype, incredible atmosphere,” Djokovic said. “There was a lot of interest for this match. People wanted to see it live. People wanted to see it on the TV, as well. I was just very proud to be part of this match.”
After a ho-hum stretch, the indefatigable Nadal finally got going, transforming it into something competitive, which surely no one — least of all Djokovic — found too surprising.
“If you give him time, he can hurt you. We know that. I’ve experienced that in the past,” Djokovic said. “I started to hesitate a little on my shot. He stepped in. The crowd got involved.”
Nadal captured four consecutive games in the second set, including a forehand winner to break to make it 4-all. He raised his left fist, drawing roars from the stands.
That, though, is when Djokovic regained control. He broke right back, then pointed to his left ear while walking to the sideline as if to taunt Nadal’s supporters, and served out the victory.
Part of Nadal’s troubles Monday were caused by not being in tip-top shape. And part of the problem, to be sure, was that Djokovic was mostly the best version of himself, striking the ball crisply, putting it right where he wanted and occasionally using drop shots to set up winners and force Nadal to run a lot.
Djokovic wore a gray sleeve on his right knee, just as he did while making it to the final at Wimbledon three weeks ago. He tore his meniscus during the French Open in early June and had surgery in Paris.
None of that mattered on this warm afternoon under a cloudless sky, with the temperature in the 80s Fahrenheit. Folks in the stands waved fans in an attempt to stay cool; both players wore cold white towels around their necks during changeovers.
“He played much better than me,” Nadal said, "(from) the beginning to the end.”
Coco Gauff is making it look easy at the Paris Olympics so far, adding a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina in the second round of singles Monday to her growing collection of lopsided results.
So what if Gauff had more than twice as many unforced errors, 26, as winners, 11? So what if she only put 55% of her first serves in play? So what if she wound up with six double-faults and zero aces?
So what if it took nearly 1 1/2 hours for the reigning U.S. Open champion and No. 2-ranked Gauff to finish off an opponent who is ranked 85th, has never won a tour-level singles title and owns an 0-2 career record at Grand Slam tournaments?
“You can’t argue with the scoreline, to be honest,” the 20-year-old American said.
Sure can’t.
Look at what she’s managed to do so far at her first Olympics: Not only is Gauff 3-0 across singles and women’s doubles, where her partner is Jessica Pegula, but she has dropped a combined total of only nine games across six sets in those three matches.
“I knew that she was just going to probably try to out-rally me, which I feel like is one of my strengths. But also I had the ability to be aggressive,” Gauff said about the matchup with Carle, someone she was familiar with from their days as junior players. “So I think I was just trying to balance the mistakes and not let her win a lot of points off my racket.”
Her match was played at Court Suzanne Lenglen at the same time that, across the way at Court Philippe Chatrier, Novak Djokovic was beating Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in the 60th head-to-head matchup between two rivals with 46 Grand Slam titles between them.
Gauff said she was “kind of sad” that she missed the chance to watch a contest between two players who “mean a lot” to their sport.
Men moving into the third round included Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands 6-1, 7-6 (3) on Monday night. Alcaraz needed a medical timeout for treatment from a trainer for a groin muscle issue in the second set, then was a point from getting pushed to a third, but finished the job.
“It’s a pain that I’ve been dealing with,” Alcaraz said, mentioning that it bothered him during his run to the Wimbledon championship this month. “I know what I have to do ... to deal with this pain.”
Alcaraz, a 21-year-old who also won the French Open in June for one of his four Grand Slam titles, is scheduled to team with Nadal in doubles for Spain on Tuesday against Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof.
“I will try to recover as soon and as (best) as I can tonight,” Alcaraz said, “to be ... 100% tomorrow in my doubles.”
Other winners were Casper Ruud of Norway and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who both have reached French Open finals.
In other action around the same facility used for the French Open, where Nadal won 14 of his 22 major championships, three-time major champion Angelique Kerber was a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 winner against Jaqueline Adina Cristian of Romania, and Wimbledon champ Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini of Italy advanced in straight sets.
Gauff’s American teammates Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro both won, but the fifth-seeded Pegula was eliminated from singles 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 by Tokyo Games bronze medalist Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the day’s last match. Collins eliminated 2018 Australian Open title winner Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Gauff, Collins and Navarro give the United States three women in the third round of Olympics singles for the first time since 2004, when Venus Williams, Lisa Raymond and Chanda Rubin did it at the Athens Games.
The next opponent for Gauff will be Donna Vekic, a Croatian who was a semifinalist at Wimbledon a little more than two weeks ago and got past 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada 6-3, 6-4 on Monday.
Gauff vs. Vekic was scheduled for Tuesday, as was the first-round match for Gauff and Taylor Fritz in mixed doubles.
Gauff is hoping to win three medals at these Games — in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988, no player has ever left a single Games with medals from three events.
On Monday, Gauff was not at all concerned by the heat, which rose into the 80s Fahrenheit for the first time during the Paris Olympics.
Being from Florida means that sort of thing is not a big deal to Gauff, although she made some concessions, wearing ice-filled towels to cool off during changeovers and taking an ice bath after the match.
“I’m just trying my best to be preventative before maybe I feel fatigue and everything,” Gauff said. “Obviously, my last two matches, I went quick. So I’m just trying to think for the future, towards the end of the tournament.”