Biles bounces back in style

Simone Biles persisted despite a niggly calf injury to inspire the United States to victory in the women’s team gymnastics event as the first leg of her comeback tour began with a fifth Olympic gold in France.

Biles pulled out of the last Games, in Tokyo, three years ago, suffering from the ‘twisties’ - dangerously losing her orientation in mid-air. But despite her troublesome calf, the tiny genius led her team to victory on Tuesday in Paris.

For the world’s most decorated gymnast it is a first Olympic gold since Rio 2016. Fellow American greats like Serena Williams and Michael Phelps cheered in the packed Bercy Arena as Biles’ stunning Taylor Swift-inspired floor routine sealed gold for her and team-mates Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera.

Italy took silver and Brazil claimed bronze for their first medal in the event, while Great Britain came a close fourth.

Biles, 27, made an instant impact on her Olympic return to earn her spot in three apparatus finals and also helped to send the US into the team final as top qualifiers.

And on Tuesday the momentum continued as the Americans reclaimed the title they had lost to the Russian Olympic Committee at Tokyo 2020 in a final from which Biles pulled out of to protect her mental and physical health.

She then withdrew from several other finals before returning to win bronze on the beam. She took two years out before returning last year in preparation for Paris with even more skills in her repertoire.

Receiving her medal on top of the podium, eight years after she was last there, Biles beamed as she waved to the crowd. With four more finals still to come, she will probably be there again.

French swimmer Leon Marchand is being hailed as the new Michael Phelps. High expectations indeed. But every time Marchand‘s head popped out of the water on the breaststroke leg of the men’s 400 metres individual medal final, the home crowd’s screams rose to meet him. The atmosphere in the arena was electric, reaching a crescendo when he inevitably clearly won.

For months, Marchand, who hails from Toulouse, has been heralded as the face of the Games for the host nation. Coupled with the dramatic increase in attention that swimming gets during the Olympics, it’s landed a different kind of pressure on the 22-year-old’s shoulders. In the Paris streets, fans are walking around with Marchand face cut-outs. There was a deep queue to get into La Défense for that evening’s session and the crowd even spontaneously sang the French anthem before the session began.

Marchand, the son of two French Olympic swimmers, first burst on the scene two years ago. He arrived at the 2023 World Championships expected to erase Phelps’ 400 IM world record. Marchand duly broke the world record in 4 minutes 02.50 seconds. He followed up with two more golds (200 fly, 200 IM) and was again named the Male Swimmer of the Meet.

Coming into these Games, Marchand answered the pressure in style. He blazed to victory in the men’s 400 IM, making the first Olympic medal of his career gold. He touched the wall at 4:02.95, taking down Phelps’ Olympic record from 2008.

After the race, he returned the love to the crowd. “The atmosphere was amazing, I don’t know how to explain it,” he said. “I had goose bumps before, and during the race too…that was special and winning today was really amazing for me.”

Meanwhile, New Zealand retained their women’s rugby sevens Olympic crown with a 19-12 win against Canada. Canada led 12-7 at half-time but the reigning champions fought back with tries from Michaela Blyde and Stacey Waaka.

It is the Black Ferns’ third rugby sevens Olympic medal after also securing silver at Rio 2016. The USA took bronze - their first Olympic rugby sevens medal - by beating Australia 14-12.

With Australia closing in on victory, the USA’s Alex Sedrick broke away from the defence to level the scores with a try before clinching the game with a conversion.

Sadly though for Coco Gauff, she was left in tears after getting into an extended argument with the chair umpire during her loss to Donna Vekic at the Roland Garros.

Gauff, the reigning US Open singles champion, was trailing in the second set of her 7-6, 6-2 loss when she tangled with the umpire.

Gauff hit a serve and Vekic’s return landed near the baseline. A line judge initially called Vekic’s shot out, and Gauff did not keep the ball in play. Chair umpire Jaume Campistol thought Vekic’s shot landed in and awarded her the point, giving the Croatian a service break and a 4-2 lead.

Gauff walked over to talk to the official and play was delayed for several minutes as they argued. But despite correctly explaining that she deserved the point to be played again, the umpire refused.

The American was seeded second in the women’s singles in Paris and easily won her first two matches, dropping a total of just five games. But the 20-year-old’s first Olympic singles tournament ended in tears. At least she is still in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles.