The first Monday of the 2024 Paris Olympics will see plenty of medals awarded and familiar names competing.
Roland Garros will feature some of the biggest names in tennis, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic meeting for the 60th time — a record for head-to-head matches between two men in the sport’s Open era, which began in 1968. Additionally, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula will compete in the second round of singles Monday.
Meanwhile, swimmers ranging from Australia’s Ariarne Titmus to Team USA’s Ryan Murphy will continue to make a splash as five medal events will take place at La Defense Arena.
Led by two-time WNBA MVPs A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, the U.S. women’s basketball team opens its pursuit of a record eighth straight gold medal against Japan. The U.S. women are on a 55-game Olympic winning streak and haven’t lost since 1992.
Keep an eye on these athletes and events Monday:
Top events to watch
7:30 a.m. ET (approximate time, second on Philippe Chatrier): Tennis (men’s singles second round), Novak Djokovic (Serbia) vs. Rafael Nadal (Spain)
7:30 a.m. ET (approximate time, second on Suzanne Lenglen): Tennis (women’s singles second round), Maria Lourdes Carle (Argentina) vs. Coco Gauff (USA)
11:30 a.m. ET: Artistic gymnastics (men’s team final)
2:30 p.m. ET: Swimming, 400m IM (women’s final); 200m freestyle (men’s/women’s final); 100m breaststroke (women’s final); 100m backstroke (men’s final)
3:30 p.m. ET: Women’s basketball, USA vs. Japan
A full list of the Monday schedule can be found here.
Nigeria stuns Australia in Paris debut
Nigeria women’s basketball pulled off one of the first major upsets of the Games with a 75-62 win over Australia, notching their second Olympic victory and first since 2004 when they beat South Korea. Led by Ezinne Kalu’s 19 points, Nigeria went on an 11-0 run to go into intermission, giving them a 13-point lead, but the game came down to turnovers. Australia allowed 26 points from Nigeria after turning over the ball an equal amount of times.
Tom Daley makes history in British Olympic diving
Tom Daley and Noah Williams delivered a silver medal in the men’s 10-meter synchronized diving with a score of 463.44 for Great Britain, falling just short of China’s Junjie Lian and Hao Yang for a gold medal. Daley secured his fifth Olympic medal and fourth successful Games appearance (including a gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics), making him the most decorated British diver in Olympic history. He did it all with his No. 1 fan — his son — in attendance.
An unforgettable father-son moment. 🫶 #ParisOlympics
📺 E! and Peacock pic.twitter.com/JF4Awnvbdd
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2024
USA men’s gymnastics returns to action
Team USA hasn’t won a team medal in men’s gymnastics since the 2008 Olympics, with this year’s squad looking to snap that drought in the men’s team final at 11:30 a.m. ET. Team USA finished fifth in the qualification round, but hope remains that the team can rally around the likes of Stephen Nedoroscik (who tied for the top score in individual pommel horse qualification) and Fred Richard (who led all Americans with a 10th-place finish in the individual all-around qualifier). — READ MORE on Fred Richard from Andscape.
World-record chase comes down to the wire
Katharine Berkoff finishes less than ONE SECOND away from the world record in the 100m backstroke prelim. 🤯🇺🇸 #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/jOiU91wfAe
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) July 29, 2024
Katharine Berkoff powered her way to first place in her 100-meter backstroke preliminary heat, with perhaps the most thrilling element of the competition being her photo finish against the standing world record (as well as Olympic record) in the race. Berkoff, the only competitor in the preliminary races to turn in a time under 58 seconds, came within a second of breaking the world record.
Medals awarded Monday:
Shooting Women’s 10m Air Pistol: Gold: Ban Hyo-jin, South Korea, Silver: Huang Yuting, China Bronze: Audrey Gogniat Switzerland
Shooting Men’s 10m Air Rifle: Gold: Sheng Lihao, China Silver: Victor Lindgren, Sweden Bronze: Miran Maricic, Croatia
