Simone Biles performed a unique floor routine in front of Bill Gates, Gianni Infantino, Serena Williams, and Spike Lee in the women’s Artistic Gymnastics Team final. The logistics of competition left Biles with one final act to stop the show, as she had three years since Tokyo and The Breakdown. The performance was a spectacle that left Biles dancing in front of the world.
Paris 2024 knew what it was getting with these gymnastics, a spectacle that would play out, as it did here, like a cross between the Super Bowl, Vegas and a Marvel movie. Mainly it was getting America: American flash, American show, American story-telling, the key event in a Games that has for many editions now been powered by US TV money and US sport tourism. Frankly, there haven’t been this many Americans in Paris since 1945.
Simone Biles Win Gold
And of course Paris was getting the Biles-industrial complex, the Biles narrative arc, which reached its full extension on a wonderful night of flex and twang and defiance of the elements; one that ended, naturally, with gold for the US women. That last Biles performance was graphic and occasionally terrifying. She performed the hits. She performed 1 and 2 bounces. She exuded a remarkable burst of energy, possessing an explosive athletic elegance that occasionally borders on optical illusion.
What precisely is gymnastics? Art in performance? A sport with a strong competitive edge? One of those moments when Biles seems to transform the entire event into something else—movements that are strange, liquid, and essentially unlike any other human on the planet—came when she performed an insane triple backflip during her balance beam routine (repeat: on a thin, square bar) like the wheel rolling down an incline.
Team USA appeared out of nowhere, leaping, beaming, and waving a flag as the final results appeared on the enormous screen. They had changed into regular, ecstatic people and were running around like children at Christmas. It was a beautiful moment, but it also had a widescreen quality. An industry’s structure can be seen in Biles and the Biles arc. It has everything related to sports. Alternatively put, there are three main components of sports: their beauty, their foolishness, and their brutality.
The beauty and warmth of Tokyo 2020 were evident from the moment teams arrived, with the US wearing white snow-woman suits and Simone Biles looking happy and goofy. Jordan Chiles performed well on the vault, but a voice over the public address announced that Biles was waiting for the green light. Tokyo 2020 has been criticized as an abomination of a sporting event, with Adam Peaty, Noah Lyles, and Caeleb Dressel speaking about the strain it put on them. The event was essentially an act of corporate violence, causing strain on athletes like Adam Peaty, Noah Lyles, and Caeleb Dressel.
We hurled all of our worries and fears into that enormous void created by those Covid games. Around Biles, there was a palpable yearning. Though Biles was under lockdown as well, she was asked to perform and dance for us at the end of a year-long seclusion, allowing us to see the world through that viewpoint.
She describes the empty period’s reaction to overtraining with clarity, describing how her movements had taken on a life of their own until they too lost their purpose. In general, athletes have started to talk a lot more about why they do this, how they accomplish it, and about achievement without suffering. Maybe this is what the Damned Games and Tokyo left behind.
It’s also critical to keep in mind that the existence of a modern superstar is completely unique, that no one anticipated or prepared for it, and that it’s all just an uncharted social experiment. Move. Take the wise action. Make the pictures that we would like to see. That is where Biles has spent her whole adult life. However, no one’s skin is tough enough to withstand this.
This is an Olympic champion five times over. They can reach anyone if they can reach her. Simone Biles’ opening vault at the World Championships was executed perfectly, resulting in hugs, high fives, and a sense of relief around the refrigerated hangar. By the end of the first rotation, the US had begun to open up a decisive lead, with high fives around the bases. Biles then jumped up on the uneven bars, whirling as though under some hidden form of propulsion.
She bounded off, high-fived her coach, and sprinted along to get her towel. The US team then larked around to the music in the breaks, throwing poses at the cameras, resembling a kind of torture but also looking like play. There will be much talk now about closure and catharsis, with questions at the gold medal press conference about people around the world being inspired and every child wanting to be Simone Biles. Sport is a broad brush, offering second chances and fixability, and the entire story is outcome-based.
In reality there is of course something unresolved and contradictory at the heart of this redemption arc. What hurt Biles was over-exposure combined with losing. The way Biles can be fixed, sport tells us, is by even more exposure combined with victory. But then sport is absurdly hammy. Sport is bad art. But it is also irresistible in its warm wet notes on nights like these. Biles has reinvented the details of her sport across the course of her five Olympic gold medals, and given us moments of great beauty along the way. This one, though, was for her.
Day 4 wrap-up of India at the Olympics: Manu makes history, Bommadevara suffers heartbreak
India’s Day 4 at the Olympics wrap: On July 30, India had a mixed day at the Olympics in Paris. Archers and boxers suffered a string of heartbreaks following the bronze medal finishes of Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh as well as the Indian hockey team’s qualification to the quarterfinals.
On Tuesday, July 30, the Indian delegation to the Paris Olympics had a mixed day. The fans were in for more heartaches over the day, following an amazing start to the day when Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh won the bronze medal in the 10m Air Pistol mixed team event.
It was a day of dramatic finishes across several sports. After an incredible drama, Dhiraj Bommadevara, the top archer in India, withdrew from the men’s solo competition on that day. In the decisive shootout, Eric Peters of Canada beat Bommadevara with a 10/10 arrow that landed just 2.4 cm closer to the center.
Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh won bronze in the mixed team 10m Air Pistol event at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre on Tuesday, securing India’s second medal at the Olympics in Paris. India has already won two shooting medals in the current Paris Games, as Manu won bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol competition. After the third series, India was ahead 4–2, and in the fifth, their lead was 8–2.
The Indian pair kept their cool to win easily, even though South Korea reduced the score to 10-6 after the eighth series. Sarabjot won his first Olympic medal with this one. Meanwhile, Manu made history by being the first Indian to win many medals at a single Olympic Games.
Manu had previously represented India at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, winning a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol competition. Additionally, Bhaker became just the fourth Indian to win several medals for India at a Summer Games, following Norman Pritchard in athletics, Sushil Kumar in wrestling, and PV Sindhu in badminton. But until Bhaker in Paris 2024, no Indian had taken home several medals in a single edition.
Wiffen creates Olympic history by winning the 800m freestyle
Daniel Wiffen, a 23-year-old swimmer from Northern Ireland, has become the first athlete from Northern Ireland to win an Olympic gold medal in 36 years. In the 800m freestyle final in Paris, Wiffen edged out American Bobby Finke to win gold by 0.56 seconds.
The 23-year-old set an Olympic record with a time of seven minutes 38.19 seconds. Wiffen received tears from his family and coaches as he received his gold medal, which he added to his 800m and 1500m triumphs at the World Championships in Doha this year.
He became the first athlete from Northern Ireland to triumph since Stephen Martin and Jimmy Kirkwood with GB’s hockey team in 1988, and the first individual gold medallist since Lady Mary Peters won the pentathlon at the 1972 Games. Wiffen’s achievement is a significant achievement for the country and the nation as a whole.
In the heats of the men’s 1500m race in Paris, swimmer Ryan Wiffen maintained his cool demeanor, setting the fastest time in the heats. The atmosphere was electric, with support for France’s David Aubrey and Wiffen receiving the loudest cheer.
However, the crowd was on their feet after a stunning climax, where it appeared that Wiffen had missed out on the chance to make history. Wiffen made a solid start and took the lead at the midpoint of the race. However, he was soon attacked by Finke and Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri, setting up a thrilling climax. Wiffen slipped to second with 50 meters remaining but dug deep and secured a gold medal.
He expressed his determination to not return home without a medal, and the Irish support was on their feet after the grandstand finish. Wiffen will attempt to win a historic double in the men’s 1500m heats on Saturday, with a potential final on Sunday.
Murray’s retirement comes after another amazing Olympic success
Andy Murray and Dan Evans secured a win at Paris 2024, extending their retirement roadshow and moving into the quarter-finals of the Olympic men’s doubles. Murray, 37, will call time on his career at the end of the Games, but has no desire to quit just yet.
The British pair defeated Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in the second round, missing two match points in the second-set tie-break. They took their third in the first-to-10 match tie-break, seeing off two match points for their opponents. Murray and Evans exchanged emotional expressions after the match, expressing happiness and excitement at the end of the match.
Murray and Evans, who have been battling injury problems this year, will have a day off playing and return to match action on Thursday. American third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul are potential opponents, but they must win their second-round match against Dutch pair Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojen.
In the men’s doubles, Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal also progressed to the last eight after beating the Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof. Nadal and Alcaraz are on the opposite side of the draw to Murray and Evans and will not meet them until the final. The next opponents for Murray and Evans remain to be seen.
Another remarkable night for Murray and Evans
Murray and Evans, a resilient pair, have been able to achieve the barely-achievable in their careers. They fought off five match points in a first-to-10 deciding set against Japan’s Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori, completing a miraculous comeback.
Two nights later, they seemed to be heading towards a victory with fewer complications. The Britons started with a high-energy start, breaking decisively in the second game and fought off another opportunity for the Belgians to secure the first set. They faded slightly in the second set but did not face a break point.
The drama of the second-set finale and match tie-break came in the second-set finale, and Evans said that they are getting closer to doing something special. He believes that people see their performance in tight moments and are getting better and better.
Murray and Evans have the potential to reach a decent stage
Murray and Evans are retiring from the Olympics due to fitness concerns. Murray, who won a gold medal with Laura Robson in 2012 and Rio 2016, will be retiring alongside Evans, who had back surgery five weeks ago. Evans, who is 34, has also been hampered by physical issues, including a knee injury in the run-up to Wimbledon. Despite these challenges, Murray believes they have a chance of getting through to the semis. The scoring system and teams’ play now allow for any outcome, but Murray believes they have a chance of reaching the semis.
