Key events
As day six dawns, let’s take another look at the current medal tally (with the soundtrack of famous French freestyler Plastic Bertrand on Top of the Pops
Inspired by the words of the Bishop of Pennsylvania, Ethelbert Talbot, and shamed by Pierre de Coubertin, at a reception of the British government on 24 July 1908, the Olympic Creed has always stood as: “The most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have won, but to have fought well..”
And nothing embodies it like Eric Moussambani also known as “Erik the Eel”…
Today, there are eighteen gold medals up for grabs at the 2024 Games.
Of all the simmering rivalries at this year’s Paris Olympics, one is coming to a raging boil tonight: the pool duel for the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay title. Team USA, led by the GOAT women Katie Ledeckywill face their arch-rival Australia, led by Mollie O’Callaghan And Ariarne Titmus.
Australia won gold in the prestigious women’s 4x200m at Beijing 2008, before the US took revenge at London 2012 and Rio 2016. Both great foursomes finished behind the People’s Republic of China and the Americans at Tokyo 2020. Now that Australia has won gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle with an Olympic record, the US will be looking to even the score.
Or will Australia’s beef burger-generating China shock the world again?
Here are some events and when you can watch them (all in Paris times):
Athletics
The 20 km race walk for men, 07:30
20km Race Walk for Women09:20 am
To shoot
Men’s Small Bore Rifle, Three Positions9:30 in the morning
Rowing
Women’s double sculls11:18 am
Men’s double sculls11:30
Women Four11:50 am
The sailing
Men’s skiff2:43 PM
Women’s skiff15:43 hours
Judo
Men’s Half Heavyweight (100 kg/220 lbs.), medal rounds begin, 5:18 p.m.
Women’s Half Heavyweight (78 kg/172 lbs.), medal rounds begin, 5:49 p.m.
Canoe Slalom
Men’s Kayak (K-1) Single5:30 pm
Gymnastics
Women’s Individual Allround Competition6:15 pm
Fence
Women’s team Foil7:10 PM
Swimming
Women’s 200m Butterfly8:30 in the evening
Men’s 200m Backstroke20:38 hours
Women’s 200m Breaststroke21:11 hours
Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay22:03 hours
Preamble
Hello everyone and welcome to The Guardian’s live coverage of the sixth official competition day of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
Day five was filled to the brim with tension, grumbling, tears and cheers. Host nation France were celebrating Léon Marchand’s extraordinary double gold medals last night in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke – two triumphs within hours of each other that gave the 22-year-old from Toulouse his third individual gold of the Games. That dull roar in the air this morning was the echo of 15,000 French people who roared as Marchand overtook favourite, Hungarian world record holder Kristóf Milák, with just a few centimetres to spare.
Team Great Britain are also on a roll after a glorious fifth day, highlighted by gold medal-winning performances from Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott, Lauren Henry and Georgie Brayshaw in the women’s quadruple sculls and Alex Yee in the men’s triathlon, who pulled off a heist worthy of the favourite French burglar. Arsene Lupin themselves. It moves Team GB up to fifth in the medal table, behind China, Japan, France and Australia. Despite Katie Ledecky winning her eighth Olympic gold medal in the 1500m freestyle and equalling the record for most gold medals by an American woman, Team USA are a surprise seventh but are keeping their powder dry.
For Australia, dizzying highs – Jess Fox claimed her second gold of the Games with victory on the canoe slalom course in Vaires-sur-Marne – were mixed with limp lows as the Matildas’ Olympic campaign ended in tears after losing 2-1 to the USA in their final pool match. Despite being without star striker Sam Kerr, the “Tillies” arrived in Paris as genuine medal contenders after winning hearts with a fourth-place finish at the 2023 World Championships. Instead, they will head home early after the controversial Canadians delivered the girls a coup de grace by beating Colombia to advance.
It set Canada-Australia relations back a notch after the Maple Leafers defeated the Boomers in basketball and Australia’s rugby sevens world champions in the semi-finals, sending them home medal-less. A Bryan Adams ban from Sydney radio is currently being enforced as revenge.
The most anticipated – and controversial – moment of day five came when Paris “turned the tide of history” and declared the Seine River fit to host the men’s triathlon. Regardless of whether competitors got a dose of E. coli with their broccoli, the event was a spectacle that never seemed quite possible until it was actually happening. Torrential rain, hysterical headlines, and Netflix programming certainly didn’t help.
Day six promises even more blood, sweat, tears and glory…
