PARIS: Simone Biles dazzled a star-studded crowd as she returned to the Olympic stage on Sunday while Rafael Nadal set up a showdown with career-long rival Novak Djokovic.

Biles’s return was one of the highlights of day two as the sun returned to Paris, with 13 gold medals up for grabs, including a blockbuster swimming duel.

Stars Tom Cruise, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande were among a host of A-listers crowded into a packed Bercy Arena as US superstar Biles began her quest for Olympic gymnastics redemption.

The 27-year-old four-time Olympic champion, widely regarded as the greatest gymnast in history, entered the arena to a standing ovation and a deafening roar greeted her introduction.

Biles opened her qualifying with a sublime performance on the beam, finishing second behind China’s Zhou Yaqin.

She tweaked her left calf warming up for her second apparatus, the floor exercise, but still topped the standings.

She also led the vault and was still clinging to the eighth and last finals berth in une­ven bars with two qualifying sessions to come.

Biles topped the all-around standings with 59.566 points, while the United States led the way in the team competition.

“It’s incredible,” said US team technical lead Chellsie Memmel. “What she was able to do looking like she has soreness or something in her leg is remarkable.”

The 23-time world champion is competing in Paris three years after her campaign at the Tokyo Olympics unravelled due to a disorientating condition gymnasts call “twisties”.

At Roland Garros, Nadal shrugged off lingering injury concerns to beat 83rd-ranked Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 despite sporting strapping on his injured right thigh and will play top seed Djokovic next.

His meeting with the Serbian 24-time major winner will be the 60th of their storied careers.

“Of course it’s beautiful to play against one of the two biggest rivals that I had in my career, especially on this court,” said the 38-year-old Nadal.

“But situations are completely different for him, for me. He’s being very competitive. I was not being very competitive for the last two years, so in that case, I think probably he is the clear favourite.”

On the basketball court, Kevin Durant returned from injury to produce a shooting masterclass as the United States launched the defence of their Olympic crown with a 110-84 win over Serbia.

Durant shot a near-perfect 8-of-9 from the field to finish with 23 points in a convincing win for the reigning champions, who are eyeing a fifth straight Olympic crown.

Japan’s 14-year-old Coco Yoshizawa led a trio of teens on the podium in the women’s street skateboarding, in front of a sellout crowd at the La Concorde venue.

Her compatriot Liz Akama took silver, while Brazil’s Rayssa Leal claimed bronze.

The top-ranked competitor heading into the Olympics, Yoshizawa held her arms out wide after sliding down the rail in the highest-scoring attempt of the best-trick stage of the event that put her out of reach.

The South Korean women’s team kept their dominance in archery as they won their 10th consecutive gold medal in a nail-biting shoot-off as their three first-time Olympians held off China 5-4.

South Korea won every gold medal since women’s team archery was introduced at the Olympics in 1988. China had to settle for the silver medal and Mexico won the bronze.

Archer Lim Si-hyeon acknowledged that her country’s unbroken streak in the event was facing stronger competition, but said South Korea would continue to defend its position.

“I’m very happy about keeping this place in Korean archery history,” she said. “Even though other countries have progressed, we’ll try to keep our place.”

In a dream Olympic debut, Xie Yu of China struck gold, displaying the poise of a veteran in the men’s 10 metre air pistol event while Oh Ye-jin led a South Korean 1-2 in the women’s event.

After China won the 10 metre air rifle mixed team event on Saturday, Xie (240.9) mined another gold from the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, beating Italian Federico Nilo Maldini (240) who took the silver.

Paolo Monna (218.6) claimed bronze with clear daylight between the top three and rest of the field.

“If I hadn’t won, this may have been my biggest regret,” Xie said.“It is very difficult to be selected for China for the Olympics, so to be able to stand here today, on this higher stage, is very significant for me.”

In the women’s kayak slalom event, Australia’s Jessica Fox stormed to Olympic gold in a time of 96.08 seconds, recovering from a poor semi-final performance to smash the field at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

Poland’s Klaudia Zwolinska picked up the silver medal, with Briton Kimberley Woods hanging on for the bronze after a thrilling climax that saw German reigning champion Ricarda Funk disastrously miss a gate on the very last run of the day.

Meanwhile, Diyora Keldiyorova of Uzbekistan won the gold medal in the women’s under 52kg judo. Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo took the silver, while Larissa Pimenta of Brazil and Amandine Buchard of France earlier won bronze medals.

Pauline Ferrand-Prevot delivered France’s second gold medal of the Paris Olympics as she took a high-quality field apart to win the women’s cross-country mountain bike race.

In the women’s football matches on Sunday, Brazil missed the chance to secure a quarter-final spot after a late 2-1 loss to Japan in their Group ‘C’ clash at Parc des Princes, while Colombia edged Group A rivals New Zealand 2-0.

In Rugby seven, New Zealand put China to the sword in Pool A, Michaela Blyde scoring four tries in the 43-5 win. Canada beat Fiji 17-14 in their opener in the same pool while Australia outclassed South Africa 34-5 in Pool B.

Earlier, beach volleyball fans booed Dutch player Steven van der Velde, a convicted rapist who was selected for the Olympics despite his criminal past.

Van der Velde’s team-mate Matthew Immers spoke out in support of his colleague after the Dutch pair lost to Italy.

“What is in the past is in the past, and he had his punishment,” Immers said.

Dressel spearheads US to first Olympic gold

In Saturday’s swimming event, A formidable United States spearheaded by an emotional Caeleb Dressel stormed to the men’s 4x100m Olympic freestyle relay title for the country’s first gold in Paris.

The quartet of Jack Alexy, Chris Guil­iano, Hunter Armstrong and Dressel came home in 3min 09.28sec with Australia taking silver in 3:10.35 and Italy bronze in 3:10.70.

“I mean, you can’t help it. You can’t explain this moment. So you’re on the podium watching the flag go up. Hunter (crying) actually happened before the flag went up. So it’s really special seeing that,” he said.

In Saturday’s women’s event, Australian Ariarne Titmus defended her Olympic 400 metres freestyle title after the world’s three fastest women over the distance fought a thrilling battle in the Paris pool.

Canadian 17-year-old Summer McIntosh took the silver and Katie Ledecky of the US the bronze. All three medallists were past or present world record holders.

“I’m just happy to get the result for myself and I feel so honoured to be a part of the race and be alongside legends like Katie,” said Titmus. “I look up to her so much as an athlete and there’s certainly not a rivalry beyond the races.”

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024