Key events
Match report: Morocco 2-1 Argentina.
Here’s our report on a match that finished more than four hours after it started.
A reminder that Israel v Mali also kicks off in just over an hour, at 8pm BST. Around 1,000 French police officers will form an “anti-terror perimeter” around the stadium after the game was designated as high risk.
Morocco top Pool B and look likely to qualify for the knockouts now. Argentina, World Cup and recent Copa América winners, have two more games to save their tournament. Iraq and Ukraine, the other two nations in the pool, have just kicked off their match.
Not quite sure what to make of that! I think that all ended fairly, with replays showing that there was an Argentina player who was just offside in the build-up to what they thought was an equaliser.
Given the fan trouble, the referee was probably right to take the players off. It is a worrying trend that players are increasingly having things thrown at them, and that stewards seem unable to stop fans from entering the field.
Full-time: Morocco 2-1 Argentina
It’s all over. It’s definitely all over. Morocco players celebrate wildly, a brilliant result for the Atlas Lions.
90+18 min: This is attack versus defence. Argentina desperately trying to pump the ball into the box. Morocco desperately trying to hack it clear.
90+16 min: Argentina flood forward and Morocco goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi claims a cross, before falling in a heap. He is claiming a foul, but Morocco survive.
OK, we’re starting again.
This has got to be one of the strangest restarts I have ever seen, the referee restarts the match by making the VAR signal and immediately going to the monitor to look at the late Argentina goal. After checking a couple of replays, the referee confirms that the goal is disallowed for offside. The players already knew all of this, but the Moroccan bench celebrate wildly! Their shouts are the only noise in the stadium.
We will have three minutes of play! Here we go.
Morocco v Argentina: play to resume at 6pm BST
The live score is confirmed: Morocco 2-1 Argentina. The players and officials are back out on the pitch, warming up. Otherwise, the stadium is completely empty. A reminder that this match kicked off nearly four hours ago. There is expected to be around three minutes of play before full-time. Madness!
“After watching a seemingly interminable Copa América final a week ago, my Argentine wife and I are now reliving the chaos that follows the Albiceleste”, emails Andy Gordon. “Before restarting the match, maybe the staff want to check the ventilation shafts in the stadium”.
Here is our take, as we scramble to make sense of what has happened.
Argentina goal disallowed, Morocco v Argentina to resume after match suspended
Some confusion to clear up, the men’s football match – in which Argentina scored a 106th-minute equaliser leading to ugly scenes between fans and the players – has not actually finished. It appeared that the referee blew the whistle for full-time after the goal, but he actually suspended the match due to the crowd trouble. That means the final minutes of the match will be resumed at a later date, in what some are reporting as a behind-closed-doors game. Here’s the latest from Reuters:
After order was restored in Saint-Etienne and the teams had left the field, they discovered that the match had not been completed but suspended by officials.
The venue manager told Reuters the game had been interrupted and had not resumed yet, adding that a decision about whether the match would be completed was being discussed. The Olympics website also showed the match as “interrupted”.
And we’re just hearing reports that Cristian Medina’s goal for Argentina has actually been disallowed by VAR for offside, more than an hour after the players left the field. So, assuming that it is true, the score is still Morocco 2-1 Argentina. Absolute chaos!
Full-time in the men’s rugby sevens: Ireland 10-5 South Africa.
A reminder that there are three pools of four teams. The top two in each group will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, with the two best third-placed teams also making the last eight, with teams ranked by points, then head-to-head result, then points difference, then points scored.
In the men’s competition, France are the favourites, so it was a bit of a shock to see them draw 12-12 with the USA earlier. The hosts could easily have lost, too.
In the women’s competition, New Zealand are the heavy favourites, followed by Australia and France. Team GB are very much seen as outsiders.
Simone Biles, arguably the biggest superstar at these Olympics, looks in good spirits during training today.
And if you missed this earlier …
World No 1 Jannik Sinner out of the Olympics with tonsillitis
The No 1-ranked male tennis player in the world, Jannik Sinner, has withdrawn from the Paris Olympics due to tonsillitis, the Italian said on Wednesday.
Sinner won his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open earlier this year and reached the semi-finals of the French Open.
“I am saddened to inform you that unfortunately I will not be able to participate in the Paris Olympic Games,” Sinner wrote in a post on X. “After a good week of clay training I started to feel unwell. I spent a couple of days resting and during a visit the doctor found tonsillitis and strongly advised me against playing.
“Missing the Games is a huge disappointment as it was one of my main goals for this season. I couldn’t wait to have the honour of representing my country in this very important event. Good luck to all the Italian athletes who I will support from home.”
Sinner’s withdrawal means world No 2 and 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic will be the top seed in the men’s singles draw, which will be made on Thursday.
Sinner is the latest of a number of tennis players to withdraw from the competition, with Olympic silver medallist Marketa Vondrousova and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz pulling out of the tournament on Monday.
Other notable absences from the tennis at the Games include world No 3 Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur, Emma Raducanu, and Ben Shelton.
And while we’re talking about reasons to be cheerful, Elsie Grover-Jones and Huzaifah Khan have written this great little preview about the things they are most looking forward to at Paris 2024.
Olympic women’s football will be a must-watch: although Great Britain failed to qualify there is some enthralling action in store. The former Chelsea Women manager, Emma Hayes, leads an Alex Morgan-less USWNT into her first tournament as manager. They will challenge the likes of Spain, the 2023 World Cup winners, for the gold medal.
There will be plenty of youthful talent on display, with players to look out for such as Spain’s Aitana Bonmatí and Barbra Banda of Zambia. Paris 2024 will also be the last dance for Marta, the footballing legend aiming to retire on a high note with Brazil. The group stage begins on Thursday 25 July with the final on Saturday 10 August, a day after the men’s final.
In the pool, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty will target a third straight gold in the men’s 100m breaststroke. The 29-year-old took a mental health break last year but has the fastest time in the world this year. China’s Qin Haiyang, however, has emerged as a formidable rival to Peaty. The heats take place on Saturday 27 July with the final the next day.
Olympic gymnastics rarely disappoints. The four-times champion, Simone Biles, will go for gold in the women’s floor exercise with what is sure to be the most difficult routine of the competition. After qualifiers on Sunday 28 July, you can see Biles on Monday 5 August in the floor exercise and balance beam finals. In the men’s competition, Great Britain’s Max Whitlock has said these will be his last Games, with the 31-year-old aiming to retain his pommel horse title. Whitlock can make history by becoming the first Olympic gymnast to win four medals on the same piece. His qualification will be on Saturday 27 July before the final on Saturday 3 August.
One of the most talked-about events lasts for only around 10sec. Blink and you’ll miss it: the men’s 100m final takes place on Sunday 4 August. Noah Lyles is the man to beat and the American’s preparation has been perfect – he set a personal best in victory at last weekend’s Diamond League in London. Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, who ran a world’s best time of 9.77sec this year, will challenge Lyles for gold.
In the women’s 100m all eyes will be on another US athlete, Sha’Carri Richardson, eager to perform after missing Tokyo 2020 due to a positive test for cannabis. The final falls on Saturday 3 August, but Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah will not defend her title due to injury. Team GB’s Dina Asher-Smith will aim to win a first individual Olympic medal in this event, but faces stern competition from Richardson, plus the Jamaicans Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
In the women’s 800m, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson is in fine form, coming off a win at the Diamond League where she set a British record, running 1min 54.61sec, the sixth-fastest time in history. Hodgkinson is one of the favourites to win gold for Great Britain, and aged just 22, may become the new face of British athletics. She could be helped by the absence of Athing Mu, who failed to reach the Games after falling during a qualifier in Oregon last month. The 800m women’s final is set for Monday 5 August.
The much talked-about Breaking will make its Olympic debut on Friday 9 August, following its success at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. It will not feature at the next Games, in LA 2028, so this looks like your one chance to see it at the Olympics. Each event will contain 16 competitors facing off one-on-one and improvising to music played by a DJ. The women’s final is on Friday 9 August and the men’s final is on Saturday 10 August, where athletes will compete to become the first (and probably only) Olympic Breaking champion.
Think I am actually looking forward to the opening ceremony on Friday, which is not something I thought I would ever write. Normally they are such sincere, drab, elongated, self-important things. But this year’s opening ceremony is going to be a bit different.
Think I can relate to a lot of this from James Colley.
It feels a little embarrassing to be a grown adult excited for the Olympics. I am not sure why. Perhaps it’s the unequivocal joy. That feels childish. Why would I believe something good could happen? When was the last time something good happened?
Oh, it’s so easy to be cynical about things. I’m really good at it too. If I were to play to my strengths, I should go on about how devastating the Olympics is to the economy of the host nation, how commercial elements have hijacked every last corner of the games, and I could maybe even make some vague reference to the carbon emissions required to get all the athletes to Paris, but not in such a way that would necessitate me actually looking up statistics.
But I don’t want to do that. I want to be excited for the Olympics.
Some men’s rugby sevens results to catch you up on.
Argentina 31-12 Kenya.
Fiji 40-12 Uruguay
France 12-12 USA
Marcus Tupuola scored a second-half try for USA to tie the game with the hosts, but Madison Hughes missed the conversion!
Full-time: Morocco 2-2 Argentina.
An absolutely mental start to the men’s football.
Kind of cool that Team USA are taking the train around France.
Around 1,000 French police officers will form an “anti-terror perimeter” around Israel’s opening football match against Mali at the Olympic Games in Paris after the game was designated as high risk.
A full-time result from Group C of the men’s football: Uzbekistan 1-2 Spain.
Oh my wordddddddddddd! Argentina equalise in the 106th minute against Morocco! Cristian Medina bundles home the leveller after a goalmouth scramble in the men’s football. It’s currently 2-2 and we are still playing!
Andy Murray suggest his singles career is over and will only play doubles at the Olympics
Andy Murray has almost certainly played the last singles match of his career after revealing he was set to play only doubles at the Paris Olympics. The 37-year-old confirmed on Tuesday that his fifth Games would be his final event, but he has still not fully recovered from the surgery to remove a spinal cyst he had a week before Wimbledon.
Murray will instead focus on doubles alongside Dan Evans as he chases a fourth Olympic medal. Asked if he was in shape to play singles, Murray said: “I need to make that decision this evening but I don’t think so. Obviously me and Dan have made the commitment to each other that (doubles) was what we were going to prioritise.
“I think Dan is still going to play singles but last week he did a lot of doubles practice, that’s what I was predominantly practising in training when I was in Greece and since we’ve been here, we’ve been practising and playing doubles sets together. That gives the team and us the best opportunity to get a medal, realistically.
“My back is still not perfect and the potential of playing two matches in a day is maybe not the best.”
Murray also made a late decision not to make a final appearance in singles at Wimbledon, meaning his last outing on his own will have been the retirement against Jordan Thompson at Queen’s Club forced by his back injury.
He recovered sufficiently to make an emotional farewell in doubles alongside his brother Jamie at Wimbledon and will hope the Olympics provides a fitting goodbye. PA Media
“I think he plays in the United Arab Emirates, Not Saudi Arabia”, corrects Teo Teng Kiat, regarding my post on Morocco’s goalscorer, Soufiane Rahimi. Right you are, apologies.
That game is not in added time, with Morocco leading Argentina 2-1!
We’re also underway in the rugby sevens between France and USA, where the host nation have taken an early 5-0 lead.
Some fresh quotes emerging after Tunisian wrestler, Amine Guenichi, was handed a four-year doping ban on the eve of the Games.
“Guenichi was banned for deliberately not complying with anti-doping testers,” the Tunisian federation technical director Montaser Obaidi told Reuters. “Last November, the testers came to his room at the elite training centre and he refused to open his door and after several hours only provided them with a urine sample, which returned negative. He then underwent two blood tests that also proved negative.”
Guenichi won the gold medal at the Arab Games last year in the men’s Greco-Roman 130kg category.
Hello everyone. We head straight back to the men’s football. Some updated scores for you, we are about 68 minutes into both matches.
Argentina 1-2 Morocco
Soufiane Rahimi, a 28-year-old who plays his club football in Saudi Arabia, has got both of the goals for the African side. Giovanni Simeone, son of Diego, has come off the bench to pull one back for the World Cup winners.
Uzbekistan 1-2 Spain
Sergio Gómez, who has just left Manchester City for Real Sociedad, puts Spain ahead on the hour mark after seeing a penalty saved moments earlier.
My Olympics stint is done for today. Michael Butler is on hand to guide you through the afternoon.
The International Boxing Association has accused the IOC of doing too little to reward boxers and demanded prize money at the Olympics. In an open letter, the IBA said medals were not enough reward for athletes at the Games.
“Medalists should receive those ultimate prizes made of the corresponding metals,” the IBA said. “Currently, Olympic medals do not reflect their value, which is disrespectful to the athletes who train hard for many years and sacrifice so much to reach the highest level.”
The IOC decided a year ago to strip the IBA of recognition over its failure to complete reforms on governance, finance and ethical issues. The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an IBA appeal in April.
“Athletes are those who bring substantial income to the IOC, which is absolutely not acknowledged. Olympic medallists do not receive prize money, even though the IOC profits significantly from TV rights, sponsors, and ticket sales,” the IBA said.
“It is obvious that this enormous profit is only possible because of the athletes, their coaches, and sports federations. This needs urgent change now.”
The IOC does not offer cash prizes for medals. It does, however, redistribute part of the revenues the Games generate to stakeholders, including international federations and national Olympic Committees. It also supports athletes through its Olympic Solidarity fund.
The IBA, led by Russian Umar Kremlev, has been in an dispute with the Olympic body since its exclusion. The boxing competition at the Paris Games is being organised by the IOC but the Olympic body has said it cannot continue doing that, with the sport’s spot for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics in doubt. Reuters
What was expected to be a simple coronation of Salt Lake City as the 2034 Winter Olympic host turned into complicated Olympic politics on Wednesday, as the IOC pushed Utah officials to end an FBI investigation into a suspected doping cover-up.
In a separate decision earlier in Paris, the 2030 Winter Games were awarded – with conditions – to France for a regional project split between ski resorts in the Alps and Nice. That project needs official sign-off from the national government which is still being formed after elections in France earlier this month.
Men’s rugby sevens: Argentina v Kenya is next up, in Group B, before France v United States in Pool C in half an hour or so.
Men’s football: Soufiane Rahimi has put Morocco 1-0 ahead against Argentina, while Eldor Shomurodov has equalised from the penalty spot for Uzbekistan against Spain.
Australia 21-14 Samoa is a final score from Stade de France in the sevens.
The Tunisian wrestler, Amine Guenichi, has been ruled out of Paris 2024 after being handed a four-year doping ban, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
The source declined to be named. Guenichi won the gold medal at the Arab Games last year in the men’s Greco-Roman 130kg category. Reuters
Spain lead Uzbekistan 1-0 in the men’s football. Marc Pubill of Almería got the goal.
Argentina v Morocco remains goalless.
Sevens matches last 14 minutes, which looks more than enough, judging by the speed and physicality of the action. At half-time, Australia and Samoa are locked at 7-7.
“It’s like chess, but exhausting chess,” observes the BBC co-commentator.
Dujardin’s career in tatters after horse whipping costs her damehood
Sean Ingle
The distressing video of Team GB equestrian star Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse 24 times in a private coaching session has cost her a damehood, official sources have told the Guardian.
The 39-year-old was widely expected to be handed the honour if, as expected, she won another dressage medal in Paris. That would have her seven medals – equalling Jason Kenny’s record tally for a British Olympian. However Whitehall sources have confirmed that any such honour is now off the table.
Australia and Samoa are out on the Stade de France turf.
The rugby sevens is nearly upon us.
Mark Nawaqanitawase lines up for Australia’s men against Samoa at Stade de France in less than 10 minutes. Nawaqanitawase has 11 caps for the Wallabies after being called up by Eddie Jones. But the Olympic sevens will be his last action as a union player before he returns to rugby league with the Sydney Roosters.
France face the United States at 15.30 BST.
Thanks Yara, hello again everyone.
Luke McLaughlin is back and will take you through the rest of the afternoon’s affair. Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the start of the Games!
Football at Paris 2024 begins
Our first sporting event kicks off at the 2024 Paris Olympics: Argentina v Morocco and Uzbekistan v Spain.
Tennis fans will surely be excited at the prospect of watching a legend and a legend in the making play together in Paris. Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz have been the main focus of the Olympic tennis competition starting on Saturday.
But the two are tempering expectations a little bit. Nadal was quick to say that their talent will not necessarily lead to results.
I understand a little bit the morbid illusion of seeing us play together but let’s not think that this translates into success, I think it’s a mistake. Carlos hasn’t played many doubles and I haven’t played many doubles or many singles lately.
We are going to do our best to try, at least, to leave with the peace of mind of having done everything possible to get where we can get [but] obviously, we have not been able to prepare together for a tournament like this, where there are other doubles teams that have been preparing.
Good vibes and minimal training. Sounds like a winning recipe to me. ¡Vamos!
Dujardin video will ‘exacerbate existential crisis in Olympic dressage’
Sophie Kevany has some reaction from experts and activists on horse welfare after the video of Charlotte Dujardin repeatedly striking a horse with a long whip during a training session emerged.
Julie Taylor is a horse welfare activist and the author of I Can’t Watch Anymore, a book that argues for removing equestrian sport from the Olympics. She says:
Dujardin, for over a decade, has been the poster girl for the idea the international equestrian federation [FEI] is turning dressage around in a more horse friendly direction. That narrative has been completely blown out of the water by the video footage that has emerged of Dujardin repeatedly whipping the legs of her pupil’s horse.
Of all the riders in the world this could have happened to, from the FEI’s point of view, this is the most difficult. It has tarnished an image of a person they held up as a paragon of horse friendly training. If this had been another rider, known to be harsh [with their horses], they could have simply thrown them under the bus and moved on. But not Dujardin. This will exacerbate the existential crisis in Olympic level dressage circles.
Prof Paul McGreevy, a veterinary ethologist at University of Sydney’s School of Veterinary Science, on what the Dujardin incident means for dressage:
Dressage as a sport is in trouble and there is a raft of welfare issues that mean the dressage world needs to get its house in order. Given that the standard you walk past is the standard you accept, horse people around the world are appreciating they can no longer look away.
This video is damning in the face of the current threat to horse sport’s social licence to operate (SLO), the construct that all industries need to retain public approval of what they are doing. The SLO is so important that World Horse Welfare is now publishing ways to retain horse sport’s social licence.
Ahead of the Games, the Olympians are having a good time testing out their infamous cardboard beds. Take a look at some of these shenanigans.
Five water polo players test positive for Covid-19
Five Australian women’s water polo players have tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the Paris Games, the country’s Olympic team chief Anna Meares said on Wednesday.
Meares added that the cases were confined to the water polo team.
“There is training this afternoon. And again, if those five athletes are feeling well enough to train, they will and they are following all the protocols that we have. I can confirm that the whole of the water polo team has been tested as well,” Meares said in a press conference.
“They’ve been wearing their masks, they’re isolating from other team members when they’re not training, they’re not going into the high-volume areas of the allotment, like the gym and the performance pantry, and more broadly, we have our respiratory illnesses protocol in place.” Reuters
In just over 30 minutes, our first Olympics events will get under way with the football. Argentina will take on Morocco in Group B. Yes, football at the Olympics is basically an under-23 tournament but still exciting to see the blend of young talent with a few big names.
Here are the teams:
Argentina (4-4-2): Rulli; Garcia, Di Cesare, Otamendia, Soler; Almada, Hezze, Medina, Zenon; Beltrán, Álvarez
Morocco (4-2-3-1): El Kajoui; Hakimi, Boukamir, Targhalline, El-Ouadi; Richardson, El Azzouzi; Akhomach, El Khannous, Ben Seghir; Rahimi.
Team GB’s flag bearers have yet to be confirmed. However the Times report that it will probably be Tom Daley and Helen Glover carrying the flag on Friday.
Whoever it is will follow in the footsteps of Hannah Mills and Moe Sbihi who had the honour in Tokyo.
Thanks Luke, and hello all! Let’s start with some opening ceremony news. Coco Gauff has been named the female flag bearer for US team, joining LeBron James.
She will be the first tennis athlete to carry the American flag at a Olympic Games.
Gauff is set to make her Olympic debut in Paris. She had qualified for Tokyo 2020 but had to opt out because she tested positive for Covid-19 right before she was supposed to fly to Japan.
She and James were chosen as flag bearers by Team USA athletes.
Gauff is seeded No 2 in singles at the Olympics, matching her current WTA ranking behind the world No 1 Iga Swiatek.
Lunchtime for me, Yara El-Shaboury is taking over.
Don’t forget to bookmark the live schedule, results and medal table.
Our Paris 2024 Olympics homepage is here.
The women’s football kicks off tomorrow at Paris 2024.
In the latest edition of Moving the Goalposts, our weekly women’s football email, Sophie Downey assesses the favourites, the outsiders and the key talking points:
And you can sign up for Moving the Goalposts here.