A blockbuster swimming showdown took center stage at the Paris Olympics Sunday as gymnastics icon Simone Biles made her eagerly anticipated first appearance at the Games.
Day two of the Olympics saw 13 gold medals up for grabs in sports ranging from archery to skateboarding.
But all eyes were on the battle for gold in the swimming pool at La Defense Arena, where Britain’s Adam Peaty faced a duel with China’s world champion Qin Haiyang in the 100m breaststroke.
World record-holder Peaty is trying to match swimming legend Michael Phelps and win a third straight gold medal in the same event in a clash with Qin that is laced with intrigue.
Qin, the 200m world record-holder, was reportedly among the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned drug from late 2020 to early 2021. He and Chinese swimming chiefs have denied wrongdoing.
France’s great swimming hope Leon Marchand will chase glory in the men’s 400m individual medley, while the women’s 100m butterfly title will also be on offer.
Biles launched her Paris Olympics campaign with a stunning balance beam routine on Sunday as women’s qualifying got underway in front of a star-studded crowd at Bercy Arena. Biles won four gold medals in a dazzling 2016 Rio Olympics campaign, but she withdrew from multiple events at the Tokyo Games as she battled the disorientating condition that gymnasts call “twisties.”
Japan’s defending Olympic judo champion Uta Abe crashed out of the Paris Games in the second round of the women’s under-52kg competition after a shock defeat on Sunday. Abe, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago on the same day that brother Hifumi Abe won the men’s under-66kg category, lost to Uzbekistan’s Diyora Keldiyorova.
Fans, meanwhile, booed a Dutch beach volleyball player convicted of raping an underaged girl as he played his first match at the Paris Olympics, where his controversial selection has put the sport in the spotlight.
Steven Van der Velde, now aged 29, was convicted in 2016 of raping an underage girl and sentenced to four years in prison. He walked onto center court Sunday with teammate Matthew Immers on Sunday morning to cheers and applause, with many orange-clad Dutch fans standing to clap the pair.
The first training session for triathletes was scrapped Sunday due to pollution in the River Seine, organizers said.
Following a meeting “on the water quality” and tests, “a joint decision was taken to cancel the swimming part of the triathlon orientation,” a Paris 2024 and World Triathlon statement said.
The River Seine was declared clean enough for swimming in tests from mid-July, but doubts remained as to whether the waters would be fit for competition. In the event of heavy rain, untreated sewage can be washed into the river.
