PARIS: On the first sunny day of the Paris Olympics, America's stars shined.
Simone Biles and LeBron James were stunned, as was the US women's soccer team. Torri Huske grabbed some of the spotlight, and Haley Batten made a name for herself by earning a silver medal for the best finish by an American rider in mountain biking.
Although it was French swimmer Leon Marchand who received the most rousing cheers as he crossed the field to win gold in the men's 400m individual medley, America had a strong Sunday on the second day of the Games.
Gold medalist Leon Marchand of France celebrates after the men's 400m individual medley swimming event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena on July 28, 2024, west of Paris. (AFP)
Simone glows
Biles returned to the Olympics three years after pulling out of several finals at the Tokyo Games to protect her safety, sparking an international discussion about mental health, by overcoming discomfort in her calf to lead the U.S. women's gymnastics team to the finals. .
Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles went 1-2-3 in the all-around in preliminaries, although Chiles will miss the all-around final due to a rule limiting countries to two athletes entering the competition.
Chiles will likely advance to the floor exercise finals if they finish in the top eight. Lee is practically a lock for the beam and bars finals, with 2020 floor exercise champion Jade Carey in good position to join Biles in the vault finals.
But all eyes were on Bills, who briefly scared the nation when he left after his floor exercise and received medical attention. She tweaked her calf in the warm-up, but US coach Cecil Landy said it was a minor injury.
She performed in front of a star-studded crowd including Tom Cruise, Jessica Chastain, Snoop Dogg, Anna Wintour and Lady Gaga, who wrote on Biles' social media: “She nailed it, what an honor to be so close!”
LeBron James leads Team USA
Two of the U.S. men's basketball team's most experienced Olympians, James and Kevin Durant, began the team's bid for a fifth consecutive gold medal with near-flawless performances.
Durant made his first eight shots and scored 23 points, James added 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and the U.S. beat Serbia 110-84 in its Olympic opener.
LeBron James of the United States scores a basket during the Group C Olympic basketball preliminary game against Serbia on July 28, 2024 in Lille, Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Villeneuve-d'Asc, France. (Reuters)
James and Durant had a combined 18 for 22 on the field — 8 of 9 for Durant, 9 of 13 for James — as the U.S. had no trouble with the World Cup silver medalist.
For America, Jrue Halliday scored 15, Devin Booker scored 12, and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry scored 11 each.
Pool party
Huske defeated world record holder Gretchen Walsh in the women's 100 butterfly, using a strong finish to finish just ahead of her teammate in a 1-2 final for the US.
The favorite went out with his usual strategy: start fast and try to catch up. It worked at the U.S. trials, where she set a world record of 55.18 last month, and she was on record pace at the turn.
But Huske followed him in the race that really mattered. The winner touched in 55.59 – a finger length ahead of Walsh's time of 55.63.
When Huske saw the “1” next to her name on the scoreboard, she reached across the lane rope to give Walsh a hug.
Marchand, meanwhile, lived up to high expectations at his home Olympics with a flag-waving crowd cheering his every stroke. He was on world record pace on the final lap but faded a bit as he came home, touching in 4min 2.95sec – an Olympic record, but shy of his own world mark of 4:02.50.
Marchand claimed to have erased Michael Phelps' 15-year-old record at the World Championship in Fukuoka, Japan last year.
And, in an upset, Italian swimmer Niccolò Martinengi stunned record holder Adam Pitti in the 100 breaststroke.
PT, who won gold medals in both Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, had a long history of dealing with mental health issues. On his return, he again worked on the pace and entered the final as the top qualifier but settled for silver as his pursuit of a third straight gold ended.
American football won
Sophia Smith scored twice to put the U.S. in a good position to get out of its group at the Olympics with a 4-1 win over Germany.
Mallory Swanson and Lynn Williams also scored for the Americans, who beat Zambia 3-0 in the opener but their fate in the knockout rounds remains uncertain after the final Group B games on Wednesday.
The Americans play Australia in Marseille to conclude group play.
Mountain Biker Medal
Batten broke the rules but still came home with America's best mountain biking finish as she won silver.
Olympic mountain bike judges penalized Baton for violating the rules on the final lap of his race. She was jockeying for second place as she went into the dedicated lane to get food and drink or stop for mechanical problems.
After the judges reviewed the footage, they decided that Batten did nothing and broke one of the rules of the race. He was fined 500 Swiss francs, or about $565, for “failing to respect the instructions of the race organization or the commissaires”, although the judges apparently decided that the infraction was not serious enough to warrant disqualification.
Three years ago, the baton finished ninth at the Tokyo Olympics.
Rafael Nadal of Spain during his tennis men's singles first round match against Marton Fucsovic of Hungary at the Paris 2024 Olympics on July 28, 2024. (REUTERS)
Tennis giants win
Rafael Nadal wasn't sure he could even play in the men's singles on Sunday, the day before his match, but returned to Roland Garros and beat Hungary's Marton Fucsovic 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round.
The win set up a blockbuster clash against rival Novak Djokovic.
This will be the 60th meeting between the two other men's greats against each other in the sport's Open era, which began in 1968. Serbia's 37-year-old Djokovic holds the top spot. -head series 30-29, and his 24 Grand Slam titles make him the only man in tennis history to surpass Nadal's 22.
Andy Murray's tennis career, meanwhile, was extended for at least one more match when he and British partner Dan Evans saved five match points in a first-round doubles win. Murray and Evans beat Japanese pair Taro Daniels and Kei Nishikori 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9.
In the doubles, the Brits trailed 9-4 in the deciding tiebreaker for the third set.
Murray, 37, announced before the Summer Games that it would be the last event of his career, and was subsequently dropped from the singles bracket, leaving him only in the doubles.
Murray is a three-time Grand Slam champion and the only tennis player to win two Olympic singles golds — London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
