The China Story
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Along with records broken and medals celebrated, competing at the Olympics is more often littered with narrow defeats, last-gasp errors and mental meltdowns that build true character and sportsmanship.
PARIS -- China is willing to deepen and expand high-level cooperation with the International Olympic Committee, as the country will host the Asian Winter Games next year, Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng said here on Saturday.
Han, who is also Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representative, made the remarks while meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach.
Han conveyed President Xi's cordial greetings to Bach and congratulated the IOC for the success of the splendid opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Olympic Movement aims to safeguard world peace and promote the unity of humankind, said Han, noting that the Paris Olympics is of great significance given the need of further promoting the Olympism under current international situation.
He stressed that China has always firmly supported the development of the international Olympic Movement and has maintained a long-term good relationship with the IOC.
President Bach asked Han to convey his sincere regards to Xi, and warmly welcomed Han's participation in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics as Xi's special representative.
The cause of international Olympics is fundamentally based on multilateralism, said Bach.
China has always supported the cause of international Olympics, he said, noting that the success of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic set an example for countries around the world of how to successfully host Olympic Games.
Bach said the IOC is willing to continue cooperating closely with China to successfully organize various international sports events and spread the values of Olympism.
CHATEAUROUX, FRANCE -- Chinese sharpshooter Xie Yu clinched gold in the men's 10m air pistol event here at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Olympic debutant, who was ranked sixth after the qualification round, surged from behind in the final to finish with 240.9 points, 0.9 points ahead of Italy's Federico Nilo Maldini.
Maldini's compatriot Paolo Monna grabbed the bronze with 218.6 points.
"The process was hard, but the result was rewarding," said a happy Xie in the mixed zone.
"I think the key today is I had a clear understanding of myself and managed to make immediate adjustments when I felt nervous," he said after claiming China's first Olympic men's air pistol gold since 2008.
Xie had a stable start in the final, ranking third before the elimination stage, where he rose to the top after 10 shots as the two leading Italian shooters both made two sub-10 shots in the fifth series. Holding in hand a 0.4-point advantage before the final shot, he held his nerves to score a 10 while Maldini made only 9.5.
Noting that he lacked experience in international competitions, Xie said "I didn't think too much about winning." "I was giving myself very simple mental cues, 'just knock one out'," he added.
This is the second gold won by China in shooting events and third overall at the Paris Olympics, after Chinese teenage duo Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao won the Games' first gold medal with victory in the 10m air rifle mixed team event on Saturday.
PARIS -- Kong Man Wai Vivian of Hong Kong, China clinched the women's epee individual gold at the Paris Olympic Games here on Saturday, after beating home fencer Auriane Mallo-Breton 13-12.
Kong overcame a slow start in front of a packed home crowd at the Grand Palais to tie at 13 after the competition time has run out.
The 30-year-old then scored the "Golden Goal" to claim Hong Kong's second Olympic fencing gold, following Cheung Ka Long's men's foil individual gold in Tokyo.
Confident in their innocence and free from any wrongdoing, Chinese swimmers have shrugged off distractions outside the pool to focus fully on pursuing their Olympic ambitions in Paris.
Despite a rigorous pre-Games testing program apparently disrupting their daily routines, Chinese swimmers performed impressively on Day 1 of the Paris Olympics. Butterfly star Zhang Yufei and breaststroke specialist Qin Haiyang both sailed smoothly into their respective finals.
In the swimming program's first relay final session, the Chinese women's 4x100m freestyle team pushed winner Australia and runner-up United States to the limit. The quartet of Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie, Zhang Yufei, and Wu Qingfeng clocked a new Asian record time of 3 minutes and 30.30 seconds to win a bronze medal at Paris La Defense Arena on Saturday night.
In the night session's first individual final, young men's freestyler Fei Liwei touched in with a personal best time of 3:44.24 to finish sixth in the 400m final, a result Fei considered a great confidence boost for his career.
"To represent my country for the first time at the Olympics and to be able to compete fiercely against the world's best feels so honored and exciting," said Fei, a 21-year-old who is making his Olympic debut in Paris.
"I focus more on the process though coming up against the top swimmers in the world, but I also feel quite satisfied with my result today."
Asked whether the high-frequency doping tests imposed by the International Testing Agency had affected his preparation, Fei said the whole team has been very cooperative with the world anti-doping authorities' scrutiny, and expressed strong confidence in racing fairly and with integrity.
"I don't really care too much about others' opinions, or whatever prejudices they might have, because we knew what we've been through and how we made the progress we had.
"We knew we are clean athletes who just worked extremely hard and overcame challenges under scientific guidelines from our coaches to push for breakthroughs. And that's enough for us to focus on our own," said Fei.
Prior to the Paris Games, some Western media organizations, including the New York Times and German television network ARD, published a series of sensationalized reports about a proven food contamination incident from early 2021. The incident involved 23 Chinese swimmers whose doping tests returned positive results for "low-concentration" trimetazidine, a banned substance, during a national championship.
Although several probes and reviews by the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Aquatics, swimming's international governing body, had all supported the contamination theory and cleared the involved athletes of any violations, unfair judgments and groundless accusations by media and organizations, such as the United States Anti-Doping Agency, have unnecessarily put Chinese athletes in a difficult position in Paris.
Qin, a three-time world champion in breaststroke, said he approached the first day of the Games as normally as ever.
"I feel quite OK. I've made no big deal (regarding the distractions). Everything just feels as usual as ever. Nobody swam particularly well, or bad, today. I think I will have a legitimate chance to win tomorrow," Qin said, after clocking 58.93 in semifinals to advance into Sunday's final.
Zhang, the reigning women's 200m butterfly Olympic champion, finished third in 56.15 in the semifinals of the 100m to make it to the sprint event's final, where she is expected to face stiff challenges from current world record holder Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske, both from the US.
PARIS - China's Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani won the women's synchronised 3m springboard event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
This victory marks the first gold medal for the Chinese diving "Dream Team" and China's second overall at the Paris Games.
"We have experienced many ups and downs in the past five years together, and we finally got the reward at this moment," said the 22-year-old Chang. "I really want to thank my partner, our coaches, the team manager and all the staff. "
Chen and Chang, who have paired up to win this event at the last three World Championships, gradually widened the gap of points with fellow competitors after each dive, clinching the title in 337.68 points at ease.
American Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook finished second in 314.64 points, followed by Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen from Britain in 302.28 points.
Chen and Chang, both competing at the Olympic Games for the first time, haven't lost a world diving event since 2022.
The 25-year-old Chang admitted that she was a little bit nervous during the final, but kept in a cool head all the way.
"I just focused on my own rhythm as well as my partner's. I didn't feel much different (today) to other competitions," said Chen.
It's the sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal in this event for China since the 2004 Athens Games.
Shi Tingmao, who took both the individual and synchronised springboard golds at last two Olympic Games, also came to Paris to witness the moment.
"I felt calmer when I saw sister Maomao was there," said Chen, while Chang insisted that the 32-year-old Shi had given them some tips that were really helpful.
"We are grateful that many Chinese divers had set up a solid foundation for us with their great achievements," said Chang. "And we will keep working hard to hold China's leading position."
After winning their first ever Olympic gold together, Chen and Chang will be the arch rival to each other in the individual event. "I hope both of us could show our best performance," said Chang.
China's sharp-shooting duo Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting delivered under pressure to win the first gold medal up for grabs at the Paris Olympics by winning the 10m air rifle mixed team final on Saturday.
With all eyes on their young faces and huge pressure on their shoulders, the teen pair of Sheng, 19, and Huang, 17, outgunned South Korean rivals Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun with poise and accuracy by scoring 16-12 in the high-stakes final to claim the Games' first gold medal at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, 250 kilometers south of Paris.
Sheng and Huang maintained the shooting team's tradition to get the Chinese delegation off to a flying start at the Olympics, after their senior compatriot Yang Qian won the Tokyo Games' first gold in women's 10m air rifle individual three years ago. Yang Qian also won the mixed team title with partner Yang Haoran in Tokyo.
The medal matches in the mixed event involve two teams starting from zero and each taking single shots by the men's and women's athletes in a duet format. The winning team of each round of shots earns two points, while both teams each scores one point in case of a equal round. The first team accumulates 16 points or more wins the match.
The team of Sheng and Huang won eight out of the total 14 rounds fired in the gold medal final to touch the gold first.
As the 2023 world championships winner in the mixed event, Sheng and Huang have cemented their supremacy collectively and will now shift their focus to each going for a second gold in the men's and women's individual rifle events.
Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev of Kazakhstan beat German pair of Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich 17-5 in the bronze-medal final to complete the podium.
Hong Kong people are rallying in full force to support local athletes to achieve stellar results at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, with various events being launched across the city to amplify sporting excitement.
The 2024 Paris Summer Games opened on Friday evening in the French capital. During the athletic extravaganza, which will close on Aug 11, 35 Hong Kong athletes will compete in 13 events, including the city's strengths such as fencing, swimming and cycling.
For around half of the Hong Kong athletes, this will mark their debut Olympic experience, with an athlete from the city qualifying for taekwondo for the first time in history.
Fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long and swimmer Siobhan Bernadette Haughey have been selected as the flag-bearers for the delegation at the opening ceremony, which took place along Paris' iconic River Seine.
In the previous Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Hong Kong athletes achieved a record-breaking performance, clinching a total of six medals, including one gold bagged by Cheung and two silver medals won by Haughey.
To boost morale among the competing athletes, an incentive program has increased cash bonuses for athletes who perform well at the 2024 Paris Olympics by 20 percent, enabling individual gold medalists to receive up to HK$6 million ($768,000) in prize money.
In addition to four local TV channels, Hong Kong audiences can also enjoy broadcasts of Olympic events in dozens of major shopping malls across the city. Many malls also launched various Olympic-themed promotions and interactive events for fans of the Summer Games.
Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways recently collaborated with five Olympic athletes, including Haughey and Cheung, to showcase their images on the facade of prominent buildings across Hong Kong, from Admiralty to Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island.
The company has also organized a special online activity, encouraging residents to show their support for local athletes through its mobile app.
Kowloon Motor Bus announced on Thursday that all members of the Hong Kong delegation competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics will receive a year of free rides on Kowloon Motor Bus and Long Win Bus routes.
Later, the transportation company will launch special buses decorated with the theme of supporting Hong Kong athletes. It will also invite athletes to name the buses.
Fong Hoi-tung, a 16-year-old student, said she hopes that every Hong Kong athlete can fully enjoy the competition and demonstrate excellent sportsmanship in Paris.
As a taekwondo enthusiast, Fong is very excited that Hong Kong has earned its historic Olympic qualification at the event. She expressed the hope that Hong Kong taekwondo competitor Lo Wai-fung can deliver an outstanding performance, thus attracting more attention to the sport among Hong Kong people.
Eric Wong, a 32-year-old architectural designer, said he hopes Hong Kong athletes can overcome difficulties and create new history at the Games.
Wong believes that the integration of traditional Olympic events with new events — such as break-dancing and skateboarding — is a good opportunity for the entire sports sector and different athletes. Meanwhile, he said the outfits and venue designs at the Paris Olympics are appealing to him.
Although Hong Kong didn't get the opportunity to participate in some of the newly added events, Wong believes that their inclusion will ignite interest among a significant number of Hong Kong youth.
Wu Xinyu in Hong Kong contributed to this story.
No air conditioner, no problem — Paris' eco-friendly Olympic Village has plenty more to offer than just a home away from home as Chinese athletes settle down in high spirits for a successful campaign.
With the most important competitions of their careers just about to kick off, Olympians from around the world, including hundreds of Chinese athletes, have been enjoying quite a fun experience, and perhaps the best mental tuneup, since checking in at the unique riverside Olympic Village in the northern Paris suburbs, a temporary home for up to 15,000 athletes and staff members during the fortnight.
Enjoying a baguette-making workshop, free arcade games, French cuisine at the dining hall and reviews of the much talked about cardboard beds, Chinese athletes, just like their peers from the rest of the world, have tried to live their lives to the fullest in the international neighborhood while gearing up for the battle of glory on the Olympic stage.
Vice-President Han Zheng, who attended Friday's opening ceremony as President Xi Jinping's special representative, also visited the village on Thursday and cheered Chinese athletes up during a meet-and-greet with the Chinese delegation.
Han conveyed the cordial greetings and best wishes of President Xi to the whole delegation, talked with athletes about their lives in the village and urged them to serve as good ambassadors of cultural exchanges during the Games.
Han said that he was delighted to see the whole delegation settle down smoothly and in high spirits, and he was confident about their performances at the Games.
The majority of Team China's 405-athlete squad had arrived in the village by the eve of the opening ceremony and had made quite positive feedback on the facilities, services and particularly the variety of relaxing activities across the area, according to Zhang Xin, secretary-general of the Chinese delegation.
"Compared to previous Games, the Paris Olympic Village offers accommodation, catering, training and transport services with unique characteristics but stays in line with Olympic standards consistently," Zhang said during an online briefing with Chinese media.
"Overall, the athletes are satisfied with the environment at the village. They've been used to acclimatizing to different conditions. They are fully focusing on the final preparations and are primed to deliver their best."
Decorated with national flags, red banners reading "Come on, China!" in Chinese, English and French and a giant cartoon panda image, the apartment building of the Chinese delegation stands out in a compound just beside the River Seine.
With most of the village's 82 buildings covered by the watercycle cooling system, the challenge of what had been perceived as a scorching "heat wave" without air conditioning units in the village has turned out to be the least concern of the athletes, thanks to the cool summer in Paris.
"Not a problem so far. We even have to wear a coat in the morning and evening when the summer breeze feels quite cool," women's world champion gymnast Qiu Qiyuan said of the lack of air conditioning.
"The food at the canteen is fresh and healthy and we have enough space in our rooms. It feels quite good living in such an international community," she said.
The village's main dining hall, refurbished from an old film studio, features six food courts with offerings from around the world, including European, Asian and Halal options.
Four Michelin-starred chefs work on-site to prepare protein-heavy French cuisine for the athletes, such as poached eggs, artichoke cream and shavings of sheep's cheese topped with truffle, while more than half of offerings on the menu are vegetarian items.
As part of the French organizers' effort to significantly cut carbon emissions and promote sustainability, new buildings in the village were constructed from wood and recycled materials. The light, yet firm, beds made of cardboard, covered by mattresses stuffed with recycled foam, have continued to be used in Paris after making a debut at the Tokyo Games.
One-third of the apartments' rooftops feature solar panels and another third are equipped with gardens, which are intended to provide ecofriendly energy and cool the buildings with greenery.
"I was first impressed by the colorful visual designs everywhere at the village and then the warm hospitality of staff members and volunteers here," said gymnast Zou Jingyuan, defending Olympic champion in men's parallel bars.
"After settling in, we've felt the excitement for the Olympic Games. We are all set and ready to go," he said.
Even with trickling rain and imminent security risks dampening part of the mood, Paris has delivered on its promise of raising the curtain on the 2024 Olympics in its uniquely romantic manner.
Not the traditional way, not the safest way, but certainly the most Parisian way — the French capital wowed the world on Friday by turning the picturesque central section of the River Seine into a giant open-air theater. Eighty-five boats carrying athletes from 205 delegations sailed into the Olympic spotlight, cheered on by over 320,000 spectators watching from both banks of the river, and from balconies and windows.
For the first time in the history of modern Olympics, the Games' opening ceremony was moved out of a stadium and took place in the heart of the host city, with the Seine as the main backdrop, making the celebrations and artistic performances accessible to many more people than the traditional stadium crowd.
The bold innovation, overcoming numerous logistical and organizational challenges, successfully took shape on the world's biggest stage, where world-famous singers such as Lady Gaga and Celine Dion performed to rousing reactions from spectators, echoing Paris 2024's official slogan 'Games Wide Open'.
Beginning from the Austerlitz Bridge, the parade of athletes, assembled behind their delegations' flag bearers on boats, sailed along the Seine, passing numerous monuments on both banks and 12 artistic tableaux set in the water and on land, as if the Olympians were revisiting the country's rich history and cultural heritage.
During a break in the boats' parade, 10 gilded statues of influential women from the country's history emerged from pillars set alongside the Seine to honor these heroines, creating one of the night's most memorable scenes, even without sunlight shining on the golden statues as originally expected.
"Our intention is to move away from the sequential show and parade of delegations and speeches. So, over the six and a half kilometers of the route, we have designed 12 artistic tableaux on bridges, quays, rooftops and monuments, entrusted to circus artists, choreographers, musicians and fashion designers, all examples of the vitality of the French artistic scene," said Thomas Jolly, artistic director of the ceremony.
"The themes of these tableaux are 12 major unifying values, drawn from history, the landscape and current events. All showcase the diversity that this country has inherited."
Led by flag bearers Ma Long, a three-time Olympic champion table tennis player, and Feng Yu, an artistic swimmer, the Chinese delegation, dressed in red and represented by a portion of its 405 athletes competing in Paris, made a spirited entry on the 16th boat during the parade.
During the final batch of the delegation parade, the Debilly Footbridge, a quintessentially Parisian bridge over the Seine, turned into a fashion show runway where the finest French designs were presented by celebrities and models, despite the pouring rain.
Cheered on by the enthusiastic Parisian crowd, the host French delegation sailed in last on a barge carrying jumping, waving, and smiling athletes, capping the ceremony's parade and artistic performance section that lasted more than two hours.
Tony Estanguet, president of Paris 2024, then took the main stage set at Trocadero, facing the iconic Eiffel Tower across the Seine, to welcome the world after the raising of the Olympic flag, which was carried into the site by a horsewoman galloping on a metal horse and draped in a cape with Olympic rings.
"It is a huge honor to welcome you here 100 years after the last time we hosted the Summer Games," Estanguet, a three-time Olympic champion in canoe slalom, said of Paris' encore since organizing the summer edition in 1924.
"We have been bold, doing things that have never been done before, like having this opening ceremony in the city, for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games. Like every host country our ambition has been to help the Games grow stronger. And in the end, it is the Games that have helped us to grow."
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, called on the international community to stay united under the Olympic banner.
"In our Olympic world, there is no 'global south' or 'global north'. We all respect the same rules and each other. In our Olympic world, we all belong," Bach, a fencing Olympic champion himself, said in his speech.
"As Olympians, we care for each other. We do not only respect each other, we live in solidarity with each other. All of you have experienced this and benefited from our Olympic solidarity on your long journey to finally becoming Olympians."
French President Emmanuel Macron then declared the opening of the Games, kicking off a spectacular light show featuring laser beams shot from the Eiffel Tower that illuminated the Parisian night.
At the climax of the ceremony, French three-time Olympic gold medalists Marie-Jose Perec (athletics) and Teddy Riner (judo) jointly lit the main cauldron of the Games, a ring of flames, which was suspended by a giant balloon and ascended into the air over the Tuileries Garden, a tribute to the first human flight in a hot-air balloon, which succeeded at the same location in December 1783.
PARIS -- French star athletes Teddy Riner and Marie-Jose Perec lit the Olympic cauldron as the 2024 Paris Games opened on Friday.
The 2024 Olympics marks the third time that Paris has hosted the Summer Games. The first was in 1900 and the last was a century ago in 1924.
For the first time, an Olympic Games opening ceremony moved out of a stadium and into the heart of the host city, Paris, with the river as the main backdrop.
PARIS -- French President Emmanuel Macron officially opened the Paris Olympic Games on Friday.
For the first time, an Olympic Games opening ceremony is moving out of a stadium and into the heart of the host city, Paris, with the river as the main backdrop.
The 2024 Olympics marks the third time that Paris has hosted the Summer Games. The first was in 1900 and the last was a century ago in 1924.
The 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony is underway as boats carrying athletes from different countries and regions move along the River Seine. China has sent a 716-member delegation with 405 athletes, including 42 Olympic champions.
Ahead of the Paris Olympics, the China House was launched at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild in the French capital on Wednesday. It has welcomed both the Parisian public and visitors from across the world, including Olympic volleyball champion Hui Ruoqi and Chinese diving legend He Chong, to its galleries, exhibits, demonstration events and social-networking activities on the sidelines of the Summer Games. Visitors to the China House can also try their hands at some ancient forms of Olympic sports, such as pitch-pot, an ancient form of modern archery that is a test of accuracy and skill, as participants attempt to throw arrows into a distant pot. To learn more, click the video.
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Following her retirement, former Chinese women's volleyball team captain Hui Ruoqi has continued to explore the world of volleyball in various roles. As a volleyball match commentator, Hui begins her new journey at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Click on the video to follow in her footsteps and explore a world of volleyball that you may not know!
Should world champion Josh Kerr make it to the final of the men's 1,500m at the Paris Olympics, he will likely line up against Jakob Ingebrigtsen in what is shaping to be one of the tastiest track rivalries of the Summer Games.
Kerr and Ingebrigtsen have traded barbs since the Scot swept past the Norwegian to snatch world gold in Budapest last year.
It was a remarkable repeat of teammate Jake Wightman's victory over Ingebrigtsen at the 2022 Eugene worlds, where Kerr claimed bronze.
Kerr, 26, has gone on to claim the world indoor 3,000m title in March in Glasgow, shortly after setting a new indoor 2-mile world record.
"I'm the mailman, I guess!" Kerr said of his ability to deliver.
Ingebrigtsen, however, claimed that he could have beaten Kerr in the 2-mile race "blindfolded".
"But, it's good that people run better than they have done before," said Ingebrigtsen, who wrapped up a third 1,500m and 5,000m golden double at the European championships in Rome.
For his part, Kerr has said that he thinks that Ingebrigtsen has some "major weakness" and flaws in the "manners realm", all the while praising his rival as "very dedicated and amazing at our sport".
"He also wants to be the best in the world and so do I, and that's going to make us clash 10 times out of 10. I'll always have respect for his performances."
Jonathan Edwards, the reigning world record triple jump holder, told reporters that fans craved the kind of competition that could throw up the odd prickly exchange.
"That thing between Josh Kerr and Ingebrigtsen is great, it's really good. You need those rivalries," Edwards said.
"The essence of athletics is faster, further, higher. There is something about the pursuit of excellence for excellence's sake, and that records should still be held up as the gold standard, because I think that's the essence of track and field.
"But, rivalries are important, and I think they are the root of track and field."
Kerr called the rivalry "great", saying everyone was "trying to go after that title".
"You never want to be involved in an era where it's boring in the 1,500m, where you know who is going to win it.
"We're having a bit of fun back and forth, aren't we?"
Kerr and Ingebrigtsen's ding-dong mirrors the rivalries between now-World Athletics president Sebastian Coe and British teammate Steve Ovett, or Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie and Kenyan Paul Tergat.
"There are a bunch of athletes who are very good," Edwards told reporters referring to British middle-distance runners, with Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie and Laura Muir flying the flag for the women's team.
"It's phenomenal. We thought those days (for Britain) were over, but here we are, almost as strong as ever."
While the athletics program in Paris kicks off on Aug 1, Kerr revealed that he had visited the French capital over Christmas.
"I wanted to go over there and see what the track was like for the Olympics," he said. "I wanted to see the Stade de France and just familiarize myself with the surroundings as much as I could."
Kerr said the visit was where the "forward planning started".
"I am a planner by nature. I like to know where I am going to be; what the stadium and the track are like; where I am going to race.
"It is nice to know that stuff when you are creating scenarios in your head — while training weeks and months in advance. It gives you the right context for things. That is why I went."
Notwithstanding the stray elbows and tactics involved in safely negotiating heats and semifinals, Kerr's showdown with Ingebrigtsen — and potentially Wightman — on day six of the Olympic athletics calendar promises to be one of the must-watch events on the Stade de France's purple track.
"It's going to be a fantastic season of 1,500m running. I don't think I'm going to win them all, but I'm going to win the right one," Kerr said. "It's my goal. That's what I'm focusing on."
AFP
Rarely has an Olympic 100 meters champion been so belittled or so maligned as Italy's Marcell Jacobs.
It is fair to say the Texas-born Italian stunned the field to snatch gold at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games, in a European record time of 9.80 seconds.
He made it double gold just days later, helping Italy to victory in the 4x100m relay, again a result that left pundits shocked and opened up a Pandora's box of questions.
A former long jumper, Jacobs vastly improved his 100m times that season under then-coach Paolo Camossi. Before 2020, Jacobs had never gone below the 10-second barrier, and his sole title of note was European indoor 60m gold.
But, after his stunning success in Tokyo, Jacobs went off the radar, pulling out of high-profile Diamond League meets in the United States, Belgium, Switzerland, citing fatigue and a knee problem.
His conspicuous absence raised eyebrows. Being the men's Olympic 100m champion carries a kudos, attracting meet organizers and sponsors alike, and to go AWOL didn't chime well with traditionalists.
"I'm not even bothered by the gratuitous malice about doping," the 29-year-old said in September 2021 of insinuations that his success was partly fueled by performance-enhancing drugs.
Jacobs may have temporarily disappeared from the track, but he bounced back in style, claiming the world indoor 60m crown and a first European 100m gold in 2022.
However, a series of injuries ensued that saw him withdraw from the semifinals of the 2022 world outdoor championships in Eugene with a thigh injury, and he failed to qualify for the final at last year's world championships in Budapest.
"People's criticism really hit me hard," he told British newspaper, The Guardian.
"It came from everywhere — from Italy and abroad. As if I wasn't competing because I was afraid.
"I've never been afraid of anything in my life. I wasn't competing because I wasn't able to. It was a difficult time, because you train to get results, and not getting them was hard. The two post-Olympic years were difficult.
"I think there was a lot of shock and discomfort with an Italian winning 100m gold."
Jacobs showed his resolve by upending his life, both professionally and personally, changing coach and moving, with his family, to the United States to work under Rana Reider.
It has seemingly paid off, as Jacobs claimed a second European title on his home track in Rome in June.
"I had three goals: health, defending the European title and then the Olympic one," Jacobs said after that victory.
Jacobs dipped under 10 sec for the first time this season in Turku, Finland, last month, clocking 9.92 sec to take the 100m win at the Paavo Nurmi Games, having timed 9.99 sec in the heats. His final winning time was his fastest in competition since his Tokyo gold.
"I was a bit worried that I hadn't run under 10 seconds yet (this season), but it's part of the game and now I have done it twice," said Jacobs.
'One of the top guys'
The Italian now seems on the right trajectory heading into the Paris Olympics.
"He's definitely one of the top guys I really like," US track and field legend Carl Lewis told reporters of Jacobs.
The question now is whether Jacobs, born in Texas to a US military father and Italian mother, and raised solely by his mother in Rome from an early age, can spring a second surprise by taking back-to-back Olympic golds.
"Winning a second gold wouldn't make that much of a difference to me and my image," Jacobs insisted.
"Of course, it would be positive, but coming from a country where no one before me had won an Olympic gold medal in the 100m, what I did was historic and it will always be historic.
"Over the years I've learned that I have to focus on what I want, and what I believe I can do. Not to show others, but to show myself. A lot of things have happened in the two-and-a-half years since I won gold, so I need to show myself what I can do."
AFP
There will be no flags or fanfare for Daniil Medvedev at the Paris Olympics, but Russia's highest-profile athlete in the French capital is unlikely to be far from the headlines.
The tennis star, along with other Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Games, has to compete as a neutral due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Having demonstrated that they have not supported the war, and have no links to the military, they have been allowed to compete but cannot fly their national flags.
The two countries' national anthems are also banned, and, should Medvedev win an Olympic medal for the first time, the achievement will not be recognized in the official medals table.
"When I'm 40, if I can say I played in the Tokyo Olympics, Paris Olympics and Los Angeles Olympics, I had a lot of fun in my life, my career, I'm going to be happy," said Medvedev.
The 28-year-old world No 5 is one of the most controversial players in tennis.
The 1.98m giant came close to being disqualified from his Wimbledon semifinal against Carlos Alcaraz this month for a foul-mouthed rant at the chair umpire, before escaping with a warning.
Medvedev explained that he had called the official "a small cat".
His explosive temperament has seen him feud with rivals Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev.
In Miami in 2018, after Tsitsipas made a foul-mouthed remark about Medvedev, the Russian dismissed the Greek as a "small kid who doesn't know how to play".
His rivalry with Zverev peaked at Monte Carlo last year, when Medvedev saved two match points in a tense last-16 victory.
Germany's Zverev lashed out at Medvedev for taking a bathroom break at a key moment in the tie, blasting the Russian as "one of the most unfair players in the world".
Medvedev hit back, telling the current world No 4 to "take a look at yourself in the mirror".
In the Netflix series Break Point, Zverev accused Medvedev of playing "dirty games" and added: "He's somebody that knows how to play with the head of the opponent".
Crowds around the world have not escaped the wrath of Medvedev, either.
At the Paris Masters last year, he branded fans "stupid" for jeering during one of his matches.
Despite suggesting that he would halt his match, he agreed to continue, but scolded his tormentors telling them: "Shut your mouths, okay!"
Despite his fiery personality, the chess-playing, fluent French-speaking Medvedev has reached the peaks of the sport.
At the 2021 US Open, he claimed his only major title, easily defeating Novak Djokovic in the final and denying the Serb a rare calendar Grand Slam.
True to his unorthodox nature, Medvedev celebrated his New York victory by falling to the floor of the Arthur Ashe Stadium and imitating the "dead fish" celebration from a FIFA video game.
Medvedev has come agonizingly close to adding to his collection of majors.
At this year's Australian Open final, he surrendered a two-set lead to lose to Jannik Sinner.
Two years ago, in Melbourne, he had opened a two-set lead over Rafael Nadal only to lose in five. Nadal also got the better of him at the 2019 US Open final in another five-setter.
Away from the Slams, Medvedev is one of just six men to have captured six or more Masters titles, joining Djokovic, Roger Federer, Nadal, Andre Agassi and Andy Murray.
When he spent 16 weeks as world No 1 in 2022, he was the first man other than Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Nadal in 18 years to attain the top spot.
At the Paris Olympics, which open on Friday, Medvedev believes his best chance of a medal will be in doubles, rather than singles, on a clay-court surface which has often been alien to his game.
"I'm going to prepare a lot for doubles and mixed doubles, because I do believe I have more chance there than in singles at Roland Garros," he said.
AFP
