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Paris Olympics live updates: Haley Batten takes silver, how to watch, medal count

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Paris Olympics live updates: Haley Batten takes silver, how to watch, medal count

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The 2024 Paris Olympics keep rolling today with another packed day. Simone Biles and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team competed for the first time of these Games, their qualification starting at 5:40 a.m. ET.

Sunday’s Olympic swimming schedule features three finals with two-time U.S. Olympian Torri Huske and first-time U.S. Olympian Gretchen Walsh set to compete in the 100m butterfly.

Elsewhere, the U.S. men’s basketball team opens group play against Serbia, and the USWNT faces Germany in group play.

At least six U.S. squads are competing in team sports, with 25 sports in total are in action. USA TODAY Sports will bring you live results, medal count, highlights, and more throughout the day. Follow along:

During the women’s 100-meter breaststroke on Sunday morning, American swimmer Emma Webber lost her swimming cap at the bottom of the pool. While common sense would dictate that a swimmer would just jump in after it, that’s, apparently, not the case.

Instead, a hero came to the rescue, in all his glory: Dubbed “Bob the Cap Catcher” by the NBC broadcast booth, a man of unknown origins in a small, flowery Speedo walked across the stage for all to see and dove to the rescue.

The U.S. men’s water polo team opened up group play with a 12-8 loss to Italy on Sunday. The team next faces Romania in another Group A match on Tuesday. – Ellen Horrow

After suffering a calf tweak during Team USA training camp, Kevin Durant is cleared to play and will play in Sunday’s matchup vs. Serbia. Durant missed practices and exhibition matchups ahead of Team USA’s 2024 Olympic debut.

LeBron James, Kevin Durant and the rest of Team USA Basketball tip off against Nikola Jokic and Serbia in their first match of group play in the 2024 Paris Olympics. USA TODAY Sports will provide live updates, highlights and more for the tilt.

VAIRES-SUR-MARNE, France – Team USA canoe racer Evy Leibfarth failed to qualify for the finals in her first of three events at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.

Leibfarth finished 15th in the 22-racer semifinal finishing at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium with a time of 1:09.54, 10.23 seconds behind semifinal winner Ricarda Funk of Germany.

Her time included had a 2-second penalty for striking a gate.

Leibfarth has two more chances to medal in her busy schedule at the Olympics. She will compete in both canoe slalom and the new Olympic event kayak-cross beginning next week. The canoe finals are July 31, while Kayak-Cross finals are Aug. 5.

Jessica Fox, the Australian flag bearer and the heavy favorite entering the Olympics having won a silver and two bronze medals in the event at the past three Olympics, finished eighth in the semifinal to advance. Dave Birkett

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France – Just before the start of the South Sudan-Puerto Rico men’s 5×5 basketball game, the wrong national anthem was played for South Sudan.

“It gave us fuel for the fire,” said South Sudan’s Nuni Omot who had 12 points and six rebounds in the 90-79 victory. “Obviously, we felt disrespected when that happened. We got to still earn our respect. We just got to continue to show the world what we’re capable of. That is just a testament to people not respecting us still, so we took that as fuel.”

It was Sudan’s anthem that was played, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Said South Sudan’s Majok Deng: “They have to be better because this is the biggest stage, and you know that South Sudan is playing. There’s no way you can get that wrong by playing a different anthem. It’s disrespectful. I don’t know. I don’t want to say anything, but to us it didn’t feel right, and that kind of delayed the game. For you to play a different anthem, I don’t think it’s the right thing. Obviously, nobody’s perfect. They made a mistake. They played it at the end, and we moved on.”

South Sudan won its first Olympics game in its first Olympics appearance in men’s basketball.

American fencer Lee Kiefer took another step toward defending her Olympic title, advancing to the semifinals of the women’s individual foil competition Sunday.

Kiefer, who won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021, throttled Flora Pasztor of Hungary in quarterfinals 15-4. Earlier in the day Kiefer, 30, won bouts in the Round of 32 and Round of 16.

Fellow American Lauren Scruggs also advanced to the semifinals with a dramatic 15-14 victory over Arriana Errigo of Italy. – Josh Peter

U.S. gymnast Jade Carey said she has been fighting an undisclosed illness in recent days, citing the bug as the reason for her uncharacteristically poor performance on floor exercise in Sunday’s gymnastics qualifying round at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Carey, 24, told Olympics.com that she hasn’t “been able to eat or anything” over the past few days due to the illness and wanted to disclose the issue so fans didn’t assume she was being affected by nerves. USA Gymnastics had previously announced that her coach and father, Brian Carey, missed the team’s podium training Thursday because he was not feeling well.

“I had, like, no energy today and didn’t really have a sense of what was going on in my head,” Carey told Olympics.com. “So, I just kind of wanted people to know that so, they know that there’s actually something wrong.”

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France – In a completely unscientific survey, fans wearing Steph Curry shirts and jerseys outnumber any other player by about 5-1 inside and outside of the 2024 Paris Olympics 5×5 basketball venue ahead of the USA-Serbia men’s game Sunday. LeBron James jerseys are a close second followed by Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic. – Jeff Zillgitt

ELANCOURT, France − Team USA women’s mountain bike rider Haley Batten earned a silver medal Sunday at the Paris Games, finishing with a time of 1:28.59. France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot pulled away from the field early and commanded gold in a time of 1:26:02, while Jenny Rissveds of Sweden took the bronze (1:29.04).

Batten incurred a flat on the fourth of seven laps while riding in fifth place, but still managed to improve her position from that point to take a place on the podium. Batten and Rissveds battled over the sixth lap, trading second and third place back and forth, before Batten pulled away in the final lap. Meanwhile, Ferrand-Prevot’s gold was well-secured and drew raucous cheers from home-country fans.

Batten’s first medal comes in her second Olympics appearance, having finished ninth in Tokyo in 2021. − Chase Goodbread

U.S. fencer Lee Kiefer, the defending Olympic champion in the women’s individual foil, advanced to the round of 8 Sunday with a victory over Qianqian Huang of China.

Kiefer, 30, coasted to a 15-9 win over Huang in the round of 16 bout while taking another step toward the medal rounds set for later Sunday. She bolted to a 10-2 lead before Huang mounted a brief scoring spree that wasn’t nearly enough to derail Kiefer.

Fellow American Lauren Scruggs also advanced to the round of 8 with a 15-11 victory over Jessica Zia Jia Guo of Canada.

A solid performance by the men’s four highlighted the action for Team USA in Sunday morning’s rowing competition and the Nautical Stadium for Flatwater in Paris.

Women’s pair – Azja Czajkowski and Jess Thoennes placed third to advance to the semifinals with a time of 7:25.52. The Netherlands took first in the heat with a time of 7:17.81, while Lithuania was second, reaching the line in 7:22.53.

Men’s pair – Oliver Bub and Billy Bender finished fifth in their qualifying heat, covering the course in 7:02.62. Spain won the heat with the fastest time of the morning at 6:32.28. Bub and Bender move into the repechage round, which will be held Monday.

Women’s lightweight double sculls – Molly Reckford and Michelle Sechser finished second in their heat with a time of 7:12.65, which advanced them to the semifinal round. Romania won the heat in 7:03.65. The semifinal round begins Wednesday.

Women’s four – The quartet of Emily Kallfelz, Kelsey Reelick, Daisy Mazzio-Manson, and Kate Knifton finished fourth in their qualifying heat and will move to the repechage round. Their 6:49.66 was 7.09 seconds behind the leading boat from Great Britain, which had the fastest time of the day with their 6:42.57. The repechage round will be held Tuesday.

Men’s four – The boat crewed by Nick Mead, Justin Best, Michael Grady, and Liam Corrigan won the second heat and had the second-fastest time of the field. Their time of 6:04.95 advanced them directly to the final round and put them into the discussion of potential podium finishers. New Zealand won the first heat with a time of 6:03.08. The finals are scheduled for Thursday.

Men’s 200m freestyle – Luke Hobson advanced to the semifinal round, tying for seventh among the qualifiers with a time of 1:46.23. That was 0.58 seconds behind the fastest time, a 1:45.65 posted by David Popvici of Romania. Chris Giuliano also swam for Team USA, ranking 19th in the field with a time of 1:47.60, which missed the cutoff for the semifinals by 0.21 seconds.

Men’s 400m IM – Carson Foster advanced to the final after placing fourth in qualifying. His time of 4:11.07 was 2.77 seconds behind Leon Marchand of France, whose 4:08.30 was 1.21 faster than the rest of the field. Chase Kalisz placed 11th for Team USA, clocking in at 4:13.36.

Women’s 100m breaststroke – Lilly King, a two-time Olympic medalist and world record-holder in the event, advanced to Sunday’s semifinal round after posting a time of 1:06.10, fifth fastest among the qualifiers. Tatjana Smith of South Africa had the fastest time at 1:05.00. Emma Weber swam a 1:07.65, ranking her 23rd.

Men’s 100m backstroke – Ryan Murphy and Hunter Armstrong advanced to the semifinals. Murphy had the fourth-fastest time in the qualifying heats with a 53.06 result, 0.28 behind the 52.78 of Hubert Kos of Hungary. Armstrong’s 53.34 ranked ninth in the field.

Women’s 200m freestyle – Claire Weinstein and Erin Gemmell moved through the to semifinals. Weinstein’s 1:56.48 was sixth in the field, 0.69 off the pace of 1:55.79 set by Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan. Gemmell’s 1:57.23 ranked 11th among the qualifiers.

Cecile Landi, one of Simone Biles’ coaches, said after Sunday’s qualifying session that she doesn’t have concerns about Biles continuing to compete in Paris. Landi said it was Biles’ left calf that was bothering her and said “she felt better at the end, yeah.”

Landi went on to say there was no discussion about Biles not continuing to compete on Sunday. “Never in her mind,” Landi said.

Landi also said there was no discussion about Biles doing just one vault or watering down her planned skills. Landi was then asked what Biles did with her leg: “Just a little pain in her calf. She felt it a little bit on floor. And we taped it to kind of (tighten) it up.” Biles finished competing in the qualifying session with her left ankle taped.

Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead for the U.S. women, said: “What she was able to do … was remarkable.”

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France – Playing in its first Olympics in men’s 5×5 basketball, South Sudan produced a historic result, beating Puerto Rico 90-79 Sunday.

Carlik Jones, who played college basketball for Radford and Louisville and spent time in the NBA, led South Sudan with 19 points. Marial Shayok, who played college ball at Virginia and Iowa State and was an NBA second-round draft pick, scored 15 points.

In its infancy as a country, South Sudan did not qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics or 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but as the African nation with the best finish at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, it qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

South Sudan plays the United States Wednesday (9 p.m. ET) in a Group C game, and it nearly beat the U.S. in an exhibition game July 20. The U.S. won 101-100 but South Sudan had a chance to win on the final shot of the game.

The team is coached by former NBA player Royal Ivey, and former NBA All-Star Luol Deng is the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation and an assistant coach. — Jeff Zillgitt

Kanak Jha battled his way into the men’s singles round of 32 with a hard-fought victory over No. 15 seed Cho Daesong of Korea, 4-2 (8-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-2, 8-11, 12-10) Sunday morning at the South Paris Arena.

Jha is the second Team USA entry to advance to the round of 32 in table tennis singles. He joins teammate Amy Wang, who defeated Priscilla Tommy of Vanuatu 4-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-9, 11-5) Saturday evening.

The No. 23 seed in the women’s field, Wang next will face No. 6 seed Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico. Wang’s teammate, Lily Zhang, will play Mariana Sahakian of Lebanon on Sunday. Sahakian defeated Chile’s Zhiying Zeng in the preliminary round for the opportunity to face Zhang, the tournament’s No. 19 seed.

Jha becomes the first U.S. men’s singles player to advance to the round of 32 in Olympic table tennis since Jimmy Butler did it at the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992. He will face the winner of Sunday’s match between Panagoitis Gionis of Greece and Edward Ly of Canada.

On the northern side of Bercy Arena, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen took their seats near a luxury box with their children, who held up a white flag adorned with the American flag and Olympic rings. A few rows away, Tom Cruise shook hands with a fellow spectator and smiled. Snoop Dogg, who is in Paris as a contributor with NBC, leaned back in a seat in the front row.

Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain and USA snowboarder Shaun White and his girlfriend, Nina Dobrev, were among the other notable figures in attendance Sunday. Businessman David Lauren, the son of eponymous clothing designer Ralph Lauren was also seated nearby.

Sunday’s women’s gymnastics team qualifying drew such high interest because it’s the first time Simone Biles competes at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she is expected to add to her gold medal haul. — Tom Schad

Simone Biles left the floor briefly with Dr. Marcia Faustin, the U.S. gymnastics team doctor, after tweaking her left ankle during warmups on floor exercise Saturday. Another member of the medical team came and wrapped the ankle tightly. Biles got up and walked around, as if testing it.

Biles opened the floor with the triple-twisting, double somersault, better known as the Biles II. It’s both incredibly difficult and demands a lot of every part of her leg.

Biles spotted her parents when the Americans moved to vault, their next event, and she could be seen smiling and laughing again. After landing one practice vault, she motioned to teammates and then jokingly crawled partway toward the runway. Then she got up and hopped on her right leg. “I’m going to need a wheelchair,” she said, according to the Peacock broadcast, though she appeared to be making light of the apparent ankle injury. 

Follow for more updates on the women’s gymnastics qualifications. — Tom Schad and Nancy Armour

American fencer Lee Kiefer, the defending Olympic champion in the women’s individual foil, won her opening bout at the Paris Games Sunday and advanced to final 16.

Kiefer, who won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021, beat Martyna Jelinska of Poland 15-13 at the Grand Palais. Leading 8-1, Kiefer lost eight of the next nine points but never trailed before she triumphed.

Kiefer’s quest for another Olympic gold medal will play out later Sunday with the final rounds of competition in the women’s individual foil set to follow. She entered the Paris Games ranked No. 1 in the world. — Josh Peter

NANTERRE, France — American swimmer Chase Kalisz will not get the chance to defend his 2021 Tokyo Olympics gold medal after the three-time Olympian missed the top-8 cut for the 400 individual medley final Sunday. 

In one of the most grueling events, the 30-year-old’s prelims time of 4:13.36 landed him in 11th place overall and more than five seconds behind France’s favorite, Léon Marchand, the top qualifier. Kalisz also won silver in the event at the 2016 Rio Games.

Fellow American Carson Foster’s 4:11.07 prelims swim was the fourth-fastest overall and advanced him to the final Sunday night (about 2:30 p.m. ET). − Michelle Martinelli

An American boxer who has trained at George Foreman’s gym in the Houston area won his opening bout at the Paris Olympics Sunday.

Roscoe Hill won by unanimous decision on points over Omid Ahmadisafa, who was born in Iran and was competing on the Refugee Olympic Team, in a round of 32 bout.

Hill, 29, not only trained in Foreman’s gym but was baptized by the former heavyweight world champion, according to Hill’s bio on USA Boxing. − Josh Peter

Angelica Delgado battled to a golden score 1-0 victory over Gultaj Mammadeliyeva of Azerbaijan in the women’s judo -52kg elimination round of 32 Sunday morning at the Champ de Mars Arena.

A three-time Olympian, Delgado fought Mammadaliyeva to a scoreless draw after the four minutes of regulation, taking the match into golden score overtime. Delgado finally was awarded a waza-ari 3:04 into the golden score time to claim the victory.

She advances to the round of 16, where she will face Italy’s Odette Giuffrida early Sunday afternoon Paris time.

Former Philadelphia Eagles six-time All-Pro center Jason Kelce − sporting a French beret − and his wife Kylie were in attendance as the United States women’s field hockey team lost 4-1 to Argentina in a Pool B match.

“We’re in France, in Paris, and I love assimilating to different cultures and whatnot,” Jason Kelce said according to Olympic News Service. “I know this is about as stereotypical as you can get … I’ve already had a bunch of croissants and baguettes too, I just didn’t carry them with me to the game.”

Kelce announced his retirement in an emotional speech in March after 13 NFL seasons.

Carissa Moore, the defending Olympic women’s surfing champion, and her four American teammates each won their first-round heats as the competition in Tahiti got underway at the Paris Games.

All five U.S. surfers advanced directly to third round as a result of winning the first-round heats, each of which included three surfers, this weekend. — Josh Peter

The U.S. women’s archery team of Catalina Gnoriega, Casey Kaufhold and Jennifer Mucino was eliminated from the team competition on Sunday, falling to Chinese Taipei 5-1 in the Round of 8 at the Olympic archery range at Invalides.

Here are some Olympic schedule highlights. Peacock is streaming every sport and event live as it unfolds in Paris (all times Eastern).

NBC is airing and streaming the Paris Olympics from all angles: Peacock is streaming every sport and event live as it unfolds; NBC, USA Network, CNBC and E! are carrying various live events and replays throughout the day. Here are 6 tips and tricks for getting the most out of Peacock during the Olympics.

Our 2024 Paris Olympics medal count tracker updates after every single medal event.

(All times Eastern)

  • The U.S. women’s gymnastics team competes in qualification starting at 5:40 a.m. NBC airs it.
  • The U.S. men’s water polo team faces Italy in group play at 9 a.m. NBC and USA Network are airing it.
  • The U.S. women’s rugby sevens team plays Japan in pool play at 10:30 a.m. The Americans then play Brazil in pool play at 2 p.m. CNBC is airing it.
  • The U.S. men’s basketball team faces Serbia in group play at 11:15 a.m. NBC is airing it.
  • The USWNT plays Germany in group play at 3 p.m. USA Network is airing it.
  • The U.S. competes in women’s beach volleyball against Czech Republic at 4 p.m. NBC is airing it.

(All times Eastern)

  • Shooting: 10m air pistol men’s final (3:30 a.m), 10m air pistol women’s final (6 a.m.)
  • Cycling mountain bike: women’s cross country (8:10 a.m., NBC)
  • Archery: women’s team bronze medal match (10:48 a.m.), women’s team gold medal match (11:11 a.m., USA Network)
  • Skateboarding: Women’s street final (11 a.m., USA Network)
  • Canoe slalom: women’s kayak single final (11:45 a.m., USA Network)
  • Judo: three medal events for men -66kg (11:18 a.m. start), three medal events for women -52 kg (11:49 a.m. start)
  • Swimming: men’s 400m individual medley final (2:30 p.m., NBC), women’s 100m butterfly final (2:45 p.m.), men’s 100m breaststroke final (3:54 p.m., NBC)
  • Fencing: women’s foil individual finals (2:50 p.m., CNBC), men’s épée individual finals (3:20 p.m., CNBC)

(All times Eastern)

  • Heats for the following events start at 5 a.m.: men’s 200m free, 400m IM, 100m backstroke; women’s 100m breaststroke, 200m free. USA Network is airing heats.
  • Semifinals for the following events start in the afternoon: men’s 200m free (2:51 p.m.), women’s 100m breaststroke (3:15 p.m.), men’s 100m backstroke (3:37 p.m.), women’s 200m free (4 p.m.)
  • Today’s finals: men’s 400m IM (2:30 p.m.), women’s 100m fly (2:25 p.m.), men’s 100m breaststroke final (3:54 p.m.).

In women’s team qualifying, fans will get their first glimpse of Simone Biles, a seven-time Olympic medalist who is now 27 competing in her third Summer Games. The U.S. women are in Subdivision 2 with Italy, China and a mixed group of athletes from other countries that did not qualify a team. Qualifying on Sunday determines which countries make it to the team finals, which individual gymnasts reach the all-around finals and who will qualify for the event finals.

In women’s foil, American Lee Kiefer is one to watch. In Tokyo, Kiefer won team and individual gold. At last year’s world championships, she took bronze in the individual event. At 29, Kiefer is the most decorated women’s foil fencer in U.S. history. She won four consecutive NCAA championships at Notre Dame before pursuing a medical degree at the University of Kentucky.

The U.S. women’s national team faces Germany in their second group game. The Americans are fourth in the FIFA rankings, followed by Germany at No. 5. The Olympic tournament has 12 teams and the top two in each group advances to the quarterfinals along with the two best third-place teams.

In women’s mountain bike, American Haley Batten had a strong start to the World Cup season, placing third in a cross-country race in Mairipora, Brazil, followed by a win the next weekend in Araxa. Growing up in Park City, Utah, Batten got her start in cycling at age 9 and won her first national title at 14. Now 25, Batten is expected to be among the medal contenders in the cross-country final.

Torri Huske was 18 when she made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games, winning silver in the women’s 100-meter butterfly. She’s back for the Paris Olympics, with more international experience under her belt. Gretchen Walsh, a senior at the University of Virginia, won the 100 fly at the U.S. Olympic trials and will make her Olympic debut.

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