Paris Olympics 2024 Highlights, Day 8: Imane Khelif assures herself of medal; Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky win golds

Katie Ledecky capped another stellar Olympics by becoming only the second swimmer to win an event at four straight Summer Games, holding off Ariarne Titmus to win the 800-meter freestyle Saturday night.

It was Ledecky's second gold medal in Paris and ninth of her remarkable career, which marked another milestone. She became only the sixth Olympian to reach that figure, joining swimmer Mark Spitz, track star Carl Lewis, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi in a tie for second place.

The only athlete to win more golds: swimmer Michael Phelps with 23.

Sha'Carri Richardson's comeback story hit a brick wall Saturday when Julien Alfred romped in the rain to the 100-meter title in 10.72 seconds to bring the first-ever Olympic medal to her island country of Saint Lucia.

Racing one lane to the left of Richardson, and with water puddling on the purple track in the Stade de France, Alfred got off to a fantastic start, then powered through the rain and beat Richardson by .15 seconds — about three body lengths.

Richardson' training partner, Melissa Jefferson, finished third in 10.92 seconds.

Times and standings

Julien Alfred | Gold | 10.72 secs

Sha'Carri Richardson | Silver | 10.87 secs

Melissa Jedderson | Bronze | 10.92 secs

Ukraine team has staged an incredible comeback to win the women's team sabre gold at the Grand Palais. In a thrilling final, they had to come from behind to beat Republic of Korea 45-42 in the gold medal match.

Meanwhile, Japan have broken local hearts by beating France 45-40 for bronze.

In swimming, Summer McIntosh has won the women's 200m individual medley race. While Kaylee McKeown and Kate Douglass have the strongest starts on the butterfly, it's Douglass who leads into the backstroke. But soon Summer McIntosh moves into the lead!

Douglass, a breaststroke swimmer, leads coming in on the freestyle but Summer McIntosh pips her! Summer McIntosh wins with an Olympic record time of 2:06.56 ahead of Douglass and McKeown. Alex Walsh, who had finished third, has been disqualified for an illegal turn from backstroke to breaststroke.

Here’s the start list for the women’s 100m final, which will take place it seems in pouring rain! Just one Jamaican in the final, and she is not named Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce.

Some big news from athletics. No Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce in the women's 100m semifinals! After running a sub 11 earlier in the day, she is listed as a non starter in the semifinals. And that means a sensational medal streak for the Jamaican superstar that started from Beijing 2008 is over, as SAFP had said this was going to be her last Olympics. It is not yet clear what the reason is.

The first week of the Paris Olympics has seen viral sensations emerge, such as Turkish pistol shooter Yusuf Dikec, American gymnast Stephen Nederoscik, South Korean shooter Kim Yeji, Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa, and American rugby player Ilona Maher. These athletes have captured the internet's attention with their unique stories and impressive performances. Despite facing challenges and criticism, they have proven their talent and resilience on the world stage.

READ MORE

• 5 of the top 6 ranked men's singles out before semifinals
• Marin in another semi; defending champ Chen Yufei gone, beaten by He Bing Jiao
• An Se-young marches on, and Indonesian medal hopes hinge on Women singles with Gregoria Mariska Tunjung
• Akane Yamaguchi breaks down in fat tears after losing to ASY
• Lee Zii Jia has fetched up in semis, raising Malaysian hopes.

On Thursday, Italy’s Angela Carini threw in the towel after only 46 seconds against Algeria’s Imane Khelif who, like Lin, has high testosterone levels. After her match, Angela said she had “never been punched so hard”. 

From heads of state to novelists, coaches to sports science experts, all have had their say on the issue that has been the biggest talking point at the Games.

An Italian journalist said that in some sections of the media, traditional and social, Imane was referred to as ‘he’ with many claiming that she ‘walked like a man and sounded like a man’. Author JK Rowling had called Imane’s smile after the bout the ‘smirk of a male.’

Read Mihir Vasavda's ground report from Paris

Imane Khelif first hit global headlines after Italy’s 66kg boxer Angela Carini withdrew from her bout against the Algeria boxer on August 1 after just 46 seconds. The tearful Angela Carini later presented her reason for pulling out: she said she had never been punched so hard.

Angela Carini's withdrawal made news because Imane Khelif is one of the two boxers allowed to compete at the Paris Olympics despite failing a gender eligibility test at the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) World Championships in New Delhi in March last year.

So why was Imane Khelif allowed to compete at the Olympics? How do other sports regulate? Do IOC and IBA regulations differ? What have the IBA and IOC said since Angela Carini withdrew?

The Indian Express' Nihal Koshie explains all that and more

Boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria clinched a medal Saturday at the Paris Olympics following days of sharp scrutiny and online abuse as misconceptions about her gender have exploded into a larger clash about identity in sports.

Khelif defeated Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary 5:0 in the quarterfinals of the women’s 66-kilogram bout.

Khelif will win at least a bronze medal after defeating Hamori for the second victory of her tumultuous second trip to the Olympics.

Khelif was faced international scrutiny after the banned International Boxing Association claimed Khelif failed an unspecified eligibility test for women’s competition last year. She then won her opening bout Thursday when opponent Angela Carini of Italy tearfully abandoned the fight after just 46 seconds.

Imane Khelif, the boxer who has been in the news for a gender controversy, has clinched an Olympic medal. She had faced plenty of online trolling, was booed by fans in the stadium and was targetted in certain sections of the media. 

Read Mihir Vasavda's report from the ground in Paris.

Simone Biles executed her two vaults to near perfection. She claims the vault gold while defending champion Rebeca Andrade can only finish second. Andrade ties ties sailors Torben Grael and Robert Scheidt as the most decorated Brazilian Olympians ever with five medals.Here are the medal-winning scores:

Simone Biles: 15.300

Rebeca Andrade: 14.966

Jade Carey: 14.466

American Simone Biles won the gold medal in the women's gymnastics vault event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday. Brazil's Rebeca Andrade won the silver medal and American Jade Carey took the bronze.

China have won gold and silver from the badminton courts at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena. 

In an all-Chinese women's doubles gold medal match, top seeds and Tokyo 2020 silver medallists Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan from China have defeated compatriots Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 22-20, 21-15.

The women's double bronze went to Japan's Matsuyama Nami and Shida Chiharu.

With the men's singles gold medal on the line at Parsi Olympics, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will slug it out on Sunday.

It will be the latest installment of a fascinating old vs young rivalry that included a matchup in the Wimbledon final three weeks ago.

Alcaraz won that one — “Quite comfortably,” Djokovic acknowledged — just like he did when they played each other for last year's trophy at the All England Club.

When Alcaraz's semifinal in Paris ended Friday afternoon — before Djokovic played in his later semifinal that night — the 21-year-old Spaniard was asked what it might be like to possibly take on the 37-year-old Serbian again.

In case you have been watching the Paris Olympics you might have noticed that athletes at medal ceremonies are being given a box along with medals. You're probably wondering what's in the box athletes get with their medals?

Gold, silver and bronze medalists can skip the trip to the gift shop. When the winners take the podium, they're handed a long, thin package containing the official Paris Olympics poster. They also get special stuffed Olympic Phryges with their corresponding medal.

South Korea's Lim Sihyeon won gold in the women's individual archery event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, taking home her third title during the Games.

Lim's compatriot Nam Suhyeon took silver, ensuring their country dominated the podium. But France's Lisa Barbelin fought off South Korea's Jeon Hunyoung for the bronze, winning France's first medal in the event to a wild roar from the crowd.

Weather conditions at Esplanade des Invalides varied throughout the afternoon, as overcast skies alternated with bright sun and the archers dealt with both wind and still air, likely forcing them to constantly adjust their aim. Reuters reports

Egyptian fencer Nada Hafez recently made headlines after revealing that she competed at the Paris Olympics while she was seven months pregnant. The Cairo-based fencer is a three-time Olympian whose campaign in the women’s saber event at Paris 2024 ended with a defeat to Jeon Hayoung of South Korea.

It was after her loss that she revealed that was pregnant when she competed. (Read more from Amit Kamath)

Vinayakk: The World Record holder from the ranking round, is now the Olympic champion. And on debut, just like An San did three years back, Lim Sihyeon wins all three gold meals possible. (Individual, Team & Mixed Team). There was however a marvellous moment few minutes before Korea’s 1-2 finish in the final. France’s Lisa Barbelin prevented a Korean clean sweep by defeating the third Korean archer Jeon. The tears flowed as the home crowd cheered her on.

The banned International Boxing Association wants to give a $50,000 prize to Italy boxer Angela Carini, who tearfully quit her opening bout with Imane Khelif of Algeria at the Paris Olympics after just 46 seconds.

IBA president Umar Kremlev made the announcement in his latest video in a series of incendiary criticisms of the International Olympic Committee, which suspended his organization's Olympic recognition before the Tokyo Games and banished the body from the Olympic movement entirely last year.

Kremlev also said he intends to award $25,000 to Italy's national federation and $25,000 to Carini's coach after her dramatic opening-round exit against Khelif. The IBA claims Khelif failed an unspecified gender identity test last year at its world championships, and it has stoked a worldwide uproar over the presence of Khelif and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan in the Olympic women's boxing tournament. AP Reports

Amit Kamath: Last night, when swimmer Leon Marchand was competing in the 200m individual medley race yesterday night, looking to win his fourth gold at Paris 2024, French fans sitting in stadiums around Paris started cheering him while watching a stream on their mobile devices. 

Fans at the Stade de France, which is hosting the athletics events, started to cheer so loudly for Marchand that the first heat of the 400m run in the decathlon event had to be delayed! Ashton Eaton, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in decathlon, has posted a clip of this on his X. 

“Something wild and cool happened at the track stadium. Before the decathlon 400m nothing else was going on. So the whole stadium was waiting for the race to start. But, it couldn’t start because the crowd would not stop chanting in French. The announcer even had to ask everyone to be quiet. But they wouldn’t. And there was no French athlete in the race! Everyone else was like WTF is going on? Athletes in their blocks like WTF is going ON!? Couldn’t figure it out until the French fans pulled out their phones in front of us. One word; #Marchand,” posted Eaton. 

In another tweet, he said: “Just hit me that it’s so unique to be able to be in a stadium with 60,000 people and experience a performance together that’s not even in the same stadium. There’s something to that…”

Australian duo Matthew Ebden and John Peers won the gold medal in the Olympic tennis men's doubles as they beat American pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7(6) 7-6(1) 10-8 on Saturday.

The bronze medal match will be between Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul and Czech duo Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek later at Roland Garros. Reuters reports

IOC President Thomas Bach said Saturday the “hate speech” directed at boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting at the Paris Olympics is “totally unacceptable.” “We will not take part in a politically motivated … cultural war,” Bach said at a news briefing at the midway point of the games, that also tried to draw a line under days of global scrutiny about the female boxers' gender.

“What is going on in this context in the social media with all this hate speech, with this aggression and abuse, and fueled by this agenda, is totally unacceptable,” the International Olympic Committee leader said.

Khelif of Algeria and Lin of Taiwan have been the focus of intense attention — and often inaccurate commentary — because both were disqualified at the 2023 world championships. AP reports

Lin Yu-Ting became a boxer to ‘protect’ her mother from ‘domestic violence’. She did more than that — the southpaw became a Taiwanese sensation by winning two World Championships.

Friday was to be her big day; the first bout of her Paris Olympics campaign. But when she came out of the dark tunnel into the brightly-lit Paris du Nord Arena, all she could hear was boos. In the stand where team officials sit, someone whispered: “She is one of them.” (Read more from Mihir Vasavda)

Which famous Hindi move has sightings of these sports: Pole vault, roller skating, badminton, hockey sticks?

Clue 1. There's also a protagonist who can't swim. 
Clue 2. If tight-rope walking was a sport.

Germany's Leo Neugebauer is the leader in the men's decathlon at the Paris Olympics with three events to go, reclaiming top spot with a solid discus throw after briefly dropping to third after Saturday's opening 110-metres hurdles race.

The 24-year-old who has the world's best score this season, set in winning his second consecutive NCAA title for the University of Texas, has 6,500 points after seven events.

Canada's reigning Olympic champion Damian Warner, who briefly led after a solid hurdles race, is second with 6,428, while 22-year-old Norwegian Sander Skotheim is third (6,326).

The remaining events are the pole vault, javelin and 1,500m. Reuters reports

Amit Kamath: So Kenny Bednarek and Fred Kerley have the best time in all the eight heats (9.97 secs) while Great Britain's next big track hope Louie Hinchliffe is the third fastest man in the heats. Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs, the man who is in Paris to defend his gold medal from Tokyo, has the 13th fastest time (10.05s). All of them head to the semi-finals/.

Amit Kamath: Kenneth Bednarek finishes on top of the seventh heat in the men's 100m race. The American has a time of 9.97 secs, while Cameroon's Emmanuel Eseme is second with a time of 9.98, a season best time. Interstingly, Andre de Grasse is third with a time of 10.07 secs. Teh Canadian does make it to the semi-finals.

Vinayakk: Reigning women’s singles champion Chen Yufei is OUT! Couple of days after beating PV Sindhu, He Bing Jiao is back to Olympic semifinals by beating her Chinese teammate.

SF lineup is now set:

An Se Young vs Gregoria Tunjung
Carolina Marin vs He Bing Jiao

Amit Kamath: Meanwhile, Mondo comes, Mondo soars, Mondo exits stage. Repeat. 

In group A of the men's pole vault, Sweden's Mondo Duplantis has already crossed the 5.60m and the 5.75m mark bars with single leaps. He sailed over the bar at 5.60m, with a few feet between him and the bar. When he landed on the mat, he almost looked disdainfully at the bar, as if judging it for being too low. 

Just look at how much distance there was between him and and the bar.

In another disappointment for the American swim team, Simone Manuel was eliminated in the preliminaries of the 50-meter freestyle at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.

Manuel posted the 18th-fastest time in the hectic sprint over one length of the pool, not good enough to make it to the evening semifinals.

The first Black woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming touched in 24.87 seconds, 0.15 out of the time she needed to crack the top 16 and a whopping 1.02 behind the fastest qualifier, Sarah Sjöström of Sweden.

Manuel stormed off the deck and right past reporters. Asked to stop for a question, she replied “nope” and kept on going. AP reports

Amit Kamath: Meanwhile in the 100 Metres Men's Heats, one of the favourites to win the 100m gold at Paris Olympics, Noah Lyles, finishes second with a time of 10.04. Meanwhile topping the heat is Great Britain's Louie Hinchliffe, who has been billed as Team GB's next big hope for an Olympic medal by the British media.

The British media has been particulalrly fascinated by his "mullet haircut and safety pin earrings". 

The Independent, summing up his rapid rise, wrote: "The Sheffield-born sprinter was virtually unknown at the start of the Olympics year but his stunning victory to win the NCAA Championships, becoming the first European to win the US collegiate title, was his big breakthrough."

It must be noted that Hinchliffe -- who has already dipped under the 10-second barrier with a time of 9.95 seconds in Eugene, Oregon -- trains under Olympics legend in Carl Lewis at the University of Houston in Texas.

The other night in Paris, a 22-year-old rookie knocked out the World No.1. Just another upset in the cut-throat competitive world of Olympics, you would say. Not really, since the giant who fell was from China, the giant-killer was a Swede, and the battle was at the table tennis venue. The two table tennis- obsessed nations have a past.

Wang Chuqin losing to Truls Moregardh in the Round of 32 was a result that would have shocked China and made them paranoid about history’s knack of repeating itself. Wang’s defeat meant China wouldn’t win both gold and silver men’s singles medals as they have done in the last four Olympics. So, was it the snapping of the streak that bothered China? Yes, it would have certainly wounded their pride, but the salt was the Swede. (Read more from Sandeep Dwivedi)

The cheers for France's Anais Bourgoin in the 800 metres repechage on Saturday reached near ear-splitting levels with the new qualifying format in athletics proving popular at the Paris Olympics.

For the first time in Olympic athletics history, runners who fail to advance out of the first round will be given a second shot through a repechage.

With the winner in each of the four women's 800 repechage heats sealing spots in the semi-finals, Bourgoin held on to win hers by about a tenth of a second, with the flag-waving crowd cheering as if she had won gold.

World Athletics introduced repechage rounds -- which in French translates to "fish out" or "to rescue" and has been used in other sports such as rowing for years -- for Paris in the 100/110 hurdles, 200, 400, 400 hurdles, 800 and 1,500. Reuters reports

IOC President Thomas Bach said Saturday the “hate speech” directed at boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting at the Paris Olympics is “totally unacceptable.” “We will not take part in a politically motivated … cultural war,” Bach said at a news briefing.

Khelif of Algeria and Lin of Taiwan have been subjected to days of global scrutiny about their gender. Both women were disqualified at the 2023 world championships.

The Russian-led International Boxing Association — which has been banished from the Olympics by the IOC in a yearslong dispute — removed them from the worlds 16 months ago in India citing gender-based tests that are still unspecified and unproven.

Dutch rower Karolien Florijn powered to victory in the women's single sculls Olympic final on Saturday in a time of 7:17.28, with Emma Twigg of New Zealand picking up silver and Lithuania's Viktorija Senkute bronze.

With the men's sculls final delayed due to Paris traffic, the women's eights final was won in dominant fashion by Romania, with Britain taking home the men's gold in the big boat with a tremendous performance form start to finish.

With the women's single scullers getting the final day under way Florijn, 26, went out hard in the early part of the race at the Vaires-sur-Marnes Nautical Stadium before Tokyo champion Twigg closed the gap to half a length just after the midpoint of the 2,000 metres race. Reports Reuters

The sensational Manu Bhaker's dream of a grand treble went up in smoke after she lost the tie-shoot for bronze medal to Hungarian Veronika Major by the narrowest of margins in the women's 25m sports pistol event at the Olympic Games here on Saturday.

In a high-quality final, Bhaker gave it her all and was placed No.1 among eight shooters for a brief period, but she could not maintain her consistency and eventually finished fourth.

Nonetheless, the 22-year-old will return home with her twin bronze-medal feat in women's 10m air pistol and mixed team 10m air pistol partnering Sarabjot Singh. Reports PTI

Karolien Florijn of Netherlands won Olympic gold in the women's single sculls at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Saturday.

New Zealand's Emma Twigg came in second to secure the silver, with Viktorija Senkute of Lithuania picking up the bronze. Reuters reports

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the removal of a spectator from the badminton venue at the Paris Olympics for holding up a green banner reading "Taiwan go for it" during competition on Friday.

Two Reuters journalists saw the spectator being bodily removed up a staircase, shouting, while Taiwanese shuttler Chou Tien Chen was playing.

Taiwan competes at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei to avoid objections from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory. Taiwan's government rejects Chinese sovereignty claims.

In a statement on Saturday, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned "the crude and despicable means by malicious people to arbitrarily snatch the slogan 'Taiwan go for it' from our country's national during the Olympic Games. Reuters reports

There’s an involuntary twitch that coach Mathias Boe would get in his shoulder every time Chirag Shetty whizzed across for a net kill or Satwiksairaj Rankireddy leapt for a smash, while he watched them train or play. Like it was him playing. He wouldn’t have checked twice if the parachute worked while jumping out a plane if that’s what it took to shepherd Satwik-Chirag.

At any given moment, and if he had been permitted, Boe looked like he would have jumped onto the court and started playing for India himself. He soared with them, and when their Olympics dream came crashing down in the quarters, the intense Danish character declared he was done with coaching altogether. (Read more from Shivani Naik)

Manu Bhaker ended fourth at the 25m pistol event after a heart-stopping shoot-off on Saturday against Veronica Major. Manu Bhaker was on the verge of becoming the first Indian to win three Olympics medals in individual events. In fact, no Indian athlete has ever won three individual Olympic medals across Olympics, and Manu Bhaker was a couple of shots away from breaking that record in just one Olympic Games.

But it was not to be, as Manu Bhaker ended in the fourth-place club. Manu Bhaker is the fourth shooter to feature in this list of fourth place finishing Indian athletes at an Olympics, besides Joydeep Karmakar, Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra and Arjun Babuta. (Read more)

In a heartwarming moment, Chinese badminton star Huang Ya Qiong’s triumph on the court was swiftly followed by a romantic victory off the court. Just minutes after winning the mixed doubles gold medal alongside partner Zheng Siwei, Huang’s boyfriend, Chinese men’s doubles player Liu Yuchen, got down on one knee and proposed to her, making their Olympic celebration even more unforgettable.

It’s not the first proposal we’ve had between athletes these Games, either. Argentina’s Pablo Simonet and Maria Campoy got engaged in the Olympic Village earlier in the Games. (Read more)

After the subdued, unexpectedly understated farewell to one of the highlight members of the greatest generation of men’s tennis, reactions were equally underplayed.

Andy Murray, paired up with the ferocious Dan Evans, was defeated in straight sets by the American pair of Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz in the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics on Thursday in what was his final competitive outing. As the few members that filled the stands displayed their affection, tears welled in his eyes as he said goodbye, this time conclusively. After failing to play singles at the site of two of his greatest achievements — Wimbledon and the Olympics — meek doubles defeats were to be his last act. (Read more from Namit Kumar)

The International Boxing Association (IBA) will award Italy's Angela Carini, who lost her welterweight round-of-16 bout against Algerian Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics in 46 seconds on Thursday, $50,000 in prize money, it said on Friday.

Carini pulled out in the first round after the Algerian, who is at the heart of a gender row, pummelled the Italian with a barrage of punches.

The IBA, which was stripped of its international recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year, said Carini would receive $50,000, her federation a further $25,000 and her coach an additional $25,000. Reuters Reports

Dutch Olympian Steven van de Velde, who was convicted in 2016 of raping a 12-year-old girl in England, advanced to the knockout round of the beach volleyball tournament on Friday, even with a loss in the final match of pool play.

Van de Velde and Matthew Immers will play in the round of 16 on Sunday or Monday. An opponent has not been determined.

Van de Velde, 29, served 13 months in prison after his 2016 rape conviction. Although victims advocates, lawmakers and fans have called for him to be banned from the Olympics, the IOC has said it was powerless to stop the Netherlands from sending an athlete who qualified in the usual way.

Van de Velde again did not walk through the mix zone to address the media on Friday, something typically required of all Olympians. Immers said his partner's mood was good. AP reports

Her black headscarf flying up, a teen jumped into the sparkling Mediterranean from a concrete pier at a city marina, then scrambled back to shore and onto a giant paddle board for a quick tour with a dozen excited comrades.

They were bused in for a swimming camp from a social services center in the mostly Muslim, North African-origin neighborhoods that ring Marseille, which is hosting the 2024 Olympicsailing competition at the opposite end of its spectacular, monument-fringed bay.

The millennia-old port is a crossroads of cultures and faiths, where the sea is ever present but not equally accessible, and the beauty and cosmopolitan flair rub shoulders with enclaves of poverty and exclusion even more intimately than in the rest of France. (Reports AP)

Either China or Croatia will earn its first singles gold medal in Olympic tennis with Zheng Qinwen playing Donna Vekic in women’s final. This would be the biggest title for both players as neither Zheng nor Vekic has won Grand Slam.

The United States men's basketball team goes for its third consecutive victory when it faces winless Puerto Rico. It will be the final group-stage game for the US, which is seeking the top seed ahead of the knockout rounds.

The US will take on Japan in the quarterfinals of women's soccer. The Americans won all three group-stage games for the first time since 2012 to finish atop Group B. Japan, the 2012 Olympic silver medalists, won Group C. The US won the gold in 2012. In the other women's quarterfinals, France will face Brazil, Spain will play against Colombia and Canada will take on Germany. Canada advanced out of group play despite being docked six standings points for a drone scandal that has rocked the program.

Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary plans to fight in the quarterfinals against Imane Khelif of Algeria in women’s boxing, even though the Hungarian Boxing Association said it was sending letters of protest to both the International Olympic Committee and Hungary’s Olympic committee. Khelif and Taiwan boxer Lin Yu-ting were disqualified from the 2023 world championships after they had already competed. The IBA ruled that Khelif and Lin failed unspecified gender eligibility tests but provided no documentation. Each fighter had competed in IBA events for several years. Khelif’s first opponent in Paris, Angela Carini of Italy, quit their bout after 46 seconds. Her tearful reaction to abandoning the fight made international headlines, and Carini received a visit from Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

With a victory in the women's 800-meter freestyle, Ledecky would join fellow American Michael Phelps as the only swimmers — of any gender and from any country — to win four gold medals in the same event. Ledecky will be an overwhelming favorite. She is the world record holder at the distance with a time of 8:04.79.

Richardson missed the Tokyo Games because of a positive marijuana test at the 2021 US Olympic Trials but now will get her chance to win a medal in the women's 100 meters. Richardson is the reigning world champion in the event, which could also include three-time Olympic gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica. Tokyo gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah is absent at the Paris Games through injury, while Jamaica teammate Shericka Jackson announced that she would not compete in the event.

After winning gold in the individual all-around and helping the US dominant in team all-around to burnish her legacy, Biles will go for a third gold this Games in the vault final. Biles is among the favorites again but should face a tough challenge from Brazil's Rebeca Andrade, the defending Olympic champion in the event.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Day 8 of the 2024 Paris Olympics. In this blog, you will be getting all the updates from events featuring the International athletes in Paris. You can switch the tab to follow your India-centric blog. Stay tuned for all the live updates.