China took the first gold of the Paris Olympics on Saturday, as the rain that dampened the opening ceremony took its toll on the first full day of sporting action. In a closely fought final of the mixed-team 10-metre air rifle, teenage duo Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting outscored Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun from South Korea 16-12, Kazakhstan grabbing the bronze. The rain already claimed one sporting casualty early Saturday as the wet weather which deluged Friday night’s audacious festival on the River Seine continued to cause headaches.
The men’s street skateboarding competition, due to take place at the Place de la Concorde in the historic heart of Paris, was postponed until Monday due to rain overnight, organisers said.
The downpours also disrupted play at the opening rounds of tennis at Roland Garros, with no action on the 10 uncovered outside courts until 13:30 local time (1130 GMT), organisers said.
Torrential rain had lashed participants and spectators in Friday’s amphibious opening ceremony, where around 7,000 athletes paraded along the Seine in an armada of boats before a show-stopping finale which climaxed with a glittering light show at the Eiffel Tower and a performance from singer Celine Dion.
The ceremony received broadly favourable reviews, with France’s centre-right Le Figaro daily describing it as “full of surprises but often disjointed.”
The International Olympic Committee however was forced to apologise however for a gaffe during the ceremony that saw South Korea’s athletes incorrectly introduced as North Korean.
“We deeply apologise for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC said in a post on its official Korean-language X account.
– Swimming duel –
Elsewhere on the sporting front, swimming, badminton, rowing, cycling, hockey and basketball get under way along with the surfing competition, nearly 16,000 kilometres (9,950 miles) kilometres away on the French Pacific island of Tahiti.
Swimming will take centre-stage at the La Defense Arena for the women’s 400m freestyle — one of the most-anticipated events of the entire Olympics involving three swimmers who have held the world record.
Australia’s defending champion Ariarne Titmus will dive in as favourite after clocking the second-fastest time ever last month behind only her own 3min 55.38sec world best.
She stunned US rival Katie Ledecky in an electric Tokyo final three years ago, with the American great gunning for revenge.
Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh, also a former world record holder, completes the hotly favoured trio.
Other gold medals on offer on the first night of action in the pool come in the men’s 400m freestyle and the men’s and women’s 4x100m freestyle relays.
Reigning French Open champions Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz are among the top draws on the first day of action on the clay courts of Roland Garros — weather permitting.
Women’s world number one Swiatek is first on court against Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, with Alcaraz to follow against Lebanese world number 275 Hady Habib.
But the biggest focus will be on the men’s doubles, with Alcaraz teaming up with 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal in a Spanish dream pairing.
Chinese shooters Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao will start as favourites for the first gold of the Games after a dominant victory at last year’s world championships in Baku.
Medals will also be on offer Saturday in the diving pool, with the women’s synchronised 3m springboard final, where another Chinese pairing, Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen, are favourites to strike gold.
The first cycling medals of the games will be decided with the men’s and women’s individual times trials taking place on a challenging 32.4-kilometre course.
French rugby fans will flock to the Stade de France to see if Antoine Dupont can lead the host nation to gold in rugby sevens.
France however must overcome South Africa in Saturday’s semi-finals to reach the gold medal match against the winner of the other last-four clash between holders Fiji and Australia.
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