The penultimate day of the 2024 Summer Olympics featured nearly 40 medal events. Team USA won gold with decisive finishes in both the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relay events. In track and field events, USA’s Shelby McEwen also took silver in the men’s high jump, Masai Russel took gold in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, and Grant Fisher won bronze in the men’s 5,000-meter.
Here is the latest:
US Beats France for Gold in Men’s Basketball
There was no “Miracle on the Seine” at the Paris Olympics on Saturday as the United States men’s basketball team did as expected by grinding out a 98-87 win over France to claim a fifth consecutive gold medal.
With the French sporting spotlight locked on the Bercy Arena, the American showmen crushed Gallic hearts led by Stephen Curry and a fired-up LeBron James, the “King” wearing shiny golden sneakers to mark the occasion.
The result was the same as three years ago in the Tokyo Olympic gold medal game. But for the French, this loss cut a little deeper coming on home hardwood in front of a captivated nation.
US Powers to Crushing Victory in Women’s 4×400 Relay
The United States won the gold medal in the Olympic women’s 4×400-meter relay on Saturday.
The Netherlands took silver and Britain claimed bronze.
US Wins Men’s 4×400 Relay in Record Time
The United States continued their dominance of the Olympic 4×400 meters relay on Saturday but only just, as Rai Benjamin held off Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in a thrilling last-leg battle between two individual gold medallists.
The United States, as expected, dropped Quincy Wilson, the 16-year-old who struggled badly in the heats, but did not bring in individual 400m champion Quincy Hall, instead adding 400m hurdles champion Benjamin to run the final leg.
Chris Bailey took them out but handed over in third to Vernon Norwood, who ran a stormer in the heats and repeated it in the final to send Bryce Deadmon off in the lead.
Taiwan’s Lin Wins Gold Amid Gender Dispute
Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting beat Julia Szeremeta of Poland by a unanimous decision, claiming gold in the women’s featherweight at the Olympics on Saturday.
Lin and Algerian welterweight gold medallist Imane Khelif have been in the spotlight at the Paris Games amid a gender dispute that has dominated headlines.
Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines and Turkey’s Esra Yildiz were awarded bronze.
Kenya’s Kipyegon Breaks Another Record
Faith Kipyegon of Kenya won gold in the women’s 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:15.29, breaking her own Olympic record and becoming the first athlete to win the event three times.
Jessica Hull of Australia won the silver and Georgia Bell of Great Britain won the bronze.
USA Takes Bronze in Men’s 5,000 Meter
Team USA’s Grant Fisher won the 5,000-meter bronze medal after running a time of 13:15.13, about a tenth of a second behind Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya, who won the silver medal.
The gold went to Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway with a time of 13:13.66—redemption after he narrowly missed the podium in the 1,500-meter race earlier in the Games.
USA’s Dake Wins Wrestling Bronze
Team USA’s Kyle Dake defeated Hetik Cabolov of Serbia and won the bronze in the men’s freestyle 74kg wrestling event.
The match hadn’t seemed as if it would go in Dake’s favor: with only one minute left, Cabolov was ahead 4–1. But he turned things around in the end, winning 10–4.
Masai Russell Wins 100-Meter Hurdles
American Masai Russell won the Olympic 100-meter hurdles title in a blanket finish on Saturday, edging out home hope Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Tokyo champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.
Russell clocked 12.33 seconds as French President Emmanuel Macron watched from the stands and Samba-Mayela delivered France’s first track medal of the Paris Games with silver in 12.34 and Puerto Rico’s Camacho-Quinn (12.36) took bronze.
Russell was in superb shape after setting a world lead of 12.25 at the U.S. trials in June and she exploded out of the blocks before gliding over the hurdles.
She held on by her fingernails as Samba-Mayela gained ground with every step and Camacho-Quinn tried to make up for a poor start.
There was a confusing moment as the results board initially showed Samba-Mayela’s name first—and then Camacho-Quinn’s at the top of the standings—before settling on Russell.
The crowd at the Stade de France was elated nonetheless and Camacho-Quinn delivered Puerto Rico’s first medal of the Games.
US Wins Gold in Women’s Soccer
The United States claimed a record-extending fifth Olympic gold medal in women’s soccer after Mallory Swanson earned them a 1-0 win over Brazil in the final at Parc des Princes on Saturday.
Following a goalless first half, Swanson broke the deadlock 12 minutes after the break to earn the United States their first Olympic title since London 2012 after a perfect run in the tournament.
New Zealand’s Ko Completes Golf Medal Set
Lydia Ko of New Zealand took the gold in women’s golf, completing her full set of medals.
American golfer Nelly Korda, ranked No. 1 in the world, missed the podium.
USA Takes Canoe Sprint Silver
Team USA’s Nevin Harrison won the silver medal in the 200-meter women’s canoe sprint, finishing only .01 seconds behind Canada’s Katie Vincent, who secured the gold with a world-best time of 44.12.
Harrison, a two-time world champion, won gold in the Tokyo canoe sprint.
Vincent, a nine-time world champion, had participated in Tokyo but won her first medal earlier this week in the double 500-meter event with a bronze.
France Wins Gold in Volleyball
Defending champions Team France defeated Poland 3–0 and won the gold medal in men’s volleyball, becoming the third country to secure back-to-back Olympic golds in the event.
Team USA had won in the bronze match the day before, defeating Italy after a loss to Poland.
USA Wins Boulder Silver
Team USA’s Brooke Raboutou won the silver medal in the boulder/lead climbing event, making her the first American woman to win a medal in the relatively new Olympic sport, which had its debut in Tokyo.
Both of Raboutou’s parents are former World Cup champion climbers and run a climbing gym.
“Even before the finals I was already crying because I was just really proud of the journey that I’ve been on and grateful for all the support I’ve had,” Raboutou told NBC News.
“I just felt good and today I was able to do that on the wall and feel calm the whole time. I don’t even have words,” she said. “It feels incredible.”
USA Misses Water Polo Medal for First Time
The USA women’s water polo team fell to the Netherlands in the bronze match 11–10, making this the first time since the sport debuted in the Sydney 2000 Olympics that Team USA has not made the podium.
Australia’s surprise upset of Team USA days before had put an end to the team’s hope of a four-gold streak, but Saturday’s defeat was even harder for them to swallow.
“I’m a little bit in shock,” said U.S. attacker Maddie Musselman.
“It just shows the importance of staying in the moment and we weren’t able to capitalize on that today.”
Ethiopian Runner Tamirat Tola Sets Men’s Marathon Record
Ethiopian runner Tamirat Tola ended Kenya’s dominance in the men’s marathon by clinching victory with an Olympic record time of two hours, six minutes, and 26 seconds. Belgium’s Bashir Abdi finished 21 seconds behind him, while Benson Kipruto secured the bronze for Kenya, coming in 34 seconds later.
The 32-year-old Tola glanced back as he approached the finish line, well ahead of the competition and with ample time to soak up the applause. This win marked his second Olympic medal, the first being in the 10,000 meters at the 2016 Rio Games.
Before Tola’s victory, the last non-Kenyan to win the marathon was Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich, who triumphed at the London Games in 2012.
Tola’s achievement was especially sweet, considering he was not initially on the team; he was called up after Sisay Lemma withdrew because of a hamstring injury.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.