Olympics highlights: USA men’s basketball, USWNT win gold on busy day
The penultimate day of the 2024 Paris Olympics was a huge one for Team USA, with the men’s basketball and women’s soccer teams adding gold medals to their already-enormous trophy cabinets.
In track and field, the American men and women each won gold in the 4×400 relay, the eighth consecutive Olympic title in the event for the U.S. women.
American Masai Russell won gold in the women’s 100 hurdles, with U.S. athletes also earning medals in men’s high jump, men’s 5000 meter, men’s breaking, women’s canoe 200m, women’s boulder and lead climbing and men’s freestyle 74kg wrestling.
Here’s how Saturday at the Olympics unfolded:
Steph Curry plays hero, USA basketball wins gold
PARIS — The global men’s basketball torch remains in the grasp of the Americans.
2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.
Perhaps the grip is loosening. But it still belongs to the U.S.
The U.S. and its loaded roster filled with MVPs, All-Stars and NBA champions proved that once again, defeating France 98-87 in for the Olympic gold medal Saturday at Bercy Arena.
Sorry France and Victor Wembanyama. Sorry Serbia and Nikola Jokic. You too, Germany and Franz Wagner and Canada and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It’s not your time for gold. Not yet. Maybe at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Maybe.
But not now.
USA women win eighth consecutive 4×400 gold
SAINT-DENIS, France — Gabby Thomas is leaving the 2024 Olympics with the best kind of souvenir: gold.
Gold medals, to be specific. Three of them.
Thomas picked up her third in the finale of Olympic track and field Saturday at Stade de France in the women’s 4×400 relay, as the Americans clocked an American record 3:15.27 to smoke the Netherlands (3:19.50) and Great Britain (3:19.72).
Thomas ran the third leg, taking the baton from Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and handing off to Alexis Holmes for the anchor. Thomas ran a 49.30 split.
Shamier Little, the only athlete from the final who’d also run in prelims, got the U.S. started in the race.
American Shelby McEwen wins silver in men’s high jump
SAINT-DENIS, France — In a jump off, Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won gold in the men’s high jump while Shelby McEwen of the U.S. took silver. It is the first high jump medal for the U.S. since 2012.
Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim, who shared gold in Tokyo with Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy, claimed the bronze.
The competition came down to Kerr and McEwen after both cleared 2.36 meters (7 feet, 8 3/4), but neither could get over 2.38. They agreed to a jump off and started lowering the bar. Both cleared 2.36 again but on 2.34, McEwen missed while Kerr got over. When he cleared the bar, Kerr went running onto the empty field, his arms stretched out in victory.
McEwen’s first 2.36 clearance was a personal best for him. He got over on his first attempt, and was the first jumper to clear that height. He laid on the high jump bit after getting over the bar, his ecstasy as obvious as his gold spikes.
The event had plenty of drama.
Earlier Saturday, Tamberi posted on social media that he was headed to the ER after vomiting blood and dealing with severe kidney pain. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to compete in the final, but rallied and cleared 2.22 meters (7 feet, 3 1/4 inches) on his third attempt before failing to clear 2.27 (7 feet, 5 1/4 inches).
U.S. men win 4×400 relay gold in Olympic record time
SAINT-DENIS, France – Rai Benjamin confidently told USA TODAY Sports that the U.S. men’s 4×400-relay team “got something for” their competition in the final. Benjamin was correct.
Benjamin led the U.S. 4×400-relay team to a victory at Stade de France. The men’s team consisted of Chris Bailey, Vernon Norwood, Bryce Deadmon and Benjamin at anchor.
Norwood got the team in position running the second leg, Deadmon got the squad a two-meter lead on the third leg and Benjamin took the gold home with a Olympic record time of 2:54.43. Botswana earned the silver with a time of 2:54.53 and Great Britain rounded out the top three, clocking in at 2:55.83.
The gold capped off a superb Paris Olympics for both Benjamin and Hall, who each of two gold medals apiece at these Games. Benjamin won his first Olympic gold medal in the men’s 400 hurdles. While Hall dug deep and rallied back to win gold in the open 400. — Tyler Dragon
Kenya runner breaks Olympic record, wins gold in women’s 1,500
SAINT-DENIS, France — Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon won the gold medal and set a new Olympic standard in the women’s 1,500-meter race Saturday at the Paris Games clocking an Olympic record time of 3:51.29 at Stade de France. Kipyegon outpaced Australia’s Jessica Hull, who took silver in 3:52.56, and Great Britain’s Georgia Bell, who got bronze with a time of 3:52.61.
Two competitors for Team USA, Nikki Hiltz (3:56.38) and Elle St. Pierre (3:57.52) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, out of 12. — Chase Goodbread
Grant Fisher earns another bronze in men’s 5,000m
In some much-needed redemption after disaster in the 1,500, Norway’s Jakob Ingerbrigtsen used a killer kick to win the men’s 5,000, running a season best 13:13.66. He outlasted Kenya’s Ronald Kwemoi (13:15.04) who finished second. American Grant Fisher won his second bronze of the Games, finishing third at 13:15.13.
Fisher finished third in the men’s 10,000 on the first day of track and field at the 2024 Olympics, earning the U.S.’s first medal in that event since the 2012 London Games. — Lindsay Schnell
Kennedy Blades reaches gold medal match
Kennedy Blades has put on a show during the first three matches of her run at the Paris Olympics, going 3-0 and outscoring her opponents 23-9 to reach Sunday’s gold-medal match. Awaiting her there will be the winner of Columbia’s Tatiana Renteria vs. Japan’s Yuka Kagami.
Blades recently transferred to Iowa and hasn’t even worn a Hawkeye singlet yet. But she’s already Iowa women’s wrestling’s first Olympian and Olympic medalist. — Eli McKown, Hawk Central
Alyssa Naeher unflappable for USWNT in gold medal match win
PARIS — Alyssa Naeher might as well change the nickname on her Wikipedia page to ‘Captain America’ or ‘Secretary of Defense’ herself.
The USWNT goalkeeper’s one-handed stop – like a basketball defender blocking someone at the rim – on a header from Brazil’s Adriana in the fourth minute of stoppage time saved the day and preserved the Americans’ 1-0 win in the Olympic gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Games. Minutes later, her teammates pounced on her after the referee blew the final whistle, ending more than 10 minutes of stoppage time.
Naeher was unflappable all match. — Chris Bumbaca
Masai Russell wins women’s 100 hurdles in photo finish
SAINT-DENIS, France — Masai Russell beat the defending Olympic champion in the 100 hurdles.
Russell outdueled Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn to win her first Olympic gold medal. She ran a time of 12.33 to earn the gold.
France’s Cyréna Samba-Mayela ran a 12.34 to place second and Camacho-Quinn crossed the line at 12.36 to come in third in the photo finish.
Camacho-Quinn got a great start out of the blocks, but Russell pulled even with her and slightly surpassed her at the ninth hurdle and held off the other hurdlers for the victory.
Russell’s had an impressive climb to the top of the hurdles. She didn’t finish the 100 hurdles semifinal at the 2023 world championships. But 2024 has been her year. She won the event at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials with a personal-best and world-leading time of 12.25, the fourth fastest time in history. And she capped off the year as an Olympic champion.
Team USA has won gold in four of the past six Olympics in the 100 hurdles. — Tyler Dragon
Jordan Chiles might have to return bronze medal
PARIS — The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Saturday that the judging panel at the women’s floor exercise final improperly granted an inquiry that increased U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles’ score and moved her into bronze medal position. The Swiss-based court ruled that the appeal was submitted past the one-minute deadline for inquiries and therefore should not have been granted.
As a result, it said, Chiles should have received a score of 13.666 in the event – which would’ve placed her fifth, just shy of the Olympic podium.
CAS said in a statement that its ruling applied to Chiles’ score but not the final ranking. — Tom Schad
Bryce Hoppel places 4th in 800m, but nets national record
SAINT-DENIS, France — Team USA’s Bryce Hoppel just missed a spot on the podium Saturday in the 800-meter race at the Paris Games, running a time of 1:41.67, but he did record a national record despite a fourth-place finish. Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonwi took gold in 1:41.19, followed by Canada’s Marco Arop (silver, 1:41.20) and Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati (bronze, 1:41.50).
The previous U.S. record in the 800 was held by Donavan Brazier (1:42.34).
On the final night of competition at Stade de France, Hoppel held third place halfway through the race, but could not close well enough to medal in an event in which Team USA has had only sparse success; only three medals in the last 40 years. Team USA’s last medal in the 800m race came at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, a bronze by Clayton Murphy. The two others in that span were by Earl Jones (bronze, Los Angeles, 1984) and Johnny Gray (bronze, Barcelona, 1992).
Hoppel qualified for the Tokyo Games in the 800m three years ago, but did not advance past the semifinals. — Chase Goodbread
USWNT wins first gold since 2012
PARIS — The United States women’s national soccer team defeated Brazil, 1-0, on Saturday to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games. Mallory Swanson scored in the 57th minute, her fourth goal of these Games, to lead the Americans to their first gold medal since 2012 and their fifth overall.
Throughout these Olympic Games, the Americans have been led by the trio of Swanson, Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith while defender Naomi Girma has been something of a brick wall on the backline. In the gold medal match, goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was unflappable, coming up with clutch saves throughout the game. All of this orchestrated by new head coach Emma Hayes, whose sense of humor and demanding style has built trust with the players and struck the right balance for this roster.
USWNT takes lead on goal by Mallory Swanson
Mallory Swanson gave the United States a 1-0 lead in the 57th minute on a signature run down the left side. Korbin Albert, starting in place of Rose Lavelle, delivered the through ball for either Sophia Smith or Swanson. Smith would have likely been ruled offside if she touched it. But Swanson swooped in and made a beeline for the net, and her right-footed blast beat Brazil’s keeper Lorena to break the scoreless tie.
France men defend Olympic title in volleyball
France beat Poland in straight sets, 25-19, 25-20, 25-23, to win its second consecutive gold medal in men’s volleyball.
The crowd began chanting ‘Allez Les Bleus’ and the national anthem as the third set wound down.
Team USA won bronze by beating Italy on Friday.
Team USA’s B-boy Victor, B-boy Jeffro advance to medal round
Both of the two Americans in the men’s Olympic breaking competition will move on to the knockout round.
B-boy Jeffro, whose real name is Jeffrey Louis, had mathematically clinched his spot in the quarterfinals even before he went out for his third battle. He won each of his first two battles handily and earned 30 of the possible 36 votes from the nine-person judging panel in the process.
B-boy Victor, whose full name is Victor Montalvo, appeared to draw one of the tougher groups in the round-robin stage but tore through his first three opponents with relative ease – winning five of his six rounds, including sweeps of Japanese breaker Hiro10 and B-boy Lithe-ing of China. Shigekix of Japan was the other breaker to advance out of Victor’s group. — Tom Schad
USWNT-Brazil in scoreless tie at halftime
For the United States women’s soccer team, the first half of both the quarterfinals and semifinals were scoreless (and all of regulation, for that matter). The final against Brazil was no exception.
Both teams had their fair share of scoring chances – Brazil’s more consistent compared to the Americans – but neither side had anything to show for it.
Brazil’s Ludmila has been a handful for the U.S. back line to deal with. It looked like she put Brazil up in the 16th minute when she beat Naomi Girma off the dribble in the box, but luckily for the U.S., the offside flag went up. Alyssa Naeher came up huge during stoppage time to save a Gabi Porthilo strike.
Mallory Swanson had the United States’ best chance of scoring on a long, speedy run with the ball.
What to expect from LA28
PARIS — After the Paris Olympics conclude Sunday, the Paralympics will run Aug. 28 to Sept. 8, then the squash racket, lacrosse stick and cricket ball – all sporting additions to the 2028 Games – will be in Los Angeles’ court.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and and LA28 Olympic Games chair Casey Wasserman, who are in Paris as part of a U.S. presidential delegation to the Olympics that was led by First Lady Jill Biden, provided a few details Saturday to reporters about what sports fans – and Angelenos – can expect to see four years from now.
‘We don’t have an Eiffel Tower. We do have a Hollywood sign,’ said Wasserman. He said that while the Paris Games have been ‘authentically French’ the 2028 Games will be ‘authentically Los Angeles.’
Lydia Ko wins gold medal in women’s golf
SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – New Zealand’s Lydia Ko completed her Olympic trifecta on Saturday, adding a gold medal to her silver from Rio and bronze from Tokyo.
At 10 under par for the event, Ko shot a 1 under 71 on Saturday to hold on and win the Olympic golf tournament at Le Golf National by two strokes over silver medalist Esther Henseleit of Germany (8 under) and bronze medalist Lin Xiyu of China (7 under).
It was a disappointing finish for a trio of American players. World No. 1 Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang and Lilia Vu each shot over-par rounds Saturday, with Zhang (5 under) and Tokyo gold medalist Korda (1 under) each stumbling to miss the medals after starting the final day in contention. — Gentry Estes
USWNT goes for gold
The United States women’s national team takes on Brazil, aiming to win its first gold medal since 2012, which is also the last time they made the final.
They have been led by the trio of Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman and Sophia Smith, who have scored three goals apiece at these Games, while defender Naomi Girma has been something of a brick wall on the backline.
Lydia Ko opens up five-shot lead in women’s golf tournament
Lydia Ko of New Zealand is 2-under par after 11 holes during Saturday’s final round, giving her an overall score of 11 under for Paris. That’s five shots better than her closest competitors.
Nelly Korda is the closest American at 4 under overall. Rose Zhang, who started Saturday at 7 under, is 4 over on the day and has dropped into a tie for 11th place at 3 under.
B-Boys breaking begins Saturday
The breaking competition continues Saturday at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the B-Boys taking center stage.
The competition starts with a round-robin tournament, four groups of four breakers, with each one going two rounds against the other three in their group. From there, the top two B-Boys in each group – as determined by who won the most rounds – advance to the quarterfinals. The quarters, semis and finals are three rounds in a traditional bracket style.
Follow for live updates, scores and highlights throughout the competition. — Tom Schad
Nevin Harrison nearly notches gold in canoe sprint
VAIRES-SUR-MARNE, France — Nevin Harrison came 1/100th of a second away from winning her second gold medal.
Harrison took the silver medal in the women’s 200-meter canoe sprint Saturday, losing to Canada’s Katie Vincent in a photo finish.
Vincent finished the course in a world-record tie of 44.12 seconds, a hair ahead of Harrison (44.13). Cuba’s Yarisleidis Cirilo Duboys (44.36) took bronze.
Harrison set an Olympic record on her way to winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics as an 18-year-old. She finished second in her semifinal heat, 29/100ths of a second behind Vincent.
Vincent won a bronze earlier in the games as part of Canada’s 500-meter canoe doubles team. — Dave Birkett
American climber wins first Olympic medal
LE BOURGET, France — American sport climber Brooke Raboutou claimed her first Olympic medal Saturday, winning silver in the women’s boulder and lead combined final, finishing behind Slovenian favorite and gold medalist Janja Garnbret. Garnbret led the way with 168.5 total points, followed by Raboutou with 156.0 and Austria’s Jessica Pilz with 147.4 points for bronze.Raboutou – a 23-year-old two-time Olympian – built off a strong performance in the boulder final, finishing that portion with 84 points, just .4 points behind Garnbret, 25. Raboutou and Garnbret were the only climbers to top three of the four boulder problems, finishing the round second and first, respectively. In the lead portion, Raboutou had another standout performance, collecting 72 points, moving to the top of the leaderboard and guaranteeing herself a medal. Garnbret previously won Olympic gold at the 2021 Tokyo Games in the women’s combined – a different format compared with the Paris Olympics when the combined event featured boulder, lead and speed. Raboutou finished fifth in the event in Tokyo. ― Michelle Martinelli
Serbia wins bronze in men’s basketball
Serbia men’s 5×5 basketball team captured the bronze medal with a 93-83 victory over Germany on Saturday. Serbia rebounded from a heartbreaking 95-91 loss to the U.S. in the semifinals and prevented Germany from earning its first Olympic medal in men’s 5×5.
Serbia’s three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, and teammate Vasilije Micic scored 19 points. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 16 points for Serbia, which earned silver medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2023 FIBA World Cup.
It was a disappointing finish for Germany, the 2023 FIBA World Cup champion, which went 3-0 in group play but lost to France in the semifinals and Serbia in the third-place game.
Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points and nine rebounds. — Jeff Zillgitt
Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola wins gold in men’s marathon
Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia took the gold medal in the men’s marathon Saturday morning, setting a new Olympic record with a time of 2:06.26, and blowing away the chase group by more than 20 seconds to earn his second Olympic medal. Bashir Abdi won the silver medal (2:06.47) and Kenya’s Benson Kipruto (2:07.00) took bronze.
The previous Olympic record had been 2:06.32 by Kenya’s Samuel Kamau Wanjiru in 2008.
Two Americans, Conner Mantz (2:08.12) and Clayton Young (2:08.44), turned in season-bests to finish eighth and ninth, respectively.
Tola won bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games in the men’s 10,000-meter event. — Chase Goodbread
Medal count today
Our 2024 Paris Olympics medal count tracker updates after every single medal event.
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