Paris Olympics 2024 Day 2: Simone Biles, LeBron James shine as Americans step up
PARIS — On the first sunny day of the Paris Olympics, the stars from the United States shined bright.
Simone Biles and LeBron James dazzled, so did the U.S. women's soccer team. Torri Huske grabbed some of the spotlight, and Haley Batten made a name for herself by earning a silver medal in mountain biking for the best finish ever by an American rider.
Although it was French swimmer Léon Marchand who received the most boisterous cheers in crushing the field to win gold in the men’s 400-meter individual medley, the U.S. had a strong Sunday on Day 2 of the Games.
Biles made her Olympic return three years after pulling out of multiple finals at the Tokyo Games to protect her safety, which prompted an international discussion about mental health, by powering through discomfort she felt in her calf to lead the U.S. women's gymnastics team into the finals.
Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles went 1-2-3 in the all-around during early qualifying, though Chiles will miss the all-around final due to rules that limit countries to entering two athletes per competition.
There’s a chance Chiles will make the floor exercise final should she finish in the top eight. Lee is practically a lock for the beam and bars finals, with 2020 floor exercise champion Jade Carey in good position to join Biles in the vault final.
But all eyes were on Biles, who briefly scared an entire nation when she left the after her floor exercise and received medical attention. She had tweaked her calf in warm-up, but U.S. coach Cecile Landi said it was a minor injury.
She performed in front of a star-studded crowd that included Tom Cruise, Jessica Chastain, Snoop Dogg, Anna Wintour and Lady Gaga, who wrote on social media of Biles: “She nailed it, what an honor to be so close!”
Two of the most experienced Olympians on the U.S. men's basketball team, James and Kevin Durant, began the squad's bid for a fifth consecutive gold medal with a near-flawless performance.
Durant made his first eight shots and scored 23 points, James added 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and the U.S. rolled to a 110-84 win over Serbia in the Olympic opener for both teams.
Jrue Holiday scored 15, Devin Booker had 12 and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each added 11 for the U.S.
Marchand lived up to the huge expectations at his home Olympics with a flag-waving crowd cheering his every stroke. He was under world-record pace on the final turn but faded a bit coming home, touching in 4 minutes, 2.95 seconds — an Olympic record, but just shy of his own world mark of 4:02.50.
Marchand claimed that mark at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, erasing a record held by Michael Phelps for 15 years.
And, in an upset, Italian swimmer Nicolo Martinenghi shocked record-holder Adam Peaty, the gold medalist in both Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo who had taken a long layoff to deal with mental health issues, in the 100 breaststroke.
Sophia Smith scored a pair of goals to lead the U.S. past Germany 4-1 and put the team in good position to advance out of its group at the Olympics.
Mallory Swanson and Lynn Williams also scored for the Americans. The Americans play Australia in Marseille to conclude group play.
Batten broke a rule but still came home with America's best ever mountain biking finish when she won silver.
Batten was fined by the Olympic mountain bike judges for violating a rule on the final lap of her race. She was jockeying for second place when she went through a lane dedicated for taking on food and drink or stopping for mechanical problems.
She was fined 500 Swiss francs, or about $565, though the judges apparently decided that the infraction was not serious enough to warrant a disqualification.
Rafael Nadal was unsure he could even play men's singles the day before his match, but turned up at Roland Garros and beat Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round Sunday.
The victory set up a blockbuster showdown against rival Novak Djokovic.
It will be the 60th meeting between this pair of greats, more than any other two men have played against each other in the sport’s Open era, which began in 1968. Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia, leads the head-to-head series 30-29, and his 24 Grand Slam titles make him the only man in tennis history with more than Nadal’s 22.
Andy Murray’s tennis career, meanwhile, was extended for at least one more match when he and British partner Dan Evans saved five match points during a first-round doubles win. Murray and Evans rallied past the Japanese pair of Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9.
