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Nadal vs Djokovic
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will write the 60th (and possibly last) chapter of their historic rivalry today at Roland Garros. The action begins soon on Peacock (~7:30am US Eastern Time).
Head to head: Djokovic leads 30-29. A Nadal victory today, in a stadium where he has become a legend, would be poetic and would tie the historic series.
Fun Fact: Roland Garros was not only the scene of their most recent meeting two years ago, but also their first, back in the 2006 French Open Quarterfinals.
Photos of the day
USA 110, Serbia 84: LeBron James (21-8-9) and Kevin Durant (23 points, 8-9 shooting) led Team USA to victory in their opening game in Lille, 204 kilometers north of Paris. Our own Jay Busbee made the trip to watch the game in person.
Local hero: Léon Marchand, the face of the Paris Games, lived up to expectations by winning the 400m individual medley in an Olympic record time of 4:02:95, almost six seconds ahead of the rest. The 22-year-old delighted the thousands of French fans who attended the event.
United States goes 1-2: Torri Huske (gold) and Gretchen Walsh (silver) took the top two spots in the women’s 100m butterfly. It’s a story of redemption for Huske, who fell 0.01 seconds short of a podium finish in Tokyo.
USWNT continues to advance: Sophia Smith’s brace lifted the U.S. team to a 4-1 victory over Germany as the Americans improved to 2-0. They have already scored nearly twice as many goals at these Olympics (7) as they did during the entire 2023 World Cup (4).
Team USA is proudly funded by family, friends and fans like you. When you donate to the Team USA Fund, 100% of your donation goes to the athletes and the programs that support them. Donate today.
Featured athlete: Chase Budinger earned more than $18 million during a seven-year NBA career. But the former basketball star has long since traded in his sneakers for the feel of sand on his bare feet and is making his Olympic debut in beach volleyball today.
Dual Sport Athlete: Budinger was a high school basketball and volleyball superstar in Southern California, earning co-MVP honors at the 2006 McDonald’s All-American game alongside Kevin Durant and being named National Player of the Year by Volleyball magazine.
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He considered two-sport scholarships but decided to focus on basketball at Arizona, where he averaged 17 points in three seasons before heading to the NBA as a second-round pick in 2009.
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In 2017, the 6-foot-7 forward with incredible jumping ability (he participated in the 2012 slam dunk contest) retired from basketball to give volleyball another shot, and in 2018 he was named AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) Rookie of the Year.
What he says: “I miss basketball,” Budinger told three-time beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh-Jennings in an interview with Yahoo Sports. “I mean, it was a huge part of my life for a long time. But I kind of put that part of my life aside and started this new chapter.”
End the drought? Budinger and his teammate Miles Evans, whose first game is today (10 a.m. ET, NBC), The Americans defied the odds to qualify for the Olympics, but are ready to “shock the world” in Paris, where they hope to win the U.S.’s first men’s beach volleyball medal since 2008.
More athletes in action:
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Maggie Steffens: The captain of the U.S. women’s water polo team (and the sport’s all-time Olympic scorer) leads the Americans in their second match today. One spectator who is sure to be in attendance? Flavor Flav, 65, the team’s unlikely superfan.
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Jagger Eaton: The seven-time X Games medalist and two-time world champion won bronze in street (one of the two disciplines in skateboarding) three years ago in Tokyo – on a broken ankle! Today, the 23-year-old hopes to be back on the podium.
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Race for medals
Complete medal count.
Watchlist: U.S. Women’s Basketball
The United States women’s basketball team begins its quest for an eighth consecutive Olympic gold today when it takes on Japan.
Special events:
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Women’s basketball: Team USA vs Japan (2:45 p.m., United States) …One of today’s four matches.
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Swimming: Events with five medals (2:30 p.m., NBC) … Women’s 400m medley, men’s 200m freestyle, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 100m breaststroke, women’s 200m freestyle.
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Men’s gymnastics: Team final (11:30 a.m., NBC) …Team USA advanced to the final with the fifth-highest score in qualifying, behind China, Japan, Great Britain and Ukraine.
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Men’s Skateboarding: End of street (11 am, peacock) … United States and Japan Both have powerful teams Competing for the podium.
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Surfing: Men’s third round (1:00 p.m., Peacock); Women’s Round 3 (17:45, Peacock)
Events with medals:
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Men’s cycling: Mountain bike (8:00 a.m., Peacock; 8:45 a.m., US)
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Equestrian: Individual all-around competition final (9 am, peacock)
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Judo: 57 kg female and 73 kg male (10 am, peacock)
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Men’s Archery: Team finals (10:48 am, peacock)
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Men’s canoeing: Slalom final (11:20 am, Peacock)
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Fencing: Women’s saber and men’s foil (15:45, Peacock)
Non-medal events: Badminton, beach volleyball, boxing, handball, hockey, rugby sevens, sailing, shooting, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, water polo.
Primetime on NBC: Men’s Gymnastics Team Final (8:00 p.m.)Women’s 400m medley final, men’s 200m freestyle final and women’s 100m backstroke final (8:30 pm), Men’s 10m Synchronized Platform Diving Final (10:15 p.m.).
To see the full schedule, click here here.
The NCAA in Paris
The NCAA is well represented in Paris, where 1,217 current, former or incoming athletes from 251 schools participated are competing in the Summer Games.
Long live the “Conference of Champions”: Three of the four most represented schools, and six of the 15 that have at least 25 Olympians, were in the Pac-12.
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until this year’s mass exodus. University of the South*:
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58 Olympic athletes in Paris *Stanford:
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54 Michigan:
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42 California*:
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41 Florida:
39 6-15:
UCLA* (34), LSU (33), Tennessee (33), Texas (32), Arkansas (27), Florida State (27), Penn State (27), Arizona State* (26), Georgia (26), Oregon* (26)
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More NCAA Stats: For country: 125 countries have at least one NCAA athlete,Led by Team USA with 385
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comprising 65% of its delegation. Canada (132), Australia (44), Nigeria (38), Germany (34), Jamaica (34), Puerto Rico (32) and Spain (30) are the others with at least 30. By sport:
Track and field dominates with 406 NCAA athletes representing 75 countries. Swimming (223), basketball (152), golf (65) and football (65) round out the top five. The 100% club:
14 U.S. Olympic teams are comprised entirely of NCAA athletes: women’s basketball, men’s and women’s 3×3 basketball, men’s and women’s water polo, men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s golf, men’s gymnastics, women’s field hockey, modern pentathlon, beach volleyball, diving and fencing.
(Photograph by David Goldman/AP) The Olympic flame is not… a flame:
The “flame” that will remain lit for the duration of the Games is actually a mixture of lights and water vapour. Paris 2024 wants to be the most environmentally responsible Games in history, and this fits into that mission. Staley on Clark:
Dawn Staley said Sunday that Caitlin Clark’s recent performance (12.5 assists per game in July) had been a good reason to include her on the U.S. team. “If we had to do it all over again … she would be highly considered to make the team because she’s playing so far above a lot of the others.” What a goal: Momoko Tanikawa led Japan to a comeback victory over Brazil with a Sensational goal in added time
at the Parc des Princes, home of PSG. Coco coincides with Venus:
Coco Gauff, 20, became the youngest American woman to win a singles match at the Olympics since Venus Williams in 2000. Notably, Venus won gold.
The start of the men’s 100-meter race at the 1896 Olympics. (Getty Images) Ask:
Who was President of the United States when the modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, Greece, in 1896? Clue:
He won the popular vote in three presidential elections (1884, 1888, 1892).
Answer at the end.
Mercedes’ Hamilton and Russell celebrate after the Belgian GP. (Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) Mercedes is 1-2 (more or less):
Mercedes’ comeback continued at Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, where George Russell and Lewis Hamilton took first and second place until Russell was disqualified for being underweight in a post-race inspection.
Further: Trivia Answer:
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