Another busy day for the Blues at the Paris Olympics, Thursday, August 1st. While Léon Marchand’s incredible double triumph is still fresh in everyone’s minds, the French swimmers are once again among the athletes to follow, just like the fencers, the judokas, and the handball players. Follow our live coverage.
Today’s program. The athletics events begin, with the men’s (8 a.m.) and women’s (9:20 a.m.) 20 km walk. In swimming, Florent Manaudou and Léon Marchand will have to pass their series before considering new podiums, respectively in the 50 m freestyle (11:18 a.m.) and the 200 m medley (11:47 a.m.). In judo (from 10 a.m.), Madeleine Malonga wants to do better than in Tokyo, where she was Olympic vice-champion (-78 kilos). French fencing has another chance at the podium thanks to the foil fencers, in the women’s team competition (first round at 11:50). In gymnastics, star Simone Biles, crowned with the United States in the team competition, wants to regain her throne in the individual all-around competition (18:15). Find the full program for the day.
Félix Lebrun is fighting for a semi-final. To reach the last four, the 17-year-old table tennis player will have to defeat the Taiwanese Lin Yun-ju (3 p.m.). His older brother, Alexis, lost on Wednesday to the Brazilian Hugo Calderano in the round of 16.
Team sports to follow. In 3×3 basketball, the Blues have two decisive matches for qualification to the quarter-finals (against Azerbaijan at 12:30 p.m. and Canada at 10 p.m.), just like their male counterparts (against the Netherlands at 2:05 p.m. and Serbia at 10:35 p.m.). Same stakes for Jean-Aimé Toupane’s basketball players against Nigeria (5:15 p.m.). The handball players will face Angola (from 4 p.m.).
Eight new French medals on Wednesday. Léon Marchand won the 200m breaststroke at the Paris Olympics, the second gold medal of his crazy Olympic evening after the 200m butterfly, and the third of the Games. Anastasiia Kirpichnikova won silver in the 1500m freestyle. France pocketed five other medals thanks to the Olympic title of Cassandre Beaugrand and the bronze of Léo Bergère in triathlon, in addition to the bronze of Anthony Jeanjean in BMX Freestyle, Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou in judo and the sabreurs.