Olympics 2024: Team USA leads in medal count; Ledecky claims record 13th medal (2024)

Olympic events tomorrow

With gymnastics, swimming, rowing and fencing, the U.S. added four more gold medals on Day 6 of competition at the Paris Games, bringing the USA second behind only China in the number of top medals.

The U.S. had nine gold medals, and a top 37 medals overall at the end of the day of competition Thursday. China has 11 gold medals and an overall 24.

Simone Biles, Kate Douglass, the U.S. four rowing team, and the women’s team foil won gold medals today.

France is third in gold medals, with eight, and has 27 medals overall.

Reporting from Nanterre, France

Four more sets of swimmingmedals were handed out tonight at Paris LaDéfense Arena.

In the 200-meter women’s butterfly, Canadian prodigy Summer McIntosh, China’s Zhang Yufei and Smith were considered the favorites with Carmel, Indiana’s Alex Shackell also in the mix.

It was McIntosh who prevailed to take the gold. The USA's Regan Smith finished second to add another medal to her collection, which now boasts five. She also won silver in the 100 backstroke Tuesday. Zhang took bronze.

The men’s 200-meter backstroke featured Hungary’s Hubert Kós, Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov and Arizona native Keaton Jones. It was a race most notable for who wasn't there — Ryan Murphy, who won silver in Tokyo, failed to qualify.

Jones was shut out of the podium. Kos took gold, Apostolos Christou of Greece the silver, and Mityukov the bronze.

Indiana's Lilly King, a five-time medalist with two golds on her mantle, faced a stiff challenge in the 200-meter breaststroke from South Africa’s Tatjana Smith and Kate Douglass, of Pelham, New York.In the end, Douglass took gold, Smith silver and Tes Schouten of the Netherlands the bronze.

Swimming powerhouses the U.S., Australia, Canada and China faced off in one of the signature races of these games, the 4x200-meter women’s freestyle relay.

Australia may have won the gold, but Katie Ledecky came out on top with her 13th medal — a silver medal— that cemented her as the most decorated female Olympian.

Simone Biles and Suni Lee celebrated their wins for the women’s gymnastics individual all-around competition. Biles took home a gold medal, while Lee earned a bronze.

Ledecky became the most decorated U.S. female Olympian of all time with her silver medal win alongside the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team in Paris today.

Here's a reminder of all her hardware:

London 2012:Gold in 800m free

Rio 2016:Gold in 200m free; gold in 4x200m free relay; gold in 400m free; gold in 800m free; silver in 4x100m free relay

Tokyo 2020:Gold in 1500m free; gold in 800m free; silver in 4x200m free relay; silver in 400m free

Paris 2024:Gold in 1500m free; silver in 4x200m free relay; bronze in 400m free

Upon winning gold and bronze in the all-around today, Simone Biles and Suni Lee shared their Olympic nails, which were a nod to the host country.

"A little something *french* for today's nail check," USA Gymnastics said in a post, along with a photo of the gymnasts' French manicures.

Simone Biles has been to the mountaintop, but getting back to the summit is even harder.

In her thirdOlympic Games,Biles won the individual all-aroundgold medal for a second time, reclaiming the 2016 title that etched her name among the sport’s legends.

U.S. gymnasts have taken the individual all-around atthe last five Olympics: Athens, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo.

Today, Biles added Paris to that storied list.

Read the full story here.

Rebeca Andrade of Brazil claimed the silver medal in the women’s gymnastics all-around competition with a stunning final floor routine to wrap up her competition.

Relive the journey of South Korea’s Kim Ye-ji’s winning silver in the women’s air pistol final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Team USA has six pairs of siblings competing together at the Paris Olympics, in sports from field hockey to swimming.

New York City Hall was lit up in red, white and blue after New York native Lauren Scruggs helped her team win a gold medal in women’s team foil.

Scruggs and Lee Kiefer, Jackie Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub beat the Italian team for the top Olympic honor. Scruggs, 21, is from Queens.

The U.S. women's gold is the first U.S. team gold in the history of the Olympic sport. The U.S. women won silver at the Beijing Games in 2008.

Cuban wrestler Mijaín López began his Olympic journey in 2004 in Athens, where finished fifth. Now, 20 years later in Paris, López hopes to earn his fifth Olympic gold.

Ahead of her Olympics debut, track and field athleteVeronica Fraleyhad a more pressing concern on her mind than the Games: paying her rent on time.

Fraley, 24, lamented her situation on social media today as she prepared for her women’s discus throw qualification round in Paris.

“I compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and can’t even pay my rent” Fraley, the 2024 NCAA discus champion, wrote on X. “my school only sent about 75% of my rent while they pay football players (who haven’t won anything) enough to buy new cars and houses”

Her post quickly drew the attention of rapper Flavor Flav and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who both responded online pledging to help by sending Fraley some money directly.

Read the full story here.

Reporting from Spring, Texas

Simon Biles and Suni Lee, who won gold and bronze in the women’s gymnastics all-around, are inspiring the next generations of young gymnasts.

They include a group who watched them perform from Biles’ gym in Spring, Texas.

Despite missing Jimmer Fredette, the U.S. men’s 3x3 basketball team came agonizingly close to an upset of Latvia, but the defending gold medalists scored six unanswered points to snatch a 21-19 win.

Reporting from Paris

Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh's journey to the Olympics was affected by the ongoing war in her home country.

With her gold medal swim in the 200-meter breaststroke, Kate Douglass has rounded out her Olympic collection.

She now has a medal in every color.

She collected a silver in Paris as part of the 4X100 freestyle relay and scored bronze in the 200-meter medley in Tokyo.

But just because she has one in every color doesn't mean she's done hunting for gold. She competes again Saturday in the 200-meter individual medley.

Breanna Stewart was pivotal in helping the U.S. women’s basketball team pull away late from Belgium, scoring a team-high 26 points and adding seven rebounds and five assists.

Defending all-around Olympic champion Suni Lee dazzled with her uneven bars routine as she chased a second consecutive medal in the women’s all-around gymnastics event.

Reporting from Paris

One man having a ball in Paris is none other than Snoop Dogg, the hip-hop great who’s a special NBC Olympics correspondent during the Paris Games.

It turns out his love of the Olympics goes way back.

A day after Frederick Richard placed 15th in the men's gymnastics all-around final and three days after his team won bronze in the team event, he said he's "on top of the world" and "enjoying the journey." He said he's looking forward to representing Team USA in L.A. 2028.

Paul Juda, who was also a part of the team and placed 14th in the all-around, said Richard, his teammate at the University of Michigan, as well, pushes him to do the "cooler thing" in his gymnastics.

"I think bringing back [a bronze medal] is definitely the cooler thing in this regard," Juda said.

He said he'll remember this experience "for a lifetime."

The pair will be cheering on their teammate Stephen Nederoscik in the pommel horse final Saturday, when he is expected to clinch another medal for the men's gymnastics team.

If anyone can recognize the greatest of all time, it's Beyoncé.

The legendary singer offered her voice to Simone Biles, narrating an introduction for the women's all-around gymnastics for NBC. The background music is the song "Just for Fun," from Beyoncé's most recent album.

"Simone Biles inspires me, and I'm pretty sure she inspires you, too," Beyoncé says. "Such confidence in her strength, such beauty in her power, such a great lesson in her story."

"Brilliance, it doesn't come easy. Gold can be a hell of a journey," she continues. "And the greatest of all time is willing to put that title on the line every time she walks out there."

Out of the 594 Team USA athletes in Paris, 11 are also members of the U.S. military. Jimmy Roberts reports on what it means to be an athlete representing the U.S. while also standing ready to defend it.

The equestrian team jumping competition got off to a hot start this morning during the qualification round.

The U.S. and Germany soared, while medal favorite Sweden stumbled on its final run.

Summer McIntosh of Canada got the gold in the 200-meter butterfly, but Team USA's Regan Smith claimed silver — and a new American record (2:03.84).

It is Smith's second straight silver in this event.

She now has five Olympic medals —four silvers and a bronze.

• Career highlight: Shebeat Katie Ledeckyin a 800-meter freestyle race on Feb. 8, ending the American’s winning streak at that distance, which had gone back to 2010.
• Go-to daily dish: Chocolate chip pancakes for predawn breakfast and again for breakfast No. 2 after morning training.
• Her name, “Summer,” was inspired by Fox’s teen drama “The O.C.” andRachel Bilson’s character, though McIntosh said she’s not at all familiar with the show.
• The family has three cats back in Toronto, one of them named “Mikey” in honor of all-time swimming great Michael Phelps.
• Older sister Brooke McIntosh won pairs bronze at the 2022 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. Mother Jill Horstead finished ninth in the 200 butterfly at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
• Pre-race hype music: Toronto’s own Drake.

Read more about McIntosh's Olympic journey here.

The gooey chocolate muffin made famous by Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen has now caught the interest of Olympians across the Olympic Village.

Ebony Morrison, a hurdler with Liberia, posted a vlog-style TikTok video going to track down the viral muffin. Morrison noted that she isn't even a fan of chocolate but that after she had one she declared that it was "bussin" and a "quality muffin."

"Yeah, believe the hype," Morrison said.

Christiansen posted a video today noting that he had caught his nemesis, the “cookie man,” with a chocolate muffin. Singaporean swimmer Jing Wen Quah told her followers she'd snag a muffin after her races, but in the meantime she's averting her eyes "so the Norwegian muffin man doesn't appear."

Reporting from Paris

The Olympics is known for uniting people around the globe, but for the last several years, there’s been a critical ingredient missing … fans! Sam Brock reports on how the Paris Olympics are bringing the celebration back.

Michael Grady and Justin Best celebrate their historic achievement with the U.S. men’s four rowing team and Team USA's first gold medal since 1960.

And so the curtain has come down on Andy Murray’s glittering tennis career. Three Grand Slam titles, two Olympic gold medals and 41 weeks as the world No. 1 — all in the greatest era in the history of men’s tennis along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Murray, 37, signs off as one of Great Britain’s greatest ever sportspeople, with his career drawing to a close this evening after a straight-set loss alongside partner Dan Evans to American pair Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. The result puts the Americans in the semifinals of the men’s doubles and guarantees that they will play for a medal.

After a heartbreaking loss to Federer in the Wimbledon final in 2012, Murray went on to take Olympic gold on the same courts weeks later, capturing the hearts and minds of the British public and a global audience, truly establishing himself as a global icon.

Reporting from Villeneuve-D'Ascq, France

Brittney Griner knows only too well the swirling emotions of being involved in a prisoner swap, and she said today she is “head over heels” that fellow Americans are going home from Russia.

“Great day. It’s a great day. It’s a great day,” Griner said after the U.S. women’s basketball team beat Belgium 87-74 to clinch a berth in the quarterfinals. “We’ll talk more about it later. But head over heels happy for the families right now. Any day that Americans come home, that’s a win. That’s a win.”

Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, went through her ownhigh-profile prisoner exchangewith Russia in 2022 after having beensentenced to nine years in jailfor drug possession and smuggling that year.

So Griner was thrilled to hear thatWall Street Journal reporter Evan GershkovichandPaul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, both convicted of espionage charges that the U.S. government considered baseless, were going home.

Beiwen Zhang was the last American standing in the badminton tournament but lost in the round of 16 to Spain’s Carolina Marina.

It's a rain delay in Paris as lightning forces evacuations of the outdoor beach volleyball and 3x3 basketball courts.

Team USA had just caught up with China in women's beach volleyball when it was forced to stop, delaying the third and final set. Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth rallied to come back from a loss to secure the second set.

Meanwhile, Serbia was leading host country France 13-10 in 3x3 men's basketball when they were forced to stop because of the inclement weather.

The U.S. women’s basketball team held off Belgium, winning 87-74, to move to 2-0 in group play.

The score belied how close the game was. Belgium competed hard with a U.S. team that has not lost in Olympic play since 1992. Emma Meesseman was arguably the star, bullying her way to 24 points for Belgium.

But the U.S. still has the best frontcourt in the world. Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson combined for 49 points. Wilson had 23 — connecting on 8 of 12 shots after starting 1-for-5.

It was an impressive effort by the Belgium women, who had the support of the crowd in Lille, which is only a short train ride from Belgium.

The U.S. next plays Sunday against Germany.

Serbia's 24-time major champion, Novak Djokovic, will face Italy's Lorenzo Musetti in the men's tennis semifinal tomorrow.

Musetti is coming off an impressive performance against Germany's Alexander Zverev. He defeated Zverev, the world's current No. 4, in straight sets today, 7-5, 7-5. Musetti is looking to continue his form this summer after advancing to the Wimbledon semifinals in July.

Djokovic has faced a challenging path in Paris, defeating Rafael Nadal in round 2 and Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 7-6. Djokovic is looking for a strong result after losing the men's Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.

Both men are aiming for their first gold medal. Djokovic won bronze in the 2008 Olympics. Meanwhile, Musetti is participating in his first career Olympics in Paris.

The other side of the bracket will feature two more youngsters, as Alcaraz, 21,and 23-year-oldFelix Auger-Aliassimeof Canada will fight for a spot in the finals.

Alcarazis the youngest man to reach the singles semifinals at the Olympics sinceDjokovicin Beijing in 2008.Auger-Aliassimeis the first Canadian to reach the semifinals in singles in Olympic history.

Belgium is giving USA everything it can handle through three quarters.

U.S. leads 60-53 after three in what’s been a highly competitive game.

Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson have combined for 33 points, but no other American player has scored in double figures. Meanwhile, Emma Meesseman has been an absolute beast inside for Belgium, leading all scorers with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

Should be an exciting finish!

Reporting from Nanterre, France

American women took silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, putting an all-time record 13th medal around the neck of living legend Katie Ledecky.

The team ofLedecky, Claire Weinstein, Paige Madden and Erin Gemmell placed second, bested only by Australia as the mighty Dolphins turned in an Olympic-record time of 7:38.08.

China took bronze. Three years ago in Tokyo, China recorded the best time in Olympics history.

No woman has won more medals than Ledecky, though active Australian swimmer Emma McKeon has 12. Retired U.S. greats Jenny Thompson, Dara Torresand Natalie Coughlin also have a dozen.

After ending the first quarter in a tie, USA leads Belgium 46-38 at the half.

The States led by as many as 13 in the second period. Breanna Stewart leads the team with 15 points. After a slow start, A'ja Wilson scored six points in the second, hitting three of her five field-goal attempts.

The U.S. isn’t bullying Belgium as easily as they did Japan. The two-headed center monster of Emma Meesseman and Kyara Linskens has held its own, combining for 18 points for Belgium.

Belgium is giving the U.S. women’s basketball team a battle after one quarter.

The teams are tied at 23 after 10 minutes.

The size advantage the women had against Japan isn’t as extreme vs. Belgium. While Breanna Stewart is dominating in the frontcourt with 11 early points, A'ja Wilson is still finding her footing — she has four points on only 1-of-5 shooting.

Belgium has had a balanced attack, with four of their five starters scoring at least four points

Reporting from Paris

The U.S. women’s 4x200m freestyle relay is expected to win a medal tonight. If that happens, Katie Ledecky breaks her tie for the most women’s swimming medals (currently 12 with Americans Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson and Australian Emma McKeon) and most medals for an American woman in any sport (12 with Coughlin, Torres and Thompson).

That would set Ledecky up in Saturday’s 800m freestyle final to break her tie with Thompson for the most Olympic gold medals for an American woman in any sport and to tie the record for Olympic gold medals for any woman in any sport with Larisa Latynina, a Soviet gymnast who won nine golds in the 1950s and ‘60s.

Reporting from Nanterre, France

Hungary’s Hubert Kos won his first Olympic medal by winning the 200-meter backstroke with a strong final 50.

Kos had to rally past upset-minded silver medalist Apostolos Christou of Greece, who completed the first 100 in 28.75 while the eventual winner Kos hit the halfway point at 29.24.

Switzerland’s Roman Mityuko took bronze and Arizona native Keaton Jones finished fifth.

Before this race, at least one American had medaled in the event since 1992. Ryan Murphy, who won silver in Tokyo, failed to qualify on Wednesday.

Reporting from Nanterre, France

Canadian wunderkindSummer McIntosh won her second gold medal of the Games, winning a power-packed 200-meter butterfly race in Olympic-record time.

American Regan Smith grabbed silver and defending Olympic champZhang Yufei took bronze.

Earlier in these Games, the 17-year-old McIntosh struck gold in the 400 IM and silver in the 400 free.

The Canadian prodigy's 2:03.03 in the 200 fly bested Zhang's previous mark of 2:03.86 which she set in Tokyo.

She did it again.

After having to pull out of the individual all-around event in Tokyo due to struggles with the "twisties," Biles has regained her gold-medal status just days after she led Team USA to a gold medal in the team event.

Biles is now the owner of six Olympic gold medals and has become the first gymnast to win two Olympic all-around championships nonconsecutively. No American has won the Olympic all-around more than once.

Rebeca Andrade of Brazil — and Biles' top competition — walked away with silver, the same place she finished in Tokyo in the all-around.

And American Suni Lee took home the bronze, in perhaps the most cutthroat fight of the day, since Biles and Andrade were highly favored to go one and two.

Japan defeated Canada in women's foil team fencing to win a bronze medal.

After an even contest between both teams in the first four rounds, the fifth proved to be decisive for Japan, opening a margin it never relinquished.

Canada had a comeback in Round 6 led by Eleanor Harvey cutting the deficit to 20-17.

The final round was the closest, with Canada's Harvey at one point cutting Japan's lead to just 1 against Yuka Ueno. Japan ultimately hung on for the win, with a final score of 33-32.

The reigning all-around champ just finished up the event final for the second time in her career.

She needed to give the best floor routine of her career (with a score of at least 13.535) to pull ahead of D’Amato and get into bronze medal position.

She scored a 13.666, which guarantees her another Olympic all-around medal, following up her gold in Tokyo on the same event.

Lee flashed a huge smile after she stuck her first tumbling pass, an indicator of what was to come.

These women have just one more chance to prove they’re worthy of a medal.

After three rotations, here is who would be topping the podium:

1. Simone Biles (USA)
2. Rebeca Andrade (Brazil)
3. Alice D’Amato (Italy)

Follow full coverage here.

The U.S. men’s 3x3 basketball team is now an ignominious 0-3 after a loss to Lithuania on Thursday.

It was a tight battle, as Lithuania held on for a 20-18 win as time expired. Jimmer Fredette, the former BYU star hoping to recapture basketball glory at the Paris Games, didn’t play as the U.S. changed up its lineup from its first two contests.

Outside shooting continues to be a problem for the States. While USA dominated inside the arc, Lithuania hit four 2-pointers as opposed to the U.S.’s one. With those baskets worth double, the 2-point line becomes an even bigger game changer in 3x3 hoops.

The U.S. will have another chance to record its first win, against Latvia, at 5:05 p.m. ET.

As we near the halfway point, Canada vs. Japan has been a balanced contest thus far.

After a competitive opening round, Japan's Karin Miyawaki faced off against Canada's Eleanor Harvey in Round 2. Both had even performances, leaving the score tied at 5-5.

In Round 3, Japan's Sera Azuma dueled Canada's Yunja Zhang. Both fencers had even touches at 5 each. Entering Round 4, the score remains tied at 10-10.

The first matchup had Japan's Yuka Ueno facing Canada's Jessica Ji Zia. The evenly competitive first round ends with a tied score of 3-3.

After two of four rotations in the women’s gymnastics all-around final, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade is in the lead, with Kaylia Nemour from Algeria in second, behind by .2 points.

Simone Biles is trailing in third by .267 points after executing a below-average bars routine.

Biles and Andrade are expected to go one and two in today's final.

Alice D'Amato and Suni Lee are in fourth and fifth — and both are considered high contenders to medal today, as well.

Biles and Lee will both close out the contest with the ever-tricky balance beam up next then will head to the floor, where Lee will contend on the event for the last time this Games.

Two rotations down, two rotations to go.

Currently, at the top of the leaderboard:

1. Rebeca Andrade (Brazil)
2. Kaylia Nemour (Algeria)
3. Simone Biles (USA)

Biles and Lee — along with Andrade — head to the ever-difficult beam next.

Follow full coverage here.

In just moments, Japan and Canada will face off in the women's foil team fencing match for bronze.

Canada is coming off a strong performance against the United States earlier today, while Japan enters the match after narrowly losing to Italy.

After the first rotation, the current standings are:

1. Simone Biles (USA)
2. Rebeca Andrade (Brazil)
3. Elsabeth Black (Canada)

Don’t pay too much attention to where everyone stands right now, though. These gymnasts each have three more chances to prove they’re worthy of a gold medal.

Follow full coverage here.

China’s Fan Zhendong, 27, advanced to the men’s singles semifinals after mounting an impressive comeback against Tomokazu Harimoto, 21, of Japan.

Zhendong, who lost the first two games, won the next two before falling short again in Game 6. The final Game 7 offered a tense back-and-forth, which Zhendong ultimately pulled away to win 11-7.

Zhendong, nicknamed Xiao Pang or “Little Fatty,” plays an attacking style with a shakehand grip. He won the silver medal in men’s singles, as well as team gold, at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

His semifinals appearance will be Aug. 2 at either 5:00 p.m. ET or 8:30 p.m. ET.

And we’re live! It’s officially go time for Biles and Lee, who will face each other — and the 22 other top gymnasts — for the gold in the individual all-around final.

Aside from our Team USA reigning champs (Biles won gold in this event in Rio and Lee won it in Tokyo), keep an eye onRebeca Andrade (Brazil), Kaylia Nemour (Algeria) and Qiu Qiyuan (China), who are all in contention to medal as well.

The real showdown will be between Biles and Andrade, who will be battling for the top spot in today’s meet.

Follow full coverage here.

Reporting from Paris

For archers competing at the famed gardens of Les Invalides,the searing conditionsweren’tonly impacting their performance. Several broadcasters at the top of the stands were taking cover — quite literally — under umbrellas as they shielded themselves from the sun. Sounds of play-by-play commentary wafted above the cheers … leading us to turn our heads and find the broadcasters hard at work.

Team USA's 3x3 women's basketball team fell to 0-3 after a 17-15 loss to Australia on Thursday morning. The U.S., which previously lost to Azerbaijan and Germany, now sits dead last in its group of eight teams.

It will have to get in the winner's circle soon, because only the top two teams qualify for the semifinals and the next four qualify for the play-in games. The women will face Spain later Thursday.

Meanwhile, the men's 3x3 team isn't faring too well either. Jimmer Fredette and Co. are 0-2 and take on Lithuania in a must-win matchup later today.

Australian swimmer Zac Stubblety-Cook revealed Wednesday shortly after winning silver in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke that he had tested positive for Covid.

Cook is the latest to join a growing number of athletes who’ve tested positive, including British swimming starAdam Peaty, who announced his diagnosis less than 24 hours after winning silver in the 100-meter breaststroke on Monday.

Australia’s Lani Pallister withdrew just hours before the Women’s 1500 freestyle on Tuesday, opting to “save her energy” for Thursday’s 4x200 freestyle relay instead, according to theAustralian Olympic Committee. As of now, Pallister is expected to compete in today’s relay this afternoon.

This brings the total number of athletes confirmed with Covid to nine, including at least five Australian water polo players whotested positiveprior to the Games’ kickoff.

Despite the apparent surge in infections, the Paris Olympics have no stringent protocols or preventive measures in place, according to French newspaperLe Monde.

American duo Miles Partain and Andy Beneshwon their match today against Brazil to close out preliminaries in men's beach volleyball.

Partain and Benesh will now await the results of later matches on Thursday to learn if they've advanced to the round of 16.

Partain, 22, is the USA’s youngest beach volleyball player to ever compete at an Olympic Games. Benesh, 28, is among the tallest, standing 6-foot-8.

Table tennis has provided viewers with dramatic moments and nail-biting matches throughout the Paris Games, and it’s continuing to explode in popularity. Willie Geist joins "TODAY" to take his shot with Team USA’s Rachel Sung.

Both of Team USA’s men’s and women’s soccer squads have advanced to the knockout stage, with the men’s team doing it for the first time in more than two decades. Players Benjamin Cremaschi, Caleb Wiley and Gabriel “Gaga” Slonina join “TODAY” to talk about the young team’s performance and playing in the summer heat.

Paris 2024 has made history as the first Olympic Games with an equal number of male and female competitors.

That makes quite a difference since the last time the French city hosted the Games, in 1924, when the International Olympic Committee more or less excluded women from competing.

The 135 female athletes, representing less than 5% of the 3,089 competitors, were restricted to swimming, diving, tennis and fencing events.

In response to the exclusion, several women-only games were independently held, starting in 1921 in Monte Carlo.

At the 1928 Amsterdam Games, the IOC allowed female athletes to compete in gymnastics and some track-and-field events, but later banned women from all track races over 200 meters (the restriction lasted until 1960).

As recently as the 1984 Los Angeles Games, when swimming and rhythmic gymnastics made their debuts and the women’s marathon was first held, less than a quarter of the competitors were women.

Today, the IOC, which has a mostly male executive board, concedes that a gender gap still exists for officials and coaches at Paris 2024. The organization says that it continues to actively promote gender equality within the Olympic movement.

Team USA has dominatedthe 2024 Paris Olympics — at least by some metrics.

American media organizations — including NBC News, The New York Times andThe Associated Press— rank nations based on their number of medals overall. By that measurement, the U.S. led the field as of 4 p.m. ET Wednesday, with 30 medals total, according to standings onthe NBC Olympics website.

But some countries and organizations outside America sort nations based on their number of gold medals. By that standard,China topped the chartas of 4 p.m. ET, with eight gold medals. The U.S. was in seventh place, with five gold medals. Google isfollowing suitin search results.

Read the full story here.

Félix Lebrun, France's 17-year-old table tennis sensation, advanced to the men's singles semifinals following a dramatic win over Yun-Ju Lin, 22, of Chinese Taipei.

The match, which went the maximum seven games, ping-ponged back and forth with the players trading wins for the first six rounds. But Lin couldn't overcome Lebrun's lightning-hot Game 7 start, opening with seven unanswered points. The game ended 11-6.

Lebrun, who plays with the traditional and largely abandoned "penhold grip," has been described by The Wall Street Journal as the "LeBron James" of table tennis.

His semifinals appearance will be Aug. 2 at either 5:00 p.m. ET or 8:30 p.m. ET.

Team USA medalists Perris Benegas and Evy Leibfarth celebrated their medals with “TODAY” live in Paris.

Benegas won silver in BMX freestyle, and Leibfarth took home bronze in canoe slalom (her coach is her dad!).

They were joined by Public Enemy co-founder Flavor Flav, “official hype man” of the U.S. women’s water polo team.

Sharpshooter Manu Bhaker has become the first Olympic athlete from India to win two medals in the same Games. Bhaker, 22, won bronze in both the women’s 10-meter air pistol and later the mixed team event with Sarabjot Singh.

As of Thursday, India has three medals, with another bronze in men’s 50-meter shooting from Swapnil Kusale.

Team USA's Scottie Scheffler is back in the clubhouse at Le Golf National having carded a solid, if unspectacular, opening round score of four under par in the men's golf competition.

Scheffler is making his Olympic debut in Paris and got his round off to the perfect start, with a birdie on the first hole and further birdies at holes three and nine. But it was a frustrating putting day for the American, with several wayward birdie putts throughout the back nine seeing him fail to gain momentum. It was ultimately a bogey-free round, though, and Scheffler will certainly remain in contention as the competition heads to the second of four rounds tomorrow. A 26-foot putt on the 17th finished off a decent round for the world No. 1.

He is currently four strokes behind the current leader, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion. Matsuyama has the clubhouse lead at eight under par. Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who was paired with Scheffler, sits at three under.

Xander Schauffle is still out on the course and is currently two shots off the lead. He is six under after 13 holes.

Athens, Beijing, London, Rio and Tokyo.

For five straight Olympic Games, American women have topped the all-around podium in gymnastics, cementing their names in the sport’s most exclusive club.

In the 20 years since the U.S. women’s gold-medal streak in the Olympic all-around began, the sport and the lives of those who reach its loftiest heights have evolved significantly.

Read the full story here.

The final of men’s skiff has been postponed midrace because of insufficient wind.

That's actually good news for the U.S. team of Ian Barrows and Hans Henken, who were slow at the start and struggled to get into the race.

There's been no indication from the race committee yet when the final will be rescheduled.

Straight off their gold-medal win in the women’s gymnastics team final, Simone Biles and Suni Lee will compete against each other in the all-around final.

An American has won gold in this event at each of the last five Olympics, but this is the first time in the history of the sport that two former champions will go head-to-head. NBC’s Kaylee Hartung reports for "TODAY."

In equestrian, a rider certainly cannot win a medal without their horse, and for Japanese rider Yoshiaki Oiwa, he certainly wanted to share the moment with the steed that helped deliver the silverware.

Take a look at this adorable selfie taken by Oiwa with the bronze medal the pair won in the team evening competition — the country's first equestrian medal at the Olympics since 1932.

An Algerian boxer who was previously barred from a women’s event over chromosome-based gender testing won a preliminary-round match against an Italian opponent.

Imane Khelif, whofailed to meet eligibility tests at the Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi last year, defeated Italian Angela Carini in 46 seconds today after Carini abandoned the bout.

According to The Associated Press, Carini's headgear twice became dislodged during the brief square-off, and she refused to shake Khelif’s hand after the unusual finish to the match as she cried in the ring before leaving.

Khelif previously won a silver medal at the International Boxing Association’s 2022 world championships, but that same organization disqualified her in a year later just prior to a gold-medal match over what it said were elevated testosterone levels. Khelif has not identified as transgender.

NBC News previously reported that the International Olympic Committee officially cleared all athletes participating in this year's boxing events.

Iga Swiatek is the world women's tennis No. 1 and she's by far the world's most dominant player on clay courts — she's won the last three French Open titles at Roland Garros. But she will not be the Olympic champion after suffering a shock defeat to China's Zheng Qinwen in straight sets.

After Zheng, who reached the Australian Open final earlier this year, took the opening set 6-2, gold medal favorite Swiatek looked to be back on track after racing into a 4-0 lead in the second. But the momentum quickly swung away from her and Zheng’s rattled off four straight games, breaking Swiatek’s serve twice and leveling things up.

Another break for Zheng at 5-5 put her on the brink of one of the biggest wins of her career. After surviving a break point to take the second set 7-5, Zheng collapsed onto her back, screaming into the air in pure elation.

Zheng, who is the first Chinese player to reach the gold medal match of the singles at the Olympics, will play for gold against the winner of tonight’s match between Wimbledon semifinalist Donna Vekic and Anna Karolina Schmeidlova. Poland’s Swiatek will still have a shot at the bronze medal.

Team USA's Shaine Casas and Carson Foster are safely through to tomorrow's semifinals of the men's 200m individual medley alongside France's Leon Marchand.

Marchand, France's poster boy for these Games, was back in the pool after winning golds in the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke last night. In doing so, he became the first male swimmer to win two individual golds on the same day since Australia's Freddie Lane did so in the 1900 Olympics.

The Frenchman will be hoping to go 4 for 4 with gold in the 200 IM, with further medal opportunities potentially to follow in two medley relays.

Team USA has qualified fourth fastest for tonight's 4x200 freestyle relay, having rested Katie Ledecky following her gold in the 1500 freestyle last night. She will almost certainly race in tonight's final.

Caeleb Dressel squeezed through to the semifinals of the 50 freestyle — his time of 21.91 got him through in joint-13th.

Phoebe Bacon and Regan Smith qualified as well for the women's semifinals of the 200 backstroke, placing 4th and 6th respectively.

Even before Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Iran on Wednesday, Israel’s foreign minister had warned France about the potential threat posed by Iran and its proxies to the country’s Olympics team in Paris in light of the ongoing war in Gaza.

Israel’s secret intelligence service Mossad said in May that Iran had stepped up efforts ahead of the Games to target Israelis overseas. Israel has its own security teams in Paris, and NBC News has reported that officers from the Shin Bet, the country’s internal security service, are protecting the Olympic delegation.

France’s domestic intelligence service, meanwhile, has identified those national teams and competition events that it deemed at additional risk, and the country's security services have put in place extra measures around Israel’s delegation.

America’s Ian Barrows and Hans Henken are competing today in the first medal event in sailing, the men’s skiff.

The duo are in fourth place heading into the final, which is scheduled to start at 8:40 a.m. ET.

The U.S. team of Stephanie Roble and Maggie Shea are in the women's skiff final at 9:43 a.m. ET, and occupy the 10th spot.

The U.S. has not won a medal in sailing since 2016.

Current wind conditions off Marseille are about 10 knots, forecast to increase to a moderate 15 knots by race time.

Reporting from Paris

American Casey Kaufhold, the world's top-ranked archer, was knocked out in a shocking round-of-32 upset by Lei Chien-ying from Chinese Taipei.

Kaufhold's 7-3 loss to the world No. 36 ended hopes for an American woman to reach the podium for the first time since 1976.

Her U.S. teammates, Boston's Jennifer Mucino and San Diego's Catalina GNoriega have also been eliminated.

Read the full story here

Reporting from Paris

Both the U.S. men's and women's 3x3 basketball teams have gotten off to nightmare starts in their respective Olympic tournaments and might be running out of time to turn it around.

The 0-3 American women, who took gold in Tokyo, have dropped games to Germany, Azerbaijan and moments ago to Australia. They can still contend for a medal but have a narrow margin for error.

The U.S. men, who didn't qualify for Tokyo but were expected to challenge for a medal here, are 0-2, with losses to Tokyo bronze medalist Serbia and then Poland.

Both the men’s and women’s teams are in eight-team tournaments, playing a round robin of seven games. The top two teams in the group move straight to the semifinals, while teams ranked third through sixth face playoffs to determine the remaining two places. The U.S. women's team is currently eighth.

The U.S. men play twice on Thursday, first against Lithuania at 1:05 p.m. ET and 7:05 p.m. local time, before taking on reigning gold medalists Latvia at 4:05 p.m. ET and 10:05 p.m. local time. Team USA's women have one game left today, against Spain at 3:30 p.m. ET and 9:30 p.m. local time.

Reporting from Paris

American Brady Ellison easily won his round of 32 match in archery at Les Invalides on a bright and sunny day — in front of stands seating around 7,400 people.

It appears to be the largest live audience for an archery competition and quite a contrast from Tokyo, when Ellison came in as the top seed but failed to win a medal when he lost to the eventual gold medalist Mete Gazoz in the quarterfinals.

On whetherthere’sless pressure and the differences in Paris?

“I mean Tokyo was kind of like an Olympic jail, right? Weweren’tallowed to do anything.”

“The people make the Olympics, not the venues. The crowds make it. You want to come out here and perform for the people … and this crowd is amazing.”

He has another match coming up shortly for a spot in the quarterfinals.

After winning gold in her signature 1500-meter freestyle event last night, Katie Ledecky will aim to make history tonight by winning a record 13th Olympic medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay. That would make her the most successful female American Olympian of all time.

NBC swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines takes a look at what makes Ledecky so dominant.

At Olympic shooting events, you'll usually see competitors using a big pair of ear protectors and fancy lenses to help them aim. But Turkey's Yusuf Dikec didn't need any of that during Tuesday's mixed air pistol team event — all he needed was his humble pair of prescription glasses.

The 51-year-old Dikec strolled up to the shooting line without the fancy gizmos of his rivals. What he did next has taken the internet by storm.

With the relaxed insouciance of a man waiting for a bus, the Turkish athlete placed his left hand in his pocket and coldly took his shots as he helped his country to silver. Dikec and his partner were ultimately beaten to gold by Serbia, but the man's casual aura will surely be unmatched throughout the rest of the Games.

South Korea's Kim Yeji also went viral earlier in the Olympics with her shooting style as she took silver in the women's individual 10-meter air pistol event.

American Lauren Scruggs made history atthe Paris Olympicson Sunday when she took the silver medal in women’s foil fencing.

Scruggs, from Queens, New York, became the first Black American woman and the first Black out lesbian to win an individual fencing medal.

She described the experience as "surreal" and said she hopes her medal shows other people that fencing, which has historically lacked diversity, "is for you."

Read the full story here.

Team USA has claimed its first gold medal in the men's four since the 1960 Rome Olympics. It is Team USA's sixth gold medal of the Games.

In a nail-biting race, the U.S. and New Zealand were largely even throughout, but a final surge in the last 200 meters saw Team USA take the gold. World champions Great Britain were the favorites, but an awful start saw them languish behind, eventually recovering to take bronze.

The American quad consisted of Michael Grady, who was the lone returnee from the boat that finished fifth in this event in Tokyo, alongside Liam Corrigan, Justin Best and Nick Mead — all of whom competed in the eight boat in Tokyo. The group had won silver at last year's World Championships, and it has now added Olympic gold.

U.S. Rowing made big changes after failing to medal in rowing in Tokyo for the first time ever. New technical director Josy Verdonkshot's more data-driven approach has paid instant rewards, with other U.S. boats also going strong at these Games. Team USA also finished fifth in the women's four final earlier, with the Netherlands edging out Great Britain for gold.

U.S. boxer Jennifer Lozano started thinking about how far the sport could take her at 9 years old in Laredo, Texas. When she secured her spot inthe 2024 Paris Olympicsat October’s Pan American Games, she finally realized a dream years in the making.

“That was surreal. I just couldn’t believe what was right in my hand,” she told NBC News. “Something I was working so hard for. Something I had dreamt of for so long for years since I was a kid and everything I had to go through just to be here.”

But getting to this point wasn’t easy. Lozano, who fights Finland's Pihla Kaivo-oja later today, was often teased in school for her weight and her Spanish accent, even though she lived in a city where about 90% of the population speaks Spanish at home. When she sought advice about how to handle bullying, she turned to the person she trusted the most: her grandmother.

Read the full story here.

Many Paris Olympics fans have wondered just what the smiling red mascot of the Games is. Well, wonder no more.

Tommy Paul is the last American standing in the men's tennis singles at Roland Garros, and now he faces one of the most daunting tasks in the sport — taking on Carlos Alcaraz.

Spain's Alcaraz is one of the favorites for gold in Paris after winning both the French Open and Wimbledon over the last few months. Alcaraz beat Paul in the Wimbledon quarterfinals last month and will be the favorite to take down Paul on the clay at Roland Garros.

But the American is in strong form and has won each of his three singles matches so far at the Olympics in straight sets. Paul and Alcaraz are second up on Roland Garros' central court today, getting underway at 8 a.m. ET.

The American is due to perform double duty today — he is also due to team up with Taylor Fritz in the men's doubles as they take on Great Britain's Andy Murray and Dan Evans tonight. Other notable matches include Novak Djokovic taking on Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas tonight and women's world No. 1 Iga Swiatek taking on China's Qinwen Zheng.

China has extended its lead at the top of the gold medal table after taking its 11th gold of the Games in the women's 20k race walk.

In sweltering conditions where many racers opted to wear ice towels around their necks, China's Yang Jiayu led for over half of the race as she took the top spot on the podium by a comfortable 25-second margin ahead of Spain's Maria Perez. Australia's Jemina Montag took bronze.

China has claimed a third shooting gold of the Games, with Yukun Liu taking victory in this morning's men's 50-meter rifle three-position event.

Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish took silver, with Swapnil Kusale winning bronze to secure India's third medal of these Olympics.

Team USA’s Katie Ledecky won her signature event at the Paris Olympics, the 1,500-meter freestyle, earning her eighth Olympic gold medal. French swimming superstar Leon Marchand won his second gold. And the men’s and women’s triathlons were held after the water quality of the Seine was deemed safe enough.

The first medals of Day 6 of the Olympics have already been handed out, with Ecuador's Brian Daniel Pintado taking gold in the men's 20km race walk.

Pintado pulled away from the rest of the field with 2 kilometers to go, and the Ecuadorian pulled out Cristiano Ronaldo's signature "siuuu" celebration as he crossed the line. Silver went to Brazil's Caio Bonfim, who finished 14 seconds behind, and bronze went to Spain's Alvaro Martin.

Those race walking medals are the first of the Paris Games track-and-field events. The main difference between race walking and running is that athletes must have one foot in contact with the ground at all times, with time penalties if that rule is broken.

The women's race is now underway — Team USA did not qualify for either event.

A bolt of lightning strikes during a storm in Paris this morning over an Eiffel Tower adorned with the Olympic rings.

With Americans sweeping all four golf majors this season, hopes are high for an American gold as Xander Schauffele looks to defend the Olympic title over the next four days at Paris' Le Golf National.

Schauffele has already won the PGA Championship and the Open this season, becoming the first player since 2018 to win two majors in the same year. Fellow Americans Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, who is not at the Olympics, took the Masters and the U.S. Open respectively.

Scheffler, the world No. 1, will also be a medal favorite in Paris, having won six tournaments across a brilliant 2024. Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa round off Team USA's four-strong team.

Elsewhere in the field, Ireland's Rory McIlroy will be looking for redemption following his brutal collapse at the U.S. Open in June and after missing the cut at the Open a fortnight ago. He'll be determined for redemption here. Great Britain's Tommy Fleetwood and Spain's Jon Rahm have good records at Le Golf National and could also be among the podium chasers.

Good morning! It's Day 6 of the 2024 Paris Olympics. We've got a bumper day of gold medal events for you today, with 18 gold medals up for grabs over the course of the day.

Perhaps most exciting for our readers stateside will be the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around final, where Team USA's Simone Biles will be looking to add to her haul. That's at 12:15 p.m. ET and 6:15 p.m. local time.

The USA's swimming team also competes. For the women, Katie Ledecky and the rest of Team USA race in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay at 4:03 p.m. ET and 10:03 p.m. local time. Before that, Regan Smith races in the 200 butterfly at 2:30 p.m. ET and 8:30 p.m. local time. Kate Douglass races for the 200 breaststroke medal at 3:11 p.m. ET and 9:11 p.m. local time.

In men's swimming, Keaton Jones is perhaps Team USA's best hope in the 200 backstroke event at 2:38 p.m. ET and 8:38 p.m. local time.

In nonmedal events, the Team USA women's basketball team plays Belgium at 3:00 p.m. ET and 9:00 p.m. local time; and in tennis, Tommy Paul takes on Carlos Alcaraz in the men's singles quarterfinal after 12:00 p.m. local time and 6:00 p.m. Novak Djokovic also plays Stefanos Tsitsipas at 1:00 p.m. ET and 7:00 p.m. local time.

Special NBC Olympics correspondent Snoop Dogghas been all over the Games, carrying the torch, getting a swim lesson from Michael Phelps, traveling by bus and train with the U.S. men’s basketball team.

"Man, this is a grind out here," Snoop told NBC’s Mike Tirico on Wednesday’s prime-time Paris Games broadcast. "But I’m having so much fun."

"Mike, I may be the MVP of the Olympics, just saying," Snoop said.

Snoop joined the men’s basketball team on its bus and train journey down to Lille, where group-phase games are being played.

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