Paris Olympics highlights: USA breaks medal droughts in multiple sports

I can’t remember a single day in American Olympic history where they won medals in the most rare assortment of events. First men’s weightlifting medal since 1984. Gold in track cycling. First artistic swimming medal in 20 years. Medals in the 400m and steeplechase.

That kind of success in events Team USA usually doesn’t succeed in pretty much locks up the total medal battle. USA has 94 medals after today but the gold medal race is still up for grabs with China only two medals behind.

Tomorrow should be another amazing night in track & field with Noah Lyles, Grant Holloway, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone all going for gold.

To nobody surprise, the United States women’s basketball team is going to the Olympic semifinals again. They had no trouble beating Nigeria in the quarterfinals with an 88-74 victory.

A’ja Wilson once again went off scoring 20 points on 9-11 shooting with 11 rebounds. Breanna Stewart, Jackie Young, and Brittney Griner each scored in double figures too. USA will face Australia in the semifinals on Friday. Tip-off time will either be 11:30 a.m. or 3 p.m.

No American beach volleyball pairs will play in the Paris Olympics semifinals. Men’s pair Andrew Benesh and Miles Partain fell in straight sets to the favored Qatar duo Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in the quarterfinals 14-21, 16-21.

This is the third straight Olympics an American men’s beach volleyball team has not advanced to the semifinals.

Team USA has now won both women’s wrestling gold medals that have been contested thus far in Paris. Sarah Hildebrandt is taking home gold in the 50kg division after cruising in the gold medal final over Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez. Amit Elor took home the first wrestling gold yesterday for the Americans.

Hildebrandt’s gold is the 27th for the Americans at these Olympics and 94th overall medal, a whopping 29 more than second-place China.

There was another surprise medalist on the track as USA’s Kenneth Rooks took silver in the 3000m steeplechase final. He rushed into the lead on the final lap but was closed down by Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali who took gold.

Rooks just took silver as he beat Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot by 0.06 seconds.

Lakewood, Ohio native Katie Moon was not able to defend her pole vault gold medal as she settled for silver in Paris. Moon was unable to clear 4.90 meters or 4.95 meters with Australia’s Nina Kennedy able to claim gold with a 4.90 clearance. Canada’s Alysha Newman took bronze.

Moon becomes just the fourth female pole vaulter to win multiple Olympic medals.

Team USA has struck gold again on the track as Quincy Hall put everything he had to win the 400m final. He was towards the middle of the pack into the final straight but found the last jolt of energy to pass Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith right at the line.

Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga joined both on the podium with a bronze. This continues what has been a trend of exciting track finals with last-second finishes.

Two artistic swimmers with Ohio State connections have won the first American Olympic medal in the sport in two decades. The eight-woman American team, featuring current Buckeye Ruby Remati and incoming Buckeye Keana Hunter, was able to score big in Wednesday’s acrobatic routine to secure the silver medal.

It’s the first time since the Athens 2004 games Team USA has won an artistic swimming medal. China claimed gold while Spain will walk away with bronze.

Thursday’s top event at the Paris Olympics will be the men’s 200m final at 2:30 p.m. and the lineup is now confirmed. 100m champion Noah Lyles will headline the field as he aims to become the first American man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the Olympic sprint double.

His teammates Erriyon Knighton and Ken Bednarek join him in Thursday’s final.

1. Letsile Tebogo (Botswana)

2. Ken Bednarek (USA)

3. Noah Lyles (USA)

4. Alexander Ogando (Dominican Republic)

5. Erriyon Knighton (USA)

6. Joseph Fahnbulleh (Liberia)

7. Tapiwanashe Makarawu (Zimbabwe)

8. Makanakaishe Charamba (Zimbabwe)

The U.S. has won its quarterfinal match against Australia after a shoot-out.

Australia was in the lead until the third period, where it became a close match for both teams when the U.S. caught up. Within the last minute of the game, both teams were tied 7-7 at the end of regulation. The game ended with a penalty shootout and the U.S. won the shootout 4-3.

Team USA is moving on to the semifinals and will face Serbia on Friday. This is the first time since 2008 the U.S. men’s water polo team has made the semifinals, which is the last time they also won a medal.

The men’s 400m hurdles final in Tokyo was the best of those games and it could be the same in Paris. The eight-man field for Friday’s final is set and features the two runners that dueled in the final three years ago – defending champion and world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway and Team USA’s Rai Benjamin.

It will be among the most anticipated medal events of these Paris Olympics.

Lakewood, Ohio native Katie Moon has gotten off to a fast start in the pole vault final. She has cleared all three heights she has attempted thus far on the first jump with the highest being 4.70m.

Others that have gotten off to identical starts include Italy’s Elisa Molinarolo, Switzerland’s Angelica Moser, and Finland’s Wilma Murto.

Team USA continues to rack up the gold medals as they took a rare one in track cycling. The women’s team pursuit side with 2020 omnium gold medalist Jennifer Valente, Lily Wlliams, 2024 time trial bronze medalist Chloe Dygert, and 2024 road race gold medalist Kristen Faulkner scored gold in the final by over half a second over New Zealand.

It’s the first USA gold in the event, male or female. Great Britain completed the podium with a bronze.

More than one-quarter of the men’s 110m hurdles final field will be American. The favorite Grant Holloway will lead Team USA in Thursday final and will be alongside his teammates Freddie Crittenden and Daniel Roberts.

Jamaica will also have three runners in the final with defending gold medalist Hansle Parchment alongside Orlando Bennett and Rasheed Broadbell.

It’s gonna be another fun night of track & field from the Stade de France and includes another Ohio native looking for a medal.

Women’s pole vault: Lakewood, Ohio native Katie Moon seeks to defend her gold from Tokyo. This final is already underway with Moon dueling with Australia’s Nina Kennedy, who she shared the 2023 world title with, for gold.

Men’s 400m final: The top track final of the night will be the men’s 400m which features three Americans — Christopher Bailey, Michael Norman, and Quincy Hall. Another notable name in the field is former gold medalist Kirani James of Grenada.

Other finals: Men’s discus throw and 3000m steeplechase

Other events: Grant Holloway in 110m hurdles semis, Rai Benjamin in 400m hurdles semis, Noah Lyles in 200m semis, and the women’s 400m semis.

The Americans will not play in the men’s volleyball final in Paris. Poland was able to come back down two sets to one to defeat Team USA 25-23, 25-27, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13.

USA will play in Friday’s bronze medal game against the losers of the France-Italy semifinal as they vie for its first Olympic medal since 2016. Poland is in its first Olympic volleyball final since 1976. They had previously gone five straight Olympics losing in the quarterfinals.

Skateboarding at the Paris Olympics is in the books and the Americans earned one final medal. 24-year-old Tom Schaar from Malibu, California was able to take silver in the park competition. He burst onto the scene in 2012 when he completed the first “1080” in skateboarding history.

Australia’s Keegan Palmer defended his gold medal while Brazil’s Augusto Akio took bronze. Team USA earned three medals in skateboarding, one less than Japan. Australia won both park golds while Japan won both street golds.

The first men’s volleyball medalist at the Paris Olympics will be determined in a decisive fifth set. Poland was able to claim the must-win fourth set against Team USA 25-23 in the semifinals.

It was a huge fourth set for Wilfredo Leon Venero with six kills and nine total points. In the fifth set, you only need 15 points to clinch the victory so buckle up for a high stakes set of Olympic volleyball.

The hometown crowd at Le Golf National went home happy as France’s Celine Boutier took a solid lead in the first round of the women’s golf tournament. Boutier shot an impressive 65 (seven-under par) to put herself three strokes ahead of former British Open winner Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa.

Team USA’s Lilia Vu is in striking distance at two-under while Nelly Korda and Rose Zhang each shot even-par 72s. The second round of women’s golf begins Thursday at 3 a.m.

For the first time since the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984, an American man has claimed a medal in weightlifting. Hampton Morris was able to earn bronze in the 61kg weight class with a total lift weight of 298kg, more than 650 pounds.

After getting a 126kg lift in the snatch, he able was able to lift 172 in the clean & jerk to secure bronze by one kilogram over Malaysia’s Aniq Kasdan. China’s Li Fabin won gold while Thailand’s Theerapong Silachai took silver.

The United States men’s volleyball team took control in the third set and beat Poland with a convincing 25-14 score. The Americans were in control the entire set as Aaron Russell and Thomas Jaeschke each earned five points in the third set.

Pawel Zatorski, a key player for Poland, left due to an injury in the middle of the third set. USA outscored Poland 12-5 after the injury.

If Team USA wins the fourth set, it will clinch its first medal since Rio 2016 and make its first final since Beijing 2008.

In an odd turn of events, the 12th day of the 2024 summer Olympics had an extra medal ceremony from the 2022 winter Olympics. The USA and Japanese figure skating teams came together at the Eiffel Tower to receive a team gold and team silver from the Beijing Games two years ago.

The USA and Japan were both promoted on the podium after the disqualification of the winning Russian team for doping. It might be some time before we see a winter sport medal ceremony at a summer Olympics.

The USA men’s volleyball team is back into its semifinal as they took the second set against Poland 27-25, turning the medal-clinching match into a best-of-three sets.

Matthew Anderson, Aaron Russell, and Max Holt were able to combine for 14 points in that second set win for the Americans. After two sets, the stat sheet has become quite even with Poland and the USA each having 55 attacks, with Poland converting 30 compared to America’s 29.

The men’s indoor volleyball semifinal is underway between Poland and the United States. The first set was a tight contest but it ended up going the way of the Polish 25-23.

It was a strong start for Poland’s Wilfredo Leon Venero who had seven points on six kills in the first set with Poland having a 50% attack rate in the first set. The USA went 13-of-32 in attacking as they trail heading to the second set.

It’s been an incredible day of handball quarterfinals and the latest once might have been among the best matches in Olympic history. After Spain beat Egypt 29-28 in overtime in the first men’s handball quarterfinal, the hosts France took on Germany.

As time expired, Germany scored a fast break goal to tie the game at 29-29 to force overtime with the defending gold medalists. With the score tied at 34-34 with one minute to go in overtime, Germany’s Renars Uscins scored the winner with just four seconds left to stun the French 35-34.

Germany will face Spain in the semifinals on Friday. The next two quarterfinals are Norway-Slovenia and Denmark-Sweden.

Day 12 of the Paris Olympics is well underway and we’ve already got medals handed out and some results to report on.

Inaugural medalists: We saw two new Olympic events have its first medalists crowned with Spanish pair Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez winning the mixed marathon race walk relay and Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw winning the first women’s sport climbing speed gold.

Next medal events: Multiple sailing finals are scheduled for today but could experience more delays. At 9 a.m., the first weightlifting medals will be handed out in the men’s 61kg division. After that, more track cycling finals and the last skateboarding final with men’s park.

Women’s golf: USA’s Lilia Vu is currently in the lead in the opening round at Le Golf National with France’s Celine Boutier in the mix as well. Nelly Korda is currently shooting even-par thru 15 holes.

Team sports: The women’s field hockey semis are underway with the Dutch playing Argentina. Men’s handball and water polo quarterfinals are underway as well as women’s basketball quarterfinals.