Gold medalist Adriana Ruano Oliva of Team Guatemala, centre, SIlver medalist Silvana Maria Stanco of Team Italy, left, and bronze medalist Penny Smith of Team Australia celebrate after competing in the Shooting Trap Women's final on day five of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 31, 2024 in Chateauroux, France.Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
Guatemala win first Olympic gold
CHATEAUROUX, France A spinal injury ended Adriana Ruano’s Olympic dream as a gymnast. She came back as a shooter and won Guatemala’s first Olympic gold medal on Wednesday. Ruano was training for the 2011 world championships in gymnastics, a qualifier for the London Olympics the following year, when she felt pain in her back. An MRI showed the then-16-year-old had six damaged vertebrae – a career-ending injury – and Ruano’s doctor recommended she take up shooting if she wanted to stay in sports without aggravating her injured back. That advice paid off Wednesday as Ruano won gold in the women’s trap with an Olympic-record score of 45 out of 50. Ruano closed her eyes and took a deep breath before hitting her 43rd target to make sure of the gold with five shots remaining. She missed her next two shots after that, but it didn’t matter. Guatemala had never before won a gold medal at the Olympics.
Brazil's Marta leaves the pitch after being shown a red card during a women's Group C soccer match between Brazil and Spain, at Bordeaux Stadium, during the 2024 Summer Olympics on July 31, 2024, in Bordeaux, France.Moises Castillo/The Associated Press
Marta sent off with red card
MARSEILLE, France Athenea del Castillo and Alexia Putellas both scored and Spain defeated Brazil 2-0 in an Olympic group finale that was spoiled for the Brazilians when captain Marta was sent off with red card late in the first half on Wednesday. Spain and the United States had already secured spots in the quarter-finals going into the final group matches. Marta, a six-time world player of the year playing in her sixth Olympics, was sent off the field in tears after a tackle on Spain’s Olga Carmona in first-half stoppage time. The 38-year-old Brazilian has said that this will be her last major tournament with the national team. Marta has never won an Olympic or Women’s World Cup title with Brazil.
Shinnosuke Oka, of Japan, celebrates after winning the gold medal during the men's artistic gymnastics all-around finals in Bercy Arena at the 2024 Summer Olympics on July 31, 2024, in Paris, France.Abbie Parr/The Associated Press
Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka wins men’s all-around title
PARIS Shinnosuke Oka won the men’s all-around gymnastics title at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, upsetting the two main favourites to extend Japan’s dominance in a final that came down to the wire. The former junior world champion whose career was put on hold by a serious knee injury two years ago edged Zhang Boheng and Xiao Ruoteng, both of China, to claim his second gold medal in three days at his first Olympics, by just 0.233 points. Oka’s teammate Daiki Hashimoto, the defending champion, fell during his pommel horse routine, finishing sixth.
Katie Ledecky, of the United States, competes in the women's 1500-meter freestyle final at the 2024 Summer Olympics on July 31, 2024, in Nanterre, France. Ledecky won gold setting a new Olympic record.David J. Phillip/The Associated Press
Ledecky adds another gold
NANTERRE, France Katie Ledecky proved again she’s a sure bet in swimming’s longest event. Ledecky romped to the seventh individual Olympic gold medal – she has one team gold in a relay – and 12th medal overall with a runaway victory in the 1,500-metre freestyle Wednesday at the Paris Games. The 27-year-old Ledecky tied fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most medals ever by a female swimmer. Ledecky already held the mark for most individual gold medals by a woman with seven; she’s got eight golds overall counting a relay victory. Ledecky led right from the start and steadily pulled away, touching in an Olympic-record 15 minutes 30.02 seconds. France’s Anastasiia Kirpichinikova finished nearly a half lap behind but thrilled the home fans by claiming the silver in 15:40.35. The bronze went to Germany’s Isabel Gose at 15:41.16.
Leon Marchand, of France, celebrates after winning the men's 200-meter breaststroke final at the 2024 Summer Olympics on July 31, 2024, in Nanterre, France.Matthias Schrader/The Associated Press
France’s Marchand makes history with golden double
France’s Olympic poster boy Leon Marchand completed an unprecedented 200-metres breaststroke and butterfly double on Wednesday with his third gold of the Paris Games, raising the roof at a rocking La Defense Arena. Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook took the silver and Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands the bronze. The 22-year-old Marchand, who won the individual medley on Sunday, sent sound levels off the scale as he added the 200 breaststroke to the butterfly gold in the same distance that he had won barely two hours earlier – and both in Olympic record time. To win both titles was an astonishing achievement. To do it at a single Games absolutely remarkable. To take double gold on the same night, with a medal ceremony in between, truly the stuff of fiction.
The Associated Press, Reuters