USA edge past China with gold in final event of Paris 2024 to top medal table

Plus ça change: after more than two weeks of frenetic competition across 32 sports involving more than 10,000 athletes, the US finished the Paris Olympics top of the medal table once again, although they required victory in the final event of the Games to do so.

The US entered Sunday with 38 golds, one behind China’s tally of 39, although they were heavy favourites for victory in women’s basketball, an event the Americans have won at every Olympics since 1996. The US also had chances for gold in track cycling, wrestling and volleyball, while China could add to their tally in weightlifting.

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Georgia Bell leads rush of medals as Team GB enjoy super Saturday

The runner, who has set a new British record, only took up sport again to stay fit during pandemic

Georgia Bell, an occasional runner during lockdown who made it to the Olympic final of the women’s 1500m, set a new British record to take bronze as a rush of success including silvers in artistic swimming and taekwondo took Britain’s rivalry with France in the medal table into the last day.

At the age of 30, this was Bell’s first Olympic appearance but in a lightning quick race in the Stade de France that saw Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon set a new Games record, the British runner stayed with the leading pack in the first 800m before finding the strength to kick on in the final leg.

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‘An outstanding person’: tributes paid to former Team GB footballer Gemma Wiseman

Wiseman, who has died at the age of 33, represented England and Great Britain’s deaf women’s teams

Tributes have been paid to former Team GB footballer Gemma Wiseman after her death at the age of 33.

Wiseman represented England and Great Britain’s deaf women’s teams and helped guide GB to third place at the 2016 World Deaf Football Championships.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Protesting Winter Olympics athletes ‘face punishment’, suggests Beijing official

Organising committee official warns against ‘any behaviour or speech that is against the Olympic spirit’

Any athlete behaviour that is against the Olympic spirit or Chinese rules or laws will be subject to “certain punishment”, a Beijing 2022 official has said in response to a question about the possibility of athlete protests at next month’s Winter Games.

It comes shortly after human rights advocates told athletes they were better off staying silent for the duration of the Games and amid concerns over the online security of attendees’ data contained in a mandatory phone app.

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British Olympic silver medallist Chijindu Ujah suspended for doping violation

  • Ujah was part of Team GB’s 4x100m relay team in Tokyo
  • 27-year-old and team face being stripped of medals

The British sprinter CJ Ujah has been provisionally suspended for an anti‑doping rule violation after testing positive for two banned substances after winning a silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The news means that the Team GB men’s 4x100m relay team all face being stripped of their medals, with Canada being upgraded to silver and China receiving bronze unless Ujah can adequately explain how the substances got into his body.

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Team GB chief hails ‘greatest achievement in British Olympic history’

Mark England says fact team’s competitors delivered 65 medals in Tokyo ‘absolutely extraordinary’

Team GB’s trailblazing performance in Tokyo has been hailed as “the greatest achievement in British Olympic history” after the young team matched the tally of medals from London 2012 on the final day.

With Jason Kenny successfully defending his keirin title to become the first Briton to win seven Olympic gold medals, and boxer Lauren Price also winning middleweight gold, the British team ended fourth in the medal table with 65 overall – 22 of them gold.

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Teenage skateboard superstar Sky Brown: ‘I begged my parents to let me go with Team GB’

When she lands in Tokyo, Sky Brown will become one of the UK’s first Olympic skateboarders – and, at 13, the team’s youngest ever member. Will her next trick be a gold medal?

The sun is setting on another hazy summer evening in Oceanside, California, a city 35 miles north of San Diego, and a tiny figure is flying through the sky. She bends her knees, clutches the end of her skateboard and comes gliding down an enormous ramp, her sun-bleached surfer hair bouncing in the wind.

“That was sick!” Sky Brown shouts, as she makes an immaculate landing. The skateboarder is ranked third in the world and on 4 August will take to her board to represent Team GB at the postponed Tokyo Olympics. When she competes in the women’s park event, she won’t just be one of the UK’s first ever Olympic skateboarders, she will also be Team GB’s youngest ever summer Olympian. Aged 13 years and 23 days, she will surpass Margery Hinton, who was 13 years and 44 days when she swam at Amsterdam in 1928.

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