Follow the latest updates and news throughout Sunday ahead of the closing ceremony:
Marathon: The crowds are starting to build once again as the athletes run back into the centre of Paris, the noise will lift them and they will know the end is in sight after a gruelling run so far.
Marathon: Kenya’s Hellen Obiri has dropped back from the leading pack, she was one of the favourites to medal and so she will have to push to get back there with just a few miles to go. She can still see the leading runners so it is not out of the question.
Marathon: The leading athletes have passed 35km (21.7 miles) and it is Kenya’s Sharon Lodeki who continues to hold the lead. We are in the closing stages now and the pace of all of the athletes has increaded.
Marathon: The leading pack has been cut down to five but it does not contain the defending champion as she is around 30 seconds behind. It would take a lot for Peres Jepchirchir to get into the medal spots now.
Marathon: The leading athletes have reached the bottom of the hill and now they have completely flat road and so let the real racing begin. Athletes will begin to put their tactics in place to establish a lead in the closing stages.
Marathon: A sixth athlete has pulled out with Zimbabwe’s Rutendo Joan Nyahora unable to finish.
At the front of the race is a pack of nine athletes but the picture is ever-changing and there is a lot of race to go here.
Marathon: 30km (18.6 miles) is the point just passed and we have another different leader with Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi is in front after the horrid hill, the leading pack have now completed the hill and are on the downhill.
Handball: The men’s bronze medal match has reached half-time and the timeout worked for Slovenia as they have once again levelled the match at 12-12.
Marathon: This hill has been described as the athletes climbing a ladder and I have to say this looks absolutely gruelling. The pack is really pulling apart now but after this hill I believe the course is mostly flat so it will be key for the athletes to conserve some energy so they can either make up time or build a lead.
Simon Kamp has emailed and said:
I just read that the American Jordan Chiles is being harassed on social media over losing her bronze medal for her floor exercise. I would like to express that the Olympics bring so much joy to our family and my husband and me in particular. I am so grateful to all athletes for striving to do their best and to amaze us with that.
I don’t think I could ever do or achieve anything that has come close to what Jordan Chiles (or any of the other gymnasts) can do on the floor. I don’t care which prize she gets, I am full of admiration and respect for her achievement even if it did not provide her with a medal.
I think it is important to realise that the exceptional athletes who win can only do so because other people -who are almost as good as they are- don’t. At the Tokyo Olympics a Belgian athlete (who is a teacher during the day) surprised herself by coming 21st in the woman’s marathon, her surprise, joy, emotions (and lack of ego) with that place made her a national hero. There is so much more to admire about the Olympics and the stories of the athletes than just boiling it down to who wins which medal and which country ends up where on the medal table.
Thank you all at the Guardian for your extensive reporting on the Olympics, much love and gratitude to all the athletes who made all these stories possible.
Thank you Simon. Yes, it is unfortunate for Jordan Chiles, it does look as though she will have her bronze taken off of her after the challenge to her score was lodged too late. That must be so tough for her, it was her first individual floor Olympic medal.
Handball: The men’s bronze medal match is approaching half-time and it is Spain who have a slight edge with a 12-10 lead, Slovenia’s team have called a time out with just over a minute to go in the first half.
Marathon: We have a new split time everyone! The athletes are just going through 25km (15.5 miles) and it is Israel’s Salpeter who leads with Kyrgyzstan Sardana Trofimova in second and Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir in third. They will be approaching the steepest hill on the course now.
Also I have been notified the email link may not be working for some so if you would like to email me it’s [email protected].
Marathon: I thought the flat road would see some making a move here and the USA’s Dakotah Lindwurm has done just that. She split from the 20-or-so pack but Israel’s Salpeter has moved with her.
There are several medals to be decided today and more memories to be made but here are some the athletes have made already:
Marathon: Halfway has just been passed and it is Jessica Stenson who has retaken the lead as the course hits a flat part. The hills aren’t over yet but this part of the course may see some athletes try to build a lead.
Marathon: The athletes have just passed 20km (12.4 miles) and so we have another split time and it is Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter who leads, coming through at 1:09:31.
Medal hope the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan is back in 15th.
Marathon: The commentators are criticising Jessica Stenson’s tactics here. They think she has broken away too early here and that she should have saved that energy for a later moment in the race. But you’d think she would have analysed this course and spoken tactics with her coaching team, though a medal may not be in her grasp.
A fourth athlete has dropped out of the race with Germany’s Melat Yisak Kejeta pulling out.
Handball: The men’s bronze medal match between Spain and Slovenia got underway just a few minutes ago and Spain are currently leading 2-1.
Thank you Jonathan and hello everyone. Yes I join you as the athletes just complete 10 miles in the women’s marathon, a long uphill stint has started to pull the field apart but Australia’s Jessica Stenson is making a good move here. She looks to have loved this hill where many will be feeling the lactic acid starting to build in their muscles now.
With it being the final day of the Games I’d love to hear from you on your favourite moment and which sport you think you would compete in if you were an Olympian.
This is my final sign-off for the Games, so a big thank you to everyone that has joined me over the past couple of weeks for these early sessions.
It’s now over to Sarah Rendell for the completion of the marathon and the remainder of the final day of Paris 2024!
Marathon: At the 15km marker the timesheet indicates the leading bunch has been whittled down to 14 runners. The medals are going to come from that group. It contains Obiri (KEN), Jepchirchir (KEN), Lokedi (KEN), Alemu (ETH), Assefa (ETH), Shankule (ETH), and Hassan (NED).
The pace has quickened, and we’re now on track for something around 2.24.
Marathon: USA runner Fiona O’Keeffe is the third athlete to drop out of this race.
Marathon: And now the breakaway runners have been absorbed into the leading pack. All the favourites are in it, with Hassan just a few paces off the back, on the opposite side of the road. She’s so good.
Marathon: Oh wow, Peres Jepchirchir has just floored it, reeling in Julien in the blink of an eye at serious pace. It looked like the defending champion was going to streak off into the distance, but instead as soon as she drew level she slowed up and helped herself to ice and water.
Marathon: France’s Melody Julien has made the first breakaway of the race. It’s not a massive change of pace, but it’s enough to start to string out the leading bunch. Julien has a 2:25 personal best.
Marathon: Romania’s Joan Chelimo Melly is another early retirement.
Marathon: We’re reached the 10km mark, which is roughly a quarter of the race distance. All the big names are still in the leading bunch, but the serious hills begin soon and the race proper will take shape.
Passing the marker post, the main bunch of runners were all on the right hand side of the road. Sifan Hassan, running her own race, was hugging the left. It was a perfect visual metaphor.
While the women’s marathon remains our focus, at 09:00 Spain take on Slovenia for a bronze medal in the men’s handball, and Spain and Greece meet to determine fifth place in the men’s water polo. I’m going to be honest, two sports I find impossible to watch.
Marathon: The favourites are all safely among the leading pack, and they have just passed the 5km mark. They’re on track for a time around 2:27.
Marathon: Australia’s Sinead Diver is an early casualty. The 47-year-old pulled up with an injury just a few minutes into the race. Diver set a new Australian record in 2022 aged 45 – but she will not finish in Paris.
Marathon: The final event on the athletics program for Paris 2024 is under way. In front of the famous Hôtel de Ville, an incredibly strong field will race to Versailles and back over the next two and a quarter hours.
The weather is beautiful. It’s sunny, dry, and still, with temperatures in the high teens.
This is great – Kathrine Switzer (linked earlier) – is delivering the coup de baton before the start of the race. Well done Paris.
But the most interesting athlete in the race is Sifan Hassan, from the Netherlands.
“Dear Jonathan,” emails Johan Barnard. “The Dutch will watch Sifan Hassan in the marathon to see whether she can add one more medal to the bronzes she got on the 5,000 and 10,000m. We believe it is very rare for athletes to have success both indoors and outdoors. Some journalists in the Netherlands wrote about a “plan Zatopek” in describing this set of races. Have a nice day!”
Thanks Johan. What Hassan is attempting is extraordinary. she has already raced a 5,000m heat, a 5,000m final, and a 10,000m final in the past nine days. She also qualified for the 1500 but opted not to participate.
Ethiopia leads the way on the world rankings through Tigst Assefa, with compatriots Amane Beriso Shankule and Megertu Alemu not far behind.
Kenya are well represented with defending champion Peres Jepchirchir, and two-time 5,000m silver medallist Hellen Obiri.
Here is that route, for anyone who still can’t get enough of the majestic Paris cityscape.
Time to turn our attention to the women’s marathon, which gets underway at 08:00 local time.
Today’s race is historic for a couple of reasons. Firstly, history. The course traces the route of the Women’s March on Versailles, on 5 October 1789. From the Olympics website:
On 5 and 6 October 1789, market women, shopkeepers and workers from the popular quarters gathered in front of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris to demand bread and arms. Between 6,000 and 7,000 Parisian women, joined by men, marched through Paris to Versailles to bring the King back to the Tuileries. That day, Louis XVI finally agreed to ratify the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens.
Secondly, the women’s race is being run the day after the men’s, in a more prestigious slot. This is a reflection of the ambition of Games organisers to make Paris 2024 the most female-focussed Olympics in history.
The first women’s marathon race at the Olympics wasn’t staged until 1984. And as recently as 1967 women were being manhandled by race organisers to prevent them from competing.
We have become accustomed to Jamaica excelling on the track at the Olympics but a series of cruel injuries have restricted their performance in Paris.
These Olympics were very nearly an unmitigated disaster for Jamaica – suddenly on the back foot without Bolt padding their results, and back under pressure from a US federation that is finally reaping dividends from their decade-long investment in sprints. Instead there’s hardware coming home from field stars in spite of the country’s faltering track performances. Here now is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for one of the pluckiest Olympic nations to diversify its track and field holdings. Jamaica’s sporting directors should probably make the most of this moment before the rest of the world passes them by and Jamaica’s luck really runs out.
Staying with controversy, the court of arbitration for sport has ruled that US gymnast Jordan Chiles will lose her floor routine bronze medal.
Cas ruled on Saturday that the appeal by US coach Cecile Landi to have 0.1 added to Chiles’ score that vaulted her from fifth to third came outside the one-minute window allowed by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
Cas wrote in its decision that the initial finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu third, teammate Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth. The organization added the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision”.
Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in the floor final in Paris after finishing with matching scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker – a higher execution score – and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.
Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially was given a score of 13.666 that put her in fifth place, right behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an inquiry on her score, and after a review, judges boosted Chiles’ total by 0.1. That was enough to leapfrog Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea for the last spot on the podium.
Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting was another of yesterday’s gold medallists, but hers arrived amid ongoing controversy over her participation in the women’s 57kg category.
Lin and the Algerian fighter Imane Khelif – who won gold in the women’s 66kg category on Friday – had entered the Olympics amid controversy. Both boxers were disqualified from last year’s world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) after it said they had failed unspecified gender tests. The IBA, run by the Russian businessman Umar Kremlev and funded by Russia’s state oil company Gazprom, had its Olympic status revoked in June 2023 due to concerns around governance issues and corruption.
Earlier this month the IOC criticised the “arbitrary” testing imposed on Lin and Khelif. It pointed to a lack of due process and “proper procedure” in the IBA’s treatment of the women.
Kerr’s compatriot, Lydia Ko, also showed nerves of steel, winning the women’s golf by two strokes to complete a full set of Olympic medals.
Lydia Ko was overcome with emotion as gold and the Olympic slam were secured. Since golf was restored to the Games in 2016, only three players have beaten Ko. Silver in Rio, bronze in Tokyo and now the top step of the podium in Paris for the 27-year-old. Within minutes of her triumph at Le Golf National, it was confirmed she will become the youngest inductee into the LPGA hall of fame.
For a spell on day four, this threatened to be a procession. Ko raced five clear of the field after 11 holes. Drama then beckoned; she double bogeyed the 13th as her closest challenger, Esther Henseleit, finished with a flourish. The German managed birdies on her last two holes to post an eight under par target. Ko stood on the 18th tee at minus nine and with no margin for error. In emphasising the New Zealander’s Olympic specialism, she produced a birdie to win by two.
Onto the Kiwis and their extraordinary day of success, including high jump gold for Hamish Kerr. For the second Olympics in a row there was the potential for two gold medals to be awarded but the New Zealander prevailed in sudden death.
This time around, no one wanted to share the gold. Three years after Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi decided to go 50-50 on first place in the men’s high jump at the Tokyo Games rather than jump-off for it, two of their competitors found themselves in the same situation but decided to work it out the old-fashioned way.
The USA’s Shelby McEwen and New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr were tied in first place after they had both failed three attempts to clear 2.38m. “You may recognise this situation,” the man working the stadium PA told the crowd, “what are they going to do this time?” Kerr and McEwen didn’t even stop to discuss it. The kumbaya spirit of the competition during the Covid years is long gone, and both men wanted to press on into the sudden death round.
The USWNT won four gold medals from the first five editions of women’s football at the Olympics. They won silver in the other. But since that final gold in 2012, the dominant side in international football has been on a long slow decline.
Englishwoman Emma Hayes was recruited from Chelsea to steer the juggernaut back on course, and she has made an immediate impact, making some brave decisions en route to a gold medal in her first major tournament.
And so 10 games was all it took for Hayes to leave her mark. Yet while this still feels like preamble, this was a title she badly needed. Defeat would have set her on the back foot from the start, raised legitimate questions about her suffer-ball style, about Rose Lavelle not getting a minute in the final, about Crystal Dunn at left-back, about the whole “program”. Instead she now has credit in the bank, buy-in from players and public.
Since debuting in Tokyo, sport climbing has been a roaring success. The tweak to the program in Paris to separate the speedsters from the boulder & lead technicians worked superbly, allowing a wider range of competitors to shine.
The emotions on display during the lead final made for engrossing television.
It was a thrilling end to a brilliant final day of climbing, which has continued to establish itself as an excellent addition to the Games. Rock climbing is, after all, a basic concept – either you climb high or you fall. While the specifics of the scoring system are complicated, the struggles of certain competitors provide context for how difficult certain holds and routes are. The sight of the exceptional climbers on each event outstripping their opponents and breaking new ground is tense and thrilling.
The men’s basketball tournament at the Olympics is less a competition for gold than a five-ringed banana skin for the USA and it’s NBA superstars to slip on. They looked set for a pratfall more than once in Paris but rallied superbly against Serbia and kept France at arm’s length despite the brilliance of rising star Victor Wembanyama.
It is the USA’s fifth gold in a row in the sport and 17th out of a possible 21 since 1936.
In the end the USA just had too many weapons, too many sharp edges to call on. As Cuba’s coach famously said in 1992, after trying and failing to stifle the first Dream Team: “You can try, but you can’t cover the sun with your finger.”
Let’s begin our look back at yesterday’s action by saluting Faith Kipyegon. The 30-year-old Kenyan won the women’s 1500m gold medal for the third consecutive Olympics. It was her second podium finish of the Paris Games after running to silver in the 5,000m.
She is the world record holder over 1500m and the mile, and broke the 5,000m record last year but that has since been eclipsed. On top of all that she is mother to a six-year old.
She is now one of only 14 track and field athletes to win the same individual event at least three times in a row – and one of two (the other being Usain Bolt) – to do so in a pure track event.
Phenomenal.
This final day of action of the Games of the 33rd olympiad is much shorter than the rest to allow time for all activity to be wrapped up in advance of the closing ceremony (9pm local time). It’s all killer no filler though, with every event offering medals of some description.
It all kicks-off at 08:00 with the women’s marathon. An hour later Spain take on Slovenia for a bronze medal in the men’s handball, while Spain and Greece meet to determine fifth place in the men’s water polo. At 10:35 the USA and Hungary will battle for men’s water polo bronze.
The bulk of the day’s activity comes online from 11:00 with the final activity before the closing ceremony featuring France v USA in the women’s basketball gold medal match. That tips off at 15:30.
My pick of yesterday’s snaps: the perfectly framed table tennis action shot.
More on medal tables and assessing who’s done well and why in this detailed explainer. I confess to not being mathematically literate enough to fully get all of this, but it does seem to stand to reason that Australia have massively punched above their weight at these Games.
China have once again snuck ahead of the USA in the ding-dong battle at the top of the medal table. The US’s final day looks promising though, so they could well end up in pole position for the fourth Games in a row.
Australia and Japan are locked in a tight battle for third, while France are set for their best result since 1948.
63 NOCs have heard their respective anthems over the past fortnight, with athletes from 91 NOCs receiving medals.
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the 16th and final official day of competition of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
So much happened on day 15 with medals being awarded left right and centre. And after the dust settled, it was a day to remember for New Zealand with high jumper Hamish Kerr securing a dramatic gold medal, golfer Lydia Ko completing a full set with a two-stroke victory, and canoe sprinter Lisa Carrington winning her third final of the Games to extend her national record of gold medals to a staggering eight.
Elsewhere, the marathon was fast, the sport climbing was gripping, and the boxing was controversial. Faith Kipyegon and the US men’s basketballers remained invincible; unlike Karsten Warholm.
So what do we have in store today?
🥇 Marathon – women’s (from 08:00) 🥇 Modern Pentathlon – women’s (from 11:00) 🥇 Wrestling – men’s freestyle 65kg & 97kg / women’s freestyle 76kg (from 11:00) 🥇 Weightlifting – women’s 81kg (from 11:30) 🥇 Volleyball – women’s (from 13:00) 🥇 Cycling – women’s sprint & omnium / men’s keirin (from 12:45) 🥇 Handball – men’s (from 13:30) 🥇 Water Polo – men’s (from 14:00) 🥇 Basketball – women’s (from 15:30) 🔥 Closing Ceremony (from 21:00) *(All times listed are Paris local)
Simon Burnton’s day-by-day guide
Women’s marathon Tradition has it that the men’s marathon should close the Olympic athletics programme, but not this year. At the end of a route that partly follows the women’s march on Versailles, one of the most significant events of the French Revolution, this will be the final medal decided in the Stade de France. Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, who shattered the world record last year, will be hoping to improve on her previous Olympic experience: coming fifth in an 800m heat in 2016.
Men’s water polo Though Serbia have won gold at the last two Olympics a three-peat would be a massive achievement given the pure competitiveness of this event – the last four world championships have had four different winners and seven different medallists, with Croatia coming out on top in the latest, in Doha in February. “I have no favourites,” their coach, Ivica Tucak, said. “There is a circle of nine teams from which any can beat any, where every match can be won or lost. Any medal is a magnificent result.”
Closing ceremony There will be no parade of departing athletes here, just – in the words of Thomas Jolly, director of ceremonies – “a great show where only music will resonate”, and of course a handover to Los Angeles, hosts in 2028. The official website predicts that “like an indelible memory, this closing ceremony will be marked by audacity, fraternity and emotion”, and that it will be “an incredible moment of celebration and sharing” in which “the emotion will be immense”. So quite good, then.
I’m sure I’ve failed to include something notable to you in this short rundown, so feel free to let me know what’s on your agenda by emailing: [email protected].
I’ll be around for the first few hours of the blog here in Australia, after which I’m handing over to the the UK.
