November 21, 2024
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2024 Olympics: Athletes, events to watch on Wednesday

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A’ja Wilson and the United States women’s basketball team extended their Olympic winning streak to 59 games with a quarterfinal win over Nigeria Wednesday at the 2024 Paris Games.

But before that, several American athletes competed on their sport’s biggest global stage.

Team USA’s Nelly Korda began her gold medal defense in women’s golf. Fellow Americans Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang, ranked No. 2 and No. 9 on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, respectively, also played in the first round.

Several track and field events took place throughout the day. Katie Moon returned to the Olympic podium with a silver medal in the women’s pole vault. Meanwhile, top-ranked Quincy Hall added a gold to Team USA’s medal count after the final of the men’s 400.

Here’s what you missed from Wednesday’s marquee events.

5:10 p.m. ET — Team USA continues quest for gold with 88-74 win over Nigeria

In its quest for an eighth consecutive and 10th overall Olympic gold medal, the U.S. women’s basketball team kept rolling on Wednesday, defeating Nigeria 88-74 in the quarterfinals to clinch the program’s 59th-straight Olympic win. For Team USA, it was much of the same: WNBA MVP front-runner A’ja Wilson recorded another 20-point, 10-rebound double-double — her third of the Paris Games. It was also Wilson’s fourth of her Olympic career, the most ever by a U.S. women’s player.

Reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart also did it all with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. But there was one new and meaningful wrinkle: Aces star Jackie Young earned the start in place of Diana Taurasi, the six-time Olympian who had started for Team USA beginning with the Beijing Olympics in 2008. But the move paid off as Young, who had seen limited time off the bench earlier in the competition, finished with 15 points and a plus/minus of plus-24. The U.S. women raced ahead thanks to a 21-6 run in the second quarter and 10-0 spurt to start the third, leading by as many as 30 points before Nigeria closed the gap in garbage time. With Alyssa Thomas’ six assists leading the way, Team USA sported 31 dimes on 34 baskets and shot 54% on the night. Up next: The Americans secured a semifinal meeting against Australia on Friday, an opponent they beat 79-55 in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. Host France and neighboring Belgium will face off in the other semifinal, which should garner an enthusiastic crowd. — Alexa Philippou

4:23 p.m. ET — Team USA leads Nigeria at halftime

Team USA leads Nigeria 52-33 at halftime with a semifinal spot on the line.

The trio of Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young nearly matched their opponent’s point total by combining for 32 points.

3:53 p.m. ET — American Kenneth Rooks stuns in 3,000m steeplechase for silver

3:45 p.m. ET — Katie Moon secures silver in pole vault

American Katie Moon was not able to defend her Olympic gold medal — but she did win a silver in the pole vault. Moon was looking to become the first American woman ever to be a two-time Olympic champion pole vaulter. She was edged out by Australia’s Nina Kennedy, whom she shared a gold medal with at the 2023 world championships in Budapest. The rivals battled until the end, but Kennedy cleared 4.90 while Moon’s final clear was 4.85. Canada’s Alysha Newman took home the bronze.

Moon was bold in her pursuit of another gold, skipping 4.90 and going right for 4.95. The 33-year-old Moon had a dominant career. She is also a two-time world champion. Moon also has a cool connection to Paris: She studied fashion in the city in 2013. — Emily Kaplan

3:24 p.m. ET — Quincy Hall puts together a gold-medal finish in men’s 400m

Team USA’s Quincy Hall is the gold medalist in the men’s 400 meter. It was an epic final push for the 26-year-old, who came from the middle of the pack at the final turn and pushed all the way ahead.

Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith won the silver while Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga won silver. It was Hall’s iconic sprint down the final stretch which won him a gold. Fellow American Michael Norman finished last in the heat, as his Olympic struggles continue. Norman won gold at this event at the 2022 world championships. He’s also 26.

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Hall is competing in his first Olympics. His time of 43.40 marked his personal best — and the fifth-fastest time ever recorded in the event. Hall immediately fell to the track, lied down and rested his head on his arms, looking up at the sky. His celebrations also included ringing the Olympic bell, and taking a barefoot victory lap around the track with an American flag draped over his shoulders. — Emily Kaplan

2:37 p.m. ET — U.S. men’s water polo takes down Australia in quarterfinal shootout

Party like it’s 2008? For the first time since the Beijing Games, the United States men’s water polo squad will be, at minimum, playing for an Olympic medal. The U.S. didn’t look likely to go through to the semifinals early on in the contest, trailing by three goals in the first half and 5-3 at halftime. But the squad rallied with a strong second half, with a back-and-forth final few minutes sending the game to a penalty shootout. There, the U.S. held its nerve — goalie Adrian Weinberg made a pair of saves to set up Marko Vavic’s winning shot, which clinched the squad its first semifinal appearance in 16 years.

2:32 p.m. ET — Lyles secures spot in 200m finals

Noah Lyles came to these Olympics to prove he was the world’s fastest man. After winning the 100-meter race Sunday, he’ll continue his quest by booking a spot in the 200-meter finals Thursday.

On Wednesday night, Lyles qualified with a time of 20.08 (his personal best is 19.31). And just like in the 100-meter semifinals, Lyles finished second in his heat — this time behind 21-year-old Letsile Tebogo of Botswana. Maybe he knows what he’s doing here, saving the best for when it matters most. Lyles is a favorite in this race, though his stiffest competition could be from American teammate Kenny Bednarik. Lyles won bronze in Tokyo in 2021 — then hasn’t lost the event in any race since. Bednarik finished ahead of him in Tokyo. Canada’s Andre De Gasse is the defending Olympic gold medalist. An American man hasn’t won the event since Shawn Crawford in 2004. In addition to the 200-meter race, Lyles is slated to race in Paris as part of the men’s 4×100-meter relay team. — Emily Kaplan

1:36 p.m. ET — Holloway, Crittenden advance to 100-meter hurdle semifinals

Grant Holloway smoked his competition in the men’s 100-meter semifinals, which shouldn’t be a surprise. The world No. 1 in the event hit a mark of 12.98; for context, his personal best is a 12.81 (which he set at the U.S. Olympic trials) and the world record is 12.80, which was set by American Aries Merritt in 2012. The 26-year-old is the favorite in the finals, which will be held Saturday.

In another semifinal, his American teammate Freddie Crittenden also qualified at 13.23, which was second in his heat. It’s quite the story for Crittenden, who made waves in his opening round when he jogged through it. It was an intentional tactic. He finished a full five seconds behind everyone, not wanting to go full out because of a minor aggravation in his abductor he sustained a day earlier. As long as he ran a clean race — not hitting any hurdles or getting disqualified — he would get another chance in the repechage round. Now he’s onto the finals. — Emily Kaplan

12:55 p.m. ET — Keegan Palmer takes home gold in men’s park

Keegan Palmer, the San Diego-born skateboarder who grew up on Australia’s Gold Coast before returning to SoCal at 14 to pursue a skateboarding career, is now a two-time Olympic gold medalist for Australia. Palmer won with his first run, which was packed with technicality and powerful tricks like a massive alley-oop melon 540 over the channel, which caused the French venue announcer to react with an, “Oh la la!”

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Unlike last week’s street contest — where riders had two chances to land a 45-second run, with the highest of their two scores counting, as well as five shots to land one trick, with the best two scores counting — park is a best-of-three format.

Palmer qualified first into the final and is coming off a win at X Games Ventura in June. American Tom Schaar took silver and Brazil’s Augusto Akio, who juggled yellow-and-blue pins for the crowd after his third run, took bronze. Akio fell midway through his first two attempts and the crowd erupted when time expired on his third run, and he ran to pick up his pins and perform his trademark celebration.

Schaar almost didn’t make it to Paris, but the 24-year-old finished second in the final Olympic qualifying contest in Budapest, which relegated Jagger Eaton — who was hoping to compete in both skate events here and took silver in street last Monday — into fourth in the U.S. rankings. Only three skaters per country qualify into each skate discipline.

The same happened to Schaar in the last Olympics. He finished ranked fourth in the U.S. and missed out on the Tokyo Games. Wednesday, he qualified into the park final in second behind Palmer, setting up an exciting final.

Schaar landed his first two runs and dropped in for his last with only Palmer left to skate. He needed better than a 93.11 to top Palmer for gold and was putting together a packed, potentially winning run — alley-oop lipslide over the extension, huge heelflip indy, tailgrab 540 — but fell hard on his final trick and settled for silver.

Palmer’s last run was a victory lap, but he used it to try and put together another full pull, eventually falling about halfway through his 45-second run. Then he ran to the top of the course, held his board high in the air and took a bow.

Earlier in the contest, everyone’s favorite Olympic fan, Snoop Dogg, walked through the course between Schaar’s and Palmer’s second runs, high-fiving anyone within reach. He hugged both skaters and mugged for the crowd to chants of, “Snoop! Snoop!”

The La Concordia venue, which houses the park, street and BMX courses, as well as 3×3 basketball and breaking, was a vibe Wednesday. Fans purchased 26 Euro tickets to the venue (without access to the individual courses) and danced to live DJs who roamed the site with portable turntables and speaker backpacks, ate at a large selection of food stands, watched breakdance and jump rope demos, took selfies with the athletes and soaked in the Olympics up close.

The biggest surprise of Wednesday’s contest came in the qualifying round, when Team USA’s Gavin Bottger, the third-ranked park skater in the world, failed to advance to the final. — Alyssa Roenigk

11:54 a.m. ET — U.S. figure skaters awarded medals from 2022 Games

Team USA added a gold medal to its tally on Wednesday — but not for the Paris games.

At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, the U.S. looked poised to take home the silver medal in the figure skating team event. However, a pending decision at the time regarding the eligibility of Russian skater Kamila Valieva — who had been under investigation for doping — prevented a medal ceremony from being held. A couple of weeks ago, it was officially decided that Valieva was disqualified after her appeal was denied and the Russian Olympic Committee would have its score docked — elevating Team USA from silver medalists to gold. The team received medals in a unique, belated ceremony in Paris.

11:38 a.m. ET — Late drama in handball

With seconds remaining in the men’s handball quarterfinal match between France and Germany, a French win appeared to be a foregone conclusion. France had the lead as well as possession. All they needed to do was hold on for another few moments.

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Germany had other plans. A steal, some quick ball advancement, and a buzzer-beating equalizer sent the game to overtime.

The additional period would come with further late action. Two goals were scored in the final moments — one by France to level the score with just 15 seconds on the clock, and one final winner by Germany with four seconds remaining. The win booked Germany a date with Spain in the semifinal round.

10:12 a.m. ET — Salif Mane finds solace in the voice of his late father

When Mane competes in today’s triple jump event, he’ll do so having drawn inspiration from his distinctive competition-day tradition: listening to a voicemail from his late father.

Mane credits his father as his biggest supporter and says he was drawn into the sport “somewhat for him.” To learn about Mane’s tradition, READ MORE from Coley Harvey.

9:54 a.m. ET — Jonathan Owens talks making the trip to Paris to support Simone Biles

Plenty of athletes flocked to the Olympics to watch sports and stars of all kinds. But fewer such athletes were there to see family. And even fewer still were actively training for the season while they made the trip.

Simone Biles’ husband, six-year NFL vet Jonathan Owens, was starting training camp while Biles floated down the Seine with Team USA for the Olympic opening ceremony. The Chicago Bears permitted Owens to miss practices and the Hall of Fame Game so he could travel to Paris to watch his wife compete. Owens returned to Bears training camp this week and spoke about what the experience was like supporting his wife as she became America’s most-decorated gymnast. — READ MORE

8:04 a.m. ET — Women’s singles competition gets underway in golf

Nelly Korda is the reigning gold medalist in women’s singles golf, but it’s been her American teammate, Lilia Vu, off to one of the hottest starts in round one. Vu currently sits in first place at a score of 4-under through seven holes, just outpacing France’s Celine Boutier. The two other U.S. players in the field — Korda and rising star Rose Zhang – are currently even par for the day and tied for tenth.

6:52 a.m. ET — Tom Daley’s mid-event crocheting steals the show again

Daley, who earned a silver medal in synchronised diving earlier in the Games, is a star in the pool — but his habit while in the stands has drawn attention of its own. At the 2020 Tokyo Games Daley picked up crocheting as a way to get his mind off the competition in the heat of an event. And while Daley may be finished competing in Paris, his distinctive in-the-stands tradition has continued.

6:32 a.m. ET — A dramatic first finish for Masai Russell

There were no debut nerves to be had from Russell in her first Olympic race — and she needed every ounce of focus she could muster to eek out a razor-thin victory. Russell’s finish line lean just barely inched her ahead of Nadine Visser, of the Netherlands, as well as France’s Cyréna Samba-Mayela, for first place in her heat.



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