Sport climber going to Paris describes seeing the rapid growth of the event
U.S. sport climber Brooke Raboutou is reaching new heights after she qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s been pretty crazy to see the sport evolve,” Raboutou, the first woman to represent the U.S. in sport climbing when she competed at the 2020 Tokyo Games, said in an interview Wednesday. “I was one of the first Olympians back in 2020. There was only 20 of us.
“Since then, we’ve seen a lot of growth in the sport, more participation, more gyms pop up, more funding for the athletes, and it’s really cool to see that growth and see our sport get to be loved by so many,” she added.
Water Polo: Team USA lead after opening quarter
It's been a strong start from Team USA in the women's water polo bronze medal match — they lead 3-2 after the first quarter against the Netherlands at La Defense Arena.
Goals from Maddie Musselman, Ryann Neushul and Rachel Fattal has given Team USA the best of the early running. The Netherlands have lacked a cutting edge in offense at times in the first quarter, but a score from Sabrina van der Sloot with three seconds left on the clock ensures the Netherlands remain in touching distance.
See all the grace and beauty of rhythmic gymnastics at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Team USA's women's water polo squad hoping to put heatbreak aside as they look to lock up bronze
Team USA's women's water polo team are in early action this morning as they look to lock up a bronze medal against the Netherlands at La Defense Arena.
After winning a nailbiting quarterfinal win against Hungary on Tuesday, the U.S. suffered a heartbreaking shootout defeat against Australia in the semifinals after the match ended 8-8 in regulation with the U.S. blowing a 5-2 halftime lead.
Now the team, who had won gold in the last three Olympic Games and have been on the podium in every Games since women's water polo made its debut in 2000, will need to put their heartbreak aside. They have just taken to the pool and their bronze medal contest is about to get underway.
Tamirat Tola wins men's Olympic marathon as Eliud Kipchoge struggles through pain
Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola has won the men's Olympic marathon as Kenyan distance running legend Eliud Kipchoge struggled with a hip problem to finish well behind as he chased an unprecedented third straight men's marathon gold.
Tola, who won last year's New York marathon, battled fellow runners and a grueling course with some 1,430 feet of climbing and descent that tested the world's best. He wasn't initially selected for Ethiopia's stacked marathon squad, but was called up a few weeks ago after an injury to one of his teammates. It was a stunning run, taking the Olympic marathon record in a time of 2:06:26 — an incredible feat given this was one of the most challenging courses in Olympic history.
On a warm morning in Paris, the leading pack, which included Kipchoge, got off to a very quick start, chewing up the first 10 kilometers in just 31 minutes as the race headed out to Paris' southwestern suburbs around Versailles. As the race climbed up the first set of hills, Kipchoge started to struggle, clutching his left hip at times as he seemed to struggle with discomfort. He lagged over a minute behind the leading pack at the halfway stage and fell even further behind over the next few kilometers and never came back into contention. He went on to finish second-last out of the finishers in 76th place, eight-and-a-half minutes behind Tola.
Tola pulled away in the final 10 kilometers as the race returned to central Paris, stretching out to a 30-second lead with four kilometers to go. Belgium’s Bashir Abdi and Kenya’s Benson Kipruto closed the gap in the closing stages, but Tola held on to take gold. Americans Conner Mantz and Clayton Young both claimed top 10 finishes.
Widely considered to be the greatest marathoner of all time, Kipchoge, 39, has been a dominant force over the last decade and was chasing an unprecedented third-straight Olympic marathon title. He became a global icon in 2019 when he became the first man to run a sub-two-hour marathon but he has not been his usual untouchable self in the last 18 months after a sixth-placed finish at last year's Boston Marathon and a 10th-placed finish at the Tokyo Marathon earlier this year.
Women's golf finely poised heading into final round
Switzerland's Morgane Metraux and New Zealand's Lydia Ko hold the joint lead heading into the final round with Team USA's golfers in striking range of the medals.
Californian Rose Zhang, on seven-under-par heading into today's final 18 holes, is currently in a two-way tie for bronze, sitting two shots behind Metraux - who at world No. 137 would be a shock winner should she take the title - and Ko. World No. 1 and defending Olympic champion Nelly Korda could also contend for a medal if she had a strong round at Le Golf National today. She sits on four-under-par.
The competitors will tee off for the final round in leaderboard order. The backmarkers are already underway this morning with Zhang grouped together with the two leaders as the last group of the day to get underway. They will tee off at 6:39 a.m. ET, with Korda teeing off a little bit earlier at 6:17 a.m. ET.
As Team USA women’s soccer prepares for their gold medal match, NBC News’ Tom Llamas speaks with Sam Coffey’s parents, who are watching the journey of their daughter’s dream come true.
How to watch
Stream every moment and every medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Peacock.
Full prime-time coverage begins tonight on NBC and Peacock at 8 p.m. ET.
Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge looks to three-peat in the marathon
All eyes will be on Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge when the gun goes off in the men's marathon at 8 a.m. in Paris ( 2 a.m. ET). Kipchoge, 39, is aiming to make history as the only person to win three Olympic marathons. He is widely considered one of the greatest marathoners of all time, having set multiple world records at the distance and winning gold at the Rio and Tokyo Games.
Standing in his way will be worthy competitors like fellow countryman Benson Kipruto and marathon legend Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia.
But Kipchoge and the rest of the field will likely be less focused on each other and more so on battling a diabolical 42 km (26.2-mile) course, which includes a grueling approximately 1,430 feet of elevation gain and descent that will batter the runners' legs beginning around mile 15.
Three runners — Connor Mantz, Clayton Young and Leonard Korir — will be representing the U.S. Reaching the podium will be a tall order for the Americans, whose best times are far off the race favorites. American Galen Rupp was the last to medal for the U.S. in the men's marathon, winning bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.