Day 1 - July 24, 2024

Men’s Soccer

The opening match of the Olympics made headlines. The soccer match between Argentina and Morocco saw fans storming the field after what looked like a late equalizer by Argentina’s Cristian Medina. This led to a two-hour delay in the match and the goal being disallowed because of an offside position leading up to the goal. Morocco held on to stun Argentina 2-1.

Spain kicked off their tournament against Olympic debutants Uzbekistan with a 2-1 win. Both New Zealand and the Dominican Republic achieved better results in their Olympic debuts. Dominican Republic controlled a 0-0 draw against Egypt and New Zealand stunned Guinea 2-1 after a potential equalizer was called offside in the 62nd minute.

Group D saw Japan thrash Paraguay 5-0, with Japanese players Shota Fujio and Shunsuke Mito each scoring twice. The match between Mali and Israel saw a 1-1 draw with both sides scoring in the second half of the other Group D match.

The final game of the day showcased hosts and tournament favorites France taking on the United States, who qualified for the first time since 2008. The game started evenly with chances for both teams but neither breaking the 0-0 draw in the first half. France picked up the pace in the second, with Alexandre Lacazette scoring in the 61st minute for the French. They struck again eight minutes later with Michael Olise scoring on a swift counter attack to make it 2-0 for France. Loic Bade solidified the win for France with their third goal of the game in the 85th minute to give France a 3-0 win to end the opening day.

Results:

Morocco 2-1 Argentina

Spain 2-1 Uzbekistan

Dominican Republic 0-0 Egypt

New Zealand 2-1 Guinea

Japan 5-0 Paraguay

Mali 1-1 Israel

France 3-0 United States

Men’s Rugby Sevens

Rugby saw the first two group stage matches played on July 24th, two days before the opening ceremonies, and featured three groups of four competing for eight quarterfinal spots. Group A includes 2022 Rugby World Cup winners New Zealand along with third place finishers Ireland. The two time Commonwealth champions South Africa and three time Asian Cup winners Japan round out the first group. New Zealand and Ireland both showed out in their first two matches, dominating Japan and taking care of business against South Africa as well.

Group A Results

Ireland 10-5 South Africa; New Zealand 40-12 Japan

Ireland 40-5 Japan; New Zealand 17-5 South Africa

Group B consists of four time Oceania champions and two time Rugby World Cup runners up Australia, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Bronze medalist Argentina, six time African champions Kenya and tournament debutants Samoa. Things kicked off once again with the top two teams, Australia and Argentina, taking wins each over Samoa and Kenya.

Group B Results

Australia 21-14 Samoa; Argentina 31-12 Kenya

Australia 21-7 Kenya; Argentina 28-12 Samoa

The final group includes back-to-back gold medalists Fiji, hosts and betting favorites France, the United States and tournament newcomers Uruguay. France and the United States drew the opening match before Fiji demolished Uruguay. France then rebounded against Uruguay while Fiji continued their strong form with 33 points in the first half in a win against the United States.

Group C Results

France 12-12 Unites States; Fiji 40-12 Uruguay

France 19-12 Uruguay; Fiji 38-12 United States

Day 2 - July 25, 2024

Archery

The first world record of the Paris 2024 Olympic games was officially broken, during the archery tournament positioning round. South Korea’s Sihyeon Lim broke the women’s individual archery record by scoring 694 points, beating the previous record of 692 set by Chaeyoung Kang in 2019. She will be the number one seed for the tournament with teammate Suhyeon Nam right behind her. The United States has three athletes competing in the women’s individual tournament: Casey Kaufhold is the fourth overall seed with Catalina Gnoriega at 38 and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez at 57.

The men’s individual competition also saw two members of the South Korean team leading the way, with Woojin Kim getting the top score of 686 and teammate Je Deok Kim sitting behind him. Brady Ellison is the lone American competing and sits at number seven in the Olympic rankings.

Team archery has 12 teams competing for each side, with South Korea, France, India and China being the top four teams and receiving a bye to the quarterfinals for the men. Women’s archery featured similar teams, with South Korea once again taking the top spot. China, Mexico and India follow as the teams with a bye. The United States did not bring a men's team to the games but the women’s team sits 8th and will face Chinese Taipei in the round of 16.

The mixed team competition ranks 32 teams with the top 16 making it into bracket play. South Korea once again takes the top seed with Germany and the United States rounding out the top three. Chinese Taipei won a shootout versus the Netherlands to secure the final bracket spot.

Women’s Handball

Handball started group play for the opening of this tournament. 12 teams qualify for these games and are split into two groups. Each group has six teams with the top four advancing to tournament play.

Denmark and Slovenia started the play for Group A with a 27-19 win for Denmark. South Korea held on to a 23-22 comeback win over Germany despite a red card for Boeun Gim late in the game. Sweden thrived off of a dominant second half to win 32-28 over Norway after being down at halftime to end the day for Group A.

Group A Results

Denmark 27-19 Slovenia

South Korea 23-22 Germany

Sweden 32-28 Norway

Group B got started with a Netherlands 34-31 win over Angola. Brazil showed out with 15 saves in a dominant 29-18 win over Spain. Hosts France finished off the day with a back and forth 31-28 win over Hungary.

Group B Results

Netherlands 34-31 Angola

Brazil 29-18 Spain

France 31-28 Hungary

Men’s Rugby Sevens

Men’s Rugby played two more matches today, finishing up the group stage and starting bracket play.

South Africa started the day for Group A with a 49-5 clobbering of Japan to clinch the last spot in the quarterfinals. New Zealand followed that up by scoring 14 unanswered points in the second half after going down 0-12 at halftime to Ireland, winning 14-12.

South Africa 49-5 Japan; New Zealand 14-12 Ireland

Final group standings:

Group B started with Kenya blanking Samoa 26-0, although Kenya did not advance due to South Africa having a better goal difference. Australia followed by beating Argentina handily, with a 22-14 final score.

Kenya 26-0 Samoa; Australia 22-14 Argentina

Final group standings:

In Group C, The United States beat Uruguay 33-17 to clinch their spot in the quarterfinals, while Fiji beat favorites France 19-12 to advance top of the group.

United States 33-17 Uruguay; Fiji 19-12 France

Final group standings:

In the quarterfinals, South Africa held New Zealand to just 7 points in a rematch which sent South Africa to the semifinals 14-7. Hosts France score 21 in the first half to cruise past Argentina 26-14, while Fiji wins a close match 19-15 against Ireland. The United States got blanked in a tough draw against Australia 18-0 to finish off the quarterfinals.

South Africa 14-7 New Zealand

France 26-14 Argentina

Fiji 19-15 Ireland

Australia 18-0 United States

Since rugby plays games to determine all places, not just the top three, the matches continued for teams lower in the rankings. Samoa beat Japan 42-7 and Kenya beat Uruguay 19-14 in the 9th-12th classification bracket.

Women’s Soccer

The women’s side of Olympic soccer started off with near identical games. Canada and Spain secured comeback wins, with defending gold medalists Canada beating six time Oceania cup winners New Zealand. The 2023 Women’s World Cup winners and Olympic debutants Spain defeated 2012 silver medalists Japan both by a score of 2-1.

To continue the day, two time silver medalist Brazil scored in the first half and held on for a 1-0 win over the 11 time Africa Women Cup of Nation champions Nigeria. 2016 Olympic champions Germany scored two quick goals in the second on the way to a 3-0 win over three time Oceania and 2010 Asian cup winners Australia. Hosts France stopped second half comeback hopes from Colombia to secure a 3-2 win.

The four-time gold medalists United States finished off the day playing Zambia. Trinity Rodman scored in the 17th minute to give the United States the lead. Mallory Swanson followed this up with a stunning two goals in the 24th and 25th minute to further strengthen the United States’ hopes. A 30th minute red card was given to Zambia’s Pauline Zulu to dash any hopes of a comeback for Zambia, resulting in a 3-0 win for the United States.

Results:

Canada 2-1 New Zealand

Spain 2-1 Japan

Brazil 1-0 Nigeria

Germany 3-0 Australia

France 3-2 Colombia

United States 3-0 Zambia

The next two weeks are sure to be full of intense competition and high emotions during life changing moments for the 11,040 Olympians competing. With a full slate of contests being played July 27th through August 11th, look out for more Blaze Radio coverage on the 329 different events being played in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.