French breakout swimming star Leon Marchand won his fourth gold of the Paris Olympics on Friday as a row over gender eligibility in boxing engulfed the Games.
A fired-up Novak Djokovic brushed off injury fears to set up dream tennis final against Carlos Alcaraz while flamboyant US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson made her bow.
All eyes, including those of French President Emmanuel Macron, were on France’s poster boy Marchand on Friday evening and he did not disappoint, roaring to victory in the 200m individual medley.
Marchand, who had already pocketed golds in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke, along with the 400m individual medley, swam the second-fastest time ever to win in 1min 54.06sec.
“It’s incredible, it was really magical,” the 22-year-old told French TV. “The whole stadium was fully behind me and I took advantage of it. It enabled me to win four medals.”
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown completed the Olympic backstroke golden double, adding the 200m title to her 100m crown, while compatriot Cameron McEvoy won the men’s 50m freestyle.
At Roland Garros, top seed Djokovic stayed on course for an elusive Olympic title to add to his 24 Grand Slams, defeated Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-2 in a nail-biting semi-final, during which he was handed a code violation for swearing at the chair umpire.
Alcaraz earlier became the youngest men’s finalist since tennis returned to the Games in 1988 when he swept aside Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1.
“It was a tense match, there were a lot of expectations and stress in the match. I want the gold but this is already a huge result,” said Djokovic, 37, who lost to Alcaraz in last month’s Wimbledon final.
Gender row
Even as the first day of the athletics unfolded at the Stade de France, International Olympic Committee officials were peppered with questions about a boxing scandal that has spread far beyond Paris.
Doubts have been raised over Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting after the International Boxing Association (IBA) disqualified both last year for failing gender “eligibility tests.”
Khelif’s brutal 46-second victory over Italy’s Angela Carini on Thursday reignited the row and Lin also won on Friday.
The IOC has taken over the organisation of Olympic boxing as a result of financial and ethical irregularities at the IBA.
The IBA said in a statement that the athletes “did not undergo a testosterone examination but were subject to a separate and recognised test”.
However the “specifics” of this test “remain confidential”, the IBA said.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said the Olympic body’s eligibility criteria was based on the gender indicated on the boxers’ passports, but acknowledged the issue was not “black and white”.
As the controversy refuses to go away, “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling and former US President Donald Trump have weighed in.
Hungarian boxer Anna Luca Hamori, who faces Khelif on Saturday, wrote in a Facebook post: “In my humble opinion I don’t think it’s fair that this contestant can compete in the women’s category.”
‘Great support’
At the Stade de France, the 24-year-old Richardson launched her campaign to become the first American woman since Gail Devers in 1996 to win Olympic 100m gold, qualifying with ease in 10.94sec.
“To be at the Olympics is a phenomenal feeling,” Richardson told US broadcaster NBC after her impressive debut.
Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won the first track gold of the Games, taking the 10,000m gold in an Olympic record time of 26min 43.14sec.
On an action-packed day in Paris, Ivan Litvinovich from Belarus became the first athlete competing as a neutral at the Paris Olympics to win gold, retaining his title in the men’s trampoline final.
Athletes from Russia and ally Belarus are competing under a neutral banner after being banned from world sport following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
China won the first badminton gold when mixed doubles top seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong thrashed their South Korean opponents in just 41 minutes.
The Chinese currently top the medals table with 13 golds, ahead of France and Australia, on 11 apiece.
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