Team GB cyclist wins silver medal on day one

Martyn Ziegler: The directors of the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony are unrepentant about using drag queens in an interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper that has been criticised by the Catholic church in France.

The scene, aimed at celebrating Paris’ vibrant and sometimes unconventional nightlife, recreated the portrait of Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles sharing a last meal before the crucifixion, with a group of drag queens, a transgender model and a blue naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine Dionysus.

“This ceremony has unfortunately included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we very deeply deplore,” the Conference of French bishops said in a statement.

Thomas Jolly, Paris 2024’s artistic director, said there was no intention to be “subversive” but that he wanted to illustrate France’s diversity and freedoms.

Jolly said: “In France people are free to love how they please, are free to love whoever they want, are free to believe or not believe. We have a lot of rights and this is what I wanted to convey.

“Our idea was inclusion. Naturally when we want to include everyone and not exclude anyone questions are raised.

“Our subject was not to be subversive. We never wanted to be subversive.

“We wanted to talk about diversity, diversity means being together. We wanted to include everybody. In France, we have artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country.”

Far-right politicians in France have also criticised the set, while Twitter/X’s owner Elon Musk described it as “extremely disrespectful to Christians”.

Philippe Katerine, the blue naked man in the scene, told BFM TV after the ceremony: “It wouldn’t be fun if there were no controversy. Wouldn’t it be boring if everyone agreed on this planet?”

James Gheerbrant: Remco Evenepoel has done it! He beats Ganna by 15 seconds and celebrates with a huge fist pump.

An incredible ride from the Belgian, Ganna takes silver and Evenepoel’s compatriot Wout van Aert hangs on for bronze.

You have to feel so sorry for Josh Tarling, who finished 28 seconds back of Evenepoel in fourth, despite suffering a puncture and a bike change: he would quite possibly have been challenging for gold without that stroke of misfortune.

James Gheerbrant: An incredible final section from Filippo Ganna. He empties the tank and overtakes Wout van Aert to move into first place. That means no medal for Josh Tarling, unless Remco Evenepoel, who is still racing for gold, crashes.

James Gheerbrant: Josh Tarling has just crossed the line two seconds behind Wout van Aert and gone into the silver-medal position. Considering his puncture and bike change, that is an utterly phenomenal time. It looks like Remco Evenepoel is heading for gold, pipping Van Aert to secure a probable one-two for Belgium, and Italy’s Filippo Ganna is battling Tarling for bronze! It’s going to be oh so close…

James Gheerbrant: Wout van Aert has just crossed the finish line and he’s taken over a minute off the previous best time! That’s an electric ride from the Belgian, who looks absolutely spent but has surely secured himself a medal. The question is, which colour will it be?

James Gheerbrant: Wout van Aert of Belgium is flying. He leads at the 22km time-check, but the good news for British fans is that Josh Tarling is not too far back: at the 13.1km time-check, he’s only 3.6 seconds back on the leaders. His hopes of a medal have taken a big dent, but it’s not over.

James Gheerbrant: Disaster for Josh Tarling! He’s had to have a bike change. That could be his chances of gold gone.

It was a front-tyre puncture. While it looked like a relatively slick changeover, that will still have cost him a huge amount of time. Tarling was flying before the puncture, going fastest at the first time-check.

Meanwhile, USA’s Magnus Sheffield has come to grief and is now sporting a ripped skinsuit. Ouch.

It’s a great course, the streets around Invalides are absolutely packed as the riders race past the gold statues of the Pont Alexandre III and the glass roof of the Grand Palais. The riders will then head east to Vincennes and its chateau before looping back to the start for a finish on Invalides.

James Gheerbrant: And Josh Tarling is off in his first Olympic ride! He’s a big contender for this title but there are some big hitters to come, including Filippo Ganna and Remco Evenepoel. Leader in the clubhouse currently is Italy’s Alberto Bettiol but expect him to be edged out of the medals.

Rick Broadbent: Novak Djokovic hailed Celine Dion’s performance as one of the highlights of the opening ceremony, but was less happy with the Olympic tennis rules after brushing aside Australia’s Matthew Ebden in 53 minutes.

The Serbian said it was unfair that Ebden, in Paris to play doubles, had been drafted in for the singles where he was on the end of a 6-0, 6-1 hammering.

“If somebody withdraws or cancels before or when the draw is made, then you call doubles players to play singles?” Djokovic said. “I don’t think it’s a good image for the sport, to be honest.

“There were a lot of singles players that had plenty of time. There were alternates that could have been called to come. This part I don’t get. I really hope that ITF, along with the Olympics, will consider changing this rule because it’s tough on Matt because he hasn’t played a singles practice in two years.”

Djokovic may be right regarding the rules but he was undoubtedly wrong when it came to Ebden’s enjoyment quotient. The Australian, 36, said his main priority was to not get injured, but he lapped up the support from the crowd. He handed a racket to a spectator at one point, suggesting they might fare better, tried an underarm serve and, when he finally won a game, whipped his t-shirt over his head to rampant delight on Philippe-Chatrier.

James Gheerbrant: The men’s time trial is now under way. Conditions are still very tricky, slick surfaces and puddles all along the course, it will be a real test of bike-handling. The big favourites — Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel, Italy’s Filippo Ganna, the American Brandon McNulty and Great Britain’s Josh Tarling — don’t start for a while, they’re held back until the end.

James Gheerbrant was in attendance as Team GB claimed their first medal of the Games this morning, a bronze, thanks to divers Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen.

He writes: “What a way this was for Great Britain’s participation at the 2024 Olympics to begin: with a medal containing a little piece of the Eiffel Tower being hung around the neck of a girl from Tower Hamlets, with a precious fragment of Parisian steel for a diver forged in the city of steel.”

• Full report: Harper and Mew Jensen win GB’s first Paris medal

Owen Slot: Oh my, it was so loud in the Stade de France where France beat South Africa to reach the men’s rugby sevens final. Put that another way, Antoine Dupont has just beaten South Africa — at least that is what it sounds like.

France were 0-5 down when Dupont came on with six minutes to go and he ran on straight away to take a lineout, which was kind of amusing. The French team had genuinely appeared jittery and dropped lots of ball, but then Dupont adds authority and some spark and it changes. And the crowd go delirious. The second try was his own creation, and with that, France were assured of their place in the final. The final score was 19-5. France’s opposition in the final will be Fiji who thumped Australia 31-7 in the other semi-final. Fiji have won gold in both the men’s events since sevens was introduced to the Games in Rio.

James Gheerbrant: It’s a silver for Anna Henderson! What a wonderful result for the former slalom skiing champ from Hemel Hempstead. An exceptional ride from the Briton in tough and slippery conditions. Chloe Dygert of the United States, who slipped and lost precious seconds, finishes nine tenths of a second behind Henderson. Australia’s Grace Brown absolutely obliterated the field: her margin of victory over Henderson was bigger than the gap between Henderson and 14th!

James Gheerbrant: Over at the cycling time trial, Great Britain’s Anna Henderson has made a very good start. Conditions are extremely tricky on the road course, with rain very heavy and puddles everywhere. Henderson set the fastest time of the day so far as she passed through the first checkpoint, Australia’s Grace Brown and Chloe Dygert have since beaten it but Dygert has just slipped and had to remount so will have lost precious seconds.

Hugo Daniel: The Paris Olympics opening ceremony got a peak of 7.9million viewers on the BBC, a much higher figure than the previous two Olympics. However the number watching was a lot lower than the 22.4million who tuned in for the London 2012 opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle.

It is the first games since the London Olympics to take place without a large time difference, with France just an hour ahead of the UK. There was a four-hour time difference for the Rio Olympics, which kicked off at midnight in Britain and had an average of 3.8million viewers.

A peak live audience of 2.3million reportedly watched the BBC during Tokyo 2020, which took place in the middle of the day in the UK, and with no crowds in the Japanese stadiums because of Covid restrictions.

• Owen Slot: Parisian perseverance in face of rain was a triumph all of its own

Now that the action is underway, it’s easy to forget the travel chaos that ensued following the co-ordinated attacks on the French rail network yesterday. If you’re on your way to Paris anytime soon, read our explainer for everything you need to know.

• Travel guide: Affected Eurostar train lines and flights

Rick Broadbent: For all those unimpressed by the naked middle-aged Smurf or the drag parody of the Last Supper or merely the relentless rain, spare a thought for the Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi who has already lost the gold.

Tamberi, 32, has cultivated the image of a showman, often sporting half a beard and filling his shoes with little springs while feigning injury after winning the European title last month.

A natural choice as Italy’s flagbearer, he was shrugging off the inclement conditions with his natural chutzpah on Friday night when disaster struck and his wedding ring came off and fell into the Seine. Tamberi, who shared the gold medal with Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barsham at the last Olympics, penned a heart-felt missive to his wife afterwards.

“I’m sorry my love, I’m so sorry. Too much water, too many kg lost in the past few months or maybe the uncontrollable enthusiasm of what we were doing. Probably all three. I saw it fly, I followed her with a glance until I saw her bouncing inside the boat. A glimmer of hope. But unfortunately the bounce was in the wrong direction and floating more than thousand times in the air I saw her fall into the water like that was the only place she wanted to be. A few moments that lasted an eternity.”

You can’t help but root for him. As for his wife, Chiara, she replied “is it true?” but appears to have forgiven him, gold medal permitting.

Matt Lawton, Martyn Ziegler: The athletes participating in the men’s Olympic triathlon on Tuesday could have their preparation severely disrupted by the heavy rain that put such a dampener on the opening ceremony, with their scheduled training session in the Seine on Sunday now in jeopardy.

Torrential rain can lead to wastewater polluting the river, with the swimming leg of the team competition in last year’s test event cancelled despite a £1billion clean-up operation that has made the Seine legally safe to swim in for the first time in more than a century.

While male triathletes are due to familiarise themselves with the 1500m swim course on Sunday, there is now concern that the sheer amount of rain will lead to a significant rise in bacteria levels. The increased speed of the water can be a further factor.

The water is being tested at 4am every morning and a final decision on whether the training session goes ahead will be delayed until then, but cancellation would certainly be problematic for the triathletes when they like to learn the course, not least in terms of sighting.

Organisers have already said they have the option to both delay the races — the women are due to go on Wednesday with the mixed relay event on August 5 — or cancel the swimming leg altogether, limiting the individual races to a bike-run duathlon.

Mike Cavendish, the British Triathlon performance director, has said that they remain “optimistic” the event will take place despite the worries about water quality. He said: “While a reduction in familiarisation sessions would impact all competing nations, we have great confidence in the preparation we’ve done and know our athletes will be on the start line in the best possible shape to compete at their best.”

For the first time in 20 years, Team GB have a medal on the first day of the Olympic competition schedule — with divers Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen claiming bronze in the women’s 3m synchro event. Here’s a reminder of the last few medals GB have picked up first at previous Games.

Hugo Daniel: Fred Sirieix, the Frenchman famous for being maître d’ of Channel 4’s First Dates, is part of the BBC presenting team in Paris. His daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, 19, a World, European and Commonwealth diving champion, compete for Team GB in the synchronised 10m final on Wednesday. Fred told our chief sports reporter Martyn Ziegler how he spent five days with the British diving team, including his daughter. He said standing on the platform was the “scariest experience ever” and that diving off it left him “black and blue”.

• Read more: Fred Sirieix: Training with GB divers was scariest moment of my life

Rick Broadbent: Down at the rowing the women’s quad scull crew secured a dominant passage into the final. Georgie Brayshaw, Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry were comfortably the fastest team of the two heats. They clocked a time of 6min 13.35sec to finish almost two seconds clear of Germany, while the Netherlands won the other heat in a far slower time.

In a film specially recorded for The Times, Brayshaw explained the huge obstacles she had overcome to make it to Paris. A horse-riding accident when she was 15 left her in a coma, and when she came out of it after nine days she was paralysed down one side, unable to feed herself and told it would be unlikely she would walk again. “I was not going to let this dictate who I am,” she said. “I wanted to get back to being the Georgie I was.”

The crew won the world title last year, but Brayshaw is quick to play down suggestions that she is anything special. “I used to feel athletes were superhuman,” she said. “But actually they are just humans doing something really well. I honestly believe anyone can do it if you put your mind to it.”

The men’s crew also made it through after finishing second to the Netherlands, while Mathilda Hodgkins, Byrne and Rebecca Wilde qualified as runner-up to New Zealand in the double skulls.

• Georgie Brayshaw: Watch the full video

Tom Kershaw: Team GB have won their sub-division in the men’s artistic gymnastics qualification round with 256.561 points, beating the USA, Canada and Germany.

China and Japan are yet to compete and will prove difficult to topple in the team final, but this was an encouraging start for Joe Fraser, Harry Hepworth, Jake Jarman, Luke Whitehouse and Max Whitlock, with the US their likely rivals for a bronze medal.

Whitlock, a three-times Olympic gold medallist who will bow out after these Games, laid down an impressive marker in the pommel horse with an individual score of 15.166, although he was narrowly beaten by the American Stephen Nedoroscik.

Jarman was a travelling reserve in Tokyo but has enjoyed a spectacular breakthrough since then, claiming four gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 before winning his first world championship in the vault last year. The 22-year-old from Peterborough leads the all-around individual standings with Fraser in close second. The top eight gymnasts qualify for the apparatus and the all-around finals, with a maximum of two from each nation.

Craig Lord: Team GB are in a tight battle for medals with China, Australia, the defending champions USA and Italy after qualifying as the third-fastest quartet in the 4x100m freestyle.

This evening, three members of GB’s Olympic-champion 4x200m quartet, Duncan Scott and Tom Dean, along with the world 200m champion Matt Richards, will seek what would be the first medal ever for GB in the 4x100m.

We won’t know the name of the last man in the final quartet until an hour or so before the finals start at 8.30pm in Paris. This morning Duncan Scott led in 48.61sec, followed by Jacob Whittle and Alex Cohoon, on 47.90 and 47.91 respectively, and Dean on 48.07.

We’re barely half a day in but we already have our first viral moment of the Games. Tom Daley, while watching fellow divers Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen claim a bronze medal earlier this morning, was spotted knitting in the crowd. That’s one way to keep your nerves under control!

• Read in full: Tom Daley: knitting, fatherhood and why he’s diving again

From breaking (breakdancing to you and me) to skateboarding, 3×3 basketball to sport climbing, there’s a fair few sports at this Olympics which you’d consider to be a bit more unusual. Take a look at our guide to see which ones you should look out for.

• Read in full: The five unusual sports at 2024 Olympics

Elizabeth Ammon: There was a bizarre story from the Australian hockey camp, who have just begun their opening match against Argentina in Pool B.

Matt Dawson, 30, badly broke his finger after being hit by a stick in training two weeks ago and doctors said it would take four to six weeks to heal, meaning he would miss the Games. Or, he could amputate part of his finger and make it to Paris — he opted for the latter. Surgeons removed about an inch from the end of his right ring finger just below the top knuckle.

Australia last won Gold in Athens 2004 and have previously won four silver medals including at Tokyo 2020.

Craig Lord: Adam Peaty eased through to semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke as the second-fastest qualifier in 59.18sec in the opening session of the swimming heats at the Paris La Defense Arena before remarking with a smile: “The whole field was a bit slow”.

Peaty, the 2016 and 2021 champion looking to become the first man in history to claim the same breaststroke title three times, was first to the turn in 27.21sec, the fastest split of the morning, as he tested his feel for Olympic waters for the first time since Tokyo. He looked strong and comfortable as he led heat four of five home, team-mate James Wilby not far off, through to the semis in sixth place overall on 59.40.

They then watched to see what China’s controversial Qin Haiyang, the world champion and biggest threat to the crown, had to offer. It wasn’t impressive: ninth in 59.98. but safely through.

Asked about the controversy of the 23 Chinese swimmers, Qin among them, who tested positive for a banned substance in January 2021 but were let off in contested circumstances, Peaty said: “It’s always in the mind of an athlete. You definitely want a fair game, you want to win fair and be around people who do the same and live by the same values. But at the same time, you know, we’ve got a job to do and you can’t let it be a cloud in front of the road.”

• Adam Peaty interview: How Gordon Ramsay helped Olympian get back in the pool

James Coney: And a whoop goes up from every hockey player like me, as the final whistle goes in the Team GB game.

Hockey doesn’t often make it onto the BBC so for GB men to win 4-0 against Spain live on the telly is a big moment — especially as they did it with some style. GB are second in the world at the moment playing what has been described as the hockey equivalent to cricket’s Baz-ball — all-out attacking play.

That said, GB should have probably been 3-1 down at half time, but took their chances and raced away once they got ahead. There were two penalty corner goals for Gareth Furlong and a sharp finish from Rupert Shipperley but the highlight was definitely the opener from Nick Park who robbed a Spanish defender, sprinted towards goal and chipped the keeper.

There’s no rest though, because they are back on pitch tomorrow against South Africa for their next group game. The ladies also play tomorrow. I’ll be glued to the telly again.

James Gheerbrant: Great Britain have their first medal of the 2024 Olympics! Scarlett Mew Jensen and Yasmin Harper had it all to do after three rounds: they were down in sixth place, well out of the medals. But they clawed themselves back to fourth with a solid fourth round and they nailed their final dive, a forward 3.5 somersaults with pike, put the pressure on the Australians, in bronze medal positions and diving a few places afterwards. And it all went awry at that point for the pairing of Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith, who made a complete mess of their final dive. So it’s bronze for Jensen and Harper, matching their placing at this year’s World Championships.

And that is, apparently, GB’s first medal on the opening day of a Summer Olympics since Leon Taylor and Peter Waterfield, also in diving, in Athens in 2004.

Elizabeth Ammon: Great Britain have opened their medal campaign with a dominant 4-0 win over Spain with two goals by Welshman Gareth Furlong and one each for Rupert Shipperley and Nick Park.

Great Britain, under the leadership of head coach Paul Revington, are ranked second in the world and were rewarded for their relentless attacking play, combined with some solid saves by goalkeeper Ollie Payne, to overcome the young Spanish team who are ranked eighth.

With hopes high of getting on to the podium for the first time since 1988, this was a dominant and disciplined display by GB. After a barrage of pressing attacks, they opened their account in the first quarter as Park dribbled past Spain’s last defender and chipped calmly over the Spanish keeper. They doubled their lead through the 32-year-old Furlong. An open play attack saw the Welshman, appearing in his second Olympic Games, drive into the shooting circle through the defender’s leg and drag into the bottom corner. A beautiful goal that was celebrated wildly on the GB bench. The first half ended with a counter-attack by the young Spanish team but goalkeeper Ollie Payne ably fended off two shots on goal.

GB extended their lead in the final quarter as Furlong bagged his second, this time from a penalty corner with a powerful strike from the top of the penalty circle, beating Spain’s goalkeeper on his right-hand side into the bottom left of the goal, and made sure of the victory with a fourth by another Welshman, this time Shipperley pouncing on a loose ball in the D to deflect into the net just minutes before the end.

James Gheerbrant: Great Britain’s Scarlett Mew Jensen and Yasmin Harper were in silver medal position after a solid first round, but their next two dives haven’t quite gone to plan: a 5.5 execution mark on their third dive, a 2.5 somersault with 1 twist, has seen them drop back to sixth after three rounds. China lead as expected, USA second, Australia third. GB need a big finish in the remaining two rounds.

James Gheerbrant: I’m at the aquatics centre, where the second gold medal of Paris 2024 will be decided in the next couple of hours. Great Britain’s Scarlett Mew Jensen, from Hackney in London, and Yasmin Harper, from Sheffield, who have won silver and bronze at the last two World Championships, have a real shot at a medal, but the hot favourites are the Chinese pair of Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen, who have just opened the competition, scoring highly for their back pike.

Peter Stubley: The International Olympic Committee has apologised after South Korean athletes were mistakenly introduced as North Korean during the opening ceremony.

Announcers used the official title for North Korea — “Republique populaire democratique de Coree” in French and “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” in English — as the team sailed down the Seine in Paris. The North Korean team was correctly introduced.

South Korea’s sports ministry issued a statement describing its “regret” at the gaffe and asked the foreign ministry to make an official protest to their French counterparts.

“We deeply apologise for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC said in a statement.

Elizabeth Ammon: It’s half-time at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium and Team GB’s men have a 2-0 lead in their opening hockey match against Spain.

It’s been a very open, attacking match. Spain are a young team who play hockey much like Barcelona play football but GB have been relentlessly attacking. After a barrage of pressing attacks, they opened their account in the first quarter as Nick Park dribbled past Spain’s last defender and chipped calmly over the Spanish keeper.

The second quarter saw Paul Revington’s team double their lead this time through Welshman Gareth Furlong. An open play attack leads to Furlong driving into the shooting circle through the defender’s leg and a drag into the bottom corner. A beautiful goal that was celebrated wildly on the GB bench.

The first-half ended with a counter-attack by the young Spanish team but goalkeeper Ollie Payne has ably fended off two shots on goal.

Our writer Carol Midgley, however, did not share Emmanuel Macron’s enthusiasm for last night’s opening ceremony — while recognising the hard work and creativity that went into the production, she says it ultimately all felt “random”, “scattered” and “underwhelming”.

• Read in full: Opening ceremony review

Peter Stubley: Emmanuel Macron said the opening ceremony would still be talked about in 100 years as he thanked all those involved for their efforts.

He tweeted on X: “Thanks to Thomas Jolly and his creative genius for this grandiose ceremony. Thank you to the artists for this unique and magical moment. Thank you to the police and emergency services, agents and volunteers. Thank you to everyone who believed in it.

“We’ll talk about it again in 100 years! WE DID IT !”

Peter Stubley: Disruption to high-speed trains to and from Paris will continue today and tomorrow following the “coordinated acts of vandalism” in France on Friday, Eurostar has said.

Around a quarter of the trains have been cancelled and diversions to the remaining journeys are resulting in 90-minute delays.

The departure board for London St Pancras confirms that four of the 15 scheduled trains to Paris Gare du Nord today, at 7.31am and 10.31am, 2.31pm and 4.31pm, have been cancelled.

“We encourage our customers to postpone their trip if possible,” Eurostar said in a statement on its website. “Customers can cancel free of charge, be refunded or modify their journey free of charge.”

• Read more: France travel disruptions: all affected train lines and flights

If the Euros and Wimbledon didn’t quite quench your thirst for summer sport, strap yourself in for more than 250 hours of live coverage from the Games across BBC television, radio and iPlayer. For all the details on how you can keep up with the action on TV, look no further than our armchair guide.

• Read in full: How to watch the Olympics on TV

Adam Peaty is among the Team GB medal contenders in action today (though only in the 100m breaststroke heats) — but who else will be going for gold this summer?

• Read in full: GB medal hopes to watch

Here’s a snapshot of what’s happening today:

• Read in full: Daily schedule and start times