PARIS: On the first sunny day of the Paris Olympics, the stars from the United States were shining.
Simone Biles and LeBron James were impressive, as was the US women's soccer team. Torri Huske got some of the lights, and Haley Batten made a name for herself by winning the silver medal in the mountain bike for the best finish by an American rider.
Although French swimmer Leon Marchand got the biggest cheers by destroying the field to win gold in the 400-meter individual medley, the United States had a strong Sunday on Day 2. in the game.
Simone is brilliant
Biles returned to the Olympics three years after withdrawing from multiple finals at the Tokyo Games to defend her safety, which sparked an international debate about mental health, by the power of desperation she felt in her children to lead the US women's gymnastics team to the finals. .
Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles went 1-2-3 during the preliminary round, although Chiles missed the finals because of rules that limit countries to two athletes at a time. competition.
Chiles could advance to the floor exercise finals if she finishes in the top eight. Lee is a near lock for the beam and bars finals, with 2020 floor champion Jade Carey well positioned to join Biles in the finals .
But all eyes were on Biles, who scared an entire nation when she left her home after her floor workout and received treatment. She tweaked her calf in the warm-up, but U.S. coach Cecile Landi said it was a minor injury.
She performed in front of a star-studded crowd that included Tom Cruise, Jessica Chastain, Snoop Dogg, Anna Wintour and Lady Gaga, who wrote on Biles' social media: “She nailed it, great honor the closest!”
LeBron James led Team USA
Two of the most experienced Olympians on the U.S. men's basketball team, James and Kevin Durant, kicked off the team's bid for a fifth consecutive gold medal with a near-flawless performance.
Durant made eight shots and scored 23 points, James added 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds as the United States beat Serbia 110-84 in the Olympic doubleheader.
James and Durant went a combined 18-for-22 from the field — 8-of-9 for Durant, 9-of-13 for James — as they had no trouble against the silver medalists in the NBA Finals. USA is the world cup.
Jrue Holiday had 15 points, Devin Booker had 12 and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry added 11 for the United States.
Pool party
Huske knocked off world champion Gretchen Walsh in the women's 100 butterfly with a powerful finish to slam her hands into the wall in front of her teammates. 1-2 for the United States.
What he really wanted was out of his usual strategy: start fast and try to hold on. It worked at the U.S. trials, where he set his world record of 55.18 last month, and he's been on the fast track.
But Huske chased him in the race that mattered. The winner clocked 55.59 — just a finger's length ahead of Walsh's time of 55.63.
When Huske saw the “1” next to his name on the scoreboard, he walked over to the goal line to give Walsh a hug and a tearful hug.
Meanwhile, Marchand lived up to the high expectations of his home Olympics with a flag-waving crowd cheering his every stroke. He was below the world record speed in the final lap but eased up on the way home, touching in 4 minutes, 2.95 seconds — an Olympic record, but just shy of the mark- world mark 4:02.50.
Marchand made the announcement at last year's world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, breaking Michael Phelps' 15-year-old record.
And, in an upset, Italian swimmer Nicolo Martinenghi upset Adam Peaty in the 100 breaststroke.
Peaty, the gold medalist in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, took some time off to deal with health issues. On his return he quickly returned to the pace and entered the final as the first player but settled for silver as his quest for a third straight gold came to an end.
American football won
Sophia Smith scored twice to lead the United States to a 4-1 win over Germany and put the team in a good position to advance out of their group at the Olympics.
Mallory Swanson and Lynn Williams also scored for the Americans, who beat Zambia 3-0 in their opener, but it remains to be seen where they will end up. knockout stage only after the last match of group B on Wednesday.
The Americans play Australia in Marseille to conclude group play.
Cyclist medal
Batten broke the rules but still came home with America's best bike racer when he won silver.
Batten was penalized by the Olympic mountain bike judges for breaking the rules in the final lap of his race. He battled his way into second place as he went through pit stops or stopped due to mechanical problems.
After the judges looked at the photos, they decided that Batten did not do either and violated one of the rules of the race. He was fined 500 Swiss francs, or about $565, for “disobeying the instructions of the organization or the race commissioner”, although the judges apparently decided the offense was not serious enough to should be excluded.
Batten finished ninth three years ago at the Tokyo Games.
The tennis veterans won
Rafael Nadal wasn't sure he could play men's singles on Sunday the day before his match, but he turned up at Roland Garros and beat Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round.
The victory set up a showdown with his rival Novak Djokovic.
It will be the 60th meeting between the two greats, more than any other two men have met in the sport's era, which began in 1968. Djokovic, 37, of Serbia, is the leading the head. -head series 30-29, and his 24 Grand Slam titles make him the only man in tennis history to have more than Nadal's 22.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray's tennis career was extended by at least one more match, when he and British partner Dan Evans saved five points in two matches during the pair's win. Murray and Evans defeated Japan's Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9.
The Brits lost 9-4 in the decider, which was played as a substitute for the third set of the doubles.
Murray, 37, announced before the Summer Games that it would be the last event of his career, and then withdrew from the singles bracket, leaving it for doubles.
Murray is a three-time Grand Slam champion and the only tennis player to win two Olympic gold medals — from London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
