ryan young
Staff writer
·4 min read
Medal table | Olympic schedule | How to watch | Olympic news
Wednesday was full of historic action, shocking upsets and more dominant performances from Team USA. From another Katie Ledecky medal to a blowout win from Team USA to a historic double from Léon Marchand, here's everything you need to know from Wednesday at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Katie Ledecky dominant again
Ledecky sailed to victory in the 1500-meter freestyle, finishing in an Olympic record 15:30.02, 10.33 seconds ahead of the silver medalist, France's Anastasiia Kirpichnikova (15:40.35). Germany's Isabel Gose took bronze (15:41.16).
The visual of her finish was stunning.
Absolutely insane.
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) July 31, 2024
Ledecky has now won eight gold medals in her career and 12 total — which ties her with fellow Americans Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin as the most decorated female swimmers in Olympic history. Ledecky has two more races left in Paris.
Team USA rolls over South Sudan
LeBron James and Team USA had no issue getting past South Sudan this time.
The United States rolled to a dominant 103-86 win over South Sudan on Wednesday in their second group stage game, which improved them to 2-0. Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo led the way with 18 points in the win. He was one of six Americans who hit double figures. James, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, made history in the win, too. He became just the third American player to reach 300 career points in the Olympics, joining only Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.
Team USA will wrap up group play against Puerto Rico on Saturday.
Women’s soccer closes out Group B
The U.S. women's national soccer team finished out Group B with a 2-1 win against Australia on Wednesday. The goals were scored by Trinity Rodman in the 43rd minute and Korbin Albert in the 77th minute.
The USWNT easily controlled the ball for the majority of the match, challenging Australian goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold numerous times while her teammates struggled to handle the ball for any sustained amount of time. The first half was offense-free until the final minutes, when Rodman broke through, punching in a header from Sophia Smith. Albert's shot late in the second half was touched by Arnold, but the ball glanced off her fingers and into the net.
The USWNT is now a perfect 3-0 at the Olympics with a combined score of 9-2.
Nadal, Gauff out of Olympics
Several big names were knocked out of their tennis competitions on Wednesday.
Rafael Nadal and teammate Carlos Alcaraz were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament by Americans Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek in straight sets. The match very easily could have been Nadal’s last at Roland Garros, where he’s claimed 14 French Open titles in his career.
Coco Gauff was knocked out of the Games completely, too. Gauff, after being eliminated in the singles competition on Tuesday, fell with teammate Jessica Pegula to Czech duo Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova. Gauff then lost with mixed doubles teammate Taylor Fritz later on Wednesday in what was her last shot at a medal this summer.
Léon Marchand's historic double
Léon Marchand is having himself a historic run in Paris this summer.
The French star became the first person to ever win medals in both the butterfly and breaststroke in the same Games — which is something he did in the span of about 116 minutes on Wednesday. Marchand won gold in the 200-meter butterfly and then beat out the field in the 200-meter breaststroke to complete the unusual double.
Naturally, the French crowd went nuts for the 22-year-old star.
Cannot explain how loud it was here during Marchand’s final 50.
Not sure I’ve ever heard anything like this. pic.twitter.com/edD87NCTbD
— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) July 31, 2024
Team USA medals
Highlight of the day
Katie Ledecky just made this girl's life. 🥹 #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/23bhsWhS8r
— On Her Turf (@OnHerTurf) July 31, 2024
One more thing: Massive table tennis upset
Sweden’s Truls Möregårdh might have pulled off the biggest upset of the entire Games on Wednesday.
Möregårdh stunned China’s Wang Chuqin, who is the top-ranked table tennis player in the world, on Wednesday in a five-game thriller. The win means that, for the first time since the Athens Olympics in 2004, China won’t win both gold and silver in the men’s singles event. Möregårdh is the No. 26-ranked player in the world.
