Olympic Highlights Day Two: USA dream team, Murray's final farewell and swimming star Leon
Basketball
17:15 CET: Lille, Pierre Mauroy Stadium
The American basketball team has won the Olympics four times in a row and has summoned a truly star-studded line-up for this year's edition in Paris. Thanks to the presence of Jason Tatum, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and LeBron James, who will be making his first appearance in 12 years, we can once again talk about the "Dream Team".
Coach Steve Kerr took care with his team selection, and reminded everyone that the USA finished without a medal at the last two World Cups.
Serbia will face the Americans at the football stadium in Lille, which has been turned into a basketball arena for the Olympics. And so the opening game will give everyone a clue as to how the current US looks.
After all, the Serbs, led by NBA champion and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the experienced Bogdan Bogdanovic, are also among the main favourites. The pre-tournament exhibition game, played on July 17th in Abu Dhabi, ended with a clear USA victory (105:79), but the Serbs will certainly have learned their lesson.
Tennis
Taro Daniel, Kei Nishikori - Daniel Evans, Andy Murray
20:00 CET: Paris, Roland Garros, Suzanne Leglen court
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray recently announced that the Paris Olympics will be the last tournament of his career. He was originally entered in the singles event, but just before the draw, he made the decision that he would only play doubles with Daniel Evans.
The first-round draw paired the Brits with Tar Daniel and Kei Nishikori of Japan. Murray will now face a man he often faced in his glory days. Nishikori, for example, fell to him in the semi-finals at the Rio de Janeiro Games on his way to defending his first gold in London.
But now it will be a doubles match, and although the Brits are favourites, there will be pressure on Murray. The advantage for him is that he and Evans have played a few doubles matches together, although the last one at the French Open did not go to plan. Meanwhile, Nishikori and Daniel have never played together!
Swimming
Men's 400m Individual Medley
20:30 CET: Paris, Aquatic Centre
Leon Marchand is one of the biggest medal hopes for his home country France and also the face of the Games. His 400m Individual Medley event, in which he has been world champion twice in a row, is on the agenda on Sunday.
Marchand may still be 22 years old, but he already boasts five world championship titles and last year also broke (4:02.50) Michael Phelps's long-standing record in the 400 metres. After all, the young Frenchman is in the best of hands. He studied overseas for three years and his coach is Phelps' former coach, Bob Bowman.
But the question remains about Marchand's performance in 2024. He has only completed two trials, and even though he won the domestic championship and the race in Texas, USA, his best time this year (4:10.62) is only the 11th best of the year. On the other hand, American Carson Foster (4:07.64), Briton Max Litchfield (4:09.14) and Japanese Daija Seto (4:09.68) are in excellent form.
