Olympic Highlights Day One: Road cycling, rugby sevens & swimming see medals
Cycling
Individual time trial - men
16:32 CET, Invalides - Pont Alexandre III, Paris
Don't expect any mountain climbs. This is a time trial where speed and endurance will really be the deciding factors, and cyclists will have to be careful on the sharp street corners. From the start on the Invalides, the route runs up the Seine symbolically to the velodrome of the legendary Jacques Anquetil, leaving the Eiffel Tower behind the riders.
After passing through the Polygone Park, they will turn again towards the centre and rush along the Boulevard Saint-Germain for almost 5 kilometres to Pont Alexandre III. Yes, after 32 kilometres, the finish is again symbolically on the bridge over the Seine.
While Slovenia's Primoz Roglic burned everyone in Tokyo, there is now talk of slightly different favourites. The main one should be time trial specialist Philippe Ganna from Italy who will be looking to make up for his fifth place in Tokyo.
But American Brandon McNulty and Briton Joshua Tarling also have big ambitions. This trio have been preparing for the Paris race and will be hard to beat. The excellent Belgian time trialists Remco Evenepoel and Wout Van Aert have the Tour de France in their legs which could affect their chances.
One of the favourites Tadej Pogacar withdrew at the last minute after his triumphs at the Giro and Tour this year. He announced that he needed more time to recover. The defending gold medalist, Roglic, is also out of the picture after suffering a fractured vertebrae on the Tour.
Rugby sevens
Finals - men
19:45 CET, Stade de France, Paris
The tiny oceanic country of Fiji has won two gold medals in Olympic history so far, and both have been won by their rugby sevens players. They surprised the world in Rio and confirmed their triumph in Tokyo.
If the team around captain Jerry Tuwai could win again, it would be a golden hat-trick. But in the semi-finals, Fiji will face a determined rival. Australia went through the preliminary group without losing a point and did not allow the USA to score in the quarter-finals.
The other semi-final pairing is France and South Africa. The home team is led by the star Antoine Dupont, who, among other things, is also the captain of the national team in the classic fifteen-aside rugby, and it is also thanks to his contributions that Les Bleus have reached the medal round for the first time in history.
The South Africans pulled off the biggest shock yet in the quarter-finals, knocking out New Zealand.
The All Blacks took silver in Tokyo, this time beating their eternal rivals in the preliminary group with relative ease 17-5. The quarter-final battle was better, however, and thanks to the South African defence, they won 14-7. The semi-finals will take place in the afternoon heat at Prince's Park from 15:30 CET, the medal battles begin at 19:00 CET with the final at 19:45 CET.
Swimming
400m freestyle - women
20:52 CET, Aquatic Centre, Paris
The very first day of competition at the Aquatic Centre offers one of the most anticipated swimming events of the entire Games. The women's 400m freestyle will bring together three of the fastest swimmers in history on the course.
Ariarne Titmus will be defending her three-year-old gold from Tokyo. The Australian made her form known in the Brisbane qualifier in June, where she came within just six-hundredths of her world record set last year (3:55.38) with a time of 3:55.44.
Still, she will have to watch out for her new challenger. Canada's Summer McIntosh set the junior world record of 3:56.08 last March at the age of 16 and swam the challenging course again this May in under four minutes (3:59.06).
But not to be forgotten is Rio Olympic gold medallist Katie Ledecky, who has been at the top for almost a decade and whose time of 3:58.35 from the US qualification in June suggests big ambitions.
For the swimming fans, another treat will come at the end of the first day in the form of the men's and women's 4x100 m freestyle relay finals.
