Georgia Bell, an occasional runner throughout lockdown who made it to the Olympic closing of the ladies’s 1500m, set a brand new British file to take bronze as a rush of success together with silvers in inventive swimming and taekwondo took Britain’s rivalry with France within the medal desk into the final day.

On the age of 30, this was Bell’s first Olympic look however in a lightning fast race within the Stade de France that noticed Kenya’s Religion Kipyegon set a brand new Video games file, the British runner stayed with the main pack within the first 800m earlier than discovering the power to kick on within the closing leg.

Her time of three.52.61 was the quickest that any British lady has run the 1500m, a feat all of the extra exceptional given Bell solely renewed her relationship with the game to maintain match through the Covid pandemic.

Kipyegon improved on her earlier Olympic file time, set in Tokyo, with 3:51:29. Silver went to Australia’s Jessica Hull.

Bell mentioned: “I don’t know if I’ve ever been this glad. That was a fully loopy race. I awoke this morning actually calm and in an excellent temper and thought I’m not the quickest particular person in that race but when I used to be courageous and obtained caught in then I could make one thing occur. So yeah, over the moon and I’m an Olympic medallist.”

Bell, who has a full-time job working with synthetic intelligence, had fallen out of affection with athletics in 2017. She had stopping working altogether by the final Olympics in Tokyo, however returned to it after a superb park run in March 2022.

“I’m so glad I got here again to this sport,” she mentioned. “Primarily, I’m proud of what working has given me. Clearly it’s wonderful to be on the Olympics however once I took up working once more, the aim wasn’t to make the Olympics, that will have been completely bonkers.

“On the time, it was coming again to one thing that I actually liked. I adore it being a part of my life, I sit up for that a part of the day and I’ve made associates by it.”

Bell’s medal-winning run was adopted within the Stade de France by bronze medals for Group GB’s women and men’s 400m relay groups. The US gained gold in each, with silver for Botswana and the Netherlands, respectively.

It took a European file time of two.55.83 for the British males to say their medal.

Alex Haydock-Wilson, 25, from Lewisham, who had already gained a bronze within the combined 400m relay, mentioned: “Two Olympic medals is greater than I may have hoped for.” Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe gained silver within the inventive swimming duet – the primary medal for Nice Britain within the sport. China’s Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi took gold and the Netherlands’ Bregje de Brouwer and Noortje de Brouwer got here in third. Group GB’s Caden Cunningham, 21, from Huddersfield needed to accept silver after being crushed by Iran’s Arian Salimi within the closing of the lads’s +80kg class of taekwondo.

There was a bronze within the aquatics centre for Britain’s Noah Williams within the males’s 10m platform diving. He had beforehand taken silver with Tom Daley within the synchronised dive.

Williams joins Daley, 30, and Jack Laugher, 29, in an unique membership of British divers who’ve gained two medals at a Video games.

The 24-year-old solely certified for Saturday’s closing in twelfth place and he dropped factors after over-rotating on his fourth dive, however two closing efforts put him on the rostrum alongside Cao Yuan, whose gold confirmed a clear sweep of the diving titles for China. Japan’s Rikuto Tamai took silver.

Of comparisons with Daley and Laugher, Williams mentioned: “I simply obtained fortunate. These two are a complete different degree. They’re the best of GB diving.”

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Britain’s Emile Cairess in the meantime got here fourth in solely his third ever marathon, on a course mentioned to be probably the most brutal in Olympic historical past.

In sweltering warmth on the highway from Versailles to Paris, Cairess clocked a time of 2hr 7min 29sec, ending simply 29 seconds outdoors a podium place.

It had checked out one stage that Cairess, the European file holder within the 10-mile highway race, may snatch a marathon medal. He had been in second place at about 18 miles, however dropped again to sixth earlier than kicking on to overtake two rivals to take fourth.

Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola took gold in an Olympic file time of 2hr 6min 26sec, after making his transfer at 18 miles on a hill with a 13.5% incline. He completed 21 seconds away from Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, with Kenya’s Benson Kipruto taking bronze.

Cairess, from Bradford, mentioned: “The course was powerful; it was actually onerous. London is fairly flat, in order that was approach more durable.”

It remained unclear, with a day of occasions to go, which nations will take the main positions behind China and the US within the medal desk, with Australia, Japan, France after which Britain, in sixth, on an identical tally.

It was a robust day for France whose males’s volleyball workforce efficiently defended their Olympic title towards Poland whereas Althéa Laurin gained the ladies’s +67kg taekwondo gold, permitting the host nation to increase its lead over Group GB within the desk. There was additionally a primary medal within the athletics for the host nation when Cyréna Samba-Mayela took silver in a photo-finish within the ladies’s 100m hurdles behind Masai Russell of the US.

UK Sport had forecast that Group GB would win between 50 and 70 medals in Paris. It’s trying seemingly that they’ll come near their Tokyo haul of 64 medals. France and Britain, who’ve been vying for fifth place, will each have alternatives so as to add to their complete in the present day.

Three years in the past, Georgia Bell watched the Tokyo Olympics like the remainder of us: from the sofa. She was 27, retired as a critical athlete, and the residing embodiment of Marlon Brando’s character Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. Coulda been a contender? Bell was all the time on the verge till accidents intervened.

However as she watched Crew GB’s Alex Bell and Katie Snowden, athletes she had competed in opposition to as juniors, one thing started to stir. A couple of months later Bell went from that sofa to a 5km parkrun in Bushy Park. Slowly she started to run extra. Race extra. And now, extremely, she is an Olympic 1500m bronze medallist.

“After I acquired again into operating the purpose wasn’t to attempt to make the Olympics,” she mentioned afterwards. “That will have been completely bonkers. It was simply going again to one thing that I actually liked.”

And now look. This was a medal achieved the laborious method, as Bell clung on for pricey life on a brutal first lap that was run in sub four-minute mile tempo. However having connected herself like a limpet to a pack of eight main athletes, she discovered herself transferring via the sphere because the bell rang.

Coming across the remaining bend, it nonetheless appeared as if the 30-year-old had an excessive amount of to do. However one way or the other Bell discovered a second and a 3rd wind to pip the Ethiopian Diribe Welteji to bronze. Her time? A staggering 3min 52.61sec – a brand new British document and a 10-second enchancment to her private better of 4:03 firstly of the 12 months.

“After I noticed them coming via, 59.6, I used to be like: ‘Oh,’” mentioned Bell. “I knew it was going to be painful. I simply thought: ‘I do know I can end robust.’ So I zoned out after that first lap and tried to sit down within the practice and never ­overthink it.”

Crew GB won’t ever admit it, however some medals are merely extra inspirational than others. And watching an athlete who had stop operating on the monitor between 2017 and 2022 be resuscitated by a love of parkrun was an actual This Lady Can second.

Kenya’s Religion Kipyegon took gold in 3:51:29, with Australia’s Jessica Hull incomes silver in 3:52.56. The opposite British runner within the remaining, Laura Muir, ran a extremely commendable race to ­end fifth in 3:53.37.

To make it even sweeter for Bell, she was truly born in Paris. “On the beginning line, I used to be telling myself that I used to be born for this within the sense that I used to be born in Paris 30 years in the past. I simply felt like I’ve nothing to lose, I had no stress on me. So I believed: ‘Simply go for it, and see what occurs.’”

Some might be shocked at this end result. However Bell all the time had expertise. As an adolescent, she was among the many finest 800m runners within the nation, with a private better of 2min 3sec. Nevertheless, after repeatedly getting injured whereas on the College of California, Berkeley, she determined to stop the game.

“I had plenty of stress fractures,” she mentioned. “I used to be in California for 2 years and I’d say in all probability a few 12 months of that I used to be in a boot. I used to be simply by no means monitor match. All the time had an excellent cross-country season or did cross-country after which was all the time injured each indoor and out of doors.”

However throughout lockdown, Bell began doing lengthy cycle rides and occasional runs with out issues. By November 2022 she was assured sufficient to get again in contact together with her outdated coaches, Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, who guided Keely Hodgkinson to the 800m Olympic gold medal this previous week. Would they be fascinated by taking her again?

They had been. And beneath their teaching, which entails supplementing 30 miles of operating every week with 100 miles of biking, she has soared.

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Such was Bell’s enchancment that in March she ran for Nice Britain for the primary time, ending fourth on the world indoor championships in Glasgow. Even so, few anticipated her to win a medal in Paris. The bookies, who will not be recognized for giving cash away, gave her only a 20% probability beforehand.

However on a stunning remaining evening on the Stade de France, the place Emmanuel Wanyonyi took 800m gold and Jakob Ingebrigtsen powered away to win the 5,000m, Bell confounded expectations once more.

But it was a close-run factor, as she discovered herself in fourth with 100m to go. “I used to be pondering: ‘I can pull this out,’” she mentioned. “I completed fourth on the world indoors and I do know what it’s like. I simply wanted to seek out one thing further. And I discovered it.”

What makes Bell’s accomplishment much more spectacular is that till Could she mixed coaching twice a day together with her full-time job in cybersecurity earlier than taking a sabbatical to organize for Paris. Now, although, she had a dilemma.

“Work had been like: ‘For those who go to the Olympics and get a medal, we nonetheless need you again,’” she confessed. “And after they mentioned that on 1 Could, when the laptop computer acquired slammed shut, I believed: ‘There’s no method I’ll win a medal.’

With a smile, she added: “I’ll in all probability have a chat with them now issues have modified barely.” If Bell negotiates as laborious as she runs, it will likely be an attention-grabbing dialog.

A Leicester maze has been designed to honour Group GB heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

Wistow Maze is themed across the Olympics this 12 months, and its maize maze has been designed within the form of a javelin thrower.

Javelin is likely one of the seven occasions within the heptathlon, the game which Johnson-Thompson has competed in in any respect 4 Olympic video games since London 2012.

The maze comprises 12 quiz boards, hidden in three miles of pathways, that take a look at guests’ data of Olympic host nations and their most well-known landmarks.

“This 12 months, the Wistow Maze actually has the profitable mixture of enjoyable and studying, in addition to being a celebration of one of many UK’s greatest sporting competitions”, stated Diana Brooks, proprietor of Wistow Maze.

On the finish of the season, the maze is harvested for cattle fodder after which redesigned the next 12 months utilizing GPS satellite tv for pc expertise.

It would stay open every day till 1 September, then solely on weekends till 15 September.

Johnson-Thompson, from Liverpool, ended her look forward to an Olympic heptathlon medal after taking silver in a dramatic concluding 800m in Paris on Friday.

Comply with BBC Leicester on Fb, on X, or on Instagram. Ship your story concepts to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or by way of WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.

• Group USA received Olympic males’s basketball gold for the fifth Video games in a row
• LeBron James, Steph Curry and Co defeated France 98-87 in Saturday’s remaining
• In James, Curry and Kevin Durant, the USA had an iconic nucleus at Paris 2024

By Nik Simon

Revealed: 19:19 EDT, 10 August 2024 | Up to date: 21:04 EDT, 10 August 2024

The 2024 Olympicmen’s basketball match ends with the U.S. taking over host France in a showdown at Bercy Enviornment.

Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James will lead the workforce because it seeks a fifth consecutive gold medal and seventeenth general.

Residence-court edge hasn’t all the time been unbeatable at Olympics

France shall be “house” for each basketball gold medal video games — the boys’s one on Saturday night time and the ladies’s one on Sunday afternoon, every time towards the U.S.

Residence groups are 5-2 getting into tonight when enjoying for basketball gold on house soil.

The U.S. women and men every gained in 1984 and 1996, sweeping the titles in Los Angeles and Atlanta. The ladies’s workforce from the Soviet Union gained in Moscow in 1980.

Australia’s ladies misplaced to the U.S. at Sydney in 2000 and Japan’s ladies additionally misplaced to the U.S. on the Tokyo Video games three years in the past.

For the Holidays, it’s 4 medals in 5 Olympics

Jrue Vacation was on the U.S. males’s basketball workforce that gained gold in Tokyo three years in the past. He’s bought an opportunity for a second hoops gold arising.

That might put him in a tie for the lead in his family.

Vacation’s spouse is Lauren Cheney Vacation, a two-time U.S. ladies’s soccer gold medalist . She gained gold in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.

Jrue Vacation will get a second Olympic medal in Paris on Saturday night time, both gold or silver. However he wants gold to tie his spouse’s mark.

“One, it means I can sit on the desk with my spouse, in order that’d be cool,” Jrue Vacation mentioned. “It’s simply an honor and a blessing. I used to be there for her in 2012 to observe her compete, after which her being right here for this one, it’s been superior to get to share it with my household.”

What to anticipate within the males’s basketball gold medal recreation

If historical past is any information, the gold medal recreation in males’s basketball between the U.S. and France may not be tremendous shut.

There have been solely two Olympic males’s basketball finals in historical past determined by 5 factors or much less: the extremely controversial 51-50 win by the Soviet Union over the U.S. in 1972, and the 87-82 win by the People over France on the Tokyo Video games three years in the past.

The common margin of victory in each different Olympic males’s gold medal recreation: 19.6 factors.

For the boys’s gold medal recreation, celebrities have seat assignments

Comic Jimmy Fallon has a pair seats ready for him. Scottie Pippen, who performed on two “Dream Groups” for the U.S. in 1992 and 1996, and Carmelo Anthony even have seats with their names on them.

Sue Fowl and Megan Rapinoe are hustling over from watching the U.S. ladies take gold in soccer together with South Carolina coach Daybreak Staley. Solely Fowl, who gained 5 Olympic gold medals, and Rapinoe, have seats marked with their names.

Followers are dressed to impress

An hour earlier than tip-off, there have been a large assortment of NBA and Olympic jerseys within the stands with followers representing LeBron James, Scottie Pippen, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Tony Parker and Victor Wembanyama.

They’re on the court docket to heat up for gold

The primary three individuals on the court docket for the Olympic gold medal recreation had been U.S. assistant coaches Erik Spoelstra, Tyronn Lue and Mark Few.

There are strict guidelines about gamers not having the ability to take the court docket till precisely 60 minutes till tip-off. The primary gamers to make it on the market had been LeBron James (who began with a dunk) for the U.S. and Victor Wembanyama for France.

And let’s simply say LeBron’s sneakers shall be trending — a metallic inexperienced, glowing within the gentle.

Two USA v. France video games this weekend set the stage for main fan showings

France is about for an enormous basketball weekend to cap the Paris Olympics, with each the boys’s and girls’s groups enjoying for gold medals. And so they’re enjoying the People.

The French groups won’t be missing for assist.

Each time the French groups have performed — whether or not in Lille throughout pool play or now in Paris at Bercy Enviornment — followers not been timid in exhibiting up and exhibiting out.

U.S. ahead Breanna Stewart is wanting ahead to the atmosphere.

“Simply the way in which that the followers are persevering with to assist their international locations and are available out to France,” Stewart mentioned, ”… hopefully we bought some from the US coming. They’re being loud and making an affect in ladies’s sports activities.”

▶ Learn extra in regards to the France v. USA video games this weekend

Purple, white and blue in every single place

Some followers are submitting into Bercy Enviornment for the boys’s basketball ultimate, together with just a few People with purple, white and blue flags.

On that entrance, they’re outnumbered.

France — with its blue, white and purple tricolor flag — clearly has the identical shade scheme, and nicely over 1,000 handheld flags had been distributed in a seating space behind one of many baskets for the boys’s gold-medal recreation.

In the meantime, French basketball legend Tony Parker shall be a part of the pregame ceremony, including much more aptitude to the festivities earlier than the sport begins.

Why Jayson Tatum isn’t enjoying a lot

Jayson Tatum has not performed in two of the 5 U.S. video games on the Paris Olympics, held out of each matchups towards Serbia.

And, as soon as once more, U.S. coach Steve Kerr mentioned that it’s not an indictment of Tatum.

“It’s not what I’m not seeing from Jayson. It’s what I’ve seen from the opposite guys,” Kerr mentioned. “Like I’ve mentioned many instances throughout this match and this final six weeks, it’s simply exhausting to play 11 individuals, even in an NBA recreation.”

▶ Learn extra on Kerr’s lineup choices and the People’ balanced offense

Kevin Durant’s greatest fan is watching him in Paris: his mother, Wanda

They gave Kevin Durant the sport ball after he broke Lisa Leslie’s all-time U.S. Olympic basketball scoring report within the quarterfinals of the Paris Video games. And, in fact, he bought loads of congratulations afterward from his greatest fan.

That fan — Wanda Durant, his mom — wasn’t stunned with how her son reacted to her phrases. To her, it was a really large deal.

To her son, the report is simply one thing that occurred. He’s bought a fourth Olympic gold on his thoughts and that’s his motivation proper now.

▶ Learn extra on Kevin and Wanda Durant

Victor Wembanyama shall be a medalist — the query is whether or not it’ll be gold or silver

Blood stained the neckline of Victor Wembanyama ’s jersey after France clinched a spot within the gold-medal recreation on the Paris Olympics, courtesy of a recent reduce on the left aspect of his neck. He did loads of sweating throughout the recreation and was holding again tears when it was throughout.

Blood, sweat and tears. How becoming.

“In our nationwide anthem, we discuss blood,” Wembanyama mentioned. “We’re keen to spill blood on the court docket. So, it’s no large deal. If it permits us to win gold, I’m providing. Take all of it.”

Wembanyama — NBA rookie of the 12 months, No. 1 draft decide, already a world phenomenon — has a brand new accolade. He’s an Olympic medalist. The one query is whether or not it’ll be gold or silver, one thing that’ll be decided Saturday night time within the ultimate recreation of the boys’s basketball match on the Paris Video games.

▶ Learn extra about Victor Wembanyama’s Olympics efficiency

Booed all Olympics by the French, Joel Embiid now faces France

French followers have booed Joel Embiid all Olympics — regardless of who the U.S. is dealing with.

All of it stems from his choice to play for the U.S. reasonably than France, which granted him naturalized citizenship standing in 2022 though he has by no means lived there.

The boo birds will nearly definitely be out in full pressure with France towards the U.S. for gold.

▶ Learn extra about what Embiid thinks of the booing

Ladies’s basketball ultimate can be US vs. France

After the U.S. and France play for males’s basketball gold, the identical international locations are within the ladies’s ultimate on Sunday.

The U.S. has gained 60 consecutive video games on the Olympics, a streak that dates to 1992 in Barcelona.

A victory would give Diana Taurasi a sixth consecutive gold medal, making her essentially the most embellished basketball participant in Olympic historical past, breaking a tie with longtime teammate Sue Fowl, who gained 5.

▶ Learn extra in regards to the second U.S.-France hoops ultimate in Paris

A glance again on the US-France ultimate in Tokyo

The boys’s basketball ultimate on the Paris Olympics is a rematch of the gold-medal recreation in Tokyo three years in the past.

Kevin Durant scored 29 factors and joined Carmelo Anthony as the one three-time males’s gold medalists in Olympic historical past, Jayson Tatum added 19 and the U.S. held off France 87-82.

Nikola Jokic leads Serbia to Olympic basketball bronze medal by beating Germany

Nikola Jokic had the fifth triple-double in Olympics historical past, and Serbia beat Germany 93-83 to win the bronze medal in males’s basketball on the Paris Olympics.

Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP from the Denver Nuggets, completed with 19 factors, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to assist Serbia declare its first medal since successful silver in Rio in 2016.

Serbia bounced again after practically upsetting the four-time defending gold medalist U.S. within the semifinals.

▶ Learn extra about Serbia’s win over Germany

US males’s basketball is about for an exciting Paris end

The boys’s basketball match ends with the U.S. taking over host France in a showdown at Bercy Enviornment.

The U.S. males rallied to beat Serbia 95-91 in a compelling semifinal. Stephen Curry had 36 factors.

Now Curry, Kevin Durant and LeBron James will lead the workforce because it seeks a fifth consecutive gold medal and seventeenth general.

The French, led by phenom Victor Wembanyama, are searching for their first gold after settling for silver on the 1948, 2000 and 2020 Olympics, shedding the ultimate to the People in every of these tournaments. France held off World Cup champion Germany 73-69 to advance to Saturday’s ultimate.

The sport, a rematch of the ultimate in Tokyo three years in the past, is about to begin at 9:30 p.m. CEST/3:30 p.m. EDT.

Maybe predictably, and positively deservedly, it was scorer of the sport’s opening aim, Alejandro Garnacho, who took the lion’s share of the vote – 41 per cent – for his essential contribution to the sport.

The Argentina worldwide was launched simply earlier than the hour mark by Erik ten Hag and used what time he needed to nice impact. Not solely did he get his aim, however moments earlier than that sensible end under the grasp of Ederson, he performed an inviting ball throughout the penalty space for Marcus Rashford to run onto. Our no.10 linked with the cross, however crashed the ball towards the publish along with his first-time effort.

However for Bernardo Silva’s late equaliser, the 20-year-old would have as soon as once more been celebrating taking part in a pivotal position within the capturing of silverware for United at Wembley.

Having made an robust influence off the bench, Garnacho adopted it up within the penalty shootout, coolly dispatching his spot-kick past the Metropolis goalkeeper, however the Blues took the ultimate honours on the day.

Manchester United have agreed a deal to signal Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich, and the defender has arrived at Carrington with right-back Noussair Mazraoui to finish their medicals.

The De Ligt deal is price €50m (£42.9m), with an preliminary €45m (£38.6m) plus €5m (£4.3m) in add-ons.

De Ligt would have to be registered by noon on Thursday to be obtainable for Manchester United’s opening Premier League match towards Fulham on Friday, dwell on Sky Sports activities.

The 24-year-old has spent two seasons at Bayern Munich since signing from Juventus, taking part in 73 occasions and scoring 5 targets.

De Ligt additionally performed beneath Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag at Ajax, the place they received the Eredivisie in 2019.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka is at present present process a medical at West Ham with Man Utd on the right track to signal Mazraoui as soon as the deal is accomplished.

United are anticipated to obtain a £15m payment for the previous Crystal Palace right-back.

Wan-Bissaka is about to get replaced by Mazraoui after Man Utd agreed a £17.2m take care of Bayern for the Morocco worldwide.

Would De Ligt assist ease Man Utd defensive damage disaster?

De Ligt can be United’s second centre-back signing of the summer time after the £59m arrival of Leny Yoro.

The 18-year-old impressed in his pre-season debut towards Rangers however faces a three-month stint on the sidelines after struggling a foot damage towards Arsenal.

United’s defence was ravaged by accidents final season and that disaster has spilled into this marketing campaign.

There was some excellent news as Harry Maguire began towards Manchester Metropolis within the Neighborhood Protect, however Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw weren’t within the matchday squad. Lindelof has entered the ultimate 12 months of his contract.

Tyrell Malacia was additionally absent, however each Lisandro Martinez and Diogo Dalot performed all the recreation at Wembley as Man Utd misplaced on penalties.

De Ligt thrived beneath Ten Hag – May he accomplish that once more at Man Utd?

Evaluation from Sky Sports activities’ Adam Bate:

“I have no idea if Matthijs de Ligt has proven 60 to 80 per cent of his potential,” Erik ten Hag mentioned again in 2019. “However we’re speaking about top-of-the-line defenders in Europe and I’ve little doubt that he’ll quickly be primary on this place.”

De Ligt was 19 on the time and Ten Hag’s captain at Ajax on their run to the brink of the Champions League last. He had been 17 when turning into the youngest participant to function in a Europa League last and departed, nonetheless a young person, having made 100 senior appearances.

There was little doubt that he was certain for extra glory at Juventus and past. Ten Hag, talking extra broadly about younger Ajax gamers, name-checked De Ligt as a kind of who’ve “a sure invincible feeling” about them. He was a positive factor.

However the participant now being pursued by Manchester United is at a barely totally different stage of his profession. His time in Turin was not more than a certified success. At Bayern Munich, his kind dipped, leading to him dropping his place within the facet for each membership and nation.

And but, there’s optimism. At 24, there’s nonetheless time for him to return once more. De Ligt retains the basics. There’s a perception that if his previous coach turns into his new one, the most effective years might but be forward of him. Ten Hag might assist to rediscover his potential.

And that potential stays huge.

Learn extra from Adam Bate on De Ligt HERE