The Olympics begins with a unique opening ceremony on Friday night along the River Seine before the competitive action gets going at Paris 2024 on Saturday and continues for 16 days.
Team GB are taking more than 300 athletes to the Games including Andy Murray, twice an Olympic champion who announced on arrival in Paris on Tuesday that this would be the final tennis tournament of his career – a fitting stage to exit after his success in London and Rio de Janeiro.
But Charlotte Dujardin, a six-time Olympic medallist, has pulled out of all competition while the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) investigates a video from four years ago showing her making “an error of judgement” during a coaching session.
“What happened was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils, however there is no excuse,” she said in a statement. “I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example in that moment.”
Follow the latest news and build-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics below.
Shane Lowry aiming for gold at Paris Olympics
Team Ireland golfer Shane Lowry has made clear his intention to win a medal at the Olympics this summer.
The 37-year-old finished sixth at the British Open but is aiming high in Paris.
“Onwards and upwards and onto the Olympics and try to win a medal for Ireland and get on from there,” Lowry said.
“I’m playing good golf and I’d love to win a medal. Obviously I’d want it to be gold, but I’d probably take either three. I’m very excited about it.
“Obviously Le Golf National is going to be a great test and a great course and that medal isn’t going to be around your neck until you’re finished on that 18th green at that place.”
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 17:30
Tom Daley jumps on cardboard ‘anti-sex’ athletes’ village bed to test sturdiness
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 17:00
The Olympic sports in Paris with no British athletes competing
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 16:35
Charlotte Dujardin withdraws from Paris 2024 Olympics
Charlotte Dujardin had previously admitted that becoming the most successful female British Olympian would be “surreal”.
“If I achieve that, it will be incredible,” she told the Telegraph.
“My dream was always just to get to the Olympics. I didn’t think there could be anything more special than that. Then in London, I thought this was not real: first Olympics, home crowd, double gold? Yeah, right.
“Now to think I could be at the very top, how surreal is that? I don’t see it as pressure, though. Like I always do, I just want to go out there and enjoy it. I mean, it’s not like every person gets to go to an Olympics.”
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 16:15
Charlotte Dujardin withdraws from Paris 2024 Olympics
Charlotte Dujardin was one of Britain’s most lauded athletes at the London 2012 Olympics, winning both individual and team gold medals on her horse Valegro.
More medals followed in Rio four years later, before she won two bronzes at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games on a different horse, Gio.
Had she competed at the Paris Olympics, Dujardin would have needed just one medal to become the most-decorated British female Olympian ahead of now-retired cyclist Dame Laura Kenny.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 16:00
Charlotte Dujardin withdraws from Paris 2024 Olympics
Dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin has withdrawn from the Olympics.
The Team GB athlete, who could have become Britain’s most successful ever female Olympian this summer, cited the emergence of a video from four years ago which showed her “making an error of judgement during a coaching session”.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 15:47
Jannik Sinner delays Olympics preperation due to illness
World No.1 Jannik Sinner will not arrive at the Paris Olympics until Thursday after developing a fever, according to a report from ANSA.
While the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal are all busy preparing at Roland Garros, Sinner’s focus will be on his recuperation.
The Italian was knocked out of Wimbledon by Daniil Medvedev at the quarter-final stage.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 15:32
Olympics chiefs play down Covid fears as first athletes test positive
Olympics chiefs have played down fears of a Covid cluster at the Paris Games after the Australia water polo team reported two players had tested positive and were isolating.
The Australian team said the first athlete to test positive for Covid chose not to train with her team-mates on Tuesday afternoon and a second player, who was a close contact, later tested positive as well.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were delayed by a year and held largely without spectators but Paris 2024 will be the first post-pandemic summer Olympics. While there is no obligation to wear a mask, anybody with symptoms is being asked to stay at home or at their hotel to avoid spreading the disease.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 15:14
Comment: Allowing into the Olympics a Dutch athlete convicted of raping a child is a disgrace
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 15:00
Passports, in-flight meals and jet lag: How horses travel to the Olympics
Welcome aboard, hope you are standing comfortably. For the horses on the US eventing team, the journey to France for the Paris Olympics was — quite literally — a four-legged journey.
Their trek began on a farm in Pennsylvania. They were driven to JFK airport last Wednesday to board an eight-hour flight to Luxembourg. The following afternoon the horses went by lorry to their pre-Olympic base camp in Vittel, located about four hours outside of Paris.
Having rested, shaken off jet lag and done some gentle trotting, they are scheduled to reach the Palace of Versailles for their Olympic check-in on Wednesday.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 14:40
