FortunebetsRashidat Adeleke has become the first Irish female sprinter to reach an Olympic final after she qualified for the 400m final in Paris.
The Dubliner finished with a time of 49.95 just behind Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser who finished first.
Eid Naser is a former world champion who has since served a doping ban.
She will run in Friday’s final and will be hoping she can get in amongst the medals after a strong showing so far.
The final is scheduled to take place on 7pm on Friday evening.
American Quincy Hall dug deep in the final metres to overhaul Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith and take the Olympic 400 metres gold in another race of scintillating quality on Wednesday.
Hudson-Smith seemed on course to win his country’s first gold over the distance since “Chariots of Fire” Eric Liddell in the Paris Games 100 years ago, but he tied up at the end and Hall swept past to win in a personal best 43.40 seconds and give the U.S. their first triumph since LaShawn Merritt in 2008.
Hudson-Smith bettered his own European record with 43.44 for silver and Zambia’s 21-year-old Muzala Samukonga set his second successive national record with 43.74 to take bronze.
The first five men home were all under 44 seconds.
Noah Lyles of the United States won the men’s Olympic 100 metres gold medal on Sunday.
Kishane Thompson of Jamaica took the silver in the same time and Fred Kerley of the U.S. claimed bronze in 9.81.
Thompson looked to claim the win as he took the lead near the end, but Lyles pipped him on the line by fractions of a second with a time of 9.79.
It was the first time an American had won the title since Justin Gatlin in 2004 and Lyles raised his arms in triumph to wild cheers from the packed crowd at the Stade de France as his name appeared at the top of the standings.
He made a slower start out of the blocks than his rivals but accelerated through the finish to clinch victory in style.
Daniel Wiffen picked up a bronze medal at this year’s Olympic Games.
The Armagh man finished third in the final of the 1500-metre freestyle final.
It is his second medal of the games after winning gold in the 800 metres during the week.
The American swimmer Bobby Finke broke the world record to take gold, while Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri took silver.
Nigerian sprinter, Favour Ofili, expressed her frustration on Tuesday, revealing that she will not compete in the 100-metre race at the ongoing Olympics in Paris due to administrative failures by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria and the Nigerian Olympic Committee.
She said this in a series of tweets on Tuesday night calling for accountability from those responsible and voiced her skepticism about the trustworthiness of both organisations.
The LSU Track and Field alumni hopes to be entered in the 200-metre event.
LSU track refers to the track and field programme at Louisiana State University.
Her post read, “It is with great regret that I have just been told I will not be competing in the 100 metres at this Olympic Games. I qualified, but those with the AFN and NOC failed to enter me. I have worked for four years to earn this opportunity. For what?”
Despite qualifying for the event, Ofili disclosed that the officials did not enter her, marking a repeat of the previous Olympics, Tokyo 2020.
She added, “Please remember, in the last Olympic Games, I was not able to compete because AFN, NADC and NOC failed to release funds for athletes to be tested, which made 14 Nigerian athletes that qualified to not compete. Now this……”
Daniel Wiffen became the first Irishman to win an Olympic swimming medal when he struck gold with a thrilling 800 meters freestyle victory at the Paris Games on Tuesday.
With his twin brother watching in the crowd, the 23-year-old world champion touched out in an Olympic record time of seven minutes 38.19 seconds to secure Ireland’s first gold of the Games.
Reigning Olympic champion Bobby Finke of the United States took the silver, 0.56 behind, and Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri the bronze.
The only other Irish swimmer to win an Olympic swimming title was women’s triple champion Michelle Smith in 1996, and Wiffen was also the North’s first gold medallist in 36 years.
Elijah Winnington led for the first 350 metres, with Wiffen easing into second place only at 250, but the Australian faded and the battle between the top three took off.
Wiffen led at the halfway point with Finke second, but Paltrinieri took the lead at 650 and stayed there until the final 50.
The Armagh man, who had appeared to be spent, then turned on the afterburners and blasted down the final length to touch the wall first.
He turned around in triumph, putting his hands to his head before raising his fists to salute the crowd – with a vocal Irish contingent – at the La Defense Arena.
Wiffen won 800 and 1,500 gold at the world championships in Doha in February.
Tokyo 2020 marked the return of the men’s event for the first time since 1904 and Wiffen missed out on the final, but he laid down a marker in Paris with the fastest qualifying time in Monday’s heats.
Wiffen said: “I don’t think a lot of people actually believed me that I was going to do it tonight but yeah it was incredible. I’ve done it – that’s all I want to say!
“I was so nervous, that’s the most nervous I’ve ever been for a race but do you know what calmed me down – I heard by brother shout for me as soon as I walked out. I heard none of the crowd – just him, and that’s what calmed me down, and really levelled my head.”
“I’m not going to lie, there’s this whole saying going around that I’m getting ‘Finked’ – I’m glad to say I haven’t been ‘Finked” so obviously pretty happy to get my hand on the wall first.”
Simone Biles claimed her first Olympic gold medal since coming to terms with the ‘twisties’.
Watched by Serena Williams and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Biles brought the house down with her show-closing floor routine, showing none of the injury angst that had afflicted her during the qualifying process two days earlier.
In truth Biles could simply have swirled around the floor and soaked up the acclaim such was the American dominance of the competition, as they finished almost six points clear of silver medallists Italy.
Great Britain, whose squad was decimated by injuries to the Gadirova twins and Ondine Achampong, qualified in seventh and could harbour few realistic hopes of emulating their stunning bronze medal win in Tokyo three years ago.
But the team of Becky Downie, Alice Kinsella, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Ruby Evans and 16-year-old Abigail Martin confounded expectations with a near-faultless display and were placed third until the final piece of apparatus.
Downie admitted the team briefly believed they may have just done enough to reach the podium but ultimately, Brazil’s big finish on vault let the South Americans leapfrog into the bronze medal position.
“Once Alice had gone through beam I thought we’d done enough from our adding-up, but then it came through that we were going to be fourth,” said Downie.
“It is tough when you come so close, but we gave our all. It was an emotional day for me but I felt quite calm. I wanted to take it all in because I know I don’t have many of these moments left, and I enjoyed every minute.”
The day was especially poignant for Downie as it fell on the birthday of her brother Josh, who died suddenly at the age of 24 in 2021, as she was preparing to try to earn a place in the team for Tokyo.
The 32-year-old Downie dazzled throughout, and delivered a score of 14.933 on the uneven bars which was the highest of the day, and will lift her into medal contention for the individual apparatus final this week.
For Biles and her US team-mates Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Sunisa Lee and Hezly Rivera, gold was a virtual certainty from the start, and a smiling Biles appeared to revel in the redemptive moment as they eased to gold.
It was in the Tokyo team final in 2021 that Biles left the floor during warm-ups for her first rotation, subsequently playing no part in the final and revealing she was suffering from a mental block – the so-called ‘twisties’ – that would ultimately see her miss out on all but one of her individual finals.
On Tuesday night in Bercy, Biles was back to her best, enthralling the packed crowd as she soared to her eighth Olympic medal, allowing her to extend her undisputed status as the most decorated athlete – male or female – in her sport.
“After I finished vault I was relieved – I was like, woo, there’s no flashbacks,” said Biles. “I did feel a lot of relief and as soon as I landed vault I knew that we were going to do this.”
Biles still has the all-around final and three out of four individual apparatus finals in Paris in which to enhance her legacy further. The packed crowds will return, and so will the gold rush.
An emotional Andy Murray continued to write a remarkable final chapter to his career in Paris as he and Dan Evans conjured another dramatic escape to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles.
After the drama of Sunday’s five-match-point-saving comeback to beat Japanese duo Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori, it appeared this would be slightly less nail-biting when they brought up two match points in the second-set tie-break against Belgian duo Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.
But instead, Murray and Evans were taken to another match tie-break by last year’s French Open finalists and had to save two more match points before claiming a 6-3 6-7 (8) (11/9) victory and a place in the last eight.
Murray and Evans again bounced around the court with joy after the latter put away the decisive volley before the moment caught up with the Scot and he sat on his chair with head in hands.
“Obviously it’s unbelievably emotional,” said Murray. “You’re obviously unbelievably happy and then, I don’t know why it happens, it’s like happy tears. I was really emotional at the end of the match.
“Obviously extremely happy, excited that we managed to get through and another amazing finish so it takes a lot out of you that sort of stuff. I’m glad we get a day off tomorrow.”
Murray and Evans do not yet know who they will play next, with American duo Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul due to play Dutchmen Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer on Wednesday.
But whichever pair it is, Murray refused to buy into the idea that a medal is somehow written in the stars.
“We were very lucky in the first match and today we weren’t,” said the 37-year-old, who seemed almost as excited to add two new Olympic pins to his vast collection in the media mixed zone.
“The margins are so fine, we need to perform at a really high level in a couple of days’ time to go through.
“And you build confidence by winning matches like that and I think your opponents see that, that you’re coming back when you’re behind and that builds belief.
“But you can’t have that mentality of ‘Oh this is just going to happen now.’ We need to be switched on for the next one and let’s see what happens in a couple of days.”
Court Suzanne Lenglen was again less than half empty when Murray and Evans walked out, with many fans having left after watching Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz reach the quarter-finals.
It seemed that those who were left, though, nearly all waved British flags as they sought to create a fitting atmosphere.
The British pair had spoken of the need to start much better than in their great escape on Sunday and they were as good as their word.
They broke the Vliegen serve in the second game courtesy of some fine returning and a pinpoint Evans lob, and the only moment of concern in the first set came in the final game.
Evans, who was hugely fired up throughout, was given a time violation for taking too long before serving and then threw his racket to the clay after Vliegen’s return hit the tape and landed in to give the Belgians break point, but Evans saved it and eventually held.
The duo then saw two break points come and go at 4-4 in the second set before a topsy-turvy tie-break where Gille and Vliegen saved two match points, one with an extremely fortunate volley off the frame, and took it when Evans double-faulted – a third of the breaker for him and Murray.
The momentum swung from one pair to the other in the deciding tie-break until Gille and Vliegen created two match points at 9-7 but Murray and Evans again simply refused to be beaten.
“What happened again was incredible,” said Evans. “We’re getting really close to doing something pretty special. We played great tonight. People see that, see how good we’ve been in tight moments, and we’re getting better and better.
“I thought we were unlucky not to win 7-6 in the second set. How that volley went in, I still don’t know. I don’t think he wants to go home, does he? He’s amazing to play with. I’m over the moon that I came.”
They could not face Nadal and Alcaraz until what would be a dream final. The all-star duo recovered from losing the second set against Dutch pair Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof to triumph 6-4 6-7 (2) (10/2).
The Paris Olympics are a few days away and Nigeria, the giant of Africa, pulsates with vibrant energy and a winning spirit that shines on the world stage as our athletes set out to break every record possible at the 2024 Olympics starting on July 26, 2024. And where does that spirit burn brightest? On the Olympic podium, draped in gold that signifies victory!
While some nations have overflowing trophy cabinets, Nigeria’s five Olympic gold medals hold a special weight. Each tells a story of resilience, audacious talent, and the unwavering belief that anything is possible.
The year is etched in Nigerians hearts. A young, unfancied football team, the Super Eagles, took on the footballing giants Argentina in the final. Against all odds, they clawed their way back from a deficit, with Emmanuel Amunike’s golden goal in the dying minutes sending the nation into a frenzy. This win wasn’t just about football; it was a roar that announced Africa’s arrival on the world sporting scene.
Atlanta wasn’t done celebrating Nigeria! Chioma Ajunwa defied expectations with a thunderous long jump, snatching the gold medal from the grasp of favorites like Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Her infectious victory dance became an iconic image, a celebration of Nigerian power and athleticism.
At the Sydney Olympics, Nigeria flexed its muscular might in a different arena. Ruth Ogbeifo, a weightlifting wonder, lifted double her body weight to secure gold! Her feat became an inspiration for aspiring female athletes across the nation.
Beijing witnessed Nigeria’s golden touch return, this time in pairs. Blessing Okagbare and Ajoke Odumosu triumphed in the women’s long jump and discus throw. Their victories showcased the depth of Nigerian athletics talent and the nation’s unwavering commitment to sporting excellence.
These five golden moments are just a glimpse into Nigeria’s rich Olympic history. They are a testament to the unwavering spirit of a nation that continues to defy expectations and dance on the world stage. So, the next time you see the Nigerian flag raised high, remember the stories it tells – stories of triumph, resilience, and a nation that grabs hold of gold.
As Nigeria gears up to showcase her athletic prowess on the world stage once again, don’t forget to cheer them on by talking about their feats, triumphs and attempts as Nigeria’s talented athletes chase Olympic gold.