Paris, July 30 (IANS) Ever since the Paris Olympics began, the organising committee has received severe criticism from foreign athletes and team members over the lack of basic facilities at the venues and Games Village.

One athlete on condition of anonymity alleged to IANS that there is “no food” available in Games Village when they return after participating in their events.

“And when we asked officials of the Organising Committee or volunteers, they had no answers. These basics need to be addressed by the OC (organising committee) urgently,” the athlete told IANS.

Another athlete said, “We are finding it difficult to explain our requirements. Even a star international tennis player — can’t name him — also didn’t get the food. Which was shocking for all of us.”

Earlier, the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics copped significant backlash for its depiction of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper” with “drag queens” making up for the participants. This has left many people fuming as they view it as disrespectful and hurting their religious beliefs.

The Catholic Church of France expressed its disapproval, starting on its account on X: “Unfortunately, this ceremony contained scenes that mocked Christianity, which we deeply regret.”

The organisers later apologised for this mishap.

The Indian Olympics Association (IOA) president PT Usha was not happy with the Opening Ceremony and said the event did not focus enough on the athletes.

“In the opening ceremony, the organisers should have focused more on athletes. This is an athlete’s event, they should give more importance to players as the attention was on them for only a few seconds, otherwise, everything was good,” PT Usha told IANS.

Even the IOC was not spared embarrassment as the Olympic flag was raised upside down when it was hoisted in front of all delegates at the end of the Parade of Nations route in front of the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony. It definitely was not funny for the IOC bigwigs.

As far as the lack of proper food is concerned, the head of the Great Britain delegation raised this issue ahead of the first day of competitions. Many GBR athletes had to spend the night without food, forcing the delegation chief to urgently summon a chef from home to take care of their culinary needs for the rest of the Games.

–IANS

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Paris, July 30 (IANS) Defending champion Tom Pidcock produced one of the great rides to snatch his second gold medal in the men’s mountain bike cross country at the Paris Olympics on Monday. The British rider overcame a front wheel puncture that saw him drop 36 seconds through the race to overtake France’s Victor Koretzky as they battled head-to-head in the final stretch of the race.

Pidcock finished the eight circuits of the 4.4-kilometre course in one hour, 26 minutes and 22 seconds, nine seconds ahead of Koretzky and with South Africa’s Alan Hatherly claiming the bronze medal two more seconds back.

Pidcock’s win means he successfully defends the gold he won in Tokyo and comes a day before his 25th birthday, reports Xinhua.

The 36 men, representing 27 nations, tackled eight laps of the man-made course that featured fast compacted gravel, a challenging drop-off, and tough rock garden features. For half the race, Koretzky had promised a French double, following Sunday’s victory for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, but despite the deafening support, it was not to be. Pidcock recovered the time lost due to the puncture to take glory.

“This week, with the Olympics there are so many things to consider by the time you get to the start line. I knew that it would not be easy today,” said the new Olympic Champion, Tom Pidcock. “I knew after the puncture that I had almost five laps, and that’s 50 minutes, so I thought, anything’s possible.

“In the end, it was really fast with Victor, I just couldn’t get rid of him! I just had to go for a gap. The Olympics is no different. I’m sorry for him, the support for him was incredible,” he added.

–IANS

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Paris, July 30 (IANS) A superb victory in the men’s team competition in Artistic Gymnastics helped Japan surge to the top of the medals table midway through Monday’s schedule at the Olympic Games here. The gold in Gymnastics helped Japan move to six gold medals and 12 medals overall to take the top position.

Australia, who were in the lead at the end of competitions on Sunday, slipped to the fifth spot as China, South Korea and hosts France surged ahead in the standings.

India slipped to joint 25th position with one bronze medal, bagged by Manu Bhaker in the Women’s 10mm Air Pistol shooting on Sunday.

Here’s the medal tally at 00:30 IST:

MEDAL TALLY

Top 5 and India:

Nations G S B T

1) Japan 6 2 4 12

2) China 5 3 2 10

3) S. Korea 5 3 1 9

4) France 4 7 3 14

5) Australia 4 3 0 7

25) India 0 0 1 1

–IANS

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Paris, July 29 (IANS) Led by a fine routine by Hashimoto Daiki, the reigning Olympic champion on the horizontal bar, Japan clinched the gold medal in men’s team gymnastics quelling the USA in a dramatic final in the 33rd Olympic Games here on Monday. Japan won the gold with 259.594 and China had to be satisfied with a silver medal after managing only 259.062, finishing second with a very narrow margin. The United States finished with 257.793 and bagged the bronze medal.

The United States had fought back with a clean routine from Stephen Nedoroscik, the former pommel horse world champion. Nedoroscik had a score of 14.866, which ensured at least bronze for the U.S., and he ran over to his teammates as they started jumping up and down in a big bear hug.

But a disappointing routine on the high bar by Su Weide, who scored just an 11.600 after his two falls, meant that Japan overtook the USA and the People’s Republic of China with just one gymnast left to perform for each team.

The Japanese had Hashimoto Daiki on the horizontal bar and he nearly stuck the landing, just a small single step back, and the Japanese fans in the arena were up on their feet and roaring.

China’s hopes depended on Zhang Boheng. He needed 15.266 to pull China ahead of the United States and go ahead of Japan. He had scored higher than that in qualifying. Zhang had a pretty good routine, but he took a pretty big left-foot step back on the dismount, and that could made all the difference. Zhang got a score of 14.733, which means Japan took the gold.

Sugino Takaaki also contributed to the win with a clean routine but for a slightly wobbly dismount. Japan needed to make up over three points to China as he gets 14.566. Xiao Ruoteng followed for China but had a loose dismount, landing on his knee with a couple of steps forward. He gets only 13.033 opening the door for Japan.

Meanwhile, the battle for bronze is also a close one with Ukraine in hot pursuit of the USA. Ukraine’s first routine is from Nazar Chepurnyi, who struggles on his final pass and takes a big step while Paul Juda nails his pommel horse set, a well-executed routine with slightly lower difficulty. The score is 13.366 for Chepurnyi and 13.900 for Juda means the U.S. pulled further ahead.

–IANS

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London, July 29 (IANS) Arsenal have signed Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori from Serie A side Bologna on a long-term contract, the Premier League club said on Monday. The 22-year-old was a member of the Azzurri squad at Euro 2024, after a season full of impressive performances at the heart of Bologna’s defence.

“It feels amazing,” he said after putting pen on paper. “It was tough until now, but finally we’re here and I cannot wait to start to train with the team and play for the fans.

“It’s actually been my dream since I was 12 or 13 years old because I can see the level of the league here and the best players in the world, for me, play here. It’s a dream and not only for me but for everybody,” the Italian added.

Riccardo will wear the number 33 shirt and has travelled to the US to join up with his new teammates in Philadelphia, as the Gunners continue their preparations ahead of the 2024/25 season.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said, “Riccardo is a big personality and character, with specific skills which will make us stronger as we push to win major trophies. He has already shown great development in recent seasons with his performances for both Bologna and Italy, with his progression and development in the past year being really impressive.

“We’re looking forward to working with Riccardo, integrating him into the squad, and supporting him in the years to come,” he added.

–IANS

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