Up next for McIntosh in Paris: Her signature, world-record event

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PARIS – There was a second, barely detectable in case your eyes weren’t educated on the pool deck at La Protection Area, that Summer season McIntosh maybe sensed the magnitude of the second.

These had been anticipated to be her Video games, in spite of everything, a truth of which she’s effectively conscious, together with a actuality that no quantity of coddling from her handlers can lighten the burden of expectations.

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So, on that early Saturday night in Paris, with a deep breath and a shrug of her shoulders, the Toronto teen climbed onto the block in Lane 6 and dove in for a silver medal efficiency that washed away the nerves and set the stage for her largest second but.

Summer season silver is predicted to show to wonderful gold right here on Monday evening when she swims her coronary heart out within the 400-metre particular person medley, a race that she has twice lowered the world report in and that she is predicted to dominate.

On Monday morning, she simply received her warmth in a time of 4:37.35 — which was third quickest, however was executed with such ease that it regarded like a morning coaching session. That effort set her up for the large present in a while Monday.

“I used to be fairly proud of it,” McIntosh mentioned after her swim. “Going into this morning I used to be simply making an attempt to get the heats out of the best way and get an excellent lane heading into the finals. That aim was completed so I’m excited for tonight.”

She’s now raced 4 instances right here – twice within the 400 free, as soon as within the 4×100 relay and Monday’s prelim effort. With that there’s some consolation with the pool, the group and the routine that ought to assist lock her in the remainder of the meet.

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“I attempt to deal with daily of my racing like Day 1,” McIntosh mentioned. “It’s a very lengthy meet, however the best way to handle these is simply by making an attempt to get well as a lot as potential and mentally resting and making ready on the similar time for my following races.”

Apart from exhibiting that she’s in type, her efforts have allowed McIntosh to absorb among the unimaginable environment at these Video games, in stark distinction to the expertise in Japan the place as a 14-year-old she raced in entrance of no spectators.

“To be sincere, I feel the Tokyo Olympics had been approach tougher mentally, being fairly younger however on the similar time having nobody within the stands for apparent causes,” McIntosh mentioned. “It was all my first worldwide meet ever. Studying to handle that was undoubtedly one thing that took quite a lot of follow.

Now having everybody within the stands and feeding off the vitality within the crowd really makes the race go by sooner and a little bit bit simpler.”

If that feels like a composed younger athlete, it’s exactly what you get with McIntosh. All of the potential and all of the accomplishment to this point has led to this second: A chance for the 17-year-old to shine brightest within the Metropolis of Mild and start her promising reign as an Olympic champion.

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“It sounds loopy, however I feel each time she dives into the pool, we’re anticipating one thing spectacular,” mentioned Canadian backstroke ace Kylie Masse, who at 28 is 11 years her senior. “That’s simply the kind of athlete that she is.”

With a silver in her pocket in an occasion she was anticipated to contend however not essentially win, McIntosh validated the early hype and a meticulous 12 months of coaching. It was a gap act that helped wash away no matter nerves she could be feeling and set the stage for greater moments but to unfold.

“To be mentally and bodily ready to face up on the primary evening and be Canada’s first medallist from all sports activities within the Olympics it carries a toll,” Swimming Canada excessive efficiency director and nationwide coach John Atkinson mentioned. “Anyway, that’s executed now … She’s an Olympic medallist. A silver medallist and now it’s restoration to prepare for what comes subsequent.”

What awaits might actually be particular — for the game, for the athlete and for her nation. After Monday’s 400 IM, she’ll race in two extra particular person occasions and presumably two extra relays. If all goes to plan, the medal haul could possibly be staggering.

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Previous to the Video games, McIntosh dismissed the notion of strain and expectations, telling Postmedia that she was “getting sort of used to it at this level” and that “all I hear is the assist.”

A La Protection Area on Saturday, McIntosh heard way more from a sold-out crowd that might not wait to see a showdown with two of the world’s established greatest: Ariarne Titmus of Australia, who would go on to win gold, and American star Katie Ledecky, who was effectively behind the Canadian in third.

Advisable from Editorial

  1. A silver begin for Summer season McIntosh, and there is a lot extra to come back

  2. Summer season McIntosh’s Video games begin with a spectacular swimming showdown with two Olympic greats

Silver medallist Canada’s Summer season Mcintosh (L), gold medallist Australia’s Ariarne Titmus and bronze medallist US’ Katie Ledecky takes a selfie with their medals on the rostrum. Picture by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND /AFP by way of Getty Photos
Ariarne Titmus of Workforce Australia and Summer season McIntosh of Workforce Canada compete within the Ladies’s 400m Freestyle Last. Picture by Adam Fairly /Getty Photos

“At this stage, it’s about racing on the day of and I feel she dealt with the second fairly effectively,” her coach Brent Arckey mentioned following Saturday’s sterling effort. “That’s been years within the making. A whole lot of that goes to her mentally and her tenacity eager to be the perfect that she may be.”

There can be no reigning in that tenacity on Monday evening — not that McIntosh ever slips right down to that gear, anyway. Like Sunday, Tuesday can be an off day and a chance to relaxation and get well.

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The 400m particular person medley is her calling card, a race she lowered her personal world report in on the Canadian Olympic Trials in Toronto again in Could, in the kind of efficiency that dazzles her teammates.

However what actually units her aside is a aggressive drive that confirmed its enamel on Saturday when there was a light tinge of remorse at not profitable gold, regardless of taking over American Katie Ledecky and Aussie Ariarne Titmus, two heavyweights of the game.

“You’re not a champion if you happen to accept second and third,” Atkinson mentioned in describing that McIntosh mindset. “You’re all the time going to need to get extra. The primary day, it’s one thing to have fun and be pleased about. There was strain however there’s a toughness about her, each bodily and psychological. It was not solely the primary race of the Olympic Video games, it’s being up on the primary day and understanding you might be carrying the expectations you might have for your self after which (delivering.)”

On Monday, she will get her likelihood to unleash her largest second but, a signature swim that might sign the beginning of her legend.

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Who Are Jordan Chiles’s Parents, Gina and Timothy?

When gymnast Jordan Chiles competes within the Paris Olympics, her dad and mom, Gina and Timothy Chiles, will probably be there cheering her on.

“They’re on this journey with me and nonetheless making sacrifices,” Chiles, 23, mentioned earlier this yr about her dad and mom. “This sport is hard on the athletes, however the dad and mom undergo each emotion too—particularly my mother who can’t watch me with out virtually passing out.”

She added of her mother, Gina, “My mother has been my greatest supporter from the start, and she or he has helped me develop into the individual I’m as we speak. She helped me to keep in mind that my dream was mine and mine alone. It was as much as me to provide the ability to individuals who would gas my journey or to vary instructions and stroll away alone phrases. She taught me that nobody had the ability to simply take it away. She is my rock.”

In the meantime, her dad, Timothy, is “the individual I want within the hardest moments as a result of he has a manner of comforting me after I really feel overwhelmed,” Chiles mentioned. “There’s nothing just like the arms of my dad to make me really feel like all the things will one way or the other be okay.”

This is all the things it’s good to find out about Jordan Chiles’s dad and mom Gina and Timothy—who named their daughter Jordan, after none aside from Michael Jordan:

Who’s Jordan Chiles’s mother, Gina?

Dream Large Little Chick

Gina is a senior pastor at In line with His Phrase Worship Heart, a church in Vancouver, Washington. She can also be a youngsters’s guide writer, writing Dream Large Little Chick, impressed by Jordan’s gymnastics profession on the Olympics. Jordan mentioned of her mother: “Ever since I used to be little, she all the time instructed me, ‘There’s just one Jordan, so be the most effective Jordan you might be.'”

In 2021, Gina pled responsible to wire fraud. In line with native KOIN 6 Information in Portland, “Court docket paperwork say she admitted stealing from her purchasers and mentioned she spent lots of of 1000’s of {dollars} on private bills.” She was sentenced to 1 yr and at some point in jail, starting her sentence in August 2021, and was launched 4 months early, in April 2022. Per KOIN 6, “Chiles certified for break day her sentence for good habits which possible prompted her early launch.”

Gina could be very lively on social media (@gina.chiles), posting in assist of her youngsters—particularly Jordan’s Olympic journey.

Who’s Jordan Chiles’s dad, Timothy?

Timothy based In line with His Phrase church in 2007. In line with his official bio, “Apostle Timothy C. Chiles Jr. traveled the nation ministering alongside his father in varied church buildings and tent revivals experiencing the miraculous energy of God touching the lives of many. He surrounded himself with music and track the place he basked within the glory of God’s anointing.” He’s additionally president of Higher Life Crusades, a global outreach ministry.

Along with Jordan, Timothy and Gina have 4 different youngsters: Jazmin, Jade, Tajmen, and Tyrus.


Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior Information Editor for City & Nation, the place she covers leisure, tradition, the royals, and a variety of different topics. Earlier than becoming a member of T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish tradition website. Comply with her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.

Olympic viewing guide: Summer McIntosh has a great chance to win her first gold

That is an excerpt from CBC Sports activities’ day by day publication, The Buzzer. Subscribe right here to get the newest on the Paris Olympics in your inbox day by day.

Seventeen-year-old swimming sensation Summer time McIntosh gained her first Olympic medal (and Canada’s first of the Paris Video games) on Saturday, taking silver within the ladies’s 400m freestyle.

Although she appeared a bit dissatisfied, that was an excellent outcome for McIntosh. She was an underdog to Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, who repeated as Olympic champion, and McIntosh completed forward of six-time Olympic particular person gold medallist Katie Ledecky in perhaps essentially the most aggressive swimming occasion in Paris.

On Monday, McIntosh steps into the function of favorite. By lots. The betting odds indicate she has a greater than 90 per cent likelihood of profitable gold within the ladies’s 400-metre particular person medley — a gruelling occasion the place swimmers full eight laps utilizing 4 completely different strokes: the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

McIntosh holds the world report within the 400 IM and is the de facto two-time reigning world champion. She gained back-to-back titles in 2022 and ’23 earlier than skipping this 12 months’s worlds — together with a lot of the planet’s prime swimmers — as a result of they occurred too near the Olympics. McIntosh additionally went back-to-back within the 200m butterfly, making her the primary Canadian swimmer to seize 4 world titles.

WATCH | CBC’s Meg Roberts appears forward to Day 3 of the Paris Olympics:

Eleanor Harvey makes historical past, Summer time McIntosh targets 2nd Olympic medal on Day 3 | Rise and Stream

Eleanor Harvey secured Canada’s first-ever fencing Olympic medal after profitable the ladies’s foil particular person bronze medal bout, and Rise and Stream host Meg Roberts appears forward to what you gained’t need to miss on Day 3 of competitors.

On the 2023 worlds, McIntosh gained the 400 IM by greater than 4 seconds over 18-year-old American Katie Grimes, who was additionally the runner-up in 2022. Different challengers embrace worlds bronze medallists Emma Weyant of the U.S. and Jenna Forrester of Australia. Reigning Olympic champion Yui Ohashi of Japan didn’t qualify.

The ladies’s 400 IM heats begin at 5 a.m. ET, and the ultimate is at 2:30 p.m. ET.

One different Canadian swimmer made Monday’s finals. Mary-Sophie Harvey will compete within the ladies’s 200m freestyle at 3:41 p.m. ET after putting eighth general in at this time’s semifinals. Titmus is favoured to repeat as Olympic champion. McIntosh took bronze within the 200 free ultimately 12 months’s worlds, however she dropped it from her Olympic slate to deal with her different 4 solo occasions.

Different prime Canadians to observe Monday

Judo: Christa Deguchi goes for gold

The 28-year-old Olympic rookie gained her second world title final 12 months and added a silver at this 12 months’s world championships. She’s ranked No. 1 on the planet and is favoured to win gold within the ladies’s 57-kilogram division.

The one-day match begins at 4 a.m. ET. Deguchi has a bye to the spherical of 16 and will probably be within the thirteenth match of the day on mat 1. The medal rounds start at 10 a.m. ET, so Deguchi may have an opportunity to win Canada’s first gold of the Video games.

For essentially the most half, this can be a single-elimination bracket. Besides, the 4 judokas who lose within the quarterfinals transfer right into a repechage draw the place they’ve a chance to win one of many two bronze medals that will probably be awarded.

Gymnastics: Canada within the males’s crew ultimate at 11:30 a.m. ET

The resurgent Canadian squad grabbed the eighth and ultimate spot in qualifying on Saturday. Félix Dolci and René Cournoyer additionally superior to the person all-around ultimate, which takes place Wednesday.

Canada’s ladies’s gymnastics crew certified for his or her ultimate by putting fifth on Sunday. 4-time Olympian Ellie Black led the way in which with an eighth-place end to qualify for the person all-around ultimate. She additionally superior to the vault ultimate with a seventh-place end as she tries to turn out to be the primary Canadian girl to win an Olympic medal in inventive gymnastics. Shallon Olsen will be a part of Black within the vault ultimate after putting sixth.

American star Simone Biles overcame an obvious calf damage to prime the ladies’s all-around leaderboard and lead the U.S. to first place in crew qualifying.

Girls’s basketball: Canada vs. France at 11:15 a.m. ET

The fifth-ranked Canadians have 4 energetic WNBA gamers: Kia Nurse (Los Angeles Sparks), Bridget Carleton (Minnesota Lynx), Laeticia Amihere (Atlanta Dream) and rookie Aaliyah Edwards (Washington Mystics). But it surely’s form of a miracle that they made it to the Olympics. 

At their last-chance qualifier in Hungary in February, all Canada wanted was to not end final within the four-team round-robin match. However they went 1-2, giving Hungary an opportunity to finish its 44-year Olympic drought with a win over Spain within the match finale. The hosts blew a 22-point lead and misplaced 73-72, handing Canada its fourth consecutive Olympic berth. 

Together with seventh-ranked France, Canada will face No. 3 Australia on Thursday and No. 12 Nigeria on Aug. 4. The highest two groups from every group and the 2 finest third-place groups qualify for the knockout stage.

Another issues to know

Divers Nathan Zsombor-Murray and Rylan Wiens go for the rostrum within the 10m synchronized ultimate. The duo took bronze on the 2022 world championships, changing into the primary Canadians to succeed in the rostrum on this occasion. They completed fifth at this 12 months’s worlds. The ultimate is Monday at 5 a.m. ET.

Canada’s ladies’s rugby sevens crew will attempt to preserve its medal hopes alive. After defeating Fiji and dropping to top-ranked New Zealand on Sunday, Canada closes out the group stage Monday at 10 a.m. ET in opposition to China. The quarterfinals start at 3 p.m. ET. The semifinals and medal matches are on Tuesday.

Each of Canada’s rowing boats are on the water Monday. After putting third of their opening-round warmth Sunday, the light-weight ladies’s double sculls duo of Jenny Casson and Jill Moffatt compete within the repechages at 5 a.m. ET. They should end within the prime three of their group to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals. The reigning Olympic champion ladies’s eight crew’s first-round warmth is at 6 a.m. ET. If they do not win it, it is off to the repechage on Thursday.

Canada’s prime seashore volleyball duo hits the sand. Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, ranked third on the planet, play their ladies’s group-stage opener Monday at 9 a.m. ET. Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec will attempt to bounce again from their opening loss at 5 a.m. ET.

Three of Canada’s 4 singles tennis gamers reached the second spherical. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez gained their opening-round matches Sunday on the Roland Garros clay, whereas Milos Raonic was eradicated. Andreescu and Fernandez are scheduled to play once more Monday whereas Auger-Aliassime groups up with Raonic in males’s doubles. Fourteen-time French Open males’s champion Rafael Nadal of Spain additionally superior to arrange a showdown with Serbian rival Novak Djokovic on Monday. This is the complete tennis schedule.

Joel Embiid chose to play for the U.S. over France at the Olympics. The French won’t let him forget

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Joel Embiid selected to play for the U.S. over France on the Paris Olympics. And the French aren’t letting him neglect about it.

French followers attending the U.S. males’s basketball workforce’s Olympic opener towards Serbia on Sunday have been forceful with how they really feel in regards to the NBA star for the Philadelphia 76ers and native of Cameroon.

He was met with boos at any time when he’s carried out something on the court docket — be it throughout pregame introductions, coming off the bench, touching the ball — something.

Why?

It possible facilities on his determination to not play for France, which granted him naturalized citizenship standing in 2022 regardless that he’s by no means lived there.

There was some hope by French followers that he’d workforce with fellow NBA stars Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert to play for the host nation within the Paris Video games.

He additionally had the choice of taking part in for Cameroon, nevertheless it was knocked out early throughout the qualification course of. That left the U.S., the place he additionally obtained a U.S. passport in 2022.

He’s beforehand mentioned he wished to play for Crew USA as a result of his son was born there. However he’s by no means particularly mentioned why he selected the U.S. over France.

None of it mattered to French followers on Sunday.

___

AP Summer time Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Simone Biles makes her Olympic return in Paris in powerful form

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Simone Biles, of america, competes on the ground train throughout a girls’s creative gymnastics qualification spherical at Bercy Enviornment on the 2024 Summer season Olympics, July 28, in Paris, France.Charlie Riedel/The Related Press

For a nerve-racking second, it appeared as if Simone Biles’s triumphant return to Olympic competitors was over earlier than it started.

After delivering a surprising beam routine at Bercy Enviornment on Sunday within the girls’s gymnastics qualifying occasion, Biles appeared to tweak her left decrease calf muscle throughout the ground warm-up.

Workforce USA’s medical workers taped up her leg and ankle, however Biles might nonetheless be seen gently limping and hopping – even briefly crawling off the vault runway. (Cécile Landi, considered one of Biles’s coaches, later informed reporters it was an damage Biles felt a few weeks in the past.)

However to those that frightened a few repeat of the Tokyo Video games, when Biles was pressured to withdraw throughout a vault routine after struggling a case of the “twisties” – a phenomenon by which an athlete loses their sense of the place they’re within the air – the GOAT revealed she had different plans.

Biles delivered a robust however not-quite-perfect ground routine, which nonetheless earned the excessive rating of the night time. She then adopted it up with an electrifying “Biles II” vault that garnered an astronomical 15.8 rating. This double pike manoeuvre is the game’s most troublesome vault and it’s named after her, as Biles is the one lady to have carried out it in worldwide competitors.

The 27-year-old, who already has 5 eponymous expertise, hoped so as to add a sixth at this Video games, however when the time got here throughout her uneven-bars portion, Biles performed it secure.

Nonetheless, the worldwide crowd jumped to its ft as one of the vital completed athletes on the earth accomplished her Olympic return.

Biles, who’s a four-time Olympic gold medalist – and likewise holds 23 world titles – comfortably led the ladies’s group with a complete rating of 59.566. She is going to advance to the all-around competitors, and in three of the 4 apparatuses; she simply missed the uneven bars qualifier.

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Biles has her ankle taped after competing on the uneven bars throughout a girls’s creative gymnastics qualification spherical at Bercy Enviornment.Charlie Riedel/The Related Press

In the meantime, Workforce Canada achieved considered one of its main Olympic objectives in qualifying for the staff occasion, which will probably be held on Tuesday, after inserting sixth with a rating of 161.563. The Canadian girls’s staff hasn’t competed within the staff remaining in 12 years.

America completed first with 172.296, greater than 5 factors forward of second-place Italy.

Workforce veteran Ellie Black will probably be advancing to the person all-around competitors along with her teammate Ava Stewart, 18, of Bowmanville, Ont. Black additionally certified to advance within the vault equipment alongside Shallon Olsen, a 24-year-old from Surrey, B.C.

That is Black’s fourth Video games and with that have, the 28-year-old Halifax native has been appearing as a mentor to her youthful teammates, two of whom – Cassie Lee of Toronto and Aurélie Tran of Repentigny, Que. – are making their Olympic debut.

“Earlier than they went out at present, although, they’d slightly second within the again room and I might actually see the flicker of their eyes about being on the Olympic Video games. That was heartwarming to me as a result of that’s what it’s all about,” Black mentioned. “It’s about being right here, reaching that objective, and there are solely 5 women in Canada who get to try this.”

It was a packed home at Bercy Enviornment on Sunday, with celebrities resembling Woman Gaga, Snoop Dogg and Tom Cruise exhibiting as much as cheer on Biles.

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Biles competes on the uneven bars throughout a girls’s creative gymnastics qualification spherical at Bercy Enviornment on the 2024 Summer season Olympics, July 28, in Paris, France.Abbie Parr/The Related Press

Even the Worldwide Olympic Committee acknowledged that Sunday was all about Simone Biles, who’s arguably this Video games’ greatest star. On the every day media briefing, officers acknowledged that the day marked her return they usually wished her effectively – a becoming second provided that the majority of the IOC’s presentation centred on its efforts to correctly elevate girls and girls’s sport.

Paris has styled itself as the primary Olympic Video games to attain parity between women and men.

“Gender equality has been mainstreamed all through every thing,” mentioned Marie Sallois, who runs the IOC’s sustainability technique.

From the symbolic moments – resembling having two flag bearers, a person and lady, gentle the cauldron – to the laborious numbers, officers mentioned there’s gender parity amongst volunteers, Video games’ workers and executives, and the variety of aggressive spots allotted for female and male athletes. (The IOC mentioned it could’t but give the precise breakdown of males to girls athletes, due to “variables within the qualification methods” with totally different federations and nationwide Olympic committees.)

Even the schedule has been created by way of a gender lens. Up to now, in a staff sport remaining, the ladies’s staff has gone first, whereas the lads get the finale, mentioned Yiannis Exarchos, the Olympic govt who offers with broadcasting rights. On the Paris Video games, organizers will probably be mixing it up.

It’s a coverage that’s lengthy overdue, he mentioned, and it comes at a time when among the greatest storylines in sport centre on girls athletes.

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Latori, Nyla and Adrian Easterling travelled to Paris from Texas to cheer on Simone Biles and the remainder of Workforce USA.Robyn Doolittle/The Globe and Mail

For 11-year-old Nyla Easterling, who got here to Paris from Texas along with her dad and mom Adrian and Latori to cheer on Workforce USA, there are not any greater stars than Biles and her teammates.

“I’m a Stage 7 gymnast and I really like to look at Simone and [American gymnast] Jordan Chiles,” she mentioned.

Easterling and her dad and mom had been bedecked in matching customized T-shirts that had been emblazoned with photos of Workforce USA, with Biles, after all, positioned entrance and centre.

Why is Joel Embiid playing for Team USA basketball at 2024 Paris Olympics?

Joel Embiid is the most important NBA star attempting to ship Workforce USA males’s basketball its fifth-straight gold medal on the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Actually. 

Listed as 7-feet and 280 kilos, Embiid’s presence alongside LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and the remainder of Workforce USA makes an already imposing roster appear to be a humiliation of riches.

REQUIRED READING:Observe USA TODAY’s full protection of the 2024 Paris Olympics

The Philadelphia 76ers heart averaged an NBA-best 34.7 factors per sport in the course of the 2023-24 season, only one 12 months faraway from being named the league’s most useful participant. He’ll crew with Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo of the Miami Warmth to kind a trio of massive males not like any on the planet.

However this will probably be Embiid’s first time collaborating in a world competitors, and his path to those Olympics has been completely different from the remainder of his teammates. Embiid had choices, and his option to play for Workforce USA raised eyebrows stateside and overseas.

Right here’s what it is advisable to find out about Embiid’s choice to characterize america, and the way he wound up donning the purple, white and blue in Paris:

The place is Joel Embiid from?

Embiid was born in Yaounde, Cameroon and largely performed soccer and volleyball rising up there. He didn’t begin enjoying basketball till he was 15 years outdated. He moved to america a 12 months later after NBA participant and fellow Cameroon native Luc Mbah A Moute seen him at a basketball camp in Africa.

Embiid has performed within the states ever since then, rising as a five-star recruit at The Rock College in Gainesville, Florida, per his 247Sports Composite profile. He then performed one season at Kansas. Embiid was chosen by the 76ers with the No. 3 general decide within the 2014 NBA draft and has performed in Philadelphia throughout his complete skilled profession.

What nationality is Joel Embiid?

Born in Cameroon, Embiid additionally had the chance to play for France or his native nation within the Olympics. He gained citizenship to France in Could 2022 by a clause there that permits naturalization to a foreigner whose naturalization is “of remarkable curiosity.” Embiid then revealed in September 2022 that he had additionally change into a United States citizen, and cited his son because the motivation.

How is Joel Embiid enjoying for Workforce USA?

A 12 months later, when Embiid introduced he had dedicated to play for Workforce USA in Paris, his household’s connection to america was the figuring out issue.

“It was not simple,” Embiid wrote in a put up on X (previously Twitter) explaining his choice in October 2023. “I’m blessed to name Cameroon, France, and the USA dwelling. “After speaking to my household, I knew it needed to be Workforce USA. I wish to play with my brothers within the league. I wish to play for my followers as a result of they’ve been unimaginable for the reason that day I got here right here. However most of all, I wish to honor my son who was born within the US. I would like my boy to know I performed my first Olympics for him.”

MORE:Workforce USA males’s and ladies’s basketball odds at 2024 Paris Olympics

Was Embiid’s choice to hitch Workforce USA controversial?

It actually has been in France.

When Embiid was granted French citizenship, hypothesis instantly adopted that he was planning to characterize France two years later when it hosted the Olympics. There was the potential to crew with Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert.

Former NBA participant Boris Diaw, who at present serves as the overall supervisor of the French nationwide crew in males’s basketball, insisted to The Athletic that Embiid approached a number of occasions in the course of the 2021-22 NBA season about his curiosity in enjoying for France.

When France beat america 83-76 in the course of the 2020 Olympics, snapping Workforce USA’s 25-game profitable streak in Olympic competitors, Embiid even tweeted, “Allez les Bleus” in celebration.

“Joel got here to us and stated that he wished to play worldwide basketball, he stated he wished to win, and he stated he wished to play for France and he wished to win with France,” Diaw instructed The Athletic. “So we listened to him.”

This led French officers to bypass the standard routes to realize citizenship. Embiid didn’t have direct French heritage, nor had he lived in France for not less than two years. However he and his son have been granted a French passport due to what France may accomplish on the Olympics with him.

Embiid, nevertheless, by no means did play for France, and selecting to play for america was not met kindly by the French. 

“Workforce USA, with him, who can beat you? Come on, no person,” French Basketball Federation president Jean-Pierre Siutat instructed The Athletic. “That is a simple means for him to get an Olympic medal.”

Frederic Weis — the previous French nationwide participant who infamously bought dunked on by Vince Carter in the course of the 2000 Olympics — took it much more personally.

NBA FREE AGENCY:Joel Embiid on the Philadelphia 76ers offseason strikes, together with Paul George signing

“I hate him for the issues that he did. I believe he would not have any respect for France and in addition for all of the people who find themselves asking for a French passport and do not get it. And underneath the pretext that he’s an amazing athlete, he bought it,” Weis stated in April, by way of Eurohoops.web. “I discover it scandalous, I discover it embarrassing. I do not care about his excuses, as a result of they’re his phrases, and his phrases imply nothing.

“I’d take away from him the French nationality and I’d ban him from coming into France,” Weis added. “You’ll not play within the Olympics. You’ll come to the airport with Workforce USA and we’ll say, ‘You do not have the proper to enter the territory, go to your own home. You might be Cameroonian, you might be American, you aren’t French, go away.'”

In the course of the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony, Workforce USA teammate Tyrese Haliburton jokingly sounded an identical chorus in a video posted on his Instagram account.

“Give your passport again,” Haliburton stated.

“I am American, man,” Embiid responded, waving a miniature American flag from the boat carrying america delegation of athletes alongside the Seine River in the course of the parade of countries.

Embiid stated in July at Workforce USA coaching camp he isn’t anxious a couple of impolite reception when he arrives in Paris.

“I do not suppose it needs to be something, but when it is greater than that, I embrace it,” Embiid instructed The Athletic. “I do not suppose you will get worse than enjoying in New York within the playoffs.”

Who else born exterior america has performed for Workforce USA?

Hakeem Olajuwon (born in Nigeria) and Patrick Ewing (born in Jamaica) are probably the most well-known earlier examples of naturalized residents to characterize america in males’s basketball on the Olympics.

Joel Embiid profession highlights

Embiid didn’t play his first two years within the league on account of a lingering foot damage. However within the eight seasons since then, he has amassed fairly the resume. Listed below are a few of his notable accomplishments:

  • 2022-23 NBA MVP
  • 7-time NBA All-Star
  • 5-time all-NBA choice (first crew in 2023, second crew in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)
  • 2-time NBA scoring champion (2021-22 and 2022-23)

Simone Biles hurts her leg in Olympic gymnastics qualifying but finishes 1st anyway

The U.S. gymnast Simone Biles appeared to harm her decrease left leg throughout a warmup on Sunday, however she completed the remaining occasions after wrapping her ankle with thick athletic tape.

Loic Venance / AFP through Getty Pictures

On her first day of competitors on the 2024 Olympic Video games, the gymnast Simone Biles appeared to harm her leg throughout a warm-up routine — an harm that prompted issues however finally didn’t preserve her from finishing her routines and ending in first place.

After the competitors, Biles’s coach, Cecile Landi, downplayed the importance of the harm. “She felt a little bit one thing in her calf,” Landi stated.

Regardless of the harm, Biles posted excessive scores, together with a competition-high 15.8 on the vault. Joined by robust performances from her teammates, it was sufficient to safe a spot for the U.S. girls’s gymnastics group within the group all-around closing on Tuesday, by which the U.S. is a favourite to win gold. The person all-around closing is about for Thursday.

There are at present no issues “in the intervening time” about Biles’s skill to compete in these occasions, Landi stated.

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Biles appeared to harm her leg throughout a warm-up for the ground train, her second equipment of the night time. After touchdown a cross, Biles walked gingerly off the mat the place she consulted together with her coaches then disappeared briefly from the ground. Afterward, she returned to have her ankle and decrease calf wrapped with thick athletic tape.

Regardless of the harm, Biles went on to finish her remaining routines, scoring a excessive of 15.8 on the vault. “By no means in her thoughts” was there a query of whether or not she would proceed, Landi stated.

Simone Biles carried out the ground train on Sunday together with her ankle and calf taped.

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Expectations for Biles and the remainder of the U.S. girls’s gymnastics group are sky-high at this Olympic Video games in Paris.

Biles, 27, has been performing on the highest degree of her profession since she returned to competitors final yr after a two-year hiatus. She is taken into account the favourite to win at the very least three particular person gold medals, together with a group all-around gold for the U.S.

An harm might set these aspirations again. “At first, I simply wish to make sure that she’s bodily okay, after which we’re simply going to go from there,” stated girls’s group technical lead Chellsie Memmel. “What she was capable of do, with wanting like she had some soreness or one thing in her decrease leg, is outstanding.”

Biles had briefly skilled a problem together with her calf earlier this month, Landi revealed. “After that, it stopped. Then a little bit bit once more at the moment,” Landi stated. “Just a bit ache in her calf.”

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The U.S. girls’s group completed their spherical of {qualifications} with the highest spot on the group rankings. Gymnasts Jordan Chiles and Sunisa Lee, the defending gold medalist within the particular person all-around, each completed about 3.5 factors behind Biles.

“Their objective, it’s totally apparent, is to come back house with a gold medal,” Memmel stated.

In three of Sunday’s rounds, Biles carried out final. Consequently, as her rivals rested, she drew the complete consideration of a crowd of about 15,000, a lot of whom — together with celebrities Snoop Dogg, Tom Cruise and Anna Wintour — had come largely to see her.

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Jade Carey impacted by illness at gymnastics qualifying session

Throughout her ground routine, Carey made a number of uncommon errors, most notably on her ultimate tumbling cross. She appeared to get misplaced within the air throughout what ought to have been a double tuck, choosing a single tuck after which rolling onto her again and out of bounds. The reigning Olympic ground champion completed final out of all ground rivals with a rating of 10.633 and won’t get the chance to defend her Tokyo title. 

“I had, like, no power at present and didn’t actually have a way of what was happening in my head. So, I simply sort of needed folks to know that so, they know that there’s really one thing flawed,” Carey mentioned.

Regardless of that, Carey bounced again on vault with a rating of 14.433, ok to place her by to the vault ultimate alongside Biles. Carey’s mother, Danielle, might need been essentially the most nervous particular person in the entire constructing:

The ladies’s crew ultimate is Tuesday, July 30, and the ladies’s vault ultimate will happen on Saturday, Aug. 3.

Eleanor Harvey wins historic bronze medal for Canada in women’s foil fencing – Team Canada

Eleanor Harvey has change into Canada’s first ever Olympic medallist in fencing.

The 29-year-old gained the bronze medal within the ladies’s particular person foil occasion on Day 2 of Paris 2024, defeating Italy’s Alice Volpi 15-12 within the third-place match. Volpi is the fourth-ranked ladies’s foil fencer on the planet, whereas Harvey got here into the Video games ranked 14th.

However Harvey carried a successful report in opposition to Volpi into the bout, having gained 4 of their earlier seven conferences, together with the newest in Might 2022.

Coming off her 15-9 loss within the semifinal to American Lauren Scruggs, Harvey went on the assault as quickly because the sign was given to start out. She was up 3-0 earlier than Volpi might put a degree on a board. She quickly made it 6-1 after which after Volpi closed the hole somewhat, Harvey went up 8-3 with a minute to go within the opening of three 3-minute rounds.

Regardless of how a lot Volpi tried to discover a well past Harvey’s defence, the Canadian was not giving approach and took a 9-4 lead into the primary break, leaving her simply six factors away from the 15 wanted for the victory.

Harvey began the second spherical simply as she did the primary, with a fast level simply seconds in. With Harvey up 12-10 and simply over a minute gone within the spherical, Volpi took a medical timeout after showing to endure a cramp. When the motion resumed, Harvey might see the bronze medal in her sights. She went up 13-10, then 14-11, leaving Harvey one hit away from the win. The closest Volpi might make it was 14-12 earlier than Harvey received the fifteenth level she wanted to place her identify within the Canadian historical past books.

In her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Harvey achieved Canada’s earlier greatest ever Olympic lead to any particular person fencing occasion when she positioned seventh within the ladies’s particular person foil, making it so far as the quarterfinals after defeating the world primary.

Is Jade Carey Sick? Her Mom Gives Update on Her Health

The mom of Jade Carey gave a short replace on her wellness after the U.S. gymnast stated she hasn’t been feeling effectively following her first occasion within the Paris Olympics.

“She’s doing a lot better right this moment,” Danielle Greenberg stated on TODAY July 29. “Attempting to hydrate, get some meals in, able to go.”

Carey on July 28 pushed by some latest well being points to compete within the girls’s gymnastics qualification spherical. The 24-year-old revealed to Olympics.com after a heartbreaking fall within the ground train — the occasion that earned her a gold medal in Tokyo — that she has been feeling sick and struggling to eat. She didn’t disclose a particular sickness.

“I simply haven’t been feeling effectively the previous few days and haven’t been capable of eat or something,” she stated.

She continued, “I had, like, no vitality right this moment and didn’t actually have a way of what was occurring in my head. So, I simply sort of wished folks to know that so, they know that there’s truly one thing improper.” 

Throughout her ground routine, her final tumbling move ended together with her on the bottom out of bounds.

Jade Carey falls on the finish of her ground routine through the gymnastics qualification spherical July 28.Tim Clayton – Corbis / Corbis through Getty Photographs

Retired Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman additionally spoke to Olympics.com and applauded Carey’s persistence. 

“One of many hardest issues about sports activities is that irrespective of how a lot you put together you, typically the morning that you simply get up for a meet, you won’t be feeling effectively,” Raisman stated. “You may be jet lagged, chances are you’ll not have slept effectively, and fluke issues can occur. It’s simply so devastating to listen to that she hasn’t been feeling effectively. I hope that she is aware of that she did an unbelievable job.” 

Information of Carey’s sickness comes after teammate Simone Biles additionally skilled ache through the opening spherical. Earlier than the ground train, Biles needed to briefly depart the mat to get her left ankle taped. Each Carey and Biles nonetheless delivered for Crew USA, which ended the spherical within the lead with a complete rating of 172.296. 

Learn on for what Carey has stated about her well being up to now within the Paris 2024 Olympics. 

Is Jade Carey sick?

Carey opened up extra about how she has been feeling on X July 28.  

In response to a tweet from journalist Scott Bregman about his Olympics.com article, she stated, “I haven’t been feeling one of the best the previous few days however I gave it all the things I had right this moment.”

The gymnast added, “Thanks for all of the assist I’ve obtained. I’m so grateful,” with two crimson coronary heart emoji. 

After receiving a ten.633 rating on the ground, placing her out of the working to defend her gold medal, Carey rallied on the vault with a with a 14.433.

Tune in to the Paris Olympics on NBC and Peacock.