Paris 2024 Olympics: football and rugby sevens kick off as GB reel over Dujardin – live

FootballisticThere are eight men’s matches scheduled for today, with France v United States at 20:00 BST set to be the standout fixture:

Group B: Argentina – Morocco (2 p.m.)
Group C: Ukraine – Spain (14.00)
Group A: Guinea v New Zealand (16.00)
Group C: Egypt – Dominican Republic (16.00)
Group B: Iraq – Ukraine (18.00)
Group D: Japan v Paraguay (18.00)
Group A: France v United States (20.00)
Group D: Mali v Israel (20.00)

Please note that you can filter the live schedule by individual sports.

The waitas cliché sellers like to say, is almost over. Today’s sports program can be found via the link below.

France and Antoine Dupont kick off their highly anticipated men’s rugby sevens campaign against the United States at 15:30 BST. Ireland v South Africa at 16:30 BST is a hugely important match given recent events in 15-a-side competition, not to mention the Paris pool stage brawl at last year’s Rugby World Cup. New Zealand v South Africa follows at 20:30 BST and there’s a bit of recent history in that one too.

In case you missed it Here’s Rachel Hall’s profile of Charlotte Dujardin last night, following the very important news of her withdrawal and subsequent ban:

Andy Stier considers what the Covid-hit 2020 Tokyo Olympics meant for Japan and for the Olympic movement: and what these Games in Paris could mean for France and the rest of the world:

“Once it was over, the hosts were so eager for everyone to leave that they gave the athletes 48 hours to leave the country,” the Associated Press said a year later. quoted a Japanese academic who studied the legacy of the Games as saying “people don’t want to talk about it or even think about it”…

“If Tokyo were ultimately to become the Covid Games, then the Paris edition – taking place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East and the inevitable sense that Emmanuel Macron’s own grand national project is collapsing beneath his feet – has already been recast as the Conflict Games.”

I’m not entirely clear about how having a former BBC weatherman on board will help Team GB win medals. But good luck.

Team GB have hired former BBC weather presenter Penny Tranter in a bid to raise an extra one percent in their bid for a big medal haul in Paris.

Tranter, who worked for the BBC from 1992 to 2008, is not only responsible for the daily weather report, but has also been brought in to make long-term forecasts, as the BBC fears that these will be the hottest Games ever.

Temperatures in the French capital are currently hovering around 20 degrees Celsius, but are expected to warm up next week. In an effort to offset their carbon footprint, organisers in Paris have launched a number of initiatives, the most notable of which is to follow the example of Tokyo 2020 and make all the beds in the Olympic village from recycled cardboard.

To help their athletes sleep better, Team GB brought 942 blankets and 578 mattress toppers. UK Sport has set a target of between 50 and 70 medals for Team GB. If they win 70, it would be their best result at an overseas Games, surpassing the 67 they won at Rio 2016.

In addition, they also took more than 22 tons of food and beverages, including 6,500 bags of candy, salted popcorn, 22,000 granola bars, 700 jars of peanut butter and more than 1,000 packets of muesli.

More than 1,000 bottles of squash have also been shipped across the Channel, as well as 945 boxes of English Breakfast tea – an estimated 47,250 tea bags. A total of 85,000 items of kit have been distributed thanks to the efforts of 400 staff and volunteers. (PA Media)

Preamble