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:

From an Australian perspectiveThe Olympics begin in earnest today. The Australian Olympic Committee will be the first to name the country’s two flag bearers ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday. The smart bet for the female flag bearer is Jess Fox, Tokyo gold medalist and the most successful canoeist of all time. Fox was born in France and has family here – her mother/coach represented France at two Olympics, adding a touching local touch. Hockey veteran Eddie Ockenden is among the names being touted as potential male flag bearers.

The first Australians to be in action in Paris kick off this afternoon, with the men’s Rugby Sevens team taking on Samoa and later tonight Kenya. While the Australian women won gold in Rio, the men have never reached a medal match, but expectations are high.

The other big Australian moment today is the Matildas’ final training session and media opportunity before their Olympic football campaign kicks off tomorrow against Germany in Marseille. The team have been struggling with a number of injuries, so expect an update on whether key players are fit tonight. I’m in Marseille now – there’s not quite the Olympic buzz as in Paris, but it’s a beautiful day on the Mediterranean.

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)

When the gigantic ParisianThe Olympic Games opening ceremony in the city centre begins on Friday evening, with boats full of athletes gliding side by side down the River Seine in a formation not seen since the time of King Louis XV. But there is more at stake than just France’s international image.

President Emmanuel Macron, who has promised that the Olympics will “lighten the hearts of the people” in a “summer of French pride”, is confident that the Games will restore morale in a deeply divided country that warned just a few weeks ago that the country could face a “civil war”.

Paris wants to outdo all previous Olympic Games on every possible front: stunning visuals, sustainability, gender equality, but also to exceed the expectations of a country known for its meat consumption by serving the largest number of vegetarian dishes ever.

Hello and welcome to our live broadcast of Paris 2024 on the day the sports kick off: football and rugby sevens both start later.

From a British perspective, the agenda is dominated by the news that dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin, who was aiming to become Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, has been suspended for alleged abuse of a horse.

Dujardin withdrew from the Olympics yesterday and apologized, before news of her suspension later broke. More on that story and many more, coming soon.