Olympics
Super Falcons’ opponent, Brazil’s Marta and 3 Africans listed among 10 footballers to watch at Paris 2024
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Major news outlet, BBC has named Brazil’s woman footballer, Marta among 10 players tipped for glory at the football event of the Paris 2024 Olympics. Nigeria’s Super Falcons are billed to face Brazil in one of the opening matches of Olympics.
BBC focused on the just concluded Euro 2024 and the Copa America in picking most of the players expected to excel. Apart from Marta, three Africans are also in focus. They are Achraf Hakimi of Morocco and Naby Keita of Guinea among the men and Barbra Banda, a woman footballer of Zambia.
The Paris 2024 action starts on Wednesday, with matches taking place in seven cities across France. Both the men’s and women’s finals will be played in Paris at Parc des Princes.
Men’s Olympic squads are made up of under-23s players, with up to three overage players allowed, while women’s squads have no age restrictions.
From Lionel Messi to Alex Morgan, Ronaldinho to Ellen White, some of the world’s biggest names have played football at the Olympics over the years. The big names expected to excel are:
Marta (Brazil)
Brazil’s all-time leading goalscorer Marta will bid farewell to international football after captaining her country in Paris.
The 38-year-old is planning to retire from national team duty, but after winning a silver medal at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, she wants one last shot at the gold.
In Tokyo, Marta made history by becoming the first footballer to score in five straight Olympic Games.
She scored five goals in 13 NWSL games for Orlando Pride last season and Brazil manager Arthur Elias said “she’s playing well, she deserved to be on this list” for Paris 2024.
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)
Achraf Hakimi is another big name player to have been cleared to represent his country at the Olympics.
The 25-year-old will miss Paris St-Germain’s pre-season preparations as Morocco prepare to play at a summer Games for the eighth time.
While Hakimi missed two penalties in a pre-tournament friendly against French side Villefranche, he will be keen to lead the Atlas Lions to the final at Parc des Princes.
Tarik Sektioui’s side qualified for Paris 2024 by winning the 2023 Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
Naby Keita (Guinea)
Former Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita will captain Guinea as they make only their second appearance at an Olympics.
The Champions League winner had a poor first season in the Bundesliga with Werder Bremen, playing just five times because of injury and suspension.
The 29-year-old is one of the biggest names at the Games and will hope to add to his tally of 11 goals for his country.
Barbra Banda (Zambia)
Barbra Banda became the second-most expensive women’s footballer in history when she joined Orlando Pride from Chinese club Shanghai Shengli in March.
Banda, 24, has justified her price tag since joining the NWSL outfit, and became the first player in the history of the division to score 11 goals in their first 11 games.
The NWSL’s top scorer is heading to France with Zambia for her second Olympic Games.
In Tokyo, the Copper Queens’ captain became the first player in Olympic history to score back-to-back hat-tricks – doing so in the group stage against the Netherlands and China.
Julian Alvarez (Argentina)
Fresh from their Copa America triumph, Argentina are the favourites to win the men’s gold medal in Paris.
Along with Nicolas Otamendi and Geronimo Rulli, Manchester City forward Julian Alvarez is one of Argentina’s three overage players in the squad as Javier Mascherano looks to coach the country to their third gold medal.
The 24-year-old scored 11 goals in 36 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side last season as they won a fourth successive Premier League title.
Alvarez will miss City’s pre-season tour of the United States and the Community Shield match against Manchester United, which takes place the day after the gold medal match.
Alexandre Lacazette (France)
Thierry Henry has selected Alexandre Lacazette to captain France at their home Games.
“We all have the same ambition, to go all the way and win a medal,” the 33-year-old said. “The fact that it’s a home Games is really going to motivate us.”
The Lyon forward hasn’t played for his country since 2017 but scored 22 goals in 35 games for the Ligue 1 club last season, showing he is still in good form.
Sevilla’s Loic Bade is another overage inclusion, along with Crystal Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta, who is the only Premier League player in the squad.
Kylian Mbappe, who had hoped to be part of the squad as an overage player, is not involved, external – as his new club Real Madrid did not want any of their players taking part at the Games.
Aitana Bonmati (Spain)
Spain have never had a women’s team at the Olympics before but they head to Paris as one of the favourites.
The reigning world champions have lost only twice in 14 matches since beating England in last August’s World Cup final.
Montse Tome’s squad is packed with superstars, but all eyes will be on Aitana Bonmati, a player known for stepping up in the biggest moments.
After winning the Nations League with Spain and the quadruple with Barcelona this season, can the 26-year-old add another gold medal to her collection?
Wendie Renard (France)
Boss Herve Renard said legendary defender Wendie Renard – no relation – was “unanimously” selected as France’s captain for the home Olympics.
The 34-year-old Lyon defender will represent France at a third Games after doing so at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Renard has 160 caps for France but is yet to win a major honour for her country.
The hosts will hope to land a spot on the podium with stars such as Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Grace Geyoro and Eugenie Le Sommer in their ranks.
Fermin Lopez (Spain)
Along with Alex Baena, Fermin Lopez is one of two players from Spain’s Euro 2024-winning squad heading to the Olympics.
The 21-year-old winger only featured once for Luis de la Fuente’s side in Germany but joins Barcelona team-mates Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia in the Olympic squad.
Lopez had a breakout first season in La Liga, scoring 11 goals in all competitions for Xavi’s side.
Lopez and Baena are looking to make history by becoming the first outfield players to win both the Euros and Olympic gold in the same summer.
Linda Caicedo (Colombia)
At the age of 19, Linda Caicedo is already recognised as one of the best prospects in women’s football.
The Real Madrid forward was one of the breakout stars of the 2023 World Cup – at 18 years and 153 days, she became the second-youngest South American player to score a goal in the history of the tournament, behind only the legendary Marta.
Her wonder goal against Germany in the group stage was voted as the best of the tournament and nominated for the Puskas award.
Caicedo, who has been the poster girl for the rise of women’s football in Colombia, could play at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup on home soil later in August.
Olympics
Paris to name sports venue after dead Ugandan Olympian Cheptegei
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The French capital will pay tribute to Ugandan Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei, who was set on fire by her boyfriend, by naming a sports facility in her honour, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday.
The marathon runner, who competed in the Paris Games last month died on Thursday, four days after she was doused in petrol and ignited by her boyfriend in Kenya, in the latest attack on a female athlete in the country.
The 33-year-old, who finished 44th in her Olympic Games debut, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in Sunday’s attack, Kenyan and Ugandan media reported.
“She dazzled us here in Paris. We saw her. Her beauty, her strength, her freedom, and it was in all likelihood her beauty, strength and freedom which were intolerable for the person who committed this murder,” Hidalgo told reporters.
“Paris will not forget her. We’ll dedicate a sports venue to her so that her memory and her story remains among us and helps carry the message of equality, which is a message carried by the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Cheptegei is the third prominent sportswoman to be killed in Kenya since October 2021. Kenyan Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen described Cheptegei’s death as a loss “to the entire region”.
“This is a critical moment— not just to mourn the loss of a remarkable Olympian, but to commit ourselves to creating a society that respects and protects the dignity of every individual,” Uganda’s Athletes commission Chair Ganzi Semu Mugula said on Friday.
-Reuters
Olympics
Row over plan to keep Olympic rings on Eiffel Tower
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Engineer’s descendants say French capital landmark ‘not intended as advertising platform’
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has triggered a heated debate by saying she wants to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower after the summer Games are over.
“The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee],” she told the Ouest-France newspaper over the weekend.
“So yes, they [the rings] will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” she added.
Some Parisians backed the move, but others – including heritage campaigners – said it was a bad idea and would “defile” the French capital’s iconic monument.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has triggered a heated debate by saying she wants to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower after the summer Games are over.
“The decision is up to me, and I have the agreement of the IOC [International Olympic Committee],” she told the Ouest-France newspaper over the weekend.
“So yes, they [the rings] will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” she added.
Some Parisians backed the move, but others – including heritage campaigners – said it was a bad idea and would “defile” the French capital’s iconic monument.
The five rings – 29m (95ft) wide, 15m high and weighing 30 tonnes – were installed on the Eiffel Tower before the Paris Olympics opened on 26 July, and were expected to be taken down after the Paralympics’ closing ceremony on 8 September.
But Ms Hidalgo said she wanted to keep the interlaced rings of blue, yellow, black, green and red, symbolising the five continents.
She added that the current rings – each one measuring 9m in diameter – were too heavy and would be replaced by a lighter version at some point.
The Socialist mayor also claimed that “the French have fallen in love with Paris again” during the Games, and she wanted “this festive spirit to remain”.
Some Parisians as well as visitors to the French capital supported the mayor.
“The Eiffel Tower is very beautiful, the rings add colour. It’s very nice to see it like this,” a young woman, who identified herself as Solène, told the France Bleu website.
But Manon, a local resident, said this was “a really bad idea”.
“It’s a historic monument, why defile it with rings? It was good for the Olympics but now it’s over, we can move on, maybe we should remove them and return the Eiffel Tower to how it was before,” he told France Bleu.
Social media user Christophe Robin said Ms Hidalgo should have consulted Parisians before going ahead with her plan.
In a post on X, he reminded that the Eiffel Tower featured a Citroën advert in 1925-36.
The Eiffel Tower was built in1889 for the World’s Fair. The wrought-iron lattice tower was initially heavily criticised by Parisian artists and intellectuals – but is now seen by many as the symbol of the “City of Light”.
Ms Hidalgo, who has been running Paris since 2014, is known for her bold – and sometimes controversial – reforms.
Under her tenure, many city streets, including the banks of the river Seine, have been pedestrianised.
Last year, she won convincingly a city referendum to ban rental electric scooters. However, fewer than 8% of those eligible turned out to vote.
But both drivers’ groups and opposition figures attacked the scheme, saying the SUV classification was misleading as many family-size cars would be affected.
France’s Environment Minister Christophe Béchu said at the time that the surcharge amounted to “punitive environmentalism”.
And just before the Paris Olympics, Ms Hidalgo and other officials went into the Seine to prove the river was safe to swim.
-BBC
Olympics
AIU files appeal with CAS against America’s Olympic sprinter, Knighton
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The Athletics Integrity Unit said on Wednesday it has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the case that cleared American sprinter Erriyon Knighton of a doping offence, thus allowing him to compete at the Paris Olympics.
Knighton, 20, tested positive for a banned substance in March but avoided a ban as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said an independent arbitrator ruled it was likely caused by contaminated meat and that he was not at fault and had not acted with negligence.
The finding cleared the 200 metres world silver medallist to run at the U.S. Olympic trials in June and he went on to compete in Paris where he finished fourth in the men’s 200m final.
The AIU, an independent body created in 2017 by World Athletics to manage integrity issues for the sport of athletics, said it has challenged the first instance decision that Knighton had established no fault or negligence.
“This appeal is against the decision of an arbitration tribunal in the United States that the athlete established no fault or negligence after USADA brought charges against the athlete for the presence of epitrenbolone and use of trenbolone,” the AIU said on X.
USADA Chief Executive Travis Tygart said in a statement on Wednesday he understood the AIU’s reasons for appealing the case, which he called an example of the system at work, before pointing a finger at the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“The real issue in this case is WADA’s bad rule. Trenbolone, the substance in Knighton’s case, is a known livestock enhancer and known to be found in the meat supply,” Tygart said.
“We have advocated for the rules around contamination to formally change for years, and WADA has refused to act swiftly.”
U.S. and global anti-doping authorities have been at loggerheads since the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 but were allowed to compete.
-Reuters
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