Olympics
Super Falcons’ opponent, Brazil’s Marta and 3 Africans listed among 10 footballers to watch at Paris 2024
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.
Roy Jones Jr has been handed the Olympic gold medal he was controversially denied in 1988 in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship by the South Korean fighter who beat him.
Hall of Fame boxer Jones shared a video on Wednesday from two years ago that showed Park Si-hun visiting the American’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to present him with the light middleweight gold medal.
“I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you. It belongs to you,” Park said in the video through his son, who translated.
Jones, who was overcome with emotion by the gesture, covered his face with his hand before saying: “Wow, that is crazy.”
Their match at the Seoul Olympics remains one of boxing’s most contentious moments as Jones appeared to dominate the fight but lost to Park by a 3-2 decision that drew instant criticism and sparked enduring controversy.
Despite losing the gold medal match, Jones was selected as the Val Barker Trophy winner as the best boxer of the 1988 Olympics.
Jones went on to become a four-division world champion and is regarded as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.
“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones wrote in his Instagram post.
“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.
“I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”
-Reuters
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U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday creating a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, an administration official told Reuters.
The task force, made up of members from Trump’s cabinet and government agencies, will coordinate federal, state and local government work on transportation, the official said.
It also will “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media,” the official said in an email.
The United States will host the Olympics in Los Angeles in three years. Trump, a Republican who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has expressed pleasure that his second term will coincide with the Olympics and the World Cup.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The president considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Monday.
Last month organizers of the Los Angeles games released the first look at the Olympic competition schedule . The city had also hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
“The creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028,” Casey Wasserman, the chair and president of LA28, said in a statement.
–Reuters
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By DAVID LEE
Home is many places for swimmer Adaku Nwandu, who was born in China, lives in Singapore and wears the Nigeria flag on her swimsuit.
And it is at her current home in Singapore that the 17-year-old is making her debut at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).
In the second heat of the 100m freestyle at the WCH Arena, the teenager, who has a Nigerian father and Chinese mother, led at the turn before finishing third in 1min 0.89sec – she eventually placed 59th out of 82 athletes overall.
After her race, Adaku shared with The Straits Times that she was born and raised in Shanghai, and started swimming when she was eight. Interestingly, it was ice cream that kept her in the sport.
Adaku, who still has the 50m freestyle heats on Aug 2, said: “At a school competition, I didn’t do so well and I asked my dad if we could make a deal. He said if I do better, he would buy me ice cream once every week, and that’s a promise we have kept with each other. And that’s what brought me here.”
In 2023, the family moved to Singapore due to her mother’s work posting. With her fluent Mandarin and love for Asian and spicy food, it did not take long for her to pick up Singlish and enjoy local delights like chicken rice and chilli crab.
She said: “We came here mainly because of my mother’s work, and also because the swimming scene back where I lived in China was a little bit toxic, so she also thought Singapore would be a new experience and better for my swimming.”
By then, she had already committed to representing Nigeria after its aquatics association contacted her after the National Sports Festival in Asaba, where the then 16-year-old was part of the national record-breaking women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
But Singapore is where she has been honing her swimming skills, as she has set her 50m and 100m freestyle long- and short-course Nigeria national records at meets here.
Noting her improvements, Singapore swimming coach and performance director Gary Tan said: “Adaku has been participating in our system for a while, and we hope it helps her develop as a swimmer and achieve what she wants while training in Singapore with her school (German European School Singapore).”
For someone who is inspired by Olympic champions David Popovici, Caeleb Dressel and Adam Peaty for “their dedication and the way they are able to take breaks for themselves to improve and get back to the water”, qualifying for Paris 2024 on ranking points was a dream come true.
Her Olympic debut was also unforgettable as her swimsuit ripped 20 minutes before her 50m freestyle heat, but she managed to finish second in her heat and 33rd out of 78th overall in 26.62 seconds, just 0.03 of a second off her personal best.
Back in Singapore, Adaku, who is in the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at her school, realised that she needed more of such resilience to reach her goals.
The swimmer, who also plays for the school’s volleyball team, said: “I had a lot of improvement the first year I came to Singapore. But this past year has been especially hard for me with family problems and also school. The workload in my first year of IB made it hard to balance training and school.
“Especially in the next year, I want to focus more on swimming and try to get some new personal bests because this year I just plateaued. I’m looking forward to training harder and preparing for my next competition and hopefully qualify for the next Olympics.”
-Strait Times, Singapore
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