Olympics
Irrepressible Canada reach Olympic quarter-finals despite six-point deduction
Defending champions Canada reached the quarter-finals of the women’s Olympic football tournament on Wednesday thanks to a 1-0 win over Colombia in Nice hours after they had an appeal against their six-point deduction dismissed.
Colombia also booked their spot in the knockouts on Wednesday, along with France, Germany, Japan and Brazil, but Australia missed out.
Wednesday’s results set up some tantalising last-eight ties with Canada taking on Germany, the U.S. playing Japan, Spain facing Colombia and France playing Brazil, with the quarter-finals being held on Saturday.
Canada were docked points following a drone spying scandal that led to the suspension of coach Bev Priestman and other staff members and their appeal against the FIFA sanction was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier in the day.
With the top two teams in each of the three groups advancing, along with two best third-placed sides, Canada now led by assistant coach Andy Spence, needed maximum points against Colombia to progress from Group A.
After wins against New Zealand and hosts France, Vanessa Gilles’s 61st-minute goal against Colombia following a set piece was enough to send them into the knockouts after finishing second in the standings with three points.
Despite the defeat, Colombia reached their first-ever Olympic quarter-final after finishing as one of the best third-placed sides.
France advanced with a 2-1 win over New Zealand in Lyon courtesy of Marie-Antoinette Katoto’s double to finish as Group A winners.
Katoto opened the scoring with a header in the 22nd minute before New Zealand levelled with a fine Kate Taylor volley three minutes before the break.
Katoto, however, netted her second five minutes after the restart to become the tournament’s leading scorer with five goals.
Germany thrashed Zambia 4-1 in St Etienne with a brace from Lea Schueller and goals from Klara Buehl and Elisa Senss to clinch a spot in the next round with a second place finish in Group B.
Schueller opened the scoring for the 2016 gold medallists 10 minutes in before Bruhl doubled the advantage from long-range two minutes after the break.
Zambia’s Barbra Banda profited from a blunder by the German goalkeeper to net her fourth goal of the tournament, but Schueller made it 3-1 in the 61st before Senss sealed the rout in stoppage-time.
AUSTRALIA OUT
Australia were eliminated after a 2-1 defeat to the U.S. left them third in Group B with three points, but with an inferior goal difference to the other two third-placed sides, Brazil and Colombia.
The already-qualified U.S. produced another dominant performance to finish the group stage with a perfect nine points.
Trinity Rodman put the four-times gold medallists ahead in the 43rd minute and Korbin Albert made it 2-0 with a terrific shot in the 77th, before Alanna Kennedy pulled one back for Australia in stoppage-time.
In Group C, Brazil lost 2-0 to Spain, who had already booked their knockout spot and claimed their third straight win thanks to second-half goals from Athenea del Castillo and Alexia Putellas.
Brazil’s all-time leading scorer Marta, who is retiring from international football this year, was in tears after a dangerous challenge on Spain’s Olga Carmona earned her a red card in the final seconds of the first half.
Del Castillo dealt Brazil another blow scoring in the 68th minute before a superb strike from Putellas sealed the triumph for the World Cup winners, who finished top of Group C.
Group C runners-up Japan beat Nigeria 3-1 in Nantes to finish with six points.
Chelsea’s Maika Hamano opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Mina Tanaka added another 10 minutes later.
Jennifer Echegini made it 2-1 three minutes from halftime but Hikaru Kitagawa secured Japan the win with a free kick.
-Reuters
Olympics
Paris 2024 Games break record ticket sales
Paris 2024 sold a record 12 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics, beating the Games record previously set by London 2012, organisers said on Sunday.
Some 9.5 million tickets were sold for the Olympics and 2.5 million for the Paralympics, which end on Sunday.
In 2012, London organisers set the record for the Paralympics with 2.7 million tickets sold but only 8.2 million were sold for the Olympics.
-Reuters
Olympics
Paris to name sports venue after dead Ugandan Olympian Cheptegei
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
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
-
AFCON1 week ago
Super Eagles lead Afcon Group D qualifiers despite Benin’s defeat of Libya
-
AFCON1 week ago
Austin Eguavoen remains the ‘Big Boss’, says NFF
-
AFCON1 week ago
Why I benched Osimhen again – Eguavoen
-
AFCON1 week ago
Rwanda newspaper gives 5 lessons gleaned from Rwanda-Nigeria clash
-
Nigerian Football1 week ago
Westerhof recommends Siasia for Super Eagles’ job
-
AFCON1 week ago
Nigeria’s managerial crisis resumes as Eguavoen reportedly declines to continue
-
AFCON7 days ago
Present and Past as CAF Coaches Symposium unites Rohr, Peseiro and Eguavoen
-
CAF Confederation Cup6 days ago
Enyimba continues unbeaten run against Burkina Faso clubs