Olympic Games (2024)

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      Hong Kong Taunts Italy With Pineapple Pizza After Olympics Fencing Win

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      After a fencer from Hong Kong beat an Italian for a gold medal, Pizza Hut’s offer of free pineapple toppings in Hong Kong was the city’s second jab at Italy.Losing an Olympic fencing title bout to the champion from Hong Kong was difficult enough for the Italian. Then came the pizza slander.Cheung Ka Long’s triumph over Filippo Macchi of Italy in the gold medal bout in men’s foil on Monday has led to a sour fallout that has spilled off the fencing strip: Pizza Hut’s Hong Kong and Macao branch has offered free pineapple toppings on its pies as fans on social media praised the combination widely shunned by the losing side.“All Hong Kong people are very happy and excited today!” the branch said in a Facebook post on Tuesday announcing the offer, adding it was also celebrating a bronze medal the Chinese territory had won on Monday, in the women’s 200-meter freestyle.Pizza Hut Hong Kong and MacauFor Hong Kong, which has already doubled its total historical gold medal count, to four, this week, the Paris Olympics have been an occasion for major celebration. After winning one in 1996 and another in 2021, it has won two golds this year, both in fencing. Vivian Kong clinched a title in the women’s épée individual competition.People in Italy, which has the most Olympic fencing medals of any nation, were disgruntled after referees ruled in favor of Hong Kong in what was a tightly fought men’s foil match. Controversy surrounded the final point, awarded after referees replayed footage on three separate occasions while both players were convinced they had won.Cheung eventually came out on top, with a 15-14 victory. He became the first athlete from Hong Kong to win two Olympic gold medals, and the third man to defend his title in the event.“It’s insane for me because I try hard every day to fight, to come to Paris, to France, to qualify for the Olympics,” he said after his win. “Now, another dream has come true.”The Italian Fencing Federation said in a statement on Monday that it would file a formal complaint over what it called “unacceptable refereeing.”“Filippo Macchi is the real winner,” Paolo Azzi, the federation’s president, wrote on social media. “He was denied the gold he deserved.”In response, Hong Kong fans launched a full-scale assault on Italian cuisine. “I like pineapple pizza and pasta with soy sauce,” one user wrote on Cheung’s Instagram page. The comment was followed by others celebrating the scandalous faux pas in Italian cooking.Advertisements for Pizza Hut and KFC in Hong Kong, in 2022.Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images, via Getty ImagesMacchi, who was competing in his first Olympics, said on social media that he did not want to blame the referees.“A long time ago, a person dear to me, as well as a great champion, told me: ‘You always celebrate a medal!’” he wrote. “And indeed this medal deserves joy and happiness.” More

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      Fencing Feud Highlights Ukrainian-Russian Animosity at Olympics

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      The war has torn apart old alliances and heightened the acrimony. A Ukrainian fencer is competing after her refusal to shake hands with a Russian rival got her barred from the world championships.Olha Kharlan of Ukraine shouted in celebration under the vaulted glass dome of the Grand Palais on Monday, after an early round victory in her pursuit of a fifth career Olympic medal in saber fencing.She had reached the semifinals by late afternoon. But just her mere presence confirmed that this niche sport, perhaps more than any other, illustrates the acrimony and caustic feuding that have resulted from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Kharlan, 33, was disqualified from the world fencing championships last summer for refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent. But Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee and himself a 1976 Olympic fencing champion, gave Kharlan an exemption to participate in the Paris Games, citing her “unique situation.”There she was on Monday, competing in the Olympics, while Russia was absent from the biggest international event in fencing, a sport in which it has long been a power athletically and administratively.Ohla Kharlan, right, competing against Shihomi Fukushima of Japan in the Grand Palais on Monday.Andrew Medichini/Associated PressWith Russia banned from these Games because of its invasion, only 15 of its athletes are competing in Paris, all designated as neutral, without the accompaniment of the country’s flag or national anthem. There are none in fencing, a huge blow to the country’s Olympic prestige given that Russia and the former Soviet Union rank behind only Italy, France and Hungary in fencing’s overall medal count.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Olympics Opening Ceremony Singer Redefines What It Means to Be French

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      Aya Nakamura, the French Malian singer, did more than open the Games. She redefined what it means to be French.A new France was consecrated Friday evening during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. When Aya Nakamura, a French Malian singer, came sashaying in a short fringed golden dress out of the august Académie Française, she redefined Frenchness.Adieu the stern edicts of the Académie, whose role has been to protect the French language from what one of its members once called “brainless Globish.” Bonjour to a France whose language is increasingly infused with expressions from its former African colonies that form the lyrical texture of Ms. Nakamura’s many blockbuster hits.France’s most popular singer at home and abroad gyrated as she strode forth over the Pont des Arts in her laced golden gladiator sandals. A Republican Guard band accompanied her slang-spiced lyrics. Her confidence bordered on insolence, as if to say, “This, too, is France.”Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, had said that Ms. Nakamura sings in “who knows what” language. But her denunciation of the performance on the grounds that it would “humiliate” the French people failed to stop it.The backdrop to the ceremony was a political and cultural crisis in France broadly pitting tradition against modernity and an open view of society against a closed one. The country is politically deadlocked and culturally fractured, unable to form a new government or agree on what precisely Frenchness should be.In this context, the thrust of the ceremony, as conceived by its artistic director, Thomas Jolly, was to push the boundaries of what it means to be French in an attempt to bolster a more inclusive France and a less divided world. It was a political act wrapped in a pulsating show.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      By the smallest of margins, Torri Huske beat her U.S. teammate and managed to heal an old heartbreak at the same time.

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      Ben ShpigelDaniel Berehulak and The gold medal that Torri Huske of the United States won on Sunday in the 100-meter butterfly barely eluded her three years ago at the Tokyo Olympics, a letdown that might not have annoyed her so much had she won silver then, or even bronze.Daniel Berehulak/The New York TimesIn third place at the turn on Sunday, Huske powered to gold, edging her teammate — and world-record holder — Gretchen Walsh at the end by touching just ahead of her. In a sport defined by infinitesimal slivers of time, that brief gap is either a flash or an eternity, and often it is both.James Hill for The New York TimesDaniel Berehulak/The New York TimesHuske missed out on an Olympic medal in Tokyo by one-hundredths of a second. On Sunday, she won gold by four-hundredths. And when she realized it, she said, “Oh my God,” and went to hug Walsh in the next lane.Daniel Berehulak/The New York TimesJames Hill for The New York TimesZhang Yufei, one of 23 top Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug months before the Tokyo Games, won bronze. She won silver in Tokyo, nine-hundredths of a second ahead of Huske, who bested her — and everyone else — on Sunday night. More

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      The Olympics Has a Bad Guy: Anyone in an Argentina Jersey

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      Grudges from the World Cup and rugby union have spilled over to the Games. But is this new sports feud even real?The Olympic Games have long been governed by a tacit code: If fans can’t say anything nice, they shouldn’t say anything at all. Jeering, whistling and catcalling at athletes who have spent years to make it to the pinnacle of their sports is “unacceptable,” as Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, once put it. To boo is, well, taboo.As far as the French are concerned, though, there appears to be one exception: anyone wearing the sky blue and white of Argentina.In the opening few days of the Paris Games, Argentina was booed before, during and after a men’s soccer game in Marseille. It was heartily booed for three days straight every time its men’s rugby sevens team appeared at a packed Stade de France. And it was booed again whenever one of those rugby players had the temerity to touch the ball.Its anthem was booed once more — although a little more gently — when Argentina’s team made its debut in the men’s volleyball tournament at the South Paris Arena on Saturday evening.The hostility has left some of the country’s opponents wondering what is going on. Nicholas Malouf, an Australian rugby sevens player, said he “did not know the background” behind the tension. Antony Mboya, representing Kenya in the same sport, assumed the local French crowd was just “backing an underdog.”In reality, the animosity is much more targeted. Both sides have come to understand that France, at this moment in time, does not much like Argentina. “It has become a real rivalry for us,” said Jules Briand, a French fan who traveled both to watch his team compete in rugby sevens and to indulge in a little jeering.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Here’s how Simone Biles and her American teammates stormed into the finals.

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      The U.S. women’s gymnastics team qualified for Tuesday’s team final with a solid performance on Sunday, led by Simone Biles — competing on a taped leg — and Sunisa Lee.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesThe United States started off with some nerves on the balance beam, with wobbles from Lee, Jordan Chiles and Hezly Rivera. But Biles nailed her routine, positioning her to qualify for the beam final — potentially with Lee — after the rest of the field competes later on Sunday.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesChang W. Lee/The New York TimesAfter Biles warmed up on floor exercise, she had her leg examined and taped. But she gave her usual explosive performance — complete with two passes named for her, including a triple-twisting double back flip — and her coach said later that the injury wasn’t serious. Biles was poised to qualify for the floor final, possibly with Chiles.Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesBiles competed her namesake Yurchenko double pike, the most difficult vault in the world, and a second vault called a Cheng. She was well positioned to qualify for the final along with her teammate Jade Carey.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesGabriela Bhaskar for The New York TimesLee led the U.S. on the uneven bars, where she won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and is likely to qualify for the final. Her routine also carried her narrowly past Chiles for a spot in the all-around final alongside Biles.Chang W. Lee/The New York Times More

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      What to Know About Suni Lee’s New Uneven Bars Move

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      Sunisa Lee, the defending Olympic all-around gold medalist and uneven bars bronze medalist, may attempt a new skill at the 2024 Paris Games. The new element in her uneven bars routine is a release move in which a gymnast does a front flip and a full twist in the layout position. Lee is seeking to […] More

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      Your Guide to Olympic Gymnastics: Vault

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      Want to follow the women’s gymnastics competition in Paris, but don’t understand the skills or how they’re scored? Here’s a guide.For two weeks every four years, women’s gymnastics is one of the biggest sports in the world. The rest of the time, those of us watching are kind of a niche group.That can make it hard to fully appreciate what you’re seeing when the athletes take the Olympic stage. If you want to know what’s required on each apparatus, or what that skill you saw was, or how to distinguish good routines from great ones, we’re here to help.Here, we’ll look at the vault, starting with a broad overview and then moving into the technical details. We also have guides to the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.The basicsGymnasts sprint down an 82-foot runway, use a springboard to propel themselves onto the vault (sometimes called the vaulting table or just the table), push themselves into the air and perform flips and twists before landing on the mat.Many gymnasts, mainly those who don’t specialize in the event, complete only one vault. But those who want to qualify for the vault final must attempt two, and their methods must be from different “families.” (More on that later.)Gymnasts receive one score for difficulty and one for execution, and the two are combined. A gymnast who performs a difficult vault with some flaws can outscore one who does an easier vault cleanly. And while landing errors may be the easiest to spot, what happens in midair is just as important: A gymnast who takes a step but has impeccable form can score more highly than one who sticks the landing but has sloppy form.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More