China claims first two golds of Paris 2024, Australia off to good start in swimming

After Friday night's opening ceremony on the River Seine, Chinese athletes clinched the first two gold medals of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in shooting and diving respectively, on Saturday, while Australia seized two out of the four swimming gold medals on offer.

China's young shooters Huang Yuting, 17, and Sheng Lihao, 19, defeated South Korea's Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun in the 10m air rifle mixed team event to secure the Games' first gold medal.

The Chinese duo have showed dominance in recent years, standing atop the podium at the 2023 World Championships in Baku and at the Hangzhou Asian Games. As the favorites in Paris, Huang and Sheng ranked first in the event's qualification round with 632.2 points, just one point shy of the Olympic qualification record.

Despite a challenge from Keum and Park in the gold medal match, the Chinese teenagers demonstrated maturity beyond their years to seal the win 16-12.

"I kept telling myself to focus on my performance and stay concentrated, giving myself positive mental cues," Huang said after her Olympic debut.

"Tokyo was my first Olympics, and I was pretty immature both technically and mentally," said Sheng. "I accumulated experience and keep reflecting on myself, and this time the gold medal was a result of my hard work."

Forty years ago, shooter Xu Haifeng won China's first-ever Olympic gold medal at Los Angeles 1984, while a number of Chinese shooters claimed Olympic golds in the past decades, including Du Li, Yi Siling and Yang Qian. Now, the younger generation takes on the responsibility to forge ahead in shooting.

Chinese divers also continue to shine at the Olympics. Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani of China triumphed in the women's synchronized 3m springboard in 337.68 points at ease, winning the second gold of the Paris Olympics, which is the sixth consecutive Olympic gold medal in this event for China since the 2004 Athens Games.

America's Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook scored 314.64 points to take silver, followed by Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen of Britain in third place.

"I just focused on my own rhythm as well as my partner's. I didn't feel much different [today] to other competitions," said 25-year-old Chen, who has paired up with Chang to win this event at the last three World Championships.

As a diving powerhouse, China won seven out of eight gold medals in the previous two Olympic Games, and the "Dream Team" remains consistent in expecting a sweep of gold medals at Paris 2024.

At the Paris La Defense Arena, four swimming gold medals were won. Ariarne Titmus of Australia defended her 400m freestyle crown, and her compatriots claimed gold in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay.

"I am definitely good at handling the pressure, but I have definitely felt it. The Olympics is different. It's not like anything else. It's not about how fast you go. It's about getting your hand on the wall first, so I'm really happy to have done that tonight," Titmus said after the competition.

Germany's Lukas Maertens clinched the men's 400m freestyle gold by holding off a late challenge from Australia's Elijah Winnington, while the United States finished first in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay.

On a rainy day, 32-year-old Australian road cycling racer Grace Brown conquered the slippery roads to win the women's individual time trial by an impressive margin of one minute and 31 seconds ahead of runner-up Anna Henderson of Britain.

Brown recalled that spectators had gestured for her to be careful going into some corners. "I had a plan to pace the race to win gold, and I was able to execute my plan, pretty much to perfection, if not better," she noted.

World time trial champion Remco Evenepoel of Belgium added an Olympic gold medal to his collection with a powerful display in the men's time trial on 32.4-kilometer course which began at Invalides and ended on the Alexander III Bridge.

Hosts France won their first gold medal at Paris 2024 after beating defending champions Fiji in the men's rugby sevens.

Vivian Kong Man Wai of Hong Kong, China, claimed victory in the women's individual epee, while reigning Olympic champion Sun Yiwen of China was eliminated by Japan's Miho Yoshimura 14-13 in the round of 32.

Also on Saturday, Yeldos Smetov won Kazakhstan's first ever Olympic judo gold in the men's 60kg category.

At the end of Day 1 of competition, Australia top the medal tally with three gold medals, followed by China with two golds.

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Source: Xinhua