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2024 Paris Olympics Day 9 recap: Noah Lyles' photo finish win, U.S. swimming tops Australia for medal supremacy

ian casselberry
Contributing writer
·8 min read
8

Medal table | Olympic schedule | How to watch | Olympic news

On the track, the men's 100-meter race lived up to every bit of its hype with a thrilling finish. In the pool, the U.S. women's swim team won the 4x100m medley relay and Bobby Finke won the 1,500m freestyle to beat out Australia for the most swimming gold medals. And both Novak Djokovic and Scottie Scheffler won their first Olympic gold medals.

Here are the top five stories of the day:

With a final result that could not have been closer, USA’s Noah Lyles narrowly finished ahead of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson to win the men’s 100-meter race.

Both sprinters were timed at 9.79 seconds, but Lyles won by five-thousands of a second, .784 to .789. Choose your comparison: By a hair, by a breath, by the blink of an eye.

In real time, Thompson appeared to be the winner. NBC’s broadcast called it that way (and endured heavy criticism on social media for doing so in the aftermath). Thompson himself believed he won, looking up at the board for official confirmation.

While time passed in what felt like an eternity, the finish was reviewed. Lyles came over to assure Thompson he won, yet the Jamaican knew the result wasn’t final. But then it was, with Lyles winning by the closest of margins — because, as Olympic rules state, his torso crossed the finish line first. And the United States had its first gold medal in the men’s 100-meter in 20 years.

Noah Lyles, of the United States, in lane seven, wins the men's 100-meter final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Noah Lyles, of the United States, in lane seven, wins the men's 100-meter final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Fred Kersey earned bronze with a time of 9.81 seconds, giving Team USA two sprinters on the podium in a race that could be talked about for decades.

Swimming supremacy was at stake on Sunday at the Paris Olympics. Australia began the day with seven gold medals to Team USA’s six in what’s become an engaging rivalry for the sport.

However, the U.S. finished the day on top. First, Bobby Finke set a world record in winning the men’s 1,500m freestyle. With a time of 14:30.67, Finke broke a mark that had endured since China’s Sun Yang posted a time of 14:31.02 in 2012.

The U.S. women’s team followed up by winning gold in the 4x100m medley relay. In doing so, the foursome of Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske set another world record by finishing in 3:39.63.

That topped the 3:50.40 mark that the U.S. (also with Smith and Walsh on the team) set in 2019. It also beat the Australian relay team by nearly four seconds in the final swimming event for these Paris Games. Final tally in swimming golds in Paris: USA: 8, Australia 7.

On another day of gymnastics apparatus finals, Suni Lee added to her stack of Paris medals with a bronze medal in the uneven bars final. Lee, who won bronze in the event in Tokyo, did so again under different circumstances — as part of a stunning comeback from medical issues that she's been suffering through for over a year.

Lee, coming off a bronze in the all-around event on Thursday, competed last in the event and posted an excellent score of 14.800 to edge out the rest of the competition for bronze.

Algeria's Kaylia Nemour took gold with an absolutely massive score of 15.700 off of a beautiful and near-perfect routine. Qiu Qiyuan from China earned silver, posting a big score of her own with 15.500.

Now with three medals in Paris — and six Olympic medals in total — Lee has a chance for one more medal in these games: She will compete in the balance beam final on Monday alongside Simone Biles.

The U.S. women’s basketball team finished out group play at 3–0 with an 87–68 win over Germany. Up next for Team USA is a quarterfinals matchup with Nigeria on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

The Germans led 19–16 after the first quarter, but Team USA roared back to outscore their opponent 25-10 in the second frame and didn’t let up in the second half.

Jackie Young scored a game-high 19 points off the bench with four rebounds and four steals. She shot 5-for-8 on 3-pointers. A’ja Wilson added 14, followed by 13 from Breanna Stewart. Napheesa Collier grabbed seven boards, while Alyssa Thomas and Kelsey Plum each dished out five assists.

Satou Sabally led Team Germany with 15 points, with Alexis Peterson adding 14. The Germans emerge from group play with a 2–1 record.

Team USA goes into the knockout round with the largest point differential in the Olympic tournament (+58).

Novak Djokovic can now add an Olympic gold medal to his 24 Grand Slam titles after defeating Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2) on Sunday.

Amazingly, Djokovic hadn’t won a singles title this year, losing his three Grand Slam events — including a straight sets defeat to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. Despite recent minor meniscus surgery on his right knee, Djokovic patiently controlled play, which frustrated Alcaraz in a thrilling back and forth match.

Djokovic was candid about not advancing to the final in his previous four Olympic games, never getting out of the semifinals. After winning, he showed as much emotion as fans have ever seen from him. Olympic gold might not be viewed as prestigiously in tennis as a Grand Slam title, but in Djokovic’s mind, he still had something left to achieve. Now he’s done it.

Paris Games Medal Count

RankCountry
G
S
B
Total
1
United States
404442126
2
China
40272491
3
Great Britain
14222965
4
France
16262264
5
Australia
18191653

Usually, this space is reserved for something random, quirky or endearing from the day's Olympic action. But it's also a place for something amazing.

And though it already led off this roundup, the spectacular finish to the men's 100-meter race warrants one more mention. Especially because of this digital composite of images taken from a fixed camera above the action, courtesy of Getty Images:

PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 04: (EDITORS NOTE: Image is a digital composite.) General view as Noah Lyles of Team United States competes the Men's 100m Final on day nine of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 04, 2024 in Paris, France. Layers of the Games shows in one image the multiple moments that happen during a game or a day of competition during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games from a fixed camera. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
A digital composite of USA's Noah Lyles (lane 7) beating Jamaica's Kishane Thompson (lane 4) in the men's 100m final. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

Scottie Scheffler didn’t appear to be in position to win a gold medal in golf on Sunday. Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Tommy Fleetwood topped the leaderboard going into the final day of play.

Yet Scheffler ended up writing an impressive chapter in what’s been an amazing book of a year for him. Starting the day at four shots back of the lead, Scheffler fell behind by six shots at the turn. He then turned in one of the best back-nine performances of the year, shooting a 29 to finish 19-under.

Fleetwood (-18) won silver, while Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (-17) earned bronze.

In 2024, Scheffler has won the Masters (now a two-time champion) and the Players Championship. Now he can add an Olympic gold medal to that trophy case.

One intriguing footnote: Had South Korea’s Tom Kim won a medal, he would have been exempted from 18 to 21 months of military service. At one point, Kim got as close as one stroke to within a medal position. Alas, he finished -14.