The Olympics Games in Paris, the year’s most momentous event for the world and France in particular, will conclude in the coming days, but tension remains at its heart, while various confusions still occur.
Mixed up flags of Thailand and Tajikistan
The Thai flag raised during the medal ceremony at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, although no Thai athlete won a medal. The mix-up occurred during the medal presentation in the men’s 92-kilogram (heavy) boxing category, in which Davlat Boltaev of Tajikistan won bronze.
As the athletes stood on the podium to receive their medals, the Thai flag was displayed instead of the Tajik flag, leaving competitors and spectators puzzled. Boltaev seemed particularly puzzled as his flag was not raised, but all four boxers continued with the ceremony and happily posed for a commemorative photo.
The organisers have not released any official statement about the incident, but users on the internet suggested that the country codes for Thailand (TH) and Tajikistan (TJ) are close and the letters H and J are next to each other on the keyboard, so it might have been human error.
Results: Victories and defeats
- Iimane Khelif, the Algerian boxer at the centre of the gender controversy, won gold on Friday in front of a roaring crowd at Roland Garros. The Algerian was ahead on all the judges’ scorecards before the third and final round and just needed to avoid serious trouble to claim gold.
- New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington won gold in the women’s 500m with an Olympic time of 1:47.36. The 35-year-old won her third gold medal in Paris 2024 and the eighth of her Olympic career, equalling Birgit Fischer’s Olympic record in canoeing.
- South Korea ended its long wait for a medal in table tennis. Lee Eunhee, Jeon Jihee and the doubles duo of Jeon and Shin Yubin won their matches against Germany 3-0 to claim bronze. It is South Korea’s first Olympic table tennis medal since 2008 in Beijing.
- Basketball: Serbia beat Germany 93-83 in the men’s bronze medal match thanks to 19 points from Nikola Jokic and Vasilije Micic. A consolation for the Serbs after they were so close to beating the American stars in the semifinals.
- For the first time in the history of Olympic women’s water polo, Team USA missed out on a medal. The Netherlands beat them 11-10.
- Handball: Bronze in the women’s event went to Denmark. The Danish women won the sport three times in a row from 1996 to 2004. For the Swedes, it’s another bronze medal loss: they lost the medal to Norway at the Tokyo Games.
- France is having a perfect home Olympics. The French won 56 medals, a modern record for the French, as the only Olympics where they won more medals was the 1900 Paris Games, which had a disproportionate number of French athletes and fewer international competitors. In addition to numerous individual events in cycling, sport climbing, athletics and other sports, the French men’s volleyball team, women’s handball team, men’s and women’s basketball teams will take part in the Gold Games this weekend.
The Olympic Games in Paris come to a close on Sunday and will include the closing ceremony and feature traditional moments including a parade of athletes and the handing over of the Olympic flag to the organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
