While athletes rejoice in their first Olympic victories, spectators continue to be perplexed by another embarrassment at the largest sporting event of 2024.
Rat infestation
During the Paris Olympics, citizens and visitors to the French capital saw cat-sized rats on the streets, Daily Star reports.
Up to two inches of rain fell on the French capital in 48 hours, forcing six million rats out of their underground shacks. Not only that, the sight of them scurrying around restaurants and bars horrified spectators who had travelled from all over the world for the sporting spectacle.
Earlier it became known that the triathlon training swim at the Paris Olympics was cancelled for the second time. The athletes were again hampered by polluted water in the Seine.
Child rapist at the Olympic Games
The stands booed Dutch beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde, who served time for raping a 12-year-old girl. This is how the audience met the athlete at a match of the Summer Olympics in Paris. The athlete did not react in any way to the negative reaction of the audience, only took off his sunglasses and wiped sweat from his forehead.
Velde performed together with Matthew Immers against Italian athletes Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula.
First medals
The 23-year-old won bronze in the final of the 100m breaststroke swim last night, which was won by South Africa’s Tatjana Smith, with China’s Tang Qianting finishing second.
Sligo-born McSharry, who hails from Grange, became the first Irish athlete to win an Olympic swimming medal since Michelle Smith won four medals in Atlanta in 1996.
Manika Batra made history by becoming the first Indian table tennis player to reach the singles pre-quarterfinals at the Olympic Games with a fluent 4-0 win over world number 18 and home favourite Prithika Pavade here on Monday. The 29-year-old Manika dominated from start to finish for a 11-9 11-6 11-9 11-7 win over Prithika, who has Indian roots.
Investigation over “racist message”
Great Britain rugby sevens player Amy Wilson-Hardy is under investigation over a racist message, the British Olympic Association has confirmed.
A screenshot of Wilson-Hardy’s WhatsApp message appeared on Instagram and the person who posted it accused her of racism. A BOA spokesperson said:
The British Olympic Association has been made aware of the image posted on social media and is investigating.
Wilson-Hardy played in the 17-7 quarter-final defeat to the United States on Monday that dashed Team Great Britain’s medal hopes in Paris 2024. The 32-year-old, who represented England in the XVs game, was part of the GB Olympic team that finished fourth in Rio 2016.
Trump shocked by Olympic opening ceremony
Donald Trump called the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris “terrible.” He said in an interview with Foxnews that Christians around the world are outraged because of the parody of the Last Supper. Mr. Trump said that if he had been US president during the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and could have influenced the organisers, he would not have allowed Christian values to be mocked.
