PARIS OLYMPICS 2024: What you need to know right now
PARIS - Paris is making final preparations for the Olympics ahead of the Opening Ceremony on Friday while the early sporting action has continued with archery, handball, rugby sevens and football teams all in action.
Here's what you need to know about the Olympics on Thursday, the day before the games formally begin.
FINAL PREPARATIONS
Final preparations are under way for Friday's official Opening Ceremony and its largest post-war security operation.
The idea for the ceremony, which will see more than 7,000 athletes sail down the River Seine, was initially met with resistance by police according to two sources until President Emmanuel Macron pushed them to make it happen.
Security officials say as many as 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers and private security guards will be tasked with securing the ceremony and sporting events across the French capital.
ANTI-DOPING WARS
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee chief on Thursday called for a truce between the warring American and world anti-doping bodies after relations between the two took another turn for the worse this week.
The World Anti-Doping Agency told Reuters on Wednesday it was taking the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to the Independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) next month, a move that could jeopardise the United States' hosting the 2028 Summer Games and 2034 Winter Olympics.
WADA and USADA are embroiled in a bitter dispute over how WADA handled a case involving 23 Chinese elite swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in 2021.
USADA chief Travis Tygart has publicly accused WADA of a cover-up. WADA says the United States is taking a unilateral approach to anti-doping rules that risked undermining global rules.
USADA told Reuters that WADA's move to take the U.S. to the CRC was retaliatory.
DRONE WARS
Canada's women's soccer team beat New Zealand 2-1 on Thursday in a match overshadowed by a spying scandal that erupted the day before.
New Zealand said their Canadian rivals had flown a drone over a training session, with an assistant coach and analyst for Canada kicked out of the Games.
Global soccer's governing body FIFA began disciplinary proceedings and Canada Soccer said it would launch an independent review, as coach Bev Priestman stepped down from opening match duties.
Priestman apologised and said the buck stopped with her.
New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell told FIFA on Thursday to take urgent action to address the issue.
SPRAY-ON TRAINERS MAKE THEIR DEBUT
Running brand On unveiled its new marathon shoe on Thursday, which is made by a robotic arm spraying material onto a mould to create a sock-like upper, with no laces.
At $330, On's shoe is at the upper end of the market, though still cheaper than Adidas' new $500 marathon shoe, launched last September.
Of the 66 sponsored athletes at the Olympics, between six and 10 will wear customised versions of On's LightSpray shoes.
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