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PARIS – The timing is exquisite.

In the same year that French phenom and San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama won NBA Rookie of the Year and unveiled the heretofore unseen possibilities of what a 7-foot-4 basketball player could do on that court, the 2024 Olympics are in his country.

During the Olympics, even more people can see Wembanyama’s ability and potential, his home fans can celebrate him and his corporate partners can push products featuring his image.

‘I’ve been preparing for it since I first saw the Olympics on TV, and as I grew up it became a goal,’ Wembanyama told reporters earlier this summer. ‘It’s a unique event in sport, the biggest event in the world.’

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

But it doesn’t take long at the Olympics for France’s men’s 5×5 basketball team’s best plans to go askew. While Wembanyama has provided exciting plays, France’s play has generated public bickering between players and Coach Vincent Collet, especially after Germany’s 85-71 victory over France to win Group B put France in a quarterfinal matchup against Team Canada. The loser will not have a chance to medal.

With the Games in Paris, there is pressure on France to medal, and that pressure is taking a toll. After France failed to reach the knockout round of last year’s FIBA World Cup, Nic Batum said, ‘I’m scared to go home because we let a lot of people down.’

As players and coach sort through this week’s the finger-pointing, Wembanyama said ahead of the Tuesday’s quarterfinals game, ‘I have this feeling of responsibility.’

It’s a heavy burden.

On the court in three Olympics games, Wembanyama has delivered monster dunks, blocks and steals. He averaged 17 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 2.0 blocks.

He is trying to enjoy the experience. He may not be the face of the Olympics, but eyes are on him. And he’s on the verge of becoming the face of the NBA for the next 12-15 seasons, at least.

To that end, Nike has placed ads of Wembanyama throughout Paris’ subway and a giant image of him is plastered on scaffolding on the under-renovation Sainte-Trinité church and on Centre Pompidou in Paris. Nike also made him one of its featured athletes in its ‘Am I a bad person’ ad that is narrated by Willem Dafoe.

His impact is global, but the pride France has is uniquely homespun.

Noam Netter said one imperfect measure of Wembanyama’s popularity in his country is that his mom knows who he is.

‘My mother is definitely not into basketball,’ said Netter, a 17-year-old high school student and regular at a popular outdoor basketball court in Paris’ Quai de Jemmapes neighborhood that was renovated a few years ago, partly with funds donated by former NBA player and French star Tony Parker.

Netter said he got hooked on basketball after his father introduced him to Michael Jordan – the Chicago Bulls great’s style of play, his relentless athleticism, but also the shoes.

‘I have many pairs of Jordans,’ Netter said Sunday, as several dozen hoopers jostled in the background on a community court in a gritty but gentrifying area.

The court goes by several names. When it was opened more than a decade ago it was christened the ‘Baltizone,’ a reference to some of its users’ then-favorite drama series, Baltimore-set ‘The Wire.’ Younger players, such as Netter, now refer to it, and tag it on Instagram, as ‘144,’ because of its street address: 144 Quai de Jemmape.

Netter said that many people in France, like his mom, have been captivated and charmed by Wembanyama.

‘Off the court, he’s just so humble. He has presence. He deals with all the pressure. On it, it’s his size and his handles. He bosses everyone. He’s just incredible.’

Gotham ‘Gato’ Raj runs the @le__144 Instagram account and is never far from the court. He is its self-styled promotor. In fact, Raj, 23, has ambitions to buy it one day from the local authorities, something he said he’s not allowed to do − ‘yet’ − because it is owned by the city.

Raj said that it’s not just Wembanyama that has spotlighted France’s basketball talent. He pointed out that the Atlanta Hawks selected French teen Zaccharie Risacher as the No. 1 overall pick in 2024 NBA draft. Another Frenchman, seven-foot forward Alex Sarr, was selected at No. 2. by the Washington Wizards.

The Wizards also selected Bilal Coulibaly with the No. 7 pick in the 2023 draft, and France’s Nolan Traore is a projected top-five pick and compatriot Noa Essengue is a potential lottery pick in the 2025 draft.

Raj said that unlike in the U.S., the French game has long resisted ‘trash talking.’ But he said that’s changing as more and more amateur French players pay closer attention to the NBA.

‘We’re proud of him representing us in the U.S.,’ he said of Wembanyama. 

Raj said that soccer is still the most popular sport in France by far.

Asked whether he favored Wembanyama, as a sports figure, over Kylian Mbappé, France’s global soccer star who captain’s France’s national team, has won domestic titles with the Paris Saint-Germain soccer club and is known for his exceptional speed and dribbling, he said that was a ‘rough’ choice to have to make.

‘I’m choosing Mbappé but that’s only because Wembanyama needs more time to show the world what he can do.’

Time. Wembanyama has plenty of it, but Collet, the France coach, points out that many impatient people want Wembanyama to reach his potential now.

‘In France, everybody waits for him. I don’t know which word to use (in English), but everybody waits for him,’ Collet said. ‘You have the people who know basketball and they understand he’s only 20 years old, but people that they like sports but they don’t know basketball, they think Victor is already Michael Jordan. Take time. Take time.’

When a reporter suggested Wembanyama was ‘almost Jordan,’ Collet said, ‘He’s not far but still near.’

Parker, the Basketball Hall of Famer and former Spurs star, owns a majority stake in ASVEL, a team in France’s top basketball league, and Wembanyama helped ASVEL to a title in 2022.

‘With that experience, I knew right away that he’s going to be fine,’ Parker said. ‘He has a great family. … He has an unbelievable support system, and he doesn’t need any advice.

‘He knows what he wants, he knows where he is going and he knows how to handle pressure.’

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PARIS − Badminton is a hugely popular sport in both Taiwan and China. At the Paris Olympics, two incidents in as many days involving the sport’s spectators reflects those place’s uneasy rivalry on the world stage.

A Taiwan badminton supporter who was holding up a sign that read, ‘Let’s go Taiwan,’ had it ripped from her hands and torn up Sunday during the men’s doubles badminton final. Wang Chi-Lin and Lee Yang of Taiwan beat China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in a three-game thriller to win the gold medal in the event. A towel with a similar sentiment was also stolen off a Taiwan fan during the match, according to reports.

The incidents prompted Taiwan’s government on Monday to call on French authorities to launch an investigation. It followed a separate report on Friday that saw a spectator who was holding up a green banner that read, ‘Taiwan go for it,’ removed from a Paris badminton venue during Taiwan player Chou Tien Chen’s match against India’s Lakshya Sen.

Here’s what to know about Taiwan and China at the Olympics.

First of all, Taiwan isn’t called Taiwan at the Olympics

China’s government has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since a civil war in China in the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists lost to Mao Zedong’s Communists and rebased their government in Taiwan. Beijing uses its global clout today to require that the International Olympic Committee let Taiwan, known internationally as an island-territory, join Olympic events only as ‘Chinese Taipei’ because the label implies a link to China.

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

What about the flag? And the flag anthem?

Instead of Taiwan’s official banner, its Olympic athletes wear a white-colored Chinese Taipei flag on their uniforms. It features a five-petal flower encircled by the Olympic rings. Taiwan’s flag anthem is banned from Olympic Games. On Sunday, for only the second time in Olympic history − the other time was at the Tokyo Summer Olympics − Taiwans’s flag anthem was played during the medals ceremony. Crucially, however, the anthem’s lyrics were changed for the performance so as not to upset China. It’s not clear if the ceremony was broadcast in China.

How have Olympic organizers reacted?

International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said in a press conference Monday that there were ‘clear rules,’ drafted in 1981, governing Taiwan’s participation as Chinese Taipei. He also noted that spectators are not permitted to bring banners to Olympic events. ‘You can see how this can lead into: ‘If that’s allowed then why not this?’ That is why the rules are quite strict. We have to try to bring 206 national Olympic committees together in one place. It is quite a tough ask,’ he said. The Badminton World Federation did not respond to a comment request.

Green, the color of the stolen towel, is associated with Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party. The DDP has sought to transition Taiwan toward full independence from China, leading to increasing military threats from Beijing.

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Forget the 1962 Mets and last year’s Athletics and the 2003 Tigers and any number of potential WOATs (Worst Of All Time) that Major League Baseball has produced in the past half-century.

These Chicago White Sox are a threat to the game’s ancient history.

The White Sox ran their losing streak to 20 games with three more losses against Minnesota and are now one shy of the American League record, set by the 1988 Baltimore Orioles. Three more losses, and they’ll tie the 1961 Phillies with a 23-game losing streak, longest in major league history.

Needless to say, the 27-87 White Sox have a permanent lease on No. 30 in USA TODAY Sports’ power rankings, what with No. 29, the 41-71 Colorado Rockies, holding a mere 17 ½ game lead on them.

But Chicago’s futility is almost immeasurable. The White Sox’s losing percentage has dwindled to .237, worse than the .262 mark the expansion 1962 Mets compiled when they set a record with 120 losses. As such, the White Sox are now on pace for 123 losses, which would shatter the Mets’ mark.

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That would leave just one low point in sight: The 1916 Philadelphia A’s, who lost 117 games but mercifully competed in an era when they played just 154 a year. Their .235 winning percentage (or .765 losing percentage) remains the worst in the modern era.

Who says there’s nothing to play for this summer on the South Side?

A look at our updated rankings:

1. Cleveland Guardians (+1)

Alex Cobb not far away from helping the rotation.

2. Baltimore Orioles (+1)

Jackson Holliday looks like a different dude on his second big league tour.

3. Philadelphia Phillies (-2)

Just a dog days lull, right? Right??

4. New York Yankees (+1)

Reliever Mark Leiter Jr. looking like a fabulous deadline pickup.

5. Milwaukee Brewers (+1)

Have already utilized 36 pitchers, and 17 starters.

6. Los Angeles Dodgers (-2)

Relievers posting a 4.96 ERA since break after a 3.42 mark in first half.

7. Minnesota Twins (+1)

Royce Lewis has amassed 1.5 WAR in just 33 games.

8. Atlanta Braves (-1)

Jorge Soler gives them a leadoff option and more power – but also two DHs.

9. Kansas City Royals (+1)

Only Aaron Judge keeping Bobby Witt Jr. from MVP frontrunner status.

10. Boston Red Sox (-1)

Tanner Houck has a 6.88 ERA in three starts since All-Star Game.

11. San Diego Padres (+1)

They gotta make the playoffs, if only to see that Tanner Scott-helmed bullpen cook in October.

12. Arizona Diamondbacks (+1)

Paul Sewald out as closer; Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel, A.J. Puk should all get opportunities.

13. Houston Astros (-2)

As Kyle Tucker shifts to 60-day IL, still no timeline for return from shin injury.

14. Seattle Mariners (+1)

Randy Arozarena nine for his first 27 in Seattle – not a moment too soon for punchless club.

15. New York Mets (-)

Top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat now just a phone call away at Class AAA.

16. St. Louis Cardinals (-)

Dose of Tommy Pham might be just what the deadline doctor ordered.

17. Tampa Bay Rays (-)

Have won five of seven since getting branded ‘sellers.’ Or maybe they simply know what they’re doing.

18. Pittsburgh Pirates (+1)

Bryan Reynolds has hit 11 home runs the past two months, eight of them tiebreaking or erasing a deficit.

19. San Francisco Giants (+1)

Matt Chapman’s 17 home runs in 110 games equals the amount he hit in 140 games last year.

20. Texas Rangers (-2)

Pitching implodes in 2-7 stretch.

21. Cincinnati Reds (+1)

Hunter Greene extends scoreless streak to 21 innings.

22. Detroit Tigers (-1)

Jim Leyland gets deserved day in the sun at Comerica Park.

23. Chicago Cubs (-)

Park factors will matter, but it won’t be a great look if Isaac Paredes recedes at Wrigley and Christopher Morel shines in Tampa Bay.

24. Washington Nationals (+1)

They opt to keep Kyle Finnegan, and he rewards them with a 30-save season.

25. Toronto Blue Jays (-1)

File this away for 2025: Since June 25, George Springer’s batting .311 with eight homers, .384 OBP, .972 OPS.

26. Los Angeles Angels (-)

The retiring Kevin Pillar looks like he should play five more years.

27. Oakland Athletics (-)

With 28 homers, 81 RBI, Brent Rooker on 40-homer, 116-RBI pace.

28. Miami Marlins (-)

Actually a couple games over .500 since the All-Star break.

29. Colorado Rockies (-)

Just crossed the 1,100-strikeout mark (for hitters). That’s the most in NL.

30. Chicago White Sox (-)

They could lose 50 in a row and Pedro Grifol will still get paid $1 million next year.

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PARIS – Seth Rider came to the Paris Olympics to get a medal, and if that means he leaves with a raging case of diarrhea, that’s fine by him.

Rider, Taylor Spivey, Morgan Pearson and Taylor Knibb won a silver medal in the mixed triathlon relay Monday, finishing in a time of 1:25.40, 1/100th of a second behind gold-winning Germany.

‘(I found out about the change) when we were lining up,’ Knibb said. ‘We were on (the bronze medal) side and they’re like, ‘You’re on the wrong side.’

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

‘(My teammates) were all confident that (we took silver). They’re like, ‘We saw the photo, it looks like it.’ I don’t know. I was in it, I wasn’t really focused on where (Great Britain athlete) Beth (Potter) was (at the finish line).’

Great Britain, which won gold in the event’s debut at the 2020 Olympics, led most of the race but Knibb closed the gap for the U.S. with a strong anchor leg before Germany’s Laura Lindemann pulled ahead in the final moments of the run for the win.

In Monday’s relay, each competitor swam one lap of 300 meters in the Seine River, biked 7 kilometers around the Paris city streets, then ran two laps of 900 kilometers.

The race came five days after the men’s and women’s individual triathlons and amid lingering concerns about the safety of the heavy-polluted Seine.

The river has been closed for public swimming for more than 100 years, but the city of Paris invested a reported $1.5 billion in its cleanup in the years leading up to the games.

Despite that investment, the men’s triathlon was postponed last week because of water quality concerns – both that event and the women’s triathlon were run July 31 – and competitors were restricted to swimming in pools to practice for the event.

The Belgian team withdrew from the relay Sunday after one of its athletes, Claire Michel, got sick from swimming in the Seine, according to the country’s national Olympic committee.

‘We’ll see,’ Rider said after swimming in the murky brown water Monday. ‘You never really know. You just have to trust that World Triathlon wouldn’t put us in something that’s horrible to swim in. And I mean the current was insane. That was super hard physically. And then with the water quality, we just have to wait and see, but to be honest, I don’t really care now if I get sick. This is my main goal. So like, one night in the bathroom for an Olympic silver medal, I’ll take it.’

Rider said athletes were given water quality reports on the river before the event.

‘It felt a little bit grosser than the individual, to be honest,’ Netherlands triathlete Richard Murray said. ‘It was a bit browner the water than the individual, I think as well.’

The Netherlands finished in 10th place, far out of medal contention Monday, but Murray said the chance to win a medal trumped any concerns he had about the water’s safety.

‘I think if you’ve got diarrhea for a week it’s not the end of the world, but you don’t want it to hang on for the rest of your life, I guess,’ he said. ‘I think on the individual it was OK. Very few people mentioned getting ill. I think those numbers generally is a good way to look at it.’

Other athletes shared a similar sentiment, though Pearson said he would have liked to see Olympic organizers do more to ensure athlete health.

He said the swimming portion of the triathlon and Monday’s relay take could have taken place in an enclosed pool of water within the Seine outfitted with a water filtration device.

‘They should have made like a big net in the shape of a canoe and had us swim in there,’ Pearson said. ‘Basically what I’m trying to say is I think they could have invested more into having clean water. It seems like they kind of were just hoping for the best and know that athletes are going to do it because it’s the Olympics. So I think they could have invested more. Maybe differently. It sounds like they invested a lot of money, but maybe they had the wrong ideas. They need more idea people.’

Great Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown said she and her teammates took pre-race precautions like using Pepto Bismol and mouthwash to try and prevent getting sick, and Pearson said he was surprised Monday’s race went off as scheduled because of recent rain showers.

‘It just seemed like a bit of a crapshoot if we’d race or not,’ he said. ‘It’d rain one day, the water quality would get bad and then it would slowly go down. So it’s like, I think from a lot of perspective is just like we’re just kind of hoping for the best and they’ve been talking about this for a couple years now and we’re the week of the Olympics and they’re just hoping for the best.

‘I’ll be surprised if a lot − it’ll be interesting what the next couple days hold because I was actually surprised that we had the race today cause it seemed like every time it rained the water quality would get worse and it rained two nights ago and the night before and it rained a lot. I actually went to bed expecting … the race wouldn’t happen. So I think it’ll be interesting to see how many athletes get sick in the next couple days.’

None of the U.S. athletes said they suffered any ill effects from the triathlon, and after Sunday’s race they celebrated their medal haul, which matched the silver medal the U.S. won in the event in Tokyo.

Knibb, who finished 19th in the women’s triathlon and raced in a cycling time trial last week, said she was disappointed she wasn’t going home with more medals but called Sunday’s silver ‘a silver lining’ to her time Paris.

‘I’ve never been in a sprint finish before, so I’m like coming around maybe with 400 meters to go, I’m like, ‘How do I do this?’’ Knibb said. ‘But then when Beth was coming, I could see her in my peripheral vision and it’s just like I needed to find another gear and keep going. But hats off to both Germany and Great Britain for putting on really good performances all around.’

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

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Simone Biles completed her historic run at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Monday.

With performances in the finals of the women’s balance beam and floor exercise, Biles wrapped up her scheduled events in Paris, and will leave these Games with four medals, three of them gold. It has already been a triumphant return to the Olympics for Biles, who battled mental health issues at the Tokyo Games in 2021, to become one of the most dependable American athletes in Paris.

Biles opened her Olympics with a health scare, an apparent calf tweak suffered July 28 during a qualifying round, though Biles powered through all of her events, starring in them and affirming her position as the most dominant gymnast in U.S. history.

Simone Biles in floor exercise at Paris Olympics

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won gold and, after a scoring inquiry, Jordan Chiles’ score was updated to move her into third place for the bronze.

Biles, who stepped out of bounds twice but stuck her landing on the Biles I, finished with a score of 14.133 behind Andrade’s 14.166.

Simone Biles in balance beam at Paris Olympics

Biles fell off the beam during her aerial series and failed to medal in the balance beam final. She finished fifth and it marks the first time, other than on uneven bars, that Biles has made a final and not won a medal.

Italy’s Alice Domato won gold, China’s Zhou Yaqin took silver and Italy’s Manila Esposito earned bronze.

Biles won bronze medals on the beam in Rio and Tokyo.

When does Simone Biles compete next?

This is it for Biles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with all artistic gymnastics events completed.

Simone Biles’ Olympic medals

2016 Rio de Janeiro ― Gold: Team all-around
2016 Rio de Janeiro ― Gold: All-around
2016 Rio de Janeiro ― Gold: Vault
2016 Rio de Janeiro ― Gold: Floor exercise
2016 Rio de Janeiro ― Bronze: Balance beam
2020 Tokyo ― Silver: Team all-around
2020 Tokyo ― Bronze: Balance beam
2024 Paris — Gold: Team all-around
2024 Paris — Gold: Individual all-around
2024 Paris — Gold: Vault
2024 Paris — Silver: Floor exercise

Biles already entered Monday as the most decorated American gymnast of all time, and she’ll leave Paris seven medals away from former Soviet Union gymnast Larisa Latynina’s Olympic record of 18 medals.

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LE BOURGET, France – On the first day of sport climbing at the Paris Olympics, the boulders won.

They won’t medal, of course, or be fawned over by the crowd. But the man-made objects humbled some of the world’s best as the sport climbing competition began Monday.

“It was a difficult round,’’ American Colin Duffy said. “A lot of, like, tricks. It’s not very straight forward climbing.’’

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

As usual, the boulders had accomplices.

There is the human element: So-called route setters place boulders and other fixtures called volumes on the climbing walls. The crowd thundered when a climbers navigated through the zones and reached topped a boulder.

But that happened only seven times in a combined 80 tries for the men.

It was the opening round of the boulder-and-lead semifinals, and the combined scores of bouldering and lead competition will produce one set of medal winner’s for the men and women. Speed climbing will determine a second set of medal winners and their event is wildly different.

In bouldering, for example, each climber got five minutes to navigate each of the four boulders. The men went a collective 7-for-80. In speed climbing, however, many of women competing in qualification and head eliminations and many blazed up the 49-foot wall in less than 10 seconds.

The Olympic record was broken five times, and Poland’s Aleksandra Miroslaw smashed the world record twice. It now stands at 6.06 seconds.

Then there were the fatigued-looking men who’d battled the boulders. Duffy, a 20-year-old American, mentioned the Tokyo Games, where the bouldering routes prompted complaints from some of the competitors who said the the setup was too difficult. The route setters have prevailed, and the setup here Monday seemed to be proof.

“Climbing isn’t about pulling hard anymore,’’ said Duffy, who finished in 10th place Monday.

Japan’s Sorato Anrako handled the routes with skill and accounted for two of the seven topped boulders. But Germany’s Alexander Megos served as a better representation of men climbers.

Which is to say he looked defeated.

“One of the worst performances I think I had this year in bouldering,’’ he said. “I feel like sometimes those are boulders where either know what to do and you can climb them in five minutes or even if they would give you an hour you wouldn’t do them.’’

He finished 15th and found himself thinking about the second jump at boulder No. 3.

“So awkward,’’ he said. “I didn’t know what to do at all.’’

Sometimes, the boulders win.

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PARIS (Reuters) – Australia’s triathletes have been taking medicines to combat E.coli for a month, the team doctor said on Monday after they took precautions ahead of the event amid concerns over pollution levels in the river Seine.

The triathlon team of Luke Willian, Matthew Hauser, Natalie van Coevorden and Sophie Linn had earlier finished 12th in the mixed relay where the swimming leg was in the river Seine.

The four athletes also took part in last week’s men’s and women’s individual triathlon events. The men’s event was postponed due to pollution levels in the Seine.

‘We started by administering a medication that’s good against E.coli, which is the main bacteria in this water, a month ago,’ Carolyn Broderick told reporters.

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2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

‘After the race, we’ve also been using prophylactic antibiotics and we’re using skin washes, ear washes, eye washes. So we’re trying to account for everywhere that may get infected essentially and similarly for our marathon swimmers.’

Four Australians are on the entry list for open water swimming — Nick Sloman, Kyle Lee, Moesha Johnson and Chelsea Gubecka.

‘I’m not exactly sure what other teams are doing,’ Broderick added. ‘But we’ve been in touch with infectious diseases experts and we’ve got good opinions prior to coming into that to try and minimize the risk.’

The marathon swimming events over 10-km will be held on Thursday (women’s) and Friday (men’s).

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COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France — He paused to take a picture by the reflecting pool lined with well-groomed trees and walked past a flagpole flying an American flag high in the air.

At one of the first headstones he came to, a white marble cross about waist-high in the 11th row of Plot B at Normandy American Cemetery, Mason Parris stopped to study the name inscribed on its back.

Edwin C. Swinscoe

PFC 357 INF 90 DIV

Colorado June 21, 1944

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Parris perused the names on other headstones as he strolled somberly across the grass.

He snapped a photo of the gold lettering on the headstone of Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the Brigadier General and son of former president Teddy Roosevelt, who died fighting in World War II, then walked to the chapel, said a quiet prayer “and just thanked all those guys for the sacrifices.”

“It’s so beautiful out here right now,” Parris said later as he sat atop a wall high above Omaha Beach overlooking the English Channel. “But I can only imagine the terrors and everything that happened on that day.”

Eighty years ago, on June 6, 1944, Parris’ great-grandfather, Vemont Marqua, experienced those terrors firsthand.

Marqua was part of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, when more than 150,000 Allied troops landed at five beachheads in northern France to start the end of World War II.

Last Tuesday, 10 days before he was set to wrestle in the biggest event of his life, Parris, an Olympic medal hopeful at 125 kg, joined four of his freestyle teammates and about two dozen other members of USA Wrestling on a day trip to Normandy from the team’s acclimation camp an hour east at Centre Sportif de Normandie in the picturesque town of Houlgate.

Two days after the Greco-Roman team took a similar tour, Parris and his teammates bused to Point du Hoc, the bluff that was home to a German command center on D-Day, then visited Omaha Beach on their way to the cemetery.

Parris, dressed in a white “United States of America” T-shirt and black Nike shorts, carried a black-and-white photograph of his great-grandfather in his backpack. His mother gave him the picture, which was displayed for years in his Lawrenceville, Indiana, home, before he left and she asked him to take a photo with it on the beach.

Parris posed for pictures with the old photograph for USA TODAY, then put the print in the sand.

“Definitely symbolically letting him touch that sand, be there again,” Parris said.

“I mean for me it was honoring him and just representing the things that he’s done and the sacrifices that he’s made for being my family,” Parris said. “I’m really glad that he was able to make it back alive. I don’t know if things would have been differently, if I would be here or not if he didn’t make it back. It’s great just being able to honor him and things that he and his brothers did for me.”

A hero’s tale

Parris never met his great-grandfather, who died of cancer 20 years before he was born. And his mother, Shay Parris, said her grandpa never talked much about his time in the Army.

But Marqua’s name and history live on in newspaper clippings and World War II artifacts he brought home.

The family has a spiked German war helmet, iron cross and silk from a parachute it labeled in a scrap book as being shot down at Gela Beach, Italy, in 1943. They kept a letter he sent his brother from Sicily dated Aug. 21 of the same year, and a poem Marqua wrote from the battlefield titled, “Little Letter to God.” To this day, Parris’ grandmother still keeps a framed letter on the wall that Marqua wrote her when she was a little girl.

In the letter, Marqua, who was deployed overseas around the time she was born and didn’t return until she was 4, used sketches to convey some words and wrote he would catch a boat to see her “when the Germans stop the (bombing). That will B when all of them R (dead).” He drew a picture of a body covered with dirt to illustrate the last word.

The letter was dated March 25, 1945, less than two months before Germany surrendered.

“My mom said he never really talked about it and she never asked any questions, really,” Shay Parris said. “But she was born in ’41, so he didn’t see her until I think she was 4 or 5. Crazy.

“She just remembers when he came back and that she was calling her grandfather at the time her dad, so it took a while for him to get used to her and she said he always said it broke his heart that he wasn’t there for the first four years.”

Mason said he thinks his great-grandfather served in the 1st Infantry Division of the Army that was part of the group that stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day. A newspaper clipping from the Cincinnati Enquirer has helped fill in the blanks.

The article says Marqua fought in the African, Sicilian and Tunisian campaigns, “will be in Germany with the First Army” in 1945, and “was sent to England and landed in Normandy on D-Day.” He received the Presidential Citation for volunteering for extra duty on D-Day and was commissioned a second lieutenant in July 1944, according to the clipping.

Parris said he called his mother and grandmother to learn more about his great-grandfather before last week’s trip and found out Marqua was a devout Catholic and excellent artist who was nicknamed “Frenchie” — his parents were born in France — and could “whittle a bar of soap (into) anything that you could ask for.”

“It’s amazing to be at the same beach that my great-grandfather was and just all the history that’s here, and it just makes me really proud of him and his brothers that came over here and fought for my freedom that allow me to go out and compete in the Olympics 80 years later,” Parris said. “It’s just super, super amazing and super exciting for me that the things that they did for me to be able to freely be over here now.”

‘An amazing and awesome destiny’

Wrestling at the Olympics begins Monday with qualification matches for both Greco-Roman and women’s freestyle, and Parris will head to Paris this week to try and bring the U.S. its second straight gold at 125 kg.

Parris is the No. 3 seed in his weight class behind Iran’s Amir Hossein Zare and Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili. Gable Steveson, the gold medal winner in Tokyo at 125 kg, did not attend U.S. Olympic trials this spring and is currently in training camp with the Buffalo Bills.

Parris, the 2023 Hodge Trophy winner as the best collegiate wrestler after an undefeated senior season at Michigan, said he feels “the best I’ve ever felt in my life” heading into competition. His personal coach Josh Churella, a Michigan assistant, said trips like the one to Normandy help keep him in the right frame of mind.

“It brings it in perspective that they get to do what they love to do on a daily basis and if it wasn’t for the men that sacrificed their lives like the ones that did here, none of this would be possible,” Churella said. “I think at the end you know it’s just a sport, it’s not life or death, it’s a little different. Obviously when you’re in it, it’s your whole world, but I think this is a great time where we can see what that perspective is, and I think if anything it just gives you extra motivation the next couple weeks.”

That goes for Parris and other members of the U.S. team that made the trip to Normandy: Zain Retherford (65 kg), Kyle Dake (74 kg), Aaron Brooks (86 kg) and Kyle Snyder (97 kg).

At Omaha Beach, Dake picked up a rock and wrote “K Dake” in the sand.

“You come here and it just feels different,” Dake said. “It doesn’t feel like a normal beach. And really, I think the biggest thing was I just wanted to touch the sand. Just feel it. What did it – it feels normal, but you kind of put a different emotion behind it. I could draw my name in on a million beaches and it would never be like this.”

Parris’ parents have found inspiration in the serendipity of his journey: His last name sounds like the name of the city he’s about to compete in. He’s 24 and it’s the year 2024. And, of course, that his first Olympics are in the same country his great-grandfather helped preserve 80 years ago.

Parris called it “an amazing and awesome destiny that 80 years later I’m here in the same area that he was to kind of feel and honor him and his brothers, the service that they put in.”

“I think everything’s just kind of aligned perfectly for me,” he said. “It’s kind of all converged at once. I’m here, over here in Paris and I also have history with my great-grandfather, and I think everything happens for a reason and I think this just gave me another great reason just to be over here and be able to honor him – him and his brothers. So it’s been an amazing experience.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

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As Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and her soon-to-be-announced running mate hit the campaign trail this week in all seven crucial battleground states, Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance will be close by.

The first-term senator from Ohio, who is former President Trump’s running mate on the GOP national ticket, plans to tail Harris as part of the Trump campaign’s plan to bracket the vice president and her running mate on their initial swing state tour.

Sources in the senator’s political orbit confirmed to Fox News that Vance will be in Philadelphia on Tuesday as the vice president kicks off her campaign swing. 

The senator is expected to use his stops, which are being described as media availabilities rather than rallies, to take aim at Harris over the key issues of inflation, border security and crime, which Republicans view as the vice president’s political Achilles’ heel.

The Vance events, which were first reported by Politico earlier on Monday, are also expected to feature ‘everyday Americans’ who have been negatively impacted by President Biden’s policies.

Vance is expected to stay close to Harris and her running mate as the Democratic ticket holds rallies Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Detroit, Michigan, and on Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Later in the week, Harris and her running mate will also hold rallies in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

The bracketing of Harris by Vance comes as the senator increasingly fits into the role of the GOP ticket’s attack dog, as well as a key ambassador to the top-dollar Republican donor class.

But Trump, who has a history of practicing in-your-face politics, has had no problem taking direct aim at Harris in the two weeks since she replaced Biden at the top of the Democrats’ ticket.

In social media posts this past weekend and at the rally with Vance in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, Trump charged that the vice president had a ‘low IQ’ and was ‘dumb,’ and accused her of lacking ‘mental capacity.’

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Hezbollah terrorists say they launched a drone attack against Israel Monday as the country braces amid Iranian threats of a much larger assault.

Tensions between Israel and Iran and its terrorist proxies have threatened to burst into all-out war for weeks. Iran has threatened a larger assault after Hamas’ top political leader was killed within its borders last week.

Hezbollah attributed Monday’s strike as a response to alleged ‘attacks and assassinations’ by Israel.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed last week in Iran’s capital and Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur was killed in Beirut. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed killing Shukur, but has not claimed responsibility for the death of Haniyeh. 

Iranian General Hossein Salami issued a stark threat to Israel following the killings.

‘They will see the result of their mistake. They will see when, how and where they will get their response,’ Salami said in a speech, adding that Israel was ‘digging its own grave.’

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said Monday that Iran has ‘the intrinsic right to provide for its own security and punish the aggressor,’ and ‘will definitely take serious deterrent action with power and decisiveness.’ He said it would be acting in accordance with international law and the right of self-defense.

He added that Iran ‘is not after intensifying tension in the region.’ He urged the international community to support Iran in punishing Israel.

Iran has also accused Israel of targeting Iranian nuclear scientists in a bid to hamper what Tehran claims is its peaceful nuclear research program.

‘Israel is the cradle of terrorism and it has been created out of killing and murder,’ Salami said. ‘They think they can kill the nuclear scientists of another country and impede that country’s path toward peaceful nuclear technology. They think that by killing the leader of a resistance group … in another country will give them more time to live.’

Israel says it is prepared to respond to any act of aggression from Iran or its terror proxies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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