PARIS – Novak Djokovic finally has an Olympic gold medal around his neck.

After chasing this last prize his entire career – the only major accomplishment in tennis he hadn’t been able to check off – the 37-year old Djokovic was down to his last chance at the Paris Olympics.

Summoning every bit of energy he had left in the tank Sunday, against the 21-year old who has taken his place on top of the sport, Djokovic managed to play one of the best matches of his career to beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6, 7-6 inside Court Philippe Chatrier.

When it was over after 2 hours, 37 minutes and one monster down-the-line forehand on match point, Djokovic dropped his racket and put his hands over his mouth. Then, after an embrace with Alcaraz, he dropped to his knees in exhaustion and emotion and stayed down for nearly a minute. Then he went into the stands, embracing his team and family.

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

Even for a man with 24 Grand Slam titles and nearly every significant record in the sport, this is the crowning achievement that he has long sought. Because this one wasn’t just for himself, it was for his beloved Serbia.

After gutting defeats in Rio and Tokyo, Djokovic wanted this badly. Even built his year around it. But after injuring his knee during the French Open and having meniscus surgery, it was unclear whether he would even be healthy enough to play the Olympics.

But Djokovic managed to return in time for Wimbledon, getting to the finals before Alcaraz crushed him in three sets.

This one was tightly played throughout, with no breaks of serve on either side. In the end, Djokovic was better in both tiebreakers.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

PARIS – Kristen Faulkner used a late charge to pull away from the field and win gold in the women’s road race Sunday.

Faulkner, 31, is the first U.S. woman to win gold in the race since Connie Carpenter in 1984.

She covered the 158-km course in 3:59.23, pulling away from a four-racer pack in the final three kilometers.

Marianna Vos of the Netherlands took silver and Lotte Kopecky of Belgium took bronze in a photo finish, 58 seconds behind Faulkner.

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

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

SAINT DENIS, France — Team USA’s Freddie Crittenden jogged through a preliminary men’s 110-meter hurdles round Sunday to finish with a time of 18.27 at the Paris Olympics, nearly five full seconds behind heat winner Louis Francois Mendy of Senegal.

Why?

Strategy. And misfortune.

Crittenden came up with a minor physical issue Saturday – so minor, in fact, he wouldn’t even describe it as an injury – but it was enough to give him concern that it might cause an injury. So in order to save his body and give himself the best chance of recovery, he willfully finished last with a plan of taking the next two days to rest, then hopefully rebound to medal contention in Tuesday’s repechage round.

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

‘I had a little aggravation in my abductor yesterday for my pre-meet. I went to Team USA medical staff, medical doctors, and they said it’s not an injury, but there’s a lack of activation in my muscle that’s causing pain and discomfort,’ Crittenden said. ‘So the plan was to come here, get through the round, and as long as I didn’t get disqualified or hit any hurdles, the idea was that I could get through and get another opportunity in the repechage round. So I just wanted to get here, make sure I didn’t make anything worse, and give it everything I’ve got on Tuesday.’

➤ The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

The repechage round provides a second and last opportunity to qualify for athletes who don’t run well enough to do so in preliminaries. Crittenden said he had mixed feelings about the strategy, but ultimately chose the path he felt gave him the best chance to reach the finals.

‘My first thought was, am I going to be ready? Am I going to discredit all that athletes that wanted this spot and didn’t have it?,’ he said. ‘Then after that it was, ‘What can I do to explore all my options?”

It was obvious from the start that Crittenden’s intention was something other than to win the heat. With a short, choppy stride, it looked more like a warm-up form than anything resembling race-level effort. But this wasn’t just a race. It was the opening round of competition in the event at the Paris Games, and a raucous morning crowd was left more curious about the last-place finisher than it was about how the front-runners clocked.

‘In a couple days I think it’ll be better and I’ll be able to leave it all on the track on Tuesday. It was definitely a strange feeling, especially walking out of that tunnel and seeing the beauty of the Paris Olympic Games,’ he said. ‘This is my first Olympic team. I definitely was a little close to just going for it, but with that came the risk of really injuring myself and putting myself at risk to not even make it to the repechage round. So I really had to make the best choice.’

Crittenden’s strategy put him in a position to have to run on three consecutive days to race for a medal. Following Tuesday’s repechage round, semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday followed by medal competition Thursday.

Reach Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X @chasegoodbread.

The trade deadline has come and gone, the pennant races don’t shift into high gear for another month, and while the clock is ticking on Chicago’s South Side, there hasn’t been a managerial or GM firing this season.

So while we wait and watch the Olympics in admiration, wondering if MLB really could let its biggest stars play in the 2028 Olympics, why not spray opinions across the diamond as we get through the dog days of August.

Here are the news flashes of the week, and the hot takes to go along with them:

Mike Trout out for the season again

HOT TAKE: Can we finally please stop the discussion that Mike Trout should be traded to a contender?

Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.

The cruel reality is that Trout has no real trade value, not after missing 382 games since 2021 and with $232 million left on his contract.

While Giancarlo Stanton is lambasted in New York for his injury history, consider this: He has missed 174 games since 2021, and has hit 32 more homers and drove in 124 more runs than Trout:

Stanton since 2021: 108 homers, 280 RBI, 196 runs.
Trout since 2021: 76 homers, 156 RBI, 179 runs.

Detroit Tigers keep Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal

HOT TAKE: Yes, and the New York Yankees decided to hang onto Aaron Judge, too.

Come on, Skubal was never going anywhere, and it was grossly unfair to Skubal for him and his family to listen to the rumors for weeks.

Teams like the Dodgers said that when they called the Tigers, the conversation was short: No.

The Tigers wouldn’t even listen.

Baltimore Orioles hang on to top prospects

HOT TAKE: Once again, all mere speculation.

The names of Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo never even came up in trade talks, GM Mike Elias said.

“The types of players that you would even fathom having discussions with those guys didn’t even get traded,’’ Elias told reporters. “So, it really didn’t come up.”

Expanded postseason ruining MLB trade deadline

HOT TAKE: It’s the only sport where the trade deadline is talked about the moment the season starts until the actual deadline, producing plenty of speculation (real or fabricated) and excitement.

Sure, this deadline lacked in star power, but the 32 trades on deadline day were the most in the last 20 years, and 59 trades in the final week.

If you go back from 2003-2014, there were never more than 12 trades on deadline day, including four years of just five or fewer trades, according to @CespedesBBQ’s research.

The truth is that the expanded postseason has greatly enhanced the deadline with 19 teams making moves to improve their club. The more teams with a shot at playoffs, the more activity.

And the timing is perfect the way it is, forcing some GMs to make uncomfortable decisions not knowing whether they’re in or out (yes, we’re talking about you, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers and Pittsburgh Pirates).

For the first time in history, World Series has flexibility in its schedule

HOT TAKE: Bravo!

We used to know before the season whether the American League or National League would host Game 1 of the World Series, with home-field advantage alternating every other year. It had to be that way, we were told, because the league needed to know and set up hotel accommodations for the teams, league officials and media.

Home field changed for 2003 – thanks to the tied 2002 All-Star Game – to the league who won the Midsummer Classic. That way, MLB would have at least four months to know where the World Series was starting.

That changed in 2017 to the way it should have been all long – the team with the best record being awarded home-field advantage.

Now, for the first time, MLB has taken a huge step forward: Flexibility.

MLB, after getting FOX to sign off on it, no longer has a definitive date to start the World Series.

It’s scheduled to begin Oct. 25, but it could start as early as Oct. 22 if the NLCS and ALCS lasted five or fewer game, eliminating the long layoff. If that happens, the World Series wouldn’t run into November for the first time since 2020.

MLB hopes to avoid what the NBA endured in June when the Celtics and Mavericks had a combined 17 days off before the start of the Finals.

Blake Snell throws the first no-hitter of his career

HOT TAKE: If there was any doubt that Snell would opt out of his San Francisco Giants contract, he erased it all one night Friday in Cincinnati.

Snell, who had pitched in the eighth inning only once in his career, tossed a no-hitter in the bandbox known as the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, and is pitching better than anyone in the game the past month.

Snell, who was 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA when he came off the injured list on July 9, suddenly has a 0.55 ERA in his last five starts, yielding just eight hits and two earned runs in 33 innings, striking out 41. Opponents are hitting .078 against him in those five starts, the lowest by any pitcher over a five-start span in modern-day history, according to OptaSTATS.

The man who failed to pitch eight full innings in 201 career starts, proved he can last deep into the night, after all.

‘They can’t say it anymore, you know?’ Snell told reporters after the game. “Complete game. Shutout. No-hitter. Leave me alone.

”He doesn’t go into the 9th. He doesn’t go into the 8th.’ Just did it. Leave me alone.’

He’ll be a free agent again in three months.

And this time, rest assured, he won’t be waiting until spring training to sign.

Rays finally have plans in place for a new ballpark in 2028

HOT TAKE: Hello, expansion.

MLB hasn’t expanded since 1998 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays, but now that the Athletics (moving to Las Vegas) and Rays have resolved their stadium issues, it opens the door for two more teams and a potential $4 billion windfall in expansion fees for owners to share.

Baseball still has no plans to expand before 2029 or 2030, but the mechanics can soon start rolling with owners and cities being selected, along with an intriguing expansion draft.

MLB isn’t remotely close to picking the sites, but Nashville, Tenn., and Salt Lake City, Utah are among the favorites.

And once expansion comes to fruition, there could be massive re-alignment, revamped playoff system, and likely two more playoff teams.

The American League and National Leagues, as we know them, likely will be abolished with divisions aligned by geography, with teams like the Yankees and Mets, Dodgers and Angels, and Cubs and White Sox, placed in the same divisions.

Tigers retire Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland’s number

HOT TAKE: Why in the world haven’t the Pittsburgh Pirates retired Leyland’s number, too?

It’s the same with Tony La Russa, who has had his number retired by the St. Louis Cardinals, but not by the Oakland Athletics.

There are only two managers in baseball history whose number have been retired by two teams:

Sparky Anderson: Cincinnati Reds and Tigers.

Casey Stengel: New York Yankees and Mets.

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, MLB’s first Black manager, had his number retired by three teams – but two of the teams retired his number as a player (Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds).

Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan is the only other player to have his number retried by three different organizations (Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers and Houston Astros).

The Hall of Fame inducted three players and a manager

HOT TAKE: There should be a new Hall of Fame category that combines an individual’s performance as a manager and a player. How about a category for managers who have won at least 1,000 games while incorporating their player statistics?

The category would include former managers with stellar playing careers. We’re talking about guys like Felipe Alou, Lou Piniella, Jim Fregosi, Davey Johnson, Mike Hargrove, Joe Girardi, Arte Howe, Mike Scioscia, Clint Hurdle and others.

It’s a shame that only Piniella has drawn traction on the manager’s ballot, but if you include his playing days as a former All-Star and two-time World Series champion – in addition to being a three-time Manager of the Year – that should be enough.

Padres GM A.J. Preller deadlining for his job?

HOT TAKE: Preller should be safe, whether the Padres make the playoffs or not, but he certainly secured his reputation as a high-stakes gambler, unafraid to trade away prized prospects.

This deadline, or really this entire year, he has traded 12 of his top 15 prospects, acquiring White Sox ace Dylan Cease in March, two-time batting champion Luis Arraez in May, and now All-Star closer Tanner Scott and setup man Jason Adam.

The Padres, who are 9-2 since the All-Star break, have surged to within 4 ½ games of the Dodgers and could be the scariest team in the postseason if they get in with one of baseball’s best bullpens.

Instead of being fired, Preller could wind up being in the Executive of the Year conversation.

Max Scherzer is back on the injured list with no timetable for return

HOT TAKE: The Rangers, battling injuries all season, may have trouble overcoming the latest to reach the postseason.

They are now without four starters: Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Jon Gray and Tyler Mahle.

Yet, look around, and virtually every contender’s rotation is missing at least two starters:

Los Angeles Dodgers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin
Houston Astros: Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers, Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy
Atlanta: Spencer Strider, Max Fried
Baltimore Orioles: John Means, Tyler Wells, Kyle Bradish.
Philadelphia Phillies: Ranger Suarez, Taijuan Walker.
San Diego Padres: Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove
St. Louis Cardinals: Lance Lynn, Steven Matz
Arizona Diamondbacks: Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez
Minnesota Twins: Chris Paddack, Anthony DeSclafani

Around the basepaths

– The Chicago White Sox had a lengthy private meeting Wednesday after their 17th consecutive defeat with owner Jerry Reinsdorf, GM Chris Getz and manager Pedro Grifol to address a myriad of issues with their woeful team, including Grifol’s future.

They ultimately decided not to fire him before their weekend series against the Minnesota Twins.

While Grifol could still be fired any day – or even last until the end of the year if they suddenly start sprinkling in a few victories – the White Sox have no plans to look for a permanent replacement until after the season.

Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, who’s expected to leave the Marlins after the season, remains the leading candidate for the job. Yet, he’s also a hot candidate for several other teams who will be looking for new managers in this winter.

Grifol, who’s in the second year of a three-year, $3 million contract, led the White Sox to a 61-101 record a year ago, are now a major-league worst 27-85 heading into Saturday. They are on pace to eclipse the New York Mets all-time record for 120 losses in 1962.

– The Boston Red Sox can’t help but wonder if only they had retained Chris Sale instead of trading him to Atlanta for injured infielder Vaughn Grissom.

If it’s not painful enough for the Red Sox watching Sale emerge as the leading NL Cy Young candidate, they also are paying him $17 million for his salary this year, with Atlanta paying just $500,000 this season.

– The Yankees were on the verge of acquiring Tigers starter Jack Flaherty and then trading away starter Nestor Cortes (perhaps to St. Louis for injured infielder Tommy Edman), until plans changed. Yankees GM Brian Cashman denied they backed out after reviewing Flaherty’s medicals, concerned with his recent back problems, but several GMs were convinced that Flaherty’s back problems indeed scared off the Yankees.

– The White Sox were never going to trade Garrett Crochet, or even Erick Fedde in the division unless completely overwhelmed.

While Fedde wound up with the Cardinals, Crochet will definitely be traded this winter.

The White Sox are expected to completely shut down Crochet at some point to help assure teams that he’s healthy and will be dominant again in 2025. Chicago believes his trade value will be much higher this winter.

Crochet, who will get a healthy bump from his $800,000 salary in arbitration next year, is under team control through 2026.

When Crochet was asked by Chicago reporters after the deadline about whether he had any regrets making demands on staying in the rotation and not pitching in the postseason unless he received a contract extension, he said he would do the same thing again, even if it means staying with baseball’s worst team.

“As baseball players, we have a little bit of notoriety, so if I wipe my [rear-end] the wrong way,’ Crochet told reporters, “I think someone would say something about it. …

“I think it may have come across as greedy to some, but I think those in the industry realized it’s logical to have that line of thinking.”

– The Baltimore Orioles, who did the White Sox a huge favor by acquiring Eloy Jimenez and the remaining $4.2 million left on his contract, have the option of keeping Jimenez if he suddenly starts living up to the hype.

The Orioles have two club options on Jimenez: $16.5 million for 2025 and $18.5 million for 2026. The White Sox had no intention of picking it up.

– Quote of the week: Former Milwaukee Brewers GM Doug Melvin at Ryan Braun’s Brewers Hall of Fame induction: “I’m retired in Florida now. There are nights where I’ll grab a whiskey, sit out on the patio and pull up (Braun) highlights on YouTube. There’s a lot of highlights. I’m drunk by the end of the night.”

– Quote of the week runner-up: Cubs’ Mike Tauchman after his walk-off, pinch-hit double against the Cardinals on Thursday night:

“My wife had an OB-GYN appointment this morning and she told me the last walk-off I had, she also had a doctor’s appointment that morning. I’m going to start sending her to the doctor a lot more. Shoutout to women’s health care.”

– No one has made a bigger impact at the trade deadline than Jazz Chisholm of the Yankees. He’s hit .368 (7 for 19) with four homers, eight RBI and a 1.400 OPS in his first four games, with the Yankees winning all of them.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, who nearly landed Chisholm, are left wondering whether he could have had the same impact with them.

– If there was a comeback player of the year in-season, it would be Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who was in danger of being released, and now is helping carry the D-backs to the postseason.

May: 172, 2 HRs, 8 RBI, .525 OPS
June: .156 2 HRs, 6 RBI, .576 OPS
July: .333, 10 HRs, 27 RBI, 1.131 OPS

His closest comeback competition would be from Mets starter Jose Quintana.

He was 1-5 with a 5.29 ERA in his first 13 starts, pitching five or fewer innings in seven of those games. In his last eight starts, he’s 5-1 and yielding a 1.91 ERA, pitching at least six innings in five of those starts, yielding two or fewer runs in all but one.

– The Dodgers are privately concerned about Clayton Kershaw, who was rocked in his second start against the Padres, lasting just 3 ⅔ innings and for the first time in his career, failed to strike out a batter. It ends his record 423-game streak with at least one strikeout, the longest streak since the mound was moved to 60-feet-6 inches in 1893.

Kershaw, who averaged less than 90 mph on the gun, generated only two swings-and-misses.

– It was 20 months ago, back on Dec. 5, 2022, when reliever Carlos Estevez had to make a decision: Sign with the Phillies to be a reliever or sign with the Angels and be their closer.

He chose the Angels, signing a two-year, $13.5 million contract.

But now, here he is after the trade deadline, with the Phillies, after all.

– Is there a tougher guy in all of baseball than 34-year-old Orioles catcher James McCann?

Here’s a guy who gets hit in the face by a 95-mph fastball, his nose broken, blood streaming from his nostrils, and he stays in the game after a 15-minute delay, and catches the next eight innings of the game with his left eye swollen and nasal plugs up his nostrils to stop the bleeding.

“I would go to war every single day for James McCann,” Orioles pitcher Tyler Wells posted on social media. “But after seeing that, I am convinced that I would [be] absolutely useless to him. That’s the toughest SOB I’ve ever met. And he just proved it right there.”

– Atlanta has no plans to cut ties with MVP candidate Marcell Ozuna after the season and will pick up his $16 million club option.

It leaves Atlanta with two DHs with the recent acquisition of Jorge Soler, who hadn’t played a single inning in the field this season but will now play right field.

“I think the one thing we’ve seen the last few years is, you’re going to need more than three (outfielders), and injuries are part of it,” Atlanta GM Alex Anthopoulos told reporters. “Every year, we’ve had to acquire bats. …

“It’s hard to find on-base with power and plus makeup. The fact that Jorge can play right field. I think people think (it’s only) corner outfield, and we don’t necessarily view it that way. Not all corner outfield is viewed the same. A lot of players in baseball can play left field only, because they don’t have arm strength and so on. The fact that Jorge has some arm strength as well makes an option in right.”

And certainly, defensive liability and all, Atlanta needed offensive help.

Atlanta’s outfielders have been hitting .204 (29th in baseball) with an MLB-worst .606 OPS since Ronald Acuña suffered a season-ending torn ACL, with the third-worst batting average (.208) and OPS (.631) among leadoff hitters.

– One of the strangest statistical oddities could occur on Aug. 26 when the the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays resume their suspended game.

Danny Jansen, who was traded from the Blue Jays to the Red Sox last weekend, was in the Blue Jays’ starting lineup and played the first two innings as their catcher and was at the plate when the game was suspended because of rain.

The makeup game will force the Blue Jays to pinch-hit for Jansen, who could be catching for the Red Sox that day, or pinch-hitting.

He would become the first player in baseball history to play for two teams on the same day.

– The strangest and coolest signing occurred last week when 30-year-old Brett Phillips, yes, the same former outfielder who had that World Series walk-off hit for the Tampa Bay rays , sign a minor-league deal with the New York Yankees … As a pitcher.

Phillips threw 97-mph with sharp sliders and signed after making a surprise appearance for the GPS Legends in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita striking out the side in the first inning.

The Yankees signed him the next day.

– Remember the days the Phillies were the best team in baseball?

They have lost 12 of their last 16 games and Bryce Harper, who was a strong MVP candidate at the All-Star break, suddenly is on a 1-for-34 skid.

That 10-game lead in the NL East has evaporated to five over Atlanta.

It has gotten so bad that backup catcher Garrett Stubbs was been forced into pitching duty three times in a matter of weeks.

– Pretty cool seeing Hall of Famer Tim Raines managing his twin daughters, Ava and Amelie, on Arizona’s softball team in the Junior League World Series.

– If this is the year Atlanta’s reign atop the NL East ends, so be it.

Atlanta doesn’t really care as long as they’re in the postseason.

“Honestly, we don’t play this game to win a division and win a flag,” Atlanta reliever A.J. Minter told reporters. “We play this game to win the hardware and win a trophy. So we’re not worried about who’s at the top of our division. Congrats if you win a flag.’

Sure, Atlanta would love to win the division, but, look at who was in the World Series a year ago.

Texas and Arizona, two wild-card teams.

“Yes, you want to put yourself in the best situation as possible, and that’s obviously winning the division,’’ Minter said. “But I can tell you one thing: If we do get in the postseason, no one’s going to want to face us, and you got to remember that.”

– Kudos to the Athletics for not trading All-Star outfielder Brent Rooker, 29, who still has three more years of control after the season, and should be one of the fan favorites when the team plays in Sacramento for at least the next three years.

– The Toronto Blue Jays, who didn’t hide their intentions ahead of the deadline, certainly delivered

They traded their impending free agents in Yusei Kikuchi, infielder/DH Justin Turner, outfielder Kevin Kiemaier, catcher Danny Jansen and relievers Yimi Garcia and Trevor Richards.

And kept first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., shortstop Bo Bichette, starter Chris Bassitt, and relievers Chad Green and Jordan Romano, who are all under control for one more year.

They likely will make changes in the dugout, and perhaps front office too, but vow to make one more run at it in 2025, while hoping to at least sign Guerrero to a long-term contract.

If the Blue Jays struggle next year, they could the epicenter of the 2025 trade deadline.

– Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who signed a four-year, $80 million free-agent contract in the offseason, has not pitched in a major league game since Oct. 1, 2023 with a left shoulder strain.

Yet, instead of appearing in a minor-league game in a rehab assignment, he is scheduled to go straight to the D-backs and pitch Tuesday against the Cleveland Guardians.

– Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are baseball’s hottest team, 20-8 since June 29, and suddenly are just four games behind the reeling Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the NL West.

You know they’re feeling good about themselves with a National League pennant replica ring giveaway on Aug. 10.

Yep, the day the Phillies are in town, the team they beat in seven games in the NLCS a year ago.

– It has been a rough month financially for the Astros, who designated reliever Rafael Montero for assignment last week halfway through his three-year, $34.5 million contract. That’s after releasing Jose Abreu, who was halfway through his three-year, $58.5 million deal.

– Beautiful gesture by Mariners pitcher George Kirby who threw the only knuckleball of his life with his first pitch at Fenway Park in honor of late Red Sox knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield.

– Prayers to Dodgers All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman and his family.

Freeman has been away from the team the past week to be with his family and 3-year-old son, Maximus, who is battling a rare neurological disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome.

“These have been the hardest and scariest days of our lives,” Chelsea Freeman, Freddie’s wife, wrote on Instagram.

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

SAINT-DENIS, France — Gabby Thomas had a relatively easy time halfway around the track Sunday morning at the Paris Olympics.

Thomas easily won her first-round heat in the women’s 200, running a time of 22.20. Thomas was in heat two and ran out of lane No. 5.

Jamaica’s Niesha Burgher ran a 22.54 to finish second and Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji took third, running a 22.75.

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

The 27-year-old sprinter owns the fastest 200 time in the world this year at 21.78. She won the 200 at the USA Olympic track and field trials in June.

‘Team USA is really deep. Getting to represent Team USA at the Olympics is incredibly special,’ Thomas said. ‘I’m so glad that I have the opportunity to represent Team USA.’

The top three in each round advance to the semifinals. All others have a chance to advance in the repechage round.

Shericka Jackson scratches from 200

The Jamaican women sprinters are having a forgettable Olympics.

Shericka Jackson, the two-time world champion in the 200, withdrew from her signature event Sunday. Jackson was the favorite in the women’s 200, but suffered an apparent injury last month. She scratched from the women’s 100 before the start of Olympic track and field competition.

Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce scratched from the 100 semifinals on Saturday.

Elaine Thompson-Herah suffered a season-ending Achilles injury earlier this season.

Olympic women’s 100 champ runs 200

A day after winning the biggest race of her life and earning her country’s first ever medal, Julien Alfred breezed through her opening round heat of the women’s 200.

Alfred led around the curve, jogged with about 15 metes left and crossed the line with a time of 22.41 to win the first heat of the women’s 200.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

PARIS — U.S. gymnast Suni Lee won bronze in the uneven bars final on Sunday at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It’s her third medal of these Games, following team gold and all-around bronze. Lee also won bronze on uneven bars, her signature event, at the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour, 17, threw down a magnificent routine in the uneven bars final, scoring a monster 15.700 to win gold. China’s Qiu Qiyuan, 17, took silver with a 15.500.

The still rings final was the first event of the day, with China’s Liu Yang and Zou Jingyuan winning gold and silver, respectively, and Greece’s Eleftherios Petrouinas taking home bronze to round out the podium. The men’s vault final closed out the slate, with Philippines’ Carlos Edriel Yulo winning gold – his second of these Games – ahead of Armenia’s Artur Davtyan (silver) and Great Britain’s Harry Hepworth (bronze).

Simone Biles, who won gold in the vault final Saturday, returns to the competition floor on Monday with the balance beam and floor exercise finals.

USA TODAY Sports is bringing you live results, scores and highlights throughout today’s individual finals. Follow along.

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

Suni Lee on uneven bars wins bronze

Suni Lee is three-for-three in Paris Olympics. Lee won her second consecutive Olympic bronze medal on uneven bars Sunday, adding to the gold she won with the U.S. women in the team final and her bronze in the all-around final. She has a chance to add one more Monday, when she competes in the balance beam final. 

Lee was the last to go, and the only flaw in her routine was a slight step on her dismount. She looked happy with the routine, and when the score of 14.8 was announced, her jaw dropped. That put her just slightly ahead of Nina Derwael, the Tokyo Olympic champion. 

Just making the podium was an achievement in this uneven bars final, which looked more like a heavyweight fight. It featured the reigning Olympic, world and European champions, and everyone brought their best.

Kaylia Nemour wins gold on uneven bars

Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour, 17, was waiting to go when the score for China’s Qiu Qiyuan was announced. But if it flustered her, she didn’t show it. Her routine is jam-packed with difficulty — her 7.2 difficulty score is one of the few in the women’s competition above 7, and she added a tenth from qualifying — but she made it look effortless. She flits from bar to bar like a hummingbird and landed without a wiggle. 

Nemour scored a monster 15.700 and won gold. Lee walked over and congratulated Nemour after her routine. What a final this was.

China’s Qiu Qiyuan wins silver on uneven bars

China’s Qiu Qiyuan, who won the world title last year, was first up of the top contenders and did a gorgeous routine. Her pirouettes on the high bar would make ballerinas jealous, and she looked like a statue as she held perfectly still on her handstands. She was beaming when she finished and cried when her score of 15.5 was announced.

Uneven bars final results at 2024 Olympics

Here are the scores from the uneven bars final. 

Kaylia Nemour, Algeria: 15.700
Qiu Qiyuan, China: 15.500
Suni Lee, USA: 14.800
Nina Derwael, Germany: 14.766
Alice Domato, Italy: 14.733
Helen Kervic, Germany: 14.566
Rebecca Downie, Great Britain: 13.633
Zhang Yihan, China: 12.800

US gymnastics medals on uneven bars

An American woman has medaled in the event at all but two Olympics going back to 1992. The only outliers were in 2000 and 2012. Lee is the most recent medalist, winning a bronze in Tokyo. Madison Kocian (2016), Nastia Liukin (2008), Terin Humphrey (2004) and Amy Chow (1996) all won silvers, and Courtney Kupets (2004) and Shannon Miller (1992) won bronzes. The only American woman to win gold on uneven bars was Julianne McNamara, in 1984.

Philippines’ Carlos Edriel Yulo wins gold on vault

The Philippines came into the Paris Games having won one Olympic gold medal. Now Carlos Yulo has given his country two in two days. Yulo added gold on vault Sunday to the one he won on floor exercise Saturday. He finished with 15.116 points, ahead of Armenia’s Artur Davtyan, who earned silver with a 14.966 score and Britain’s Harry Hepworth, who got bronze with 14.949. 

Yulo wasn’t quite as overwhelmed as he was with his floor exercise, when he collapsed to the floor in sobs. He put his hand on his head several times, as if in amazement, but left the competition floor waving to the crowd and patting the Filipino flag on his chest. Gifts for Yulo poured in after his first gold medal. He was given, among other things, $173,000, a fully furnished condo, tuition credits and a lifetime supply of cookies. Imagine what he’ll get for two golds. 

Here are the scores from the men’s vault final. 

Carlos Edriel Yulo, Philippines: 15.116
Artur Davtyan, Armenia: 14.966
Harry Hepworth, Great Britain: 14.949
Jake Jarman, Great Britain: 14.933
Aurel Benovic, Croatia: 14.900
Nazar Chepurnyi, Ukraine: 14.899
Mahdi Olfati, Iran: 14.266
Igor Radivilov, Ukraine: 14.166

China’s Liu Yang wins still rings gold

Winning an Olympic gold medal was so nice, Liu Yang did it twice.

Liu won his second Olympic title on still rings Sunday, defending his gold medal from the Tokyo Games. He finished with 15.3 points, edging teammate Zou Jingyuan by 0.67 points. Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece, the Olympic champion on rings at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, won his second consecutive bronze.

Petrounias finished just ahead of crowd favorite Samir Ait Said of France. The crowd roared when Ait Said stuck his dismount, and he pumped his fists in jubilation. But a couple of form breaks during his routine left him 0.10 behind Petrounias, fourth for a second consecutive Olympics. Here are the scores from the still rings final. 

Liu Yang, China: 15.300
Zou Jingyuan, China: 15.233
Eleftherios Petrouinas, Greece: 15.100
Samir Ait Said, France: 15.000
Adem Asil, Türkiye: 14.966
Vahagn Davtyan, Armenia: 14.866
Harry Hepworth, Great Britain: 14.800
Glen Cuyle, Belgium: 13.833

Is Simone Biles competing today? 

No. Biles will compete again Monday in the finals for balance beam and floor exercise. She has won three gold medals so far in Paris, bringing her career gold total to seven and her overall medal count to 10.

How Suni Lee’s illness changed her mindset

Suni Lee went to Auburn right after winning gold in Tokyo, wanting to have the college experience and to compete at the NCAA level. She announced in November 2022 that she’d leave Auburn at the end of her sophomore season. Before that season could even end, however, Lee developed a kidney disease that caused her to retain so much fluid there were days she couldn’t even put on her grips. She returned to Minneapolis and began working with doctors at the Mayo Clinic, who discovered she was suffering from a second kidney ailment.

Thus began a nearly yearlong nightmare of tweaking medications and Lee feeling as if she had no control over her body. At one point, she said, she’d gained 40 pounds. There were days she could train and days she could only do certain things. Then there were days she couldn’t even get out of bed. By the end of February, Lee had returned to competition. It was an inauspicious start — she did only uneven bars and balance beam at Winter Cup and fell off both — but it let her know she could still do this.

Olympic gymnastics schedule

Here is the remaining gymnastics schedule at the Paris Olympics after Sunday.

Monday, Aug. 5: Parallel bars final, balance beam final, high bar final, women’s floor final

How does gymnastics scoring work?

A gymnastics routine gets two scores: One for difficulty, also known as the D score or start value, and one for execution. Every gymnastics skill has a numerical value, and the D score is the sum total of the skills in a routine. The execution score, or E score, reflects how well the skills were done. A gymnast starts with a 10.0, and deductions for flaws and form errors are taken from there. Add the D and E scores together, and that’s your total for an apparatus. (Vault scores will always be higher because it’s a single skill.)

US women’s gymnastics schedule

The U.S. women’s gymnasts will compete in these event finals.

Simone Biles: all-around, vault, floor exercise, balance beam.
Suni Lee: all-around, uneven bars, balance beam.
Jordan Chiles: floor exercise.
Jade Carey: vault.

Olympic gymnastics results

Men’s team final: Japan won gold, China won silver and the U.S. won bronze.
Women’s team final: Simone Biles and the U.S. women’s gymnastics team won gold.
Men’s all-around final: Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka won gold. Boheng Zhang and Ruoteng Xiao of China earned silver and bronze, respectively. USA’s Paul Juda finished 14th, Frederick Richard finished 15th.
Women’s all-around final:Biles won gold, Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won silver, Suni Lee won bronze.
Women’s vault final: Biles won gold, Andrade took silver, USA’s Jade Carey won bronze.
Men’s pommel horse final: Stephen Nedoroscik won bronze after Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan took gold and Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan won silver.

NANTERRE, France — American swimmer Alex Walsh was disqualified from Saturday’s women’s 200-meter individual medley final for not completing the backstroke leg fully on her back, a World Aquatics representative confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. 

“I was just really heartbroken for her,” Douglass, 22, said. “I feel like she deserved to win that medal, and she deserved to be on the podium with me. And yeah, obviously when we swim that race together, it’s fun to be on the podium together, so I was really upset for her.”

However, Douglass acknowledged she had not yet seen a replay of Walsh’s illegal turn. 

In the race consisting of 50 meters of each stroke — butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle — Walsh flipped onto her stomach going into the backstroke-to-breaststroke turn, rather than finishing the leg on her back, video replay also shows.

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

Walsh, a 23-year-old two-time Olympian who won the 200 IM silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, initially finished the race third to win a bronze medal before being disqualified. 

Neither Walsh nor Team USA women’s head coach Todd DeSorbo were made available to the media after the race.

“We’re both upset with it; there’s no way you can’t be,” Douglass, who won a gold and two silvers at these Games, continued.

“I’m upset because I don’t know if it was the right call or not, but I can’t really speak on that. I’m not an official, but when it comes to back-to-breast turns like that, I feel like we all have our fair share of mistakes.”

McIntosh won her fourth medal and third gold at the Paris Olympics after winning golds in the 400 individual medley and 200-meter butterfly and silver in the 400-meter freestyle.

McIntosh earned the gold in an Olympic-record time of 2:06.56, out-touching Douglass, who finished with a time of 2:06.92. Australia’s Kaylee McKeown (2:08.08) was elevated to bronze after Walsh’s disqualification.

First-time Olympian Gretchen Walsh, Alex’s younger sister, said she was able to watch the 200 IM and was initially “thrilled” that her sister was back on the podium. But that excitement quickly vanished. 

“I’m just devastated,” Gretchen, 21, said following a gold-medal victory in the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay. “I think that Alex deserves so much. She’s worked so hard, and I don’t really know how to put that into words. It’s really sad, but I know that she’ll be back and better than ever.”

Gretchen Walsh said she was in the warmup/warmdown pool during the 200 IM and when she learned about the DQ. 

“I was just stopped in the middle of the pool, like, so upset,” Gretchen said. “I don’t really know how to describe it, but yeah, I knew that I was gonna have to move on from that quickly in the moment and give her a big hug. Tell her that I’m here for her.”

Douglass added: “There’s really nothing you can say in that moment to make it better.”

SAINT-DENIS, France — The roar at Stade de France was the loudest for the American but after 100 meters on a purple track, Sha’Carri Richardson was in second, not first. 

Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia spoiled the most important stop of the Richardson redemption tour, sprinting to the title of world’s fastest woman in 10.72 seconds Saturday night at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Richardson was second at 10.87 and her training partner, Melissa Jefferson, won bronze in 10.92. 

It was Saint Lucia’s first Olympic medal in any event. 

“I feel honored to be an ambassador for my country,” said Alfred, who is from a Caribbean island of just 180,000. “I was hoping we could get our first medal and it came as a gold, I’m sure they’re celebrating back home right now.” 

It was Richardson’s first Olympic medal. She did not attend the mandatory post-race press conference. Neither did Jefferson, though she spoke to reporters briefly in the mixed zone. 

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

Jefferson said what she’ll remember most, after pushing through the finish line was “waiting for my name to pop up, seeing it and having a sigh of relief. 

“I was hoping for a higher place,” Jefferson admitted. “But it was my first Games and I came out with a medal. Can’t complain about that … biggest thing I told myself was, ‘you are not going to leave here empty-handed’ and, here we go.” 

The post-event press conference at the Olympics — or really, any major championship — is typically a joyful, friendly affair with medalists congratulating each other. This one was decidedly different, with only Alfred on stage fielding questions. She wasn’t upset about it, though. 

“It’s my first time here, I’m not sure what to expect,” said the 23-year-old with a smile. “I’m just happy to be up here as an Olympic champion.” 

Richardson will have another chance at a gold medal during the 4×100 relay. Still, it’s no secret she wanted the title of fastest woman in the world.   

After what happened in Tokyo — or rather, didn’t, as Richardson wasn’t there — Richardson’s finish Saturday was both a crowning achievement and a crushing disappointment. 

Richardson was the defending world champion in her premier event, having run 10.65, her personal best, in Budapest last summer. She had the fastest 100 time in the world this year (10.71) and was in good spirits after winning the U.S. track and field trials in June. She’s talked openly and repeatedly about being a better place mentally the last two years, and how it’s directly correlated to her success on the track. 

The conditions Saturday evening were not ideal. A steady rain started falling about 10 minutes before the final started. (Alfred said it did not impact her.) 

Additionally, there was chatter online that when Richardson first arrived to the stadium, she was denied entry to the warm-up area. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the 37-year-old Jamaican sprinting star who has won two Olympic golds in the 100, was also caught up in the warm-up snafu.

In an email, the Paris 2024 press office confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that, ‘in reference to videos circulating online, Paris 2024 can confirm that some athletes tried to enter the warm-up track at Stade de France through the wrong gate. They were redirected to the correct entrance and were able to access the venue.”

Reuters spoke with Jamaican chef de mission Ian Kelly, who told the outlet, ‘Mrs Fraser-Pryce was allowed to enter the warm up track but from another gate from which she was directed to enter from. There is no truth that she was not allowed to enter the stadium. Unfortunately she was not able to compete due to an injury sustained during her final warmup.’

It was clear when the sprinters were introduced that many in Stade de France were pulling hard for Richardson to get her storybook ending, especially after such a rollercoaster last few years. 

Richardson dazzled at the 2021 trials, blazing to the 100 win in 10.86. Her brash, bombastic attitude — which had been on full display at LSU, where she decided to forgo her collegiate eligibility after just one season — delighted track diehards and casual viewers. She was expected to be a Tokyo superstar.

But when she tested positive for marijuana and received a one-month ban, which meant she would miss the women’s 100 final, she became everyone’s favorite online target instead. 

Though Richardson shared that she smoked marijuana as a way to cope with the news of her biological mother’s sudden death, and even though weed is legal in many states, she was ridiculed roundly. Many of the attacks were racially tinged, and the then-21-year-old Richardson became defensive. She was snippy with the media, often refusing to talk. And when she bombed at the 2022 USATF national championships, missing another opportunity to compete on the world stage, there was speculation she’d never return to who she’d been in 2021. 

The last two years proved that Richardson was more than capable of returning to world-class form, and Saturday showed it, too. Problem is, it wasn’t a championship form. 

Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell