Rugby 7s, football, handball and archery - Thursday's Olympics action

The Paris Olympics are just days away, so what better way to plan ahead than with our day-by-day guide - all times BST.

Team GB has named a squad of 327 athletes and UK Sport has set a target of 50 to 70 medals at the Games.

There will be live coverage of Paris 2024 across the BBC on TV, radio and online.

The Games open on Friday, 26 July and close on Sunday, 11 August, although some of the sporting action started on Wednesday, 24 July.

Highlights

The women’s football group stage begins. GB did not qualify via England as the nominated home nation and neither did Sweden, losing finalists at the last two Olympics. Defending champions Canada begin against New Zealand (16:00). Hosts France play Colombia at 20:00.

The men’s sevens isn’t hanging around. A day before the opening ceremony, we’ll be into the quarter-finals by 20:00. Fiji have won both Olympic men’s titles so far. New Zealand, who were the losing finalists last time, play Ireland (15:30) in the day’s final pool game.

Brit watch

Team GB’s archers will take part in their sport’s ranking round for the individual events. This does not eliminate anyone, it is simply a preliminary stage that seeds the archers for the main competition.

World watch

Emma Hayes, who just left Chelsea after 12 years in charge, will coach the US women at Olympic level for the first time when they face Zambia at 20:00. The US won four of the first five Olympic women’s football titles but have only been on the podium once since 2012, a bronze medal in Tokyo.

Expert knowledge

The first handball games of Paris 2024 run throughout the day as the women’s event starts. France’s handball team have shown incredible progress, going from a nation that never qualified for this event to the silver medallists in Rio and champions in Tokyo. They are also the defending world champions after winning gold without losing any of their nine games last year.

Under handball’s rules, France as hosts got to choose their group having seen who had already been drawn. They wisely opted to avoid Norway, Denmark and South Korea, who have collectively won seven of the past nine Olympic titles and are all in the other group. France instead begin their campaign against Hungary, who came through a qualifying tournament to bag one of the remaining places, at 18:00.

Highlights

Opening ceremony - 18:30, with BBC TV coverage beginning at 17:45.

Around 300,000 people will watch from the banks of the River Seine as a parade of some 10,000 athletes takes place not in a stadium, but on boats for each team. The ceremony finale will take place at the Trocadero.

No Olympic Games has held an opening ceremony like this before, so expect something completely different.

The plan comes with logistical and security complications that have challenged organisers, who chose earlier this year to limit the number of spectators at the water’s edge.

There is no sport scheduled at the Games on Friday, clearing the path for the ceremony to be the centre of attention.

Brit watch

None in action.

World watch

None in action.

Expert knowledge

More than 90 boats will be in use for the opening ceremony, carrying not only the athletes but also a range of performers that you will see throughout the evening.

Theatre director Thomas Jolly, who is the show’s artistic director, has pointed out there is no way to fully rehearse the show on the river. Instead, parts of the ceremony have been practised inside giant hangars and the boat captains are reported to have been rehearsing at a sailing centre.

Gold medal events:

Diving (women's synchro 3m springboard), fencing (women's epee, men's sabre), judo (women's -48kg, men's -60kg), road cycling (men's and women's individual time trial), rugby sevens (men's), shooting (mixed team 10m air rifle), skateboard (men's street), swimming (men's 400m free, women's 400m free, women's 4x100m free relay, men's 4x100m free relay).

Highlights

Road cycling’s time trial is a chance for Josh Tarling to get Team GB’s Olympics off to a flying start. The 20-year-old won the European title last year and is considered a contender in the men’s event, which for the first time at an Olympics uses the same course as the women’s, taking in sections of forest alongside Paris monuments like the Louvre and Eiffel Tower. The women’s time trial featuring GB’s Anna Henderson, a European silver medallist, starts at 13:30 with the men’s event at 15:34.

In the swimming, Saturday night brings a hotly anticipated three or even four-way contest in the women’s 400m freestyle (19:55). US legend Katie Ledecky lost to Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in 2021 and Titmus won last year’s world title, too, while Canadian 17-year-old Summer McIntosh is the world record-holder. New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather is also expected to do well. The Brits have a shot at a medal in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay (20:37). Adam Peaty will be competing in the 100m breaststroke heats (10:00).

GB divers Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen go in the women’s 3m synchro from 10:00. They won world silver in 2023 behind China.

Men’s rugby sevens is already on its final day. France will be hoping Antoine Dupont, who skipped the Six Nations to prepare for this, can lead the hosts to a famous title at the Stade de France. The final is at 18:45.

Brit watch

At the Palace of Versailles, Team GB begin their defence of the Olympic team eventing crown. Saturday is the dressage stage of eventing (from 08:30), which is followed by cross-country and finally showjumping. Tokyo champions Tom McEwen and Laura Collett are back in the line-up this time around, joined by European champion Ros Canter.

The first hockey match of Paris 2024 features Team GB’s men versus Spain (09:00). Spain are ranked eighth in the world. Team GB’s squad is predominantly English, and England are currently the world’s number two nation behind the Netherlands in men’s hockey. Ireland’s men face Belgium at 09:30.

Gymnastics begins with men’s qualifying. Team GB are in subdivision one of three, starting at 10:00. Qualifying is what decides who makes the team final, all-around final and individual finals later in the Games. Max Whitlock, now 31, has a stated aim of becoming the first gymnast to win a medal on the same apparatus (in his case, the pommel horse) in four successive Olympics.

World watch

From 16:00, skateboarding’s men’s street final could be dominated by Japan. Yuto Horigome is back after winning gold on home soil three years ago, and he is joined by 2023 world champion Sora Shirai. French hopes rest with world number nine and 2022 world champion Aurelien Giraud. For the US, legend of the sport Nyjah Huston is hoping to make up for missing out on a medal in Tokyo.

In judo (medal contests from 16:18), Georgia’s Giorgi Sardalashvili produced a stunning result in May to become world champion in the men’s -60kg division aged just 20. France’s Luka Mkheidze, the Tokyo bronze medallist, will be going up against him, as will Spanish 2023 world champion Francisco Garrigos.

Roland-Garros, the home of the French Open, hosts this year’s Olympic tennis. It is possible that this could be the last major event for Spain’s Rafael Nadal, an Olympic singles and doubles champion, who enters both events this time and teams up with Carlos Alcaraz in the doubles. Novak Djokovic has also said he is prioritising the Olympics – one of the few tennis titles the Serb has never won.

Expert knowledge

If you have just hopped across the Channel to Paris hoping to catch some of the Olympic surfing, bad news: it is in Tahiti, which is 10,000 miles away. This breaks the record for the furthest an event has ever taken place from the host city of an Olympics. Tahiti’s Teahupo’o wave is considered world-class and Tahiti is part of French Polynesia, a semi-autonomous territory of France. The men’s and women’s first rounds take place on Saturday.

The first gold medal of Paris 2024 is likely to be shooting’s mixed team air rifle. The gold-medal round begins at 10:00. Michael Bargeron and Seonaid McIntosh are the British entrants.

Gold medal events:

Archery (women's team), canoe slalom (women's K1), fencing (men's epee, women's foil), judo (W -52kg, M -66kg), mountain bike (women's cross-country), shooting (men and women's 10m air pistol), skateboard (women's street), swimming (men's 400m individual medley, women's 100m fly, men's 100m breast).

Highlights

Team GB’s Adam Peaty is expected to challenge for a third consecutive men’s 100m breaststroke Olympic title in Sunday’s final at 20:54. This time, he has described himself as “the person with the bow and arrow and not the one being fired at” after a foot injury and time away from the sport to focus on his mental health. He was third at the world championships in February. Watch for China’s Qin Haiyang and American Nic Fink in the same event.

Meanwhile, French swimming superstar Leon Marchand should line up in the final of the men’s 400m individual medley at 19:30. Marchand is one of the biggest names on the hosts' Olympic team and is expected to end a 12-year French gold-medal drought in the pool. When he was younger, Marchand wrote to American great Michael Phelps’ former coach, Bob Bowman, to ask if Bowman would be his coach. Bowman said yes and Marchand now has five world titles at the age of 22.

Team GB's Evie Richards, the 2021 world champion, features in the women’s cross-country mountain bike event from 13:10. Richards is coming back from a concussion suffered in Brazil two months ago, so does not start the race as a favourite, but is still ranked inside the world’s top 15. Switzerland’s Alessandra Keller is the world number one. Watch out for young Dutch star Puck Pieterse and France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.

Chelsie Giles is the headline act in GB’s judo squad for Paris 2024. The 27-year-old won bronze in Tokyo then added European gold and world silver a year later. Giles is in the -52kg class, which is packed with talent like Japan’s Uta Abe, who has proved a hard obstacle for Giles to overcome in the past and has been sweeping up medals lately. GB have won 20 Olympic medals in judo but never a gold, meaning there is history on the line. Women’s medal contests begin at 16:49.

It is impossible to look past South Korea in most archery events. This includes the women’s team event, which they have won every time since it was introduced to the Olympics in 1988. Not only were none of the current GB team born then, but their coach was four years old. However, this GB team are made of strong stuff. Penny Healey and Bryony Pitman have each been ranked world number one in the past year, so this could be a real opportunity for them to shine. The event begins at 08:30 with the gold-medal match at 16:11.

Brit watch

Helen Glover, an Olympic rowing champion in 2012 and 2016, is back for her fourth Olympics. This time she is in the women’s four alongside returning Olympian Rebecca Shorten and debutants Esme Booth and Sam Redgrave (no relation to Sir Steve). They only got together at the start of the year but were unbeaten at a string of major events in the first half of 2024. Sunday’s rowing begins at 08:00, with the women’s four heats from 11:30.

At the women’s rugby sevens, Team GB face Ireland in the opening group game at 14:30. GB have finished fourth at the past two Olympics, whereas this is the Irish women’s Olympic debut. Ireland go on to play South Africa at 18:00, while GB play Australia at 18:30.

Kimberley Woods will line up for GB in canoe slalom’s K1 event (starts 14:30, final at 16:45). Woods had a “heartbreaking” Tokyo Games, finishing 10th, but believes she has grown mentally and physically in the years since. She is a contender in both this event and the kayak cross, which is making its Olympic debut later in the Games.

Eventing heads into its second day, the cross-country, from 09:30. This involves a gallop of nine to 10 minutes through the park at Versailles, twice crossing the centuries-old Grand Canal in what might be one of the Paris Olympics’ signature views.

In women’s hockey, Team GB begin their campaign against Spain at 12:15. GB beat Spain in a quarter-final shootout in Tokyo before going on to win bronze. Later on Sunday, at 19:15, the GB men play their second group game against South Africa.

World watch

In gymnastics, it is the women’s turn to head through qualifying. Britain are again in the first subdivision at 08:30. The United States and China are in subdivision two from 10:40. Team GB’s women took team bronze in Tokyo three years ago. The US, who are the defending world champions, are led once again by Simone Biles – now competing in her third Olympic Games aged 27, with a coincidental total of 27 world and Olympic titles already won.

Men’s water polo begins on Sunday and is part one of the day’s Franco-Hungarian action. Water polo is often described as the national sport of Hungary, who won 2023’s world title and have nine Olympic gold medals in this event, although none since 2008. What better way to start than against the hosts? France have a tradition of winning the Olympic men’s water polo title whenever it’s held in Paris – which unfortunately for them has only happened once, a century ago. France play Hungary at 18:30.

Expert knowledge

In women’s street skateboarding, where teenagers are often contenders, France will be represented by 14-year-old Lucie Schoonheere. Nobody in the top 10 of this event’s world rankings heading into the Olympics is aged older than 19. Japan’s Coco Yoshizawa, also 14, is the world number one. The final begins at 16:00.

No sport has provided France with more Olympic medals than fencing – 123 of them at the start of Paris 2024, 30 more than cycling in second place. This brings us to part two of the day’s Franco-Hungarian action. If the Hungarians are the strong favourites against France in water polo, the men’s epee might give France more of a chance. Hungary’s Gergely Siklosi and Mate Koch are the world number one and two respectively, but when Siklosi lost the Olympic final in 2021, who beat him? France’s Romain Cannone. Cannone and veteran team-mate Yannick Borel are both in the world top five and on the team for Paris 2024. Japan and Italy will also be hoping to have a say. Expect the medal events in men’s epee and women’s foil from around 19:50.

Gold medal events:

Archery (men's team), artistic gymnastics (men's team), canoe slalom (men's C1), diving (men's synchro 10m platform), equestrian (eventing jumping team, eventing jumping individual), fencing (men foil, women sabre), judo (W -57kg, M -73kg), mountain bike (men's cross-country), shooting (men's and women's 10m air rifle), swimming (women's 400m individual medley, men's 200m free, men's 100m back, women's 100m breaststroke, women's 200m free).

Highlights

Tom Daley, now 30, is back for his fifth Olympic Games representing Team GB. He is paired with 24-year-old Noah Williams in the men’s 10m synchro, an event in which Daley won a dramatic Tokyo gold alongside Matty Lee. Daley and Williams are top-ranked coming into Paris 2024 but the rankings do not fully account for the threat from China, whose pairing of Lian Junjie and Hao Yang have won the past three world titles. The final starts at 10:00.

In swimming, GB’s line-up for the men’s 200m freestyle is so strong that Tom Dean, who won Olympic gold in Tokyo, does not make the start list. Instead, Team GB will look to 2023 world champion Matt Richards and Tokyo silver medallist Duncan Scott. Watch out for Romania’s David Popovici, who is a second faster than anyone else this year heading into the event (final starts 19:43).

Tom Pidcock is in the middle of an exhausting 2024. He arrives at the Paris Olympics immediately after Covid forced him out of the Tour de France, and then he will compete not just in road cycling but also in mountain biking’s cross-country event, which starts at 13:10. Pidcock’s electric performance to win this event three years ago was a British highlight in Tokyo, and he says defending that title is his priority.

In the men’s team gymnastics final (from 16:30), GB have a shot at the podium. China and Japan have looked a class apart in recent years, but the Brits were third at the 2022 world championships and narrowly beaten into fourth by the US a year later. Max Whitlock was in the team that won bronze at London 2012 and has since had to endure back-to-back fourth-place Olympic finishes in this event.

Eventing reaches its last day of action, concluding with showjumping from 10:00. Will GB be able to take back-to-back titles? The British are fielding an extraordinarily strong team but jumping is one of those sports where a first tiny error can rapidly become a catastrophe. Anything could happen, no matter how the dressage and cross-country set things up.

Brit watch

Adam Burgess was 0.16 seconds away from a medal in canoe slalom’s C1 event at the Tokyo Games. Burgess has embarked on what he calls “project send it” ahead of Paris – learning to “send it a little bit more in the final” to make sure he can truly compete for medals on the Olympic stage. Also sending it from 14:30 will be Benjamin Savsek, the Slovenian who won gold in Tokyo and remains one of the top-ranked in the world.

Seonaid McIntosh, from a shooting family, took European silver in the 10m air rifle last year and is inside the top 20 worldwide. The final starts at 08:30. Michael Bargeron competes in the men’s event from 11:00.

In hockey, Ireland’s men play Australia at 09:00 before GB’s women play Australia at 16:00. In rugby sevens, GB’s women play South Africa at 13:00. Ireland play Australia at 13:30.

World watch

Back at the swimming, the women’s 100m breaststroke (20:32) could become a battle royale. Team USA’s Lilly King is back in the mix after winning gold in 2016, as is Tokyo silver medallist Tatjana Smith, while Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte could also feature. China’s Tang Qianting is the world champion and this year’s standout performer.

Olha Kharlan is one of Ukraine’s biggest Olympic names, a four-time world champion in women’s sabre and a four-time Olympic fencing medallist. Kharlan qualified for Paris 2024 in unusual circumstances. She did not shake the hand of Russia’s Anna Smirnova at last year's World Championships, Smirnova protested, and Kharlan was disqualified. The International Olympic Committee stepped in to guarantee Kharlan a place at the Games. The women’s sabre final, which Kharlan will hope to reach, takes place from 20:45.

Expert knowledge

South Korea are again the dominant force in men’s team archery (medal matches from 15:48), but there is just a chance that Turkey disrupt that this year. Led by Tokyo individual champion Mete Gazoz, Turkey ranked a lowly seventh after the qualifying round at last year’s World Championships but picked off the Netherlands and Japan in back-to-back come-from-behind victories to set up a final with South Korea. They lost, but Turkey coach Goktug Ergin has already proclaimed his team ready to fight for medals. It is the country’s first Olympic appearance in this event for 24 years.

Gold medal events:

Artistic gymnastics (women's team final), fencing (women's epee team), judo (women's -63kg, men's -81 kg), rugby sevens (women's), shooting (mixed team 10m air pistol, men's trap), surfing (men's and women's), swimming (women's 100m back, men's 800m free, men's 4x200m free relay), table tennis (mixed doubles), triathlon (men's individual).

Highlights

Top coaches have described the Paris triathlon course as “insane”. It is, at least, in-Seine. You start from the Pont Alexandre III bridge in view of the Eiffel Tower, swim 1,500m in the Seine – two downstream sections and one upstream – then run up a set of posh steps to start the 40km bike course, which introduced some cobbled stretches into the mix. Lastly, there is a 10km run back along the same course.

It promises to be a spectacular and challenging event, even by Olympic triathlon standards, and GB’s Alex Yee will hope to be at the front of the action in the men's event. Yee won Olympic silver in a pulsating Tokyo contest three years ago. Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt, who pulled past Yee to win gold that day, is back but has since moved up to Ironman distance then back down again, and it remains to be seen if he will master that transition. The race starts at 07:00.

Women’s team gymnastics is one of the Olympics’ worldwide blockbuster events. The United States will expect one of its largest TV audiences of the Games for Simone Biles and compatriots, assuming they qualify for Tuesday’s final, which begins at 17:15. Becky Downie, back in the British team for a third Olympics, is tasked with helping to steer GB towards a podium finish. The women’s team event is intensely competitive right now, and any of six or seven nations could take a medal, with the absence of Russian athletes also opening up the contest.

There is lots going on in swimming's evening session. Team GB have a real chance of gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, having won the Olympic title in Tokyo and the world title in 2023. Tom Dean, James Guy, Matt Richards and Duncan Scott are all veterans of both victories and are in the line-up. The relay starts at 20:59. The women’s 100m backstroke at 19:57 is expected to feature Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, a three-time champion in Tokyo, against the likes of American Regan Smith and Canada’s Kylie Masse.

Brit watch

It is day one of dressage. Yes, you did just see dressage a few days ago. That was eventing dressage. This is dressage dressage, where GB have an extremely accomplished team. The event begins at 10:00.

Freestyle BMX begins with qualifiers featuring GB’s Kieran Reilly and Charlotte Worthington (12:25 onward). Reilly is the men’s world champion and Worthington is the Olympic champion. In the men’s event, France’s Anthony Jeanjean is an imposing threat to Reilly, particularly having demonstrated he can entertain a home crowd with a World Cup win in Montpellier leading up the Games. Australia’s Logan Martin is defending his Tokyo title.

Joe Clarke, who won canoe slalom gold in Rio eight years ago but was left out of the GB team for Tokyo in 2021, is back for Paris and begins his K1 event with the heats from 15:00. Mallory Franklin, the women’s C1 Tokyo silver medallist and world champion, starts her heats at 14:00.

GB men's hockey team play the Netherlands, the only team with a better world ranking, in their group at 11:45. Ireland play India at 12:15.

Tokyo bronze medallist Matthew Coward-Holley and 2022 world silver medallist Nathan Hales will hope to be in the men’s trap shooting final from 14:30. Coward-Holley comes into the Games ranked third in the world behind Spain’s Alberto Fernandez and Australia’s James Willett.

World watch

A win on home turf would give France’s Tokyo opening ceremony flagbearer, Clarisse Agbegnenou, a third Olympic judo gold alongside the -63kg and mixed team titles she won three years ago. Lucy Renshall is GB’s representative in the event. Medal contests from 16:49.

3x3 basketball is making its second Olympic appearance after a debut in Tokyo, offering a street version of the game using half a court. Latvia won the first 3x3 Olympic men’s title three years ago and begin their defence against Lithuania (17:35), who proved a surprise package at the 2022 World Championships, getting all the way to the final with victories against teams including France and the US.

Surfing presents a dilemma for writers of day-by-day guides: if it starts on Tuesday and goes through the night into Wednesday, where to put it? In case you want to follow the whole thing: the quarter-finals begin at 18:00 on Tuesday, the semi-finals will go past midnight, the men’s gold-medal contest will be at 02:34 on Wednesday and the women’s final will be at 03:15. Remember, this is because the surfing is in Tahiti, which is 12 hours behind France.

The US will expect to win the women’s surfing title with the likes of Olympic champion Carissa Moore and world champion Caroline Marks on the team, but watch out for Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy and France’s Vahine Fierro, who used to live in Tahiti and trains there. On the men’s side, Brazil’s Gabriel Medina and US surfer John John Florence are two out of a dozen or more names in with a serious chance of winning. Tahitian Kauli Vaast, surfing for France, is an underdog who could exploit his local knowledge.

Women’s rugby sevens reaches the final at 18:45. Will GB improve on fourth place in Tokyo? Can France go one better than last time and clinch gold on home soil? Will New Zealand be all-conquering again, or can Australia get back to their winning ways of 2016?

Expert knowledge

The Dominican Republic's men's football team, whose squad includes Leeds defender Junior Firpo, are playing fellow Olympic debutants Uzbekistan (14:00). This might be both teams' best shot at a result if tough encounters against Egypt and Spain do not go their way.

Something jaw-dropping happened at Tokyo 2020: China failed to win one of the table tennis gold medals. To put this in perspective, China have won 32 of the 37 Olympic table tennis titles ever contested, and the one they missed in Tokyo was the first the country had not won since 2004. To rub salt into that wound, it was a new event, the mixed doubles, where Japan’s Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito pulled off a come-from-behind win over Chinese rivals for gold on home soil. Could China possibly be denied again? Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha are the world number one-ranked duo coming into the Paris 2024 mixed doubles, which concludes with the final at 13:30.

Gold medal events:

Artistic gymnastics (men's individual all-around), BMX freestyle (men's and women's), canoe slalom (women's C1), diving (women's synchro 10m platform), fencing (men's sabre team), judo (women's-70kg, men's -90kg), rowing (men's quadruple sculls, women's quadruple sculls), shooting (women's trap), swimming (women's 100m free, men's 200m fly, women's 1500m free, men's 200m breast, men's 100m free), triathlon (women's individual).

Highlights

Wednesday is the women’s turn to take on the Paris triathlon course from 07:00. Team GB have a very strong team in world champion Beth Potter, Tokyo individual silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown and world top 10-ranked Kate Waugh. France’s Cassandre Beaugrand and Emma Lombardi are also contenders for gold at their home Games.

The men's all-around gymnastics final begins at 16:30, an event where athletes compete on all six apparatus to decide the best overall gymnast at the Olympics. Max Whitlock made it on to the Rio podium in this event eight years ago, but defending champion and multiple world title-winner Daiki Hashimoto is the favourite.

We reach the freestyle BMX finals from 12:10, where GB’s Charlotte Worthington and Kieran Reilly are proven champions on the world stage. This is freestyle’s second Olympic appearance. To win gold, perform as many tricks as you can in 60 seconds and make sure they are better than anyone else’s.

Depending on how Tuesday’s heats went, Wednesday could bring a medal opportunity for GB’s Mallory Franklin in the C1 women’s canoe slalom (final from 16:25). Australia’s Jessica Fox, one of the greatest canoeists of all time and the Tokyo champion, will be one of Franklin’s biggest rivals. Watch out for Elena Lilik, who beat Andrea Herzog – Tokyo’s bronze medallist – to claim Germany’s sole entry in this event.

Brit watch

Rowing’s quadruple sculls finals begin at 11:26. Britain are the world champions in the women’s event and picked up 2022 world silver in the men’s race.

In shooting, Lucy Hall, a European silver medallist in 2022, will hope to feature in the women’s trap final at 14:30.

Jemima Yeats-Brown lost her sister and biggest fan, Jenny, to brain cancer just after winning Commonwealth judo bronze in 2022. Yeats-Brown says that has helped inspire a “life’s too short” approach to competing that helped her secure fifth at the World Championships in 2023. She fights in the -70kg category, where medal contests start at 16:18.

In hockey, GB’s women play South Africa at 09:30.

World watch

The 100m freestyle contest at the pool (21:15) is a chance to see Caeleb Dressel, regarded as one of the greatest sprinters in US and world swimming, defending his Tokyo title. There is a lot of hype coming into Paris about David Popovici, a superstar of the Romanian team, but he had a tough 2023. This is a chance for Popovici to make an impact after finishing seventh in Tokyo aged just 16, while Matt Richards and Duncan Scott swim for GB. Also watch for Anna Hopkin in the women’s 100m freestyle (19:30), James Wilby in the men’s 200m breaststroke (21:08) and American Katie Ledecky in the women’s 1,500m free (20:04).

In men’s basketball the US-South Sudan game (20:00) pits one of the most dominant teams in Olympic history against a first-time entrant. South Sudan became an independent state in 2011 and its basketball federation joined world governing body Fiba in 2013, so getting to the Olympics about a decade later is pretty good going, to put it mildly.

At the heart of that story? Luol Deng, who played basketball for GB at London 2012. Deng, who spent a decade playing for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, holds British and South Sudanese citizenship. For years as a coach, he has been a driving force (and financial force) behind the South Sudan team’s rise to Olympic status. Facing the US in Paris may be the pinnacle of that incredible story arc.

Expert knowledge

Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix come into Paris 2024 as history-makers before they even start their first dive. The duo won world silver last year, the first time Britain had won any women’s diving medal at that level. If they win another medal here – the women’s 10m synchro diving final starts at 10:00 – watch for some cartwheels on the BBC studio sofa, as Andrea’s dad is Fred Sirieix, star of First Dates turned BBC presenter at Paris 2024.

Gold medal events:

Artistic gymnastics (women's individual all-around), athletics (men's and women's 20km race walk), canoe slalom (men K1), fencing (women's foil team), judo (women's -78kg, men's -100kg), rowing (women's double sculls, men's double sculls, women's coxless four, men's coxless four), sailing (men's and women's skiff), shooting (men's 50m rifle 3 positions) and swimming (women's 200m fly, men's 200m back, women's 200m breast, women's 4x200m free relay).

Highlights

British rowers are used to heaps of gold medals – more than 30 of them in Olympic rowing. GB were the top rowing nation at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016. Then came Tokyo and not one gold. They were 14th in the rowing medal table, which was a shock.

Thursday might be the day we know if the Brits are turning that ship around. Helen Glover will hope to lead an impressive women’s four in the final at 10:50, while the men’s four won the world title in both 2022 and 2023. Their final is at 11:10. The space of about half an hour could play a huge role in deciding if this Olympic regatta is a GB return to form.

The rowers are not the only ones who had a Tokyo to forget. Joe Clarke did not make the team despite being the defending Olympic champion in K1 slalom canoeing. Now, he is back and will hope to be a big factor in the Paris final from 16:30.

The women’s all-around gymnastics final at 17:15 could see some remarkable history being made. If they are both healthy and nominated for this event, American duo Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee could make this the first women’s all-around final in which the past two Olympic champions have competed. Biles won in 2016, followed by Lee in 2020. If either of them wins gold, they will be the first woman to win multiple Olympic all-around titles since Vera Caslavska in 1964 and 1968.

Brit watch

Golf found its way back on to the Olympic schedule in 2016 after more than a century in the wilderness (or perhaps deep rough). At Paris 2024, the course is L’Albatros at Le Golf National in the Paris suburbs, which hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018. The first round of the men’s event starts at 08:00 and features GB’s Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood, Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and a host of the sport’s other big names.

Luke Greenbank will hope to better his Tokyo bronze medal in the men’s 200m backstroke (19:37) at the pool. Meanwhile, Team GB have been top-four material of late in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay so could pose a medal threat there too (20:48).

Beth Shriever has remained dominant in BMX racing since winning Olympic gold in Tokyo. However, she fractured her collarbone at the sport’s World Championships in May, meaning one of GB’s big medal hopes has faced a race against time. From 19:20 we will see how that comeback has progressed as the early stages of her event take place. In the men’s event, Olympic and world silver medallist Kye Whyte is returning from a back injury of his own.

In hockey, GB’s men take on hosts France at 11:45, Ireland’s men play Argentina at 12:15 and GB’s women face the US at 16:00.

Showjumping begins with the team qualifier from 10:00. Scott Brash and Ben Maher, who were part of Britain’s gold medal-winning team at London 2012, are joined this time around by Harry Charles.

World watch

Back at the pool, Katie Ledecky may have a shot at some Olympic history by this point in the Games. If she has won two medals by this point – very possible, given the 200m free and 400m free will have been and gone, and she has won golds in both in the past – then a medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay (20:48) would be her 13th overall, a record for a US female Olympian. (Three American women, all of them swimmers, have previously reached 12: Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin.)

The men’s and women’s 20km race walks begin at 06:30 and 08:20 respectively. Chinese veteran Liu Hong, the 2016 women’s champion, is trying to end a run of five years – ages, by her standards – without a major title. Spain’s Maria Perez is the world champion, having been on the brink of quitting the sport in 2022 after back-to-back disqualifications at that year’s European and world championships. Another Spanish athlete, Alvaro Martin, is the men’s world champion.

At Roland Garros, we reach the first tennis semi-finals from 11:00.

Expert knowledge

The first sailing medals of the Games will be awarded in the skiff class. For the men, this means the 49er, and for the women it is the 49er FX (a version designed to work with a lighter two-person crew than the 49er).

Saskia Tidey is at her third Olympics and representing her second country in sailing. Tidey sailed for Ireland in 2016, then switched to GB for Tokyo once it became apparent that she had no suitable Irish partner available in the two-person event. Tidey and GB team-mate Charlotte Dobson finished sixth three years ago, and now Tidey is back with new partner Freya Black. The two were European bronze medallists in May.

GB’s James Peters and Fynn Sterritt, in the men’s event, said before the Games they had been trying to put on weight after realising they were one of the lighter boats in the men’s fleet. Britain are the defending champions in this event after Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell won gold three years ago.

Gold medal events:

Archery (mixed team), athletics (men's 10,000m), badminton (mixed doubles), BMX racing (men's and women's), diving (men's synchro 3m springboard), equestrian (jumping team), fencing (men's epee team), judo (women's +78kg, men's +100kg), rowing (men's coxless pair, women's coxless pair, men's lightweight double sculls, women's lightweight double sculls), sailing (men's and women's windsurfing), shooting (women's 50m rifle 3 positions), swimming (men's 50m free, women's 200m back, men's 200m individual medley), tennis (mixed doubles), trampoline gymnastics (women's and men's).

Highlights

Keely Hodgkinson, tipped to be one of Team GB’s biggest stars in Paris, appears for the first time in the 800m heats from 18:45. The 22-year-old is hoping to upgrade Tokyo silver to gold in 2024. Earlier, Dina Asher-Smith will be in the opening stages of the women’s 100m from 10:50. She, like Hodgkinson, won the European title in her event last month.

Jack Laugher will dive with his third different partner in as many Olympics when he competes in the men’s 3m synchro diving from 10:00. Anthony Harding is Laugher’s team-mate this time. They have won two world silver medals together, each time behind China. Laugher won this event with Chris Mears at Rio 2016.

It is BMX racing finals day. If Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte have recovered from pre-Games injuries and are still in the running, they will have to negotiate the semi-finals before the gold-medal races from 20:35. Both riders are in the world’s top six. France have a trio of highly rated riders on the men’s side, while Australia’s Saya Sakakibara is seeking redemption in the women’s event after a semi-final crash in Tokyo.

Bryony Page stunned the field when she took the first Olympic trampoline medal in Britain’s history, silver in 2016. She added bronze in Tokyo and has won two of the past three world titles, setting up one another bid for gold aged 33 before she pursues her dream of joining the acrobats at Cirque du Soleil. Qualifying is at 11:00 before the final at 12:50.

Lightweight scullers Emily Craig and Imogen Grant missed a medal in the women’s lightweight double sculls by 0.01 seconds in Tokyo. Since then, they have won back-to-back world titles and are considered one of the British rowing team’s best hopes for gold in Paris. The final takes place at 11:22.

In sailing, windsurfing reaches its final day. This year’s windsurfing event involves a new class, iQFoil, which replaces the old RS:X class. The way the IOC explains the difference is that “instead of floating, the board appears to fly” in the iQFoil class because of hydrofoils that lift the board out of the water at certain speeds. Emma Wilson, who won RS:X bronze in Tokyo, has world silver and bronze medals in iQFoil and will hope to be going for a podium place on Friday.

Brit watch

Swimming on Friday features GB’s Ben Proud versus American Caeleb Dressel in the men’s 50m freestyle (final at 19:30). Dressel is the Tokyo Olympic champion, while Proud has a gold and two bronzes from the past three World Championships. Australia’s Cameron McEvoy will also be hoping for a medal.

In shooting, world number one Seonaid McIntosh takes aim in the women’s 50m rifle three positions from 08:30. The “three positions” part means you shoot kneeling, prone (lying down) and standing.

Friday’s equestrian highlight is the team jumping final at 13:00, featuring a British team who took world bronze behind Sweden and the Netherlands in 2022.

In hockey, Ireland’s men play New Zealand at 16:00, followed by GB against Germany at 19:15.

World watch

Returning to the pool, the men’s 200m individual medley (19:49) offers an opportunity for French swimming star Leon Marchand to try to surpass Ryan Lochte’s world record time. Lochte’s record is one minute 54.00 seconds, while Marchand got down to 1:54.82 in winning world gold ahead of GB’s Duncan Scott and Tom Dean last year. Tokyo silver medallist Scott and Dean will hope to make the Paris final, while Tokyo champion Wang Shun of China is back. In the men's 50m freestyle, France will be cheering for Florent Manaudou, London 2012 gold medallist in the event and one of the hosts’ two flagbearers at the opening ceremony.

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei has dominated the men’s 10,000m but was beaten by Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega in an extraordinarily humid Tokyo 2020 final. Both are back for 2024 and this is the only title on offer during the opening night of athletics (20:20).

Badminton’s mixed doubles final (15:10) is highly likely to have at least one Chinese entry and it would be no surprise if, like Tokyo, the final was between two Chinese teams. Three years ago, Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong were defeated by Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping. Gold medallist Wang has since retired, so silver medallists Zheng and Huang Yaqiong may end up facing Huang Dongping and new partner Feng Yanzhe this time around.

Archery’s mixed team final takes place from 15:43. In Tokyo, an arrow from South Korea’s An San hit and split an arrow shot by team-mate Kim Je-deok on their way to gold in this event. This is almost impossible to achieve and is known as a “Robin Hood arrow”. According to World Archery, this may have been the first time a Robin Hood arrow was ever filmed in competition. The two arrows are now on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Tennis reaches the mixed doubles final and men’s singles semi-finals (11:00-20:00).

The men’s football quarter-finals take place in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Bordeaux with kick-offs between 14:00 and 20:00.

In women’s 3x3 basketball, two of the world’s top-ranked nations – France and the US – meet at 12:00.

Expert knowledge

Teddy Riner will try to equal the Olympic judo record for three individual gold medals in front of his home crowd. The 100+kg event’s medal rounds begin at 16:49.

Riner is virtually unbeatable. Between September 2010 and February 2020, he won 154 consecutive contests. At the Tokyo Olympics, he had to settle for bronze after losing to Russia’s Tamerlan Bashaev, his first defeat at the Games since 2008. He has not lost at Grand Slam or World Championship level since Tokyo.

Gold medal events:

Archery (women's individual), artistic gymnastics (men's floor, women's vault, men's pommel horse finals), athletics (men's shot put, women's triple jump, mixed 4x400m relay, women's 100m, men's decathlon), badminton (women's doubles), equestrian (dressage grand prix special team), fencing (women's sabre team), judo (mixed team), road cycling (men's road race), rowing (women's single sculls, men's single sculls, women's eight, men's eight), shooting (women's 25m pistol, men's skeet), swimming (men's 100m fly, women's 200m individual medley, women's 800m free, mixed 4x100m medley relay), table tennis (women's singles), tennis (women's singles, men's doubles).

Highlights

Britain’s fastest female sprinter, Dina Asher-Smith, will hope to line up in the 100m final at 20:20. Asher-Smith has changed coach and moved to train in Texas since a disappointing eighth place in last year’s world final. “I want to win the Olympics and I want to run really fast,” she has said. Big rivals include US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson and Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson. Richardson has the year’s leading mark of 10.71 seconds.

At 16:10, the pommel horse final is Max Whitlock’s chance to deliver on his aim of an unprecedented fourth consecutive medal on the same gymnastics apparatus. Ireland’s world champion and pommel horse specialist Rhys McClenaghan will have his sights on gold. The women’s vault final (15:20) may feature Simone Biles, the Rio 2016 champion, returning to an event from which she withdrew in Tokyo.

This is the last day of rowing and the very last final on the list is the men’s eight (10:10). Britain won this event in 2016 but New Zealand were the winners in Tokyo. GB have recovered to win the past two world titles. Defending champions Canada, Romania and the US are contenders in the women’s eight (09:50).

Dressage’s team event concludes from 09:00. GB have not been off the Olympic podium since a memorable victory at London 2012, but can they get back to the top step?

Brit watch

It is the penultimate night at the pool. GB smashed the world record to win the mixed 4x100m medley relay (20:33) when it was held for the first time at the Tokyo Games. This is a great relay to watch as there is a heap of strategy involved in looking at your team’s strengths and weaknesses, then deciding who you put on which leg. It is often not clear which team’s plan is paying off until the final moments.

Cycling returns with the men’s road race (10:00). GB have qualified a full four-man team that features Tom Pidcock, who only just competed in Olympic mountain-biking last week, never mind half of the Tour de France before dropping out with Covid. The course reaches a climax with three laps of cobbled climb before a downhill stretch and a sprint towards the Trocadero.

Kayak cross is new at the Olympics. If you have seen snowboard cross at the Winter Olympics then – yes, that, except in whitewater. Instead of the usual Olympic slalom canoeing against the clock, paddlers race each other to the finish. They have to turn around in whitewater, flip their boats and perform all sorts of other manoeuvres along the way. The opening rounds begin at 14:30 and Team GB have some of the world’s best athletes.

Saturday’s hockey includes GB’s women versus Argentina at 09:00.

World watch

Serena Williams, Monica Puig and Belinda Bencic are your last three women’s singles tennis champions at the Olympics. Who will it be this time? World number one Iga Swiatek has Olympic success in her blood – her dad, Tomasz Swiatek, was a rower for Poland at Seoul 1988. The hosts will pin their hopes on Caroline Garcia making it this far. This is also the day of the men’s doubles final, an event that includes Andy Murray and Dan Evans plus Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski for GB.

Elsewhere in the night’s swimming action, Katie Ledecky has a shot at a fourth consecutive gold in the women’s 800m freestyle (20:09). It could be close, though. Last time, in Tokyo, Ariarne Titmus was just a second behind her – the first time anyone had been within four seconds of Ledecky in an Olympic final over this distance.

On the track, the men’s 100m first round (from 10:45) allows us a first look at world champion Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman, both representing the US, as well as GB trio Zharnel Hughes, Louie Hinchliffe and Jeremiah Azu. Keep an eye out for “Africa’s fastest man” Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya and Jamaican title challenger Kishane Thompson.

The decathlon concludes with the 1500m race at 20:45. France’s Kevin Mayer, a silver medallist in Tokyo and Rio, will be trying to upgrade that on home soil, although team-mate Makenson Gletty comes in with a better world ranking. Canada, boasting Olympic champion Damian Warner and world champion Pierce LePage, will be tough to beat.

Badminton’s women’s doubles is a big target for Indonesia. Apriyani Rahayu won Tokyo gold with Greysia Polii and is now paired with Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti after Polii’s retirement. China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan are the favourites. The two teams meet each other in the group stages, which may help set the scene for Saturday’s final (15:10).

Women football reaches the quarter-final stage with games kicking off at 14:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 20:00.

Expert knowledge

Ledecky is not the only athlete capable of racking up a fourth gold medal in an event on Saturday. Skeet shooter Vincent Hancock won gold in Beijing, London and Tokyo for the US, a remarkable record marred only by finishing 15th in Rio. This time around, Hancock is coming in ranked 17th in the world.

As of the start of Saturday, only six people have won the same individual event four times at the Olympics: Denmark’s Paul Elvstrom in sailing, Americans Al Oerter and Carl Lewis in athletics, Japan’s Kaori Icho and Cuba’s Mijain Lopez in wrestling, and Michael Phelps for the US in swimming.

Nobody has ever won the same individual event five times at the Olympics (although it could happen in Paris – see Tuesday, 6 August). Ledecky at LA 2028, anyone?

Gold medal events:

Archery (men's individual), artistic gymnastics (men's rings, women's uneven bars, men's vault), athletics (women's high jump, men's hammer throw, men's 100m), badminton (men's doubles), equestrian (dressage grand prix freestyle individual), fencing (men's foil team), golf (men's round 4), road cycling (women's road race), shooting (women's skeet), swimming (women's 50m free, men's 1500m free, men's 4x100m medley relay, women's 4x100m medley relay), table tennis (men's singles), tennis (women's doubles and men's singles).

Highlights

Sunday at 20:55 is go time for the men’s 100m final. Will Zharnel Hughes be on the start line for GB after a world bronze last year? Will Noah Lyles become the first American to win this event since 2004? Can Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo pull off an upgrade on last year’s world silver?

Roland Garros hosts the Olympic men’s singles final. Many fans would love a Nadal-Djokovic Olympic final on clay here. They have met once before at the Games, in the Beijing 2008 semi-finals, which Nadal won. Realistically, the Spaniard may have a better chance of a medal in the doubles. Serbia's Djokovic, meanwhile, is trying to win the one big title still missing from his collection.

The final round of the men’s golf competition begins at 08:00. American Xander Schauffele will be in Paris to defend his title, and he has said an Olympic gold medal is proving increasingly valuable in a sport that, until Rio 2016, was all about its four majors. Spain’s Jon Rahm will be one of the highest-profile LIV Golf players at the Games.

Lizzie Deignan is the first female British cyclist to be selected for four Olympic Games. Deignan – the London 2012 silver medallist and 2015 world champion – is joined by national champion Pfeiffer Georgi, Anna Henderson and Anna Morris for Sunday’s women’s road race, which starts at 13:00. A strong Dutch team for this race features Ellen van Dijk, Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes and Marianne Vos, who won gold in London 12 years ago.

Brit watch

With Charlotte Dujardin pulling out on Tuesday, team-mate Lottie Fry - daughter of Laura, who rode at Barcelona 1992 – could be one of the biggest challengers in this event.

In gymnastics, Jake Jarman won world vault gold last year and backed it up with a European title in April. The 22-year-old has the chance to turn that form into an Olympic title at 15:25. Becky Downie could be a contender in the uneven bars from 14:40.

Amber Rutter welcomed her first child to the world in April. Now she’s shooting for skeet gold at Paris 2024 (qualification from 08:30, final from 14:30). Rutter missed Tokyo 2020 through a positive Covid test just before she travelled, which she says was devastating at the time but ultimately helped reshape her life goals to include both personal priorities and Olympic aims.

In track and field action, world silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith is in the opening round of the men’s 400m from 18:05.

Men’s hockey reaches the quarter-final stages.

World watch

The first round of the men’s 110m hurdles begins at 10:50. Grant Holloway was the Tokyo favourite until he “lost composure” in his words and allowed Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment to thunder past. Holloway has since won both available world titles and is on the US team for Paris. In the women’s 400m hurdles first round (11:35) watch for another American, defending champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, testing herself against Dutch world champion Femke Bol.

The last night of swimming at Paris 2024 (from 17:30) features four finals: the women’s 50m free, men’s 1,500m free, men’s 4x100m medley and women’s 4x100m medley. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom is a big contender in the women’s 50m free, while the women’s 4x100m medley could turn into a classic US-Australia battle. GB won men’s medley silver in Tokyo.

The table tennis men’s singles final could be an opportunity for China’s Ma Long to extend an extraordinary Olympic streak (13:30). Ma comes into the Games having won all five Olympic titles available to him since 2012 – three team, two individual.

Expert knowledge

We are well into the quarter-finals and semi-finals of boxing’s various weights. In the women’s middleweight division (75kg), where quarter-finals take place on Sunday, UK-based Cindy Ngamba is fighting for the Olympic Refugee Team. Ngamba is unable to return to Cameroon, where she was born, because of her sexuality – homosexuality in the country is punishable with up to five years in prison. She is the first boxer ever selected for an Olympic refugee team.

Fencing at Paris 2024 concludes with men’s team foil (19:30), a perfect finale for the hosts, who are the defending champions. To score a point, you need to strike your opponent on their torso, shoulder or neck with the tip of your weapon. You also need to have “right of way” which, if you’re new to fencing, is a concept best left to the referee, who decides which fencer has attacking priority at any given time. In the team event, everyone cycles through a series of mini head-to-head match-ups until one team scores 45. Alternatively, the highest-scoring team wins if the ninth and final bout ends without either team reaching 45.