Olympics 2024 LIVE: Andy Murray confirms he won’t play singles in Paris as as first world record of Games set

Russian and Belarusian entrants will instead compete under the AIN banner. Here is what it stands for and what you can expect to see if one of the individuals becomes an Olympic champion:

You will note the absence of Russia and Belarus from the medal table over the next couple of weeks, even though there are athletes from both nations competing in Paris. Here’s why:

Viewers in the United Kingdom will enjoy the insight of plenty of past Olympic greats with both Discovery+ and the BBC unveiling strong line-ups of presenters, commentators and pundits for Paris 2024.

Just like at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, every moment from the French capital will be shown live on Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service with extensive television coverage on Eurosport’s television channels.

The BBC has also struck a deal with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to continue to provide free-to-air coverage of the Games up to and including 2032.

Well well well. We thought it might be a quiet day at the archery as seedings are determined before the action intensifies over the weekend, but South Korea’s Lim Sihyeon has other ideas. The 21-year-old has set a new world record in the women’s individual recurve, recording 694 of a possible 720 points to take top spot in the seeding.

Could it be a vintage Games for Team GB at the Stade de France? Ben Bloom examines the runners and riders hoping for medal success, led by Keely Hodgkinson.

And here’s when you’ll be able to watch Katarina Johnson-Thompson and the rest of the athletics stars in Paris.

Emma Hayes has grit and guile; the question remains will that be enough for gold. The former Chelsea coach was in combative mood as she put the final touches to the USA’s preparations for the Olympic women’s football tournament.

Expectation management is often the name of the game in these seemingly endless days before the Olympic flame actually ignites. Some like to beat their chest and talk themselves up, others – from the ‘no-one puts more pressure on me than me’ school of sports psychology – prefer to fly under the radar.

Hayes – as we’ve come to learn from her seven Women’s Super League titles – doesn’t overthink this stuff, she just tells it like is it.

We’ve seen a few sporting tussles between Denmark and Slovenia this summer, with the two nations meeting at Euro 2024 before Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar duelled at the Tour de France. The latest encounter between the pair has come on the opening day of handball action, with Denmark’s women starting strongly with a 27-19 win.

The Netherlands currently hold a narrow lead over Angola in the second of the day’s fixtures. The group stage action is taking place at the Porte de Versailles expo centre before a relocation to Lille for the knockout rounds and the Stade Pierre Mauroy.

Romanian athlete Florentina Iusco will not compete at the Paris Olympics after global sport’s top court partially upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appeal on Thursday following her positive test for a banned substance last year.

The 28-year-old, who competes in the long jump and triple jump, tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic on WADA’s prohibited list, in an out-of-competition doping control in April 2023.

The analysis of both her A and B samples confirmed the result, resulting in an anti-doping rule violation.

Romania’s National Anti-Doping Organisation sanctioned her only with a reprimand on February 1 with no period of ineligibility on the basis that she was not at fault or was not negligent.

However, after WADA appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the arbitrator determined she had failed to exercise the standard of care required for a “no significant fault or negligence” finding.

CAS imposed a two-year ban on Iusco backdated to February 1 and disqualified all of her results from April 23 last year.