Paris Olympics 2024 as it happened: Day 14 - Imane Khelif wins boxing gold; drama in the 4x100m relay; Opals fall short; Raygun goes viral

That’s all we have time for today.

If you haven’t quite had your Olympics fix for the day, fear not, we already have the day 15 blog up and running.

Things get going again with the men’s marathon at 4pm AEST. Until then, enjoy.

The endless cycle of news stories, social media posts and video clips from an event as overwhelming as a Summer Olympics means you can overlook the things that matter most.

A brief interview with Team USA’s Kevin Durant following his team’s come-from-behind semi-final victory over Nikola Jokic’s Serbia on Thursday night was a reminder that the Olympics — expensive, dysfunctional and often unfair — holds relevance like never before.

“How can you not celebrate a win like that?” Durant told USA Basketball as he ate his dinner, with a glass of red wine in front of him, hours after the 95-91 victory.

“Look at our families. That’s what it’s about. Coming together on the other side of world like that. It’s special tonight, man. You gotta celebrate. We want to win the gold, but you need to celebrate the small moments, too. Everyone here will remember this night for the rest of their lives. We showed in that fourth quarter how special we are.”

Those who argue the Olympics have run their race, that they’re no longer relevant, and too much of a financial impost on the host country need only look at the emotional celebrations of superstar athletes who make hundreds of millions of dollars in their day jobs.

There’s Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, who contested the men’s tennis final at Roland Garros.

They both cried after the final, with Serbia’s Djokovic winning 7-6, 7-6 – just a month after Spain’s Alcaraz had beaten him in straight sets at Wimbledon.

Then there’s Scottie Scheffler, the American golfer who earlier this year won his second US Masters to go with his US PGA Championship, US Open and British Open titles. He’s also won the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.

Most would argue he didn’t have much left to win before winning gold at Le Golf National with wife Meredith, three-month-old son Bennett and parents Scott and Diane in the stands.

But he openly wept on the podium when the Star-Spangled Banner was played.

“It was just very emotional being up there on stage there as the flag is being raised and sitting there singing the national anthem,” he explained.

Read Andrew Webster’s full column from Paris here.

Australia will have two women in the javelin final at 3:30am AEST tomorrow morning – Mackenzie Little and Kathryn Mitchell.

Raw power alone won’t win them a medal. A mastery of the wind, aerodynamics and energy separates the best from the rest.

In this piece, Tony Blazevich, professor of biomechanics at Edith Cowan University, breaks down the three key components of the javelin throw: the run-up, the release, and the flight.

Read the full report here.

A nod to Marileidly Paulino from the Dominican Republic, the third gold medallist in their history after she cruised home in the women’s 400m final.

Paulino’s time of 48.17 was right up there as an Olympic record that also and makes her the fourth-fastest woman in history across the distance.

Note that a couple of these runners, particularly East German world-record holder Marita Koch (who falls into that murky world of 1980s records and doping suspicions) would appear on this list multiple times if all of their fastest times were included, rather than just one per athlete.

We’ve had some pretty amazing photos coming out of Paris 2024, and many of the best have come from one of our own.

We have Eddie Jim on the ground in Paris – an award-winning photographer based out of The Age in Melbourne.

His actions shots have been breathtaking. Take a look at some of our favourites.

Now to the USA’s impressive record of completely botching a baton handover - with this morning’s latest drama making for 11 dropped batons, disqualifications or bans at the Olympics and World Championships since 1995.

While Canada claimed a shock gold medal, the US ran without 100m Olympic champion Noah Lyles after he won bronze in the 200m despite having COVID and complaining of sickness.

Chris Coleman struggles to hand the baton to teammate Kenneth Bednarek.Credit: AP

The baton handover between Chris Coleman and Kenneth Bednarek was fumbled, and ended up happening outside the legal zone.

By the time Fred Kerley took the baton for the anchor lap, the US were in seventh place. They ended up being disqualified for the illegal pass.

“It just didn’t happen,” Coleman said. “Maybe we could have put in some more work. I just think, in the moment, it didn’t happen.”

The men’s team has gone 20 years without an Olympics medal in the event.

Most of the problems over the years – and this week – have been towards the front. On Thursday, in qualifying, Coleman handed to Kerley with his right hand while grabbing Kerley’s arm with his left – an awkward exchange that didn’t prove costly.

This one did. The only US podium finish during its dry spell was a silver in 2012 that was later stripped due to doping.

“At the end of the day, we knew what we could do,” said Kyree King, who ran the third leg. “We came out here and we had the mindset of no risk, no reward, so we went out there and went big. It didn’t happen.”

Read the full story of the USA’s latest relay drama here.

It’s been a busy morning, so you might have missed that Brazil beat Canada to win gold in the women’s beach volleyball.

Unfortunately, for Patricia Silva Ramos Ana and Eduarda Santos Lisboa (the Brazilian duo) their win under the dazzling lights of the Eiffel Tower wasn’t the most stunning thing to come out of that match.

Instead, it was a fiery mid-match exchange between the two teams that started making headlines, before Canadian Brandie Wilkerson was given a yellow card.

It really had it all - loaded words, death stares and a helpless referee who blew his whistle until he was red in the face. But in the end, the DJ helped defuse the situation, playing John Lennon’s Imagine across the stadium.

Both teams couldn’t help but laugh. Crisis averted.

Sometimes it’s difficult to look on the bright side.

Losing a game of basketball by 21 points – as the Opals did against Team USA on Friday night - might be one such time, and yet there were clear silver linings – the most clear being the performance of Olympic debutant Isobel Borlase.

Isobel Borlase broke through for the Opals.Credit: Getty Images

The 19-year-old came on late in the third quarter, played 14 minutes of game time, yet top scored for the Opals with 11 points, looking immediately more composed and dangerous than her seasoned teammates.

That wouldn’t surprise the coaching staff, of course. They noted it back when they selected her on the team, assistant coach Cheryl Chambers pointing out that “Izzy” has that rare ability to quicken the game or slow it down according to need. “She’s not overawed by the moment,” Chambers said then. “I’m sure she’s nervous – don’t get me wrong – but she’s got quite a level head.”

Lauren Jackson was similarly full of praise for the young shooter. “I think today was a real coming of age moment for Izzy. In the fourth quarter, she showed signs that we haven’t seen in this Olympic tournament.”

A comprehensive loss is at least useful in that regard, noted head coach Sandy Brondello, for the opportunity it gives you to get minutes into young players like Amy Atwell and Kristy Wallace, but especially Borlase.

Read Konrad Marshall’s full wrap of the Opals’ campaign here.

Here we go again, another proposal at the Olympics.

I know they have good intentions and all, but has anyone actually thought about what happens if they say...no?

Brazilian triple jumper Almir dos Santos is the latest to pull out a diamond at the Olympics. Now I don’t want to hate on the occasion, but is it just me or does she look hesitant to say yes?

Read more about public proposals here, and whether they’re a romantic gesture or a disaster waiting to happen.