Paris Olympics 2024 as it happened: Day 7 - Three gold in 77 minutes: BMX star’s blistering win as McEvoy and McKeown rule the pool

That’s all from us in Sydney when it comes to day seven of our Olympics coverage, but fear not, we have day eight up and ready to go.

If you want to catch up on the major news stories from today, here’s a quick rundown:

• Cameron McEvoy became the first Australian to win the 50m freestyle
• Kaylee McKeown expertly executed the 200m backstroke to collect another gold medal
• Saya Sakakibara bounced back from heartbreak in Tokyo to win the women’s BMX final
• Australian world champion Sky Nicolson has lashed out at Italian boxer for ‘publicity stunt’ against Imane Khelif

Thanks for following along, you can follow day eight of the action here.

Saya Sakakibara celebrates her BMX victory.Credit: AP

French police are formally investigating death threats and cyber harassment made towards the artistic director of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony after conservative and religious leaders blasted a short skit as “extremely disrespectful to Christians.”

The Paris Prosecutor’s office said on Friday that Thomas Jolly had filed a complaint after receiving threats and online attacks over a kitsch tableau in the during ceremony on the river Seine that appeared to parody Leonardo da Vinci’s painting The Last Supper.

Instagram screenshot shared by Barbara Butch, the lesbian activist who took part in the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.Credit: Instagram

The scene, which sparked fury among the Catholic Church, far-right politicians in France and the religious right in the United States, featured drag queens, a transgender model and a semi-naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine Dionysus sitting in a bowl of fruit.

Paris 2024 organisers have since twice since apologised, saying there was no intention to show disrespect towards any religious group.

Read the full story here.

One, two, three and to the fo’ Snoop Doggy Dogg is the, er, face of the Olympics in Paris.

It’s probably best to leave the rhymes to the famous Long Beach rapper, but it’s true: Snoop Dogg has become a ubiquitous presence at these Games, and the world is better for it.

Everywhere you look, there’s Snoop.

Snoop Dogg attends the women’s artistic gymnastics at the Paris Olympics.Credit: Getty Images

Snoop crip-walking while carrying the Olympic torch. Snoop at the tennis watching Rafael Nadal. Snoop at the gymnastics watching Simone Biles. Snoop on the train to Lille to watch LeBron James and his teammates in the basketball. Snoop chatting to Billie Jean King. Snoop taking swimming lessons from Michael Phelps.

Snoop at the fencing, the judo, the skate park, the beach volleyball. Snoop calling the badminton for US host broadcaster NBC.

“It don’t stop till the casket drop,” he informed viewers earlier this week.

Read Andrew Webster’s full column here.

Cam McEvoy was on holiday in France for a family wedding in March 2022. He was wearing a white t-shirt, emblazoned with the Olympic rings, that he had bought after he bombed out in the heats of the 50m freestyle in Tokyo.

He took a photo then posted it to Instagram with the caption ‘Reconnaissance’ – a French word deriving from the 18th century meaning ‘preliminary surveying or research’.

No one knew it at the time, but McEvoy was planning a secret comeback.

Read the full story here.

Read the full story of McKeown’s victory here.

We brought you the news earlier about France’s 1-0 win over Argentina in the men’s football quarter-finals - and the all-in scrap that followed the final whistle.

France will take on Egypt, who beat Paraguay 5-4 on penalties (1-1 after extra time) in their quarter-final, on Tuesday at 5am AEST for a spot in the gold medal match.

Adel Ibrahim of Egypt celebrates scoring. Credit: Getty Images

On the other side of the draw are Morocco and Spain, who remain very much in the hunt for another global title. Spain’s senior men just won the Euros and their women won the World Cup last year.

That semi will take place on Tuesday at 2am AEST. And speaking of the women, there was no action this morning, but the quarters will begin tonight: United States versus Japan (11pm AEST), Spain versus Colombia (1am Sunday AEST), Canada versus Germany (3am AEST), and France versus Brazil (5am AEST).

So, Spain in contention there, too. Surprise, surprise.

The International Boxing Association (IBA) will award Italy’s Angela Carini, who lost her welterweight round-of-16 bout against Algerian Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics in 46 seconds on Thursday, $50,000 in prizemoney, it said on Friday.

Carini pulled out in the first round after the Algerian, who is at the heart of a gender row, pummelled the Italian with a barrage of punches.

The IBA, which was stripped of its international recognition by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year, said Carini would receive $50,000, her federation a further $25,000 and her coach an additional $25,000.

“I do not understand why they killed women’s boxing,” IBA President Umar Kremlev said. “Only eligible athletes should compete in the ring for the sake of safety. I could not look at her tears.”

Reuters

It has been 24 hours since Simone Biles won her second gymnastics gold medal of Paris 2024, but fans are already itching to watch her again.

She has a real chance of winning all six gymnastics medals in Paris. It’s unlikely, because of the quality of competitors like Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and American teammate Sunisa Lee, but it’s not impossible.

So, here’s when to set your alarms to watch another slice of history.

Biles timetable:

• Sunday, August 4 - From 12.20am (AEST) - Women’s vault final
• Sunday, August 4 - From 11.40pm (AEST) - Women’s uneven bars final
• Monday, August 5 - From 8.38pm (AEST) - Women’s balance beam final
• Monday, August 5 - From 10.23pm (AEST) - Women’s floor final

And here’s a little preview of what we can expect on Sunday.