A pop-up event was held in Paris recently, showcasing the different costume cultures of China's ethnic groups and attracting crowds to support and cheer for the Chinese athletes participating in the Olympic Games. Click to see the stunning ethnic costumes on display in Paris!

China's Lian Junjie and Yang Hao claimed the men's synchronized 10m platform diving title at the Paris Olympic Games on Monday. The pair lived up to expectations by scoring a total of 490.35 points from six rounds in the final.

CHATEAUROUX, France -- Chinese marksman Sheng Lihao claimed the Paris Olympic title in the men's 10m air rifle event on Monday, adding to his victory in the 10m air rifle mixed team event along with Huang Yuting.

PARIS -- Lian Junjie and Yang Hao claimed the men's synchronized 10m platform diving title at the Paris Olympics on Monday.

Lian and Yang, three-time world championship winners in this event, are competing in their first Olympic Games. They lived up to expectations by scoring a total of 490.35 points from six rounds in the final.

The Chinese diving "Dream Team" bagged seven out of eight gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, only missing out on the men's synchronized 10m platform, which was won by Britain's Tom Daley and Matty Lee.

CHATEAUROUX, France - Chinese shooter Huang Yuting is 0.1 points away from her second Paris Olympic gold as South Korean Ban Hyo-jin was crowned in the women's 10m air rifle event on Monday.

Ban shot 10.4 in a tense shoot-off, 0.1 more than 17-year-old Huang's result after the duo both collected 251.8 in the final, equaling the Olympic record.

Huang and Sheng Lihao set off China's Paris Olympics campaign to a golden start, winning the Games' first gold medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event here on Saturday.

VERSAILLES, France - Chinese equestrian rider Alex Hua Tian encountered a setback in the cross-country phase of the eventing competition at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, resulting in a penalty of 20.6 points.

Combined with his dressage penalties on Saturday, Hua Tian's total penalty score amounted to 42.6 points, causing his ranking to plummet from 3rd to 32nd.

The event took place under clear skies at the historic Palace of Versailles, drawing a large crowd, while the cross-country phase saw several incidents, including falls from competitors from Germany, Ecuador and Portugal, leading to their elimination.

Hua Tian faced a controversial penalty during his run.

Broadcast footage showed a judge unexpectedly appearing in front of obstacle 21B. Hua Tian and his horse Chocs made a sidestep to the left before jumping right over the obstacle. The horse brushed against a flag on the left side of the obstacle, resulting in a 15-point penalty.

China promptly protested to event organizers, but the International Equestrian Federation has yet to issue an official response.

Jia Dapeng, leader of China's equestrian team, told reporters that the team has "reviewed the footage with the technical representatives and expressed our stance". He said that the team, nevertheless, will respect the "rules and results from the federation."

Hua Tian revealed that his horse took a light step to the left before jumping right.

"I think this happened because, unfortunately, there was one of the jump judges running a little bit on the landing side behind. And I think that really distracted Chocs," Hua Tian said.

The other Chinese rider, Sun Huadong, withdrew from the competition due to his horse Lady suffering from swelling in her left foreleg.

Germany's Michael Jung topped the individual leaderboard with a total of 17.80 penalty points, surpassing Britain's Laura Collett, who incurred 0.8 time penalties in the cross-country phase, finishing with 18.30 penalty points.

The eventing competition will continue on Monday with the show jumping phase.

PARIS - China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, top seeds in the table tennis mixed doubles event at Paris 2024, endured a tough contest before securing a 4-2 comeback win over Lin Yun-Ju and Chen Szu-Yu of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals here on Sunday.

The sixth-seeded Chinese Taipei pair started strongly, building a 2-1 lead in the first three sets. However, Wang and Sun, who won consecutive World Championships in 2021 and 2023, played an even more thorough game afterwards, wrapping up the match 7-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-3 in nearly one hour at South Paris Arena 4.

"There were good and bad takeaways from the match today. It was good that we were able to clinch the victory even though it was not easy. We can do better in taking the momentum from the start of the match," said 23-year-old Sun, who won the women's team gold and singles silver at Tokyo 2020.

"It's good to reflect on the match and take the learnings into the semifinals tomorrow," she added.

Sun gave high praise to her opponents: "Lin and Chen did really well today. It was a very high-quality match. In the end, my partner and I were able to adjust to the match, with the help of our coach."

"I guess we were not able to adjust well enough in terms of strategy and tactics in the latter part of the match. We made some errors, so we were at a disadvantage," Chen said after the match, adding that taking two sets against the world No. 1 pair "is not too shabby a result for us."

Discussing the crucial fourth set, Wang, a 24-year-old Olympic debutant, said: "We just tried to hang on to the match and did our best not to give our opponents too much space to play the shots they want. We gradually found our momentum in the rallies."

Both Wang and Sun had singles matches on Sunday morning, but Wang did not feel that playing singles earlier in the day would wear him out: "We are used to playing multiple matches in a day after playing in so many events. It's not a big deal."

Wang and Sun will next play No 3 seeds Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin of South Korea in the semifinals on Monday, after the latters denied seventh-seeded Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs of Romania in four straight sets.

Also on Sunday, Ri Jong-sik and Kim Kum-yong of DPR Korea, who had surprisingly ousted second-seeded Japanese duo Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata on Saturday, continued their strong performance and trounced eighth-seeded Swedish pair Kristian Karlsson and Christina Kallberg 4-1 to reach the semifinals.

The DPRK pair will vie for a final spot against fourth-seeded Wong Chun-ting and Doo Hoi Kem on Monday, after the duo from Hong Kong, China upset Spain's Alvaro Robles and Maria Xiao 4-2 in the quarterfinals.

The mixed doubles made its debut on the Olympic stage at Tokyo 2020, with each association only eligible to place one pair in the event.

FIFA docked six points from Canada in the Paris Olympics women's soccer tournament and banned three coaches for one year apiece on Saturday, following a drone-spying scandal.

The stunning swath of punishments includes a 200,000 Swiss francs ($226,000) fine for the Canadian soccer federation, in a case that has spiraled at the Summer Games. Two assistant coaches were caught using drones to spy on opponent New Zealand's practices before their opening game last Wednesday.

Head coach Bev Priestman, who led Canada to the Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021, was already suspended by the national soccer federation, before being removed from the Olympic tournament. Canadian officials suspect the spying has been systemic over a period of years.

Priestman, and assistant coaches Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, are now banned from all soccer participation for one year.

FIFA judges said Priestman and her two assistants "were each found responsible for offensive behavior and violation of the principles of fair play."

The case is likely now heading for the Court of Arbitration for Sport's special Olympic court in Paris. That tribunal is set up for urgent hearings and verdicts at the Olympics, such as the coaches and Canadian federation challenging their sanctions.

The points deduction, if upheld by the CAS judges, does not eliminate Canada from the tournament. It would mean the team must win all three games in Group A and hope to advance with three points to the quarterfinals, which start next Saturday, as the third-placed team in the standings.

Canada plays group leader France on Sunday in Saint-Etienne, then faces Colombia on Thursday in Nice.

Docking a team so many points is almost unprecedented in the middle of an international tournament.

The case is a further embarrassment for the Canadian federation, which is one of FIFA's partners in helping organize the biggest-ever men's World Cup in 2026 across North America.

Two Canadian cities, Toronto and Vancouver, will stage some of the 104 games at a tournament expanding from 32 teams to 48. Games will also be played across 11 cities in the United States and three in Mexico.

In the compact 17-day women's soccer tournament at the Olympics, FIFA fast-tracked its own disciplinary process by asking its appeals judges to handle the Canadian case.

The Canadian federation was held responsible for not ensuring its staff complied with tournament rules.

There is no suggestion that the players were involved in the spying.

"At the moment we are trying to directly address what appears to look like it could be a systemic ethical shortcoming, in a way that's, frankly, unfortunately painful right now, but is turning out to be a necessary part of the rehabilitation process," Kevin Blue, Canada Soccer's CEO, said previously at the Olympics.

The 38-year-old Priestman is from England and was hired in 2020 to coach the Canada team. She is under contract through the 2027 Women's World Cup.

She had stepped aside from the defending champion's Olympic opener against New Zealand on Wednesday, after the scandal was revealed.

Her two staffers were sent home for allegedly using a drone to spy on New Zealand in training. Canada won the game 2-1 with interim coach Andy Spence in charge.

Blue said that he was made aware of new information related to the drone scandal after the opener, which led to Priestman's suspension.

The Canadian federation has not yet commented on Saturday's ruling.

Agencies via Xinhua

A magnificent Antoine Dupont crowned his two-year odyssey into the world of rugby sevens with a dream Olympic gold for France in front of an adoring crowd in Paris on Saturday.

The France and Toulouse talisman received a rapturous welcome from a raucous Stade de France for the final against Fiji, which the host won 28-7.

"It's a huge reward for us, for rugby, for all the country," Dupont said.

"We really felt that we were representing not only rugby, but the whole of French sport. We are really proud to start the Olympics like that."

Dupont added: "It's such a great honor to win this title and I have such great emotions.

"It is such a great thing to achieve with these boys. It's really top of the list.

"I just want to share this with my teammates. We worked so hard for so long to do this. This is just the cherry on the cake."

Dupont has established himself as one of world rugby's best players, and the scrum-half is an iconic figure in France.

The 27-year-old took the gamble of missing the Six Nations to make the French Olympic team, a move that led to some criticism.

But, the combative halfback put that to one side, going on to help France to two wins on the World Rugby Sevens Series, including victory in the Madrid finals.

In between, he skippered Toulouse to Top 14 and Champions Cup glory in the game's 15-a-side format.

After starting the opening two pool matches at the Games, Dupont was named on the bench for the final pool game and the knock-out phases, as coach Jerome Daret plumped for Stephen Parez-Edo Martin in the playmaking role.

"It's always more difficult to be on the bench, because we cannot do anything. It's more stressful than playing," Dupont admitted.

"But, this is a part of being in a squad, and the most important thing is the victory."

Daret dubbed Dupont an "exceptional player, whose entry into the game piles a lot of pressure on opponents".

Immediate impact

Wearing the No 11 shirt, Dupont came on for the second half and made an immediate impact in the final against reigning two-time champion Fiji.

The ball was knocked back to him and immediately he was off, rounding Fiji captain Jerry Tuwai and shooting up the left wing.

He lobbed a pass back inside for Aaron Grandidier Nkanang to claim a try for the host.

That pulled France clear, and, with Fiji under pressure, Dupont crossed for a brace of well-taken tries in a script that could not have been written any better.

World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin showered praise on local hero Dupont, telling reporters that what Dupont had achieved was "mind-boggling".

Dupont's presence ensured a 69,000-capacity crowd at the Stade de France, with World Rugby expecting more than half a million fans to attend the six days of sevens action.

The last time Dupont played at the stadium north of Paris was in a 29-28 defeat for France against South Africa in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal in October.

Dupont's absence from the Six Nations to focus on making the Olympic team did not sit well with many traditionalists.

But, his appearance at the Paris Games was a huge coup, not only for French rugby as a whole, but also the organizers.

"I think it speaks volumes for his passion for representing his country at the Olympic Games," Gilpin said of the Frenchman's decision to skip the Six Nations to focus on sevens, which is often regarded as a poor cousin to the 15-a-side game.

"But, I think it also speaks volumes for his understanding that the Olympic Games is an unbelievable platform for a star player.

"Rugby sevens is great for the Games, and the Games is great for rugby sevens, and that's absolutely what we want."

Gilpin added: "Let's be clear, what Dupont has done is almost impossible."

As for Dupont, he said he was looking forward to taking a holiday, but would not be resting on his laurels.

"Afterwards we start a new season. I'm still young and I have a lot of work to do."

AFP

Fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai won China's Hong Kong its third ever Olympic gold medal on Saturday, disappointing the home crowd as she beat France's Auriane Mallo-Breton 13-12 in sudden death in the women's epee final.

Kong wiped away tears after she clinched the title, having held her nerve after trailing 7-1 in the second period, and with a passionate home crowd, including President Emmanuel Macron, urging Mallo-Breton on.

Kong's gold emulates that of fellow fencer Cheung Ka-long in the men's foil in Tokyo three years ago, and follows Lee Lai Shan, who won the women's sailboard title in Atlanta in 1996.

"I just thought it would be so embarrassing to lose like this," she said of fighting back from a six-point deficit.

"I was not using my brain. I still think I lost, even after so many interviews."

United States First Lady Jill Biden and Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, a day after celebrating his 81st birthday, were both in attendance earlier Saturday.

The French president departed quickly to console Mallo-Breton, so he missed the men's saber title match which was won by South Korea's Oh Sang-uk.

Defending champion Sun Yiwen of the Chinese mainland was knocked out in her opening bout by Japan's Miho Yoshimura on Saturday in a major shock on the first day of the fencing at the Paris Olympics.

The two were locked at 13 touches each after the regulation three periods of 3 minutes, and 43rd-ranked Yoshimura secured victory in the first few seconds of sudden-death overtime.

It took Sun, a twice world champion, a few minutes and some back and forth with the referee to acknowledge her loss to Yoshimura, who moved into the last 16 before losing to Ukraine's Vlada Kharkova.

"I thought she didn't touch me in her last attempt, but when I asked the referee to watch the replay, he had already done it and wouldn't watch it again," Sun told Chinese broadcaster CCTV.

"Even if I file for an arbitration, the result wouldn't be changed. There's no other way. It is the Olympic rule that if a result has been determined, even if the referee was wrong, you can't change it."

Mallo-Breton had kept the home crowd on tenterhooks during her progress to the final, not least when she was 13-10 down with 36 seconds remaining in her last-32 match.

However, she somehow managed to defeat her crestfallen Ukrainian opponent Dzhoan Bezhura 14-13.

In the final, though, the Frenchwoman found being in front, and the weight of expectation, too much, and Kong was transformed after she had changed her epee.

"I was using the same epee through all my bouts, but Auriane was my first left-handed opponent, so I decided to use a different epee. I was out of solutions," said Kong.

Mallo-Breton held her lead until Kong leveled at 10-10, and then the contest became edgier.

With neither wanting to make a fatal error, they ran the clock down with the pair tied at 12-12.

Mallo-Breton realized the game was up as world No 1 Kong got the decisive touch in sudden death, the Frenchwoman turning her back and holding her head in her hands.

"That is the game. I think it was too easy at one point and she hung in there," said Mallo-Breton.

"However, it is a medal and one must be happy with that."

Mallo-Breton's medal is the first for France in the women's individual epee since the 2004 Games in Athens.

Earlier, Hungary's Eszter Muhari took the bronze, beating Nelli Differt of Estonia 15-14 in an engrossing duel.

Oh won a highly entertaining men's saber final contest with his Tunisian opponent Fares Ferjani, 15-11.

The Tunisian kept at Oh throughout, but the 27-year-old South Korean had enough in the locker to keep him at bay and add individual gold to the team title he won in Tokyo.

The bronze was won by Italy's Luigi Samele who collapsed to the floor as if it was gold, and rose in tears to kiss the head of his Egyptian opponent Ziad Elsissy.

Samele could have more reason for tears on Monday, when his girlfriend Olga Kharlan bids to win the one individual title she is lacking — Olympic saber gold — for Ukraine.

Streak ends

An era-defining winning streak in Olympic fencing was snapped in a shocking upset on Saturday as Hungarian fencer Aron Szilagyi lost his opening bout while chasing a fourth consecutive gold medal.

Szilagyi won Olympic gold in men's individual saber in 2012, 2016 and 2021 — the only male fencer to be a three-time individual champion. In Paris, he was trying to become the only fencer in Olympic history with four individual gold medals.

Instead, the streak ended in Szilagyi's first bout of the Paris Games, where he was beaten 15-8 by the 27th-seeded Fares Arfa in the round of 32, delivering one of the biggest upsets so far at the 2024 Olympics. Arfa, a first-time Olympian, racked up six unanswered points to start the bout. Szilagyi closed the gap to 6-4 but couldn't catch the Canadian.

"I'm in a bit of shock right now, so I'm not even disappointed or angry at myself yet. It happened so fast, and I never thought that my individual competition here in Paris would be so short," Szilagyi said.

"It's really a shock. It's like my opponent read me. I was an open book to him," he added. "In every touch, what he wanted, it happened. All his parries worked, all his attacks landed."

Agencies

Just like the NBA players on the United States' 1992 "Dream Team", China's all-conquering table tennis squad has managed, in its own way, to turn its opponents into fans at the Olympics.

The ping-pong "dream team", undisputed favorite in all five disciplines in Paris, has seen its massive appeal extend from fans back home to a worldwide following, with players of some rival delegations becoming admirers of the dominant, yet approachable, Chinese champions.

While their fellow superstars on the basketball team cause an uproar everywhere they appear in Paris, players on the US table tennis team have found different superstars to look up to at the Games.

"They're all truly the best players in the world. Ma Long is the GOAT (greatest of all time). He's been around for so long, he's a living legend. It will be a dream to be able to play alongside him," US women's singles player Lily Zhang said when asked who she'd pick as a "dream partner" in mixed doubles at a news conference last week.

Starting with Zhang, the most experienced paddler on Team USA, her younger teammates Amy Wang and Rachel Sung both joined the fun discussion of the best possible partner from Team China.

"It would be an absolute honor to play with any of them. The one I really want to play mixed doubles with is Lin Gaoyuan, who is not on the Chinese team this year," said Wang, who cruised past Priscilla Tommy of Vanuatu 4-0 in 25 minutes in her career first Olympic match, and will face Puerto Rico's Adriana Diaz in the women's singles second round on Tuesday.

"I'm his No 1 fan. I met him a few years ago and liked him from that moment. He's a left-hander so we would make a good doubles pair," said Wang, a 22-year-old right-hander who won two Pan-American Games gold medals last year.

And for Sung, Wang's doubles partner and roommate at UCLA, it's a no-brainer to pick nine-time world champion Fan Zhendong as her favorite.

"I would love to play with Fan Zhendong. I met him the first time about 10 years ago during a trip to China's Liaoning province, and I've admired his game ever since," said Sung, a 20-year-old who won the doubles title with Wang at the Pan Am Games.

"He's the best in the world, and he looks cute to me."

As the table tennis competitions get into full swing in Paris, the best from the rest of the world, despite being left behind by Team China in any number of records and rankings in the sport, mince no words about their ambitions and their biggest motivation — to beat China's aces on the Olympic stage.

"Everyone knows they're the favorites. It's a good sign if I get to play against them because it means I'm in the semifinals," said world No 6, Brazil's Hugo Calderano, the only world top-10 player from Latin America.

"I believe it's possible to do it, and also to beat them. I've done it a couple of times before. You need to be in top form, because they are always well prepared," said Calderano, who stunned Fan in the most recent David-and-Goliath battle to win a WTT tour title in South Korea in March.

"The level of the other countries has risen a lot in the last few years. There are many, many very strong players who can face the Chinese and challenge them. I'm sure I'm one of them, and I hope to be able to compete against them and perform well."

As aspiring as their challengers are, the mighty Chinese proved their intimidating strength when they got underway in Paris.

All the Chinese men's and women's singles stars have sailed smoothly into their respective second rounds, while the early exit of Japan's reigning Olympic champion mixed doubles pair Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto on Saturday has all but cleared the way for Team China to achieve its aim of a clean sweep of all five gold medals in Paris.

"We are definitely paying attention to them, but we don't think so far ahead. It's more important for us to focus on each match as it comes," current men's world No 1 Wang Chuqin said of the Japanese team after beating Egypt's Omar Assar and Dina Meshref in the mixed doubles first round alongside partner Sun Yingsha.

"Anybody who is able to represent their country at the Olympic Games is an athlete with a certain level of ability. I hope we'll be able to get better and better as the matches progress," said Sun, the women's top seed.

After an eight-year wait, Mexican badminton player Luis Ramon Garrido finally made his Olympic debut on Sunday in Paris. Garrido's road to Paris has been long, winding, and often painful — literately. He missed the Rio Olympics due to a viral kidney disease and has since undergone eight knee surgeries to get back on to the court.

However, meeting his idol, double Olympic men's singles champion Lin Dan on Friday in the Olympic Village was a special reward for his perseverance and determination. He even grabbed a selfie with "Super Dan" on the fringes of the Olympic flame relay.

"I just saw him there, so I just told him that he's my idol. I remember him since I was a little kid watching him play at the Olympics in 2008. He was just unreal. He's my favorite ever badminton player," Garrido explained.

The encounter took Garrido back to 2015, when he was among the world's top 50 players and had secured his spot in Rio after a promising junior career.

He was very close to appearing alongside Lin in Rio, however, a sudden illness struck, an illness which almost killed him.

"I almost lost my life in 2015," the 28-year-old said. "I got an illness called rhabdomyolysis. It's like I was losing my kidneys. They were not processing everything, so I was peeing blood every day.

"I think, at one point, it was 50-50, because if you don't take care exactly the way you have to take care of this illness, it just goes really fast. The doctor told me that if I didn't attend to it properly, in the next couple of days, it would maybe have been the end."

Garrido relocated to Spain for four months for specialized treatment and, after a long journey back to health, he made a triumphant return to the court.

He picked up the sport at an early age from his father, a former professional soccer player who, after hanging up his boots, transitioned to developing sports equipment — including badminton rackets — for a university in Monterrey.

"We started playing in an old gym in the university, just for fun," the Mexican said. "I was practically still a baby, playing badminton in a diaper. I just got addicted to hitting that shuttle."

However, after finally returning from his illness, at the beginning of 2018, Garrido's career faced another demoralizing body blow, when he suffered the first of several knee injuries.

"I destroyed my right knee playing in a tournament," he recalled. "I destroyed everything: the patella, tendon, knee ligaments, and both menisci."

Over the next four years, he underwent eight knee surgeries — five on the right, three on the left.

"It was quite painful. Not only physically, but also mentally," he recalled. "I thought about retiring in 2022, but I couldn't get the Olympic dream out of my mind. I know I'm not going to win a medal, and this is not to be pessimistic or negative; it's just the truth.

"With all the injuries I've had and all the time I've lost, I know my position; I know who I am. I know I'm going to fight, and even if I have to give my life, I will compete," he said.

Garrido revealed that he considered retiring after the Olympics, but now, he knows that he will continue.

"I think I have more energy, more fuel to keep going, even though my body sometimes feels a little tired. But, I believe that I can still do it, and I think I will be here for a long time, and hopefully I can start playing in the big tournaments."

No matter the results in Paris, the world No 67 is thankful he chose to keep playing. "It doesn't matter who is in front of me. Considering everything, it's just a dream to be here."

OIS - China Daily

While she may be a fan of cute hair clips and puppies like the rest of her peers, Huang Yuting is not your average teenager.

As most of her classmates enjoy their summer holiday by hanging out with friends, going to the movies or shopping, Huang, a 17-year-old high school girl from Taizhou, Zhejiang province, will probably have the coolest summer memories of them all — going to Paris and winning an Olympic gold medal.

And it wasn't just any random medal, but the very first gold up for grabs at the Paris Games — in the 10m air rifle mixed team — which got the Chinese delegation off to a scintillating start at the world's biggest sporting extravaganza.

Huang, and fellow teen shooter Sheng Lihao, held their collective nerve to outgun South Korea's Park Ha-jun and Keum Ji-hyeon 16-12 with poise and marksmanship beyond their years, winning the high-stakes final at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, 250 kilometers south of Paris, on Saturday.

Her golden Olympic debut has turned Huang into a household name overnight in China, drawing instant interest in her upbringing, hobbies and even the accessories she wears — just like what happened with her senior counterpart Yang Qian, winner of Team China's first gold in Tokyo three years ago in the women's individual 10m rifle.

The little barrette Huang wore to keep her long hair off her scope on Saturday soon became a trending topic on Chinese social media, reminding fans of a similar situation in 2021, when Yang's "yellow duck" hair clip ended up a best-selling item following her Tokyo Games win.

Younger and fresher, Huang comes across as an even more composed shooter than Yang — who didn't qualify for Paris — as she kept her emotions in check throughout Saturday's final, even after having won the biggest prize of an athlete's career on her first try.

"It's basically all the same, as far as what I need to do in a competition," Huang said during a news conference when asked how different the Olympics feel compared to other events.

"Of course, the Olympics naturally come with greater attention, and I just needed to improve my mental focus to avoid being distracted by whatever happened outside of my control.

"Perhaps we looked calm on the outside, but deep inside, we were very nervous. We just didn't show it.

"It's a great honor, a payback for what I've worked so hard for over the past year. It's a new beginning, though. I will start over from zero again," said Huang, who turns 18 in September.

A student-turned-Olympic shooter, like many of her teammates in China's decorated national program, Huang started part-time shooting training in 2016 when she was drafted into a junior sports academy for her imperturbable and resilient character, according to her first coach Lin Kehan.

"She's had a big heart since she was little, and a competitive drive that made her always accomplish her assignments better than expected," Lin said of Huang's raw talent.

Eight years on, the quiet, puppy-loving girl, who fills all her social media profile photos with adorable dog pictures, has impressed at the Olympics as one of world's most fearsome rifle shooters.

Her partner Sheng is not short of talent either.

The 19-year-old from Jiangsu province built on his silver-winning campaign in Tokyo to finish a step higher on the podium at his second Games in Paris.

Three years ago, Sheng became the youngest shooter — at 16 years and 233 days — to win an Olympic medal, when he finished second in the individual 10m air rifle, an event he is expected to contend for gold in this time around in Paris.

"I just did what I do, and took care of my business," a calm Sheng said after the final, where the Chinese team's 12-6 early advantage was cut to 14-12 toward the final round.

"If the result goes our way, like it did today, we will happily take it and feel honored to win glory for our country. If it doesn't, then I am OK. It won't affect my preparation for the individual event in any way whatsoever."

The final in the mixed event involves the two teams starting from zero, and the men and women each take shots in succession. The winning team in each round earns two points, while both teams each score one point in case of a tie. The first team to accumulate 16 points or more wins the match.

"Last time competing at the Olympics, I was quite nervous as a rookie. I was not mature enough mentally and technically," Sheng said of his progress.

"I studied each of my competitions, focused more on training and, now, the Olympic gold has come naturally as a result of my hard work — and, perhaps, a little bit of luck."

Youthful surge

As one of the world's most successful teams in shooting at the Olympics, the Chinese contingent has racked up 67 medals, including 26 golds, at the Games since the country's Olympic debut in 1984.

The surge of youthful power in the sport, underlined by the fact that all four rifle shooters in Paris were born after 2000, has heralded an even stronger future for the Chinese program, which boasts a tradition of identifying and developing talent early on from schools across the country.

Professional and flexible training programs, customized to accommodate student athletes' school routines, and a transparent domestic trial system for major events, have seen the number of young aspirants mushroom in recent years.

"We've developed a lot of young athletes, who are never shy from taking responsibility and are all keen on proving themselves on the international stage," said Liang Chun, director of the national administrative center of shooting and archery.

The maturing of China's next generation of talent has seen defending Olympic champion pair in 10m air rifle — Yang Qian and Yang Haoran — both knocked out of the Paris 2024 roster, proof of the program's deep talent pool, Liang said.

"They are young, but have both already pulled through many tests. We are confident in their future," Liang said of the success of Sheng and Huang.

"I've always tried to remind our young athletes to not care too much about the results of one particular event. They all have a long way to go, and many more opportunities to realize their career goals."

Although kicking off her Paris 2024 campaign without a golden start, China's butterfly swimmer Zhang Yufei vowed to come back stronger to push the world's best to their limits, perhaps at the next Games in 2028.

As the reigning Olympic champion in women's 200m butterfly, Zhang entered Sunday's final of the 100m sprint overshadowed by the surging form of this season's top-two swimmers - Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske of the United States - and eventually settled for a bronze medal in her first final session in Paris.

Huske touched in first with a time of 55.59 seconds, beating compatriot Walsh, the current world record holder, to silver by a 0.04-second margin. Zhang held tight to the two US swimmers in the first 50m split, yet slowed down during the final stretch to eventually finish in 56.21, securing a bronze medal at the Paris La Defense Arena.

Zhang, a two-time world champion, will now regroup and refocus on defending her 200m butterfly title when the preliminary heats start on Wednesday.

"The result was kind of slow but I am still quite happy to win a bronze medal in this event at my third Olympic Games," said Zhang, a 26-year-old native of Jiangsu province.

"I had some pretty good results in training and I am particularly satisfied with my first 50m today. But a loss is a loss, and sometimes it doesn't always work even if you prepared so well.

"Everyone worked so hard and wanted it (the gold medal) so much. Yet there is only one winner in a race at the Olympics.

"I just wish I could have another chance after I readjust myself and improve my level to compete against these two great rivals again to my best ability," said Zhang, who will also compete in the women's 50m freestyle on Saturday in Paris.

As composed and positive as Zhang appeared after the race, the Chinese star briefly got emotional, weeping tears while waving to clapping fans in the stands, showing a glimpse of the huge pressure on her shoulders in the build-up to the Paris Games.

Prior to the Olympics, some Western media organizations published sensationalized reports on a proven food contamination incident in early 2021 that involved 23 Chinese swimmers, including Zhang.

Groundless allegations in the case have severely disrupted Chinese athletes' final preparations for the Paris Games. The World Anti-Doping Agency's investigation and review had already concluded this was a contamination incident.

Zhang also expressed her concerns in an earlier interview after the 100m butterfly preliminaries that the irresponsible accusations could have soured her relationship with some of her foreign competitors, potentially turning healthy competition into hostility.

This partly explained why she smiled brightly, apparently with a sense of relief, after both Huske and Walsh invited Zhang to share the top podium and take group photos together.

"It was kind of heart-warming that they did embrace me on the podium," said a smiling Zhang at the post-final news conference.

"I hope I could enjoy competing at the Games more after today's medal finish, rather than focusing too much on the results and carrying a lot of pressure.

"Hopefully, I could have a chance to participate in the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028," said Zhang.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

China's swimmer Zhang Yufei won the bronze medal in the women's 100m butterfly final at the Paris Olympic Games on Sunday.

Young and fearless, China's teen skateboarder Cui Chenxi has enjoyed every bit of her dream Olympic journey, with a near-miss from the podium leaving her motivated for more breakthroughs.

Boasting two clean executions out of five trick attempts, 14-year-old skateboarding sensation Cui held off a group of higher-profile foreign opponents, all teenagers, to finish fourth with a total 241.56 points in the street discipline final at the Paris Olympic Games on Sunday to mark a major step up of Chinese athletes in the urban action sport.

Skateboarding powerhouse Japan reigns supreme in the event with its world No 1 rider Coco Yoshizawa and No 2 Liz Akama finishing one-two on the podium after going neck-to-neck in their Olympic debut.

Brazil's Tokyo 2020 silver medalist Rayssa Leal secured bronze by landing her second successful trick in her fifth attempt, overtaking Cui, who had been in third place before Leal's final run.

Skateboarding street at the Olympics is competed in two sections: first, each skater takes two 45-second runs on a course featuring stairs, ledges, curbs, and handrails; then, each performs five individual tricks.

A skater's final score is aggregated from their best run and the two best tricks, requiring a versatile repertoire imbued with quality, creativity and style to prevail.

Despite being knocked off the podium in the final seconds, Cui remained upbeat, relishing all the ups and downs of her Olympic journey.

"A little bit, just that, no more," Cui said of her narrow defeat by Leal in the fight for a medal after the final at the iconic Place de la Concorde in Paris.

"Overall, I feel satisfied with my performance today, and I enjoyed so much doing the sport that I love all the way to the Olympics," said Cui, who won the same discipline at last year's Asian Games at age 13, becoming the country's youngest gold medalist at the continental event.

"I executed my first two tricks the way I wanted, but failed to step up a gear when I needed a higher-difficult one to beat the Brazilian girl's fifth trick. I could live with that because I haven't quite yet handled that difficult trick well enough.

"I kind of feel happy for her (Leal) because she's such a good skater who deserved the place on the podium, while I will definitely keep it going, perfect my own tricks and get better next time."

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

Team China won silver in women's archery at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.

PARIS -- China is willing to deepen and expand high-level cooperation with the International Olympic Committee, as the country will host the Asian Winter Games next year, Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng said here on Saturday.

Han, who is also Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representative, made the remarks while meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach.

Han conveyed President Xi's cordial greetings to Bach and congratulated the IOC for the success of the splendid opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The Olympic Movement aims to safeguard world peace and promote the unity of humankind, said Han, noting that the Paris Olympics is of great significance given the need of further promoting the Olympism under current international situation.

He stressed that China has always firmly supported the development of the international Olympic Movement and has maintained a long-term good relationship with the IOC.

President Bach asked Han to convey his sincere regards to Xi, and warmly welcomed Han's participation in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics as Xi's special representative.

The cause of international Olympics is fundamentally based on multilateralism, said Bach.

China has always supported the cause of international Olympics, he said, noting that the success of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic set an example for countries around the world of how to successfully host Olympic Games.

Bach said the IOC is willing to continue cooperating closely with China to successfully organize various international sports events and spread the values of Olympism.

CHATEAUROUX, FRANCE -- Chinese sharpshooter Xie Yu clinched gold in the men's 10m air pistol event here at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Olympic debutant, who was ranked sixth after the qualification round, surged from behind in the final to finish with 240.9 points, 0.9 points ahead of Italy's Federico Nilo Maldini.

Maldini's compatriot Paolo Monna grabbed the bronze with 218.6 points.

"The process was hard, but the result was rewarding," said a happy Xie in the mixed zone.

"I think the key today is I had a clear understanding of myself and managed to make immediate adjustments when I felt nervous," he said after claiming China's first Olympic men's air pistol gold since 2008.

Xie had a stable start in the final, ranking third before the elimination stage, where he rose to the top after 10 shots as the two leading Italian shooters both made two sub-10 shots in the fifth series. Holding in hand a 0.4-point advantage before the final shot, he held his nerves to score a 10 while Maldini made only 9.5.

Noting that he lacked experience in international competitions, Xie said "I didn't think too much about winning." "I was giving myself very simple mental cues, 'just knock one out'," he added.

This is the second gold won by China in shooting events and third overall at the Paris Olympics, after Chinese teenage duo Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao won the Games' first gold medal with victory in the 10m air rifle mixed team event on Saturday.

PARIS -- Kong Man Wai Vivian of Hong Kong, China clinched the women's epee individual gold at the Paris Olympic Games here on Saturday, after beating home fencer Auriane Mallo-Breton 13-12.

Kong overcame a slow start in front of a packed home crowd at the Grand Palais to tie at 13 after the competition time has run out.

The 30-year-old then scored the "Golden Goal" to claim Hong Kong's second Olympic fencing gold, following Cheung Ka Long's men's foil individual gold in Tokyo.