Transcript
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It is all blue skies in Paris for the second full day of action at the Paris Olympics. And Sunday's competition did not disappoint. The main action was in the pool where there were some big upsets and a dominant performance by a French star. Plus, Simone Biles returned to the Olympics gymnastic stage but had fans wincing with a potential injury. Also, the U.S. men's basketball team rolled past Serbia, getting one step closer to a fifth consecutive gold medal. To wrap up all of that news, my ALL THINGS CONSIDERED cohost Juana Summers joins me now from Paris. Hey, Juana.
JUANA SUMMERS, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: So let's start with the pool. Run us through some of the highlights.
SUMMERS: I mean, the first thing I have to point out is that this was just a phenomenal day for French fans right here at home. Leon Marchand took gold in the men's 400-meter individual medley. And he set a new Olympic record previously held by Michael Phelps and earned his first career Olympic gold. And at the pool, the home crowd was absolutely deafening. And it is just clear he is going to be one of the big stars at these Games.
But I got to tell you, there were also some really huge upsets. Team USA's Torri Huske beat her teammate, Gretchen Walsh, to win gold in the 100-meter women's fly. And Walsh, I should just point out, had just set an Olympic record in the event last night in the semis. These are the second medals for Huske and Walsh, who won silver in the women's 4x100-meter relay on Saturday night. And Scott, I know we've talked about swimming a lot, but we've got to talk about the men's 100-meter breaststroke.
DETROW: Yeah.
SUMMERS: Great Britain's Adam Peaty - we talked about him last night - was denied a third consecutive gold in this event. And talk about an upset - it was Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi with Adam Peaty - who came in first, with Adam Peaty and Team USA's Nic Fink dead even right behind him. This was a totally incredible, unexpected finish. Peaty and Fink will each go home with a silver medal.
DETROW: It was such a great race, and he looked so shocked that he won, like, looking up at...
SUMMERS: He did.
DETROW: ...The - look at the time. Let's go to gymnastics, the first day of women's competition. We mentioned that Simone Biles kind of scared everybody for a little bit with a potential injury. What do we know?
SUMMERS: I mean, first of all, I think so many people were just waiting for this moment to see Biles back at the Olympics. And today, she appeared to have hurt her leg during a warmup routine for the floor exercise. After she landed a pass, we saw her walk off the mat. She went over. She talked to her coaches. And then she kind of disappeared briefly from the floor. And when she came back, you could actually just see that her ankle and the lower part of her calf were wrapped with this thick athletic tape. Even despite that, her scores were really solid, including a competition high 15.8 on the vault. She still finished first, and I will just note that there are also high scores from her U.S. teammates as well. And the team performed well enough to land a spot in the team all-around final on Tuesday in which the U.S. is a favorite to win the gold.
DETROW: And between now and then, do we have any update? Have you heard anything, I guess, from Biles or her coaches about how she's feeling?
SUMMERS: Yeah, so earlier today after the competition, Coach Cecile Landi downplayed the significance a bit. She said that Biles had felt a little something in her calf. She also said that there are no concerns at the moment for Biles continuing competition, but, of course, that's a story that we're going to be keeping a really close eye on in the days to come.
DETROW: Let's talk about the other event with all the superstars - the men's basketball team playing Serbia. How'd that go?
SUMMERS: Oh, yeah, they are on that march for that fifth gold medal. They got the W over Serbia, final score 110-84. And I got to say, this team looked super comfortable, like they were having a ton of fun once they got past some early jitters in the first half. One big thing I want to note here that I was personally quite excited about is that Kevin Durant is back. This is the first time we have really seen him in action this summer. He'd missed all five of the team's exhibition games ahead of the Olympics as he had been working through a calf injury. KD came away with 23 points, looked really solid and comfortable out there - looking to see what else he'll do as they continue on to their next game.
DETROW: That is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED's Juana Summers, part of the NPR team covering the Olympics for us from Paris. Thank you so much.
SUMMERS: Thanks, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN WILLIAMS' "OLYMPIC FANFARE AND THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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