The Sports Report Olympics edition: Simone Biles’ injury is the focus of coverage

Welcome to the daily Olympic newsletter. I’m your tour guide John Cherwa and I was a little surprised how quickly the U.S. has topped the total medal standings with 12. Who’s second? The home team, France with eight.

The biggest story of the Games, at least until a bigger story comes along, is the U.S, women’s gymnastics team and the return of Simone Biles. The concern rose to Defcon 2 when Biles slightly injured her calf during a warmup for the floor exercise. She left the floor and came back with her left ankle heavily taped. She then performed well in her remaining events and qualified for the all-around and all the individual events. The U.S. qualified for and will be favored in the team event Tuesday.

NBC’s Rich Lerner had the hyperbole machine cranked high when he called the vault “10 of the most exhilarating seconds in sports” and then compared it to Usain Bolt running the 100 meters. In fairness to Lerner, his excitement bar is pretty low given that his day job is working for NBC-owned Golf channel, where an aggressive fist pump is considered mind-blowing.

Suni Lee of the U.S., defending gold-medal champion, also qualified for the all-around. You can read all about it from our Thuc Nhi Nguyen right here.

The men’s team final is today at 8:30 a.m. PDT.

As for other highlights Sunday:

Torri Huske, left, of the United States, reacts after winning the women’s 100-meter butterfly final. Teammate Gretchen Walsh, right, won silver.

(Petr David Josek / Associated Press)

—Haley Batten picked up a silver medal in the women’s cross country mountain bike competition. It was the highest ever Olympic finish for the U.S. in mountain biking. France won the gold.

—The U.S. men’s basketball team beat Serbia 110-84 behind 23 points from Kevin Durant and 21 for LeBron James. And remember, they play only 40 minutes.

—The U.S. picked up four medals in swimming. Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh went one-two in the women’s 100-meter butterfly. Carson Foster got the bronze in the men’s 400-meter individual medley. The race was won in dominant fashion by France’s Leon Marchand. Nic Fink tied for silver in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke, which was won by Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi.

—The U.S. women’s soccer team won its second straight game, beating Germany 4-1 and assuring a spot in the knockout round.

Lee Kiefer, left, faced off with Lauren Scruggs in an all-American women’s foil final.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

—In a historic first, the U.S. had both finalists in the women’s foil as Lee Kiefer beat Lauren Scruggs for the gold. Our David Wharton tells you all about it here.

Scandal-town

After two full days of competition there is no reason to believe Paris is doing anything but a good job given the obstacles (weather, rail sabotage, etc.) But we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t share some of the things that weren’t going so well.

—A practice run of the swimming portion of the triathlon was canceled Sunday because of the water quality of the Seine River. The men’s triathlon is Tuesday and the women’s Wednesday. It goes without saying the organizers said the Seine would be in great shape by then.

This item is really not that newsworthy but it gives us an excuse to link to one of the great scenes in moviedom. It’s in “Caddyshack,” where an errant Baby Ruth candy bar ends up in the pool. View it here. (Warning: Most appropriate for 6-year-olds.) “Caddyshack” might be in the top five of movie comedies, but the top two spots are locked down by “Airplane!” and “Blazing Saddles.” In case you wondered.

—Organizers apologized to those who might have been offended by a live interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” Religious groups across the world were upset that it featured Barbara Butch, a well known DJ in the LBGTQ+ community, surrounded by drag queens and dancers.

The French Catholic Church called it a mockery of Christianity, a view that was supported by other religious organizations. “My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” said artistic director Thomas Jolly. “Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”

Tremont Waters, right, of Puerto Rico, reaches in on Bul Kuol, of South Sudan.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

—South Sudan was making its first appearance in men’s basketball and its players were very excited to hear their national anthem. Except, the wrong anthem started to play. They stopped it after about 20 seconds. Fans started to boo, but the players from both South Sudan and Puerto Rico showed more class, standing at attention with their hands over their hearts waiting for the problem to be fixed. About three minutes later it was and everyone cheered.

Now, we’re not sure how much embarrassment and angst it caused the South Sudanese team, but if the players are the slightest bit superstitious the team probably would opt for the same mistake every game after upsetting Puerto Rico 90-79 for its first Olympic win.

What’s worth watching today?

Things are still pretty busy with 25 sports in competition. Here’s a few things to look for.

—The U.S. women’s basketball team starts play against Japan at noon PDT. The women have won seven straight gold medals.

—There are five finals in swimming, starting at 11:30 a.m. PDT: women’s 400 individual medley, men’s 200 freestyle, men’s 100 backstroke, women’s 100 breaststroke and women’s 200 freestyle. There might not be any U.S. gold in that collection.

—Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will play in the second round of men’s tennis. It’s the kind of matchup you’ll see in the finals of Grand Slams. It will be very early in the morning as it will be the second match in a session that starts at 3 a.m. PDT. Look for the replays.

—Nijah Huston goes for gold in the postponed men’s skateboard street final. Start time is 8 a.m. PDT.

Must-read links

Let’s catch up on some stories you might have missed, but shouldn’t have:

• Paris Olympics TV schedule: Monday’s listings
  
• 2024 Paris Olympics: How to watch every event and the opening ceremony
  
• American Lee Kiefer clinches her second consecutive women’s foil gold medal
• Canada’s rise in soccer suddenly looks suspicious amid Olympic spying scandal
• Kevin Durant and LeBron James lead U.S. past Serbia in Olympic opener
• Behind the lens: A photojournalist’s take on the 2024 Paris Olympics
• UCLA’s Emma Malabuyo hopes to inspire generations of Filipina gymnasts after Olympics debut
• Simone Biles shows her grit, overcoming leg injury in impressive Paris start
• Commentary: Forty years ago, the 1984 L.A. Games proved host cities can win at the Olympics
• From the NBA to the beach: Chase Budinger is eager to ‘shock the world’ on Olympic stage

Your TV guide

How can you watch the Games today? Check out Monday’s Olympic TV listings.