Good evening!

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, told a French newspaper over the weekend she has decided the Olympic rings are to remain on the Eiffel Tower — permanently.

Parisians are now divided over the issue. Here’s what they told local outlet France Bleu.

Manon said: “It's a historic monument, why defile it with rings? It was good for the Olympics but now it's over, we can move on”.

Solene said: "The Eiffel Tower is very beautiful, the rings add colour. It's very nice to see it like this.”

Paris ‘24: Medal tally

Paris ‘24: Tonight’s top moments

Monday 2nd September (All times are in AEST)

4:15pm: Para Triathlon (Medal Events 🥇)
Australia has 12 athletes competing in various classifications of the triathlon throughout the morning in Paris. Nic Beveridge is the first to race at 4:15pm and Grace Brimelow and Sally Pilbeam are the last to start at 8:40pm .

🏊‍♂️ 5:30pm: Para Swimming (Heats)
Chloe Osborn and Holly Warn will race in the women’s 400m freestyle S7 heats at 5:46pm. After his silver medal in the 150m individual medley, Ahmed Kelly will compete in the men’s 50m backstroke S3 heats at 6:13pm. Jake Michel will race in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14 heats at 6:33pm. Paige Leonhardt and Ruby Storm will swim the women’s 100m breaststroke SB14 at 6:41pm. Katja Dedekind will race in the women’s 50m freestyle S13 at 6:55pm. Finally, Australia will compete in the mixed 4x100m freestyle 34pts relay heats at 7:46pm.

🏃‍♂️ 7:24pm: Para Athletics (Rounds and Finals 🥇)
Fourth-time Paralympian Rheed McCracken will race for a medal in the men’s 100m T34 Final at 7:24pm. McCracken has won silver in this race at the last three Games — can he make it a gold? Then,.Madison de Rozario will race in round one of the women’s 1500m T54 at 7:35pm. She won bronze in this event at the last Paralympics.

🏉 9:30pm: Wheelchair Rugby, Australia v Great Britain (Bronze Medal Match)
The Aussies look to go one better and bring home some hardware after coming fourth in Tokyo.

Tuesday 3rd September

🏊‍♂️ 1:30am: Para-Swimming, (Finals 🥇)
Depending on how the Aussies go in the morning session, this will be an opportunity for the para-swimming team to build on their already strong performance in Paris.

🏐 2:30am: Boccia, Women’s Individual BC3 (Gold Medal Match 🥇)
Jamieson Leeson will battle it out against Hong Kong’s Yuen Kei Ho for the gold medal.

🏃‍♂️ 3:00am: Para Athletics (Rounds and Finals 🥇)
On the field, Tokyo silver-medallist Michal Burian will contest the final of the men’s javelin throw F64. On the track, 16-year-old Telaya Blacksmith races in Round 1 of the women’s 400m T20 and Samuel Rizzo races in Round 1 of the men’s 1500m T54. 

🏐 4:00am: Boccia, Men’s Individual BC3 (Gold Medal Match 🥇)
Daniel Michel goes for gold against South Korea’s Howon Jeong.

Paris ‘24: The headlines

In case you missed it…

🏉 The Steelers (Australia’s wheelchair rugby team) will play for the bronze medal after losing the semi-final to Japan 52-51 in overtime. The Steelers, who won the Wheelchair Rugby World Cup in 2023, will be disappointed to not be playing for gold but still have the opportunity to better their fourth-placed result from Tokyo.

🏊‍♂️ Australia continued its strong performance in the pool at the Paralympics with five medals on Sunday night. Rowan Crothers and Tom Gallagher backed up their medal performances in the 50m freestyle S10 on day one with a silver and bronze in the 100m freestyle S10 respectively. Australia also had two athletes on the podium in the men's 150m individual medley SM3 with Ahmed Kelly winning silver and Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson winning bronze. The mixed 4x100m freestyle S14 team of Ben Hance, Jack Ireland, Madeleine McTernan and Ruby Storm won silver, ultimately being beaten by defending champions Great Britain.

🏟️ The tenth medal of the day came courtesy of Dayna Crees. The 22-year-old won a bronze medal at her first Paralympics in the women’s javelin F34. On the track at Stade de France, Mali Lovell also won a bronze medal at her first Paralympics in the women’s 200m T36.

🏀 The Rollers (Australia’s men’s wheelchair basketball team) lost to defending Olympic champions the U.S. 76-69. The side has struggled to impose themselves at this year’s Paralympics with three successive losses at the tournament so far.

🚴‍♂️ On the final day of para-track cycling, the Australian team of Gordon Allan, Alistair Donohoe, and Korey Boddington won bronze in the 750m team sprint C1-5 final. The result marks Boddington’s second medal of the 2024 Paralympics after he won gold in the Men's 1000m time trial C4-5. In total, Australia won five medals (3 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze) across the track cycling events.

Paris ‘24: What we’re talking about

Aussies star on the final day of para-rowing at Paris 2024

The Australian duo of Jed Altschwager and Nikki Ayers won Australia’s first-ever para-rowing gold medal at the Paralympics. The pair won the PR3 Mixed Double Sculls event. 

What happened

At Vaires-sur-Marne, Altschwager and Ayers led the entire two-kilometre race to finish in a time of seven minutes and 26 seconds, edging out rowing powerhouse Great Britain by under two seconds. Their Paralympic success follows a gold medal at last year’s world championships. Germany won the bronze medal.

Earlier in the day, four-time Paralympian Erik Horrie won a bronze medal in the PR1 men’s single sculls. Horrie finished the race in fourth but was upgraded to third after Italian rower Giacomo Perini was found to have breached the rules by having a mobile phone in his boat. Horrie has now won a medal at every Paralympics since 2012 (three silvers and a bronze).

What they said

After the race, Nikki Ayers said: "It's hurting right now, but it was totally worth it. [The medal is a symbol of hope and never giving up on your dreams. For every person out there with a disability, male, female, everyone, never give up and keep striving for your dreams and it'll come true."

Erik Horrie said: "To be able to come away with a bronze is something that wasn't expected. I've been very lucky and very honoured to receive what I have to date.”

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Anything but Paris ‘24

🏉 While AFL teams rested ahead of finals this week, the 2024 AFLW season got off to a flying start with nine games played in the first round. The AFLW also named its first Rising Star of the Year nominee, Port Adelaide's Shineah Goody. Despite her team’s loss to the Adelaide Crows, Goody was a standout with one goal, 15 disposals and 423 metres gained. Watch this space!

🚴‍♀️ Ben O’Connor retained the leader’s jersey after Stage 15 of La Vuelta a España. However, the gap between him and Slovenian rival Primož Roglič continues to shrink and is now only one minute. Today is a rest day and will be followed by the final six cycling stages this week. 

🎾 Alexei Popyrin lost his Round of 16 match at the U.S. Open to home favourite and 20th seed Francis Tiafoe in four sets (6-4, 7-6, 2-6, 6-3). Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson, the two Aussies remaining in the tournament, will play each other in the Round of 16 tomorrow morning from 7:00am. On the women’s side, third seed and defending champion Coco Gauff was upset by 13th seed Emma Navarro.

🏉 The Wallabies secured their first win in the Rugby Championship since 2022, beating Argentina 20-19 in La Plata on Sunday morning. Ben Donaldson came off the bench and kicked a penalty goal in the final minute of the match to snatch victory for the Aussies. Meanwhile, the All Blacks lost the first of two tests against world champions South Africa 31-27 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. 

⛳ Scottie Scheffler won the Tour Championship on Sunday at East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia. In doing so he became the first player to win seven PGA Tour events in a season since Tiger Woods in 2007. He was also rewarded with a $US25 million ($AU37 million) prize. Australian Adam Scott finished tied for fourth, capping off a strong finish to the season for the 44-year-old.

🏎️ Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won the Italian GP at Monza. The driver from Monaco finished 2.664 seconds ahead of Australian Oscar Piastri. Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris finished in third. With eight races remaining, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen still leads the Driver Standings, 62 points ahead of Norris. Meanwhile, Red Bull’s lead in the Constructor Standings (team championship) has been reduced from 30 points to eight points ahead of McLaren following the weekend’s racing.

A message from our sponsor

Cheer on Paralympians

Deakin University has four students currently in Paris competing in the 2024 Paralympics. These four students have done an exceptional job of balancing their rigorous training schedules whilst thinking about life after sport.

Alex Viney: Alex is a para-rower currently studying a Master of Business (Sport Management) and will compete in the PR3 Mixed Cox Four event in Paris. This is her second Paralympics after coming fourth in the same event in Tokyo.

Liam Twomey: Liam is a para-triathlete who is currently studying a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at Deakin. He will be competing in the Triathlon (PTS4) event. This is Liam’s first Paralympics. He came 6th at the 2023 World Championships and will have his eye on the podium in Paris.

Nathan Pellissier: Nathan is a para-table tennis player currently studying a Master of Professional Accounting and Finance and will be competing in the Mixed Doubles XD17 and Men’s Doubles MD18 events. Nathan will be looking to go one better at his second Paralympics in Paris after winning silver in Tokyo.

Sam McIntosh: Sam is a para-athlete and Bachelor of Health Sciences student. In Paris, he will compete in the 400m and 100m T52 events. Sam is a veteran of the Australian Paralympic team competing at his fourth games in Paris and chasing his first medal.

Think beyond the field. Study sport at Deakin.

Looking back

Looking forward…(All times are AEST)

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