Team USA Off to Strong Start in Summer Olympic Games

After one full weekend of competition, the U.S. is leading the overall medal count in the Olympic Games with a total of 12 combined first, second, and third place finishes.

Japan and Australia lead the gold medal count with four each, followed by the U.S., France, the Republic of Korea, and the People's Republic of China all with three first place finishes.

Here is a look at the highlights from the weekend.

Summer Olympic Games Kicked Off on Friday

The 2024 Summer Olympic Games got off to a grand and flashy start on Friday in Paris. The City of Light lived up to its edgy reputation with a show that was a nod to the classic Greek mythology with French flair.

Paris broke the mold from the start, choosing to forego the traditional parade of athletes into a stadium. Instead, the athletes sailed down the famous River Seine on barges with the city's most iconic landmarks visible in the distance.

The boat parade ended at the Trocadero in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. While the rainy conditions put a bit of a damper on the Parade of Nations, the Eiffel Tower lit up with a magnificent display of the Olympic rings helped to light up the night sky.

The opening ceremonies featured musical performances from a wide array of genres, including Lady Gaga and the heavy metal band Gojira.

The ceremonies ended on an emotional note with a performance from Celine Dion, singing “L’Hymne à l’amour” from atop the first level of the Eiffel Tower. Dion has not performed live in a few years due to her battle with a rare medical condition.

First Gold Medal for Team USA Goes to Men's Swimming

The first gold medal for Team USA for these Games went to the men's swimming 4x100m freestyle relay team. The Americans beat out the Australians taking the silver and the Italians coming in third place for the bronze. The relay team was anchored by veteran Caeleb Dressel, now the winner of eight career gold medals.

American swimmer Torri Huske will come back to the U.S. with a gold in the women's 100m butterfly final on Sunday.

It was a highly emotional victory for Huske after she was barely edged off the podium in her last Olympics. Teammate Gretchen Walsh came in right behind Huske to take home the silver medal.

The 100m butterfly final medals were the second of these games for both Huske and Walsh. The women were joined by teammates Kate Douglass and Simone Manuel to win the silver medal in the 4x100m relay with a time of 3:30.20.

While the time was good enough for a U.S. Olympic record, it was not enough to fend off Australia for the gold. The Chinese women came out of the pool with the bronze medal.

Australian Ariarne Titmus came out on top of Team USA’s Katie Ledecky to win the gold in the much-anticipated women's 400-meter freestyle final. Ledecky slipped back to third place as Titmus by about a full body's length.

The first overall medal of the Paris Games for the Americans also came in the pool, going to Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon for their performance in the women's 3m springboard event. The pair took the silver medal on Saturday.

Team USA Men's Basketball and Women's Soccer Cruise in First Game

It was a dominant start for the Team USA's men's basketball team, regarded as the easy favorite to win the gold medal in these Games.

Led by LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the team got off to a slow start but was able to rebound and beat Serbia by a score of 110 to 84.

Steph Curry put the exclamation point on the win with a three-pointer as the seconds drained off the clock in the fourth quarter. The men's hoops team will take on Sudan on Wednesday for their second game.

Team USA's women soccer team was predicted to compete in a tight match with Germany, however, the Americans beat all expectations when they won by a resounding score of 4 - 1. Forward Sophia Smith knocked in two goals as the team tries to put the ghosts of Olympics past behind them.

Big Day for Women's Gymnastics

All eyes were on the women's gymnastics team on Sunday as they took to the mat, bars, beam, and vault for the qualifying round.

Simone Biles led the U.S. women to the team finals with command of first place. It was a bit of a scary situation for Biles after suffering a leg strain as she was warming up for her floor routine.

Despite the setback, she was able to finish in first place in the individual standings to earn a spot in the all-around event with a score of 59.566. Biles also qualified for the medal round in the individual events of floor exercise, balance beam, and vault.

Biles will be joined by teammate Suni Lee in the individual all-around competition. Lee also qualified for the balance beam and uneven bars. Also on the American team, Jordan Chiles qualified for the floor exercise individual event while Jade Carey earned a spot to compete in the vault final.

Other Events of Note

In other events, British tennis superstar Andy Murray and his doubles partner, Dan Evans, had to come from behind to beat Japan's Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel. Spain's Rafael Nadal also came out victorious in the men's singles event and will now go up against Novak Djokovic in the second round.

The U.S. women dominated the fencing foil event with an all-American final. In the end, it was Lee Kiefer who won her second straight gold medal in this event, beating fellow American Lauren Scruggs by a score of 15 - 6.

It was the first Olympics Games for Scruggs. Meanwhile, Canada's Eleanor Harvey took home the bronze, distinguishing herself as the winner of the first fencing medal for her country.

Host nation France came away with its first gold medal of these Games with a win in the men's rugby seven's competition.

The rain was a factor in Saturday's competitions, forcing the postponement of some of the outdoor tennis matches as well as the street skateboarding event. Fortunately, the forecast is improving this week with dry conditions on the horizon.

However, with the drier weather will also come hotter temperatures. The mercury is forecast to soar well over the historical average in the coming days.

France's meteorological agency, Meteo-France, has issued orange heat warnings starting at noon on Monday for 39 different parts of the country.

Did you find this content useful? Feel free to bookmark or to post to your timeline for reference later.