Sawt Falasteen - Nadal, Djokovic light up Olympics as Daley claims fifth medal

In the pool, Canada's Summer McIntosh launched her bid for 400m medley gold in the morning session, while Australian Ariarne Titmus is hotly tipped to win her second swimming gold later in the day.

With fans basking under glorious blue Paris skies, a happy contrast to the soggy opening ceremony only three days ago, golds are up for grabs in 11 sports.

As forecasts issued a heat warning for Paris and surrounding areas, the hottest ticket in town was at Roland Garros, where Djokovic and Nadal will clash for a 60th time.

Djokovic shades Nadal 30-29 in their rivalry but the Spaniard has had an undeniable edge on the clay in the French capital down the years.

Nevertheless, Nadal was under no illusions given his 38 years and recent injury concerns.

"Of course it's beautiful to play against one of the two biggest rivals that I had in my career, especially on this court," said Nadal.

"But situations are completely different for him, for me. He's being very competitive. I was not being very competitive for the last two years."

- 'Goofy Tassie girl' -

Another electric night of swimming action is expected after Sunday's thrilling action when Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi stunned Britain's Adam Peaty to win a nail-biting 100m breaststroke final.

Monday's last race sees Titmus attempt to add the 200m freestyle crown to her dominant 400m triumph on Saturday, when she blew away rivals McIntosh and Katie Ledecky to retain her title.

The 23-year-old Titmus is favourite at 200m -- she is reigning champion and world record-holder.

Her biggest threat is fellow Australian Mollie O'Callaghan, who boasted the fastest time ever until Titmus smashed it in June.

Following her emphatic victory over 400m, when she led from start to finish, Titmus, who hails from Tasmania, said it was hard to take it all in.

"I'm just the same old goofy Tassie girl out here living out her dream," she said.

"I hope it goes to show: anyone can do what they want to do if they work hard and believe in themselves."

Monday's other swimming finals are women's 400m individual medley, men's 200m freestyle, men's 100m backstroke and women's 100m breaststroke.

- 'It's very sad' -

In diving, Daley took an emotional silver medal with partner Noah Williams in the men's synchronised 10m platform behind China's Lian Junjie and Yang Hao.

Williams choked back tears as he recalled his former coach Dave Jenkins, who died in 2021 after the last Olympics in Tokyo.

Daley, whose father Rob died of cancer in 2011, told the BBC: "I've never seen Noah cry in my whole life, I know how much today mean to him.

"It's very sad Dave is not here, but I know Dave and my dad would both be so proud to see us here today."

Daley made his Olympic debut as a 14-year-old at the 2008 Beijing Games and won his first Olympic medal with a bronze at the 2012 London Games.

He took another bronze in Rio, then another at the Tokyo Olympics before finally winning gold in the men's synchronised 10m platform event at those Games.

China scooped the first diving gold in Paris with victory ahead of the United States and Britain in the women's synchronised 3m springboard.

- Seine events scrapped -

Another fascinating battle pits China and Japan against each other for gold in the men's team final of the gymnastics.

Gold medals are also up for grabs in archery, canoeing, mountain biking, equestrian, fencing, judo, shooting and skateboarding.

Yuto Horigome defends his men's skateboarding street title after the event was postponed on Saturday because of rain.

Japan could snatch all three medals, with the 2023 world champion Sora Shirai and 14-year-old Ginwoo Onodera also strongly fancied.

In women's basketball, the United States launch their bid for an eighth consecutive gold medal when they open their campaign against Japan, with veteran Diana Taurasi aiming to snare a sixth gold in her farewell international tournament.

Meanwhile, Olympic organisers cancelled a second day of triathlon training in the River Seine planned Monday after weekend downpours polluted the waterway.

burs-ric/rcw

G.AbuOdeh--SF-PST