Olympics 2024 LIVE: Simone Biles and Andy Murray return as Team GB eye rowing gold medals

Today at the Olympics: Thursday’s schedule as Simone Biles goes for individual gold at Paris 2024

The world’s eyes will be on Simone Biles once more today as the greatest gymnast of all time bids for her sixth Olympic gold medal in the sport’s most coveted event, the individual all–around final (5.15pm BST). Her biggest competition may well come from fellow American Suni Lee, who won gold in Biles’ absence in Tokyo and who impressed during the USA’s team win on Tuesday. And look out for Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who won silver in Tokyo and is the reigning Olympic champion on the vault.

Britain will hope to scoop at least one gold in the various rowing finals, with flagbearer Helen Glover competing in the women’s four (10.50am) before Team GB’s world champions go in the men’s four (11.10am).

Golf makes its first appearance of these Olympics with round one of the men’s competition (8am) at Le Golf National, featuring Rory McIlroy for Ireland. He goes up against American duo Scottie Scheffler and reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele, while Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick are the British pair.

American, Australia and Canada will face off in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay (9.03pm) in the pool, after Canadian teenage star Summer McIntosh has bid for the women’s 200m fly title (7.30pm).

Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom has been the main leader throughout the first half of this race and is starting to increase the tempo as he tries to open up a lead ahead of a large chasing pack.

China’s Zhang Jun spent a bit of time in first but has dropped back to around fifth in an attempt to ease his pace and reserve some energy.

For Team GB, Callum Wilkinson is secure in the middle of the pack just a couple of seconds off the lead as the walkers reach the halfway stage.

The familiar tune of ‘La Marseillaise’ rung around Paris La Défense Arena as Léon Marchand raised his arm to give a massive fist pump.

‘Marchons, marchons…’, a quarter of an hour earlier, it was ‘Marchand, Marchand’.

The 22-year-old has now definitively established himself as the face of Paris 2024 by achieving one of the most remarkable performances in swimming history.

Over the course of two hours he made history by becoming the first person ever to win two individual swimming titles in a single session.

5km into this race and the walkers are travelling at a pace of around four minutes per kilometre, which is quicker than most non-Olympians can run a 5km.

The lead has switched hands a bunch of times as the competitiors attempt to manoeuvre themselves into the best positions ahead of the latter stages when this race will start to pop off.

A quarter of the way through already.

Lewis Richardson is Britain’s lone boxer to survive the opening round.

Team Great Britain had been facing a first Olympic wipeout since 1996, before Richardson won in the 71kg weight class.

Chantelle Reid had been knocked out earlier on Wednesday, with others to go before her.

But Richardson’s win by split decision over Serbia’s Vakhid Abbasov as kept British hopes in the boxing alive

It’s been almost a week since the start of the Olympics and Athletics is finally joining the party with the men’s 20km race walk. The race has just begun with Team GB’s Callum Wilkinson flying the flag for Britain.

The course is a 1km loop and there’ll be 20 laps. Brazil’s Caio Bonfim leads the way after the opening lap.

Alex Yee was 14 seconds behind his great friend and rival, New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, and about to begin the final 2.5km lap of this Olympic triathlon when a familiar voice called out from the side of Pont Alexandre III. “Anything can happen, mate!” shouted Alistair Brownlee.

Yee was a wide-eyed 14-year-old in Hyde Park when he watched Brownlee win Olympic gold at London 2012, and had talked this week about picking up that legacy in Paris, in the first Games without a Brownlee brother for 20 years. For all the carb gels and isotonic drinks downed through an endurance race, there is nothing quite as powerful as the undying faith of someone we admire.

“It was a moment of belief,” Yee said. “It’s pretty special when somebody does that.”

Andy Murray will play for a shot at an Olympics medal in what is the final tournament of his career when he and Dan Evans play in their men’s doubles quarter-final.

Murray and Evans produced another sensational escape act on Tuesday night to keep their Olympics dream alive, saving two match points to defeat the Belgian pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen , 6-3 6-7 (8) (11/9), in another thrilling match tiebreak.

In the previous round, Murray and Evans saved five match points in their win against Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel, which extended the 37-year-old’s career.  Although Murray and Evans played considerably better in the second round deserved the win.

Now into the quarter-finals, one more win would secure two chances to win a medal at Murray’s final tournament before retirement. Victory in the semi-finals would guarantee either gold or silver and defeat would still result in a chance to win bronze in the play-off.

The athletics gets underway this morning with the race walk – and Suffolk athlete Callum Wilkinson has given up attempting to explain what he agrees might be the most misunderstood sport at the Olympic Games.

It is one that demands the nondescript artistry of a seasoned film extra, the tactical mind of a chess champion and the fortitude of a marathon runner, yet Wilkinson often finds his discipline treated like the black sheep of the athletics family.

So while its name might conjure up the determined gait of someone late to the office, the plain truth of the matter is that race walking is very, very hard.

Great Britain have got off to an impressive start the Paris 2024 Olympics with 17 medals so far.

Alex Yee in the men’s triathlon and Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw in the women’s quad sculls continued the medal rush on Wednesday, taking Team GB to six golds.

Diving duo Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen kicked off the medal rush with bronze in the women’s 3m synchronised springboard, before Tom Daley and Noah Williams and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix made it three medals from three in diving so far.