China bags Games’ first gold medal

(from L) South Korea’s Keum Jihyeon and Park Haju (silver), China’s Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao (gold), Kazakhstan’s Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev (bronze) pose at the end of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP)

PARIS—China took the first gold of the Paris Olympics on Saturday, as the rain that dampened the opening ceremony took its toll on the first full day of sporting action.

In a closely fought final of the mixed-team 10-meter air rifle, teenage duo Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting outscored Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun from South Korea, 16-12, with Kazakhstan grabbing the bronze.

The rain already claimed one sporting casualty early Saturday as the wet weather which deluged Friday night’s audacious festival on the River Seine continued to cause headaches.

The men’s street skateboarding competition, due to take place at the Place de la Concorde in the historic heart of Paris, was postponed until Monday due to rain overnight, organizers said.

Tennis also disrupted

The downpours also disrupted play at the opening rounds of tennis at Roland Garros, with no action on the 10 uncovered outside courts until 1:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. on Saturday in the Philippines), organizers said.

Torrential rain had lashed participants and spectators in Friday’s amphibious opening ceremony, where around 7,000 athletes paraded along the Seine in an armada of boats before a show-stopping finale which climaxed with a glittering light show at the Eiffel Tower and a performance from singer Celine Dion.

The ceremony received broadly favorable reviews, with France’s center-right Le Figaro daily describing it as “full of surprises but often disjointed.”

The International Olympic Committee however was forced to apologize however for a gaffe during the ceremony that saw South Korea’s athletes incorrectly introduced as North Korean.

“We deeply apologize for the mistake that occurred when introducing the South Korean team during the broadcast of the opening ceremony,” the IOC said in a post on its official Korean-language X account.