'King Leon' stays golden, U.S. runner makes history and more from Paris

French swimmer Leon Marchand picture alliance

Olympics Day 8 briefing: 'King Leon' stays golden, U.S. runner earns historic medal and more

By Austen Bundy | Last updated Aug 2, 2024 9:20 PM ET

As we enter the second weekend of the Paris Games, here's the latest from Friday's Olympic action.

In the pool, France's Leon Marchand made more history on Friday, winning the men's 200 individual medley and becoming the fourth swimmer ever to win four or more golds at a single Olympics. Australia's Emma McKeown earned gold in the women's 200 backstroke, finishing ahead of Team USA's Regan Smith, who won her third silver of the Games. American Caleb Dressel had a brutal finish to his individual events, though, placing sixth in the men's 50 freestyle and missing Saturday's 100 butterfly final altogether. Dressel missed the podium by .05 seconds in the freestyle and was visibly upset after his butterfly semifinal.

Team France's history-making Friday continued with a podium sweep in men's BMX Cycling, while in Judo, Teddy Riner became the most decorated Olympic judoka ever winning gold in the 100+kg final.

Elsewhere, Team USA equestrian won a third straight Olympic silver medal in the team jumping event and American archers Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold took home bronze in the mixed team event.

While things are winding down in the pool, it's starting to get busy in track and field. American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson advanced easily in her 100m dash prelims Friday morning. She'll face tough competition in Saturday's semifinal as she looks to qualify for the final, which will take place 90 minutes later.

Medal Count

Here's the medal table as we enter the second weekend of action here at #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/rzV50TInl9
— Austen Alvarez-Bundy (@AustenBundyDC) August 2, 2024

Three big things about Team USA

1. Grant Fisher wins America's first 10k race medal since 2012

Entering the home stretch in fifth place, Grant Fisher took off sprinting and held on for bronze in the men's 10,000m race. It's Team USA's second medal in the event in 56 years, the first since Galen Rupp's silver in 2012. Fisher's finish was incredible as earlier in the race he rolled his ankle and nearly fell, which would've likely eliminated him from medal contention altogether. He almost won silver but missed out by .02 seconds when Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi made a last-second surge at the finish line.

Grant Fisher nearly fell in the 10,000m final and STILL won a medal! #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/sDJkpJgpsP
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 2, 2024

2. American relay smashes world record

Team USA's mixed 4x400m relay, made up of runners Bryce Deadmon, Shamier Little, Vernon Norwood and Kaylyn Brown, destroyed the event's world record during Friday morning's prelims. With a time of 3:07.41 the relay shaved over a second off the original record of 3:08.80. Team USA will try to carry over that momentum into Saturday's final.

3. Men's soccer eliminated in quarterfinal

Team USA men's soccer fell to Morocco 4-0 Friday morning, with the loss eliminating them from the competition. Two penalties against Nathan Harriel were too much to overcome as the Americans couldn't keep up with the Moroccan intensity throughout the match. The U.S. still has yet to win its first Olympic medal in men's soccer. The women will play Saturday against Japan in their quarterfinal match.

You won't believe this

Team USA's Veronica Fraley competed in the discus throw event Friday but it was her viral tweet and what happened next that drew the attention of fans. Fraley, 24, is the reigning NCAA discus champ from Vanderbilt University but revealed that she could not afford rent, lamenting that her school only sent a partial payment "while they pay football players (who haven’t won anything) enough to buy new cars and houses.” That tweet drew the attention of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian who, with the enlisted help of Team USA superfan Flavor Flav, pledged to send funds to assist Fraley.