Olympia Compact - Basketballer Schroder and Judoka Wagner carry the German flag
France in Olympic Fever: The Summer Games in Paris begin on a Friday with a gigantic Opening Ceremony. Until August 11th, athletes from all over the world will compete for Gold, Silver, and Bronze. German athletes also have medal hopes. The competitions are under massive security measures: 250,000 security forces are in total in action, over 40,000 for the Opening Ceremony alone.
Find all the news about the Olympics here compactly at stern:
23. July: Schröder and Wagner carry the German flag
Basketball World Champion Dennis Schröder and two-time Judo World Champion Anna-Maria Wagner carry the German flag at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris. The duo was chosen by fans and the German Olympic Team and will take on the task during the ceremony on Friday (7:30 pm). The German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB) confirmed this. Initially, the "FAZ" reported on Schröder's election. Among the men, Schröder, the 30-year-old NBA professional, received the most votes with a total of 103.54 points, followed by tennis player Alexander Zverev (57.57) and javelin thrower Christian Harmatsch (38.89). Among the women, Wagner (80.01) finished ahead of footballer Alexandra Popp (74.01) and equestrian Jessica von Bredow-Werndl (45.98). Over 500,000 valid votes were cast in the public vote, compared to around 189,000 in Tokyo three years ago.
23. July: Olympic hopeful Bauer receives lost equipment
The archers are a German medal hope at the Olympic Games in Paris. During travel, important equipment went missing. Now the wait has come to an end: archer Katharina Bauer has finally received her sports equipment a few days before her competition. "Wow, look what arrived in the night... My bow," wrote the 28-year-old medal candidate on Instagram after anxious waiting.
Bauer arrived in Paris on Monday without equipment. The archer had traveled from Munich, where, according to her statement, there were problems with loading the equipment due to a lack of personnel. She missed the first opportunity to familiarize herself with the bows at the Olympic competition site in Paris.
European champion Bauer from Raubling is already among the candidates for medals with the German women's team on Sunday. The team had already won the World Championship title.
23. July: Rapper Snoop Dogg carries the torch at Olympics
"Drop it like it's hot" ("Let it fall like it's hot") is one of Snoop Dogg's hits. Now he has a special role at the Olympics that he shouldn't take too literally. The American rapper is to carry the Olympic torch through Paris before the Opening Ceremony. He will be one of the torchbearers in the suburb of Saint-Denis on Friday, where the Olympic Stadium is located, according to the mayor of the district, Mathieu Hanotin, who spoke to the French news agency AFP.
Other torchbearers include the French actress Laetitia Casta, the French rapper MC Solaar, and the former Ukrainian pole vault champion Sergey Bubka. Snoop Dogg will also comment on the Olympics for the American broadcaster NBC. The Games begin on Friday and last until August 11.
The Olympic torch traveled through France for almost two months before the Opening Ceremony. On Friday, the torch will be carried through the Athletes' Village, and then taken to the Olympic Stadium.
Five weeks after suffering a severe elbow injury in his upper arm, German Rings champion Lukas Dauser will only complete a reduced program. In the qualification on Saturday for the Finals with the team and all individual decisions, the 31-year-old from Unterhaching will only compete on his special equipment and on the floor. "I'm glad that everything is going well now and I'm ready for the floor and the rings. That's the maximum I can do," Dauser said.
Germany's Athlete of the Year suffered a muscle injury in his right upper arm during his final Olympic qualification in his rings training and had to worry about his third Olympic participation. A final stress test with a clean rings routine at the Kienbaum Training Center on the previous Wednesday provided the necessary reassurance. "The biceps holds," Dauser said. The successful stress test also relieved Bundestrainer Valeri Belenki of the need to call up a replacement turner in Milan Hosseini.
22. July: Basketball Spectacle in London – USA defeat Germany
Dunks, Threes, Blocks: The Olympic test event becomes a basketball show. World champions Germany missed the surprising coup directly before the Olympics in a big basketball spectacle. Against Olympic champions USA with superstar LeBron James as captain, the team lost narrowly in London, 88:92 (41:48). The 19,177 fans in the sold-out arena in London saw a few days before the opening of the Olympic Games everything that basketball has to offer. Schröder (13 points) and Co. held their own again, as they had in the previous year at the test in Abu Dhabi and at the World Championship in Manila, but this time the individual class of the team around US flag bearer James (20 points), Stephen Curry (13), and Anthony Edwards prevailed.
At the Summer Games, the USA are considered the clear gold favorite. Germany wants to win the third medal in three years after the EM bronze in 2022 and the surprising WM victory in Manila the previous year and Bundestrainer Gordon Herbert to give an ideal farewell. For the DBB team, the preliminary round begins in Lille on Saturday (13.30 hours) against outsider Japan. The USA are challenged right from the start on Sunday (17.15 hours) by Vice-World champions Serbia and NBA star Nikola Jokic.
- Dennis Schröder and Anna-Maria Wagner, chosen by fans and the German Olympic Team, will carry the German flag at the Olympic Games in Paris, marking Germany's participation in the multi-sport event.
- Germany has a strong chance in archery at the Olympic Games, with European champion Katharina Bauer being one of the medal candidates for the women's team, who previously won the World Championship title.
- Snoop Dogg, the American rapper, will carry the Olympic torch through Paris before the Opening Ceremony, adding an unexpected musical element to the traditional event.
- Lukas Dauser, the German Rings champion, will only compete in a reduced program at the Olympics due to a severe elbow injury, but he is grateful for the medical clearance and appreciates the support from Bundestrainer Valeri Belenki.
