The second day of the Paris Olympics was a historic one for India as Manu Bhaker became the nation’s first woman shooter to win an Olympic medal, which was also India’s first shooting medal in 12 years.
Over in the archery, South Korea maintained their unbeaten streak in the women’s team event to pick up their 10th successive gold medal, while Australia’s Jessica Fox became the first woman to win five Olympic medals in canoeing.
JULY 28: FULL SCHEDULE | INDIA’S OLYMPIC MEDAL TALLY | INDIA AT PARIS OLYMPICS | LATEST OLYMPIC NEWS | KEY DATES AT PARIS 2024
Here’s ESPN India’s pick of the most interesting numbers from the second day of the 2024 Olympics –
0.1
That was the difference between a silver and a bronze for Manu Bhaker. The 22-year-old hit a 10.1 in her final shot for an aggregate total of 221.7, only for South Korea’s Kim Ye-ji to hit a 10.5 in her final shot and pip Manu to the silver by 0.1 point.
1 & 12
Manu Baker became the first-ever Indian shooter to win an Olympic medal by virtue of her bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol. It is also the Olympic first shooting medal for India in 12 years, since Vijay Kumar’s bronze in 2012.
3
For the third time in as many Olympic campaigns, India’s first medal of the Games has come from a woman athlete. Sakshi Malik won a wrestling bronze in 2016, Mirabai Chanu won silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting at Tokyo and Manu Bhaker clinched bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol at Paris 2024.
1
South Sudan, playing their first-ever basketball match at the Olympics, beat Puerto Rico to get off to a winning start. South Sudan, which was recognized as an independent nation in 2011 and is the world’s youngest country, had pushed the USA to the brink before losing by a sole point in the build-up to the Games.
36 and 10
South Korea’s dominance of women’s archery team event extends to 36 years…they have won every single gold medal since the sport was introduced at the Olympics in 1982. To break that down, they have not lost a single match at the Olympics in over three decades enroute to their 10 gold medals.
5
Jessica Fox finally got her hands on that elusive gold medal as she took the top honours in the women’s K1 canoe slalom. The Australian won silver in 2012, bronze in 2016 and 2021 and after 12 long years she has the K1 gold in hand. With five Olympic medals [including a gold in the C1 category in 2021] she ties Michal Martikan for the most Olympic medals in canoeing.
14
Japan’s Yoshizawa Coco, all of 14, won the women’s street skateboarding gold on Sunday. In fact, the podium consisted of three teenagers: Coco [14] took gold, Liz Akama [15] won the silver and Rayssa Leal [16] bagged bronze. The combined ages of the three medallists is 45…that’s just one more than Rohan Bopanna, who at 44, is India’s oldest athlete in Paris.
1/3
Lanihei Connolly, 18, made her debut at the Olympics today in the women’s 100m breaststroke heats and is only one of two athletes from the Cook Islands competing in Paris. What’s interesting is that the Cook Islands, which is a tiny Pacific Ocean, doesn’t even have a 25m swimming pool. The total area of the Cook Islands is 236.7 km2…which is about 1/3rd the size of India’s Bengaluru, which is home to both of India’s swimming represents at Paris – Srihari Nataraj and Dhinidhi Desinghu.