Olympics Day 15 briefing: France falls in soccer, U.S. relay mishap and breaking makes its debut

With just two days remaining in the Paris Olympics, everything’s a medal round from this point forward. Here’s the latest from Friday’s action.

The host nation was hoping to win gold in its most popular sport Friday, but its neighbors to the south put a damper on those aspirations. Spain defeated France 5-3 in an epic back-and-forth gold-medal soccer bout that needed extra time to settle. It was the highest-scoring Olympic soccer final in history and Spain’s first gold since the 1992 Barcelona Games. In the women’s bronze-medal match, Spain could not match its male counterparts as it fell 1-0 to Germany.

The Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino broke the women’s 400m Olympic record Friday, becoming the first woman to win gold for her country. The race wasn’t even close as Paulino broke away as the leader early and did not look back.

The Brazilian duo of Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa won their country’s first Olympic beach volleyball gold medal in 28 years. They defeated the seventh-ranked Canadian team in a deciding third set 15-10.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won gold in the women’s 66kg final Friday. Khelif suffered online abuse after opponents accused her of not being a woman, all stemming from her previous disqualifications from international boxing events due to failing unspecified gender testing. Olympic organizers cleared her for competition in Paris and do not recognize the organization that disqualified her from previous events.

Medal count

Three big things about Team USA

1. Split luck for 4x100m relay teams

The American relay teams had very different luck in each of their races Friday. The women won gold for the first time since 2016 on the back of Sha’Carri Richardson. But the men were disqualified after a botched baton hand-off, missing out on yet another chance to medal for the first time since 2004.

2. Rai Benjamin pulls huge upset in men’s 400m hurdles

American Rai Benjamin defeated reigning gold medalist Karsten Warholm of Norway on Friday in the men’s 400m hurdles. Benjamin was leading most of the way, but when Warholm faltered on the penultimate hurdle, the race was all but decided.

3. Women’s basketball will play for eighth straight gold medal

Breanna Stewart helped lead Team USA to an 85-64 semifinal win over Australia on Friday. Stewart’s 16 points, six rebounds and five assists led the team as it advanced to the gold-medal game against France on Sunday.

You won’t believe this

Breaking made its Olympic debut Friday with the women’s tournament, quickly becoming a crowd favorite as competitors gave their all on stage. However, it was a bittersweet night as the news spread that the sport would not return for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. So, Japan’s Ami Yuasa won the first and possibly last gold medal in the event with the men set to compete on Saturday.