Three-times Olympic gold medallist Gabby Douglas returned to competition for the first time in eight years at the American Classic and secured qualification for the U.S. Championships despite a slightly rusty performance.

The 2012 Olympics all-around individual and team champion, who had not competed since the 2016 Rio Games after taking time away to focus on her mental health, is looking to mount a comeback ahead of this year’s Paris Olympics.

She placed 10th in the all-around in Katy, Texas, on Saturday, recording a score of 50.65 after errors on the floor and bars.

However, her promising showing in the vault and the balance beam proved enough to qualify for next month’s U.S. Championships in those events.

The 28-year-old returned to training last year hoping to make the squad for Paris, but was forced to delay her return to competition earlier this year due to a bout of COVID-19.

The American Classic was won by Tokyo Olympics floor champion Jade Carey.

-Reuters

The Paris 2024 Olympic flame sailed for France on Saturday on board a three-masted ship to mark the final sprint of preparations ahead of the Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 26.

The “Belem” left the port of Piraeus in the morning for an 11-day voyage and will arrive in the southern city of Marseille, founded by the Greek settlers of Phocaea around 600 BC, on May 8.

Paris Games organisers had received the flame on Friday in a ceremony at Athens’ Panathenaic stadium, site of the first modern Olympics in 1896, following last week’s lighting in ancient Olympia that kicked off an 11-day Greek relay leg.

After a brief ceremony in Piraeus on Saturday the vessel set sail for France.

An estimated 150,000 spectators are expected to attend the ceremony at the Old Port of Marseille, which will host the Olympic sailing competitions and be the start of a 68-day French torch relay across the country.

The last torch bearer in Marseille will climb on the roof of the Velodrome stadium on May 9 and the relay will end in Paris on July 26 with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the Games’ opening ceremony along the Seine river.

Organisers hope the opening ceremony, in which 160 boats carrying athletes from around the world will travel a six kilometre route towards the Eiffel Tower, will deliver a jaw-dropping spectacle.

Some 300,000 spectators will watch from the banks as a global audience tunes in on TV, and with security forces in the country on high alert with the Games taking place against a backdrop of wars in Ukraine and Gaza

The French government has asked around 45 foreign countries to contribute several thousand extra military, police and civilian personnel to help safeguard the Paris Olympics.

-Reuters

A French police union has warned  of potential disruptions to the Olympics torch relay before the start of the Paris Games in July unless officers receive bonuses.

The Alliance union stated that special Olympics payments pledged to police, amounting to as much as €1,900 ($2,032), were being delayed by the French prime minister’s office and economy ministry. The union cautioned that a demonstration was scheduled for Thursday and indicated that further actions might occur, including potential disruptions to the torch relay.

Such warning highlights the dilemma for French authorities as they navigate negotiations regarding Olympics bonuses for public sector employees, who are being requested to work during the traditional summer holiday season. The largest union representing civil service staff, the CGT, has announced a strike threat among its members throughout the duration of the Olympics, starting on 26 July.

The torch relay is scheduled to commence in Marseille on Wednesday 8 May, but before then, the handover ceremony is slated to occur at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, Greece, on Friday, 26 April. The event is set to commence at 17:30 CET.

After the handover, the flame will stay overnight at the French Embassy in Athens. The next day, it will embark on the three-masted ship Belem and set sail for France.

Following this, the flame will journey across the country, making stops at overseas departments and regions (including New Caledonia and French Polynesia), before reaching Paris for the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games on 26 July.

Despite pledging an “Olympic truce” last September, the nation’s militant air traffic controllers have also declared a strike scheduled for this Thursday. Additionally, employees at the national mint, responsible for producing medals for competitors, have also gone on strike, advocating for bonuses due to the strenuous nature of their work.

“I hope that we welcome the whole world in the best possible conditions and that we don’t ruin the party,” chief Games organiser Tony Estanguet said in February, after being quizzed about the risk of stoppages in the strike-prone nation.

The upcoming Olympics in Paris, will, in fact, be the first in a century, and are scheduled to occur from 26 July to 11 August, followed by the Paralympics from 28 August to 8 September.

-insidethegames