Sweden has already won three medals at the Olympics. In beach volleyball, however, the number one pair in the world ranking suffered a defeat.
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
What speaks?
For Sweden, the Olympics have started brilliantly. The country has achieved three Olympic medals, the latest of which came on Monday in the shooting side, when Sweden Victor Lindgren shot for silver.
They are responsible for other medals Jenny Rissveds with bronze in mountain biking and judoka Tara Babulfath with bronze in judo.
Our western neighbor is still the only Nordic country that has reached Olympic medals. Despite the success, even Sweden has coughed.
On Monday evening, the men’s number one pair in beach volleyball Davild Åhlman mixed Jonatan Hellvig suffered a surprise loss to Qatar To Cherif Yonousse mixed To Ahmed Tijani.
The Qatari pair ranked 15th in the world was sharper in the battle played at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, 2–1 (21–15, 21–19, 20–18).
The Swedish pair handled their opening match in style in two sets. In its final match of the group on Thursday, it will face the Italian pair.
The Swedish pair saw that the clearly lower ranking gives a false impression of the level of the Qatari duo.
– They are a really strong team. Nothing else can be said about them. Qatar is much better than the ranking says, Hellwig pointed out Expressen’s by.
– It’s hard to lose. It was really even until the end, and we could just as well have won, Åhlman said.
The ranking really sucks, because three years ago in Tokyo, the couple Yonousse and Tijan celebrated bronze. In recent years, however, a couple have had injuries.
Who made the noise?
French Leon Marchandof Canada Summer McIntosh and Romania David Popovici are the new stars of the swimming world. The trio, which already excelled at the World Long Course Championships two years ago, has redeemed the expectations placed on them.
On Sunday, Marchand swam in front of an ecstatic home crowd to his first Olympic victory in the 400m individual medley, and in clear fashion. On Monday, it was McIntosh and Popovic’s turn to impress with their first Olympic victories.
First, 17-year-old McIntosh roared to victory in the women’s 400-meter medley by a crushing margin of more than seven seconds. McIntosh already achieved Olympic silver in the 400-meter freestyle on the opening day of the Games.
Right after the Canadian gold swimming in Romania David Popovici took first place in the men’s 200-meter freestyle with a hard finish.
– This was even more deafening than Marchand’s swim. Absolutely incomprehensible superiority from a young Canadian, Urheilu’s expert Ville Kallinen beamed Ylen on Olympiaradio.
All three young stars have a chance to win more individual gold medals during these Games.
Frustration?
The French men’s national handball team is considered one of the favorites for the tournament in Paris. However, it has totally crashed in front of its home audience.
France have lost both their matches. The last time the country started this badly was 28 years ago in Atlanta.
On Monday, France lost to Norway 22–27. In the opening match, it beat Denmark 27–37.
What next?
The best Finnish talent on Monday was a badminton player Kalle Koljonen victory in their opening group match and in the women’s 49er class by Ronja Grönblom mixed Veera Hokan first place in the last start of the day.
The sailing duo will be in action again on Tuesday, when they will try to improve their tenth place in the overall competition. Jakob Eklund on the other hand, is finally trying to make his Olympic debut in the M IQFoil class, where the race has been delayed due to bad wind conditions.
Shooter Nora Antikainen competes in trap shooting, Antti Tekoniemi in archery as well Emma Kanerva in dressage.
The one who brought the second Finnish medal of the Games from the Olympics three years ago Matti Mattsson on the other hand, starts his career in the 200 meter breaststroke.