PARIS: On the first sunny day of the Paris Olympics, the stars from the United States shone brightly.
Simone Biles and LeBron James dazzled, so did the US women's soccer team. Torri Huske took some of the spotlight and Haley Batten made a name for herself by earning a silver medal in mountain biking for the best finish ever by an American rider.
Although it was French swimmer Leon Marchand who got the loudest cheers when he crushed the field to win gold in the men's 400-meter individual medley, the United States had a strong Sunday on Day 2 of the Games.
Simone shines
Biles returned to the Olympics three years after pulling out of several finals at the Tokyo Games to protect her safety, sparking an international discussion about mental health, by pushing through calf discomfort to lead the U.S. women's gymnastics team to the final.
Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles went 1-2-3 in the all-around during early qualifying, although Chiles will miss the all-around final due to rules limiting countries to two athletes per event.
There is a chance Chiles will make the floor exercise final if she finishes in the top eight. Lee is virtually a lock for the beam and beam finals, with 2020 floor exercise champion Jade Carey in good position to join Biles in the vault final.
But all eyes were on Biles, who briefly scared an entire nation when she left practice after the floor and received medical attention. She had tweaked her calf in the warm-up, but USA coach Cecile Landi said it was a minor injury.
She performed in front of a star-studded audience that included Tom Cruise, Jessica Chastain, Snoop Dogg, Anna Wintour and Lady Gaga, who wrote on social media about Biles: “She nailed it, what an honor to be so close!”
LeBron James leads Team USA
Two of the most experienced Olympians on the U.S. men's basketball team, James and Kevin Durant, began the team's bid for a fifth straight gold medal with a near-flawless performance.
Durant made his first eight shots and scored 23 points, James added 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and the USA rolled to a 110-84 win over Serbia in the Olympic opener for both teams.
James and Durant combined for 18-for-22 from the field — 8-of-9 for Durant, 9-of-13 for James — as the U.S. had no trouble with the reigning World Cup silver medalists.
Jrue Holiday scored 15, Devin Booker had 12 and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each added 11 for the US
Pool party
Huske held off world record holder Gretchen Walsh in the women's 100 butterfly, with a strong finish to get her hands on the wall just ahead of her teammate in a 1-2 finish for the U.S.
The favorite went with her usual strategy: start fast and try to hang on. It worked at the American trials, where she set her world record of 55.18 last month, and she was off record pace at the turn.
But Huske chased her down in the race that really mattered. The winner clocked in at 55.59 — about a finger's length ahead of Walsh's time of 55.63.
When Huske saw the “1” next to her name on the scoreboard, she reached over the lane rope to give Walsh a hug as she broke down in tears.
Marchand, meanwhile, lived up to the huge expectations of the home Olympics with a flag-waving crowd cheering every stroke. He was under the world record on the final turn but faded a bit as he came home, reaching in 4 minutes, 2.95 seconds — an Olympic record, but just shy of his own world mark of 4:02.50.
Marchand claimed that mark at last year's world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, erasing a record held by Michael Phelps for 15 years.
And in a shock upset, Italian swimmer Nicolo Martinenghi stunned record holder Adam Peaty in the 100 breaststroke.
Peaty, the gold medalist in both Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, had taken a long break to deal with mental health issues. On his return, he worked his way back up to speed and entered the final as the top qualifier, but settled for silver as his pursuit of a third gold in a row ended.
american football wins
Sophia Smith scored a pair of goals to lead the United States past Germany 4-1 and put the team in good position to advance out of its group at the Olympics.
Mallory Swanson and Lynn Williams also scored for the Americans, who defeated Zambia 3-0 in the opener but won't know their knockout-round fate for sure until after the final Group B matches on Wednesday.
The Americans play Australia in Marseille to finish the group stage.
Mountain bike medals
Batten broke a rule but still came home with America's best ever mountain bike finish as she won silver.
Batten was fined by the Olympic mountain bike judges for breaking a rule on the last lap of her race. She was in second place going through a lane dedicated to taking on food and drink or stopping for mechanical issues.
After the judges reviewed the footage, they decided that Batten had done neither and was in breach of one of the rules of the race. She was fined 500 Swiss francs, or about $565, for “failing to respect the instructions of the competition organization or the stewards”, although the judges apparently decided that the infraction was not serious enough to warrant a disqualification.
Batten finished ninth three years ago at the Tokyo Games.
Tennis veterans win
Rafael Nadal was unsure he would even be able to play men's singles on Sunday the day before his match, but showed up at Roland Garros and beat Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round.
The victory set up a blockbuster showdown against rival Novak Djokovic.
It will be the 60th meeting between this pair of greats, more than any two men have played against each other in the sport's Open era, which began in 1968. Djokovic, a 37-year-old from Serbia, leads the head-to-head series 30-29, and his 24 Grand Slam titles make him the only man in tennis history with more than Nadal's 22.
Andy Murray's tennis career, meanwhile, was extended by at least one more match when he and British partner Dan Evans saved five match points during a first-round doubles win. Murray and Evans got past the Japanese pair of Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9.
The Brits trailed 9-4 in the deciding tiebreak, which is held instead of a third set in doubles.
The 37-year-old Murray announced before the Summer Games that it would be the final event of his career, then withdrew from the singles, leaving him only in the doubles.
Murray is a three-time Grand Slam champion and the only tennis player with two Olympic singles golds – from London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.
