Olympic Shorts: Mr. France Makes His Debut; And a Lost Wedding Ring

The Olympic career of Victor Wembanyama has officially begun.

The 7-foot-4 French phenom won the tipoff against Brazil's Bruno Caboclo on Saturday, marking his Olympic debut.

The anticipation for Wembanyama could be seen throughout Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille well before France's opening game of the tournament.

Fans lined up on the rail of the catwalk, jockeying for positions to snap photos of the 20-year-old star of the host country's Olympic delegation.

The buzz was even higher for a fan base that missed out on seeing Wembanyama at the opening ceremony on Friday night in Paris. He and his teammates opted to stay in Lille, an hour-plus train ride away, to rest for their opener against Brazil.

When he finally took the floor to begin his shooting routine, "Wemby" was met by a rolling thunder of cheers and mobile phone cameras. When he dribbled to the far end of the court to take a few shots, fans counted each of his first 10 made shots as blue, white and red flags waved from the stands.

The San Antonio Spurs star was the NBA's rookie of the year this past season.

Antoine Dupont Helps France into Rugby Sevens Final Against 2-Time Olympic Champion Fiji

Antoine Dupont set up the decisive try to help France beat South Africa 19-5 and move into the rugby sevens gold medal match against two-time Olympic champion Fiji at the Paris Games on Saturday.

Fiji conceded a try early but recovered to beat Australia 31-7 in the second of the semifinals, getting mercurial playmaker Jerry Tuwai closer to a third Olympic gold.

Tuwai was voted sevens player of the last decade but the undisputed rugby star of the Paris Games is Dupont, who opted out of France's Six Nations campaign and switched from the traditional 15s format to the condensed sevens version in pursuit of an Olympic gold.

Dupont didn't enter the semifinal until almost a minute into the second half when the score was 0-0.

The French conceded a try soon after, briefly quietening the capacity crowd of 69,000 at Stade de France, before rallying with three tries to the constant echo of "Allez Les Bleus" around the national stadium.

The crowd had started singing La Marseillaise halfway through the preceding game and set a hostile tone with jeers and boos as the South African players ran onto the field before the semifinals.

The noise level intensified when the French team ran out and it went up another notch when Dupont finally went on after halftime.

Early rain meant conditions were wet and a light drizzle made the ball slippery, putting the emphasis on the defense of both teams.

South Africa scored first when Tristan Leyds slid over in the right corner with more than four minutes remaining.

Varian Pasquet burst through a gap and ran half the length of the field before turning the ball inside for Rayan Rebbadj to score for France, which took a 7-5 lead with the conversion.

Pasquet was held up over the tryline soon after and the cushion was still two points when Dupont took a quick penalty tap from five meters out, ran to the left and then passed right for Rebbadj to score untouched. The conversion gave France a 14-5 lead and Jordan Sepho capped it off with a late try.

Australia and South Africa will play for bronze later Saturday before France and Fiji meet in the final.

'Sorry My Love.' Italy's Olympic Flag Bearer Tamberi Loses His Wedding Ring in the Seine River

Drama is never far from the surface when it comes to flamboyant high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi and big events.

This time it involved what went below the surface.

The Italian lost his wedding ring in the Seine River during the rainy opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

"I'm sorry my love, I'm really, really sorry," Tamberi wrote in an open letter of apology he posted on Instagram on Saturday to his wife of two years, Chiara Bontempi.

"Too much water, too many kilograms lost over the last few months and maybe the uncontrollable enthusiasm of what we were doing. Probably all three things," added Tamberi, who shared flag-bearing duties for Italy with fencer Arianna Errigo during Friday's ceremony, which featured boats parading athletes instead of the usual procession inside a stadium.

Last month, Tamberi pretended to hide springs in his shoes when he won gold at the European Championships then jumped into the arms of Italy President Sergio Mattarella. And when he shared gold with his good friend Mutaz Barshim at the Tokyo Games, Tamberi celebrated wildly, which drew more attention than his performance.

Tamberi, along with Errigo, had the honor of flying to Paris on the presidential plane with Mattarella, which he called "the most emotional flight of my life" – a play on words with his jumping "flights."

Tamberi said he felt the ring sliding off his finger and saw it dropping as Italy cruised down the Seine on a boat with Israel and Jamaica.

"I followed it until I saw it bounce inside the boat," he said. "But the rebound went in the wrong direction unfortunately. ... But if it had to happen, if I really had to lose this ring, I couldn't imagine a better place. It will remain forever on the riverbed in the City of Love."

Tamberi is favored to win another gold when the men's high jump competition starts Aug. 7.

"Hopefully this is a sign that I'll come home with an ever bigger gold medal," he said.

Tamberi invited his wife to throw her ring into the Seine, too.

"Then they'll be together forever," Tamber said, "and we'll have another reason to renew our vows."

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games