Women's competitions begin ahead of Friday's break for the opening ceremony.
ADVERTISEMENTWomen's sports take centre stage on day 2 of the Paris Olympics on Thursday, with several games in football and handball.
But the football games come in the wake of a spying scandal that hit reigning Olympic gold medalists, Canada, with two of their staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and football Joseph Lombardi — immediately sent back home.
Earlier this week, New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about a series of incidents involving drones flying over their training ground.
Canada later confirmed that a non-accredited member of their staff was detained after a drone was spotted above training and issued a heartfelt apology to the Kiwi Olympic Committee.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for fair play and we are shocked and disappointed,” the statement said. “We offer our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Football, to all the players affected, and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee.”
It’s not the first time a Canadian football team has been involved in a drone controversy involving an international rival’s training session.
In 2021, in Toronto, Honduras stopped a training session ahead of their men’s World Cup qualifier against Canada after spotting a drone above the field, according to reports in Honduran media.
Full Paris Olympics schedule for Thursday, 24 July
In men's sports, there will be the first knockouts with the rugby sevens quarter-finals later in the evening.
Archery will open individual sports at the Olympics, with men's and women's sessions in the morning and afternoon.
On Friday, competitions will stop due to the opening ceremony in Paris, starting at 19.30 CET.
Archery
- Women's individual ranking round (Paris, Invalides - 9:30 am CET)
- Men's individual ranking round (Paris, Invalides - 2:15 pm CET)
Football (Group stage - Women's)
- Canada-New Zealand (5 pm CET, Saint-Étienne)
- Spain-Japan (5 pm CET, Nantes)
- Germany-Australia (7 pm CET, Marseille)
- Nigeria-Brazil (7 pm CET, Bordeaux)
- France-Colombia (9 pm CET, Lyon)
- US-Zambia (9 pm CET, Nice)
Handball (Preliminary round - Women's)
- Slovenia-Denmark (9 am CET, Paris)
- Netherlands-Angola (11 am CET, Paris)
- Spain-Brazil (2 pm CET, Paris)
- Germany-South Korea (4 pm CET, Paris)
- Hungary-France (7 pm CET, Paris)
- Norway-Sweden (9 pm CET, Paris)
Rugby sevens (Men's pool)
- Samoa-Kenya (2 pm CET, Paris)
- Argentina-Australia (2:30 pm CET, Paris)
- US-Uruguay (3 pm CET, Paris)
- Fiji-France (3:30 pm CET, Paris)
- South Africa-Japan (4 pm CET, Paris)
- New Zealand-Ireland (4:30 pm CET, Paris)
- Quarter-finals (from 9 pm to 10:30 pm CET, Paris)