Heartbroken Team GB star denied family reunion after injury forces him to withdraw as dad has amazing job at Olympics
JAKE WIGHTMAN will not be announced by his dad on the athletics track after he pulled out with injury.
The Scot, 30, has suffered a hamstring issue and will not take part in the men’s 800 metres heats next Wednesday.
What's happening today at The Games?
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY..
TODAY’S BRIT MEDAL HOPES
Jack Laugher, Olympic champ in Rio, teams up with Anthony Harding for the 3m synchro diving (10am).
It is the semi-finals and final (8.35pm) of the BMX racing with Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte both in contention.
Back-to-back world champion lightweight scullers Emily Craig and Imogen Grant can make amends for Tokyo heartache, missing a medal by 0.01 seconds, by winning gold (11.22am).
Bryony Page will look for a medal in the women’s trampolining, too (12.50pm).
BRITS TO WATCH
In athletics, Dina Asher-Smith has her 100m heat (10.50am), Josh Kerr has his in the 1,500m (10.10am) and then Keely Hodgkinson’s 800m opener is at 6.45pm.
Adam Burgess, Joe Clarke, Mallory Franklin and Kimblery Woods have their time trials for the new kayak cross event (2.30pm).
And it is the team jumping final of the equestrian at 1pm with Team GB in contention.
GLOBAL STARS TODAY
Leon Marchand is taking his home Olympics by storm and can add the 200m individual medley to his growing collection (7.49pm) – and is eyeing a world record, too.
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda and Ethiopian Selemon Barega will battle it out for the men’s 10,000m gold – the only medal up for grabs on the opening night of the athletics (8.20pm).
FANCY SOMETHING DIFFERENT?
It is the final day of the windsurfing down in Marseille – the new class, iQFoil replaces the old RS:X and makes for brilliant viewing. Emma Wilson could bag a medal.
STATS MAD
154 – French judoxa Teddy Riner is going for a record-equally three individual gold medals in the 100+kg category (4.50pm). He won a staggering 154 contests in a row between September 2010 and February 2020.
Follow all the action as it unfolds with our Paris 2024 Olympics LIVE blog.
Elliot Giles, 30, has been called up as a late athlete replacement for Team GB and will go alongside teammates Max Burgin and Ben Pattison.
Wightman has struggled with physical problems since hurting his foot in February 2023 and then missing out on the defence of his 1500 metres world title 12 months ago.
The middle-distance star won world gold in Eugene in the summer of 2022 and was famously called to victory by father Geoff, who is a longstanding athletics stadium announcer.
Yet a family reunion in the French capital will not happen after this latest, unfortunate setback.
Giles had initially missed out on qualification for the middle-distance after he collided with Josh Kerr at last month’s Manchester trials.
Other Olympic stars have had their moment alongside their families, however.
Team GB’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix won bronze in the Women’s Synchronised 10m Platform diving yesterday, in front of her superstar dad.
The London-based teenager is the daughter of First Dates TV personality Fred Sirieix.
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And the television star was present in the Olympic Aquatics Centre as a pundit for the BBC‘s coverage of the Paris 2024 games.
Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, 19, and partner Lois Toulson, 24, hugged each other and could not contain their emotions as they finished in third place in dramatic fashion.