PARIS: On the first sunny day of the Paris Olympics, the US stars shone brightly.
Simone Biles and LeBron James wowed, as did the US women's soccer team. Torri Huske drew attention and Haley Batten made a name for herself by winning a silver medal in mountain biking for the best finish ever by an American rider.
Although it was French swimmer Leon Marchand who received the loudest cheers in crushing the field to win gold in the men's 400m individual medley, the US had a strong Sunday on Day 2 of the Games.
Simone shines
Biles made her Olympic return three years after withdrawing from several finals at the Tokyo Games to protect her safety, sparking an international discussion about mental health, fueling the discomfort she felt at calves to lead the USA women's gymnastics team to the finals. .
Biles, Suni Lee and Jordan Chiles went 1-2-3 overall during the early qualifiers, though Chiles will miss the overall final due to rules limiting countries to entering two athletes per competition.
There is a chance for Chiles to reach the floor exercise final if she finishes in the top eight. Lee is virtually a lock for the bars and bars finals, with 2020 floor exercise champion Jade Carey in good position to join Biles in the vault finals.
But all eyes were on Biles, who briefly scared an entire nation when she left the floor exercise and received medical attention. She tweaked her calf in the warm-up, but U.S. coach Cecile Landi said it was a minor injury.
She performed in front of a star-studded crowd 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 USA men's basketball team's most experienced Olympians, James and Kevin Durant, started 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 cruised to a 110-84 win over Serbia in the Olympic opener for both teams.
James and Durant were a combined 18-of-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 medalist.
Jrue Holiday scored 15, Devin Booker had 12, and Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry each added 11 for the USA.
Pool party
Huske eliminated world record holder Gretchen Walsh in the women's 100 butterfly, using a strong finish to put her hand on the wall just ahead of her teammate in a 1-2 finish for the USA.
The favorite came out with her usual strategy: start fast and try to hold on. It worked at the US trials, where he set his world record of 55.18 last month, and was under a corner record pace.
But Huske chased her down in the race that really mattered. The winner touched in 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 tape rope to offer Walsh and hug her as she broke down in tears.
Marchand, meanwhile, lived up to huge expectations at the Olympics at home, with a flag-waving crowd cheering his every shot. He was off world record pace on the final turn, but faded a bit coming home, touching in 4 minutes 2.95 seconds – an Olympic record but just short of his own world mark of 4:02.50.
Marchand claimed the mark at last year's world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, erasing a record held by Michael Phelps for 15 years.
And upset Italian swimmer Nicolo Martinenghi shocked record holder Adam Peaty in the 100 breaststroke.
Peaty, the gold medalist in both Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, took a long layoff to deal with mental health issues. On the return, he was back up to speed and entered the final as the top qualifier, but settled for silver as his quest for a third consecutive gold was ended.
American football wins
Sophia Smith scored a pair of goals to lead the USA past Germany 4-1 and put the team in good position to advance out of its pool at the Olympics.
Mallory Swanson and Lynn Williams also scored for the Americans, who beat Zambia 3-0 in their opening round but won't know their knockout round fate for sure until Wednesday's final Group B games.
The Americans play Australia in Marseille to conclude group play.
Mountain biking medals
Batten broke a rule, but still came home with America's best mountain bike result when he won silver.
Batten was fined by the Olympic mountain bike judges for breaking a rule on the last lap of her race. She was jockeying for second place when she pulled into a dedicated lane to grab food and drink or stop with mechanical issues.
After the judges reviewed the footage, they decided that Batten did not take any and violated one of the rules of the race. She was fined 500 Swiss francs, or about $565, for “disobeying the instructions of the race organization or the stewards”, although the judges apparently decided that the offense 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 if he would be able to play in the men's singles on Sunday a day before his match, but he showed up at Roland Garros and defeated Hungary's Marton Fucsovics 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round.
The win set up a successful matchup against rival Novak Djokovic.
It will be the 60th meeting between the pair of greats, more than any other 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 head to head. -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 for 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 cruised past Japanese pair Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9.
The Brits went 9-4 in the tiebreaker, which is held instead of the third doubles set.
Murray, 37, announced before the Summer Games that it would be the last event of his career and then withdrew from singles, leaving him only in doubles.
Murray is a three-time Grand Slam champion and the only tennis player with two Olympic singles titles – from London in 2012 and from Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
