Sunisa Lee stepped up in the absence of Simone Biles to claim gold and maintain Team USA’s dominance in the women's gymnastics all-around event.
The 18-year-old became the sixth American woman to take the title – and fifth in a row – after beating Brazil's Rebeca Andrade and Angelina Melnikova to gold.
Despite withdrawing from the final to focus on her mental health, Biles was cheering on from the stands as her team-mate aimed to capitalise.
Lee was looking to continue her nation's impressive record in this event, which has seen triumph concurrently at both the Olympic Games and World Championships since 2010.
The teenager admitted she came close to quitting gymnastics following a difficult two years – both in and out of the gym.
Nevertheless, she duly delivered the goods by totalling 57.433 to take gold and edge out Andrade, who became the first Brazilian woman to claim an Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics.
"It feels crazy, it is so surreal. It's a dream come true," Lee said. "I don't even know what to say. It hasn't even sunk in. The past two years with COVID have been crazy. There was one point I wanted to quit.
"To be here and to be an Olympic gold medallist is just crazy."
PATIENT FOX COMES GOOD
Australia's Jess Fox became the first women's canoe slalom (C1) Olympic gold medallist.
A multiple World champion, Olympic gold has eluded Fox over the years. She was a silver medallist at London in 2012, while she took home a bronze from Rio four years later.
However, her persistence finally paid off after posting a time of 105.04 seconds in the final, while Great Britain's Mallory Franklin and Andrea Herzog of Germany completed the podium.
"I can't believe it," said Fox, who also won bronze in the women's kayak earlier this week.
"I was dreaming of [a gold medal] and I really believed it was within me, but you never know what is going to happen at the Olympics.
"It is about holding your nerve and I probably didn't do that very well in the kayak a couple of days before, so it was hard to get to this point. But it has been incredible to do what I did today."
Swiatek opens Olympic bid with straight-sets win over Begu
Iga Swiatek got her bid for Olympic gold up and running with a straight-sets victory over Irina-Camelia Begu in Paris.
The world number one is the firm favourite to win gold at Roland-Garros, where she has won four editions of the French Open, including the last three in a row.
Swiatek and Begu traded breaks at the outset of their clash on Court Philippe-Chatrier, but the Pole continued to put her opponent under pressure when receiving and back-to-back breaks took the opener away from Begu.
The second set was more of a slog for Swiatek and a break in the seventh game had Begu serving to level things up, but Swiatek found a second wind to break back and only dropped one further point from there, winning 6-2 7-5.
Swiatek will face Argentina's Nadia Podoroska or home favourite Diane Parry in the second round, with the likes of Danielle Collins, Jessica Pegula, Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber also on her side of the draw.
On the other side of the bracket, Jasmine Paolini – the runner-up at both the French Open and Wimbledon this year – advanced with a 7-5 6-3 win over Ana Bogdan.
Data Debrief: Twenty-two and counting for Swiatek
Swiatek has now won a remarkable 22 successive matches on the courts of Roland-Garros, last losing at the venue to Maria Sakkari in the 2021 French Open quarter-finals.
In all clay-court tournaments, she has won her last 20 matches, also capturing titles in Madrid and Rome earlier this year.
Jamaican Judoka Ashley McKenzie through to men's 60kg round of 16
Jamaica’s Judoka Ashley McKenzie secured a spot in the Men’s 60kg Round of 16 following a comprehensive 10-0 victory over Yemen’s Hesham Makabr in preliminary round action at the Champ de Mars Arena in Paris on Saturday.
McKenzie, the first Jamaican athlete to compete at the Paris Olympic Games, defeated Makabr by throwing a tai otoshi. He received one yellow card, while his opponent, Makabr received two.
The United Kingdom-based McKenzie, who is making his fourth Olympic Games—first under the Jamaican flag—displayed his immense ability ahead of the Games when he won an historic bronze medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) for Jamaica in El Salvador last year.
McKenzie, 35, previously represented the UK at his last two Olympic Games.
His opponent for the next round is Salih Yildiz of Turkey.
Djokovic thrilled by prospect of 'one last dance' with Nadal
Novak Djokovic is thrilled by the prospect of meeting Rafael Nadal for "one last dance" at the Paris Olympics, if the Spaniard overcomes an injury setback to feature at Roland-Garros.
Thursday's men's singles draw saw Djokovic paired with Australia's Matthew Ebden in the first round, with Nadal taking on Marton Fucsovics.
The legendary duo – who have won 46 grand slam singles titles between them – will meet in the second round if they both advance through their openers this weekend.
Djokovic and Nadal have previously faced off on 59 occasions, with the Serbian winning 30 of those contests but losing four of the last six, the most recent being a Nadal victory in four sets in the 2022 French Open quarter-finals.
Nadal's participation at the Games was thrown into doubt when his coach Carlos Moya said he had suffered a "setback" on Thursday and required 48 hours of rest.
If Nadal – who is widely expected to retire later this year – does make the tournament, Djokovic is looking forward to the prospect of facing him for a 60th time.
"Obviously he hasn't played much. His ranking dropped, so there was always going to be that possibility of me meeting him in an early round and there we go," Djokovic said.
"It's going to be a spectacle, definitely, if we get to meet. We will spread some fireworks on the court, like the good old times.
"I hope we get to meet because it will probably be one last dance for the both of us."
Djokovic is set to appear at his fifth Olympics in the French capital, the joint-most by any male player since the sport returned to the Games in 1988 (with Yen Hsun Lu).
He is the player with the most matches played (19) and joint-most matches won (13, level with Roger Federer) at the Olympics since 1988.
However, his best result at the Games remains a Bronze medal at Beijing 2008, when he was beaten by eventual gold medallist Nadal in the semi-finals.
Djokovic lost the bronze medal match to Pablo Carreno Busta at the delayed Tokyo Games three years ago, also losing to Juan Martin del Potro at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.
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