Olympics Day 7 briefing: Simone Biles wins gold in all-around, boxing controversy and… chocolate muffins?

A whole week of competition at the Paris Games is now over. Here’s the latest from Thursday’s Olympic action.

Testy discourse erupted online over a controversy in the women’s boxing event. Algerian boxer Imane Khelif advanced after Italian opponent, Angela Carini, quit after 46 seconds. Khelif, who has not identified as transgender, was barred from previous women’s events over elevated testosterone levels. Another boxer who previously failed gender testing will be fighting in the women’s competition on Friday after being cleared to compete prior to the Paris Games.

In the pool, 17-year-old Summer McIntosh won gold for Canada in the women’s 200 butterfly, finishing ahead of American Regan Smith, who earned silver. Legendary coach Bob Bowman’s swimmers continued to dominate with four more earning medals including Smith and Hungary’s Hubert Kos, who won his country’s first gold at the Paris Games in the men’s 200 backstroke. Team USA’s Kate Douglass won her first-ever gold in the women’s 200 breaststroke and Katie Ledecky became the most decorated female Olympian with her silver medal in the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay, her 13th medal overall.

Both of Team USA’s 3×3 basketball teams collectively have only one win at the Paris Games and are in danger of crashing out of the competition altogether. Both men and women sit bottom of their eight-team pools and must find more victories in their final games if they want to finish top two to qualify for the quarterfinals.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama leads the men’s golf standings after round one, but Team USA’s Xander Schauffle and Scottie Scheffler are still within striking distance. 

And the American women’s basketball team successfully fended off an upset bid in its 87-74 win over Belgium, moving to 2-0 in group play.

Medal count

Three big things about Team USA

1. Rowing foursome wins first gold since 1960 Games

Team USA’s four-man rowing team won a historic gold medal on Thursday: the first American rowing gold medal in 64 years. The U.S. boat was hardly the favorite, pulling the upset over New Zealand by nearly half a boat length.

2. Simone Biles reclaims all-around crown, Tokyo champ Suni Lee earns bronze

Two days after leading U.S. women’s gymnastics to a gold medal in the team all-around event, Simone Biles and Suni Lee competed in the individual all-round final Thursday. Biles reclaimed gold while Lee needed a near-perfect floor routine in the final rotation to make the podium with bronze. It marked the first time ever that two Olympic individual all-around champions competed in the event at the same Games. Biles has now won the most Olympic gymnastics golds in American history with six and also became the first American to repeat as individual all-around champ.

3. Women’s fencing upsets favorite Italy in team foil

Team USA won another unexpected gold medal in Paris, this time in women’s team fencing. Lauren Scruggs, who won silver in the individual event, got the winning jab over the favored Italians in the final. It’s America’s first-ever gold medal in the event and the first medal for the women’s team since 2008.

You won’t believe this

Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen has gone viral not for a fantastic swim or even for a thirst trap pic. No, Christiansen has gained over 25 million views on TikTok for his videos about… chocolate muffins. That’s right, Christiansen apparently loves the chocolate muffins at the Olympic Village so much that he’s dedicated his social media presence at the Games to content solely about them.