Ralph Daleiden-Ciuferri;
Credit: COSL via Facebook
On Tuesday 30 July 2024, it was the turn of Ralph Daleiden-Ciuferri to represent Luxembourg at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Competing in the Olympics for the first time, Ralph Daleiden-Ciuferri finished the 100 m freestyle qualification round in 49.12 seconds. He ranked 30th out of 79 swimmers and missed out on qualifying for the semi-finals.
As relayed by the Comité Olympique et Sportif Luxembourgeois (COSL), the Team Lëtzebuerg swimmer shared that he had hoped to swim the distance in 48 seconds: “I expected that time, so I'm not satisfied but I'm happy to be here”.
Fellow Team Lëtzebuerg athlete Jeanne Lehair was set to take part in the women’s triathlon final on the morning of Wednesday 31 July 2024. However, news emerged that she had withdrawn from the race after falling off her bicycle. No further details were available at the time of writing.
The women’s triathlon went ahead on Wednesday morning, despite recent delays and uncertainty linked to concerns over the water quality in the Seine River.
Olympic Medals at a Glance
At the time of writing, Japan remained top of the medal table, having secured its seventh gold medal on Tuesday 30 July 2024 (Takanori Nagase in the men’s judo 81 kg division); the nation boasts thirteen medals overall. China and Australia have climbed to second and third place respectively, each with six gold medals; China has fourteen medals overall and Australia has a total of eleven.
France dropped from second to fourth place but has eighteen medals overall, including five gold, nine silver and four bronze medals.
Team USA still has the most medals overall (26) but remains in sixth place, with four gold, eleven silver and eleven bronze medals. It was the women’s artistic gymnastics team (featuring star gymnast Simone Biles) who brought home the nation’s fourth gold medal on Tuesday.
Another highlight on Tuesday was Daniel Wiffen becoming the first Irish male swimmer to win gold at the Olympics. The 23-year-old finished the men’s 800 m freestyle final in a record 7min 38.19sec. Ireland has secured one gold and one bronze medal (both in swimming) at the 2024 Summer Olympics so far, and ranks fourteenth on the medal board.
