BBC Wales at the Olympics

Image source, Getty Images

Jade Jones' dream of creating history by winning a third Olympic Games taekwondo gold medal were dashed after losing her opening bout in the women's -57kg division against Miljana Reljikj in Paris.

Jones' hopes of reaching the bronze medal bout also ended as she needed the North Macedonian Reljikj to progress to the final to secure a spot, and then be able to fight for a potential bronze medal contest.

But Jones' Olympic Games is over after Reljikj was beaten by Laetitia Aoun of Lebanon in the quarter-finals.

In Jones' bout against Reljikj the first two rounds were shared before the final round finished level 1-1.

Reljikj was named the winner by registering more hits in that third round.

Jones won gold at London 2012 and repeated that feat in Rio four years later, but was knocked out in the first round at Tokyo in 2021.

She was aiming to shrug off any lingering controversy over a missed drugs test in the build-up to Paris.

Jones' appearance at the 2024 Games had been thrown into doubt earlier this year when she was suspended pending further investigations.

She ultimately escaped sanction after being found to having committed a no-fault doping violation on confidential medical grounds.

The 31-year-old has kept a low profile since the saga, spending much of her time training in Croatia before her fourth Olympic appearance.

Jade Jones is narrowly beaten in her opening bout in the taekwondo -57kg category, meaning the best she can hope for is a bronze medal through the repechage.

Image source, Getty Images

Jeremiah Azu says he will use the pain of disqualification on his Olympic debut to fuel him for the rest of this athletics career.

Azu was removed from the 100m heats after a false start, but the Cardiff sprinter ran a strong first leg to help Great Britain qualify for Friday's final of the 4x100m relay with a season's best time.

"I got another chance to come out here with the guys," Azu told BBC Sport.

"It was a shame what happened, it's track and field, we learn and we move on.

"I've still got a long career ahead of me so I'm going to use that pain to fuel me for the rest of my career.

"I set up the guys nicely today and we qualified for the final which is the main thing, so we're all happy."

Image source, Getty Images

Jeremiah Azu put his individual disappointment in the 100m behind him to help Great Britain through to tomorrow's final of the men's 4x100m relay.

Azu gave the quartet a solid start before handing over to Louie Hinchliffe.

Richard Kilty ran the bend while Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake held off Japan to finish third, with USA comfortable winners ahead of South Africa.

It was a season's best for GB with a time of 38.04.

Cardiff sprinter Azu was disqualified for a false start in the men's individual 100m heats on Saturday.

Image source, Getty Images

With Jade Jones and Emma Finucane aiming to win gold on day 13 in Paris, the 2024 Games could soon be the most successful ever Olympics for Welsh athletes.

The previous record was set at the Rio Games 2016, with four gold medals and six silvers.

So far in Paris 12 Welsh athletes have won nine medals for Team GB - three golds, two silvers and four bronzes.

So two golds today - or anytime between now and the end of the Games on Sunday - would make Paris 2024 Wales’ most successful Olympics - both in terms of medal count and golds.

Here's a reminder of who has won what so far:

GOLD - Matt Richards & Kieran Bird (swimming - men’s 4x200m freestyle relay)

GOLD - Emma Finucane (cycling - women’s team sprint)

GOLD - Harry Brightmore (rowing - men’s eight, cox)

SILVER - Matt Richards (swimming - men’s 200m freestyle)

SILVER - Ollie Wynne-Griffith (rowing - men’s pair)

BRONZE - Eve Stewart (rowing - women’s eight)

BRONZE - Matt Aldridge (rowing - men’s four)

BRONZE - Becky Wilde (rowing - women’s double sculls)

BRONZE - Elinor Barker, Jess Roberts, Anna Morris (cycling - women’s team pursuit).

Image source, Getty Images

For all you Cardiff City fans, we have an Olympics link for you this morning.

In the women’s heptathlon all eyes might be on Katarina Johnson-Thompson, but also in the competition for Team GB is Jade O’Dowda, sister of Cardiff City player Callum.

It is a first Olympics for Jade, although she did win bronze at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and claimed gold in the long jump at this year’s British Athletics Championships.

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh focus on Thursday - day 13 of the Paris Games - is on the athletics and cycling tracks and the taekwondo mat in the Grand Palais.

Jeremiah Azu will be looking for redemption with the 4x100m relay team. He returns to the Stade de France five days after being disqualified for a false start in the 100m heats.

Great Britain go in heat one at 10:35 BST and will be expected to progress to Friday's final.

Next up from Wales is Jade Jones. The two-time Olympic taekwondo champion is hunting for a third gold medal, with her round-of-16 tie at 11:00 BST and - if she makes it that far - the final scheduled for 20:37.

Jones won in London and Rio but suffered a shock early exit in Tokyo. Her build-up to Paris has not been perfect, not least a doping case where she avoided a ban over a refused test because of “very exceptional circumstances”.

Up to now, no taekwondo athlete has won three Olympic golds.

Cyclist Emma Finucane is being tipped for three golds at this Games.

Having already won her first Olympic title in the team sprint on Monday, the 21-year-old from Carmarthen comfortably won her women's keirin heat on Wednesday.

In the keirin, riders follow a pacing motorbike or electric bike called a derny, which gradually increases in speed from 30km/h to 50km/h.

After 750m, the derny peels off the track and a three-lap sprint begins.

The quarter-finals in the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome get underway at 16:18 BST, and if all goes to plan Finucane will have a semi-final at 17:15 before going for gold in the final at 18:11.

Finucane's final event, the individual sprint, is run over Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh track cyclist Elinor Barker has been talking to BBC Sport after helping Team GB win the women's team pursuit bronze.

"Maybe the cameras don't pick up that level of detail but we definitely lost our nerve, well at least I did," said Barker.

"We thought we would be a bit further up on them, so to see before the end that it was really quite close, I did not expect that."

The Great Britain quartet had set a new national record earlier in the day.

"I was really happy with that," said Barker.

"I had a good feeling on the start line, felt a bit like a sprung coil ready to go.

"I am just glad to get that feeling because it is so rare to feel like that on a big race day. I'm really glad it has all fallen into place."

Watch as Great Britain's Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, Anna Morris and Jessica Roberts time a late charge against Italy to win the women's team pursuit bronze medal race at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh track cycling trio Elinor Barker, Jessica Roberts and Anna Morris have claimed Olympic bronze in the women's team pursuit event in Paris.

Barker, Roberts, Morris and Josie Knight formed the GB quartet that beat Italy to clinch a podium position.

Barker, 29, has completed the full set of Olympic medals having won the gold in Rio in 2016 and a silver in Tokyo five years later.

She will compete in the Madison on Friday. while Roberts and Morris claimed medals in their first Olympics.

This was Barker's third Games but her first since becoming a mum to Nico in 2022.

She found out she was pregnant on the day she won Olympic silver in the women's team pursuit in Tokyo, meaning a cocktail of emotions as she also came to terms with being left out of the GB quartet for their final against Germany.

At that time, Barker says, Paris was not on her radar - but she has made a remarkable return to the sport after pregnancy.

She competed for Wales at the 2022 Commonwealth Games when Nico was just five months old, then won two world titles in the team pursuit and the Madison in 2023.

When the last Olympics took place in Tokyo, Morris was in a Gloucestershire hospital training to be a doctor. She had started cycling at university and would fit training around her shifts.

Morris, who went to the same Cardiff school as Barker, paused her medical career to try - successfully - to make the 2022 Commonwealth Games for Wales, and did not stop there.

She moved on to the British Cycling programme in Manchester and has become an important part of the women's endurance squad.

Morris was part of the world championship-winning team pursuit quartet in Glasgow last summer and has now picked up a medal in Paris.

Roberts was always considered a hugely talented young rider but everything went on hold for her in 2021 as she was forced to take time away from cycling to recover from a long-standing back injury.

That issue is behind her now and, after two Commonwealth Games appearances for Wales, she got the chance to race at her first Olympics.

Tom Brown
BBC Sport Wales

Image source, Getty Images

As we await the women's team pursuit bronze medal race against Italy, not only are three of this GB quartet Welsh - but two of them went to the same school.

Elinor Barker and Anna Morris were in the same year at Llanishen High School in Cardiff.

The team's travelling reserve, Elinor's younger sister Meg, went there too.

And so did 100m sprinter Jeremiah Azu.

Not a bad return for one school.

Image source, Getty Images

Pembrokeshire sailor Micky Beckett's hopes of a podium finish in the men's dinghy have ended in disappointment.

He had been heading for silver after the second restart of the day, but a windshift forced that race to be abandoned.

In the third attempt, the 29-year-old from Solva sustained three penalties and finished last in the 10-boat fleet to end his campaign in sixth overall.

That helped Peruvian Stefano Peschiera hold on to the bronze medal spot despite also being penalised twice as he and Beckett duelled at the back of the pack.

Cypriot Clemente Seguel Lacamara took second behind Australia's Matt Wearn.

Beckett and his rivals had to endure a general recall for a restart at the first attempt and the Welshman was on course to overhaul Lacamara as well as Peschiera before the winds of fate blew his challenge off course.

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh swimmer Hector Pardoe will be glad Wednesday's familiarisation session for marathon swimming in the River Seine has gone ahead despite ongoing concerns over water quality.

The session had been cancelled five times because of pollution in the river.

It provides respite for Paris 2024 organisers after issues with events taking place in the Seine have dogged these Olympics.

The men's triathlon had to be postponed by a day because of low water quality.

The marathon swimming familiarisation had been cancelled after tests showed levels of bacteria in the water had dropped below the required standard.

Heavy rainfall has increased the levels of bacteria in the Seine, although hot weather helps to reduce the count.

The women's 10km marathon swimming race is set to take place on Thursday with the men's on Friday.

If the Seine is deemed unsuitable on the day of marathon swimming, organisers said the 10km races can be moved to Vaires-sur-Marne, east of Paris, where the rowing and canoeing competitions take place.

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh track cycling trio Elinor Barker, Jessica Roberts and Anna Morris will ride for a bronze medal alongside Josie Knight in the team pursuit on Wednesday evening.

The Team GB quartet just missed out on the gold medal race after being pipped by the United States of America. The time of 4:04.908 was a national record for the GB riders.

Team GB will battle it out with Italy in the bronze medal race scheduled for 18:17 BST.

Barker is aiming to complete the Olympic medal set after winning gold in Rio in 2016 and silver in Tokyo five years later, while Morris and Roberts are aiming for their first Games podium finish.

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh track cyclist Emma Finucane began her bid for a second Olympic gold when she came through the keirin first round in Paris.

Finucane, who was part of the GB team sprint winning trio on Monday evening, eased to victory in her heat to qualify for Thursday's quarter-finals.

The medals will be decided on Thursday evening.

In the keirin, riders follow a pacing motorbike or electric bike called a derny, which gradually increases in speed from 30km/h to 50km/h.

Before the start of the race, riders draw lots to decide on their position behind the derny.

After 750m, the derny peels off the track and a three-lap sprint begins.

Image source, Getty Images

Bearing in mind the lack of wind that has disrupted Micky Beckett's campaign for a men's dinghy podium finish in Marseille, it is probably best we concentrate on something of a certainty at the Games.

Not the certainty of a medal of course, but the sure knowledge that Welsh trio Elinor Barker, Jess Roberts and Anna Morris will join team-mate Josie Knight in going all out to earn a slice of glory at the velodrome in the women's team pursuit.

That is the only cycling medal on offer for any Welsh riders today, with the first round scheduled for 12:52 BST.

Shortly before that Emma Finucane will begin her challenge for a second gold. Having already won in the women's team pursuit, Finucane will go it alone in the keirin at 12:26 BST, hoping to avoid the need to be in the repechage scheduled for 14:10 BST.

If the winds blow agreeably in Marseille - as they failed to do on Tuesday - Micky Beckett could be celebrating bronze or silver in a medal race rescheduled to start at 12:13 BST.

Image source, Getty Images

The men's and women's dinghy medal races have been delayed until tomorrow because of lack of wind in Marseille.

The women's race was scheduled to start at 13:43 BST, with the men's at 14:43 BST - but organisers have decided that no further racing is possible today.

Great Britain’s two-time World Championship medallist Micky Beckett is in contention for a spot on the podium after finishing fourth at the end of the qualifying series.

But it was not good news for Chris Grube and helm Vita Heathcote in the mixed dinghy event, who were waiting to compete in the now cancelled races nine and 10.

The pair finished 15th and seventh in races seven and eight that went ahead this morning - but with winds dropping, races 9 and 10 were called off.

That left the British pair stranded in 11th and agonisingly just a point behind 10th that would have been enough for a place in tomorrow's scheduled medal race, ending their Olympic hopes.

Image source, Getty Images

Wales dId not have any athletes competing in the skateboarding, but some Welsh blood carved up La Concorde in Paris where Australian Ruby Trew competed

Her father, James, hailed from Barry in south Wales before emigrating to New South Wales.

Trew was a silver medallist behind GB's Sky Brown at the World Skateboarding Pro Tour in San Juan, Argentina, in 2023, but did not progress from the qualifiers today.

Image source, Getty Images

Welsh track cycling trio Elinor Barker, Anna Morris and Jess Roberts will ride for a medal in the women's team pursuit on Wednesday along with Josie Knight.

The Great Britain quartet qualified third fastest behind New Zealand and the United States of America in the first round.

GB will race the United States in what is effectively a semi-final on Wednesday afternoon.

The other tie will be between New Zealand and Italy with the two winners racing each other for the golds.

Germany, the reigning champions and world record holders, have missed out on a medal as they are down in fifth in qualifying, while Ireland came ninth.