Paris: Football and Rugby Sevens kick off the sporting action at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday featuring a top French star and a huge police presence. As the clock ticks down towards Friday's opening ceremony, Olympic chiefs awarded the 2030 Winter Games to the French Alps and the 2034 event to Salt Lake City. But in a dramatic twist they warned the US city could be stripped of the Games if American authorities kept up their feud with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
As the sport gets under way two days before the opening ceremony, a packed Stade de France will cheer on Antoine Dupont -- arguably the world's best rugby player and a pin-up of the Paris Games -- as the Rugby Sevens tournament starts. The electric Dupont is the biggest draw for the 555,000 fans expected over the six days of rugby action, but France will have their work cut out to stop double Olympic champions Fiji. France and Fiji are in the same pool and will play the United States and Uruguay, before the pair face each other in a mouthwatering clash on Thursday.
Others to watch in the wide-open competition are traditional rugby powers New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, and Ireland. The success of Salt Lake City's bid to host the 2034 Olympics was a foregone conclusion given the Utah city, which hosted the Games in 2002, was the only candidate. But the International Olympic Committee said the Games could be revoked if US lawmakers and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) were not brought into line.