Olympic Daily News: 20 September 2020

Happy Paella Day! The Spanish region of Valencia is hosting a grand celebration with the 'Paella Cup' taking place at the Mestalla football stadium!

It sounds like the perfect meal after the activities of national gymnastics day in the U.S.

Ok, so that was yesterday, but any excuse to watch Simone flip like this again:

Wow.

Anyone else really want to jump into a sea of soft foamy red cubes?

People got creative to celebrate the sport, here's Chelsie Memmel under a stunning Idaho sky.

All the sport!

Cycling's Tour de France and Giro Rosa, the NBA Play offs, golf's US Open, football's Premier League and La Liga, and the build-up to the French Open tennis tournament... It's all happening, and fast!

Could we see a first debutant winning the US Open?

Matthew Wolff holds a two-stroke lead into the final day at Winged Foot, but will have several big names chasing him in the last round of the year's second major.

NBA fans get a day to digest the Boston Celtics 117-106 win over the Miami Heat to reduce their Eastern Conference Finals deficit to 2-1. The Western Conference Finals series resumes on Monday with the LA Lakers 1-0 up on the Denver Nuggets.

And road cycling's biggest event, the Tour de France ends on the streets of Paris today, with 21-year-old Tadej Pogacar sealing a shock first grand tour win, after taking the yellow jersey in Saturday's time trial.

Find out why the Slovenian could be rapping in celebration, by reading our profile on the UAE-Team Emirates rider.

Meanwhile Olympic road race champion Anna Van Der Breggen picked up the only women's Grand tour title available this season.

The Dutch Rio 2016 gold medallist claimed her third Giro Rosa title, in her final season of competitive cycling before she retires after the Tokyo Games.

"I'm not perfect" - Novak Djokovic

"It's not the last one I'll break," said Novak Djokovic after he smashed a racket at the Italian Open.

Two weeks after losing his cool and defaulting from the US Open for hitting a line judge with a ball, Djokovic struggled to contain his emotions once more, during his quarter-final win over Dominik Koepfer.

“Well, let me tell you it’s not the first nor the last racket that I’ll break in my career,” Djokovic, 33, told reporters afterwards. “I have done it before, I’ll probably do it again. I don’t want to do it, but when it comes, it happens.

“That’s how I guess I release sometimes my anger. And it’s definitely not the best message out there, especially for the young tennis players looking at me.

"But, look, we’re all people. We all do our best."

We agree! Djokovic faces Norway’s Casper Ruud in the semi-finals, with the Roland Garros French Open coming up in early October.

Novak is He's the top seed left in the tournament after Rafa Nadal suffered a shock clay-court loss, going down to Diego Schwartzman.

Spurs' big day

It been a huge few days for English football club Tottenham Hotspur. They finally got to show off the new world-class footballer signed from abroad who's only 31 and has so much more to give to the club, a real game changer, one of the biggest signings in the London side's history.

That's right, Alex Morgan has arrived at Spurs. The USA star and London 2012 Olympic gold medallist brings a big boost to the women's squad.

Bale is back

Oh and a certain Welshman by the name of Gareth Bale also returned to the club after a spell at Real Madrid where he won four UEFA Champions League titles.

Alex Scott thanks fans

On the other side of North London, it's been a tough few days for Great Britain footballer and 2012 Olympian Alex Scott.

England's Scott suffered abuse and racism online after being mentioned as potential new host of popular British sports quiz show 'A Question of Sport', replacing former tennis player Sue Barker, who won the French Open in 1976 and has been the host for 24 years.

Women's world cup bronze medallist Scott shared an anti-racism poem she wrote in 2018 on her Instagram Story, including the line: "Some want to say I'm ticking a box, but that's not me."

Here's part of the poem:

"I was that girl that played football, I didn't really care,

I was that girl that played football, long brown hair.

I was that girl that played football, with no regards to the colour of my skin,

I was that girl that played football, because I always wanted to win....

Hi, hello, I'm Alex Scott and you know what, football is me."

On Thursday, Arsenal supporter Scott received a Royal Television Society award for her broadcasting skills in covering the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. She thanked her fans for the support she's received.

Good news!

We all need some happy news right now and this story will brighten your Sunday:

Spanish triathlete Diego Mentriga helping out his competitor James Teagle in Santander.

Great sportsmanship.

Cat spotter

That was a lot of sport to take in, so here, have a funny cat.

Taking us back to gymnastics day in the USA yesterday, here's everyone's favourite cat spotter.

Trivia

Thinking caps on?

Yesterday we asked: In which city where the first Winter Olympic Games held, in 1924? And these were the options:

1. St. Moritz, Switzerland
2. Lake Placid, USA
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Chamonix, France.

If you said Chaomonix in France then congratulations!

The Games were organized by the French Olympic Committee, first called "International Winter Sports Week." The event was a great success and eventually became the Olympic Winter Games.

Here's today's question:

The Olympic Games would be impossible without volunteers, how many people do you think applied to help out at Tokyo 2020?

1. 204,680
2. 156, 777
3. 70,000
4. 201, 842

Put your answers on a postcard. Or on our social media.