Portugal Colonial - McIntosh magic at Paris Olympics after Djokovic downs Nadal

Fans saw gold medals awarded in 11 sports on day three in Paris, as glorious blue skies over the French capital banished memories of the soggy opening ceremony.

In an electric night in the pool, McIntosh produced an extraordinary effort in the 400m individual medley, leaving American pair Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant trailing in her wake.

"It was an amazing feeling. It's always just about having fun, as well as pushing my body to its limits," said world record-holder McIntosh, whose winning time was the fourth-fastest ever.

Australian star Ariarne Titmus narrowly failed to collect her second gold of the Games, teammate Mollie O'Callaghan turning in an Olympic record to win 200m freestyle gold.

Elsewhere in the swimming, a nailbiting men's 200m freestyle saw Romania's David Popovici pip Britain's Matthew Richards to gold by a fingertip, winning by just 0.02 seconds.

- '20 years later' -

With the mercury touching 30 degrees Celsius (86F), the hottest ticket in town was at Roland Garros for the clash of the tennis titans Djokovic and Nadal.

King of clay Nadal has always enjoyed the edge over his rival in Paris but at the age of 38 and with injuries slowing him down, he had warned he would struggle to be competitive against Djokovic.

That proved painfully prescient in the first set as the ruthless Serb dispatched his opponent 6-1.

But 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal rolled back the years in the second, roared on by a packed crowd, fighting back from 4-0 down to 4-4 with two breaks of serve.

Djokovic found an extra gear at the end to claim a 6-1, 6-4 victory, the pair embracing at the net and the popular Nadal waving to the Roland Garros faithful.

Nadal, now ranked 161 in the world, said he would decide on his future after the Paris Games "based on my feelings", complaining he did not "have the legs of 20 years ago".

"I never thought back in 2006 that we'd still be playing each other almost 20 years later," said Djokovic, who admitted he was "very relieved" to have got through.

- 'So proud' -

In diving, Britain's Tom Daley took an emotional silver medal with partner Noah Williams in the men's synchronised 10m platform behind China's Lian Junjie and Yang Hao.

Williams choked back tears as he recalled his former coach Dave Jenkins, who died in 2021 after the last Olympics in Tokyo.

Daley, whose father Rob died of cancer in 2011, said: "I've never seen Noah cry in my whole life, I know how much today means to him.

"It's very sad Dave is not here, but I know Dave and my dad would both be so proud to see us here today."

China scooped the first diving gold in Paris with victory ahead of the United States and Britain in the women's synchronised 3m springboard.

- Late magic -

In another see-saw contest, Japan pipped China in the gymnastics men's team final.

Daiki Hashimoto conjured up some late magic to help Japan to gold as arch-rivals China crumbled with the title within their grasp.

In mountain biking, Britain's Tom Pidcock staged an extraordinary comeback from a puncture to win his second straight gold, holding off French home favourite Victor Koretzky in a thrilling sprint finish.

Yuto Horigome retained his men's skateboarding street title after the event was postponed on Saturday because of rain.

War-torn Ukraine grabbed their first medal of the Games, fencing great Olga Kharlan securing bronze in the women's individual sabre.

Olympic organisers will be crossing their fingers for the men's triathlon on Tuesday after cancelling a second day of training in the Seine because of pollution in the river.

burs-ric/pst

A.Santos--PC