Olympics

Aboriginal Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman was in her early 20s when she sprinted her way to the top of the leaderboard at the Summer Atlanta Olympics back in 1996 -- and making a triumphant return four years later to the 2000 Summer games in Sydney.

Freeman specialized in the 400 meter event with a personal best of 48.63 seconds, which to this day still ranks her as the eighth fastest woman of all time. And at the 2000 Olympics, she took the crown for her 400 meter specialty and lit the Olympic Flame!

Hollywood has fled to Paris to support the star athletes of Team USA! Check out A-listers like John Legend and Chrissy Teigen who selfied-up with Snoop Dogg!

11:07 AM PT -- Seems Simone Biles was, indeed, talking about MyKayla Skinner with her post on X ... Jordan Chiles just shared a snap of a phone that appeared to show Skinner has blocked the gymnastics superstar on Instagram.

Simone Biles says she's been blocked on social media -- and while she didn't name any names ... just about everyone thinks MyKayla Skinner's the one who put the G.O.A.T. on mute.

Biles informed her 1.7 million followers on X of the block on Wednesday afternoon with a cheeky four-word post -- "oop I’ve been blocked."

Along with the sentence, the superstar gymnast added three emojis that all suggested she didn't mind it one bit.

U.S. triathlete Seth Rider admitted that in order to prepare his body for the dirty Seine River at the 2024 Olympics ... he actually spent weeks not washing his hands.

For real.

Rider explained his super gross unique strategy to The Athletic recently, saying that he believed by exposing his body to smaller amounts of E. coli at home ... he could prepare himself for Paris' body of water that's notorious for its high levels of bacteria.

The polluted Seine River, or absolute exhaustion (or perhaps both), got the best of some of the triathletes at the Paris Olympics -- especially Canadian competitor Tyler Mislawchuk -- who threw up at the finish line on LIVE TV!!!

The Paris Olympics received a bunch of criticism for the Seine River's cleanliness, with reports of high levels of E. coli and other bacteria present ... but officials believed the quality was good enough for Wednesday's triathlon, which in addition to the swim, also includes cycling and a 10km run.

The triathletes battled it out on both land and in the water ... and it all took a toll on Mislawchuk, who looked very unwell at the finish line.

Simone Biles paused her gold medal party Tuesday to take a shot at her former teammate ... and the troll job was executed so perfectly -- over TWO MILLION people threw it a "like."

The gymnastics G.O.A.T. hurled the barb at MyKayla Skinner hours after she, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey smoked the competition at the Olympics team final at Bercy Arena in Paris.

On IG, she posted four pics of her team celebrating their big dub ... with the caption, "lack of talent, lazy, olympic champions ❤️🥇."

The 2024 Paris Olympics is serving up some serious star power -- major celebs are getting snap-happy at the hottest ticket in town ... and exhibit A is in this photo right here.

Margot Robbie teamed up with her "Barbie" pal Greta Gerwig for an epic star-studded meet-up bonanza ... which included Tom Cruise and directors Steven Spielberg and Christopher McQuarrie, all of whom came together for a photo-op out in Paris.

It’s a mega celeb line-up all in one shot -- like the iconic 2014 Oscars selfie, but with a more laid-back vibe.

John Legend has a big gig coming up, Phaedra Parks is making a big comeback and Simone Biles is celebrating another big win ... all this on today's TMZ TV Hot Takes.

First up on "TMZ Live," Harvey and Charles have all the details on John's upcoming appearance at the Democratic National Convention.

Before this beautiful baby girl in her sweet little dress turned into a world class athlete, she was just growing up in Houston, Texas with her siblings and german shepherd pups ... dreaming of grabbing Gold!

She first popped up on the podium at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, and from there it was total domination! You may recall the viral bumble bee moment standing on the podium next to fellow Olympian Kyla Ross.

Hands down, she's the GOAT and will continue to run on 'em in the sport of Gymnastics.

Simone Biles is hitting back after critics voiced their displeasure about her hair at the 2024 Olympics ... making it clear the peanut gallery should keep their opinions to themselves.

The Olympian -- who just won the 5th gold medal of her career at the Summer Games -- addressed her haters head on Tuesday ... after trolls weighed in on her knotted hairstyle during Sunday's qualification event for women's artistic gymnastics.

Simone took to her Instagram Stories to show her hair was styled heading into her participation at the Paris Olympics ... but shared hot temperatures and a 45-minute bus ride with no A/C caused her 'do to frizz and fall apart.

Bella Hadid is horsing around after getting serious about the controversy surrounding her ill-fated, and ill-planned, Adidas modeling gig.

The supermodel was in Fort Worth, TX Monday night riding a horse inside a rodeo arena, only hours after breaking her silence on the Adidas shoe drama in which she's been embroiled.

Bella's in full cowgirl mode in the video and photo -- rocking a cowboy hat, boots and a Texas-sized belt buckle while riding.

Simone Biles has done it again -- she just earned her FIFTH Olympic gold medal ... and she did it all as around a dozen A-list celebs cheered her on.

The gymnastics G.O.A.T. -- alongside Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey -- waxed the field inside of Bercy Arena on Tuesday afternoon in Paris ... beating out Italy and Brazil for first place in the team final.

Everyone from Serena Williams to Natalie Portman to Jason Kelce was inside the building to watch history go down ... and at no point did Biles and the rest of Team USA disappoint.

Gold medalist Shawn Johnson East made her name known at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing -- taking home Gold on the balance beam and racked in the silver with teammates Nastia Liukin, Chellsie Memmel, Samantha Peszek, Alicia Sacramone and Bridget Sloan.

A French drag queen from the 2024 Paris Olympics ceremony is speaking up about the controversy -- telling us the whole point was to showcase France’s LGBTQ+ scene and definitely not to offend anyone.

A rep for the singer and former "Drag Race France" star Piche tells TMZ ... offending anyone or a whole religion was the last thing they were thinking about. They just saw it as a fun, joyous, pop culture moment that most of the planet felt.

That said, Piche, who rocked an extravagant catwalk in the rain during the ceremony, is really happy that queer people were able to be represented in the show.

9:38 AM PT -- Jonathan Owens is now front and center at the gymnastics team final in Paris ... cheering on his wife in what appears to be a custom Simone Biles shirt.

He's already been shown a few times on the event's broadcast, as he's sitting with Biles' parents.

Simone Biles' husband, Jonathan Owens, has kept his promise ... he's ditched Bears' training camp and is now in Paris to watch the gymnastics star compete at the Olympics.

Coco Gauff was eliminated from the singles competition at the Paris Olympics Monday morning ... but her match didn't come without controversy, as an argument with the chair umpire left her in tears.

After dropping the first set 7-6(7), the 20-year-old tennis star, tied up two games a piece in the 2nd set, and with the score tied 30-30, her opponent, Croatia's Donna Vekic, served the ball ... which a line judge said was out of bounds, awarding Gauff the point.

However, the chair umpire -- Jaume Campistol -- declared the shot in ... and that set Gauff off.