2024 Paris Olympics: What you need to know right now

PARIS - Chaos descended on Argentina's opening men's soccer match and a spying scandal engulfed the women's soccer tournament in an inauspicious opening day of sport at the Paris Olympics.

Here's what you need to know about the Paris Games on Thursday, the day before the Opening Ceremony.

SOCCER "CIRCUS"

Argentina soccer coach Javier Mascherano slammed the chaotic conclusion of his side's opening game against Morocco, branding it "the biggest circus I've ever seen in my life."

Argentina thought it had salvaged a draw deep into additional time before the goal was dramatically ruled out for offside by the VAR and a pitch invasion forced play to be suspended for nearly two hours.

"What happened on the pitch was a scandal, it's not a neighbourhood tournament, it's the Olympics," Mascherano told reporters.

'DRONEGATE'

Women's soccer was reeling after New Zealand said their Canadian rivals had flown a drone over a training session, engulfing the tournament in a spying scandal.

Global soccer's governing body FIFA began disciplinary proceedings and Canada Soccer said it would launch an independent review, as coach Bev Priestman stepped down from opening match duties.

Priestman apologised and said the buck stopped with her.

New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell told FIFA on Thursday to take urgent action to address it.

ANTI-DOPING WARS

Relations between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have taken another turn for the worse over a long running dispute concerning the global body's handling of a case involving 23 Chinese swimmers.

WADA told Reuters it was taking USADA to the Independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) next month, a move that could jeopardise the United States' hosting the 2028 Summer Games and 2034 Winter Olympics.

In April, the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) at a training camp in 2021 but still competed at the Tokyo Olympics Games that year.

USADA chief Travis Tygart has publicly accused WADA of a cover-up. U.S. law enforcement has now taken up the case and could take action using the American Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act.

WADA says the United States is taking a unilateral approach to anti-doping rules that risked undermining global rules.

USADA told Reuters that WADA's move to take the U.S. to the CRC was retaliatory.

SECURITY

France will roll out its largest post-war security operation at Friday's official Opening Ceremony. An iron curtain has descended across central Paris as police impose a security perimeter along the banks of the River Seine.

Security officials say as many as 45,000 police and thousands of soldiers and private security guards will be tasked with securing the ceremony and sporting events that will be spread across the French capital.

One of the few operational bridges in central Paris across the Seine was briefly shut down on Thursday morning, as police conducted an impromptu mine sweep, irritating commuters. Several thousand athletes will parade along a 6 kilometre stretch of the Seine in an unprecedented opening ceremony that is fraught with security risks.

—Reuters