Five Olympic stars to watch in Paris

PARIS – When the Paris Olympics open in six months' time on July 26, these five stars will be expected to light up the venues, delighting spectators and a TV audience of billions:

After a two-year hiatus US gymnastics superstar Simone Biles vaults into Paris as potentially the biggest headline act of the 2024 Games.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist was meant to be the poster star of the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo, only to dramatically pull out of most of her events suffering from a debilitating temporary spatial awareness condition known as “the twisties”.

The pint-sized bundle of brilliance — who has five moves named after her — made an explosive return to the international stage at the world gymnastics championships last October, scooping four golds.

The 26-year-old's multi-million strong army of social media followers, and sports fans everywhere, will hope to see her trademark smile shine down from the top step of the podium for the first time at an Olympics since Rio 2016.

No track athlete had a more remarkable 2023 than Kipyegon, who set world records at three distances and took two golds at the world championships.

Having won one gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and five years later in Tokyo, the Kenyan, voted Woman Athlete of the Year in 2023, could bag several titles in Paris.

Her country, whose status as an athletics superpower has been tarnished by a string of doping scandals, badly needs her to succeed.

If the hosts are to meet President Macron's target of making the top five in the medals table, they need their stars to shine and no one is more brilliant in his field than judoka Teddy Riner.

Riner, who will be 35 when the Games start, has won gold in each of the last three Olympics, twice in the heavyweight 100+ category and once in Tokyo in the mixed team. He also has two bronze medals.

He appears to be in good shape as he prepares for Paris. He won his 11th world championship title last May before taking a long break.

When he returned in December at a meeting in Belgrade, he won all three of his bouts, signaling that, in spite his age, the native of Guadeloupe is in the mood for a fourth successive gold medal.

"It's not just about showing off,"