Olympics

Rock climbing walls are for wusses .... so says a dude who just scaled the Eiffel Tower  ... and the timing of his stunt could not have been worse.

Watch the vid ... the man scales the 330-meter tower, making his way over the blue ring of the Olympics logo ... which is temporarily perched on the famed landmark.

The incident went down Sunday afternoon ... just 3 hours before the start of the Olympics closing ceremony, forcing French police to evacuate the area around the Tower.

The verdict is in on the fate of Jordan Chiles' bronze medal ... and it ain't good.

The International Olympic Committee ruled the U.S. gymnast would have to give back the third-place medal she won in the floor competition during the Paris Olympic Games – and it will now be bestowed on her Romanian counterpart, Ana Barbosu.

As you may know, the whole controversy began last Monday ... Chiles scored a 13.666 in the women's floor exercise, landing her fifth in the competition.

And that about wraps up the summer 2024 Paris Olympics, and there's zero doubt Team USA's pro-stars showed up, showed out and made our country proud! But, the athletes weren't the only ones who left it ALL out on the floor ...

Fans from all over the world made the trip to Paris and showed off their patriotism -- fully decked out in their respective colors n' gear, but which country brought their A-game fans? It's a close call, however France, Brazil and Japan for sure committed to the bit!

Olympic basketball players' hoop dreams brought out some huge stars to the gold medal match ... and they just saw the U.S.A. eke out victory against France.

Jimmy Fallon led the coterie of famous faces at the event ... grinning big courtside and even stopping to snap some photos with French President Emmanuel Macron.

U.S. Olympians past and present -- like two-time basketball gold medalist Scottie Pippen and track star Sha'Carri Richardson, who's taking home serious hardware from Paris -- shouted from the sidelines too.

Jordan Chiles may have to give back one of her Olympic medals ... 'cause a review board says a challenge to her score shouldn't have been allowed.

Here's the deal ... during Monday's women's floor exercise, Chiles was originally awarded a score of 13.666 -- placing her fifth, just off the podium.

While at first deflated, her coaches demanded a difficulty review ... which the judges granted. After looking at the routine, they increased her score by one-tenth of a point -- putting her in third.

Justin Gatlin ain't blaming Noah Lyles one bit for hitting the Olympics track while positive for COVID ... telling TMZ Sports the opportunity to secure a medal simply outweighed the other risks -- at least, in his mind.

Of course, there were many detractors in the sports world who felt differently ... as they believed the American endangered his fellow competitors and others in the area when he chose to run the 200-meter final on Thursday in Paris while symptomatic for the coronavirus.

But Gatlin -- a USA track legend -- told us on Friday he would have done the exact same thing ... explaining, "this is an Olympic dream you have, man."

Representing the United States of America .... Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg! Step right up to these two shady stars and see if you can find the changes and stick the landing! You've only got one shot so make the moment count!

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the two besties got quite handsy on the NBC set -- which featured the tower as the backdrop. Martha shined bright in her fancy suit and Snoop repped Team USA!

After judging these two photos ... can you find the switch-ups?

The Team USA men's basketball team is hours away from competing for Olympic gold ... so in honor of the big showdown with France, TMZ Sports presents the lovely wives and girlfriends of the Red, White and Blue!!

"Captain America" LeBron James' high school sweetheart-turned-wife, Savannah, leads the charge ... with the Queen -- as well as the whole James gang -- showing up in Paris to check out all the action so far in the competition.

Joel Embiid -- who's reppin' 'Merica for the first time at the Olympics since becoming a U.S. citizen -- is hoping to finish at the top of the podium ... and even though she's Brazilian, we're sure his Sports Illustrated swimsuit model wife, Anne de Paula, will be his biggest cheerleader when he goes toe-to-toe with Victor Wembanyama.

Ah, the sweet taste of victory!!! Now that the winning stars of the Olympics have medals around their necks, it wouldn't be an Olympic moment without biting into their winnings and leaving their (teeth) marks on Paris!

After winning the men's 100m Breastroke final, Italy's Nicolò Martinenghi bit into his golden treasure, and of course, the USA female gymnasts -- captained by Simone Biles -- took home Gold and nibbled on their earnings while owning the podium.

Imane Khelif can now call herself a gold medalist ... as she just defeated China's Yang Liu in the women's welterweight final at the Olympics -- the first-ever top finish for an Algerian boxer.

Khelif defeated Liu just minutes ago -- dominating the entire three-round contest and ending what was been a controversial Olympic run.

The 25-year-old boxer has become one of the most polarizing figures of the Paris Games ... and it all stems from the International Boxing Association claiming she was ineligible to compete for the championships in 2023 after unspecified tests determined she had XY chromosomes.

Nyjah Huston's Olympic medal problem is about to be remedied ... the manufacturer of the prize tells TMZ Sports it's going to replace his award as soon as it can.

Huston got the bronze back on July 29 after coming in third place in the men's street skateboarding final ... but on Thursday -- he complained to his millions of followers on social media that it was already falling apart.

In a video he posted to his Instagram Stories, you can see it appeared to have some tarnish issues ... along with some chipping problems.

The Olympic event everyone's been talking about is finally here -- the OG breakdancing competition, and lucky for the IOC, Snoop Dogg is there to drop the mic and introduce the epic showdown!

To hell with ancient Greece ... the Games got a whole lot more fly Friday as the rapper rolled into the stadium to his own track, “Drop It Like It’s Hot" ... with 17 B-girls busting their best moves for the event officially titled Breaking.

Contestants from all over -- USA, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and beyond -- brought their A-game.

Jake Paul is taking matters into his own hands to bring USA Boxing back to the top of the Olympic podium -- he just announced his plans to compete at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles!!

El Gallo dropped the surprising news on his "BS W/ Jake Paul" podcast on Friday ... saying he's fed up with the Red, White and Blue coming up short in the ring.

The 10-1 fighter actually worked with USA Boxing leading up to the Paris Games ... teaming up with the athletes to help with branding and meditation at its headquarters.

Sha'Carri Richardson continues to show she's one of the fastest women alive ... blowing by a German runner and hitting her with the side eye during a qualifying relay race in Paris on Thursday, and the moment was pretty epic!

It all went down during the last leg of the women's 4x100m relay when Richardson got the baton from teammate Gabby Thomas (and 200m gold medalist) ... who was behind in the race after a shaky exchange from Twanisha Terry going into the third leg.

The misstep meant Team USA was in second place (despite being favored to win the race) ... with Germany's Rebekka Haase leading with less than 100 meters remaining in the race. If USA failed to qualify, there would be no running for another gold.

But, Richardson wasn't gonna let her squad down.

The alleged terror plot for a Taylor Swift concert, Nelly's casino arrest and Katie Ledecky's emotions are all part of today's TMZ TV Hot Takes ... and there's a lot to cover.

First up on "TMZ Live," Harvey and Charles break down the foiled terror plot that targeted Taylor's Vienna concerts.

Over on "TMZ on TV," our crew reacts to Nelly's roller coaster experience at a Missouri casino ... where he went from jackpot winner to being under arrest.

Team USA skateboarding star Nyjah Huston isn't entirely happy with his first Olympic medal ... 'cause he says his bronze is already going to crap -- and he shared video/photo evidence to back his claim.

Huston -- one of the greatest skateboarders alive -- went to Instagram to give a review of his hardware after winning the bronze with a 279.38 score in the Men's Street Final at the Paris Games ... revealing to his 5.3+ million fans how it currently appears.

"They look great when they're brand new, but after letting it sit on my skin with some sweat for lil' bit and letting my friends wear it over the weekend, they're apparently not as high quality as you would think," the goofy-footed skater said.