Postcard from Paris: Cashing in on the Lottery and a third Games for a third country

Paul Eddison and James Toney with their daily Olympic diary, with the behind-the-scenes stories you might have missed.

There's a joke about the British swimming team at the 1996 Olympics - great news from Team GB at the pool today ... no-one drowned.

It's a little unfair on Paul Palmer and Graeme Smith, who won a silver and bronze, but it underlined a Games largely best forgotten in Atlanta.

Two weeks in Georgia saw Great Britain finish a lowly 36th on the medal table, below the likes of Kazakhstan, North Korea and Algeria. Indeed, if it was not for rowers Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent they wouldn't have won a single gold medal.

Team GB athletes in Paris are quick to thank the National Lottery and officials are in no doubt it makes the difference.

“Our recent record would be a pretty remarkable achievement for any country, but it is a particularly remarkable achievement for a country of our size," said British Olympic Association chair Sir Hugh Robertson.

"I don’t think there is another sports team in this country that has been as successful as Team GB. And that is down to the transformational effect of lottery funding.

“To win a gold medal, you need four things - money, structure, coaching and athletes with the right sort of preparation and mental toughness. The money enables the sports to put the right structure, to find the right coaches and, crucially, it allows the athletes to be able to train full time."

Globetrotting Marie Branser is making her second Olympic appearance at Paris 2024, competing in judo under a third different nationality.

Born in Leipzig, the 31-year-old began her career fighting under the German flag, winning four medals at the German national championships.

After being overlooked for the Dusseldorf Grand Slam in 2019, she began the naturalisation process for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, making her Olympic debut in the -78kg category where she lost in the first round.

Now, in Paris 2024, Branser has switched nationalities once more, representing Guinea this time around as she won a first match before losing to eventual semi-finalist Anna-Maria Wagner – the German flagbearer at these Games.

In terms of the perfect preparation before an Olympic appearance, half an hour’s sleep seems far from ideal.

But for French racewalker Aurélien Quinion, there was a very good reason. A matter of hours before he finished ninth in the men’s 20km walk, Quinion was at the maternity unit in Eaubonne to support his wife as she gave birth.

Their daughter, Charlie, arrived at approximately two in the morning, before Quinion jumped in a cab to the start line. He proceeded to run a new personal best on his way to ninth place, and could not have been happier at the finish.

He said: “We only have one life. I thought of my daughter during the race, of course. I don’t know if it gave me wings, I’m not Olympic champion, but I hung in. My wife was very brave. It is the most beautiful thing that has happened to us.”

Jorge Enriquez knows what it means to swim for your life.

Representing Cuba, Enriquez won Olympic gold in canoe sprint at Tokyo before making the decision to defect seven months later on a training trip to Mexico.

He jumped into the Rio Grande and swam to Texas to seek asylum and did it twice to go back to save a woman who was drowning.

Enriquez now paddles the canals of Cape Coral in Florida, sharing the water with dolphins, manatees and even crocodiles. Having given up on a place at Paris 2024, he will represent the IOC Refugee Olympic Team in Paris.

“This opportunity is the biggest thing in my career,” said the 25-year-old. “It was a tremendous joy for me, my family and my coach. I’ll represent the refugees with a lot of dignity.”