• We’re a week into the Paris Olympics, and many, many things have gone very well. But not everything:
  • South Korea demanded a meeting with the head of the IOC after it was mistakenly introduced as North Korea during the opening ceremony.
  • Olympic officials followed that up by playing the wrong national anthem for South Sudan prior to its men’s basketball game against Puerto Rico.
  • The Nigeria women’s basketball team wasn’t allowed to board the delegation’s boat for the opening ceremony. The players and coaches were told there were already too many people on board.
  • Very few world records have been broken in swimming, and experts are blaming a shallower-than-usual pool.
  • If you had Iraq and judo for the first positive doping disqualification, you are a winner.
  • Paris organizers apologized for part of the opening ceremonies that featured drag queens that some say evoked Leonardo da Vinci‘s famous painting, “The Last Supper.”
  • Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi lost his wedding ring in the Seine River when he waved a little too vigorously during the boat ride to the opening ceremonies.
  • How bad is the food in the athletes village? Even the British are complaining.
  • Eurosport, which broadcasts the Paris Olympics in Europe and parts of Asia, fired swimming commentator Bob Ballard after he mocked participants in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, saying, “Well, the women just finishing up. You know what women are like … hanging around, doing their makeup.”
  • Speaking of the Seine, heavy rains caused E. coli levels to spike in the river, forcing the postponement of triathlon training sessions.
  • Sadly, Samoan boxing coach Lionel Elika Fatupaito died from a heart attack in the athletes village.
• Omnicom PR agencies, including Porter Novelli, Ketchum and FleishmanHillard, have quietly been conducting layoffs.
• Hosting the Oscars has always been a high-wire act, and most of the time not flopping is the big win. So it isn’t a surprise that comedians John Mulaney and Jimmy Kimmel have already passed on hosting next year’s show.
• Champagne sales are down 12% this year, which many are blaming on the idea that there is “not much joy in the world.” That checks out.
• “On the heels of spots like Bistro LeRoux, Enzo’s End and Cochino Taco’s Edgewater location calling it quits in July, D Bar announced … that its last day of service at its Uptown location is Sunday, August 4.”
• Stop me if you have heard this one before: Meta has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle a claim it violated regulations. This time it was a facial recognition suit in Texas.
• Extreme heat this summer has turned soda cans into “little bombs” that spontaneously explode on Southwest Airlines flights. Unlike other airlines, Southwest doesn’t refrigerate its cans because it doesn’t serve perishable food and so it isn’t required to have refrigerated storage.
• Are the Monforts slum lords?
• A former Denver Police Academy recruit is suing the City and County of Denver and Denver Health alleging that he lost the use of his legs following a brutal beating that was part of a “hazing ritual.”
• The latest TikTok-inspired cocktail: Coke and marshmallow fluff. You won’t be able to put the glass down. Literally.
• A Florida woman was arrested after being pulled over during a traffic stop when an officer spotted a bag in her car labeled “Bag of Drugs.” It contained … wait for it …  crack, meth and pills.

Who won the week?

• Good for them, sad for us. Denver lost two notable media professionals to retirement over the past week. Colorado Sun reporter Sandra Fish has retired after more than 40 years as a journalist, and 9News meteorologist Ed Greene has ended a 47-year career in Denver.
• The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was freed as part of a complicated prisoner swap. His employer has the fascinating behind-the-scenes details of how it happened.
• A more American-friendly time zone and the Peacock streaming service have helped to increase NBC’s television ratings for the Paris Olympics by 79% over the previous Tokyo games.
• The NFL is no doubt cheering a decision by a trial judge to throw out a $4.7 billion judgment because the jury did not follow his instructions closely enough.
• Marvel‘s “Deadpool & Wolverine” set the record for largest R-rated movie opening weekend in history with $205 million.