The Olympics 2021/22

Women’s four correction. 

 I'm in awe...

 

 I used to be a very good breastroker...won at school level. But now my knees are f**ked up, I can't do the kick properly.

 I am very at home in water. As are all my family. A great many are lifesavers.

  

 PS. Lovely to see the great Susie O'Neill in the cheer squad in the stand. Possibly my favourite all-time swimmer.

 

7 medals. 3 Gold, 4 Bronze. Not too shabby at all.

Overview: Historic day for Australia with the biggest one day medal haul in the history of the nation. While the medal grab, was great there were several mixed results which have cost several medal hopes the chance to medal.

Basketball. Australia had their next group match today with a hard fought 86-83 win over the Italians. I know I said last night they needed to win well for me to think they were medal contenders, but that is a match that the Boomers would have lost in the past. They showed some steel, but they will need to step their effort up as the class rises. 

Beach Volleyball. Both the mens and womens teams were in action. Th men suffered a 2 set - 0 defeat against their Spanish opponents while the ladies finished with a hard fought 2 set to 0 victory over their Italian opponents. 

Boxing. Australia had three boxers in action and it was a bitter day for our contingent. Caitlyn Parker was first in her round of 16 bout, but she was totally outclassed by her Panamanian opponent defeated 5-0. Our other two boxers were in extremely close bouts. Paulo Aokuso was in a quarter final against his Spanish opponent. He was holding a slender lead going into round 3 however having watched the fight he was very reserved in the final round he fell just short. I actually liked the way he moved and if he can develop more defense he could make a good pro. Our other boxer was Skye Nicolson who had been very good leading into her quarter final. Again it was a tight bout with things all locked up going into round 3, however her opponent took her chances to find a little bit extra and bring Skye's competition to an end.

Canoe Slalom. Today saw the heat for the womens C1 and the mens K1. In the womens event we saw Jessica Fox, five time world champion have a good first run and then move into tomorrows semi finals with the fifth best score. In the mens K1 we saw Australia's Lucien Delfour come through into Friday's semi final with the third best score. 

Cycling (mens and womens Time Trial). Today at Fuji International Speedway we saw both the mens and womens time trial take place. In the womens race the Dutch women made sure there were no hiccups here as the road race silver medalist Annemiek vn Vleuten went one better and her feloow dutch rider Anne van der Breeggen finished 3rd. Unfortunately for Australia Gracie Brown fell seven seconds short of a medal in fourth place. Agreat ride and against a highly talented field that was a huge effort. In the mens time Australia's Rohan Dennis started evenly and was always in fifth or sixth position at all the checkpoints. However he put in a huge effort in the last sector of the race and he grabbed the bronze medal by 1 second from Switzerland's Stefan Keung. The winner Slovenia's champion rider Primoz Roglic, became a gold medalist when he destroyed his opposition by over 1 minute. That completes the road cycling competitions. We start the velodrome action on Sunday.

Football. The Olyroos had their final group match today and all they needed was a draw, however after showing great determination in their first two matches, they fell away against Egypt to go down 2.0. After such a great tournament it is the same story for Australia, we play well but can not do enough to progress out of the group stage.

Field Hockey. Both the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos had their next group matches today and we saw the Hockeyroos grab a 1-0 win over Japan in a gripping match. The Kookaburras then showed that they are in form which has been a concern through covid, as they scored a 4-2 victory over New Zealand.

Rowing. Now are you sure there is any news here  One of the best days in an Olympic regatta for Australia. Australia had crews in four finals and all four crews won medals. First up was the womens four crew. They took a lead early, but had to hang on as the Netherlands challenged late, and they did a great job to take the gold. Next up was the mens four and memories of the oarsome foursome came flooding back as the men dominated their opponents to grab the gold. Then came the heartstoppers. In the mens quad sculls the Australians were in second last place, but a huge last 500m surge saw the grab the bronze in the last stroke. And to round out the days action the womens quad sculls saw Australia in a battle for third with Italy and Germany and they were good enough to grab the bronze medal. 

Shooting. We had the first of two days of mens and womens trap shoot qualifications take place. In the womens we saw Australia's Laetisha Scanlan finish the first days qualification in fifth spot and only two targets behind the Slovakian leader. Australia's other shooter Penny Smith started slow but she had two sensational rounds to sit sixth1 target behind Laetisha. Tomorrow sees the second group of qualifications, and then the top six go through to the final which is also tomorrow. In the mens Australia's James Willett and Thomas Derek Grice are only two and three shots behind the leader going into tomorrow's qualification.

Swimming. Australia had a good morning in the pool. Ariarne Titmus continued her golden form as she became only the third female swimmer to do the 200m and 400m double at one olympics. Once again she sat on the leader/s and came with a winning surge. Australia had two swimmers in the 1500m womens final and Kiah Melverton finished 6th while Maddy Gough came in the final spot. And the final medal decided in the morning session was the 4x200m mens freestyle relay. Australia were in a battle for third from the start as the Great Britain team dominated out front. Finally Australia came home to grab the bronze medal. 

Tennis. Well the nations run almost came to a complete stop today. We had our two womens doubles teams in play and unfortunately both lost, Stosur and Peres were first off the rank and they fell to their Swiss opponents. Then Barty and John Peers were up in their mixed doubles first round match and they won, defeating their Argentinian opponents. And finally we had Ash Barty and Sanders were up as they faced the top seeds for the tournament in the Czech pair Krejcikova and Siniakova. The Australians looked good in the first set going up 6-3. But it looked like Ash and Storm were exhausted and they started to make unforced errors as the top seeds won the second set 6-4. In the super tie breaker the top seeds got to a 4-1 lead and never really looked in danger winning the set 10-7.

Daily Highlights.

Obviously Ariarne Titmus was huge, only becoming the third women in history to do the 200m 400m double.

The fact that Australia had secured it's most medals in one day of competition is extroadinary.

The sailing got under way and the Australians in action have got the regatta off to a great start.

The American mens basketball quelled the media back home for a while with a expected win over Iran.

Australian Medal Tally

Gold: 6

Silver: 1

Bronze: 9

Medal Tally: 16 > Target = 37

   

                

 I like that...

Yep a super effort. And what a race! Thought he had it with 10m to go but not to be. And a great interview after it. Hard not to be impressed with him as both a swimmer and a person. Well done!

 I thought our team selection was really wrong.

 Cook in for Neale would have been better and bookend the race with Titmus and McKeon...

 Quite disappointed...

 

 We once dominated it.   

The pole vault is dUe to begin at 10am Saturday. With Kendricks gone, our guy has a very good medal hope, if he can continue.