SportsHounds Senior correspondent Mike Osborne wraps up the Australian highlights on Day 4 of 16 at the Paris Olympics.
The weight of expectation can drive some to success, like four-time swimming Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown.
For others like the Australian women’s rugby sevens team, it can be overwhelming like too much to bar, like to success Swimming
“Expectation is a privilege,” McKeown said after successfully defending her Olympic 100m backstroke title in the Paris pool.
She now has four Olympic pic gold medals and the chance to win another four at these Games.
“The Americans gave me a red-hot push, but I’m over the moon,” she said of silver medallist and world record holder Regan Smith and her USA teammate Katharine Berkoff who took the bronze.
“I didn’t put expectations on myself, I was going to get out and enjoy the atmosphere, and that’s the best you can do for yourself.”
McKeown next swims in the 200m backstroke, the 200m individual medley and two relays.
“I just need to take it step by step,” she said. “The Aussies have had a great meet, following Arnie (Ariarne Titmus) and Mollie (O’Callaghan). To see my teammates, who I get on with so well, get up there and sing for Australia, standing on the podium, it’s been an awesome few days.”
But expectation, and the Rugby Sevens gods, can be cruel masters as the Australian women discovered when a last-moment 80-metre runaway try allowed the USA to snatch the Olympic bronze medal.
It was a heartbreaking and emotional finish for the Australians at the Stade de Paris as they watched a conversion after full-time give the Americans a 14-12 win.
Australian Medallists at the Paris Olympics
| Athlete | Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mollie O’Callaghan | Swimming | W 200 freestyle W 4×100 freestyle relay W 4×200 freestyle relay | W 4×100 medley relay | Mxd 4×100 medley relay |
| Kaylee McKeown | Swimming | W 100 backstroke W 200 backstroke | W 4×100 medley relay | W 200 ind medley Mxd 4×100 medley relay |
| Ariarne Titmus | Swimming | 400 freestyle w 4×200 freestyle relay | W 200 freestyle W 800 freestyle | |
| Jess Fox | Canoe/kayak | Kayak Slalom Canoe Slalom | ||
| Emma McKeon | Swimming | W 4×100 freestyle relay | W 4×100 medley relay | |
| Meg Harris | Swimming | W 4×100 freestyle relay | W 50 freestyle | |
| Grace Brown | Cycling | W Time Trial | ||
| Shayna Jack | Swimming | W 4×100 freestyle relay | ||
| Lani Pallister | Swimming | W 4×200 freestyle relay | ||
| Brianna Throssell | Swimming | W 4×200 freestyle relay | ||
| Cam McEvoy | Swimming | M 50 freestyle | ||
| Saya Sakakibara | Cycling | W BMX racing | ||
| Matt Ebden | Tennis | M Doubles | ||
| John Peers | Tennis | M Doubles | ||
| Noemie Fox | Canoe/Kayak | W Kayak Cross | ||
| Arisa Trew | Skateboard | W Skateboard Park | ||
| Matt Wearn | Sailing | M Laser Dinghy | ||
| Keegan Palmer | Skateboard | M Park | ||
| Oliver Bleddyn | Cycling | M Team Pursuit | ||
| Kelland O’Brien | Cycling | M Team Pursuit | ||
| Sam Welsford | Cycling | M Team Pursuit | ||
| Conor Leahy | Cycling | M Team Pursuit | ||
| Nina Kennedy | Athletics | W Pole Vault | ||
| Matt Richardson | Cycling | M Individual Sprint M Keirin | M Team Sprint | |
| Kyle Chalmers | Swimming | M 100 freestyle M 4×100 freestyle relay | ||
| Elijah Winnington | Swimming | 400 freestyle | M 4×200 freestyle relay | |
| Flynn Southam | Swimming | M 4×100 freestyle relay | M 4×200 freestyle relay | |
| Zac Stubblety-Cook | Swimming | M 200 breaststroke | ||
| Jack Cart Wright | Swimming | M 4×100 freestyle relay | ||
| Kai Taylor | Swimming | M 4×100 freestyle relay | ||
| Jenna Strauch | Swimming | W 4×100 medley relay | ||
| Chris Burton | Equestrian | Individual Eventing | ||
| Grae Morris | Sailing | M Windsurfing | ||
| Nicola Olyslagers | Athletics | W High Jump | ||
| Jack Robinson | Surfing | M Surfing | ||
| Moesha Johnson | Swimming | W 10km Swim | ||
| Riley Fitzsimmons | Canoe/Kayak | M K4 500m | ||
| Jackson Collins | Canoe/Kayak | M K4 500m | ||
| Noah Harvard | Canoe/Kayak | M K4 500m | ||
| Pierre van der Westhuyzen | Canoe/Kayak | M K4 500m | ||
| Maddison Keeney | Diving | W 3m Springboard | ||
| Stingers | Water Polo | W Water Polo | ||
| Jessica Hull | Athletics | W 1500m | ||
| Matt Glaetzer | Cycling | M Team Sprint M Keirin |
||
| Max Giuliani | Swimming | M 4×200 freestyle relay | ||
| Tommy Neill | Swimming | M 4×200 freestyle relay | ||
| Josh Young | Swimming | Mxd 4×100 medley relay | ||
| Matt Temple | Swimming | Mxd 4×100 medley relay | ||
| Natalya Diehm | BMX Cycling | BMX Freestyle | ||
| Penny Smith | Shooting | W Trap | ||
| Jemima Montag | Athletics | W 20km walk Marathon Relay Walk |
||
| Jessica Morrison | Rowing | W Pair | ||
| Annabelle McIntyre | Rowing | W Pair | ||
| Eleanor Patterson | Athletics | W High Jump | ||
| Leigh Hoffman | Cycling | M Team Sprint | ||
| Rhydian Cowley | Athletics | Marathon relay walk | ||
| Matt Denny | Athletics | M Discus | ||
| Caitlin Parker | Boxing | W 75kg | ||
| Charlie Senior | Boxing | M 57 Kg | ||
| Tom Green | Canoe/Kayak | M K2 500m | ||
| Jean van der Westhuyzen | Canoe/Kayak | M K2 500m | ||
| Opals | Basketball | W Basketball |
After three straight wins they had similar disappointment in a 21-12 semifinal loss to Canada despite leading 12-0 just before half time.
“Obviously it wasn’t our day,” captain Charlotte Casslick said.
“We didn’t control possession the way we would have liked. It hurts. But I am still proud of the girls. We’ll go again. We love playing rugby, we love each other, but we love Australia more.”
Australian speedster Maddi Levi was the top try scorer in the Olympic tournament with 14, while teammate Sharni Smale played her last game for Australia.
“I just can’t put it into words,” Smale said. “I feel numb. There is a lot of emotion. This is my last game for the Aussie Sevens, so it’s pretty disappointing, but I am proud of the girls.”
Australia also picked up a bronze in the men’s 4x200m freestyle at the pool to remain in the top three on the Paris medal tally after day four of action, behind Japan and China.
Paris Olympic Medal Table
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | 40 | 44 | 42 | 126 |
| 2 | China | 40 | 27 | 24 | 91 |
| 3 | Japan | 20 | 12 | 13 | 45 |
| 4 | Australia | 18 | 19 | 16 | 53 |
| 5 | France | 16 | 26 | 22 | 63 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 15 | 7 | 12 | 34 |
| 7 | Great Britain | 14 | 22 | 29 | 65 |
| 8 | Korea | 13 | 9 | 10 | 32 |
| 9 | Italy | 12 | 13 | 15 | 40 |
| 10 | Germany | 12 | 13 | 8 | 33 |
| 11 | New Zealand | 10 | 7 | 3 | 20 |
The exact same Australian line up who won bronze in Tokyo backed-up in Paris. The gold was won by Great Britain, and the USA took silver ahead of the now familiar Australian team of Max Giuliani, Flynn Southam, Elijah Winnington and Tommy Neill.
The Australian action from other sports in Paris today:
CANOE SLALOM
Flag bearer and kayak slalom gold medallist Jessica Fox qualified second fastest for the canoe slalom semifinal.
Back in action on the white water for the second of her three Olympic events, Fox will go off second last in the semifinal which will decide the finalists later in the day.
“It was about feeling good in the heats course, in the canoe, getting that feel back after the kayak,” Fox said.
She is the defending Olympic champion in this event which was first contested at the Tokyo Games.
After this she takes on another new Olympic event in the kayak cross, where her sister Noemie has also qualified.
But her quest for three gold medals is not stressing her out.
“I’m trying to really stay in the moment, stay focused,” she said.
“Job one today was heats. Tomorrow will be to make the final, top 12, and then hopefully just be free in that final and go for it as much as I can and be proud of myself at the end.”
BMX
Gold medal favourite and defending Olympic champion Logan Martin, 30, qualified in third place for the final of the BMX freestyle.
Recently recovered from a foot injury suffered in May, Martin has been perfecting new tricks for the Paris final tomorrow.
“I had a rough couple of months, even leading in, but I’m healthy and I’m ready to go now,” he said.
Fellow Queenslander Natalya Diehm, 26, rode with an injury at the Tokyo Olympics and finished fifth. She’s now fit and in form and qualified 8th for the finals, but scores start all over again in the race for gold.
TENNIS
Alexei Popyrin’s strong form at the Olympics continued with a straight sets win over former Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.
In steamy conditions at Roland Garros Popyrin prevailed 6-4 7-5 to be the first Australian man to reach the men’s singles third round since Lleyton Hewitt in 2012.
“I think it’s probably some of the hottest conditions I’ve ever played in, and I’m from Australia, so that’s saying something,” he said.
“The crowd was amazing. They were cheering for Stan and he is a legend of our sport, so being able to get past him is a great plus.”
Next up Popyrin plays German defending champion Alexander Zverev.
Meanwhile Matt Ebden and John Peers beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Pablo Correno Busta 6-2 7-5 in their second round doubles match.
However in the women’s doubles Ajla Tomljanovic and Olivia Gadecki lost 3-6 6-2 6-10 to Russian pair Diana Schnaider and Mirra Andreeva playing under the individual neutral athletes flag.
WATER POLO
After losing 9-5 to Spain in their opening match, the Australian men’s water polo team bounced back, beating the defending Olympic champions Serbia 8-3.
The win was based around strong defence, excellent accuracy and a five goal second period. Luke Pavillard was on target with four goals from nine attempts.
“I’m happy to be the one to put them away, but we’ve got multiple guys on the team that on any given day can step up and be the guy that’s scoring,” Pavillard said.
“We have our game style. We know we’re a fit team. We know we can hurt teams with our swimming.”
Goalkeeper Nic Porter also starred with nine saves from 12 shots. “That number is not a reflection on just me. It reflects our entire defence,” he said.
ROWING
Single sculls gold medal hope Tara Rigney won her quarter final by more than four seconds and was the third fastest qualifier for the semifinals.
Only Netherlands’ Karolien Florijn and New Zealand’s Emma Twigg went faster winning their quarter finals.
But the other news at the Olympic regatta was not so good for Australia with the women’s double sculls and women’s four both reaching only the B finals from their events.
BASKETBALL
The Boomers lost to a strong Canadian outfit 93-83 after being ahead by four at half time but a dominant 48-34 second half stole the game away.
Josh Giddey was the best of the Australians with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists. However the Australians could not find the basket in the second half and now the Tokyo bronze medallists face a winless Greece in a must win match on August 2.
“I just thought they wore us down physically and we really had trouble getting into anything in the second half,” said Australian coach Brian Goorjian.
Meanwhile in the 3×3 basketball at Place de la Concorde, the Australian women also lost to Canada 22-14.
“We have been in this position before,” said Australia’s Alex Wilson. “In the Olympic qualifying tournament, we lost our first game and we thought the world was ending, but it didn’t.”
SHOOTING
James Willet finished sixth in the men’s trap, failing to make the final medal shoot-out which was won by world record holder Nathan Hales of Great Britain.
Willet had been a medal hope heading into the final but had some early misses which put the pressure on him as the rest of the field kept hitting the clay targets.
Hales was a comfortable winner in an Olympic record of 48 out of 50.
Penny Smith was in third place after the first day of qualification in the women’s trap having only missed two targets. Her teammate Catherine Skinner was four misses further back.
BOXING
An unlucky Callum Peters narrowly lost his opening bout in the 80kg division against Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan. The Australian went down 2-3 in a split decision by the judges with only a point separating the pair.
Yusuf Chothia also lost his 51kg division fight against Spain’s Rafael Lozano Serrano, although the result was more clear cut with the Australian going down 4-1.
In the final Australian fight of the day in the women’s 54kg division Tiana Echegaray was comfortably beaten 5-0 by Turkey’s Hatice Akbas.
HOCKEY
After two close wins the Kookaburras suffered their first loss in Paris going down to Belgium 2-6 thanks to some great saves by the opposition goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch.
Both teams had nine shots on goal but Australia could only convert two as Vanasch made seven saves. At the other end Andrew Charter could only stop three of the Belgium strikes.
Australia next play New Zealand who are yet to register a win at these Games.
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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