SportsHounds Senior correspondent Mike Osborne wraps up the Australian highlights on Day 5 of 16 at the Paris Olympics.
While Jess Fox enjoyed a golden Olympic dream, four other Australians had dreams of different hues as minor medals were won around Paris in swimming, shooting and BMX freestyle.
Fox successfully defended her canoe slalom gold medal from Tokyo to add to her kayak slalom victory earlier in the week and spoke passionately of working hard tom make dreams come true.
“So much can happen when you dream, when you believe and when you work hard,” Fox said. “The fact that I get to do this is such a privilege.”
Fox won her event down the white water course she loves so much with a time of 101.06 including a two second penalty on her actual time of 99.06 seconds. Such was her domination that she still won by almost 2.5 seconds ahead of German Elena Lilik who took silver in 103.54, while American Evy Leibfarth was third with 109.95.
“I don’t know how I did that, the atmosphere was incredible,” Fox said. “I looked out and I saw so much green and yellow – so many Aussie flags and I think that was the best run I’ve ever done.
“I knew once I had got through the hard moves it was about trying to get to the finish and holding it together, and wow!”
Thanks to Fox, Australia’s Olympic sports women have now won gold on every day of the first five days of the Paris Games. Day One – Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle and the women’s 100m relay plus Grace Brown in the road cycle time trial. Day Two – Jess Fox kayak. Day Three – Mollie O’Callaghan in the 200m Freestyle. Day Four – Kaylee McKeown in the 100m backstroke.
| Athlete | Sport | Number | Gold Medals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mollie O’Callaghan | Swimming | 3 | W 200 freestyle W 4×100 freestyle relay W 4×200 freestyle relay | |
| Jess Fox | Canoe/kayak | 2 | Kayak Slalom Canoe Slalom | |
| Kaylee McKeown | Swimming | 2 | W 100 backstroke W 200 backstroke | |
| Ariarne Titmus | Swimming | 2 | 400 freestyle 4×200 freestyle relay | |
| Grace Brown | Cycling | 1 | W Time Trial | |
| Shayna Jack | Swimming | 1 | W 4×100 freestyle relay | |
| Emma McKeon | Swimming | 1 | W 4×100 freestyle relay | |
| Meg Harris | Swimming | 1 | W 4×100 freestyle relay | |
| Lani Pallister | Swimming | 1 | W 4×200 freestyle relay | |
| Brianna Throssell | Swimming | 1 | W 4×200 freestyle relay | |
| Cam McEvoy | Swimming | 1 | M 50 freestyle | |
| Matt Ebden | Tennis | 1 | M Doubles | |
| John Peers | Tennis | 1 | M Doubles | |
| Noemie Fox | Canoe/Kayak | 1 | W Kayak Cross | |
| Arisa Trew | Skateboard | 1 | W Skateboard Park | |
| Matt Wearn | Sailing | 1 | M Laser Dinghy | |
| Keegan Palmer | Skateboard | 1 | M Skateboard Park | |
| Oliver Bleddyn | Cycling | 1 | M Team Pursuit | |
| Kelland O’Brien | Cycling | 1 | M Team Pursuit | |
| Sam Welsford | Cycling | 1 | M Team Pursuit | |
| Conor Leahy | Cycling | 1 | M Team Pursuit | |
| Nina Kennedy | Athletics | 1 | W Pole Vault |
Australian sprint champion Kyle Chalmer’s dreams of winning a third medal at his third consecutive Olympics also came true when he took silver in the men’s 100m freestyle behind China’s Pan Zhanle who clocked a world record 46.40 seconds with Chalmers finishing in 47.48 ahead of Romanian David Popovici in 47.49.
“I did everything I could out there and I’m really proud to have won silver at my third Olympics,” said Chalmers who won gold in this event at Rio 2016 and silver at the Tokyo Games.
Zac Stubblety-Cook could not defend his Olympic 200m breaststroke crown from the Tokyo Games, taking silver behind home town hero Leon Marchand who also won the men’s 200m butterfly to give France two gold medals in the pool. Marchand won in an Olympic record time of 2min05.85 with the Australian finishing almost a second behind in 2min6.79.
Also at the pool Australia fried to win a medal in the women’s 100m freestyle despite winning gold earlier this week in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
The 200m freestyle champion Mollie O’Callaghan finished fourth and relay gold medallist Shayna Jack was fifth as Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem won gold in 52.16 seconds. American Torri Huske was second in 52.29 and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey was third in 52.33 seconds, just touching out O’Callaghan by a hundredth of a second for the bronze.
Also dreaming of a podium finish was four-time national champion Natalya Diehm who took the bronze medal in the women’s BMX freestyle.
The 26-year-old from Gladstone who first started riding BMX as an eight-year-old and was fifth at the last Games in Tokyo said: “I’ve dreamed of this moment all week and I knew I’d finish third.”
Diehm scored 88.8 on the first of her two runs to finish behind China’s Deng Yawen with a 92.6 run, while the silver went to Perris Benegas of the USA who scored 90.7, both on their second runs.
“It’s my first medal in a major international competition and what a place to do it at the Paris Olympics,” Diehm said. “You have to dare to dream because sometimes it can come true.”
In the men’s BMX freestyle defending Tokyo gold medallist Logan Martin finished ninth in the final after a low scoring first run followed by a foot slip from the pedal on his second and final run which blew his chances of a medal.
At the women’s trap shooting Penny Smith maintained Australia’s strong shotgun reputation by winning the bronze medal after eight misses from 40 shots.
She finished behind gold medallist Adriana Ruano Oliva who only missed five shots out of 50 on her way to winning Guatemala’s first Olympic gold medal. Italy’s Maria Silvana Stanco, who missed three of her final 10 shots, finished with silver edging out the Australian.
“It’s phenomenal. I’m very emotional,” Smith said. “I did it the hard way, having to shoot off to get into the final.”
Smith followed in the tradition of Olympic trap medallists like Michael Diamond, Russell Mark, Suzy Balogh and teammate Catherine Skinner who failed to make the final in Paris.
Fox’s gold medal along with the two swimming silvers to Chalmers and Stubblety-Cook plus the shooting and BMX bronze medals kept Australia in the top four on the Paris Olympic medal table.
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 Australian action from other sports in Paris today:
BOXING
Australia’s Caitlin Parker made short work of her women’s 75kg bout against Vanessa Citlatalli Ortiz of Mexico with all five judges scoring the win to Parker who heads to the quarter-finals.
“I knew it was going to be a bit of the unknown,” Parker said.
“She’s a bit of a brawler. I had to box smart. But I feel I can be a universal fighter, pick out whatever I want to do tactically.”
Likewise, Charlie Senior progressed to the quarters when he beat Belgian Vasile Usturoi 4-1 in a men’s 57kg division fight he seemed to control throughout.
“I didn’t come here looking for any easy fight. I’m prepared to mix it with the best,” Senior said.
However, Shannan Davey was not so fortunate in his 71kg bout against Bulgaria’s Rami Mofid Kiwan going down 0-5.
HOCKEY
The Hockeyroos continued their unbeaten run with a 3-0 win over the USA and have still only conceded one goal in the competition so far.
Renee Taylor scored in the third minute to give the Australians an early lead and they never looked back.
The second goal came from Alice Arnott just before half time with the Hockeyroos heading into the break 2-0.
In a tight second half including a scoreless third quarter, Maddison Brooks iced the cake for Australia in the 53rd minute.
“We started the game really well, and maybe got a bit tired towards the end,” Arnott said.
“But we stuck to our guns. It was a hard-fought win, but it was a good win, nonetheless.”
Tomorrow the Hockeyroos take on Argentina, the only other unbeaten side in their group, which will provide a good indication of their medal hopes in Paris.
WATER POLO
The women’s water polo team survived a cliffhanger Matildas-like penalty shootout to defeat the Netherlands 7-7 (8-7) and remain undefeated in Paris.
The Australians were down 1-3 after the first period and fought back to be only 3-4 down at half time.
A three goal third period had the Australians ahead 6-5 heading into a tense final period where the Dutch levelled the scores 6-6 before Australia seemed to score a winner with a minute to play.
But the Dutch scored just before the bell to send the match into penalties.
It looked all over for the Australians when Keesja Gofers’ penalty was saved by the Dutch goalie with penalties tied at 1-1.
The Australians swapped out the match goalkeeper Gabriella Palm for Genevieve Longman and met with success as the next Dutch shot hit the post.
With the penalties tied 5-5 another shot by Gofers was saved by the Dutch only for Longman to make the save and keep the game alive.
The teams traded penalties until the scores were locked 7-7 and Bronte Halligan put the Australians ahead 8-7 and Longman made another brave save to ensure victory.
“It was just a relief to get my hand on it, and then I needed to make sure the ball wasn’t going to go over the line as it started moving back towards the goal,” Longman said of her winning save while playing down her individual performance.
“We’re a team and we’ve always viewed it that way. If I’m called on, or needed in a penalty shootout, I’m always ready to go.”
BASKETBALL
The women’s 3×3 basketball team had a last gasp win over Germany 21-19 with a buzzer beating two point shot from Alex Wilson ensuring the victory.
“I live for those moments,” Wilson said of her match-winner.
“You practise that growing up as a kid and as you get older. Those are the type of shots that you want to take, so I look for those moments as a player.”
Wilson finished with eight points while teammate Marena Whittle scored nine points. The other two Australian players Anneli Maley and Lauren Mansfield both scored two points.
The win got the team’s Olympic campaign back on track after a 14-22 loss to Canada in their first game.
ROWING
The Australian women’s pair of Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre won their semi final by more than a second from the USA.
The duo who were part of the gold medal winning women’s four in Tokyo qualified second fastest for the final behind the Dutch duo of Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester who are shaping as the favourites.
The women’s quad sculls team of Ria Thompson, Rowena Meredith, Laura Gourley and Caitlin Cronin were second behind Romania in the B final.
TRIATHLON
Australia’s Matt Hauser took the early lead in the 1500m swim leg and was with the leaders through the 40km ride, but his challenge faded in the 10km run.
He finished seventh, 44 seconds behind British gold medallist Alex Yee who sprinted past New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde to snatch the gold with France’s Leo Bergere taking bronze.
Hauser said he had no concerns about the water quality in the Seine river during the swim, saying he was comfortable knowing that the water quality improved after a one-day delay.
“We were all really confident jumping in there, and I didn’t have to swallow too much water out there today as I was leading most of it,” he said.
“You have just got to go through so much adversity in this sport. It’s the Olympic Games, you’re not going to get here without a few setbacks.”
Hauser’s Australian teammate Luke Willian finished a distant 46th and in the women’s event Sophie Linn was 21st and Natalie van Coevorden was 42nd.
TENNIS
Australia’s Matt Ebden and John Peers are into the semifinals of the men’s doubles after downing Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer in two tie-break sets 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4).
Ebden was back on court late at night to join Ellen Perez in the mixed doubles quarter finals, going down to China’s Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen in three sets 7-6 (10-8) 6-7- (8-10) 10-5.
And Alexei Popyrin’s great run in the men’s singles came to an end at the hands of Germany’s defending Olympic champion Alexander Zverev 5-7 3-6.
SOCCER
The Matildas suffered their second loss of the Olympic tournament going down to the undefeated US outfit 1-2.
Australia was down 0-1 at half time after a goal by Trinity Rodman just before the break.
They went further behind when Korbin Albert found the back of the net off the hands of keeper Mackenzie Arnold in the 77th minute.
Alanna Kennedy gave the Matildas hope with a late strike in the first minute of overtime but there was no last minute heroics like in their thrilling 6-5 win over Zambia.
The result meant the end of the Olympic campaign for the Matildas after they also lost to Germany 0-3 in their first match.
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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