A disgustingly green pool welcomed us on Day 5 of the Olympic Games in Rio, but there were two silvers and a gold to keep the algae away for Australia, as well as some tremendous results in the hockey.
Not so good was the Boomers’ loss, depending on how you wanted to look at it, and the fact that the Aussie men’s sevens team beat South Africa to qualify for the next round, then promptly lost to them in the quarter-finals.
Most importantly – it was the Aussie colours that really shone today. The diving pool was a vibrant green thanks to some chemicals going walkabout, and the medal around Kyle Chalmers’ neck was gold as he stormed home in the men’s 100m freestyle.
So to the scorebook…
First let’s talk about Kyle Chalmers.
He had no right to win that race. Our heads all started to drop in the office as we realised Nathan Adrian was going to be too good for Cameron McEvoy. Devastation began to set in after such high hopes that the nicest bloke in the world wouldn’t win a gold medal.
But wait… Who’s that? Another yellow cap? Swedish bloke maybe? Sarah Sjostrom’s mate?
Nope – Kyle Chalmers doing Kyle Chalmers things. He looks like a beast (specimen!) and swum like it too, going from seventh to first and putting up a half-second personal best.
I think I speak for all Aussies when I say there wasn’t much work going on at that time.
A big shoutout also has to go to our silver ladies. First there was Madeline Groves who swam tremendously in the 200m butterfly, and was completely stoked to be in the medals. The way these athletes are showing pure joy and passion after coming second is of great refreshment to anyone who watches too much professional footy.
THAT is sport.
And then there was our 4x200m relay team, who all put in huge shifts to take second. Bronte Barratt, Emma McKeon, Jess Ashwood and Tamsin Cook were all equally impressive and thoroughly deserved that medal.
The other sports saw better results for the Aussies too. The Kookaburras got up, at last! After I backed them yesterday, they had the better of the decisions and managed to capitalise, putting two past Great Britain. Our Hockeyroos got back on track with a comfortable win over India.
Our sevens team weren’t so lucky, going down to South Africa in the quarter-finals. At least New Zealand went down with us. To be fair on this Australian team, they tried hard but with the quality of opposition they were at best an outside chance of a medal.
Having seen the program first hand, though, I have confidence this could change. While the resources will always go to the 15s game in this country first, sevens is increasingly becoming a key pillar for Australian rugby. I reckon the ARU will be stoked with the gold from the women’s side.
The Boomers also lost, but it really was a cracking game. NBA quality at times, the Boomers moved the ball really well for the first three quarters and put the USA lads under plenty of pressure.
Not heaps to talk about in other sports, but leave a comment if you watched something you loved and just need to get it off your chest.
More gold chances await Australia in the not-yet-green pool tomorrow, with Cate and Bronte Campbell right in the mix for the 100m freestyle gold, as is Mitch Larkin in the 200m backstroke. We also have the fastest qualifier in the women’s 200m breaststroke, with Taylor McKeown qualifying top in an impressive time of 2:21.69.
Michael Phelps is also shooting for his 22nd gold medal. Wouldn’t it be boring if he won that? Ryan Lochte will be stiff competition.
Our basketball Opals are up at 6:45am too, the rowing finals hot up and the track cycling starts with the men’s sprint and women’s team pursuit.
Tennis’ pointy end approaches, with quarters and semis galore, and the golf also kicks off with the men tonight, but the timezone ain’t friendly.
Today this award has to go to the Boomers, who’ve been playing attractive and effective basketball for the entire tournament. Matthew Dellevadova has been been playing out of his skin, dishing up assists all over the shop. Andrew Bogut is relishing the offensive license he never gets for his NBA clubs, and Patty Mills was second in points scored today after Carmelo Anthony, who had a terrific game.
Sadly the wheels fell off in the final quarter. The dynamic offence started to lumber, and Delly, Patty and Aron Baynes started to take more hail Mary shots. It was a noticeable move away from what had troubled the Americans in the first three quarters, and you couldn’t help but think the Aussies had expended all their gas just keeping up the intensity for 30 minutes on the court.
This was the best game of basketball at the Olympics so far, but in the end the USA were too good. Great players stand up down the stretch, and the fact the lead was ten by the end of the game said everything about why they’re so good.
But still, massive tip of the cap to the Boomers.
And also, good luck to Channel 7 ever getting an interview with Kyrie Irving ever again.
Question 1: “Enthusiastically rag on Kyrie for not playing for Australia, despite his team just beating the Boomers.”
Question 2: “Ask Kyrie to heap praise on the team they just beat.”
Question 3: “Um… Oh, wait, there’s Andrew Bogut, and he plays for Australia. Straya. Just move Ky… can you please get OUT OF THE WAY KYRIE!”
That was followed by a tremendously cringeworthy interview with Andrew Bogut, who was understandably disappointed his team lost. They were right in it!
Anyway, I should stop lecturing journos on their interview style. Cough Bill Pulver cough.
How the hell the rugby sevens quarter-final allocations work?
Let me lay this out for you. Australia played, and beat, South Africa in their pool game earlier this morning.
They then played them again in the quarter-finals.
So the first question is why two teams from the same pool were playing each other in the quarter-final?
Then what makes me more confused is that Australia were one of the two teams (along with New Zealand) who qualified for the quarter-finals in third place.
South Africa topped our pool with 7 points (the same as Australia and France, but with a better points’ differential). Fiji and Great Britain topped their pool with 9 points.
So shouldn’t the two teams that qualified in third spot in their pool (ie Australia and New Zealand) play the top two qualifiers from the other pools. Ie Australia play Great Britain and New Zealand play Fiji?
I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for this, but I have no idea what it is…
What did you watch Roarers? What caught your attention on this great day at the Olympics?
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