Tokyo Olympics LIVE updates Australias 17 golds Kookaburras trying to repeat 2004 bronze for Melissa Wu
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Australia has never won more gold, and dude, we have never been this cool.
For that, we can thank a couple of Chesty Bond paddlers and a skinny kid with a sandy mop of hair who skates with the freedom that our nation in lockdown so desperately craves.
As our men’s hockey team prepares to play Belgium in their gold medal match, Australia’s 17th gold medal of these Games â€" equal of our best haul since the modern Olympics began â€" was won by 18-year-old Keegan Palmer, an Aussie-American skateboarder with a style as smooth as a Shinkansen train.
The reaction of Keegan Palmer.Credit:Getty Images
Palmer’s spectacular and seemingly effortless winning run at the skate park came within a few minutes of kayakers Thomas Green and Jean van der Westhuyzen holding off Germany’s world champion team to become the first Australian pair to win the 1000-metre event at an Olympics.
Read the full analysis from Chip Le Grand in Tokyo
In what has been an excellent swearing Games for Australia, Boomers big man Jock Landale was best able to sum up the challenge of keeping the USA in check over the course of 40 minutes of Olympic basketball.
“Defensively, trying to keep them in front is a tough gig. Once they’re out and running in transition, it’s f--king hard,†Landale said. “We started turning the ball over and when these guys are living in transition, its pretty hard to win a basketball game.â€
Patty Mills was kept quiet throughout Thursday’s semi-finalCredit:Getty
The dream of gold is over for the Boomers, who lost 97-78 to the USA in the semi-finals on Thursday after leading by 15 points midway through the second quarter. With Kevin Durant (23 pts, 9 reb, 2 stl) putting his nation on his back once more, the USA closed the gap to just three by half-time as they embarked on a 20-0 run.
By the time Landale found a basket in the third quarter, the Boomers had failed to score for almost eight minutes, while Jrue Holiday (11 pts, 8 reb, 8 ast) was becoming a major issue for the Australians with his defensive smarts and distribution.
Read the full report from Phil Lutton in Tokyo
The Belgians have scored during the third stanza.
Australia and Belgium are deadlocked at 0-all at halftime after a first half played on the Red Lions terms.
Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter was the only shot stopper called to make saves in the first 30 minutes as Belgium dominated possession and forced the Australian into a style of hockey, which they would want to play taking any their space in the final quarter of the field.
It was the base for Belgium to launch counter attacks, which gave them a couple of good looks on goal.
Crucially, Australia was able to turn away Belgium’s talisman Alex Hendrickx, who has scored 14 goals in the Games, when he had two opportunities from penalty corners in the 26th minute.
Australia will have to remain patient and look to force penalty corner of their own in the second half as field goal chances are looking unlikely.
Australia may be out of medal contention in the women’s water polo competition but they are still competing and are a chance to finish fifth after beating Canada in a penalty shootout.
With scores tied 10-10 at the end of regulation time, the match went to a shootout and the Stingers were on target. Keeper Lea Yanitsas made two crucial saves in the shootout to prove the difference.
Australia will now play in a fifth/sixth playoff game.
After an excellent first half of hockey, Australia and Belgium are scoreless at half-time. It’s been fast, sharp and competitive so far.
You would have to say Belgium have a slight edge in the speed and fluency of their play. It feels like the first goal could be decisive: if Belgium get ahead, they will be very hard to beat.
To that end, Australia’s goalkeeper Andrew Charter made two outstanding saves in the second quarter. We’re now being treated to a Japanese marching-dancing-drumming band, the first half-time entertainment of any kind I’ve seen these Olympics.
Australia won’t be in the semi-finals of the women’s 4x100m relay. Australia was represented by Ellie Beer, Kendra Hubbard, Bender Oboya and Anneliese Rubie-Renshaw.
However the Aussies were a long way back from half-way through the race, and they could not recover. Poland won the heat in a time of 3.23.10. Cuba came second and then Belgium, with the three teams within one second of each other.
Australia were well off the pace in second last with a time of 3.30.61
Belgium are basically parking a six-man defence in the final 25 of the field and looking to hit Australia on break.
It is the ultimate respect for the Kookaburras attack, with the Red Lions not wanting to get in a situation where they are outnumbered at the back.
It allowed to break quickly when they turnover the ball and they had chances with four-on-three resulting in Cedric Charlier shot was saved by Australian keeper Andrew Charter.
Then Antonie Kina found space and his backstick drive found Charter’s glove.
Alex Hendrickx got his first chances from penalty corners 10 minutes into the half with the Australians running down the first corner conceding another corner, which went wide.
If Australia is going to get a scoring chance it looks like coming by forcing a penalty corner of their own.
Sam Kerr became the Matildas’ record goalscorer when she struck her 48th goal for the national team, one more than Lisa De Vanna, in a crazy third-place game in which the USA claimed bronze via a thrilling 4-3 victory.
Tony Gustavsson’s team gave everything and will feel that, against what had hitherto been a disappointing American outfit, this was a missed opportunity to gain Australia’s first soccer medal.
Sam Kerr and Becky Sauerbrunn compete for the ball.Credit:Getty Images
It was a game played in frenetic fashion, and it was the teams’ sixth game in just over a fortnight, so exhaustion might have been expected.
What was not expected was the way that the USA took the lead through superstar Megan Rapinoe, who scored direct from a corner kick after eight minutes.
Real the full report from Michael Lynch
The Kookaburras have settled into the men’s hockey final against Belgium, firing the ball around and probing the solid Red Lions defence, but the gold medal match remains scoreless after the first quarter.
Belgium had early chances with a couple of back stick shots repelled by Australian keeper Andrew Charter, and would have been happy to slow the Kookaburras, playing on their terms.
Australia have been forced into being patient and have to build slowly, held down by a stacked Belgium defence, rather than playing the free-flowing, counter-attacking hockey they would favour.
Once they set up the Red Lions are not leaving a lot of space in the final quarter of the field, making it hard for the Australians to create clean chances.
The Kookaburras were forced into the circle at the net looking for deflections.
Belgium’s Arthur Van Doren and Antoine Sylvain T Kina battle for possession with Australia’s Tim Brand.Credit:Getty Images
Belgium stand in the way of Australia and an Olympic gold medal. But more than that, Thursday’s final will turn on the Kookaburras’ defensive discipline and one man, Alexander Hendrickx and his drag flick.
Belgium’s talisman, who will play the final with six stitches in his head after wearing a stick in a pool game, has scored 14 goals during the tournament, 12 from penalty corners at a rate close to 40 per cent and has his other two from penalty strokes.
Alexander Hendrickx.Credit:Getty
The gold medal could be decided by Hendrickx’s stick, which has already produced three hat-tricks at the Games including one in the Red Lions’ 5-2 semi-final success against India.
“I have a lot of confidence in my technique. Throughout the year as well, the corners went well also in the club level,†Hendrickx said. “But with this team, we get a lot of corners during the game, so the more corners we get, the more we can score.â€
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