As we move into week two of the Games, Australia has the challenge of quarter-final knockout games in two team sports, the women’s hockey and water polo. The Canoe Sprint competition gets under way and there are medals on the line in Sailing.
Day 10 (Monday, 15 August)
SAILING
Rio time: 13:05, AEST: Tuesday 02:05
Tom Burton will be sailing in the Laser medal race. Burton’s strong preliminary series assures him of a medal, but he’ll need a tactically strong race to move up the leaderboard from his current second position overall, or to ensure he doesn’t move into the bronze. In other racing the mens 470, team of Mat Belcher and Will Ryan will complete their preliminary series and will be looking for a strong day to put them into contention for Wednesday’s medal race. Likewise the Aussie women’s 470 team of Carrie Smith and Jaime Ryan will be looking for strong results to get them through to their medal race on Wednesday. Finally, London 2012 gold medallists, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen are scheduled to complete another three races in their preliminary series.
CANOE SPRINT – heats & semi-finals
Rio time: 09:24, AEST: 22:24
The first day of competition in the canoe sprint competition sees London K4 1000m gold medallist Murray Stewart in action, in a different boat – the K1 1000m.
ATHLETICS – Women’s 3000m Steeplechase
Rio time: 09:35, AEST: 22:35
For the first time ever two Australians have made the women’s 3000m steeplechase final. Madeline Hills and Gen LaCaze are in great form and should push for top-8 places, capping a fine year. Also Ella Nelson starts her campaign with her first round of the 200m.
HOCKEY – women’s quarter-final Australia vs New Zealand
Rio time: 10:00, AEST: 23:00
Australia clash with our Trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand. Australia had placed third in the pool, while New Zealand was second in theirs. Australia is undefeated in their four Olympic matches, with three wins and a draw. A win for the Aussies will see them meet either Great Britain or Spain in the semi-final. New Zealand will have some inside knowledge of our team, as they are coached by three-time Australian Olympian, Michael Hager. New Zealand placed fourth in London, one higher than Australia.
CYCLING TRACK
Rio time: 10:00, AEST: AEST: 23:00
Anna Meares continues the defence of her Sprint title from London with her 1/8 final in the morning. Throughout the day Glenn O’Shea will contest the final three events of the Omnium and has his work cut out for the medals, currently in 7th place. Annette Edmondson starts the women’s Omnium with her first three events as she looks to improve on her bronze from London.
WATER POLO – women’s Quarter-Finals Australia vs Hungary
Rio time: 14:10, AEST: Tuesday 03:10
Now into the knockout stage, Australia meets an arch rival, Hungary in the women’s quarter-final. In their pool games, they lost to America and a narrow loss to Spain. Hungary have finished fourth at the last two Olympics, defeated by Australia in the bronze medal matches, with the scores 13-11 (in London) and 12-11 (in Beijing). Their only other Olympic clash was a 7-all draw. A win for Australia, mean they likely meet USA in the semi-finals, while a loss sees them into the 5th to 8th classification rounds.
ATHLETICS – Women’s Discus qualifying
Rio time: 20:30, AEST: 09:30
A genuine medal chance, 2009 world Champion, Dani Samuels, throws in the qualifying rounds of the discus. Samuels, and the field of athletes, have a major challenge potentially finishing after 11pm, then requiring to be back in the circle for the final the next morning, commencing at 11:20am. Also in action in the evening is 400m hurdler, Lauren Wells, who has run just outside her personal best in the lead up to Rio. At the last four global meets, she has progressed to the semi-finals and is no doubt looking to go one step further in Rio.
Other sports in action on day six are:
Diving (men’s 3m springboard preliminary) – Kevin Chavez and Grant Nel
Marathon Swimming (women’s 10km) – Chelsea Gubecka
Synchronised Swimming (Duets Technical Routine – Preliminary) – Rose Stackpole/Nikita Pablo
Wrestling (men’s Greco-Roman – 130kg Qualifications and medal rounds) – Ivan Popov
David Tarbotton
olympics.com.au
