3 minute read
Kaylee McKeown, Cameron McEvoy and Saya Sakakibara have won yet more gold for Australia in Paris.
AUSTRALIA CONTINUED TO DOMINATE THE UNITED STATES IN THE POOL AND SAYA SAKAKIBARA WON BMX RACING GOLD
AUSTRALIAN MEDALLISTS
GOLD
* Saya Sakakibara (women's BMX racing) - Three years after being taken away from the track on a stretcher following a horrific crash at the Tokyo Games, the 24-year-old won gold in spectacular style.
* Cameron McEvoy (swimming - men's 50m freestyle) - McEvoy's win in the "splash and dash" was the first by an Australian man at the Paris Games after the star-studded women had done almost all of the early heavy lifting.
* Kaylee McKeown (swimming - women's 200m backstroke) - The backstroke queen became the first Australian to win four individual Olympic gold medals, successfully defending her 100m and 200m titles from Tokyo in the process.
BRONZE
* Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre (rowing - women's pair) - Australia's first rowing medal of the Paris Games was also a second Olympic podium for the Morrison-McIntyre partnership. They were part of the gold medal-winning four crew in Tokyo.
OTHER HEADLINE GOLD MEDALLISTS
* Superstar French swimmer Leon Marchand captured his fourth gold medal of his home Games, saluting this time in the 200m individual medley.
* Ugandan distance running great Joshua Cheptegei hung tough to salute in the men's 10,000m. He has also won the last three world titles at this distance and the 5000m Olympics gold in Tokyo.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED
* High jump queens Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson advanced to Sunday's final with a minimum of fuss, along with new world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
* Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic set up a heavyweight men's singles gold medal match by winning their semis at Stade Roland Garros.
* Big Teremoana Teremoana Jnr came up just short in his super-heavyweight boxing quarter-final against defending Olympic champ Bakhodir Jalolov from Uzbekistan.
* Chasing a third gold medal in Paris, Jessica Fox was second fastest in the kayak cross time trials. Younger sister Noemie was eighth quickest on her Games debut.
WHO SAID WHAT?
"I wanted to race against someone really cool and Sha'Carri is probably the coolest you could get." Australian Bree Masters on being drawn alongside world champion Sha'Carri Richardson in the opening round of the women's 100m. Both advanced to the semis.
"The first half was 'hero ball', head dropping, poor defence, that all circulated,. The second half was huddles, talk, grit, ball movement." Australian men's basketball coach Brian Goorjian after the Boomers' 77-71 loss to Greece. But Canada's win over Span later in the day meant the Australians still snuck into the quarter-finals.
"Not in a million years ... I couldn't ask for much more." Kaylee McKeown's reaction to her fourth individual Olympic gold.
MEDAL TABLE (after day seven)
G S B Tot
1. China 13 9 9 30
2. France 11 12 13 36
3. Australia 11 6 5 22
4. United States 9 18 16 43
5. Britain 9 10 8 27
MEDALS DECIDED ON DAY 7: 23
