The Stingers have gone down to powerhouse nation Spain on the penultimate day of Olympic action in Paris while there was podium heartbreak for one of our diving stars.
Over at Stade de France, Mackenzie Little will be hunting a medal in the women’s javelin event, while Jess Hull will feature in the women’s 1500m final.
Sam Welsford and Kelland Brien are eyeing gold at the Velodrome in the men’s maddison final, while keep an eye out for Eileen Cikamatana in the women’s 81kg weightlifting final.
Elsewhere, there is more breakdancing in store as Australia’s 16-year-old B-boy Jeff Dunne, known as ‘J Attack’, competes at 12.17am on Sunday morning.
And if that’s not enough for you, there’s also Australians competing in the sport climbing, golf, diving and artistic swimming – with plenty of medals on offer.
Follow along below for the latest updates from Day 15 at Paris!
‘KICKING THEMSELVES’: Aussie breaker hits out at critics
‘FORGED IN FIRE’: The heartbreaks behind Aussie’s historic moment
GENDER ELIGIBILITY SAGA: Boxer storms to Olympic gold
Opals and USA fans react to mega clash | 01:52
STINGERS FALL SHORT OF GOLD AFTER INCREDIBLE CAMPAIGN
The Stingers have claimed silver for Australia after going down to a clinical Spain team 11-9 in the women’s water polo final.
Alice Williams opened the scoring for Australia with a penalty shot before Spain responded in swift fashion through Paula Leiton Arrones.
Elle Armit was then pulled up for a foul as Spain pushed ahead through an Elena Ruiz Barril penalty.
The Stingers had a one-player advantage late in the period but were not able to capitalise, struggling to get the ball past Spain keeper Martina Terre.
“The question has to be asked why is Australia not converting the extra player advantage, something they’ve focused heavily on throughout the tournament?” Lavina Good said in commentary.
“They talked about it before coming here to Paris 2024. This is the time for them to take advantage when it six on five and at the moment the Australian Stingers are not doing that.”
The Stingers eventually did just that in the dying stages of the quarter as Alice Williams scored with two seconds left on the clock to tie up the game.
There was just the one goal in the second quarter as Maica García Godoy put Spain ahead 3-2 while Terre continued to prove a tough keeper for Australia to crack.
The same was true though for Australia’s Gabi Palm, who made some crucial saves.
Spain then pushed further ahead with two quickfire goals to open the third quarter and while Abby Andrews closed the gap for Australia, just 20 seconds later Bea Ortiz re-established Spain’s three-goal lead.
Williams scored once play resumed after an Australia timeout to help reduce the deficit but a clinical Spain outfit pushed ahead again via penalty goal to lead 7-5.
The seesawing nature of the game continued as the Stingers capitalised when García Godoy was sent out, scoring through Danijela Jackovich off a critical rebound.
A Sienna Hearn goal early in the final quarter put Australia within one goal of the Spaniards, but they then scored three-straight goals to go ahead 9-6 entering the final four minutes.
The Stingers needed to score next to be any chance and Williams answered the call with her fourth goal of the game.
But just as Australia looked to stage a late fightback, Spain once again shut the door on the Stingers with another two goals to seal the win.
It was still an impressive result for the Stingers, who came out of a group that included Beijing 2008 champions Netherlands, Tokyo 2020 bronze medal winners Hungary, the People’s Republic of China and Canada.
They then took down Greece in the quarter-finals and stunned the defending champions USA in the semi-finals to book a spot in their first women’s water polo final since Sydney 2000.
Australia was in the Olympic women’s water polo gold medal match for the first time in 24 years after a dramatic and shock shoot-out win over the United States in Thursday’s semi-final.
Australia had the chance to win the country’s second gold — following in the footsteps of the groundbreaking team from the Sydney Games in 2000.
The Sydney Games was the first to include women’s water-polo after Olympic organisers responded to a long campaign led by Australian women players.
“I was four years old when they were last in the gold medal game, so it’s been a long time coming and I’m just so proud of the work that this entire program has put in to get us here,” defender Bronte Halligan said after the win over the United States.
“It’s not just the 13 here, but it’s everyone back home, all the girls that have built this, all the young girls that are watching.
“I hope that we’re inspiring them for a next generation to come through because that’s what the Sydney girls did for an entire generation now. Hopefully we’re doing the same.”
AUSSIE ROUSSEAU’S HEARTBREAK IN DIVING FINAL
Maddison Keeney already claimed silver for Australia in the women’s 3m springboard and Cassiel Rousseau came up heartbreakingly short of securing a medal in the men’s individual 10m platform final.
Rousseau made an impressive start with his first dive, a reverse 3 ½ somersaults tuck, scoring 86.70 to shoot up to third on the leaderboard.
“He has absolutely nailed this reverse three-and-a-half,” Australian springboard diver and expert commentator Sam Fricker said on Channel Nine.
“What an exceptional dive.”
But a 61.20 on his fourth-dive, Rousseau’s first score under 70 at the Games, hurt his chances of maintaining his spot near the top of the leaderboard.
Rousseau was fifth after five rounds with a total of 388.50 points and went into his final dive, a forward 4 ½ sommersaults tuck, needing at least 90 points to move into a medal position.
He did just that, scoring 92.50 points to move into second, but a stunning 99.00 dive from Rikuto Tamai knocked him back to bronze before Yuan Cao nailed his final dive to take gold and knock Rousseau off the podium.
In the end, Rousseau finished 16.35 points off third-placed Noah Williams of Great Britain.
HANNAH GREEN’S STUNNING SURGE NOT ENOUGH IN GOLF
Hannah Green stormed up the leaderboard into medal contention but fell short of a medal in the final round of the women’s individual stroke play.
It was impressive that Green was in even in the position to medal, having carded an opening round of five-over 77.
She slowly improved on the following day before recording a 6-under 66 on Friday to climb 18 spots and into a tie for 11th.
Green carried the momentum into the early stages of the final round’s play, recording four birdies on her first eight holes.
She had moved up to as high as third and just two strokes off the lead before her tee shot on the 10th ended up in the rough and it was hard to recover from there, with a double-bogey seeing her drop to five-under and sixth overall.
But Green responded well to record three-straight pars and a birdie on the 14th to move back up the leaderboard, heading to the clubhouse in a tie for third at six-under.
Unfortunately, China’s Xiyu Janet Lin birdied on her final hole to pass Green and bump her off the podium.
Elsewhere, fellow Australian Minjee Lee finished one-under and is currently tied for 21st.
OLYMPIC RECORD AND BRUTAL REALITY AFTER MEN’S MARATHON
Australia had three competitors in the men’s marathon. Their assessment of the 42km race? It was brutal.
Pat Tiernan, who finished 24th with a time of 2:10:34 — the fastest ever Olympic marathon run by an Australian — told Channel Nine after the race that his legs were “just cooked”.
Meanwhile, Andrew Buchanan — who received a late call-up for the injured Australian record holder Brett Robinson, said the downhills were particularly “brutal”.
“The legs, I feel for my toenails. I don’t think I’ll have any left,” he joked.
Buchanan came in 45th with a time of 2:12:58, just ahead of fellow Australian Liam Adams in 49th, who recorded a season-best time of 2:13:33.
Even still, it didn’t do much to make Adams feel much better as he gave a brutally honest assessment of his own performance after the race, calling it a “shocker”.
“I got to the top of the hill and wanted to bomb it down the hill and couldn’t really,” Adams said.
“The toes were banging in the toe box and I just struggled the last 10 kms. It’s pretty disappointing. You kind of take some time off work, max out your annual leave and do some unpaid leave and spend $13,000 on that prep and to have a shocker like that is pretty disappointing.
“When you put on the Australia singlet you give it your best shot and have the best race you can and I didn’t feel like I did. It’s a bit shattering.”
MORE BREAKDANCING AS 16OYO PRODIGY HITS THE OLYMPICS
Australian B-Girl Rachel “Raygun” Gunn made international headlines as the urban sport of breaking spun its way onto the Olympic stage on Friday for the first and possibly last time.
On Sunday Jeff Dunne, competing as J Attack, featured in the male competition, going down 17-1 over two rounds against the Ukraine’s Kuzya.
The 16-year-old prodigy won gold at the Oceania Breaking Championships at Sydney Town Hall in November 2023 and is among Australia’s youngest athletes to compete at the Paris Olympics.
Dunne, who was born in the Philippines and adopted by an Australian family, won his first Australian Youth Championship in 2019 before taking his talents global.
He has since won titles in the US, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Slovenia, Slovakia and Holland and was ranked ninth in the world in 2022.
In 2023, Dunne made history as the first breaker to be awarded a Sport Australia Hall of Fame scholarship.
AUSSIE DUO COME UP SHORT IN CANOE SPRINT SEMI-FINALS
Elsewhere, Australia didn’t have any luck in the men’s and women’s K1 semi-finals as Alyce Wood and Tom Green missed out on progressing to the medal event.
Wood finished third in her 500m semifinal and will later camed eighth in the B Final. Only the top two from each semi went through to the A Final, where the medals were on the line.
Elsewhere, Green made a fast start and was first early before dropping to third by the halfway mark and fading to fourth with 250 metres to go in the 1000m semi-final.
That still would have been enough to put him through to the final but he eventually dropped down to sixth and then finished ninth in the B Final.
It was always going to be hard to Green to back up after helping Australia to bronze in the men’s kayak double 500m event alongside Jean van der Westhuyzen.
OCEANIA MACKENIZE GIVES IT HER ALL IN SPORT CLIMBING FINAL
In other news, Oceania Mackenzie fell short of a medal in the women’s boulder and lead final, finishing in seventh position with a total score of 104.8.
In the boulder final, each climber was required to solve four problems, receiving 25 points for reaching the top, 10 for hitting the high zone and five for the low zone.
0.1 points were deducted for every attempt beyond the first required to reach the scored zone.
Mackenzie reached the top on her first two boulders, being deducted 0.2 points for the second, before getting the low zone on the next two, receiving 4.9 and 5.0 points respectively.
All up, Mackenzie scored 59.7 points in the boulder final and then added 45.1 points in the lead final.
In lead, the athletes climbed as high as they can up a 15-metre wall in one single attempt. They had six minutes to do so and, of course, were harnessed while doing so.
While it was a solid effort from Mackenzie, it wasn’t enough to put her in contention for a medal, with a few climbers still to come and the Australian currently sitting fourth.
AUSTRALIAN FLAG BEARERS FOR CLOSING CEREMONY NAMED
With the Olympics close to wrapping up, attention has started to turn to the closing ceremony and the two athletes who will be carrying the Australian flag have been confirmed.
Swimmer Kaylee McKeown, who won the 100m and 200m backstroke finals, and sailor Matt Wearn, who defended his Tokyo gold medal in the men’s dinghy sailing, have been given the honour.
“Kaylee’s performances speak for themselves, to become Australia’s first four-time individual Olympic champion is extraordinary,” chef de mission Anna Meares said.
“Her results are exceptional, but her character, her personality and her charm really resonate with what makes this Australian Olympic Team so special.
“Matt has shown incredible resilience to defend his Olympic title. Understanding the challenges he has overcome to be here in Paris, is a great testament to the athlete and person Matt is.
“He is very humble, despite making Olympic history as the first man to win the laser class back-to-back.”
AUSSIES IN ACTION – DAY 15 HIGHLIGHTS
All times AEST
4pm – Athletics: Men’s Marathon (Liam Adams, Andrew Buchanan, Patrick Tiernan)
5pm – Golf: Women’s Fourth Round (Minjee Lee, Hannah Green)
6pm – Diving: Men’s 10m Platform Semifinal (Jaxon Bowshire, Cassiel Rousseau)
6.15pm – Sport Climbing: Women’s Boulder & Lead, Final Boulder (Oceania Mackenzie)
6.30pm – Canoe Sprint: Women’s K1 500m Semifinals (Alyce Wood)
7.10pm – Canoe Sprint: Men’s K1 1000m Semifinals (Tom Green)
8pm – Wrestling: Men’s Freestyle 65kg 1/8 Final, Australia vs Puerto Rico (Georgii Okorokov)
8.35pm – Sport Climbing: Women’s Boulder & Lead, Final Lead (Oceania MacKenzie)
9pm – Canoe Sprint: Women’s K1 500m B Final (Alyce Wood)
9.20pm – Canoe Sprint: Men’s K1 1000m B Final (Tom Green)
11pm – Diving: Men’s 10m Platform Final (Cassiel Rousseau)
11.35pm – Water Polo: Women’s Final, Australia vs Spain (Stingers)
12am – Weightlifting: Women’s 81kg Final (Eileen Cikamatana)
12am – Breaking: B-Boys (J Attack)
1am – Cycling Track: Women’s Sprint 1/8 Finals (Kristina Clonan)
1.19am – Cycling Track: Men’s Keirin First Round (Matthew Glaetzer, Matthew Richardson)
1.59am – Cycling Track: Men’s Maddison Final (Sam Welsford, Kelland Brien)
3.30am – Artistic Swimming: Duet Free Routine (Kiera Gazzard, Rayna Buckle)
3.30am – Athletics: Women’s Javelin Throw Final (Kathryn Mitchell, Mackenzie Little)
3.35am – Water Polo: Men’s 7th Place Classification, Australia vs Italy (Sharks)
3.50am – Athletics: Men’s 5000m Final (Stewart McSweyn)
4.15am – Athletics: Women’s 1500m Final (Jessica Hull)
