Sydney at Rio - our athletes progress
Stay in touch with all the latest action featuring our athletes in Rio and when to catch them next.
Wednesday, 10 August
Georgina Morgan
In a much needed boost for our Hockeyroos, after two heartbreaking losses in their opening Pool B matches, they have trounced India 6-1.
The Australian world–ranked number three side finally hit their straps in a convincing display, with defender Jodie Kenny on fire in scoring her milestone 100th goal in the green and gold.
Sydney Uni's Georgie Morgan was all quality and her efforts with the stick drew generous praise from the Australian coach after the game. Morgan’s penalty corner created the first Hockeyroo’s goal in just the fifth minute. Shortly after, Morgan was involved again, deftly angling a penalty-corner, drag flick under the Indian goalkeeper to score.
The Australians played with the speed and pressure they are known for to finally register some points in their Pool. The Aussie defense also stood tall, only allowing the one late consolation goal to India.
Australia now face the highly- fancied Argentina on Friday, August 12 from 7:00am AEST.
Will Ryan
Will Ryan and sailing partner Mat Belcher sparked an impressive comeback in the Men’s 470-class on Wednesday.
Ryan finished in 8th position after the completion of Race 1 in a heat that saw him rival Croatia who eventually finished 1st. Ryan would prevail in Race 2 by beating Croatia and sailing across the line first. Croatia finished the day standing 1st overall, while Ryan, and the hopes of Australia, follow closely behind in 2nd place.
Jamie Ryan
Jaime Ryan looked like a completely new competitor as she displayed shades of improvement in the Women’s 470-class sailing on Wednesday alongside Carrie Smith.
Race 1 saw Ryan finish in 17th position, and Japan finish 1st. In Race 2, however, Ryan looked like a new sailor slashing her previous rank to finish in 8th position while New Zealand took the top spot. Ryan still has plenty of time for improvement, she is currently sitting on the better side of the ladder in 12th position overall.
Cameron Girdlestone and Alexander Belonogoff
Competition postponed due to unsafe conditions.
The Men's Quadruple Sculls A Final is scheduled for today at 11:12pm AEST.
Johnno Cotterill
The Aussie Sharks have prevailed in a gritty win over Japan, 8-6.
The Japanese proved difficult opponents and remained in front on the scoreboard till just before halftime when the Sharks levelled at 3-3. The equaliser for the Sharks came from showing a more patient set-up with the extra man, after a Japanese player was excluded.
The high-lane defense of Japan continued to test the Aussies, however, early in the fourth quarter they pulled ahead 7-5, managing to repel the Japanese attack to run out eventual winners.
Johnno Cotterill was again in the starting side and played big minutes, 27:03. Joe Kayes topped the goals for the Sharks with four but the real hero was goalkeeper Joel Dennerley with nine saves.
The next assignment for the Sharks is against Serbia, scheduled for Saturday, August 13 at 11:10am AEST.
Ed Jenkins, Pat McCutcheon and Tom Kingston
Australia’s push for a medal in the Rugby Sevens came to an end last night with a 22-5 loss to South Africa in their quarter-final.
Pool match
In a welcome upset our Men’s Sevens beat tournament, second-favourites South Africa in their final pool match 12-5, catapulting the Aussies into the quarter-finals.
With Lewis Holland ruled out due to a hamstring injury, Tom Kingston was elevated into the team and started on the bench. While coming about from an unfortunate circumstance, this meant all three University of Sydney men’s sevens representatives were in the side, which is a real thrill.
In a tight struggle with few opportunities on offer, the Aussies were able to register two tries to South Africa’s one. Jesse Parahi and Tom Cusack were the Aussie scorers. Australia was able to hold their nerve in a tension–packed finish to record a magnificent win.
Historically, the South Africans have held a decided advantage over Australia in their 80 Sevens encounters, so to win such a high-stakes match was a brilliant feat.
Quarter-final
In a twist Australia faced South Africa again in their sudden–death, round of eight clash at Deodora Stadium. Unfortunately, the high-intensity game of the South Africans created some Aussie mistakes that led to a series of tries, with Australia bowing out of the Olympic tournament, going down 22-5.
Two early tries to the South African’s had Australia on the backfoot from the outset, and another against the run of play just after the break had the Aussies playing catch-up football. The second try came about from sustained pressure near the Aussie line where South Africa was able to stretch the defence to conjure a two- man overlap to lead 10 nil.
Australia hit back though just before half-time with a great try by Tom Cusack, who not only started the movement with a tap penalty, but linked up just after to power through attempted tackles to score.
All three Uni players made it on the field during the match in a great coup for Students' Rugby. Pat McCutcheon came on to counter the South Africans physicality and packed down in the 3-man scrums with Captain, Ed Jenkins. Jenkins was all over the field and really took it to the South Africans. Tom Kingston tried his best, however, the day belonged to the South Africans as they swooped to score four tries to one.
All credit to the Aussie Men in reaching the Quarter Finals in the first ever Olympic Rugby Sevens.
Overall
The Australian’s had a mixed tournament starting with a 31-14 loss to France, followed by a 26-12 win over Spain and a 12-5 win over South Africa in the pool matches. The South Africans gained their revenge in the quarter-final. In other quarter-finals Fiji defeated New Zealand 12-7, Japan defeated France 12-7 and Great Britain defeated Argentina 5-nil. Those results have set up Friday semi-finals between Fiji and Japan and Great Britain and South Africa.
Thursday, 11 August
Alexander (Sasha) Belonogoff and Cameron Girdlestone: Men's Rowing
Thursday, August 11: M4x Final (A), 11:12pm AEST.
Isobel Bishop, Hannah Buckling, Keesja Gofers, Lea Yanitsas and Nicola Zagame: Women's Water Polo
Thursday, August 11: Australia v. Italy, Prelim. Rd., 11:20pm AEST.
Friday, August 12
Sally Kehoe: Women's Rowing
Friday, August 12: Women’s Double Scull, Final B, 1:50am AEST.
Katie Ebzery: Women's Basketball
Friday, August 12: Group Phase, Australia v. Japan, 6:45am AEST.
Jessica (Jess) Fox: Canoe Slalom
Friday, August 12: Women’s Kayak (K1) Semi Finals, 1:30am-5:10am AEST.
Friday, August 12: Women’s Kayak (K1) Final, 1:30am-5:10am AEST.
Georgie Morgan: Women’s Hockey
Friday, August 12: Australia v Argentina, Pool B, starts 7:00am AEST.
Jaime Ryan: Women's Sailing
Friday, August 12: Women's 470, heat, 2:00am-6:30am AEST.
William (Will) Ryan: Men's Sailing
Friday, August 12: Men's 470, heat, 2:00am-6:30am AEST.
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