From today, we're adding a daily medal tally to our sports newsletter.

You might've noticed that some news outlets report different versions of the medal tally. Usually, countries are ranked by number of gold medals. That all changes if you're looking at some American news sources, where the U.S. ranks much higher because they aren't counting gold, but the total number of gold, silver, and bronze medals combined.

Is it just me or are they very good at coming second and third?

I know I'll probably be eating these words when the athletics finals begin...

🏃🏽 4:00pm, Women’s Triathlon (Medal Event 🥇)
Australians Natalie Van Coevorden and Sophie Linn are competing in this event right now after athletes were given the all-clear to swim in the Seine earlier today. They are both making their Olympic debut.

🏃🏽6:45pm, Men’s Triathlon (Medal Event 🥇)
This event features Aussies Matt Hauser and Luke Willian. Hauser has improved since finishing 24th in Tokyo as a 23-year-old and is now ranked 3rd in the world. Willian is making his Olympic debut.

🏊‍♀️ 7:00pm, Swimming (Heats)
The morning session in Paris will feature Australians Ella Ramsey and Jenna Strautch (200m Breaststroke), Bradley Woodward and Se-Bom Lee (200m Backstroke), Lizzie Dekkers and Abbey Connor (200m Butterfly).

🚣‍♂️ 7:04pm, Rowing: Women’s Pair (Semi-Final)
Jess Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre won gold in Tokyo in the women’s four. They are now one of the favourites for the women’s pair in Paris. The top three crews in this semi-final go through to the A final.

🎾8:00pm, Tennis: Men’s Singles (Third Round)
Alexei Popyrin, the last Aussie in either the men’s or women’s singles, will play Germany’s Alexander Zverev.

🚲 9:10pm, BMX Freestyle: Men’s and Women’s Final (Medal Event 🥇)
Aussie Logan Martin was the third-highest qualifier through to the final of the men’s event where he will seek to defend his Olympic title from Tokyo. Natalya Diehm was the eighth-highest qualifier through to the final in the women’s event. She will be seeking an Olympic medal after finishing fifth in Tokyo.

🏑 9:15pm, Women’s Hockey: Australia v United States (Group Game)
The Hockeyroos are two from two in Paris and will be looking to continue their unbeaten run against the U.S. who have drawn one (Spain) and lost one (Argentina).

🏐10:00pm, Women’s Water Polo: Australia v Netherlands (Group Game)
The Stingers won their first game against China. The Netherlands have already played two games, beating Hungary and China. 

🛶 11:30pm, Women’s Canoe Slalom: C1 Final (Medal Event🥇)
Jess Fox is contending for her second gold medal in Paris. She is also the defending Olympic champion in this event. The semi-final begins at 11:30pm with the final to follow at 1:25am (AEST).

🤸 1:30am, Gymnastics: Men’s Artistic Individual All-Around Final (Medal Event🥇)
21-year-old South Australian Jesse Moore will compete in this event. Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto is the defending Olympic champion and is competing in the final.

⚽  3:00am, Women’s Football: Australia v United States (Group Game)
The Matildas can guarantee themselves a spot in the quarter-final if they either win or draw this match. They can still advance if they lose but it will depend on results from other games. Australia lost 4-3 to the U.S. in the bronze-medal match at Tokyo 2020. 

🏊‍♀️ 4:30am, Women’s 100m Freestyle (Final 🥇)
Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack will represent Australia in this final. O’Callaghan won her semi-final in 52.75 and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (52.64) won the other semi with Jack hot on her tail (52.72). This race is stacked, anything could happen.

🏊‍♀️ 4:37am, Men’s 200m Butterfly (Final 🥇)
No Aussies in this event but it’s set to be a great race. The fastest time in the semi-final was set by Hungary’s Kristóf Milák, the defending Olympic champion and World Record holder. He will be challenged by France’s Léon Marchand who is seeking his second individual gold in front of a home crowd after winning the 400m individual medley.

🏊‍♀️ 5:47am, Women’s 1500m Freestyle (Final 🥇)
Aussie Moesha Johnson is racing in Lane 2. Katie Ledecky is the overwhelming favourite and defending Olympic champion.

🏊‍♀️ 6:31am, Men’s 200m Breastroke (Final 🥇)
Aussie Zac Stubblety-Cook won his semi in 2:08.57. He is the reigning Olympic champion from Tokyo and will be looking to defend his title. Frenchman Léon Marchand won the other semi in 2:08.11. Notably, Marchand is also swimming the 200m butterfly final two hours before this event. Stubblety-Cook is joined by fellow Aussie Joshua Yong.

🏊‍♀️ 6:39am, Men’s 100m Freestyle (Final 🥇)
Kyle Chalmers won his semi in 47.58. China’s Pan Zhanle, the world record-holder, won the other semi in 47.21. In this event, Chalmers won gold in Rio and silver in Tokyo. If you want to watch something to tug at your heartstrings, watch Kyle’s grandparents watching him win gold in Rio here.

🏊‍♀️ In the pool, Kaylee McKeown successfully defended her 100m backstroke title with an Olympic Record of 57.33, edging out American world record holder Regan Smith (57.66). The Aussie men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team of Max Giuliani, Flynn Southam, Elijah Winnington and Thomas Neill defied expectations and won bronze behind Great Britain and the U.S. 

🏀 The Boomers lost to Canada 93-83 in the men’s basketball. RJ Barrett starred for Canada with 24 points while Josh Giddey was Australia’s high-scorer with 19 points. The loss means the Boomers must beat Greece in their final group game on Friday night (AEST) to guarantee a spot in the quarter-final. If they lose, their fate will depend upon the result between Spain and Canada.

🏐 The Sharks beat the two-time men’s water polo Olympic champions Serbia 8-3 in a stunning upset. Luke Pavillard starred for Australia with four goals. Goalkeeper Nic Porter also saved nine of Serbia’s 12 shots on goal. Australia will play France in their next group game tomorrow night (AEST).

🤸🏽‍♀️ Simone Biles won her fifth Olympic gold with the U.S in the team final of the artistic gymnastics. Biles is the most decorated gymnast of all time with a total haul of 38 medals from the Olympics or World Championships.

🏉 Australia’s women’s rugby sevens were upset twice overnight and ultimately finished fourth without a medal. In the semi-final, the Aussies led Canada 12-0 at half-time but conceded 21 unanswered points in the second half and lost 21-12. In the bronze-medal final, the U.S. scored after the final siren to win the match. The two results were unexpected after the Aussie women showed some outstanding form in the group and quarter-final stages. In the gold-medal final, New Zealand defended their Olympic title from Tokyo, beating Canada 19-12.

🏑 The Kookaburras lost to defending Olympic men’s hockey champions Belgium 6-2, ending their unbeaten run in Paris. Belgium’s Tom Boon starred, scoring three goals for his side.  The tournament is not over for the Australians, who won silver in Tokyo. They have two group games remaining against New Zealand and India.

Swimming at the Paris Olympics will continue through the week until Sunday. The Aussies have had a remarkable week in the pool so far, winning a total of 8 medals (four gold, three silver and one bronze) and the most gold of any country. So, what’s left to look forward to?

Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack are both strong contenders in this race. None of the women racing the final have won this event at the Olympic level before and it is always a tight race. 

Kyle Chalmers won gold in Rio as an 18-year-old and backed it up with silver in Tokyo. He will be looking for his second individual gold after winning his semi and qualifying second fastest. 

Cam McEvoy overhauled his training regime in the lead-up to this Olympics, adjusting his weekly training distance from 30 kilometres a week to just three. Following the change, he became the oldest Australian to win a swimming world championship in 2023. No Australian man has ever stood on the podium in this event. If he clears the heats (Thursday night AEST), McEvoy could be the first. Watch this space.

Kaylee McKeown is the reigning Olympic champion in this event. The United States’ Regan Smith, who McKeown beat by three-tenths of a second in the 100m backstroke, will do her very best to stop McKeown from going back-to-back.

Shayna Jack and Meg Harris will likely be the two Aussies in this event. Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström is the favourite for this race but Jack clocked the fourth-fastest time in the world this year at the Australian Swimming Trials. She also qualified to race in this event over Tokyo 2020 Olympic champ and Olympic record holder Emma McKeon.

Australia won gold and set the Olympic record in this event in Tokyo. They will go toe-to-toe with the U.S. in what will likely be Emma McKeon’s last race at the Olympics.

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🏉 Jeff Browne, the president of Collingwood Football Club, has backed the CEO of the club, Craig Kelly, following allegations of racism directed at Kelly. Browne said of Kelly, "I don't think [he] is the sort of person that would disrespect any other person. From my experience, he’s doing an outstanding job as CEO.”

🏉 Two-time AFL premiership winner Brandon Ellis announced his retirement effective immediately today. Ellis played 251 games in the AFL, including 176 for the Richmond Tigers where he played a role in two grand final victories (2017, 2019). The 31-year-old has played for the Gold Coast Suns since 2019. He tore his calf in Round 15 this season.

Boosting Athletic Performance with AI: Insights from Deakin’s Dr. Lyndell Bruce

Dr. Lyndell Bruce, a Sport Scientist at Deakin University, is all about using the latest tech and data to boost athletic performance.

Take Artificial Intelligence, for instance. Last year, Mitch Aarons, a School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences PhD student, designed and created a decision support system (DSS) for coaches to use to assist in their match-day decision-making.

The system compares data from historic match outcomes and in-game team metrics with the current performance characteristics of two teams during a match to provide real-time feedback on a team's chances of winning and how their chances might be improved

Dr. Bruce shares that one of the most exciting aspects of this system is how it combines the strengths of AI with the insights of a coach or analyst, enhancing team performance.

So, where is the biggest opportunity in sports tech right now? Dr. Bruce believes it's in harnessing data and ensuring processes and systems are set up to distil it into meaningful and useful information. With performance departments across all sports using various formats and sources, there's a huge opportunity for a user-friendly data management system.

Think beyond the field. Study sport at Deakin.