Good evening!

If you don’t have some kind of Olympics-induced sleeping problem already and want in on the action, I’d recommend getting up to watch Nina Kennedy in the pole vault final from 2:15am and Matt Denny in the discus throw final from 4:25am. Both Australians should very much be in contention for a medal.

Also, how’s this for a steeplechase yarn?

At the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, officials lost track of how many laps the athletes in the men’s 3000m steeplechase had run and they ran 460 metres further than they were supposed to. The result stood and Finland’s Volmari Iso-Hollo won the gold medal.

Paris ‘24: Medal tally

Paris ‘24: Tonight’s top moments

Wednesday 7th August (All times are in AEST)

⛳ 5:00pm: Women’s Golf (Round 1)
The women’s Olympic golf tournament begins today and will feature two Australians, Minjee Lee and Hannah Green. American Nelly Korda is the defending Olympic champion and current world number one.

🏃‍♂️ 6:00pm: Track and Field (Morning Session)
The track and field morning session will feature plenty of Australians. Brandon Starc, Joel Baden and Yual Reath will all contest the men’s High Jump. Michelle Jenneke, Liz Clay, and Celeste Mucci will race in the heats of the 100m Hurdles. Kelsey Lee-Barber, Kathryn Mitchell and Mackenzie Little will represent Australia in the qualifying round of the women’s Javelin. Stewart McSweyn and Morgan McDonald will race the heats of the 5000m. Peter Bol, Joseph Deng, and Peyton Craig will race in the heats of the men’s 800m.

🏊‍♀️ 6:00pm: Diving, Men’s 3m springboard (Preliminary)
Kurtis Mathews finished in the top 18 of the preliminary round last night and will compete in this semi-final. The top 12 in the semi-final will advance to the final. Mathews is making his Olympic debut after he won the Australian trials for this event in June. 

🏀 7:00pm: Women’s Basketball, Australia v Serbia (Quarter-Final)
This match is a must-win for the Opals to progress their Olympic campaign. It’s set to be a nail-biter after the men’s team, the Boomers, lost to Serbia last night.  

🛹 8:30pm: Skateboarding, Men’s Park (Preliminary)
Australians Keegan Palmer, Kieran Woolley, and Keefer Wilson are skating in this event. Palmer is the defending Olympic champion from Tokyo. Can he follow Arisa Trew’s lead and win gold in Paris too?

⛵ 9:13pm: Sailing, Men’s Dinghy (Medal Race 🥇)
Australian Matt Wearn is the reigning Olympic champion in this boat class and must finish in the top seven in the medal race to successfully defend his title at back-to-back Olympics. He is already guaranteed silver.

Thursday 8th August

🚴‍♂️ 2:33am: Track Cycling, Men’s Team Pursuit (Final 🥇)
The Aussie men set a world record in the qualifying round for this final and won bronze in this event in Tokyo. They have already improved upon their result from Tokyo and are racing Great Britain for gold.

🏐 3:00am: Men’s Water Polo, Australia v United States (Quarter-Final)
The Sharks take on the U.S. in their first knockout stage match of the Olympic tournament. Australia’s best result in men’s water polo at the Olympics is 5th (1984, 1992). If the Sharks win tomorrow they will go deeper into the Olympic tournament than any Australian team.

🏃‍♂️And then it’s time for track and field finals…

2:15am: Women’s Pole Vault (Final 🥇)
Nina Kennedy goes for gold in Paris. Kennedy is the current world champion (she shared the medal with American Katie Moon in Budapest) and has shown impressive form in Diamond League events leading up to the Olympics. Moon is the defending Olympic champion.

4:25am: Men’s Discus Throw (Final 🥇)
Matt Denny is another of Australia’s medal hopes in the track and field events. The 28-year-old had the second-best throw in qualifying behind world record holder Mykolas Alekna from Lithuania. Denny is competing in his third Olympics and finished fourth in Tokyo.

5:20am: Men’s 400m (Final 🥇)
No Australians in this race after Reece Holder came fifth in his semi-final. Grenada’s Kirani James was the fastest qualifier from the semi-finals and could become the only man to win four consecutive medals in the 400m. The 31-year-old claimed gold in London, silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo. Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith and the U.S.’s Michael Norman won the other two semi-finals. 

5:43am: Men’s 3000m Steeplechase (Final 🥇)
No Australians in this event. Morocco’s Mohamed Tindouft was the fastest qualifier in round one. The 3000m steeplechase includes 28 barrier jumps, seven of those into water.

Paris ‘24: The headlines

In case you missed it…

🏀 The Boomers have been bundled out of the Olympic basketball tournament by a resurgent Serbian team led by Nikola Jokić. The Boomers were up by 24 points in the second quarter but failed to hold their lead. Scores were level at 82-82 by the end of the fourth quarter, sending the game into overtime. Serbia ultimately won 95-90. Jokić, who has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award three times, had 21 points and 14 rebounds. Captain of the Boomers Patty Mills told Nine that the team "threw everything at them, it just wasn't our day. They played a hell of a game." Mills, at his fifth and likely last Olympics, was in brilliant form scoring 26 points while Josh Giddey was not far behind with 25.

🏐 Aussie duo Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar are through to the semi-final of the women’s beach volleyball after they beat Switzerland in the quarter-final. They won the match two sets to one and will play the winner of Brazil and Latvia in the semi-final. Clancy and Del Solar won silver in Tokyo and are now only two wins away from bettering their result from three years ago.

🏐 The Stingers, Australia’s women’s water polo team, beat Greece 9-6 in the quarter-final. Alice WIlliams starred for Australia scoring five goals. Australia will now play the U.S. in the semi-final on Friday morning (AEST). The U.S. has won three consecutive Olympic titles. The last time Australia won a medal in women’s water polo was bronze in London 2012.

🚴‍♂️ In Track Cycling, Australia beat France to win a bronze medal in the men’s team sprint. The bronze is Australia’s first medal in the event since Sydney 2000. Aussie cyclist Matt Glaetzer said of the performance, "I mean, after going 12 years with no Olympic medal and to win a bronze, it's so special. And to share it with the boys, I couldn't be more grateful." Meanwhile, the Netherlands set a new world record against Great Britain to win gold. 

🏃‍♂️At the Stade de France, 75,000 spectators watched as five Olympic Champions were crowned. 

In the women’s 200m, American Gabby Thomas won gold. Thomas cruised home in 21.83 with St Lucia’s Julien Alfred in second (22.08) and fellow American Brittany Brown in third (22.2). 

In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, Bahraini athlete Winfred Yavi set an Olympic record (8:52.76) with Peruth Chemutai of Uganda in second and Faith Cherotich of Kenya in third.

In the men’s 1500m, American Cole Hocker produced a stunning final lap and set a new Olympic record (3:27.65) to win gold. Britain’s Josh Kerr won the silver medal and American Yared Nuguse won bronze. Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Olympic champion in Tokyo, finished in fourth after leading the race until the final 100m.

🏟️ On the field, Greece’s Miltiádis Tentóglou won a second consecutive Olympic gold in the men’s long jump with a jump of 8.48m. Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock won the silver medal (8.36m) and Italy’s Mattia Furlani won bronze (8.34m).

Canadian athlete Camryn Rogers won gold in the women’s hammer throw. It is Rogers’ second Olympics after she finished fifth in Tokyo. American Annette Echikunwoke won silver and China’s Zhao Jie won bronze. Polish athlete Anita Włodarczyk, a two-time Olympic gold medallist from Rio and Tokyo, was just outside of the medals in fourth.

Paris ‘24: What we’re talking about

Arisa Trew makes history as Australia’s youngest-ever gold medallist

At just 14 years old, Arisa Trew has become Australia’s youngest-ever Olympic gold medallist, winning the women’s skateboarding park final in Paris.

Trew did not move into first place until her third and final run where she scored a 93.18 out of 100. Japanese skater Cocona Hiraki won silver with a score of 92.63, and Great Britain’s Sky Brown won bronze with 92.31. 

Young podium

Hiraki is 15 and Brown is 16, meaning the average age of the women’s park podium in Paris was just 15 years old. Brown also won bronze in the same event in Tokyo at the age of 13, making her Great Britain’s youngest-ever Olympic medallist. 

Trew became an Olympic champion aged 14 years and 86 days. She surpassed the Australian record held by swimmer Sandra Morgan, who was 14 years and 184 days old when she medalled with the women’s 4x100m relay team at the Melbourne 1956 Olympics.

What they said 

Trew said: "I got told by a few people that I'm Australia's youngest gold medallist, which is, like, pretty insane and really cool, because that's who I'm representing and it's just amazing. It's just super cool that I have won the gold medal because it has been like a dream.”

Medal tally boost

Trew’s medal marks Australia’s 14th gold at Paris 2024. The result moved Australia from fourth to third place on the medal tally, overtaking France who have 13 gold medals. The most gold medals Australia has ever won at a Games is 17 (Tokyo 2020 and Athens 2004).

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Think beyond the field. Study sport at Deakin.

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