Remember all that talk about the Seine being too dirty to swim in?

Well, after the rain in Paris on Friday and Saturday, the familiarisation swim for the triathletes was cancelled due to poor water quality.

The first event to take place in the Seine, the men’s triathlon, is scheduled to start at 4:00pm tomorrow (AEST) and the women’s triathlon is scheduled for the day after at 4:00pm (AEST).

If the water quality is deemed to be too poor, the triathlons may become duathlons (run and a bike) and the marathon swimming will be moved to the rowing course outside of Paris.

So, here’s to hoping it doesn’t rain in Paris over the next 24 hours.

🏐 5:00pm, Men’s Beach Volleyball: Australia v Italy (Preliminary Phase)
Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis are one of two Aussie Men’s Beach Volleyball teams competing in Paris. They lost their first match to Sweden and will be looking to keep their campaign alive with a win against Italy.

🏑 6:00pm, Men’s Hockey: Australia v Ireland (Group Game)
The Kookaburras are off to a strong start after they beat Argentina in their first Group Game. Ireland is ranked 11th in the world and lost their first Group Game to Belgium.

🚣‍♂️ 6:20pm, Rowing (Repechages and Heats)
At 6:20pm the men’s pair of Simon Keenan and Paddy Holt must come in the top three to advance to the semi-finals. At 7:30pm, the women’s quad must finish in the top two to go to the A Final. Then from 7:40pm watch the men’s and women’s eights thunder down the course in the heats. 

🏊‍♀️ 7:00pm, Swimming (Heats)
Can Australia continue their run of form in the pool on Day 3? The morning session will feature Australians Ella Ramsey and Jenna Forrester (400m Medley), Kaylee McKeown and Iona Anderson (100m Backstroke), and Elijah Winnington and Sam Short (800m Freestyle).

🏀 7:00pm, Women’s Basketball: Australia v Nigeria (Group Game)
The Opals kick off their Olympic campaign. Can veteran Lauren Jackson get the Opals on the front foot at her fifth Olympics? 

🤸 7:00pm, Diving: Men’s Synchronised 10m Platform (Medal Event🥇)
Watch Australians Cassiel Rousseau and Domonic Bedggood launch themselves off the 10m platform together and compete for an Olympic medal.

🏉 10:00pm, Women’s Rugby Sevens: Australia v Ireland (Group Game)
Australia have had a cracking start, beating South Africa and Great Britain in their first two group games and earning a spot in the quarter-final. This is their final group game.

🛶 11:30pm, Men’s Canoe Slalom: C1 Final (Medal Event🥇)
Tristan Carter is the Aussie to watch in this event. The semi-finals start at 11:30pm and the final is scheduled for 1:20am.

🏑 1:00am, Women’s Hockey: Australia v Great Britain (Group Game)
The Hockeyroos will be looking to build on their first match where they beat South Africa 2-1 while Great Britain is fighting to stay in the tournament after losing their first match to Spain. 

🏉  5:00am, Women’s Rugby Sevens: Australia v TBD (Quarter Finals)
The Aussies will be here regardless of their result against Ireland, this is a must-win if they want to keep their chances of a medal alive. 

🏐 6:00am, Women’s Beach Volleyball: Australia v United States (Group Game)
Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar won their first group game against China two sets to one. Tomorrow morning they are up against a U.S. pairing ranked number two in the world. 

🏊‍♀️ 4:30am, Women’s 400m Individual Medley (Final 🥇)
We’re hoping Ella Ramsay and Jenna Forrester will both feature in this event. 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh is the favourite. She set the World Record in this event earlier this year. 

🏊‍♀️ 4:43am, Men’s 200m Freestyle (Final 🥇)
21-year-old Tasmanian Max Giuliani will swim in Lane 2 of the final after finishing third in the semi-final. His semi-final time was the fifth-fastest of the eight swimmers through to the final.

🏊‍♀️ 5:00am, Women’s 100m Backstroke Semi-Final
Kaylee McKeown and Iona Anderson are the Aussies racing in the 100m Backstroke. McKeown won gold in this event in Tokyo and set a world record in October 2023, but she will be challenged by American Regan Smith who bettered her world record last month at the U.S. Swimming Trials. 

🏊‍♀️ 5:19am, Men’s 100m Backstroke (Final 🥇)
No Aussies made it to the final in this hotly-contested event but watch out for the battle between Italian World Record holder Thomas Ceccon, and America’s 2016 Olympic Champion Ryan Murphy. 

🏊‍♀️ 5:25am, Women’s 100m Breaststroke (Final 🥇)
No Aussies in this one either. South African Tatjana Smith is the defending Olympic Champion and swam the fastest time in the semi-final this morning. 

🏊‍♀️ 5:48am, Women’s 200m Freestyle (Final 🥇)
Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan will likely be the two to battle this one out. Both of them broke O’Callaghan’s World Record at the Australian Olympic trials in June. 

⚽ The Matildas survived a scare against world no.64 Zambia, coming from behind to win the second game of their Olympic campaign 6-5. Zambia came out firing and led the Matildas 4-2 at half-time. The Matildas didn’t lead the match until Michelle Heyman scored a 90th-minute winner. In the other Group B match, the United States beat Germany 4-1. Australia will play their final group game against the U.S. for a place in the quarter-final on Thursday at 3:00am (AEST).

🏄‍♂️ Surfer Jack Robinson had the highest-scoring wave of the day in the second round of Olympic surfing in Tahiti. Robinson was awarded a 9.87 (out of a possible ten) after coming out of a deep barrel at Teahupoʻo, the break where the Olympic surfing event is being held. Robinson advances to the final 16 with fellow Aussie Ethan Ewing in the men’s competition. Robinson will surf against American John John Florence tomorrow at 6:36am while Ewing will surf against Japan’s Connor O’Leary at 7:12am (AEST). Tyler Wright is the only Australian remaining in the women’s event after Molly Picklum was eliminated by France’s Johanne Defay. Wright will surf against Israel’s Anat Leilor at 8:24am tomorrow (AEST).

🏉 Australia’s Women’s Rugby Sevens team is off to an almighty start in Paris after they thrashed South Africa (34-5) and Great Britain (36-5) in their opening two games overnight. Aussie star Maddison Levi scored seven tries across the two games. They play their final group game against Ireland tonight at 10:00pm (AEST) and the quarterfinals will be played from 5:00am tomorrow (AEST).

🤽 The Sharks, Australia’s Men’s Water Polo team, fell to European champions Spain 9-5 last night in their first Group B game. They have four group games remaining and will play Serbia next (tomorrow at 6:30pm AEST). In the Women’s Water Polo, the Stingers won their first of four Group A games, beating China 7-5. Their next game is against the Netherlands tomorrow at 10pm (AEST).

Jess Fox won Australia’s fourth gold medal of the Paris 2024 Games last night. Fox won the Canoe Slalom Women’s Kayak (K1), an event in which Olympic Gold had previously eluded her. She won a silver medal at London 2012 and a Bronze medal at Rio 2016 in the same event. 

Fox started the event with the fastest time in the heats on Saturday but seemed to falter in the semi-final and was the 8th fastest out of 12 qualifiers for the final. 

In the final, she demonstrated her wealth of experience and composure under pressure as a four-time Olympian and set a time down the course that no other competitor could surpass. Poland’s Klaudia Zwolińska finished 1.45 seconds behind Fox for silver while Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods rounded out the podium in third place.

Fox still has the Canoe Single (C1) and Kayak Cross events to come.

She said after her win, “After this, I’ll celebrate a little bit. But I think we’ll be off to bed and back to training tomorrow to refocus for the canoe.”

The main difference between the Canoe and Kayak events is that the canoe requires a single-bladed paddle and the kayak requires a double-bladed paddle. The Kayak Cross is an event that sees four athletes compete against each other at once while the C1 and K1 have a time-trial format where athletes go one-by-one. This is the first Olympics where Kayak Cross will be included as a Canoe Slalom event. 

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🏎️ Lewis Hamilton won the Belgium Grand Prix by default after his Mercedes teammate George Russell was disqualified due to his car being under the required weight. The car weighed 796.5kg, 1.5kg under the 798kg limit. Hamilton’s result was upgraded from second to first for his second win of the season while Australian Oscar Piastri claimed second place. 

🏉 In the NRL on Sunday, Nathan Cleary scored a hattrick for the Panthers and led his side to a 46-10 win over the Dragons. The Dolphins were beaten by the Titans 21-14, marking their sixth loss in eight games. The Rabbitohs were outclassed by the Canberra Raiders 32-12 and suffered a massive blow with winger Alex Johnston leaving the field for a suspected Achilles injury which may sideline him for between five and eight months. 

🏉 In the AFL on Sunday, the top-of-the-table Sydney Swans slumped to their fourth loss from their last five games, losing to the Western Bulldogs 87-48. Hawthorn beat the Adelaide Crows by 66 points and improved their chances of making the top eight for finals for the first time since 2018. Collingwood’s Nick Daicos starred for his team with 42 touches of the ball as they beat Richmond 93-67 and broke a four-match losing streak.

🏉 In the NRLW on Sunday, Emily Bass scored a hattrick for the Titans in their 18-10 victory over the Dragons. At Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Zahara Temara starred for the Raiders with 12 of the team’s 32 points in their 32-12 win over the Wests Tigers.

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.