Australia

Your daily guide to the Games: Aussies hoping for more swimming gold on day 3 of Olympics action


Day 3 in Tokyo will see Australia hunt for more gold in the pool, while the men’s triathlon takes place.

The Australian women’s hockey and water polo teams continue their respective campaigns, while medals will be up for grabs in sports such as archery, judo, weightlifting and skateboarding.

The Tokyo Olympics are broadcast in Australia on free-to-air TV on Channel Seven, as well as streaming platform 7Plus.

Here are the events to watch on Monday, July 26.

Swimming: Finals

Emma McKeon will chase her second gold medal of the Tokyo Games when she contests the women’s 100 metres butterfly final at 11:30am AEST.

McKeon was the third-fastest qualifier for the final.

Emma McKeon is a strong medal prospect in the women’s 100 metres butterfly.(

Getty Images: Clive Rose

)

She was a member of Australia’s victorious 4x100m freestyle relay team, who broke their world record in winning gold on Sunday.

In what could be the race of the Tokyo swimming program, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus is expected to go head to head with defending champion Katie Ledecky of the United States in the women’s 400m freestyle final at 12:20pm AEST.

Titmus beat Ledecky in the 400m freestyle at the 2019 world championships in Gwangju and showed she was in superb form at Australia’s recent Olympic trials in Adelaide when she recorded the second-fastest time in the event, just 0.44 off the American’s world record.

The 400m freestyle heats take place on Sunday night.

Australia is also tipped to be among the medal contenders in the men’s 4x100m freestyle final should it progress from Sunday night’s heats.

Triathlon: Men’s gold medal

The men’s race will commence at 7:30am AEST, with Australia represented by Jacob Birtwhistle, Matthew Hauser and Aaron Royle.

France’s Vincent Luis, Spain’s Mario Mola, and Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt are among the gold medal favourites.

Australia has never won a medal in the men’s triathlon, which made its Olympic debut at the Sydney Games in 2000.

Hockey: Australia vs China

The Hockeyroos take to the field at Oi Hockey Stadium for their second Pool B match against China at 1:15pm AEST.

The Australians opened their account with a solid 3-1 win over Spain on Sunday, while China defeated Japan 4-3.

Australian hockey players celebrate after scoring a goal at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Hockeyroos made a winning start in Tokyo on Sunday.(

AP Photo: John Locher

)

The Hockeyroos are fourth on the FIH world rankings, with China ranked in 11th place.

The Olympics has been a happy hunting ground for the Hockeyroos, having won gold in 1988, 1996 and 2000.

Water polo: Australia vs The Netherlands

The Stingers front up for the second match of their Tokyo campaign when they meet The Netherlands at 7:20pm AEST.

Australia made an impressive start on Saturday by beating Canada 8-5.

An Australian female water polo player holds the ball as she prepares to pass against Canada.
Australia won its opening match against Canada.(

Reuters: Kacper Pempel

)

The Stingers are a genuine medal threat in Tokyo, having won bronze at the 2019 world championships in Gwangju.

Surfing: Third round

Weather permitting, the women’s and men’s third round will be staged at Tsurigasaki Beach.

Australia’s Steph Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons enjoyed safe passage from the opening two rounds of the women’s competition.

Fellow Australians Julian Wilson and Owen Wright progressed to the third round in the men’s program.

Archery: Men’s team

Australia’s men’s archery team of David Barnes, Ryan Tyack and Taylor Worth are up against Taiwan in the round of 16 at 11:39am AEST.

The victor will advance to the quarter-finals, with the semi-finals and medal rounds to follow on Monday.

Tyack and Worth were members of the Australian team who won bronze in the event five years ago in Rio.

Rugby: Men’s preliminaries

Australia kicks off its tilt in the men’s rugby sevens with two matches on Monday.

The Australians play Argentina in their opening Pool A fixture at 11:30am AEST at Tokyo Stadium, before facing South Korea at 7:00pm AEST.

Tuesday will see Australia play New Zealand in its final pool match before the knock-out stages.

Defending champions Fiji play Japan in its opening match at 10:00am AEST.

What else is happening?

Canoe slalom: Australia’s Daniel Watkins will compete in the men’s canoe (C1) semi-final at 3:00pm AEST, with the final at 4:45pm AEST

Softball: Australia faces Mexico in Yokohama at 9:00pm AEST.

Australia and Japan in opening game of softball at 2020 Olympics
Australia’s softballers are back in action on Monday.(

Reuters: Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Network

)

Beach volleyball: Christopher McHugh and Damien Schumann face Ilya Leshukov and Konstantin Semenov of the Russian Olympic Committee at 4:00pm (AEST) on Centre Court at Shiokaze Park.

Badminton: Australia has two teams in action.

Gronya Somerville and Simon Wing Hang Leung are in the mixed doubles against Danish pair Mathias Chrstiansen and Alexandra Boje at 2:20pm AEST.

Somerville has to back up at 9:00pm AEST with Setyana Mapasa in the group stage of the women’s doubles against China’s Yue Du and Yin Hui Li.

Boxing: Australia’s Alex Winwood will open his men’s flyweight campaign against Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba at 6:00pm AEST.

Medal hope Skye Nicolson will face Aeji Im of South Korea in her opening bout in the women’s featherweight category at 20:54pm AEST.

Tokyo drifting

By Cody Atkinson and Sean Lawson

Much is written about the biggest nations of the Olympics, especially those who dominate events and medal tallies.

But the Olympics goes beyond the heavyweights, and places importance on representation from all countries from around the world.

The Tokyo Olympics will see 205 nations compete plus the Refugee Team, down one on the record set at the Rio Olympics. Some nations are more successful than others, with one standing out for having a medal drought longer than any other country.

The tiny European nation of Monaco has gone to 21 Summer Olympic Games and come away empty-handed each time — more than anyone else.

Monaco’s best result to date in athletic competition is a tie for ninth place in Judo and Taekwondo. Its most famous Olympian is also a member of their royal family, Prince Albert, who competed at five Winter Olympics in the bobsleigh.

Monaco came into the Games with six competitors entered in competition at Tokyo, including judoka Cedric Bessi and the strongest Monegasque medal hope in memory, table tennis player Xioxing Yang competing on day 3.

The only medal of any kind that Monaco has been able to snag in its long Olympic history is a single artistic bronze in the architecture of the 1924 Paris Olympics, with Julien Medecin winning for his design of a stadium in Monte Carlo.

Unfortunately for Monaco, the artistic medals are generally not considered to count towards a nation’s official tally.

The alternative medal tally

So what would the all-time medal tally look like excluding the larger countries?

Caribbean track and field powerhouse the Bahamas dominates the medal tally for countries with a population of 1 million people or less.

Only 15 of the over 45 small nations have been able to register a medal at the Summer Olympics, with Luxembourg, Grenada, Suriname and Fiji joining the Bahamas on the top of the podium.



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