Your daily guide to the Games: Matildas and Hockeyroos headline Monday’s action

Australia’s women’s teams dominate the coverage on Monday with the Matildas playing their semi-final match against Sweden and the Hockeyroos running out for their quarter-final clash against India.

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

The ABC will be live blogging events every day of the Olympics.

Here are the events to watch on Monday, August 2:

Football: Australia vs Sweden 

The Matildas come up against Sweden in the women’s semi-final at International Stadium Yokohama at 9:00pm. 

Australia defeated Great Britain 4-3 in the quarter-final on Friday night and now face an even tougher challenge from the Swedes, who beat them 4-2 in their second group game.

Hockey: Australia vs India 

The Hockeyroos take on India in the women’s quarter-final at 1:00pm at OI Hockey Stadium. 

Australia are favourites for gold after winning all five of their pool matches against Spain, China, Japan, New Zealand and Argentina. 

Basketball: Australia vs Puerto Rico

The Opals have one more chance to secure a place in the women’s quarter-finals when they come up against Puerto Rico at 10:00pm.

Australia must win their third group game to have a chance of progressing after losses to Belgium and China.

Athletics

The first Australians in the track and field are Georgia Griffith, Jess Hull and Linden Hall in the three women’s 1,500m heats from 10:35am.

Riley Day will run in heat six of the 200m at 12:18pm, just after 100m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah goes at 12:10pm. Day will be hoping to reach the semis, which start at 8:25pm.

In the night session, Nina Kennedy and Elizaveta Parnova are in pole vault qualifying at 8:20pm, and athletics team captain Steve Solomon is in the 400m semi-finals from 9:05pm.

Canoe sprint: 

Aussie athletes are back on the water at Sea Forest Waterway for the canoe and kayak sprints.

Thomas Green will compete in heat one of the men’s kayak single 1,000m at 11.21am, with Jean van der Westhuyzen in heat three at 11.37am.

At 12.15pm, Jaime Roberts and Jo Brigden-Jones challenge the women’s kayak double 500m in heat two, with Alyssa Bull and Alyce Wood in heat four at 12.29pm.

The quarter-finals of both races will take place on Monday afternoon.

Weightlifting: Gold up for grabs 

Australia have a chance to claim gold in weightlifting with Charisma Amoe-Tarrant in the women’s +87kg snatch at 8.50pm.

What else is happening?

In the table tennis men’s team round 16, Australia take on Japan at 11:am.

Dane Sampson and Jack Rossiter will compete at 12.30pm in the men’s 50m rifle three positions shooting qualification.

In sailing, Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries will star in race nine of the women’s two person dinghy – 470 at 1.05pm. Shortly after, Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan compete in race nine of the men’s at 3.35pm.

Shixin Li will also compete in the men’s 3m springboard at 4:00pm to earn a spot in the top 18 semi-final on Tuesday.

Australia’s men’s water polo team come up against Kazakhstan in their final group match at 8:50pm, having only won one of their past four round games.

Tokyo Drifting

By Cody Atkinson and Sean Lawson

There are few certainties at the Olympics, especially when it comes to winning medals. When the whole world is gunning for the number one, staying on top for a long time is hard to do.

On Monday, the greatest current Olympic streak gets put to the test — namely Kenya’s dominance of the men’s 3,000m steeplechase. Since 1968, Kenya has won every gold medal in the event other than in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics, which the African nation boycotted. The steeplechase, featuring large fixed hurdles and one water jump, is one of the most idiosyncratic events on the track program.

This streak of nine straight gold medals is the longest active streak for one nation in one event in the Olympics. During this streak, eight different Kenyans have won, underlining how strong the depth of the talent pool is in the steeplechase. Kenya has also swept the podium on two occasions during this streak.

But it will take at least another seven Olympic victories on the trot to match the all-time longest streak in one event. From the start of the Modern Olympic Games, the USA won the pole vault 16 straight times, with Wolfgang Nordwig breaking the streak for East Germany at the 1972 Olympics.

Since then, the US have only won the event twice — offering some hope for the nations looking to break Kenya’s grip on the steeplechase.

The alternative medal tally

The athletics steeplechase originally derived from the similarly titled horse race, where riders coax their horses over obstacles. It was said to be named because riders and horses used to race from one town’s church to the next, jumping over obstacles on the way.

While the horse version of the steeplechase is more famous for the Grand National than anything else, it raises the question of who does the best at the Olympics given the number of horses they have.

European countries have been the best at turning horses into horse-based medals, with Switzerland leading the pack per capita. Australia sits back in 17th but New Zealand punches above its weight, sitting in 5th.