Round one: Titmus beats Ledecky
It was the most anticipated moment of the Tokyo 2020 swim meet: American swim queen Katie Ledecky against 20-year-old Australian Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle. Ledecky had dominated the event for years, but had been upstaged by a teenaged Titmus at the 2019 world championships. After two years without competition, the rivals were back in the pool. The 400m discipline is gruelling – too long for all-out sprinting, too short for an endurance rhythm. Ledecky led out and was ahead of Titmus for most of the race, before the Tasmanian surged in the final lap to win her first Olympic gold medal. It was a tactical swim executed to perfection. And it got the celebration it deserved from Titmus’s coach, Dean Boxall, who caught the world’s attention with his gyrations. (Kieran Pender)
Mateship motivates Moloney medal
Ash Moloney had given all he could. He knew it and his team knew it. Thankfully Cedric Dubler is on his team. Moloney had busted a gut in the first nine events of the decathlon and was on the verge of going where no Australian decathlete had gone before: the podium. But to secure bronze the 21-year-old Queenslander had to finish no more than 10 seconds behind the American Garrett Scantling in the 1500m. It was a task that might have been beyond an exhausted Moloney but he wasn’t in this alone. Dubler, Moloney’s long-time training partner, was injured and out of contention but hatched a plan to help a friend in need. Hamstring strapped, Dubler set the pace until it was time for Moloney to rush past and sprint to the finish line. As Moloney overtook him, Dubler stayed close behind – willing Moloney home with words of unremitting encouragement. “He was screaming, I can’t repeat what he said,” Moloney said. “I could hear his voice bouncing in my cranium like a bat out of hell.” It worked. Moloney finished only four seconds behind Scantling to take bronze. Dubler won nothing, except the hearts of a nation that values mateship above all else. (Scott Heinrich)
‘Patty Mills for prime minister’
For so long, an Olympic medal had eluded Australia’s men’s basketball team. On four previous occasions the team had made the bronze medal match, and lost each time. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, the loss to Spain was particularly heart-breaking – a questionable last-minute foul against Boomers talisman Patty Mills sending Australia to a one-point defeat. In Tokyo, in yet another bronze medal clash, Mills made sure there would be no repeat of that misfortune. Australia’s Tokyo 2020 co-flag bearer, Mills put the Boomers on his shoulders and lifted them to Olympic glory. His stat-line was remarkable: 42 points, nine assists and three rebounds. There was no stopping Mills. The joy that followed the victory underscored what it meant to not just the 12 players in Tokyo but past generations of Boomers. Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze was in tears in a television interview. Mills’ on-court embrace with friend and teammate Joe Ingles was an iconic moment. An Olympic medal at last, sparking tongue-in-cheek suggestions that Mills should become the nation’s next leader. (KP)
Brotherly pride for BMX star Sakakibara
When Saya Sakakibara rides she doesn’t ride just for herself. The BMX racer went to Tokyo hellbent on a medal, one that she would have dedicated to her brother, Kai. He, too, was a brilliant rider and would have been a medal chance in Tokyo himself were it not for a horror crash in 2020 that left him with a serious brain injury. He has only just learned to walk and talk again and was willing his sister on as she led the field in the third run of the second semi-final, racing towards what seemed a certain spot in the final. But then disaster struck. Sakakibara was brought down from behind in a crash that put hearts into the mouths of everyone watching. Her Olympics were now over but Sakakibara’s wellbeing was the only thing that mattered as she lay motionless on the track. Thankfully, after showing signs of a mild concussion, Sakakibara was cleared of serious injury. But nothing could heal the anguish. “This is so disappointing,” she said. “I feel like I have let everyone down. I let everyone down, especially my brother.” Sakakibara did nothing of the sort. “I’m really proud of her,” Kai said, as tears were choked back across the viewing nation. (SH)
Fox finally fulfils dream
Australian canoe slalom star Jess Fox comes from Olympic royalty – both her parents are former Olympians (her Mum, Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, a bronze medallist). Prior to Tokyo, Fox had two medals to her name – silver in London and bronze in Rio. She added another bronze in Tokyo and then, 48 hours later, in the debut women’s C1 canoe slalom event, Fox finally claimed gold. Her father, Richard Fox, was part of Channel Seven’s commentary team back in Australia; he remained deadpan throughout the coverage, until father and daughter were brought together in a live cross from the Kasai slalom course. “I can’t wait to show you this one, Dad,” Fox said. (KP)
Palmer strikes blow for new generation
Be honest, when the Games began you were chuntering into your lockdown slanket about skateboarding not being a sport, weren’t you? But it turns out the children are the future, and taught well, they will lead the way, doing kick-flips and gingersnaps as they go. And children is no exaggeration. Of the four golds on offer, three went to teenagers. The podium for the women’s street event had a combined age of 42! Australians played their part in a discipline that brought more colour and camaraderie than any other event at the Games. Keegan Palmer performed the two best runs in the men’s park final – and by a mighty distance. “It’s an absolute honour to skate with my friends,” Palmer said afterwards, going on to sum up the esprit de corps of this oddest of Olympics, as only his generation can. “I can’t believe I’m here in Tokyo for the Olympics, skating with so many of my best friends from when I was little. And now we’re all on the podium together, and it’s an absolute honour. I have no fucking words, man. It’s fucking insane.” (Jonathan Howcroft)
Browning and Bol captivate the nation
It has been some time since Australia had much to cheer about in men’s Olympic running. That changed in Tokyo with not one but two new track stars. Early in the week-long athletics program, Rohan Browning became the second fastest Australian 100m sprinter in history and the first in decades to win an Olympic 100m. While Browning fell short in the semi-final after a slow start, 800m runner Peter Bol then picked up the baton, captivating Australia with his energy and enthusiasm. Bol’s fourth place was the best Australian result in the discipline in decades, but the inspiration he provided was just as important. Both Browning and Bol will be back come Paris. (KP)
The Wright stuff in surfing’s Olympic debut
One of many inspiring stories the Olympic Games regularly shine a light on, Owen Wright’s triumph over adversity stands out given the journey he undertook from the depths of despair following a serious brain injury five years ago to the rarified air of an Olympic podium. That he seems to be a genuinely likeable man added to the pleasing narrative and made it easy for the watching public to fall for him. Wright had to re-learn how to walk – and surf – after sustaining severe head injuries in a wipeout in 2015; many would never have even got back in the water, but not only did Wright surf again, he returned to top-level competition and capped a remarkable return with a bronze medal in the sport’s inaugural Olympic competition. His celebrations on the beach with other members of the Australian surfing team – all of whom appeared genuinely delighted by their teammate’s victory – will live long in the memory. (Mike Hytner)
Cate Campbell’s perfect changeover
Australia’s golden women in the pool closed out the Olympic swim meet on a high by winning the women’s 4x100m medley relay. The Australians beat home the United States by less than two-tenths of a second. Cate Campbell’s quick reaction time ultimately made the difference. Campbell, a relay veteran, was anchoring the relay with the final freestyle leg. As Emma McKeon hit the wall at the end of the butterfly leg, Campbell was off the blocks within 0.04 seconds. It was the perfect changeover – within the legal limits, but only just. Her American rival Abbey Weitzeil, in contrast, took 0.38 seconds. After a nervous wait to check that Campbell’s changeover had been legal, Australia was ultimately awarded the gold medal. Had the Australian swim great been just 0.14 of a second slower, they would have been second on the podium behind the United States. (KP)
Mad for the Matildas
The Matildas’ popularity was already sky high before the Games began; two and a half weeks later, their public stock is, if anything, even higher. Never mind they didn’t come home with a coveted medal, never mind that they won just two games during the campaign in Tokyo (the only two of their first 11 under new coach Tony Gustavsson), the Matildas capture the imagination of the Australian public like few, if any, other national teams. Never more so than during the thrilling quarter-final against Great Britain, when the indefatigable talisman of this team, Sam Kerr, struck in injury time to send the tie to extra-time. Tegan Micah then saved a penalty, Mary Fowler and Kerr, again, scored and the Matildas held on for a famous 4-3 win that owed as much to the team’s spirit and never-say-die attitude as anything else. Public fervour reached a zenith. A semi-final defeat to Sweden and a US victory in the bronze-medal match followed, but for a moment in Tokyo, anything seemed possible. (MH)