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Olympics Field Hockey News: China not bad with their improvements after half-time but Germany was unstoppable with the 4-2 win 

by Sports Benches

Brilliant contest to watch to kickstart Friday’s Field Hockey Olympics activities at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium (Pitch 1) where China put up a great fight following a poor 1st half performance but Germany have the upper hand when it comes to the overall win by 4-2.

Commiserations to China who weren’t bad at times that puts the Germans under pressure, especially when they built a solid defensive structure on top of a good counter-attack as seen with their late charge after half-time. However, they just let themselves down when the executions aren’t there sometimes while picking up some ill-discipline that went the Germans way towards the end. All China can hope now is for the Netherlands to beat Japan early tomorrow, and they can begin their Quarter-Final preparations soon enough v the host nation France – who is currently in last right now with a 0-4 loss in Group A.

And how good was Germany with their 4-2 win, especially when their attacking performance was tip-top as always that gave the Chinese a really hard time to catch them off-guard. Not only they were really effective through open play as seen with back-to-back 2nd quarter strikes, but their winning penalties also helped the Germans added some extra points too – one off a penalty corner and another was via a penalty stroke. They better need to watch themselves out defensively though as China warned them at times via coach Alyson Annan like the Netherlands (Alyson’s adopted country) did other day with the 2-1 loss ahead of Germany’s next & final group stage match v Belgium tomorrow.

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Olympics Swimming News Day 6: Aussie Dolphins Swim Team collect the one gold having fend off Team USA & China in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final

by Sports Benches

So happy to see our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team collect the one gold thanks to an excellent team relay effort in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Final. Love seeing Mollie O’Callaghan fire off comfortably into first while the returning Lani Pallister and Brianna Throsell held onto top spot along the way before Ariarne Titmus staved off a huge threat from Team USA & China en route towards an Aussie team gold. It might not be world record which was close but at least they did so well to keep their good lead intact, with Arnie unpacking the outstanding fire she really needs like to bring it home like her team-mate Mollie O.

Looking at the swimming Olympics medal tally now, we’re still first by one gold at a total of five so far ahead of Team USA with three days to go. Shoutout also to Liz Dekkers, who might have been languishing through the mid-pack for the most part off the back of a poor start, but the way she finished off the race wasn’t bad though where she moved her way up to 4th place towards the end in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final. Sure there’s more to come from the 20-year-old to hopefully chase gold someday at future World Championships that can really translate into an Olympics gold come 2028 in Los Angeles, USA.

Now what have we got in stall to stop Team USA from winning this swimming medal tally tomorrow? We got Kaylee McKeown in the Women’s 200m butterfly Final as well as Cameron McEvoy in the Men’s 50m sprint after being the equal fastest alongside Team GB’s Ben Proud during his semi-final 2 meet earlier this morning. So two gold medals up for grabs as sure the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team can hang in there with McEvoy & our Queen of Backstroke in McKeown going into this weekend. 

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Olympics News: China’s Qinwen Zheng def. The Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek in straight sets en route to an Olympic Women’s Tennis Final

by Sports Benches

The Queen of Clay from Poland Iga Swiatek won’t be able to add another major honour other than her successive Roland Garros trophies in the Olympics gold medal this time around following her straight sets loss in the women’s singles semi-final v China’s Qinwen Zheng, who was also runner-up at the 2024 Australian Open Final back in January to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, 2-6 & 5-7. She didn’t have a great start earlier on and although she did the best possible to keep that semi alive so Iga can activate that 3rd set decider, but it wasn’t meant to be when Zheng found a way to shut her down towards the end.

I don’t know when the next Olympics tennis tournament will be on clay but probably not for another long while like for a few decades unfortunately in which she may be well and truly reaching retirement by then. What she can do though is at least finish off on a high when it comes to the Bronze Medal Match this weekend v the losing player from the other semi-final.

We’ll see how that goes between Anna Karolina Schmiedlova from Slovakia v Croatian Donna Vekic who defeated NZ’s Lulu Sun during the Wimbledon Quarter-Final last month.

And how good was Qinwen Zheng with that magnificent performance in the hope of now winning her first major title that may not be a grand slam honour just yet but at least a Olympic Games Gold Medal would be nice to take home. She had an easy first set and while she had some challenges along the way that is going to make or break when being tested against the Queen of Clay (Iga Swiatek), she too never gave up with plenty of fight to hold Iga back and that was one thing Zheng pulled off well by seeing light at the end of the tunnel on what has been another of her best plays today. Now she’s ready to bring home an Olympics gold medal for China which she could be the first one to do so as a singles player and the last time China won a medal in Tennis was Li Ting & Sun Tiantian during the women’s doubles tournament exactly 20 years back in Athens.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Kookaburras complete 5-0 demolition win v Black Sticks

by Sports Benches

We had a Trans-Tasman rivalry this time in the Men’s Olympic Games Field Hockey tonight coming from Stade-Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium in Paris between the Kookaburras and the Black Sticks. It was a quiet and scoreless first 15 to begin with but the Kookaburras have been absolutely destructive upfront with back-to-back goals in the 2nd 15 followed by another one in the 3rd quarter before they finished the game courtesy of a Blake Govers hat-trick masterclass as the final score was 5-0. That means, the Black Sticks won’t be able to advance into the Quarter-Finals with one game to go at 1am AEST Saturday v Ireland.

It’s not been their day today from the Black Sticks on what has been a brutal 5-0 loss as they still have yet to have taken the win in this tournament, even though they came here as outsiders. Sure, they defended really well off the back through a series of Kookaburras’ missed opportunities while denying access at their own end that leads to a couple of good attempts on the counter-attack. They just couldn’t find the middle ground when it comes to these conversions unfortunately including a few winning penalties and when you lack numbers, there’s no way the Black Sticks can give themselves a fighting chance to rattle Andrew Charter where they were toothless in that attacking department alone. All they can do now is finish off on a high v Ireland who is most certainly leaving the group stages early in 5th right now and yet Ireland are also winless so far either.

And great to see the Kookaburras respond to that unfortunate 6-2 loss yesterday v Belgium with a 5-0 win v the Black Sticks with one game to go tomorrow night at 9.15pm v India. One way to describe their performance – strong and powerful. This was exactly what the Kookaburras has done every time they harried the Black Sticks defenders with a lot of ball that led to back-to-back 2nd x 15 mins goals followed by a succession of goals throughout the 2nd half including two from penalty corners before they are well and truly secure & yet they didn’t stop attacking as if they’re preparing for fightback against a top team like Belgium to see how it’s done. There’s unfinished business here having finished 2nd to them at the last Olympics tournament in Tokyo, Japan four years ago, a win v India would hopefully open up an extended run to go all the way in Paris.

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Olympics Soccer News: The Matildas campaign came crashing down early following their 2-1 loss v USWNT coupled with Canada’s 1-0 win v Colombia for the two of the best third-place teams 

by Sports Benches

So gutted to hear that the Matildas won’t be able to roar into the Quarter-Finals this time around unfortunately at Paris 2024 as they won’t be able to play any further now that the Quarter-Final teams are set without them.

It’s not the match the Matildas wanted when they were really struggling to get a grasp out of the mighty USA’s WNT side all along with a few scoring opportunities here & there to try and stay in contention off the back of their opening game loss v Germany (3-1) followed by a near scare comeback win v Zambia (6-5) the other day. Not even though a late goal by Alannah Kennedy wasn’t enough in the 92th minute to stop them from at least settling the score with the 2-1 loss before Canada’s 1-0 win over Colombia a few hours later has left the Matildas out of the cold based on the best Top 2 of 3rd-placed teams.

Oh Canada haven’t we been kind when you’ve been out there eliminating the Aussies left, right and centre across multiple sports including the Medal women’s semi-final in the Rugby 7s the other day and now it’s happening in Soccer. They too are going into the last 8 instead v the Matildas’ Group B opponents who won from the 3-1 opening game nearly a week ago in Team Germany.

Congrats to USA with the win who has been dominant across the pitch where they were able to get away of two goals out a possible 20 throughout the match v Matildas. Sure, they’re a really young side that is going to take time when a few experienced heads like Alex Morgan aren’t there to play in Paris by now head coach Emma Hayes, who coached Sam Kerr recently at Chelsea prior to her post there this summer. However, they know what it takes to go all the way before having last won gold there back in 2012 in London, as their journey continues in the last 8 v Japan at Parc De Princes this weekend.

Meanwhile, Aussie sports fans really wanted the Matildas to do well so bad based on their breakthrough run at the Women’s World Cup last year on home soil. But then no Sam Kerr when she’s out right now due to an ACL knee injury has really hit them hard that would’ve set them the difference of making into the knockout stages and having to experience elimination once the early-rounds are over like they have to go through right now.

They had a few chances on the counter-attack to try and extract some from USWNT’s missed shots towards goal but then the defense had a really tough time in the office to say for the most part including star keeper Mackenzie Arnold that allowed themselves to slipped away with two lost goals to their opponents across both halves. Plus, a few ill-disciplines and offsides didn’t help their cause much either I’m afraid that forced USA’s hand a few times and there goes that poor result & eventually their Olympics campaign that early too.

Now the Tillies better need to move onto the next task to regroup themselves from there by building on their stunning growth that won the hearts of many Aussie sports fans. The question happening right now will Tony Gustavsson be around after this as head coach who oversaw the Matildas over these last few roller-coasting years?  Time will tell, even when Sam Kerr will eventually be back from her long ongoing ACL injury at some point.

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Olympics Swimming News: Kyle Chalmers & Zac Stubblety-Cook the only two silver medalists for the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team in Day 5 at Paris La Defense Arena

by Sports Benches

Well, no gold medals on Day 5 from the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team, but at least they are still leading the Olympics swimming medal tally by just one gold medal ahead of Team USA, who currently has three in the bag with four days to go.

First of all, it wasn’t the swim both Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack wanted in the women’s 100m Freestyle Final where they finished 4th & 5th respectively. Now this is Mollie O’s first Olympics for those who wants to jump the gun on her with high expectations to walk away for the gold as she didn’t have a good start. Although she was not far towards the end of the wall when it comes to an outside shot for the Top 3, but at least nowhere near the record time ahead of everyone I guess. 

The same goes to Shayna having gone from a long, long way via her two-year doping ban before she was able to swim competitively once again a few years ago where she’s an excellent team player. She too maybe within reach at least the Top 3 at one stage especially in the 1st 50m but then she was languishing towards the back end during the last 50m half sprint.

If 1-2 medals would make you smile for the Aussies, how about “The King” Kyle Chalmers who finished 2nd in the Men’s 100m Freestyle Final sprint, as well as Zac Stubblety-Cook (also a silver medalist) in the Men’s 200m breaststroke Final.

For Stubblety-Cook, you can’t overcome winning such a strong French crowd where Leon Le Marchand won that race comfortably with the gold medal. However, at least he was within the Top 3 radar all along which wasn’t bad. The only thing he could’ve done better that Zac just couldn’t close down on the Frenchman when he was around two secs off the pace there. 

And long live King Kyle with another Olympic gold, even though he fell short to China’s Pan Zhanle who dominated this meet with the new world record time. It wasn’t an easy race when you got so many world-class swimmers alongside him, especially when he didn’t have the best of starts. He did have the best finish though where it might not be enough to catch Zhanle on time by just 1 second but boy happy to see him collect the silver.

So where to now going into Day 6? Looks like there will be two gold medal opportunities up for grabs for the Aussies in the of holding onto this Olympic swimming medal tally. One will be both Liz Dekkers and Abbey Connor in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final and the other would possibly be the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Team Relay events.

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Field Hockey: Hockeyroos continue their winning start to their Olympics run this time with a 3-0 clean sweep v Team USA

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, the Hockeyroos have continued their winning run to the Paris 2024 campaign with the 3-0 clean sweep victory against Team USA. Great to see Renee Taylor on the mark for the team’s early goal while Alice Arnott added another right on half-time & although nothing much happened in the 3rd 15, but Maddison Brooks safeguarded the match for their 3rd goal with seven mins to go.

They will be back against Argentina Friday morning at 4.15am AEST on what is going to be a top-of-the-table clash in Pool B while Team USA will be playing next a few hours beforehand against Great Britain.

So far, so good from the Hockeyroos on what has been another excellent display tonight, such as their dominant possession of the ball that fed them plenty of final third opportunities including a few winning penalties – in which was successful a few times. Plus, their defense never looked out of place all along, having protected themselves well to stop the ball from slipping away that allows them to throw towards the other end for the best opportunities possible. Now they will need to keep this up in the hope of getting over the line next against a top Argentine team.

And commiserations to Team USA with the loss off the back of their brilliant defensive play including from the keeper and the way they attack on the counter such as these brilliant breaks towards the attacking third across the pitch. One thing for sure though is if they simply lack the finishing quality needed to rattle around Jocelyn Bartram and her defenders who wouldn’t give them a free pass & that was a huge weakness they couldn’t grasp unfortunately tonight v the Hockeyroos.

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2024 Paris Olympic Swimming Day 4 Recap: MCKEOWN PULLS OFF A STUNNING REPEAT PERFORAMANCE, SHATTERING HER OWN OLYMPIC RECORD AT 100M BACKSTROKE!

by Admin

Kudos to our incredible Dolphins – your dedication and spirit shone brightly in Paris day by day!

On the fourth day of competition, 13 Dolphins fought to secure a place in the upcoming finals. The Men’s 200m Butterfly kicked off the day, but Aussie Matt Temple’s time of 1:57.72 wasn’t enough to get him into the semi-finals.

Both the Men’s and Women’s 100m Freestyle events saw Kyle Chalmers (48.07s), William Yang (48.46s), Mollie O’Callaghan (53.27), and Shayna Jack (53.40) qualify for the night sessions.

A Covid-19 diagnosis led to Lani Pallister pulling out of the Women’s 1500m freestyle event, with hopes that this will protect her health so she can compete in the Women’s 4x200m relay on Day 5.

Despite this setback, Moesha Johnson, another Dolphin, advanced to the final of the 1500m event, where she will go up against American star Katie Ledecky on Thursday morning.

Zac Stubblety-Cook’s impressive final 50m push in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke helped him secure a spot in the semi-finals as the second seed, with a time of 2:09.49.

The morning session concluded with the Australian 4x200m Freestyle Relay team, consisting of Zac Incerti, Kai Taylor, Flynn Southam, and Thomas Neill. The team qualified in fourth place (7:05.63), while defending champions Great Britain posted the fastest qualifying time of 7:05.11.

The fourth night at the Paris’ La Défense Arena began with King Kyle’s determination to regain his title in the 100m freestyle event. In the Men’s 100m Freestyle semi-final, Australian newcomer Will Yang competed alongside Chalmers, who made a stunning comeback to win with the second fastest time of 47.58s after starting in fourth place. However, Yang missed out on a spot in the final, finishing 15th overall with a time of 48.42.

The highlight of the night was when our backstroke expert Kaylee McKeown, claimed victory in the Women’s 100m Backstroke Final.

McKeown was in a close race with American swimmers Regan Smith and Katherine Berkoff, but she pulled ahead in the last 25m to defend her Olympic title, setting a new Olympic Record with a winning time of 57.33s. In the Backstroke final, up-and-coming swimmer Dolphin, Iona Anderson, put in a remarkable effort and came in 5th place.

Shayna Jack and Mollie O’Callaghan, who have already won Olympic gold in 2024, qualified for the Women’s 100m freestyle final by finishing 2nd (52.72s) and 3rd (52.75) in the semifinals, just behind Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey (52.64s).

The Men’s 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final came next, where Zac Stubblety-Cook and Joshua Yong both secured spots in the final. In the evening, Elijah Winnington took an initial lead in the Men’s 800m Final, but was quickly overtaken in the second half of the race by Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffen, who secured his nation’s first gold medal in the pool. Winnington ended up in eighth place, clocking a time of 7:48.36.

Following that, the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay event began. The youthful Australian squad secured the fourth position in the qualifications before the final.

Yet, it was Elijah Winnington who, in the third leg, consolidated the Australian team’s standing in 3rd place behind the USA and Great Britain, following his 800m final swim. Thomas Neill, the anchor of the Australian team, closely followed American Kieran Smith and won the first Bronze Medal for Australia in the games.

The Dolphins Olympic journey is only beginning, be sure to catch Day 5 as more of our Dolphins aim for the top prize!

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2024 Paris Olympic Swimming Day 3 Recap: MOLLIE O’CALLAGHAN TOPS ARIARNE TITMUS WITH A HISTORIC WINNING OF BREAKING RECORDS

by Admin

What a well set day for Aussies! Day 3 of the Paris Olympics swimming events featured a blend of gripping heats and electrifying finals that captivated audiences worldwide. The day began with a series of intense heats across various disciplines, setting the stage for the evening finals.

In the women’s 200m individual medley, the heats were a showcase of strong performances as swimmers jostled for positions in the finals. The heats of the men’s 100m butterfly also drew significant attention, with competitors pushing the limits to secure their spots in the final lineup. The morning’s activities highlighted the depth of talent and set up a dramatic evening of finals.

The third day of competition began with Ella Ramsay and Jenna Forrester competing in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley heats. Ella qualified for the finals with a time of 4:39.04, while Jenna just missed out by .15 seconds but secured a reserve spot.
Kaylee McKeown, a triple gold medalist, and up-and-coming teenager Iona Anderson participated in the Women’s 100m backstroke heats, both achieving strong times that allowed them to advance to the semi-finals.

Elijah Winnington finished fourth in the Men’s 800m Freestyle heats with a time of 7:42.86, securing a spot in the final. Sam Short finished just outside the qualifying time at 7:46.83, but managed to grab a reserve spot.

The Night Session featured the Finals of the competition. In her debut Olympic final, Ella Ramsay placed fifth in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley Final. In a highly competitive Men’s 200m Freestyle final, Max Giuliani gave his best effort and finished in seventh place with a time of 1:45.57.

In the Women’s 100m backstroke semi-final, McKeown (57.99) and Anderson (58.63) showcased their dominance with strong performances, securing spots in the final with McKeown placing 2nd and Anderson placing 4th.

The last event of the evening was an exciting showdown between two Australian superstars in a race that captured the attention of the entire nation. Training companions Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus had an impressive performance in the Women’s 200m Freestyle Final, with O’Callaghan winning the gold and setting a new Olympic record with a
time of 1:53.27. Titmus followed closely behind with a time of 1:53.81, earning the silver medal, finishing just 0.54 seconds after her teammate.

Notably, this marked the first time Australia achieved a one-two finish in the Olympic pool since Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett accomplished the feat in 2004. The two star athletes were competing side by side in lanes four and five. Titmus was in the lead for most of the race, but O’Callaghan took over in the last 50 meters and won the Gold in her inaugural individual Olympic final.

In summary, Day 3 at the Paris Olympics was a testament to the skill and tenacity of Australian swimmers. Emma McKeon’s gold, Chad le Clos’s bronze, and the men’s relay team’s silver all contributed to a memorable day of competition, showcasing Australia’s strength in the swimming arena.

At the end of an exciting third day, day four of the tournament will feature more of our Dolphin team members taking part in both final events and preliminary heats. Be sure not to overlook the thrill!

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Spain settled the score with host nation France 3-3 all after a tight scoring tussle by both teams in Pool A

by Sports Benches

It was a brilliant contest really where the host nation France and Spain did so well to try and walk away with the win with a few goals each in the bag but both teams had to settle for a draw though after 60 minutes of play 3-3 all that kickstarted Tuesday’s Field Hockey Olympics activities at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir (Pitch 1). France had the early lead with back-to-back goals for a start during the first 15 mins before Spain got one back during the 2nd 15 with a one goal trail ahead of half-time.

From then on, Spain continued their fight by equalising France at the first attempt while the hosts yet found another goal via penalty corner to try and steer clear going into the final 15. Although Spain found another goal once more to level the scoreboard as the clock began to tick down, but again, a draw would be enough that denied the home team the win they badly wanted off the back of their brilliant start to the match. Spain will be back v South Africa later tomorrow/Thursday AM at 3.45 am AEST while France will take a day off before they take on Great Britain on Thursday night at 8.45pm AEST.

As said, love seeing both teams had a really good tussle with the ball on stick both defensively as well on the counter-attack through the break. For Spain, gotta say that less ball earlier on gave the French a really good opportunity to get the ball rolling that found a way to strike through the keeper but good to see them turn around though for the most part that could’ve been theirs to take home with the win had France not scored these two first 15 min goals. Gotta credit to their strong defensive structure as well as the way they attack that held the French their own nerves with more time via the attacking third.

Meanwhile, France pressed well on the counter from the beginning thanks to their dominant 1st half possession and they never gave up by not giving Spain a free pass – such as these winning penalties and intercepts through the middle to try and give the home crowd a really good chance to close the match for the win. Now their defense was okay but it’s just a shame that some ill-discipline/lost penalties have slipped away really where Spain had a good sniff at them that led to goals against the host nation where France should’ve done better to shut them down before they had to settle for a draw.

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