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SpeedSeries August 2024: Catch up Interview with Dream Racing’s Jackson Rice from Trans-Am Australia – No.7 Ford Mustang

by Sports Benches

Yes, SpeedSeries so far this year may have been completely different compared to 2022-23, especially at a time during the mixed paid/free TV experiment on Stan and Nine (via 9Gem and 9Go) before Motorsport Australia took back the rights at season’s end for the competition to return on Seven once again. 

But that doesn’t mean SpeedSeries can be completely forgotten when times have changed since then as fortunate to catch up with one of the drivers competing there via the competition’s series of race categories in Trans-Am Australia. 

His name is Jackson Rice who currently races the No.7 Ford Mustang for Dream Racing & hails from Albury-Wodonga – right in between the NSW-Victoria border.

This interview is available both in written and video/audio form below:

SpeedSeries/Trans-Am so far of 2024

1. First of all, it’s great to hear from you as it’s been a long while for me to catch up since the end of last season. How is SpeedSeries going on right now compared to the last 1-2 years?

Really good, I feel like the Seven Network coverage has been fantastic this year with the support of Seven (via 7mate on TV) and the 7 + app. For us personally, it gave us fantastic value to our sponsors & our supporters. It also gave us track time and vision & I think it really boosted our (Trans Am Australia) category that brought really good incentive for other people to join us, especially going into 2025.

2. How much do you miss the International drivers coming here as well as the S5000 open-wheel category?

I think this year’s Bathurst International event is the last year they’ve proposed (with the event not returning next year) & I think the International drivers we have coming here are awesome. They brought a different perspective of class that gave an International and world view of the categories they’ve competed (from Sports cars to World Touring Cars & the likes).

The S5000 open-wheel category are awesome machines & it’s said those guys (the drivers who competed last year) couldn’t have the numbers (on the grid) to compete. But I think all those categories (like the GT World Challenge, GT4 Australia Series & TCR Australia) with the organisers involved are really cool to watch. It’s a shame it’s going to be the last hurrah that they (the S5000 open-wheel organisers) won’t continue with it.

3. Speaking of the journey you’ve had so far this season, what was your 2024 like so far if you can describe it in just a few words?

It’s been positive with a huge learning curve. So yes, it’s been an all-round positive.

4. I looked at your Facebook/social media page lately & there’s a quite a few related to Supercars, how much preparation of you driving these race kind of touring cars or sedans have benefited your Super2 opportunity? 

Massively…I think the Trans-Am is a fantastic category that opens doors to a lot of avenues including working towards Supercars & those high-end performance categories. 

So Trans-Am where it’s at right now has fantastic value with some of the guys in there who are true professionals that previously raced in V8 Supercars before through co-driving (at Endurance Races like the Bathurst 1000) or full-time.

Guys like myself – who are young and trying to make a name for our ourselves – I think that mix (of both youth and experience) presents really well for those who are scouting for talent including Super2 (Supercars main feeder category), and it’s been a massive help for me to step  from a Trans-Am into a Super2 by driving a high-powered rear wheel drive race car.

5. Looking at the present when it comes to Trans-Am, what would be the No.1 thing you wished you could’ve done any better & how you will apply this to your next set of Trans-Am races later this year in November?

I think the biggest thing we like to improve on is finishing our races. 

We have very consistent pace with the guys at Dream Racing giving me a consistent race car but we’ve been really unfortunate to have some mechanical failures which sort of put us a bit on a damper with our season’s race results. 

But we had a couple of podiums where we’ve been consistently inside the Top 8 or 6 before we were able to finish consistently to then drag more podiums at the end of the race and not having a DNF towards the end of the 2024 season would probably make a big difference for us.

6. Other than Trans-Am wait until November, do you have any other races you got lined up like the TA2 Muscle Car Series you’ve competed in the past?

I’m planning to, I like to race some more other than the usual Trans-Am. We’ve been fortunate with our sponsors and budget this year, so I won’t definitely rule it out to come back and compete in the TA2 events to keep me busy & in the seat for the next round at Bathurst in Trans-Am.

Being present at Sandown Raceway while talking a couple of other race tracks across Australia

Other than his ongoing Trans-Am season, there’s more to life from Jackson who is currently helping out at Sandown Raceway this weekend where we will pick it up from here.

1. Great to hear you’re in Sandown for the weekend, I was wondering if it was an different event you’re competing there?

I’m just down here with a couple of guys who are new drivers that come in to the team we compete for racing such as meeting them before they compete on the new Toyota 86 races. But I’m business where I don’t have to drive which is alright.

2. How’s the atmosphere like at Sandown Raceway?

It’s fantastic! I love coming to the Victorian VMRC (Victorian Motor Racing Championships). They have good grassroots & state-level racing with a great variety of categories & it’s really good being involved & see grassroots racing. To come back especially post-COVID, the atmosphere’s really good.

Pause

Link of the weekend’s events LIVE and on-demand on BlendLine TV’s YouTube Channel here.

3. Speaking of Sandown, I hear they are going to knock the place down while looking to build a new race track next to Avalon Airport. I was wondering if this was true?

I’m unsure at the moment. I know there were proposed plans (of Sandown being knocked down for housing) but unsure if it’s going ahead. But Sandown is such an iconic venue that in the end, there was so much support behind it to keep it now that I think it will be pretty harsh to get rid of.

4. I heard there’s a different SpeedSeries category event going on at Phillip Island within Victoria in the GT World Challenge as wondering if they’re hosting this alone or a part of the main event support bill?

Yeah, I believe it’s a standalone event with the GT Festival with just GT3, GT4 and other Production Car categories.

Pause

Link to watch the GT Festival weekend race at Phillip Island also on GT World’s YouTube channel here.

5. With Wakefield Park over in Goulburn, they were also being under threat at one stage due to the noise but now they still get to keep the track?  

It’s interesting that they’ve come back and made provisional changes to keep the noise down. I think they’ll definitely come back to run events with no issue. With the noise restrictions, I think they’re going to run less events and it will just be selected to certain race cars to make sure that they don’t break that noise barrier they’ve set.

His best moment of racing and even the Olympics also in 2024

And other than racing cars, what’s your favourite moment of 2024 so far across motorsport and even the Olympics when our Aussie team had their best campaign recently at Paris? I’m also wondering which Olympic sport you’d be best competing in if it was for gold?

I think our podium at The Bend Motorsports Park (South Australian Round between May 31-June 2) was a great achievement for us & the team. We had real pace we showed that we competed with the big teams like GRM (Garry Rogers Motorsport), TFH & The Racing Academy.

So that’s been a fantastic sort of point for me personally.

Then you know throughout the Olympics, the Australians really had our best campaign at Paris 2024. So it’s really cool to be Aussie and to be pretty proud when your country does well.

And for myself if I was to compete in a sport, that’s a hard one, I enjoy doing water sports so maybe I’ll probably go with Rowing since being by the water was pretty cool. I think the guys have endurance who use a lot of upper body & core strength which a lot of stuff really translates to racing cars, so something similar I reckon I would give it a crack.

Post-Notes

We wish Jackson all the best of luck as he will be back for the back-to-back November Trans-Am Australia races at Bathurst and Adelaide. He is so someone who loves watching NASCAR, especially on a Monday morning with the Cup races.

As said, if you want to keep a good eye on his driving progress – Seven & 7 + is the place to be for everything SpeedSeries.

You can also follow him and his Dream Racing team across social media:

And yes, He sure gave a wonderful shoutout also to none other than our Aussie own Leigh Diffey, who is set make his full-time commentary debut in the NASCAR Cup Series for the US NBC network, starting with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race at Daytona tomorrow morning our time at 9.30am AEST. You can tune in live on Fox Sports via Foxtel/Kayo Sports back here who has the live local NASCAR TV rights.

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Thoughts on the latest Brisbane Olympic Stadium proposal that is 100% privately funded following Australia’s best ever performance recently at Paris 2024 

by Sports Benches

Gotta love the look on that latest Brisbane Olympic Stadium design that won’t put pressure on the Government at all. You got the centrepiece venue in there with the athletes village on top as well as an aquatic centre, a warm-up track & many other hotel and commercial spaces. Yes, it doesn’t say much about transport nearby but at least the Stadium would be situated in the North Shore area of Brisbane. So not that hard compared to the QASC plan down south in Nathan with no transport. 

If accepted, it will be entirely private-funded with $6 billion to get this going between 2026-2031 – just one year out from the home 2032 Summer Olympics. 

But then it’s not even enough for the Government to change their mind unfortunately when they would like to have all of their proposed 2032 venues being publicly owned and operated, especially when you got Steven Miles in charge as Premier at the moment with the next State Election around the corner this October.

Well, if some of the venues we’ve seen two weeks ago from Paris 2024 was probably owned, why can’t Brisbane if they want to stage the best Olympic Games ever like our athletes do? Food for thought but I hope the current or even the future elected QLD Government can take the weight off their shoulders. Yes, it’s important what’s best for the state but this is an opportunity though to get things right. That way, they can send a really good message to NSW, VIC, WA and even the world that Brisbane can have a beautiful world-class stadium to stage world-class sports events and concerts.

There’s still at least 6-7 years away & one week already gone from the closing ceremony of Paris 2024, but we hope we can see light at the end of the tunnel going into next year before it’s too late & maybe Brisbane 2032 may not be good as Paris.

One thing for sure though is maybe just build the new world-beater Brisbane Olympic Stadium by itself that should normally cost around $1 billion like most other New Stadiums do nowadays rather than have $3-6 billion involving the other venues on top of the centrepiece Stadium.

I understand what’s it like to have the world’s best swimming events being held in an arena and even in a large-sized Stadium now like we’ve seen with the Paris La Defense Arena at the Olympics a few weeks ago, the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis two months ago for the US Swimming Trials, and now LA’s SoFi Stadium is going to be the proposed venue there for LA 2028. With the proposed 18,000 Brisbane Live Arena going to be the swimming venue, just turn back on the QASC renovation plan which doesn’t mean much when there’s little access to transport by going with the $1B Stadium. 

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Paris 2024 Closing Ceremony: Australia’s best ever Olympic Games campaign as we say goodbye to Paris

by Sports Benches

One word to describe our Aussie Olympic Games performance at Paris 2024: simply extraordinary!! That’s right we finished 4th overall on the medal tally with 18 gold, 18 silver and 14 bronze after 16-18 days of action, which is our most successful games ever since Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 with also back-to-back 4th.

Sure, we might not be the biggest country when it comes to size and investments with likes of USA and China who always finish 1st and 2nd, but still we had plenty of stunning gold medal moments though including some in silver and bronze when it comes to various other sports as we relive our golden fortnight.

Our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team always as strong as ever in the pool with seven gold medals despite being pipped by Team USA on the ninth and final night last weekend. We continue to see more success of Jess Fox with her sister Noemie now a first time Olympic gold medalist in the women’s canoeing events that made her canoeing family proud with their parents dad Richard (a former British slalom canoeist) & mum Myriam (also a former French canoeist who won bronze back via the K1 class race in Atlanta 1996 for France), especially where Jess and Noemie are both Western Sydneysiders from Penrith. 

We also love riding with glory on a bicycle where one came on the road from Grace Brown via time trial, another coming from BMX in Saya Sakakibara after an emotional last few years, and one on the velodrome with the men’s team pursuit.

What else? We went skateboarding & collected two gold there thanks to 14-year-old Arisa Trew & 23-year-old Keegan Palmer in their respective women’s and men’s park events. We also can’t forget our men’s tennis triumph last weekend at Roland Garros when Matt Ebden & John Peers came from behind to win over USA’s Austin Krajicek & Rajeev Ram via 3rd set tiebreak to 10 in the men’s doubles Final since Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde back in Atlanta 1996. 

We also did well over in the sailing when Matthew Wearn successfully defended the men’s laser event from Tokyo 2020 on what has been his second straight Olympic gold triumph. And finally in the track and field/athletics, Nina Kennedy became the 18th and final Aussie gold medalist of Paris 2024 when she won Olympics gold for the first time in the women’s pole vault – how good was that!!

She had an outstanding 12-24 months that began with Diamond League & Commonwealth Games title in 2022 as well as by a World Championship win last year in Budapest, Hungry, and now Nina’s an Olympic champion fast forward to Paris 2024!! Keep an eye out for her as she has came from a long way since her setbacks at the start of this 2020s decade & she knows how to respond with by achieving so many huge accolades along the way!!

As Paris 2024 has drawn to an excellent close, we now say goodbye to Paris who has been a great host over these last 16-18 days of world-class sports competition. Next stop: Los Angeles in the United States of America when the 34th Summer Olympics edition will take place in July 14-30 2028.

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Olympics Soccer News: USWNT win back the Women’s Olympic Gold thanks to Mallory Swanson one & only winning goal over Brazil in Emma Hayes’s first title as their new coach 

by Sports Benches

Here’s another Olympic Soccer moment in the women’s gold medal match from overnight at Parc Des Princes in Paris and the USA women’s national soccer team aka USWNT has won back the gold medal over Brazil 1-0 since the London 2012 edition. It’s the fifth time they’ve done it that goes back to Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and now Paris 2024. What’s next now is for USWNT to win back the World Cup in 2027 where they’ve made a big name for themselves over the last two decades with four World Cup titles that goes back to 1999 on home soil over China at Rose Bowl in California.

It was quiet first half run where both teams ended up scoreless without the net. But fortunately, striker Mallory Swanson (nee Pugh) scored the one and only gold medal winning goal in the 57th minute for USWNT, as the US side defended so well including a valiant display from the keeper Alyssa Naeher towards the very end after a long 100 mins of play across two halves.

It’s Emma Hayes’s first major honour as their new head coach since the summer following a long decorated stint with the Chelsea ladies team in the WSL, which is the women’s equivalent of the men’s Premier League competition. Yes, there was doubt about a few experienced players being left out but time must go on to rejuvenate this USWNT squad with a few new youngsters coming in and it’s so far, so good with still a long way to go.

And heartbreak to Brazil with another silver medal yet again for the third time in women’s Olympic soccer history. They weren’t bad for a start in defense to keep the USWNT quiet at times, Brazil just couldn’t grasp the best out of their attacking play where things were so unlucky at times. But then time ran out against them and there’s nothing Brazil can do about it as they too also came from a long way to get where they want to be, having last done that back in Athens 2004,

Don’t forget they haven’t played in an Women’s World Cup Final since China 2007 over a 2-0 loss to Germany and with a home World Cup around the corner in 2027, it’s going to be a big opportunity for them to finally go one better when the Brazil women’s soccer team always fell short despite their early group stage and knockout success outside of these Finals.

What a way to finish off the Paris 2024 Olympics Soccer tournament with Spain breaking the host nation hearts of France yesterday in the men’s and USWNT just returned to winning ways once again over Brazil. While there’s nothing we can do about it about our Matildas’ early exit when there’s no Sam Kerr due to a ongoing ACL knee injury, a new era awaits though from here later this year with a new coach now that Tony Gustavsson recently left last week after a roller coaster last few years.

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Paris 2024 Aquatics Review: A string of silver for our Aussie Women’s Water Polo Team & Moesha Johnson in the women’s 10km open water swim as well as Maddison Keeney for bronze in the women’s 3m springboard dive

by Sports Benches

The Paris 2024 swimming program may be over last weekend where our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team still had great success despite falling short to Team USA when it comes to this sport’s medal tally alone as our big battles ain’t over anytime soon, that way we can go on & win back this pool like it was several times before. 

However, there’s more to water/aquatics when it comes to the 2nd week Olympics program, having also achieved good success — even though we were so close to winning gold in Marathon Swimming as well as Water Polo and Diving programs. 

Now that would be a big boost when it comes to future World Aquatics Championships with the next edition going to Singapore in about 11 months time from now.

First of all, shoutout to Moesha Johnson who finished silver behind Sharon Van Rouwendaal from the Netherlands in the women’s 10km open water swimming event while Chelsea Gubeca finished 14th. Gotta say Moesha has improved a lot this year when it comes to her marathon swimming career, she was fourth individually earlier this year at the World Champs in Doha including the team gold there.

She too alerted all of Australia off the back of her specialist swimming discipline success which is the long-form events including some long-distance swimming in the pool as we need more of these marathon swimmers like her. Sure she can go one better if she can for LA28 & let’s hope our future marathon swimmers for those looking to take up soon enough can take her lead for gold going into the home Summer Olympics edition for Brisbane 2032.

We also didn’t forget Nicholas Sloman & Kyle Lee with the men’s 10km open water swimming event. Yes, trying to reaching gold may not be our biggest strength unlike some of our pool swimmers at this stage. But seeing both of them within the Top 15 ain’t bad though with Sloman just outside the Top 10 in 11th while Lee came home in 13th. Again, we need and can do more to inspire more young kids to take up marathon swimming for the best chance of success both in here and worldwide.

If one silver medal wasn’t enough, why not we look at our Women’s Stingers Water Polo team? They too fell so short last night by only two goals (9-11) v Spain in the gold medal final off the back of their unreal campaign in the lead up to this big dance undefeated at Paris La Defense Arena. Now they had an equal start with Spain from the beginning while the Stingers made a late charge to hold back Spain but their inconsistent play midway through the match fell into Spain’s favour and their opponents were the one that got themselves home with the Olympics gold.

Unlucky but this is the team we should be proud of having won gold before back in Sydney 2000. We are absolutely confident that our women’s Stingers team can go one better towards setting up regular world-class success as the one of the top water polo powerhouse nations in the world. Keep an eye on them on a regular basis for their support where they also got Tilly Kearns (who plays centre forward) as one of the players there and she’s related to her dad who is a former Wallaby in none other than Phil Kearns.

And in the Diving, shoutout to Maddison Keeney with her silver medal success in the women’s 3m springboard. She had an excellent performance despite not being able to reach gold that won her multiple World Championships before, having split the two Chinese divers in between gold and bronze. But again, we got another amazing diver on our hands & fingers crossed she will go back to at least 1 if not 2 more games to bow out on a high with a breakthrough Olympics gold – keep an eye on her too including next year’s Worlds.

So that’s all you need to know as we enjoyed watching our aquatics athletes take centre stage in Paris that showcased their best abilities for those watching at home and also in-person with credit to our parents’ sheer hard work of making their sons and daughters dreams made come true. Can’t wait to see Australia hopefully take extra rewards of gold medals in world aquatics beyond pool swimming going into next year’s Worlds in Singapore & the next Summer Olympics in LA come 2028. 

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Olympics Soccer News: Spain def. France to end their long-awaited Olympics gold medal chase since Barcelona 1992 after a stunning finish in added extra time by 5-3

by Sports Benches

Heartbreak from the host nation France with the silver medal following their 3-1 loss to Spain at Parc Des Princes, especially when they haven’t played in Paris at all until the one and only time now. 

So a bit like the Blackcaps really in cricket when they’ve been unbeaten in New Zealand all along until they’ve lost to the Aussies with the World Cup Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground back in 2015.

For France, gotta say the starting goal keeper should’ve done any better to save these shots at his own end – which was disappointing really when Spain got away with 2-3 easy goals. They’ve did the best though possible off the back of their good start including their late charge to unseat Spain for the gold medal honours. But again, their extra time performance was as the same as the keeper’s first half display unfortunately. Not even having less ball on their own defensive end allowed Spain to extend their lead during another half hour’s play in Paris by 5-3.

As said, you gotta feel sorry for the French attackers who did their best to give their home crowd a best possible ending for gold. But Spain holds the cards though as the end of the day for gold since Barcelona 1992, having lost to Brazil last time round four years ago at Tokyo 2020 (in 2021 due to COVID) 2-0 via extra time.

Speaking of Spain, they’ve been unstoppable from 1-0 down to 3-1 going into half-time thanks to a double Fermin Lopez strike. Yes, they may have been held up at the first attempt following a high stakes 3-3 all after 100 minutes of two halves. But again, they are the team who ran the French defenses wild thanks to their expansive attacking play that rattled the opposition keeper all day long when substitute Sergio Camello scored back-to-back late extra time goals — and that is how you finish off a gold medal performance in Olympics soccer for Spain.

Now there’s two more days to go before Paris 2024 is done and dusted with the Closing Ceremony at Stade De France.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Yibbi Jansen’s late penalty corner strike saves the day for the women’s Dutch team via penalty shootouts over China to complete the double triumph alongside the men’s at Paris 2024

by Sports Benches

Looks like the Netherlands have flipped the script that late off the back of China’s early 1-0 lead for the most part, even via penalties to successfully defend their Olympics Field Hockey crown from Tokyo 2020. Hats off to Yibbi Jansen who scored that usual penalty corner goal as always in the last 15 mins that levelled the scoresheets with China 1-1 after an hour’s of normal time before goal keeper Anne Veenendaal deflected most of the shots from China — and that helped the Dutch scorers score their way to a 5th overall Olympics gold medal in Field Hockey 3-1 via penalties over China. They’ve first won it back in LA 1984, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Tokyo 2020 and now Paris 2024.

What a tournament it has been to wrap up the double Dutch Olympics triumph off the back of their men’s team success yesterday v Germany also via penalty shootouts (3-1 after a 1-1 draw after 60 minutes). They knew China wasn’t en easy team to face at all, especially when you got former Hockeyroo as well as Dutch citizen and resident these days Alyson Annan as the opposition head coach. 

They have seen that coming with China’s early 1-0 headstart but at least the Dutch keep on attacking and pressing hard for the most part v the Chinese defense. Although as said, the penalty corners weren’t easy to say when you are playing in an Olympic Final; But at least Yibbi has always got when she finally found the breakthrough to stop the Alyson Annan’s Chinese team from reaching the finish line with her flying Dutch being Olympic Hockey champs once again. It’s been great watching her and her Dutch team play this year so far as seen a few times throughout the 23/24 Pro League season.

And looking at China, you gotta feel how much they’ve made it to the big dance – in which was so much hard work being paid off. We know how good they were to get the ball rolling as seen plenty of times throughout 2024 against the Hockeyroos which was tough to watch from an opposition’s standpoint with a few wins here and there and that early goal have sent the Dutch a big message when it comes to the gold medal fight. Don’t forget they’ve been at their best defensively where China did the best they could to hold out to a close 1-0 win.

However, what really let the Chinese down though is having less ball where they couldn’t get the chance to build on their 1-0 lead on top of their solid defense before Yibbi Jansen’s penalty corner goal in the last 15 took away that chance to hold out the win at the first attempt. Then the penalties have arrived after an hour’s worth of normal time and China just couldn’t find the sweet spot they were after when it comes to these penalty strikes & that was the game it was unfortunately with another runner-up finish. They are currently ranked 8th so China have came from a long way but sure winning more regular season games would be the next best thing soon enough.

So that’s it over in Stade Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium – the home of the 1924 Summer Olympics edition at the same Paris venue 100 years ago. It’s been a whirlwind two weeks of Olympics Field Hockey in Paris 2024 as they’ve been an excellent host while it remains to be seen where our Men’s Kookaburras and Women’s Hockeyroos teams go from there in a bid to win back major honours once again.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: The Men’s Dutch team has done over Germany via penalty shootout for Gold at Paris 2024

by Sports Benches

That Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Final was unbelievable to watch, particularly in the 4th and final quarter as well as penalty shootouts between the Netherlands and Germany. Both teams struggled to find the net for the most part until Netherlands found the first strike before Germany held them back at a penalty corner to bring it to a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in an hour’s worth of normal time. From then on, Germany unfortunately unable to get away with any successful strokes that paved the way for the Dutch to end their 24-year drought for gold at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir since Sydney 2000 – which was mission accomplished 3-1 in a penalties decider that completed payback from their London 2012 runner-up loss v Germany.

Now the Dutch can finally celebrate gold off the back of their top form where they’ve always been the best of the best in yearly FIH Pro League matches including this Olympics Field Hockey tournament. Shoutout to the experienced keeper Pirmin Blaak who never looked out of place every time he deflected these strikes from the Germans while the defense wasn’t bad and their penalty shooters have been brilliant through the net that sealed them a long-awaited Olympics gold. Now what the Dutch needs to do now is win back both the Pro League & the World Cup. The next Men’s World Cup will be in 2026 on home soil in Amstelveen alongside Belgium’s Wavre and the last time they’ve accomplished that feat was also previously on home soil at Utrecht back in 1998 with the 3-2 extra time win v Spain. 

Heartbreak from Germany with the silver medal as this is the side who also has been at their best but only at major tournaments, such as last year’s World Cup tournament in India and not when it comes to regular season form often v the top teams (6th in 23/24 Pro League term). Their defense wasn’t bad either to start off with & they’ve also benefitted from winning penalties as we’ve seen with the successful penalty corner in the last 15 mins that gave themselves another chance to try win another major title in the form of an Olympics Games gold medal. It’s a shame that their penalty attackers weren’t prepared well to press the experienced Dutch keeper at his own end where he kept all of these hit and miss shots before they well & truly know that the Dutch can have their cake with the gold medal by then following a 3-1 penalties loss there. They may have been great winning these rare tournament titles, but Germany needs to find a way if they wish to beat these top teams more often – so they can hopefully be the No.1 Men’s Hockey team in the World once again next time. 

Now we’ve got the women’s gold medal match to decide before the Olympics Field Hockey program is done tomorrow morning between the Netherlands and China as China’s head coach & former Hockeyroo Alyson Annan is set for mighty Dutch reunion this time as the opposing team. Will that Dutch triumph extend to the women’s team after we just saw with the men earlier this morning? Or will we see a Chinese breakthrough at last with the help of Annan following their Beijing 2008 silver medal loss to that same team last time out? It’s all to play for between these two strong teams at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir.

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Part 2: Wednesday’s Women’s Field Hockey semi-final day review at Paris 2024: Netherlands also unstoppable v Argentina & China win over Belgium via penalty shootouts

by Sports Benches

Following two unmissable men’s semi-finals matches from Tuesday, more Field Hockey action in Paris 2024 continued last night with the women’s semi-final day at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir stadium. One was the Netherlands v Argentina and the other involving Belgium v China as the two winning teams will be set for Friday afternoon’s/Saturday AM gold medal match while the two losing sides will still get one last chance v each other but this time via the best of 3rd place for bronze.

Like we’ve seen with the men’s Netherlands semi-final performance two days ago v Spain, the women’s Netherlands were also unstoppable including defensively with 2 x first half goals from open play followed by a usual Yibbi Jansen stunner when it comes to scoring goals off penalty corners for the 3rd Dutch goal. Despite an improved Argentina ball during the 2nd half, the Netherlands at least ensured they left the game without any Argentina goals 3-0.

Looking at Argentina, they did have some fair share of chances following their improved 2nd half play as no doubt they have been a serious side on a regular basis including this tournament. But again, Argentina’s poor start alongside the execution unfortunately didn’t help them that much, especially when going up against one of the best attacking sides in none other than the Netherlands. Their breakthrough chance for gold after a few shortcomings will have to wait in LA 2028.

And to finish off the women’s semi-final day was a cracking physical encounter between Belgium and China that went down the wire following a 1-1 draw after an hour of normal time via penalty shootouts. China had the early lead off a penalty corner when both teams were scoreless during the first 15 mins & they held that 1-0 advantage for the most part until Belgium scored the equaliser also from a penalty corner with two minutes to go before the match had to be decided via penalties since it’s a knockout semi-final.

Fortunately for China, they found a way once more to book themselves a gold medal spot v Netherlands come Friday/Saturday AM with the 3-2 penalties win that marked a reunion for coach former Hockeyroo Alyson Annan, who used to coach the women’s Netherlands side for so long, even though she lives there and also as a naturalised citizen these days alongside her Dutch partner Carole Thate. Wow!! Great game from both teams by the way when Belgium found themselves back in the game off the back of their good defense and the way they’ve pressed China in the 2nd half until these two missing penalty shots that forced China’s hand and China had a really good match once again that can break anyone team’s hearts as their journey isn’t over just yet on what is about to be their biggest test yet against someone Annan knows so well in none other than the Netherlands. The last time China made the Olympics final was back in Beijing 2008 where they were runner-up to the Netherlands 2-0 as Alyson has the Dutch tactics and know-how to help engineer her Chinese players home for gold.

We now got a London 2012 men’s (Holland v Germany) and Beijing 2008 women’s gold medal (Holland v China) rematches coming our way where this could end up either way going into Tomorrow & Saturday AM our time. Will we see a Dutch triumph this time that could extend that glory to their women’s team or else see Germany and China get their own breakthroughs instead against a team that is so hard to beat right now? We shall see before Paris 2024 finishes this weekend.

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Part 1: Tuesday’s Men’s Field Hockey semi-finals day review at Paris 2024: Netherlands too good v Spain & Germany def. India after an excellent last 15 mins to the match, 3-2

by Sports Benches

It may have been an unfortunate end for both of our Men’s Kookaburras and Wonen’s Hockeyroos teams earlier this week following their respective exits from the Quarter-Finals against the Netherlands & China, but the show must go on at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir as we look back at these excellent last two days of Field Hockey when it comes to the both men’s and women’s semi-finals. First of all, Netherlands were absolutely too good against Spain on what has been a mighty 4-0 win that kickstarted Tuesday evening our time/afternoon in Paris. They scored a goal during each quarter where the first 15 x mins one was off a penalty stroke and another three came from dominant & expansive open play – which simply sensational to watch. Looks like a gold medal opportunity is finally coming when they previously won it back in Sydney 2000 on top of Atlanta 1996.

Tough luck from Spain who had a few chances of their own but just couldn’t grasp at a level where the flying Netherlands team has set the standard that was unchallenged & unmatched all game. Out of 19 Olympic Field Hockey appearances, Spain still haven’t yet collected a gold medal triumph after 3 x silver attempts back in 1980, 1996 and 2008. They can still walk away with a medal though but it will be for bronze and the last time Spain has done that for 3rd was way back in Rome 1960.

Then that 2nd semi match between Germany and India was a thrilling close match where one gets to still be in the running whereas the losing side may continue to play once more but this time for the bronze medal match. India got away with the early lead thanks to the winning penalties following their unreal Quarter-Final escape the other day v Team GB via Penalty Shootouts. But at the end of the day though, Germany had the better attacking ground that puts them one step closer now to tomorrow morning’s gold medal match while India threw these chances away, especially in the 4th and final quarter having unable to get out of trouble any further past the Germans following a painful semi-final blow for the gold medal Final by 3-2.

Hard luck by India even without Amit Rhodas over his stick hit on a Team GB player that saw him forced to sit out over a red card during the Quarter-Final match the other day, but they still weren’t bad though nonetheless all game until the last quarter as a few errors here and there saw Germany reap the rewards by taking greater control of the pitch going forward for the win. Speaking of Germany, it’s been a while since their London 2012 win against the exact same next opponents, as they are now through to Thursday afternoon’s/Friday AM final v Netherlands. It’s going to be the best of the best clash as to whether or not if Germany still holds being the best Olympic Hockey side or else it’s the Netherlands turn who has been winning lots of games elsewhere but not very often though when it comes to winning silverware at the highest levels.

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