Sailor Tom Burton claimed Australia’s seventh gold medal of the Rio Olympics. Burton was in second going into the Laser class final, 10 points behind Croatian Tonci Stipanovic, and needed to finish five places in front of him to claim gold.
Elsewhere in the regatta, two of Australia’s other sailors, Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, won silver in the Nacra 17. The pair finished second in the medal race after Argentina’s Santiago Lange and Cecilia Seroli overcame a bad start to claim gold.
“It feels great to win gold,” Burton said. “The amount of hours I have put into this, the sacrifices I have made; not going to my sister’s wedding, skipping the Opening Ceremony to try and get a good result and it’s all perfect now.”
The upset of the night came in the women’s basketball, with Australia leaving the Olympics without a medal for the first time in almost 30 years after a shock 73-71 loss to Serbia in the quarter-finals. The Opals went through the group stage undefeated only to be stunned by the world’s No14 team. Australia’s men will need to beat Lithuania to secure a semi-final slot.
“It will be even more difficult [than the group games]. We will be ready for that game,” said Boomers veteran David Andersen. “We have big targets. We are aiming for the medals. We feel confident. We have played good games and to get four wins is great but it doesn’t count if we go out in the quarter-finals.”
Kim Mickle’s Games ended in agony after the javelin thrower dislocated her shoulder and was taken from the Olympic Stadium to hospital. The 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist’s shoulder popped out on her final effort in qualifying in the evening athletics session.
In the high jump, there was disappointment for Brandon Starc, who couldn’t get over the 2.25m mark and bowed out early in the final, which was eventually won by Canada’s Derek Drouin, but there was better news in the long jump, where Brooke Stratton, the Australian record holder, made it through to the women’s final with a jump of 6.56m on her third attempt.
On the track, Ella Nelson ran a personal best in her first Olympics and came third in her 200m semi-final but missed out on qualification by the smallest of margins – just 0.01s. Still, the 22-year-old was delighted with her time of 22.50s and said after the race, “It’s given me the confidence that I can do this on the world stage”. Lauren Wells also bowed out in the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles.
There was bad news for Australian discus thrower Dani Samuels, who missed out on a medal by 44cm, finishing fourth in the women’s final. The 2009 world champion’s best throw of 64.90m wasn’t quite enough to overtake bronze medallist Denia Caballero from Cuba (65.34m).
Michelle Jenneke was eliminated in the opening round of the 100m hurdles after finishing sixth in her heat in 13.26 seconds, almost half a second slower than her personal best but Australian record holder Alana Boyd cleared 4.60m to progress to the women’s pole vault final.
On a disappointing day it the velodrome, Australian cyclist Annette Edmondson came in eighth place overall in the omnium, with 168 points, while Matthew Glaetzer also missed out on the medals in the keirin, having to settle for a place in the seventh to 12th race.
Sprint kayaker Murray Stewart faded to finish fourth in the men’s K1 1000m final. London gold medallist Murray was leading at the three-quarter mark but couldn’t hold on in the mad dash to the line. There was a heartbreaking end to the men’s swimming marathon. After leading the pack until the last turn, Australia’s Jarrod Poort has finished third last.
And in the equestrian, Australia bowed out of the team’s show jumping competition but Edwina Tops-Alexander and Matt Williams are still alive in the individual event. To reach Wednesday’s team final the Australians will need to finish the day in the top eight teams.
