Two incredibly emotional medals capped off a great Kiwi weekend at the Tokyo Olympics. The Tokyo Lowdown, looking at the fortunes of our NZ sportswomen, continues.
Performances of the day
What an emotional rollercoaster it's been over the past 48 hours for some of New Zealand’s top female athletes in Tokyo.
Dame Valerie Adams’ bronze medal in the shot put came less than 24 hours after the Black Ferns Sevens finally reached their elusive goal, an Olympic gold medal, after beating France in the final, 26-12.
There were tears all around. Adams holding them back in her interview with Sky Sport, shortly after her mammoth achievement on Sunday afternoon at Olympic Stadium, where she completed her medal set of two golds and a silver.
“This means so much more than the gold medals…I’m so, so proud of this,” the 36-year-old said. “I worked so hard to be here today, worked so hard to put myself in the situation where I could try and win a medal for New Zealand.”
Understandably, emotions were running high for Adams following her best throw of 19.62m – a lot has changed since winning silver at the 2016 Rio Games.
She’s given birth to her two children, daughter Kimoana and son Kepaleli, who was diagnosed with type one diabetes a year ago. And she moved from Auckland to Christchurch - without her husband, Gabriel, and the kids - to give herself the best chance of competing in her fifth Olympic Games.
Her children are Adams' constant inspiration and helped her get through the difficult five years of training and re-building her body and mind. But Adams is an inspiration in her own right. Even in her moment of glory, the mother-of-two was still encouraging other athletes.
“I just hope to inspire female athletes around the world, that... if you want to have a kid, and you want to come back and be at the top of the world, you can. You can absolutely do that, today is a testament to that,” Adams says.
Adams has a strong team behind her keeping the wheels rolling. She paid credit to her coach, Dale Stevenson, who agreed to take her on late last year, and her long-time physio Louise Johnson (the story of their relationship anchored our Olympic Bonds series).
“It was a lot of work and a lot of sacrifices," Adams says. "I hope today it's paid off, and that I’ve made my family proud, my kids back home proud, and also Dale proud, cause this is what it’s about. I’m so grateful.”
As Adams' 17-year Olympic journey and dominance of the sport is nearing an end (not that Adams has confirmed that yet), New Zealand has another shot putter to look forward to shining on the world stage.
Maddison-Lee Wesche, 22, was the youngest in the final field of eight, competing at her first Olympic Games. You wouldn’t have known it, though, Wesche smiling throughout the final, wearing shades and eventually throwing her personal best of 18.98m to finish sixth overall.
Wesche, a former junior world champ, was just five when Adams competed at her first Olympics in Athens in 2004. Adams finished ninth, missing the final but was later promoted to seventh after two competitors were stripped after failing drug tests.
Lijiao Gong of China took out the gold medal on Sunday, throwing a personal best 20.58 with her final throw, while American Raven Saunders, who wore a mask, took silver with 19.79m.
Sarah Hirini has also experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows the past six months, in preparation for these Games with the Black Ferns Sevens.
Tears of elation and joy streamed down the faces of the women in black after the final whistle blew on Saturday evening - their dream moment finally becoming reality after losing to Australia in Rio five years earlier, when they came home with silver.
Hirini - the Black Ferns Sevens captain and New Zealand’s co-flag bearer at these Olympics - unexpectedly lost her mum, Ronnie Goss, earlier this year.
“There’s so much going through my mind. I’m just so happy," Hirini said afterwards. "I love you Mum, I love you so much. That one was for you, and I am just so grateful to be part of the best team in the world.”
But the inspirational leader, and unparalleled work horse, carried herself and the team to victory – something that just hours earlier on Saturday looked like it may have all come undone.
No disrespect to silver medallists, France, but the Black Ferns Sevens almost played their final against Fijiana in the semis.
The lead see-sawed back and forth between New Zealand and Fiji – to the point where it was level at full-time, 17 all. Two minutes into extra time, Gayle Broughton scored to make the final score 22-17.
True to her character, Hirini praised the Fijian side after the heart-pumping game, for their first run at an Olympics.
“I’m so proud of Fiji, they just won a bronze medal for their country…They deserved that so much, they pushed us to the end and they played to their potential in that semifinal,” Hirini says.
It's the special connection her team have created in between Olympic cycles that helped them go one better this time round.
“There’s definitely not a bond like this. It’s such a special group and this is the last time we’ll be playing together as a team, our whole management team together," says Hirini. "Our team is so special and we like to have a good time, and that’s probably the most important thing for us.”
Quote of the day
“This means so much more than the gold medals…I’m so so proud of this. I worked so hard to be here today, worked so hard to put myself in the situation where I could try and win a medal for New Zealand” Dame Valerie Adams after winning her fourth Olympic medal in five Games.
Images of the day
The good news
New Zealand’s hammer throw champion, Julia Ratcliffe has made it into the final at her first Olympics. Ranked number 17 in the world, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist goes through to Tuesday's final ranked sixth, after throwing 73.20m – just 30cm off the automatic qualifying mark. Fellow Kiwi Lauren Bruce, was unable to produce the results needed to join Ratcliffe in the top 12 final, throwing 67.71m leaving her 12th of 15 in her group.
Equestrian Jonelle Price is still in the hunt for a medal in the three-day eventing teams event, after a solid ride on a tough, hot cross country course on Sunday. New Zealand are in fourth spot going into Monday’s final discipline, showjumping, but will need strong rounds from all three of their riders.
Price is 12th overall in the individual competition, climbing through the field from 17th after the dressage round; her cross country on Grovine de Reve incurring just two penalty points for finishing slightly outside the time limit. Price's husband, Tim, is fourth overall on Vitali.
The Black Sticks have made it through to the quarterfinals of the women's hockey, but the good news ends there. They face a massive hurdle in the form of world No.1 team, The Netherlands, if they want to stay in medal contention. The New Zealanders had a very average performance in their last pool game against China on Saturday, losing 3-2, but scraped through to the final eight, and will need to play out of their skins - something they've failed to do in this tournament - against the unbeaten Dutch side on Monday night.
The not-so-good-news
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech never recovered from their awful first day on Enoshima Harbour; the 2016 Rio silver medallists in the 49erFX class finished 12th – missing the medal race by two places. And Erica Dawson and her skipper Micah Wilkinson bowed out of the Nacra 17 class before the medal race, ending up 12th overall (the top 10 go through).
Dawson did particularly well considering she'd broken her leg five weeks' before, and said while she was disappointed with the result, "we're still friends".
The NZ triathlon team couldn't add a second Olympic medal to their luggage from the team's mixed relay event. The Kiwis - Ainsley Thorpe, Nicole van der Kaay, Tayler Reid and men's bronze medallist Hayden Wilde - struggled to keep up with the pace in the draining heat on Saturday, finishing the speed event 3m 12s behind winners Great Britain, in 12th.
In a cruel twist of events, 76kg category weightlifter Megan Signal had to withdraw from her Olympic debut on Sunday with a shoulder injury - the day of her competition.
Signal knows all too well the feeling of being so close to showing the world, and herself, what she’s truly capable of, in a sport she only picked up in her 20s. In 2018, she also had to pull out of the Commonwealth Games, two weeks beforehand, due to another injury.
What the?!
Sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah came within 0.12s of her goal to become the world’s fastest woman, winning the women’s 100m final in a blistering 10.61s - an Olympic record and the second fastest 100m ever run by a woman.
The Jamaican - aiming to break the world’s fastest time, 10.49s owned by the late Flo Jo – reckons she could have gone faster in Sunday morning’s final in Tokyo “if I wasn’t pointing and celebrating early.”
It was a clean sweep for the Jamaicans – 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took silver in 10.74s and Shericka Jackson, bronze in 10.76s. There was obvious frostiness between the gold medallist and her compatriots, who've apparently had a falling out in recent years.
Even after collecting her seventh Olympic gold, in the Tokyo pool on Saturday, Katie Ledecky isn’t done yet. The American swimmer is now the most successful female swimmer in Olympic history after adding gold and two silver to have a haul of 10 medals from three Olympics.
Yes, the freestyler who spent more than a year in isolation from her close-knit family to avoid getting sick, says she wants to compete at the 2024 Games in Paris.
Also on the last day in the pool, Australian Emma McKeon became one of the most decorated female Olympic athletes at a single Games - winning seven medals. That equals Russian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya in 1952. Her career total of 11 is also more than any other Australian, eclipsing the nine of swimmers Ian Thorpe and Leisel Jones.
Rikki's pick
And so it begins, says experienced Sky Sport commentator Rikki Swannell.
"Lisa Carrington’s quest for an historic four medals at the same Olympics begins today at the Sea Forest Waterway, already the site of such great success for our rowers.
"It’s not until you see the schedule laid bare that you really realise how tough this challenge will be and how extraordinary it is. Carrington races heats and quarters of the K1 200 and the K2 500 tomorrow, with semis and finals the day after. Then it’s on to the K1 500 and K4. A relentless week of racing lies ahead - but history beckons."
Who's up on Monday
CANOE/KAYAK: Lisa Carrington, K1 200m sprint heat, 12.55pm; quarterfinals 2.45pm. Lisa Carrington, Caitlin Regal, Alicia Hoskins and Teneale Hatton, K2 500m sprint heat, 2pm; quarterfinals, 3.45pm.
WEIGHTLIFTING: Kanah Andrews-Nahu, 87kg, 2.50pm
CYCLING: Track pursuit team, qualifying, 6.50pm
EQUESTRIAN: Jonelle Price, jumping qualification individual, 8pm.
HOCKEY: Black Sticks v The Netherlands, quarterfinal, 9.30pm
WEIGHTLIFTING: Laurel Hubbard, +87kg, 10.50pm
