The concept of "tanking" has reared it's ugly head once more, with Russia's women's basketball team looking rather blase in it's loss to France in their final pool game of the Olympic tournament. After Australia had beaten Canada, the Russians seemed to capitulate, losing 65-54 in a game that is sure to, and, already has, raise some eyebrows, given that the Russians, who had a 5-point lead after one quarter, then failed to score six points in the second. Now, they find themselves finishing third in the pool, which means, in the cross-over elimination stages, they won't have to play either Australia or the United States of America until a potential gold medal match. Sure, the Russians could've just been having a bad day, but with all the previous talk of tanking and of teams actually doing it - see badminton, for example - it's almost a certainty that the performance in the second quarter will be scrutinised and analysed everywhere and by everyone. Australia, on the other hand, have less than a favourable draw. Make the semi finals, and it seems that they'll take on the Team USA women.
''I think people need to start understanding that it's not easy to win an Olympic gold medal and there's absolutely nothing wrong with a silver medal. I was copping questions in the mixed zone [from media] last night, and the first question I got was 'Is it a disappointing result?' The team's happy, I'm happy, the head coach is happy. I've got thousands of messages back home that they are happy. ''The only people that aren't happy are you guys, so you need to wake up"
24-year-old, silver medal-winning long jumper, Mitchell Watt to the Australia media. Well, he pretty unloaded a bomb there. It was well-said, and overdue, too. It's about time that the Australian media starts to celebrate these silver medals - second-best in the world, after all, is a pretty fantastic achievement - rather than try to coax athletes who've given their all on the greatest sporting stage in the world, sometimes as the culmination of a lifetime of training, effort, pain and sacrifice, to say to a microphone that they are disappointed in a result.
Sure, gold is the benchmark, and Australia has been very good at picking up those in recent times, but I think a lot of people, the doom-and-gloom crew, are forgetting that a silver medal is a pretty solid achievement, too, especially in the case of someone like James Magnussen, who was narrowly, narrowly touched out for gold. Here's an idea: let's start celebrating those athletes wearing the green and gold who get to stand on any step on the podium rather than suggesting that second is a major disaster that might cause an athlete to go into hiding in shame instead of returning Australia. So far as I'm concerned, any Olympic medal is a good one. Am I disappointed we haven't won more gold? Sure, like most Australians, probably, but at least a brace of silvers is better than bronze or nothing at all. The Australian way of looking at the bright side of things seems to have fallen apart. Let's celebrate what we have, not what we didn't get.
Talking of gold, it seems that our sailing team are headed for the top step of the podium. Tom Slingsby has just about guaranteed himself a gold medal after winning both races in the single-handed Laser class on Saturday. He only needs to finish seventh or better in the final race tomorrow to outscore his nearest challenger. Australia's 470 class pairing of Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page won their double as well on Saturday, and reinforce their lead. It's possible that Australia will collect 3 or 4 golds, with possibilities for overall victory in the Elliott match racing class and the 49er skiff class.
The men's 100m final at the lightning-fast athletics track at the Olympic Stadium has all the hallmarks of being a classic. Sure, the race itself won't take much more than 10 seconds for the field to cross the finish line, but there promises to be plenty of drama and intrigue in that short space of time. America's Justin Gatlin is the fastest qualifier (9.82) but it was Usain Bolt who had everyone talking, the reigning Olympic champion pretty much jogging through the last few meters after shutting off the jets with about 70m in the books. It was an ominous effort and a frighteningly easy one, too. Bolt has showed that he's rightly the favourite heading in. It should be an epic event. Don't discount the world champion over 100m, Yohan Blake, also of Jamaica, the young man, perhaps heir to Bolt's crown. But they all appear to be chasing Bolt. The world record might be in danger. As this track meet has already
The Kookaburras, gold medal favourites at this Olympics, are making their London campaign rather interesting. After squandering a 2-0 lead to Argentina in their last game, the Australian men did the same against Great Britain, giving up a dominating 3-0 lead, the game ending tied at 3-3 after the locals didn't have a goal on the board six minutes into the second half. At least it wasn't a loss, and you can bet the Australian coaching staff won't be happy with the second-half collapse. The Kookaburras now need to record a win or a draw against Pakistan in their final pool game to ensure they make the finals.
Australia's medal tally: 1 Gold, 12 Silver, 7 Bronze. Total: 20. Rank: 23
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