How’s The Medal Tally Looking?

There are medals on the way, don’t worry about it. Luuka Jones wasn’t able to repeat the dose from five years ago in the K-1 canoe slalom – which is such a ruthless sport to watch, it just feels impossible that they can round those turns to get through the gates in those currents without sinking – finishing sixth in the final which was the same position that Anton Cooper finished in a similarly stress-inducing mountain bike cross-country race which saw the favourite for gold take a tumble over a rock jump on the first lap (and then continue riding for nearly an hour before the pain was too much). Coops couldn’t keep up with the winner Tom Pidcock who gassed out ahead of the field but he was in contention for third place most of the way only for a Spanish fella to come up out of nowhere and blitz Cooper and the rest to take bronze. AC kinda running out of steam down the stretch after gunning through that difficult track seven times.

A couple of potential medallists there that weren’t able to get it done. That’s the way of the Olympics. Not every medal hope is going to actually bring one home... in fact most of them are probably gonna miss out. But this is New Zealand’s biggest ever contingent of athletes sent to a Games so there’s plenty more where they came from and by the end of today (Wednesday) we could well have a couple more medals to the tally. The first of the rowing finals is on, not to mention the rugby sevens.

The Niche Cache target of 20 medals (and 8 golds) is still very much in the realms of possibility even if a couple hopefuls haven’t had the necessary luck. Lewis Clareburt is another one on that list. Gotta be honest and say that none of the sailing crews have started particularly well either... but they’re long events those ones and a couple top five finishes in a row changes things drastically (remember they get to dump their worst finish too).

Hockey Wrap

It's Wednesday morning and we have two Aotearoa hockey games to digest today/tomorrow morning. At 2:45pm we have the women coming up against Spain and the Spanish are yet to win a game, losing 3-1 to Australia and 3-0 to Argentina which means this is a game that the kiwis will be confident of winning.

After a hearty 3-0 win over Argentina, Aotearoa grabbed a 2-1 win over Japan and along with Australia they are the only unbeaten teams in Pool B. Stacey Michelsen and Sam Charlton returned to the line up, with Michelsen tending to play higher up in the striking group while Charlton anchors the midfield. In the last Almost Daily Olympics Blog I highlighted the class of Katie Doar in the midfield and having Charlton back alongside Doar, Rose Keddell and Julia King is an exciting wrinkle to keep an eye on.

These players aren't going to catch the eye with their x-factor, however they are all comfortable with the ball in traffic and have a wide range of passes to draw upon. This is the engine room for the Black Sticks Women and they will be crucial to any of Aotearoa's success moving forward.

Penalty Corners are just as important in this ADOB as they were in the last. Remember that Aotearoa converted 2/3 PCs against Argentina and that was repeated against Japan (literally 2/3 again) and all up that means the kiwis have converted 4/6 PCs. Olivia Merry is a key weapon as most of her goals come from PC time, while the rebounding ability is also crucial and a shot on target can be just as handy in forcing an awkward rebound as tidy execution.

Grace O'Hanlon grabbed 3/4 saves in goal, solid effort after her perfect 7/7 against Argentina.

Expect a strong performance from Aotearoa this afternoon. The Black Sticks Women have been able to defeat weaker opponents in the FIH Pro League with a more sporadic record against the best in the world and anything other than a win over Spain will be a bummer.

For the lads, everything is following my pre-Olympics vibe where the women would be chasing a medal and the lads would be chasing the chance to get a medal. Three games down and Aotearoa has had every result; 3-2 loss vs India, 4-3 win vs Spain, 2-2 draw vs Japan. While the women have conceded just one goal in their two games, the men have conceded eight goals in three games and probably should have defeated Japan.

The Black Sticks Men spent much of yesterday's draw with Japan in control. They executed their passing patterns almost whenever they wanted, which was especially impressive as they rolled through a variety of attacking motions. The kiwis hit long passes to Stephen Jenness, they worked their way around the outside of the circle to pose a threat and worked efficiently together with give-and-go combos as well as switching into open space.

Sam Lane was impressive in his work - a baseline dribble earned an early PC. Alongside Jenness and Nick Wilson, the kiwis could always find some kind of passing flow and generally seemed rather comfortable. Japan though, well they would fire a shot every so often and it started in the first few minutes as they made one direct pass from a 16 restart and the kiwis allowed the Japanese player to enter the kiwis end, then into the circle along the baseline and he finished with class.

Japan's second goal was more baffling than the first. Maybe the kiwis weren't quite ready to start the game, so whatever. The second goal saw this Tanaka chap get the ball on his own 16 line, run right down the middle of the field, make Shea McAleese look like a cone and flushed the finish. Both of these goals were 'wtf' moments where a usually resolute kiwi defence backed off and allowed Japan to enjoy whatever chance they wanted.

McAleese seemed to leave the field with a hamstring issue and neither goal was McAleese's fault, yet in watching these goals again he was unable to make a tackle in either instance. McAleese's feet stop moving for both goals as he attempts a tackle and both result in goals - probably an unfortunate coincidence.

The men face Australia in the last game of the day around midnight. Australia have won all three of their games so far, scoring 17 goals with six against and Aotearoa rarely beats Australia let alone salvage draws. That is to say that anything better than a loss will be a minor miracle and a very important one considering Aotearoa then play Argentina who they are currently tied with - ahead on goal difference.

Gloves On, Boxing Wrap

Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist David Nyika, who was flagbearer before having ever stepped into the ring in an Olympic bout (kinda by convenience more than anything, there were only like ten athletes who went to the Opening Ceremony and someone had to do it – Sarah Hirini was the female flagbearer ofc)... he had a flawless first fight. The round of 32 was a walkover for him as there weren’t actually 32 fighters in the heavyweight division so it was straight through to the R16 where he took on Morocco’s Younis Baalla and mate he absolutely smoke him. Won all three rounds on every judge’s card. It was almost as much of a walkover as his actual walkover, although he did almost get a nasty case of Holyfield Ear towards the end from his frustrated opponent...

No dramas. Nyika laughed about it afterwards and said that with his mouthguard in place all the fella got was a mouthful of sweat anyway. Then he took to social media to put out a classy and measured statement telling people to lay off old mate Baalla, that there are no hard feelings there.

What a dude. And he’s right, when you spend ages trying to get to the Olympics and then only get three rounds of being thoroughly outdone before you’ve gotta pack and go home it must really suck. The attempted bite was silly yet harmless, really no need for, say, the NZ Herald for example to be decrying it as a “disgraceful act” that “marred” Nyika’s win. Like, pretty sure he’s still in the next round, nothing got marred people. The main focus should be how good Nyika looked because on Friday arvo (4.54pm is the scheduled time as it stands) he takes on Uladzislau Smiahlikau from Belarus in the quarter-finals and a win there would guarantee him a medal as there are no third-place fights in the Olympics, both semi-final losers get a bronze. One more win for a bronze, two for a silver, three for a gold.

Smiahlikau is 28 years old and has a 35-21 record as an amateur – compared to Nyika’s 61-13 amateur record. He’s about a centimetre taller than Nyika and came through his first bout with a 4-1 split decision win over Samoa’s Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali. It’s a winnable bout for sure, in fact Nyika should be a solid favourite there.

Afterwards it gets tough. He’s considered the fourth ranked fighter in the heavyweight division so the semis are where many have predicted him to max out. Muslim Gadzhimagomedov of Russia is the guy most are predicting to take home the gold, he knocked Nyika out of the 2019 World Champs by unanimous decision and wouldn’t you know it that’s who he’ll probably face in the top four should they both advance. Julio César La Cruz of Cuba is also a danger, a four time world champ as a light heavyweight who has moved up a division here. Vassiliy Levit of Kazakhstan has been a top tier bloke for ages now but he got knocked out by Spaniard Emmanuel Reyes in the last round, meaning that Reyes and de la Cruz will face off in the quarters. The other quarter between Hussein Iashaish (Jordan) and Abner Teixeira (Brazil) should be a banger too. Teixeira beat Britain’s main hope Cheavon Clarke last round. So there you go, you’re now a boxing expert.

Rugby Sevens

Rugby Sevens Men have their semi-final against Great Britain at 2pm this arvo after they dismantled Canada rather easily. In was said in commentary of that game that Aotearoa doesn't have the superstar talent and is based around their collective abilites, which was on full display against Canada as there isn't a weak-link or a player who doesn't pose a threat in the starting line up. All the lads are quick enough, they all get busy at the ruck and they all have the skill to distribute the footy.

Canada did score their two tries when Aotearoa started to roll their bench players though and this could be a key factor in today's footy. We are used to the All Blacks enjoying the 60-minute advantage where they roll their subs and every other team copies them (that's how international rugby works), although very few teams have the depth of talent coming off the bench to kick it with the kiwis in the last 10-20 minutes. Sevens is obviously different and when Tim Mikkleson and Joe Webber were subbed out, there was a slight drop off in the team's work which was then compounded in the final minutes with Scott Curry, Andrew Newstubb and Regan Ware subbed out.

My two favourite players: Newstubb and Ware. Newstubb is the funkiest attacking player, while Ware is literally involved in everything and rips in with the physical mahi.

Surfing Wrap

Ella Williams and Billy Stairmand fell out of the Surfing contention - as expected to be honest. This was an incredibly fun event to see conclude as Japan grabbed a silver medal in the men's competition via Kanoa Igarashi and a bronze medal in the women's via Amuro Tsuzuki. That's two Japenese Surfing medals in the first ever Olympics campaign for Surfing, while arguably the two best surfers in the world wound up winning gold; Italo Ferreira and Carissa Moore.

Ferreira's story is legit crazy, while Moore is basically a kiwi with how humble and down to Earth she is.

Aussies Going Nuts

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