Tokyo 2020 – Top 10 Australian Moments

That’s another Olympics behind us quickly then, with my engagement here being much less by both choice and necessity. I was happy with the arrangement as my direct focused appreciation of the Games felt better than ever. But now of course I have nothing but time on my hands. We’re in lockdown and I’m in that slightly depressed post-Olympics period of sudden open schedules and…dare I say it…near boredom. So I am instead going to continue onwards with a more sustained period of content post-Games, and leading into the fabulous Paralympics to come in just two weeks!

In these next two weeks I’ll make four or five posts, reflecting on these Olympics past, the broadcast, and looking forward to the Paralympics, Beijing Winter Games and beyond. Then I’ll get back to the music blog I’ve been busy with up until these Olympics and can be found here on this same WordPress profile!

First up will be a pair of Top 10 lists, as is the modern easy to swallow way, starting here with a local focus:

10. Andrew Hoy – Equestrian silver and bronze

As a small child I knew of our great rider Andrew Hoy as a legitimate celebrity, thanks to his successes in Barcelona and Atlanta and carrying the flag there. While my Olympic awareness only truly began with Sydney, he was one of the faces of the Games and the Team Eventing title Australia won was one of the most memorable occurrences I still remember watching. That this last vestige of that golden time when we hosted is still competing is amazing. But after twenty years off the podium, I’m not sure I expected him to fire back and become our oldest ever Olympic medallist at 62, following team silver with individual bronze a few hours apart.

9. Harry Garside – Generational Boxing talent

Harry Garside’s bronze medal in the Men’s Lightweight was Australia’s first Boxing medal in 41 years. That alone is a grand achievement, but it was the way a humble, simple, different and by all accounts fabulous young bloke just worked his way there that was particularly inspiring. It had been a tough few weeks for Olympic boing until Garside’s tight and tense spit decision quarter-final win secured him a medal. At the exact same stage in the exact same scenario, Skye Nicholson had been cruelly and probably unfairly denied a medal by a split decision. The even bigger standout medal hope, Justis Huni, had been forced to withdraw thanks to injuries sustained while annihilating Paul Gallen of things. Garside, who I’ve ha the privilege of seeing fight live on his way to winning the Commonwealth title on the Gold Coast in 2018, provided a much-needed redemption story

8. Rowing’s golden hour.

Australia has a rich history of Olympic Rowing success, peaking with the achievements of our Men’s Coxless Four crews in the 1990s most notably. Though medals still have been trickling in, international competitive has been much greater over the last twenty years. In few boat classes were there competitive Australians in Tokyo. Only four crews even reached the final. But all four won medals, in consecutive finals, on the same morning. It was the most unexpected sudden new greatest day in Australian Rowing history. First up were the Coxless Four crews, with our Men adding to that legacy after the Women, who have been a powerhouse for decades without an Olympic-level event to look to, winning first time up after its overdue inclusion on the program. Then came two even bigger upsets, with a pair of unfancied crews both rowing perfectly executed races in tough conditions that caught out others, to sneak home Men’s and Women’s Quadruple Sculls bronze medals.

7. Rohan Browning – Australian sprint sensation

He didn’t quite make the final. He hasn’t quite gone under 10s yet, but you need to understand the history of sprinting to understand what a special talent we have in Browning. It’s not merely that he’s already the second fastest Australian ever. It’s that fundamentally, white men just don’t run that fast. 100 and 200m running is a black man’s endeavour, dominated by those of West African descent. No fully caucasian male has made the Olympic 100m final since Moscow 1980, when Brit Alan Wells won in a mere 10.25s in a boycott-emaciated field. Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre is the fastest white man ever, with what proved to be a flash in the pan condition-friendly 9.92 bolt from the blue in 2011. Had Browning somehow made the final then even if he ran 8th, it might still have vaulted this story all the way to near No.1. As it was, he won his heat with the second fastest Aussie time ever run, beating the likes of Yohan Blake, and was only a few hundredths off that again in a stacked Semi Final.

6. Kaylee McKeown – Backstroke double and triple gold

I almost feel sorry for McKeown, whose spectacular performance would have been THE Australian success story of any other recent Olympics. But such was the success of the whole team generally, and the swim team in particular, McKeown was sort of overshadowed by Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon and to some extent even Cate Campbell and Kyle Chalmers. But it was a Stephanie Rice level performance, brilliantly winning both her events plus a relay gold. Unlike our other swim stars, McKeown is someone I hadn’t really heard of until very recently, when she came seemingly from the cloud to smash the 100m backstroke world record. Suddenly we had a clear gold medal favourite and despite all that pressure, the young, down to earth and frankly hilarious McKeown smashed it, executing a perfect race plan to overrun Canada’s Kylie Masse over both the 100m and 200 distances. I’m so glad that her spontaneous potty-mouthed interview reaction then occurred after the 100, because both how viral and relatable that moment was perversely, as much as her swimming, gave Kaylee an indelible legacy, a moment and memory that is truly iconically hers alone from these Olympics, as she deserved because she smashed it.

5. Decathlon bronze – Ash Moloney (feat. Cedric Dubler)

Various media, social and traditional, sure do love to ham up things that appear to have viral potential But in this case, I am fully on board with the idea that ‘doing a Dubler’ should enter the Australian lexicon. It’s unusual to be so acutely aware that you’re seeing something that will leave an indelible mark when you’re in the moment watching it live, especially when its something as dank as a low quality 1500m timed heat featuring a whole bunch of very much not 1500m runners. This applied though. Entering the 1500m that concludes the legendary Decathlon event, one Australia has no history of any note in, a spent and particularly large, muscular and middle-distance unsuited Ashley Moloney had to, as it turned out, smash his PB to stay close enough behind his better running rivals to collect enough points to hold them off for bronze. It didn’t look great, as he clearly struggled over the distance. But to see Dubler, completely unconcerned by his own race, stopping, waiting for, dragging along and yelling aggressive encouragement at his countryman and friend, was everything the Olympics and, at its rare best, Australia, is about.

For all the spirt of Dubler, it’s important not to underrate the achievement of the man himself. Moloney is only 21 and was not considered a real medal chance, even when sitting second after Day 1, as his weaker events were on the second day. But he just continually went beyond himself, setting PBs virtually the whole way to win maybe the most random, unexpected and therefore sensational medal of the Olympics for Australia.

4. Emma McKeon – Last day in the pool

In a historic seven medals from seen events program, I have identified the very final day of Swimming action, on the Games middle Sunday, as officially Emma’s day. Somehow it seems so apt that despite all she was doing, McKeon wasn’t quite the true top story yet, and somehow is only fourth on this list. Ultimately it’s not fair but its very Emma, to the point where it just feels perfect and I feel like she’d appreciate. Because she shuns the spotlight and just wants to quietly get on with working and competing. But after a week of so many different stories of swimming success, and constant McKeon medalling, on the final day she got her moment in the sun, to complete the rare 50-100 double, to bring home a second gold in mere minutes in the 4x100m Medley Relay, and in so doing to transcend to bonafide legend. Until that day this understated women somehow had understated achievements. Five medals at these Olympics, but ‘only’ two gold. As many medals as Thorpey and Lisa but ‘only’ one individual gold. By the end of the day, she stood alone. 11 medals, 7 from 1 games, 5 total gold. By every measure our most decorated Olympian. It’s irrelevant where she is on this list. Emma McKeon is simply the greatest, regardless.

As if to drive home the historic nature of McKeon’s feat, those two final gold medals on the final Swimming Sundat\y contributed, alongside BMX Freestyler Logan Martin and Laser Sailor Matt Wearn, to our greatest all-time Olympic day, the first ever in which Australia won four gold medals.

3. Titmus vs Ledecky – Women’s 400m Freestyle

One race (well three actually, but this was the special first one) shouldn’t, and doesn’t truly top seven medals. But this was just so special. It’s not just the hype and rivalry. It’s not just beating the greatest of all time. It is all of those things, plus how clinically and perfectly Ariarne executed her race plan on this and pretty much every other occasion. Subsequent 200m, gold, in a deceptively stacked field, and a fatigued but still gallant late-closing silver to the unbeatable Ledecky over 880m, further cementer Titmus’ status as our greatest middle distance prodigy since Ian Thorpe and before that, on the female side, Shane Gould.

The 400 was a thing of beauty though. I’ve already spoken about this race a lot but all I’ll say as for why it’s so special and highly ranked for me, is that it gave me the kind of chills, in both a ‘I am witnessing true greatness between these two’ vibes and in terms of a grandstand Australian comeback finish, that I’ve only really gotten before from THAT first night in Sydney, and from Thorpe vs Van Den Hoogenband vs Phelps in Athens. That’s the company we’re talking about here with this race.

2. Boomers bronze – Men’s Basketball

How wonderful this win over Slovenia and the associated emotional was notwithstanding, I am particularly happy to be able to put something other than a gold medal winning performance this high, as it aptly captures the spirit of effort and striving for personal bests that Australia did a much better job, as nation more than group of athletes to be frank, in finally embracing.

Nevertheless, for those who don’t follow Basketball, or do but are from the US and used to their total domination, it can be hard to understand why a third place finish is such a momentous occasion. But the 65+ year story of Australian basketball makes it clear.

The Boomers first appearance at an Olympics came only because we were the host nation in Melbourne in 1956. THhat was early days for the sport, not just here but anywhere. For a new and very American sport to break into Australia’s saturated market was virtually impossible. For decades a small dedicated group of passionate Basketball players and minds slowly built Australian Basketball up before it finally took off in the 80s and 90s, on the back of our first true superstar Andrew Gaze, who dominated both the upstart an quickly growing NBL, and international play. The success of Luc Longley on the legendary Chicago Bulls teams of the 90s added to the stock of Australia Basketball. But still, this golden generation never won an Olympic medal.

How the 1988 to 2000 period unfolded was extraordinary, with wonderful, proud Australian teams achieving great success, but consistent cursed 4th place finishes at the Olympics. In Seoul in 1988 we were outgunned by three dominant forces and inevitably 4th. But with the introduction of the NBA-stacked US Dream Team dominating from 1992 forwards, and the other two powerhouses, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, in the process of splintering then dissolving, medals for anyone became possible and Australia was as well placed as anyone. In Barcelona the promise came to nothing with an underachieving team struggling throughout then being blow away by Croatia in the Quarter Finals. In Atlanta all the signs were perfect only for a a tight devastating loss to Lithuania in the Bronze Medal Match. Sydney started with two disastrous losses under the weight of home expectation, then a hype building win streak, only to lose big to unfancied France in the Semi Final then our nemesis Lithuania again.

A downturn through 2004-2012 followed but with a new golden generation led by Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Joe Ingles building, expectation was higher than ever for 2016. I’m going to assume everyone remembers what happened as a convenient excuse to not have to talk about it again. The basics of course are that Australia looked clearly second best to the Americans all fortnight, only to play the most disastrously abject first half possible in the Semi Final against less fancied Serbia, then lose by 1 point to a controversial last second foul call against Spain in the context for Bronze. Such an overwhelmingly horrendously cursed result, combined with the retirement of Bogut and general ageing of this generation, had meant I had lose hope for Tokyo success.

I should have known better but to doubt this crew, and to doubt Patty in particular. If you’re one of the few who hasn’t already, go and watch and listen to Andrew Gaze’s impassioned reaction afterwards. It says everything you need to understand.

1. Jessica Fox wins gold – Canoe Slalom, Women’s C1

Despite all the magnificent efforts of so many Australian athletes throughout these wonderful Games, whether dominating or leaving in an indelible cultural mark, somehow it was still not even close. This was unquestionably THE moment of the Olympics given the full context, and I got to have a particularly unique experience of it that further cemented it as my likely longest lasting firm memory of these OIympics.

Jess Fox is one of the all time greats of her sport. Were it not for Czech legend Stepanka Hilgertova she might in fact be THE absolute goat of Women’s Canoe Slalom by this point. She was a child prodigy, the daughter of power Canoe Slalom couple, British Olympian Richard Fox and French Olympic bronze medallist Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi. By 18 Jess had burst into public consciousness with an Olympic silver medal in London. By Rio she was the undisputed best in the world, but this time took bronze. She has always been one of Australia’s poster athletes at Olympic times, beautiful, articulate, lovely-seeming yet with a fiery competitiveness. This made the expectation and tension of her third tilt at the final tick left on her CV, Olympic Gold, so overwhelming this time around.

The way Tuesday’s third attempt at the Women’s K1 final went for Jess was pretty much as cruel as possible given that build-up and how it played out. Only no medal would have been crueller. Thankfully a bronze was salvaged, but only after dominating the qualifying rounds and semi-final, getting to run last, making a silly early error, still making up the time and being set for gold only to touch the final upstream gate, the very last challenge before sprinting to glory. Fox was gracious and positive as ever but you could tell this blow was heartbreaking, and after everything eventuated that much was made clear.

Normally, that would have been that, but for the first time ever in Tokyo, there was a second chance, and it was in large part Fox’s own personal doing. In the name of gender equality, the Canoe Slalom program had been rejigged to now include an inaugural Women’s C1 event for the Canoes as-well, not just a Women’s K1 for Kayaks as Fox was now a 3 time medallist in. Jess and her family had been one of the biggest, most outspoken and influential movers for this events inclusion, and now she had the chance to be its first ever Olympic champion.

After a shaky and understandably rattled qualifying, by the final Fox was once again the top seed from the Semis with it all to lose, but all to gain and all in her control. This time the final run, with all that pressure and in such a crazy fickle sport, was utter perfection. It wasn’t even close. Jess won easily, and as I was alone waiting for a bus in a quiet dark evening spot, I was free of bashfulness and free to uncharacteristically whoop, holler and perhaps a little, cry. And of course as we’ll all always remember, who was in commentary? Her dad.