Tokyo 2020 Day 8 Review
As we reach the halfway point of Tokyo 2020 it's time to come back and chat about another golden day for Australia and another silver day for Canada with plenty to discuss as always! We celebrate the new equal record holder of medals won by an Australian Emma McKeon and talk up how tomorrow could be a big day for both Australia and Canada at the Olympics. We also learn about more backstroke gold for our girl Kaylee, work out if Kylie winning another silver is another good thing for our show or another aspect of the curse, and also talk up some great running performances by Australia and Canada too. Added to that we bring back some commentary with our final taste of swimming, work out if getting 'given' a medal in the tennis still counts and find out what sport we watched that we are really in love with that has surprised us. Get to listening and get entertained! We guarantee it!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: It is Off The Podium, an Olympics Podcast coming to you for day 8 of Tokyo 2020. And once again, it is a golden day for Australia. And once again, it is a silver day for Canada. Because the curse is, I really don't know what's it doing. Is it in or out of the purse? Because apparently, silver is good enough in some of our host's eyes, others it's not. Maybe I'll have to get the actual final say here from our third party on this show. But big day. And I should mention a record breaking day for Australia as well. Emma McKeon is officially in the record books as the equal greatest medal winner in the history of Australia and the Olympic Games. And we'll no doubt talk a little bit about her today as well as a gold, a silver and a couple of bronzes for us, including one that was sort of handed to us. But I'm still thinking that one person will be happy about that one. And he's on the line with me right now. It is the man who wishes he could get handed a bronze by a walkover. It is Mr. Jarrod Loobeek. Jarrod, welcome back to Off The Podium.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thank you. It's great to be back. And it's nice that the metal hole is continuing at this point in time. I feel like we're about to get to a couple of days that are a bit more sparse. So I'm enjoying it while it lasts.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes. Well, that is exactly it. We've got one more day of swimming, right? So there you go. Colin not joining us tonight. You will hear his voice on the commentary. So he, I think, has decided to pull a sickie because right now, as we are recording this, Heat 5 of the Men's 100 metres is about to happen. And a certain André de Grasse is about to run in this one. So we may be slightly distracted here because I would like to see how Mr. de Grasse goes in this one. A real metal shot for Canada, of course, got the silver in Rio. Or did he get the bronze? I got the silver because he got the bronze in the relay. I knew we got a silver and a bronze. But just while we're slightly distracted here, before we talk about the days here, have you been... I'm liking his glasses here, Jarrod, he's kind of got like a bit of a fashion statement here from Andre with lots of saints. And now all of a sudden we've got Andre with like the gold Ray-Bans. I don't know what you would call these.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I feel like somebody has to pick up the slack of the style points. It feels like the Men's 100 metres is such like a showy event. But this year, like this Olympics, we're not getting a lot of that at the starting line.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's I mean, again, is it the lack of a sane? Is it the lack of the crowds like I know Channel 7 are dubbing over the crowd, which is cool in some ways, but I kind of want to hear it without the crowd. I want to hear 100 metres just like in a pin drop silence stadium of just like other sort of officials and everything going around there. But it does look weird, doesn't it? Seeing just like these. This is this is the one I thought would look the weirdest when it comes to the Olympics and no fans.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it definitely does. But I do like I feel like the like we've been let down in terms of the atmosphere, I suppose. But they've brought in like so many cool like innovations. I don't know if you saw the I don't know if they've been showing in the men's, but the graphic where they're showing where the runners are hitting their top speed.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, yeah.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Showing in the women's, which I think is really cool.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, no, I agree with that. That was I've got that actually written on my notes as one of the really, really cool things that they've done. I mean, we haven't really talked much about in the swimming. Like I really like that top speed graphic that they kind of show now, because you can kind of see who's actually gaining or who's actually doing really, really well. We're obviously delaying talking about the day because they're introducing our runners right now. I will say we've got great commentary tonight on the show. Obviously, we didn't have any last night, but tomorrow we will pretty much be recording there and thereabouts around the men's 100 metres. So that's kind of going to be almost a live commentary that we'll be doing while we're recording, given that the athletics, the 100 metres, both men's and women's is quite late. I'm talking about the Omanian. Does it look like the word Oman is peeling off his shirt there? Gee, they really didn't spare much money on the Omanian. We are recording this probably. We won't be able to give you the 100 metre women's results tonight, but we'll see how long we go. And look at Degrassi's looking happy. There he is. A bit of a bit of a showmanship there. He's got the golden chain on. I don't know about these Canadian uniforms though. It's not very Canadian to me. It's kind of almost like a salmon colour. Yeah. I don't know where they get that from Canada. But anyway, clearly looking at the tightness of his shorts, so that'll be a news.com to the AU storyline talking about the size of Andre Degrassi's manhood there, of course, no doubt. And yes, this is this most exciting we've ever been to a start of Off The Podium, like Golden Day for Australia, record breaking, everyone shut up. Five of the men's 100 metres is on. I love athletics. I always forget how much athletics is entertaining to watch at the Olympics.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's just so good too, how like they're able to cut away between like events, like there's not much filler, which is great.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, exactly. We're swimming. You know, we've got 50 interviews basically with families and everything. I mean, I love the swimming, don't get me wrong, but you don't have swimming field events. All right, we're about to start on their blocks and they're away. Oh no, false start. Who was that? Jarrod, who did that? I'm blaming the Omanian. It's the stuff peeling off his shirt. It's kind of getting in the way there. No, they're focusing on the Nigerian here. This is Divine Ododuru. What a name, divine. It wasn't a divine. So where was a false start there? That was interesting. I mean, I'm no Bruce McEvaney, Jarrod, but I mean, I'm not sure about that. I mean, I'm not sure about that. Did that look like a false start to you? I mean, I'm not sure about that. So we probably should have waited until this heat was over, possibly. So we probably should have waited until this heat was over, possibly. But yes, obviously we're not commentating on it. But just quickly, while they're lining up on the blocks, I'll ask you quickly about Ash, because this is kind of almost breaking news right now that Ash and John have been given the bronze because Novak and his partner have pulled out of the bronze medal match because, unfortunately, Novak lost his bronze in the singles. And, I mean, let's be honest, I mean, he has to back that up. He's lost two matches in basically 24 hours, and then to come out again. And obviously I feel very sad for his partner, but I mean, I'm sure he's probably thinking ahead to the US Open in about a month, right? So I mean, look, I know you're not a huge Novak fan, but I mean, how do you feel about Barty getting a medal, John getting a medal, and kind of in a bit of a dead rubber sort of, yeah, not a very exciting fashion?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I feel like it's a disappointing way to middle, and just the scheduling obviously wasn't planned very well, but I think I saw a comment today that was kind of like, why don't they like run the tennis over two weeks to like, not have like these issues with scheduling? Obviously that stadium is going to be free because it's specifically a tennis court. But I think it's to do with obviously the athletes want to get back to the ATP and WTA schedule and the fact that like, it's kind of sandwiched in here between Grand Slams. But yeah, it's just odd scheduling. I think he had like 20 minutes was how much time he was meant to have between the end of the men's singles bronze medal match and the start of this match, which obviously is not a lot of time, particularly when that match went to three sets. So yeah, just odd scheduling and just a bit. At least it was the bronze. I feel like gold, silver playoff, if you win that by a walkover, you're always going to have kind of an asterisk next to your gold medal. But here, I feel like it doesn't mean quite as much.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just quickly, another false start in this heat the first time I've seen false starts. Do you think had it been the gold medal match that Novak would have pulled out? I feel if it was not, I don't think he would have because I mean, I guess you could then have the sort of technical that if he won the gold, he sort of technically got a golden Grand Slam in some ways.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think that was probably going into his decision as well. The fact that one, like you'd want to be winning the gold, but also if it's the gold medal match, you know that if you lose, like you're at least coming away with silver. Whereas here, if he plays and plays terribly because he's exhausted, then he's coming away with nothing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, that's a very valid point. But I mean, I'm thrilled for Ash and not to take away from John Pears because obviously it's a great achievement for him, but for Ash to come off Wimbledon, to sort of come in and say that she wanted to compete at the Olympics, I saw the interview with her and John how they both said this was a big priority for them. And I'm an advocate for tennis at the Olympics, so I like it when you get the best players in the world going there. And obviously the heartbreak Ash had in the singles and a bit of a heartbreak in the quarters, and it was a heartbreak in the semis. So I mean, again, not the fashion that we wanted her to win a medal in, but Australia's first tennis medal since 2004. And that was coming off the back of three medals in a row, of course, Golden, Atlanta, Silver and Sydney for the Woodies. And then obviously Alicia Mullet got it in the singles. Jelena Dokic really close to a medal, got lost the bronze medal game in Sydney. So I mean, as a massive tennis fan, I mean, this is a win for you for Australia to finally pick up a medal for the first time in 17 years in Olympic Games.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, definitely overdue. Both like the Australian men and women have been doing so well lately. And really, it feels like building up the ranks, not just Ash obviously being world number one, but all the others as well. And I feel like there's not so many team events in tennis like it is at points in time, a really individual sport. So to have the chance to represent your country for Ash in all three of the events, I think massive for her and great that she's come away with Sonic out of it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Again, we realise today has been a very golden day for Australia and a record breaking day. We're not trying to take away from the achievements. We usually leave with the headlines and thought just quickly though while we've had two false starts and Divine's been disqualified. So hopefully the third time lucky here in Heat number five of the men's, if this was anyone else, but DeGrasse would probably be focused on talking about the golden day for Australia. But we're about to see this right now. And can we get away third time lucky? We can. It looks like it. DeGrasse has got a good start. He's running out strong, but the Americans looking good. But here comes DeGrasse. DeGrasse is sprinting through. DeGrasse is going to win this. DeGrasse is going to win the Heat. He looks across the same bolt style almost as if to say like, hey, I'm beating you. 9.90 as well, which if I'm not mistaken, is that a personal best for Andre or is that equal to his personal best? So he's got to like that. That is equal to his personal best. His previous personal best was 9.90. He's come out and done it again. Jarrod, that's a bit of a statement.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It was very impressive. It's like such a fast heat too. And the fact that we've lost, potentially lost Bromwell or whatever his name is, who was getting talked up by Channel 7. You've got to feel that DeGrasse has to be one of the red hot favourites to take out the gold of the run like that, just in the heat.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great to see it. There you go. It's glasses, Jarrod. To me, it's the glasses. I'm going to say that. All right. Now that I've gotten that over and done with, let's talk about the day for Australia. A gold, a silver and three bronze. I mean, technically, Ash's and John's medal will be added tomorrow by the terms of the official status of how it has happened. Like, technically, we've got another gold. We will get a gold in sailing tomorrow, but we can talk a little bit about that very, very shortly. But in terms of the race that we're going to hear very, very shortly that you gladly joined us today, Jarrod. 200 back. Kaylee McKeon did the double, 100 and 200. The first time Australia's ever won a gold medal in this event. Defeating her arch nemesis, Kylie Mass, our good friend here on Off The Podium, and a bronze almost as exciting for Emily Seabomb to take that. It was a great race. Kylie Mass led about 80% of that race, and I thought, well, here she goes. She's going to get the gold. And look, I'll be honest with you, I wouldn't have been overly disappointed had that been that way and it being gold to Canada and silver and bronze to Australia. But it was a great race. Kaylee took it. She did the double pistol at the end. Kind of great celebration. You're going to see that in a few montages in the next week, I'm sure. But what did you think of it? You were next to us, Jarrod. You got to call it. You did a great job.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it was such a good race. Yeah, it really did look. Kylie was going to take it out. But I'm just so happy, particularly for Emily Seabomb. She got really, obviously, emotional after winning that. And then obviously, the really nice moment too, where Kaylee and Emily both stood on the gold medal position on the Dias and awarded the medals to one another. That was just a really nice touch.
BEN WATERWORTH: I have to say the interview with Emily straight after the race, where she was full on in tears, was just great to see. And yeah, the moment on the Dias, as you said, sort of Kaylee asked Emily to present her with the medal and then got her up there for the National Anthem. And I did like Kaylee McKeon's sister, Taylor, shared on Instagram a photo of Kaylee McKeon. I don't know how old she would have been, but she got a photo taken with Emily Seabomb, like around, I think, the Beijing Olympics, when Emily Seabomb made her debut, like a little girl. I just love to see it, such a nice little photo. So yeah, great result there. And Kylie Moss, sorry, I did watch the replay back, and seriously, Channel 7 have just given up on calling her a correct name. Everything is Kylie Moss. She genuinely looked disappointed. I mean, she led the majority of that race, but from what I'm seeing in the Canadian media, as they do, praise her to Kingdom Come, which as they should, great result for her. I mean, how do you view this curse in the purse, Jarrod? Because I mean, look, again, we have an individual medallist. I get it. It's a good thing. And for Colin, he's taking it. He's very Canadian. But we're Australian. You know, we see gold at the Olympics. Summer, at least. I mean, how do you view this? Is the curse in the purse? Because we've got two silvers out of one of our guests? Or is it not? Or is it just a me thing, as we talked about last night?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I feel like I'm sitting on the fence. I feel like it's not broken, but it's not active anymore. It's just kind of in this in-between phase. I really feel like we do need a gold to just say, it's over, it's done. But I suppose now we can say to athletes, if you come on the show, you may win a medal, just not gold.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, well, that's a good incentive. If I was an athlete on a random podcast, I would probably take that. But maybe again, we should entice them and say that Colin's doing the interview, and then we'll come across and sneak me in there, because again, I just think I'm the problem, because none of the athletes that I've interviewed or been involved in... Because the other one actually that I realised today, I heard them talking during the sailing coverage. And again, we're jumping a little bit ahead of ourselves with this one. But of course, Matt Wern will win a gold medal tomorrow. This was a race that Tom Burton won, of course, in Rio. And we had Tom Burton on the show not long after Rio. Matt Wern knocked Tom Burton out from coming back for back-to-back gold. So therefore, just like Catherine Skinner, Tom Burton did not qualify for these games. So therefore, there's three athletes now that could have come back and defended their gold medals that I was on an interview with and none of them qualified. So shit, this is me, Jarrod.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's not a great track record, is it?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'm just seeing now Brandon Walker's not qualifying for Beijing. I've screwed this up. Also in the pool, Ariane Titmuss got a silver. In the eight hundred, Katie Ledecky. I have to say, the one thing I loved about this was when they, Channel Seven did the interview with Katie and Ariane afterwards. And of course, Channel Seven have just been blowing this up. Like this is like the biggest duel ever. And I love how Ariane Titmuss is just basically like, Yeah, I feel like you guys play this up as something that it's more than it is. It's really nothing. Like we're actually good friends and we just, we respect each other. And like, you can tell that like they literally stand next to each other, kind of just chilling. And yet even the guy behind the pool was like, Oh, I was going to ask you about Paris, but maybe I'll take a step back. I mean, like great for Ariane to get a silver. But at the end of the day, I think Katie Ledecky was always winning this. She's become the first American swimmer to ever win three in a row, I believe. So I mean, this is a great result for her. And as they say, oh, two each for Katie and Ariane. But I don't think Ariane was ever talked up as a possibility of winning this event.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, I feel like that wave kind of grew throughout. Like it was always like, oh, well, this is Ledecky's like pet event. Like she's going to go in the favourite. But then just riding off as Australians are want tending to do, particularly the media, riding off, I suppose, the two wins. They wanted to build this up as Ledecky versus Titmuss 3.0. And even throughout the race, like the whole like, oh, she's within, like if she's within this certain amount of time, she's going to be able to catch her and mow her down. So yeah, just just typical channel 7. I hate to the like immediately after an athlete's won a medal, like we're talking about Paris. Yeah, I can just like just like it's three years away. Great if they'll if they're there. But can we just like how they tried to like lock Jess Fox in or just boxes confirmed for Paris. I'm like, you are the ones who asked her to say something in French in relation to Paris like 2024. She didn't say it herself. She just said what you told her to say. Like she's locked in. She's confirmed. She's going to Paris. She hasn't, but OK.
BEN WATERWORTH: The one question I have to ask about that, though, like it's been a long time since I've done French. I mean, how do we know she didn't say like fuck off Channel 7. I haven't made my mind up about Paris yet. We don't know what she asked or what she said.
JARROD LOOBEEK: So in Paris, I definitely won't be there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. I mean, you know, there's a possibility there that she kind of just blew off all of France. But yeah, I look, I got to say, like we've kind of commented a few times that the area and Titmuss inflation is a bit on the nose, particularly when you do have someone like Kaylee McEwen, who has also won two gold and a bronze area. Titmuss, of course, has won two gold, a silver and a bronze. But then let's talk about Emma McKeon here, because she's part of the four by one medley relay that took a bronze today, an event which is weirdly, fascinatingly entertaining. Shut up, Colin, you're an idiot. This was like such an entertaining race, because it's so all over the shop that you just don't know what is happening till the final 50. Now, I know Channel 7 has now jumped on the bandwagon of, you know, this is, you know, she's equal to record. And admittedly, I'm not trying to say that we've been inflating this whole time. We jumped on the bandwagon a couple of days ago, too. So clearly it was something that was kind of freshly unaware there. But, I mean, it's just all this focus has been on Ariane. I just feel so bad that this is something that kind of is getting overshadowed. Not to take away from Ariane's achievements. I mean, she's won four medals, but so has Emma McKeon. I mean, this is a huge achievement. Nine Olympic medals. She's equal to Liesl Jones and Ian Thorpe's record for most ever medals in Olympic Games by an Australian. She can break this record tomorrow if she medals in the 50m free, an event that she's gone out and set the Olympic record in. So there's a high chance that she could do it. And maybe if they sub her in for the four by 100 medley as well, she could go for 11. I don't know. But I mean, this is a massive achievement. We talked about Penny Alexiak during the week for Canada, but I mean, this is something that we've now, luckily in our lifetime, seen three times in our lifetime, but a great achievement for Emma.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, huge. And something that, yeah, I feel like it's not being talked up enough. I mean, maybe it's because she's current, like maybe in the future, she's recognised as an amazing swimmer. Like it feels like as time goes on, we look back and immortalise people. But yeah, just to be up with like those names with Ian Thorpe and Liesl Jones is just, it's massive.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think they had a comparison graphic up on the Channel 7 Instagram today, and they kind of showed the medals and everything won by each of them. And it's kind of like, I know people often will talk about Ian Thorpe being our greatest Olympian. I guess if you break the tie break, he is, because he's won the most gold between the three. But like, I'm always one of these people that like, yeah, okay, I get it. Gold's weighted a little bit more. You know, that's first. But I mean, if you won nine bronze, and you know, Ian Thorpe's won five gold, three silver, and a bronze. Like, I mean, okay, it doesn't sound unpatible, but you still won nine Olympic medals. That's how they're talking up Katie Ledecky as the greatest swimmer of all time. Now I'm just looking up her stats. She's won nine Olympic medals, six gold, three silver. She's not even the most decorated female swimmer in American history. Alison Smith, 10 medals in total, four gold, three silver, three bronze. She's also at these Olympics, we should mention as well. And of course Natalie Coughlin, I believe that's Coughlin, Coughlin. Between 2004, 2012, 12 medals. Only three of them gold, four silver, five bronze. Obviously they're going, oh, she only won three gold. So that's maybe why they're kind of, you know, looking down on that slightly. But for the comparisons for people at home, McKeon's now won three gold, two silver, four bronze. Thorpe, as I just mentioned, five gold, three silver, one bronze. Lethal Jones, three gold, five silver. She ate silver, I can imagine, and one bronze. I mean, how do you weight it? Like again, I get it. Gold is weighted a little bit more. But at the same time, you're a nine-time Olympic medallist. That sounds pretty bloody good on paper to me.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think so. I think you've just got to look at that. I think like the amount of medals, yeah, gold's going to it. But then I think also just like the events themselves, like where are these medals coming from? Not to the dismissed medals coming from relay, but obviously winning a medal in an individual event kind of weights more. But then I suppose at the same time, it really depends on what your split was in that relay. If you're swimming faster in the relay than you were in your individual event, then basically it's in an individual medal if you're the one who's contributed to getting that for the team.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I mean, I'm just looking here in terms of, if you were to tell me the greatest ever Olympian in terms of medals won without ever winning a gold medal. Now, if you get this Jarrod Lubick, I will personally fly you to the US Open in September. Can you tell me the greatest Olympian to have won 10, they've won 10 medals, four silver and six bronze, never won a gold medal?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No idea.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, again, I would have flown you there. I've never heard of this woman either. Franziska Van Amsmik, a German swimmer between 1992 and 2004. So quite a long career there to win 10 total medals. So again, like if I was to meet her and she was like, I've won 10 Olympic medals. Fuck, wow. And if she said, I didn't win a gold though, I'd be like, you've won 10 Olympic medals. I mean, that's pretty incredible there. So yeah, not to take away from those achievements, but we'll be exciting to see if Emma can do it tomorrow in the 50, of course. But I mean, that medley relay, Colin Hilding, if you're listening to us, you're an idiot, my friend, because this is the, I love how they like mix it up, that you can literally have like certain amount of men, certain amount of women. Like the only thing that's in order is obviously the strokes. But like the way they kind of like that first 100, the backstroke, like the four, you know, it was like Israel and all that sort of stuff, well, like half a lap ahead. And you're thinking, fuck, how are we gonna do this? And then all of a sudden, when you realise that McKeon's racing up, sorry, McKeon is racing up against Caleb Dressel, you're thinking, oh fuck, this is bad. But it all basically came down to the fact that the American girl, I think in the second leg, in the breaststroke, she lost her goggles. So Caleb Dressel could make up the time it was bronze for Australia. But I love it. I love to see how unsure you are of it. It makes it really entertaining.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I don't know what Colin's on about. I don't see anything bad about this. I haven't seen it on the track, but I imagine it's just like, it's exciting. I don't care that it shows like the discrepancy between like the male and female athletes. I think everybody understands that is just like a physiological like, like fact that they're going to swim different times. And I just love the fact that you have no idea who's really ahead. It's almost like, it's not a great comparison, but with the like velodrome cycling, that you don't know who's ahead until you get to the split and you see them on opposite sides of the track. This is like that to like a completely different level because somebody can be half a pull length ahead. And then that team's reeled in, which is just incredible. And the fact too, that you're trying to give somebody a big enough lead knowing that you've got a Caleb Dressel coming after you. Like I love that in like the country, they're like, she'll need at least like a 10 body length lead to maintain this. Granted she didn't have that and she maintained it anyway. So it's just, I think it's so impressive and it's just such an exciting event. And just a really nice way to I think be like super inclusive and put these swimmers in the pool together. And great too for like times and breaking records and stuff because it's pushing everybody to go so hard in this event.
BEN WATERWORTH: Before I go over the medal results and everything else, and we'll go over the Australian and Canadian results, I just want to pause quickly with the final heat of the Men's 100 right now. Johan Blake, I don't know if you quite saw the little entertaining thing he just did there to the camera. That was fun. But Rowan Browning, news.com today used prediction of a chance of Australia's medal in the 100 metres is in this heat. I don't think he's going to make it out of it. I'm just saying this right now. I just don't have this confidence and they're away. I think this mullet that Rowan's got is, actually, he's leading right now. Rowan Browning, he's got to win this heat. He's got to beat him. Holy crap, news.com today, you might have predicted something. Australia won the 100 metres. 10.01 and the mullet's giving him stream on doesn't he look happy? Jarrod Loopy, get on board.
JARROD LOOBEEK: What a run. Wow.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I hope he gets to break the 10 in the semi.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think, Oh, the dirty mullet.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh my gosh.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. I mean, he was holding him back, but the opposite, cause I think didn't Patrick Johnson break? Cause I remember making news in the 2000s, but I think it was wind assisted and it didn't count. Cause there was always this thing that Australia and Australia had never broken the 10 second barrier, but I don't know if that's ever been done since. I mean, I should really do my research I feel for this, but wow, I wish I was listening to Bruce right now. I think Bruce might need a box of tissues here. He's probably blown a load.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Just, yeah, what a run. What an unexpected run.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, never doubtnews.com.au. I mean, here I am bagging them out. And what can I say? You just won a heat of the, I mean, that almost beats Jess Fox's achievements, doesn't it?
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's true, late contender for athlete of the day.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, yeah, I'll tell you what, he could be a nominee after that run.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Just to annoy Colin, will you just pick another Australian?
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, get stuffed, Colin. Australia's in the 100 metres. This is like if Canada won at something, cricket, like if Canada won at a cricket game against Australia, you'd be like, I'd give them athlete of the day. There you go. God, they're gonna be showing this. They're gonna probably be interviewing his mum very shortly. He's dog. Incredible, wow. All right, calm down. It's not even a medal event. But speaking of medal events, so there's a few things that are gonna be going on, and I don't think we're gonna get to them by the end of the day, particularly with the athletics. But let's go through this. Archery, a boil over in the archery. Korea has just wiped the floor with this. Didn't even get a medal. Didn't even get through to the medal rounds today. And on our commentary, which we're gonna play in just a moment, I mentioned that, well, I think of Off Air, I mentioned. I thought I did on the commentary, but it wasn't that our Australian in that one, not the Canadian swimmer that I got confused at the time, Taylor, not Taylor Rock, Taylor Worth, went out to a Turkish archer by the name of Met Gazoz. And Met Gazoz went on to win the gold medal. So I guess if you're gonna lose to anyone, you wanna lose to the eventual gold medallist. And that is Turkey's first ever medal in archery. Silver went to Italy, bronze went to Japan. As I mentioned, athletics, so discus is going on right now. There's an Aussie in that, we'll get to that. The four by four mixed relay, and the women's 100 metres is all on tonight. The men's, I mean, Kiwi now, they've had a good day. We'll mention them in a minute. Men's doubles in badminton is ongoing at the moment. The women's team Sabre is on at the moment as well. The men's trampoline, now I caught the end of this. Ivan Litvinovich of Belarus kept their dominance up in that one. Everybody's favourite name in the Olympics, Dong Dong, won the silver for China. And oh, Brew New Zealand won a medal in gymnastics, Brew. Smitty, Dylan Schmidt took the bronze, which is almost as big as them winning the women's rugby sevens, which they also did today. Great work for New Zealand. I mentioned quickly in the judo, the mixed team is happening as we speak the final. Germany took the bronze. But yeah, women's rugby sevens went to New Zealand, Brew. They avenged not winning gold for five years ago in Rio. They beat the French. And the great news is that Fiji ended up getting the bronze. They beat Britain. It was a heartbreaker that they ended up going down to New Zealand in the semi. But can I just say right now, Jarrod, Fiji are now three time Olympic medallists, all in the one sport, but who cares? They've won two gold and a bronze, whereas a decade ago, they'd never even medaled.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, such a good story. Speaking, I mean, I just bagged people out talking about Paris 2024, but women's rugby sevens team for Fiji gold medal in Paris 2024, I reckon, put a little bit more funding and effort behind that. And I think that'll pay off.
BEN WATERWORTH: Can't imagine what the scene is going to be like in Suva and Nandi when they arrive back at the bloody economy. I still remember all the celebrations when the men's team came back after Rio, they got two to celebrate now. So it'll be amazing to see that. The sailings, our first medal in sailing has been awarded today in the men's RSX and the women's RSX, which I think is just a fancy term for windsurfing, isn't it? This is what I think they awarded today. The Dutch won the gold in the men's with Kieran Badlo, and in the women's, it was China. Junzhu Liu took that one. France got silver in both. China got the bronze in the men's and Britain got the bronze in the women's. In the shooting, the 50 metre rifle, three positions. I much prefer the four, to be honest. China, oh sorry, no, I'm looking at the wrong one. Switzerland, Nina Christian took the gold in that one. In the Olympic record, beat Russia's Yulio Zhukova and Yulio Karamova of Russia got the bronze there. And in the mixed track team, Australia, both our teams were one point away for the bronze medal shootout. Unfortunately, couldn't quite make it. But Jarrod, let's just hold up here. Let's take a step back and get excited because gold went to Spain. Fatima Galvez and Alberto Fernandez. But San Marino got the silver. You talk about Fiji doubling up. Our girl, Alexandra Pirelli and Gian Marco Berti have backed up the bronze the other day. Party time in San Marino. Jarrod, who cares about Eurovision? They found their calling.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, wow. I just, what a country. I just am imagining, like I said the other day, Valentina, she was celebrating that bronze, but now the silver, she's gonna bid, surely, to go back to Eurovision next year. And like I said, when they win, we will definitely see some form of shooting in the half-time entertainment.
BEN WATERWORTH: And if they're not playing her, they're playing that Say Na Na song that actually made it through to the final. I had that stuck in my head the other day when they won the bronze. I'm like, God, I couldn't think of any of her songs. I was just thinking that, say Na Na. Bronze went to the US, and that one who had a very good meet in the trap. Shooting in the swimming outside of Kaylee McKeon's gold and the other Australian medals. Caleb Dressel took the gold, and what a unit he is. I think we were commenting on him just as we were about to go on a world record, too, if you don't mind, in the 100 butterfly. Our happy Hungarian, Christoph Malak took the silver. He was happier winning the silver than he was the gold, and he smiled. And a Swiss bronze. Switzerland had a decent day today, but bronze in swimming? They don't even have swimming pools in Switzerland, Jarrod? Roger Federer provided a few with all his success.
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's just popping up in all these weird events. They did really well in the women's 100 metre sprint as well. I think they got two through to the final. Where does this come from? So clearly the Swiss are just branching out in what sports they're willing to participate in and do good at.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I've got to say, I'm going to quickly look this up to see if Switzerland have ever meddled in swimming before, because I mean, again, I wouldn't ever think swimming is a sport they do. They apparently did. They've won a bronze previously to these Olympics. So they've now won two bronzes in the history of the Olympics. And for athletics, they've never won a gold. They've won six silver, two bronze. Their number one sport, Jarrod, gymnastics. 49 of their medals have come in gymnastics. And of course they're, oh no, actually they've won more summer medals in winter. That's surprising, but they've still won a shit ton in the winter. That's very surprising. I would have assumed Switzerland would have won a lot more when it comes to the winter games. But there you go. A great job for them. I like that. Caterle Deque, as we said, took gold in the 800s. The silver went to Italian Simona Quadrella. I'll get these names right eventually. And the mix four by one that we've already mentioned, the gold went to the Brits, China took the silver, and Australia got the bronze. The women's singles in the tennis is happening right now. Do we have an update on any of that? Nope, the bronze medal match is on right now. I don't know if it's being concluded. I'm hoping that my girl Belinda can break the Ben Waterworth curse and win a gold. You know, oh, actually, no breaking news. Ukraine have won the bronze in the women's singles. Alina Svetlona has beaten Alina Rybanka. One six, seven six, six, four. Did you catch any of it, Jarrod? Are you sort of keeping an eye on the seven plus app at all?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I haven't really been following the tennis today. But yeah, that's a good result, because I feel like Svetlona, I thought she was going to win the whole thing when it was getting down to it, and she was kind of the only seeded player really left. So I'm sure she's happy with the bronze medal.
BEN WATERWORTH: Belinda Bencic and Makita Von Drossova to come in that one very, very shortly. Triathlon, I caught a bit of that this morning. The Brits won the gold, another gold for, actually, no, that's Johnson Brownlee's first because he always got beaten by his brother, didn't he? So good to, I mean, look, I'm usually anti-Team GB, but I'm glad to see him because I know he was always overshadowed by his brother. The US got the silver in that one, and France took the bronze. And for the weight lifting, the men's 81 kilo went to China. Zhu Zhonglu, an Olympic record over the Dominican Republic's Zacharias Bonnette. What a name. If you look that up, I didn't know if Dominican Republic had ever won an Olympic medal before. They've actually won multiple. So there we go, me judging Dominican Republic never have done well at the Olympics. And Antonio Pizzolatta, what an Italian name for Italy, took the bronze. The men's 96 kilos is happening as we speak. I know there's a Canadian in that final. So I can tell you that the Canadian, of course, is Bodie Robert Santavi, and he's currently sitting third last. So not looking like a medal for Canada in that one today. So the medal tally right now as we speak, of course, there's still a few events to come while we're recording. It will probably happen after we have stopped. China on top, 21 gold, 12 silver, 12 bronze, 45 in total. Japan still in second, 17 gold, five silver, eight bronze, 30 in total. USA third, 16 gold, 17 silver, 12 bronze, 45 in total. They're leading the total medal count there, if you go to the Ben Waterworth model. Rock, fourth, 11 gold, 15 silver, 11 bronze, 37 in total. Australia is still sitting in the top five. 10 gold, three silver, 14 bronze, 27 in total. Canada, oh, they're not only dropped down to 12th, they've dropped to 12th, because New Zealand Brew have jumped into the top 10. They are 10th, four gold, three silver, and three bonds. Canada, three gold, four silver, five bronze, 12 in total. I just feel that, I'm not confident of a top five, Jarrod. I'm really not. I feel, I mean, looking at the South Korea, Taekwondo still to come, so there's gonna be a bunch of them. The Brits surely have got a bunch still in the bag. France are generally good. Germany, good. And the track cycling, we know the Netherlands are probably gonna shit all over everyone. So, I mean, top 10, I think, is very much doable, but I doubt top five, right?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I feel like if we want top five, we've got to have a really good meet at the track cycling. And I feel like that's something that really, like the Brits are always up there, as dominating that kind of section, and considering they're already so close to us on the tally, I think that's probably where they'll be able to pull ahead.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, but look, you know, it's still been a good games. And we shouldn't mention, actually, for the swimming, at least, that this is now our most successful, we've overtaken what we had in Sydney, believe it or not, we've now won seven gold, I believe, in the pool, which is equal with Athens, which is our most successful ever Olympics outside of Australia. Melbourne, we won eight gold. So essentially, if we can win one more gold tomorrow, we will equal Melbourne, eight gold, which I kind of felt we won more in Sydney than that, which, I mean, that, can I just point out, that goes to show how well our team did overall in Sydney. We won less than seven gold, we won 15 gold medals. And maybe, I'm guessing off the top of my head, six of those must have been then from swimming. So that's pretty good, Sydney. We spread the love there. Whereas Melbourne, I think we won off the top of my head, was that 14 gold, 13 gold? So the majority of them was in the pool. So, I mean, that's good to see, isn't it?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, well, I'm hoping this will be similar in that we can do great in the pool, but also spread the love elsewhere.
BEN WATERWORTH: Because the Athens, we won 17. That was our most we've ever won. 16 we won in Sydney, sorry. 15 in Melbourne and 17 in Athens, I know this. So 10 gold that we won. But I remember Athens was very good in the track and cycling. I think we won about, Ryan Bailey won a couple, Anna Mears won at least one one. So yeah, different days back in the cycling going on there. Let's go over how other results went for Canada and Australia. Actually, no. Let's go to our commentary, I feel. We forgot about it the other night. We need to get into this because you need to hear us calling, you need Jarrod calling a gold medal. Now, before I cut to this, Jarrod, tell me about your excitement levels of sitting next to us in the commentary box here at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Well, there's nobody else you'd rather co-commentate with. Knowing, I felt a lot of pressure knowing the previous results when it was just yourself and Colin commentating. But I think that I added a lot to this one and may have helped Australia's overall results in the end, I think.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, let's be honest, Colin and I both times had gotten the Off The Podium Quinella. This time around, we got the Off The Podium Trifecta, basically a medal for each of our hosts. So, let's cross now to the Tokyo Aquatic Centre to hear our call of the Women's 200m Backstroke Final. Welcome back to the Tokyo Aquatic Centre for the third race that stops the nation. It is the Women's 200m Backstroke Final. So exciting to be here for our last time at the pool. And for the first time at the pool, he's finally gotten over his fear of chlorine. It is a pleasure to welcome Munich runner-up in that thing he did, Jarrod Lubik. Jarrod, welcome to the Aquatic Centre.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thank you. It's lovely to join for some pool commentary. Fingers crossed that I don't upset the trend of our swimming commentary in the results in this one.
BEN WATERWORTH: I've got to say, joining us in the commentary boxes, the man who's already been referred to as Canada's Silver Specialist, he is of course Colin Hilding. Colin, welcome back, and another pumped up night you are here for this event.
COLIN HILDING: Absolutely, and this isn't the race that stops two nations, the race that stops four nations, because there's only four nations in eight spots. Has that ever happened before, Ben? You're the expert here. Has it happened since Munich, Jarrod? Do you remember this?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think in Munich, it was just the one country.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, Germany only allowed that. I believe it hasn't happened since Antwerp, with everything happening in Antwerp, we know that. But here's the great Canadian hope right now. Kylie Mass takes off the jacket there, gets ready to swim, because you don't want to swim with the jacket on. But yes, four countries in this event. We have China versus USA, versus Canada, versus Australia. Kaylee McKeon, the reigning champion in the 100. Kylie Mass, the reigning silver medallist in the 100. We have Emily Seabombe in lane four, the fastest for Australia. And everybody's favourite food, Phoebe Bacon in lane five for the US. I'm telling you now, if Kaylee, Emily, Kylie, or Taylor can't win, I'm going for the bacon. And also a special shout out in lane three to Ryan Elizabeth White, the very first swimmer from the state of Utah. So there you go, get on the Mormon bandwagon, get on the jazz. But just a bit of pressure here to add that Australia and Canada have never won a gold medal in this event. Australia has only ever won one medal in this event, back in Barcelona. Nicole Stevenson took the bronze, whereas Canada, Donna Gurr, bronze in Munich, Nancy Ganapac, Montreal bronze, and of course, Kaylee's hero, Elaine Tanner, silver in Mexico. She went back to back silver in the 100 and the 200. We're gonna throw to Jarrod in just a second here, but Colin, final thoughts before we hand over the reins here to Jarrod to take us for the first 100.
COLIN HILDING: The only thing I can think of is what is Phoebe's number to Kevin Bacon?
BEN WATERWORTH: We'll have to find out during the race, but they're on the blocks, they're about to jump into the pool. And of course, as we know in backstroke, they're allowed to jump in the pool. This is a bit of an advantage for our backstrokes. And look at the shoulder blades there on Emily Seabomb. I haven't seen shoulder blades like this.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Take an eye out with those.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, very, very significant shoulder blades, but there's the whistle into the pool. Jarrod, I'm gonna hand over to you.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Good pin drop there from Emily Seabomb. That's what you want to see. Okay, they're getting set up on the blocks. Important to get a good start. If you get a slow start, you're pretty much out of it. Although that is the Australian way of racing, to get a slow start and catch up. Here they go, up on the blocks. And they're off. They're under water, doing the kicks. And they've breached the surface, and they're up and stroking. Looks like the American's got a good start. Kaylee's looking great there in lane two. And they're stroking. Kaylee's a bit ahead of the rest of the field. This is good at this point in time. The American's sitting about in second. Canadian in lane one doing great. Kylie Mast looking good, and as they touch the wall, it is Kylie Moss, Kylie Moss in the front. Followed by Kaylee McKeon, and then an American in third. She's up, the stroke rate is good. Australia's sitting in second. She's gonna have to come back here with a fast second 100 if she wants a chance at the medal. Kylie Mast splits in the field at this point in time as we hit the 100 metre mark.
COLIN HILDING: And off the wall, and Kylie Mast or Moss, depending on what kind of pronunciation you have, is still in the lead. And Emily Seabalm or Seabalm is slightly behind. Taylor Ruck is actually somewhere in there as well. She's a little bit distracted and fallen behind as she's currently competing in the archery as well. We'll see if she has better results there. Kylie's still in the lead as we come up to the final 50 metres. Oh, this one's gonna be close. This one's gonna be close. The race is over. The race is over. Something happened. No, no, no, they still go. And Ben, take it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Wow, the last 50. We've got bouncy, less bouncy, and beautiful and smooth. Kylie Moss has the beautiful and smooth. Could this be a famous victory, not only for Canada, but for Off The Podium, but Kaylee's pouncing. Kaylee's getting the arms flowing. She's got the bouncy going. It could be back to back goal for Kaylee. She said, fuck yeah, the other day.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Amazing, I mean, the gold was incredible, but Seabombs, how did she get that bronze? I'm gonna come on all these episodes now. I've like upped the medal tally in these swimming commentary. Sorry America, but go home. No bacon for the Americans today.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, Phoebe did not bring home the bacon, but Colin Hilding, Kylie Mass nearly brought home the bacon. She led 80% of that race.
COLIN HILDING: And you know, this is Kylie versus Kaylee. This is like the battle of the ages. This is Godzilla versus Kong. You know, one will win one time, one will another time. You never really know who the clear cut winner is. This is gonna go on for decades and decades. They will be into their 70s and still racing, just probably not in the Olympics.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now I'm just sending a special note over to our broadcast partners on Channel 7. How about we pump Kaylee's tyres a little bit more? She has won double gold here. Ariane won double gold. I love me, my local Tasmanian, but Kaylee McKeon, take a bow. She's won the double. This has only been done about four times in Olympic history. Australia never won a gold medal in this event. But I gotta say, I appreciate this one a lot more than Ariane's because I'm personally a little bit biased against Kylie Moss just because I wasn't on the episode. So I need to say it that way. But take a look at Emily Seabom here. Between the two Americans, you never wanna be between two Americans unless you pay some good money for it and just gets the touch there. Gold and bronze for Australia. And that is the 10th gold medal for Australia.
COLIN HILDING: They're going in for the kiss. Oh no, they missed.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now, well, that's the only thing they've missed here. And Colin, how's Canada feeling? Because Kylie really probably should have taken that one. She did choke at the end.
COLIN HILDING: She did, she campled it. But you saw right there, her at the American Swimmer just patting her on the back. There, there, there, there. Been there, done that. Fourth place, that's our place. You can take it now, America.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, let's take a look at the final results right now. Confirmation, Kaylee McKeon is a double Olympic champion in both backstroke events. Beats Kylie Moss ahead of Emily Seabomb. It was Ryan Elizabeth White for Utah. Fourth place there. While at the end, it was our bacon-loving friend herself, Phoebe Bacon, taking home fifth place. Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure calling this with you at the pool. Let's cross back to Ben, Colin, and Jarrod, that's his name, are back at the Off The Podium studios. Thank you very much, Ben. That was a good call. And I have to say that obviously I don't listen to myself when I throw back to three of us, when there's only two of us. And sorry for getting your name wrong there, Jarrod. Apparently I just, I don't know who you are anymore.
JARROD LOOBEEK: All good.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it happens. All right, let's go through some results. So we'll go through Canada's first, as we mentioned, Kylie Mass got a silver medal. I should also mention she broke her own national record as well, the Canadian national record, by half a second, if you don't mind. So good job there. Taylor Ruck switched on the archery, as you heard Colin say, and ended up finishing sixth in that final. Brent Hayden is getting a lot of press in Canada. I've seen a lot of him on social media. Had a comeback from swimming. He's returned to the pool. Made the semis of the men's 50-metre freestyle, but did not advance to the final ninth. A tie for ninths overall. So just missed out there. Athletics, as we already mentioned, André de Grasse right now is doing very well in the 100 metres. Sadly, two women in the women's 100 metres, Kamika Bingham and Crystal Emanuel did not make it through to the final. Sage Watson has made it through to the semifinals of the 400 hurdles. Noelle Montcalm did not. And meanwhile, in the men's 800, Marco Arop and Brandon McBride were competing. Arop won his heat through to the semifinals, while McBride did not. In the archery, Chrisman Duenas was out in the quarterfinals. In boxing, Tamara Tabalt unfortunately did not win through. That's sad. I didn't see that result until now. So she unfortunately lost in a bit of a route. Five nothing on points, and will not go through to the middle round. Diving, Jennifer Bell and Pamela Ware in the three metre springboard. Abel made it through to the final in third, while Ware did not make it through, unfortunately. As we mentioned, Bodhi Santavi is in the final right now. The men's 96 kilos is going on right now. Canada in the mixed team triathlon, finished 15th in the golf. Corey Connors and Mackenzie Hughes are both tied for 17th, good for them. Rugby, the women, finished ninth. They beat Kenya in the ninth place playoff, as you would expect. Sailing's happening, and that's about it. So like again, just sailing is just what you think about, and then all of a sudden when you realise, oh we're watching Winning Gold, yay! Literally we've forgotten about 24 hour. They don't show the sailing replay a hundred times during the day, do they?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, all they've replayed is just the comments of, oh he just has to get out there as long as he doesn't get disqualified, it's already in the bag. So I didn't even know what replay we're gonna get of that, if anything.
BEN WATERWORTH: You watch him get disqualified tomorrow. But we should mention, yeah, Matt Wern is in an unassailable lead. He will win the gold, third in a row for Australia in the laser class. So pretty exciting there, but I can see here in the race today, he was eighth. So yeah, cool, but he's won a lot. And our Cypriot friend who was in second has dropped to fourth. It's now gonna be, you look like a bronze to the esteemed sailing nation of Norway. Her man, Tomas Gard, currently sitting in the silver medal position, while Tonsi Stipanovic of Croatia. They're having a good games, Croatia. We really haven't mentioned much of them, have we? But good for them. All right, for the Australians, as I mentioned, Taylor Wirth went out in the quarters of the archery. Now in athletics, God, celebrations, the streets of Australia are going crazy for Rowan Browning's win in the heat. I mean, stop press. This is the number one moment of the games. In all seriousness, it is actually pretty exciting to see an Australian win a hundred metre race at the Olympics. So good for that. In the long jump now, Henry Frayne, last time I checked was in 11th. Now looking like that has he made it through?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I believe he missed out.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'm seeing here. Yeah, it does look like he's missed out. Okay, that's a shame. But they called him the Frayne train. So not quite as good as jumping giants, time to fly that we had in Sydney, but still we'll go with that one. In the men's discus, Matty Denny is currently in fourth in the final. He's thrown a 66.15. So we'll keep an eye out on how that is tracking. Is that correct? Or is that, that's the, no, that's the qualification, isn't it?
JARROD LOOBEEK: 65.94, I think, but yeah, sitting in fourth.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, he's in fourth. Okay, all right. So I was, oh yeah, I've got the right screen up now. So he's in fourth. Sweden, first and third in that, and Austria currently in second position. In the men's pole vault, good news, Curtis Marshall is through to the final. He jumped to 5.75, which of course is qualifying height. So he is through, which is exciting. The women's 100 metres, we should have mentioned yesterday that, yeah, no, we did mention that, didn't we? Nevermind, I don't need to repeat that. I'm doing very well here with going through all of this. Dani Stevens, unfortunately, did not make it through to the discus final. Of course, former world champion in that event, but I believe she's had some pretty significant injuries and sort of has come back through. They were talking about her having a split disc in her back only about a year or two ago. So I've heard even make the Olympics is a great result in itself. As I mentioned in the shooting in the teams trap, both of our teams unfortunately missed out on the medal round by a solitary point. In the other shooting event today, the qualification for the women's 50 metre rifle three position. And we did have an Australian in that one. Katerina Rose Kalpolos, Kalplos, 36. She finished in that one. Trampolining, we had an Aussie make the final, Dominic Clark, who was on a bit of a good run, but he unfortunately stuffed the landing and kind of fell off the mat and he ended up finishing last in that final. But good to see you make the final as well, even though we got beaten by a fucking Kiwi. In the mixed triathlon, ninth for Australia, a bit of a disappointing triathlon event for Australia. We're generally one of the best in the world. What's happened to us in triathlon, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's one of those ones where I always expect us to do well, and it just feels like it, like we did when the event was first kind of introduced through out there, but it just feels like lately it's just, I always get my hopes up. And even after the results of the individual, they kept just talking up the teams event. And I think the female athlete too, she was like, oh, well, I saw that I wasn't going to win this. So I just kind of like phoned in like the run because I knew I had the mixed teams event coming up. So it felt like everything was gearing towards that. And just like I arrived to it late and I just don't even get to see the Aussies because they're not in the leading pack. I'm just like, oh, they're in there somewhere.
BEN WATERWORTH: I set my alarm, I wake up, I turn on the TV, I see Britain winning. I literally fell back asleep. Yeah, I didn't see Aussies either. Can I just point out right now, Channel 7 already on to it, their third replay of Rowan Browning winning his team. Like literally right now I'm staring at Hamish and that's not Tams and Manu, unless Tams and Manu has gotten a lot more attractive over the years, but yeah, wow, good on you, Channel 7. Good news in the cycling BMX, I was loving this. This is what I was expecting skateboard to be. Maybe this is what the second skateboard event will be, but this is literally what I thought skateboarding would be. This BMX freestyle is fun as heck to watch. Logan Martin was the number one seeded runner for tomorrow, but I didn't get the point of today because nobody didn't make the final. Like everyone made the final. Like there's only nine competitors. So what was the point of this, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, this is one to pencil down for the episode where we just talk about certain sports and the way they're set up and run, because this to me is just stupid. It's just determining what order they go in in the final. And like, well, does it really matter like that much? I know there's an advantage seeing who goes ahead of you, but in this, the order was just based on their world ranking. Surely you can just use that for the final or otherwise make this cut half the field out. It was just weird too. I saw the American who just did nothing, but there was no explanation as to why. They're like, oh, something's gone wrong. There's been an issue there. He just didn't do any tricks, basically. I think scored a six and then an extra round, a one. And they just didn't ever find out what the deal was with that. I'm like, okay.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, because isn't it in the winter, the half pipe in the snowboard, I think you only have like six in the final, don't you? So why can't you like cut this nine down to six or something like that? Because you have nine people, you got a one in three chance of already winning a medal. But yeah, Logan market number one. I'm just looking here at our screen right now in the athletics. We've got Matthew Denny. Is this a replay? Because it doesn't look live on my timing screen. I'm guessing that is a replay. 6594 is his best throw, as you mentioned. And that looks like that's just a replay. So I got a bit excited. Of course it's a replay. I'm watching channel seven. But in the women's BMX freestyle, Natalia Dame, is it? Or Deam? She's fifth seeded for that one tomorrow. So I'll be looking forward to those. Diving, we've got a finalist in the women's three metre springboard in Esa Quinn. She came through eighth. Unfortunately, Annabel Smith did not make it. But she's a reserve. I do like how they list here as a reserve. So I'm looking here. Who can get out of this tomorrow? I wanted the Chinese divers. Come on, they win everything. Let's go with Han Wang. Yeah, come on, Han Wang. You're the second qualifier. You can bug her off. And honestly, you know, we need two, because she's second reserve behind a Swede. Oh, the Swede can go as well. Emma Gullstrand. Don't know about Sweden and diving. That's not really the words that I hear in the same sentence. In the Equestrian on day two, with more dressage. How was that, teams? I thought that was yesterday. But anyway, Australia, Andrew Hoy was 13th on Vasily Delassos. So there you go. Pick your game up, Andrew. Shane Rose was 24th, and Kevin McNabb, I expect better from him, 25th. Come on, Kev. That's not up to his writing standards, is it, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, good enough, I think. Are we sitting, I don't know how that works out, that we're sitting in sixth overall in that event with those results.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I don't know either. I think as a New Zealander in fifth, so I'm guessing they're ahead of us. In the golf, it was actually a really good day for Cameron Smith. The mullet must be working for him, because he's currently nine under par, he's five shots off the lead. He's in a tie for eleventh place, but he's coming back. Gee, channel seven love the golf, don't they? Like, I swear every single time I flick over to seven, mate, it's only ever showing bloody golf.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Just getting worse too. Today, the amount of times I switched between channels and it was exactly the same thing. I was like, I don't understand why, like why are we playing the same thing? It's so annoying.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, they're doing that now, and I think like that's kind of out of their control, because we had to think about three AFL games are postponed today due to the lockdown in Queensland. So they don't actually have any AFL coverage to show. So I'm right now flicking between 7-2 and 7-mate, they're showing basketball on the same game on the same channels, which I mean, that would be their excuse, but surely there's somebody there in Mission HQ in Sydney who can just whack on the 7 app, or even they saying, no, the 7 app sucks. This would lag. Like I've got it on my laptop and it keeps fucking lagging. So.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Just put an event on without like commentary. If like that's the case, like does it really matter? Like it's better. People are more likely to watch it than, oh, it's the same thing on both channels.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I completely agree. Mark Leshman is in a tie for 49th. He's even par on that one. Just quick update on the weight lifting. Canada, Bodie Robert is lifting right now. He's just lifted 178, it seems. So he's still in the competition. Other Aussie results today through what I've just mentioned in the basketball. The Boomers got the win 89 to 76, booking their spot in the quarters. It's a bit of an entertaining match. It was close for a while there, but did you catch much of the Boomers today at all, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Sorry, a little bit. It's good to see them through because I was kind of over this story of what's his face being out of the team after slipping in the showers or whatever.
BEN WATERWORTH: Mr. Toronto Raptors, I'm sad about that, but yeah, it's a bit of a-
JARROD LOOBEEK: Which was, yeah, upsetting, but I feel like they just kept talking about it. And it's like, it's not a one person, unlike the women, it seems, it's not a one person team. Like this team can pull the weight between all of them.
BEN WATERWORTH: And can I just say, if it was a one person team, I wouldn't rely on Aaron Baines. I mean, we saw how the Raptors did this year. So I mean, I'm sorry, Aaron Baines, you've had a good career, but you haven't been playing very well. Boxing, I'm pumped. Harry Garcide beat Jonas Jonas. He's through to the quarterfinals. Harry up there with Skye Nicholson, such a nice, nice person. Gold Coast Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and the ballet dancer. Have you seen much of the stories here that he took up ballet to work on his footwork? Tell you what, medal or not, I want to try and get Harry on the show. He was such a nice guy. I'd like to get Jonas Jonas on the show as well. I mean, come on, Namibian boxer called Jonas Jonas. He's up there with Dong Dong, like seriously, one of the greatest names in the Olympics right now. So great to see there. In the football, whoa, breaking news, Jarrod Lubik, fricking, oh no, they lost. Oh, I was reading this the wrong way. I was about to say New Zealand are through to the semi-finals. They're not, they lost to Japan on a penalty shootout. Oh, phew, I'm about to have a heart attack. Japan beat New Zealand 4-2 on a penalty shootout.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, bro, we lost at the soccer.
BEN WATERWORTH: Spain beat Cote d'Ivoire 5-2 after extra time. How do you get five, they score three goals in extra time. Wow, there's a game you need to watch. Brazil have beaten Egypt 1-0, and the other quarter between Korea and Mexico, come on Mexico, that is going on as we speak right now. Seriously read that as fucking New Zealand are through to the, what's going on? The Hokie Roos undefeated again, five in a row I believe now, 2-0 over Argentina. It's a bit of a good result for the Hokie Roos because Argentina are one of the best sides in the world when it comes to hockey. They've got the best player in the world on their side. And I watched a lot of that game and it was very close. Argentina dominated that early, but to come back to nothing Joe, did you catch much of the hockey?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I did. And I feel like more so I suppose our first goal came really off a mistake from the Argentinian player. So I think lucky to kind of get away with that, but the girls are playing really well and the fact that they've gone through the group stage is undefeated has to be a real boost to their confidence moving forward.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'm kind of on your page there where you're saying, I just get so nervous watching the men at the Olympics. I just really get nervous watching the Cucabarras. You can watch them any other time in the world and you know they're gonna be great, but the Olympics, it's just like, oh, I just can't, I can't do this.
JARROD LOOBEEK: They just have a habit too of like, they'll get ahead, but they let goals in like really easy, like all of a sudden, like I've said, they're up like two nil against teams, and then, well, then next thing you know, it's even all the other teams ahead, or as we saw with Spain, like letting a team score in the last two minutes, they're just not great at holding out the leads that they've established early.
BEN WATERWORTH: Another Ben Waterworth curse if they don't, because I've interviewed Eddie Ockendon, I played against the guy, I've got more of a connection to Eddie Ockendon than anyone at these freaking Olympics. So I mean, you know, in the rugby sevens, Australia ended up finishing fifth, we beat Rock 35 to seven, and then in the fifth place playoff, we beat the US 17 to seven there. So I mean, if only we had to beat in the US yesterday, maybe we would have had a chance against Britain. I don't know, I don't know how I feel about that. They went on to lose to both France and Fiji. So maybe I spoke out a term when I said we had the easier game against San Marino, Fiji, so I was looking at a different page. It would have been great to play San Marino in rugby sevens. And as I mentioned, of course, in the tennis bronze in a walkover, and not looking good in the water polo after the girls lost to Spain last night, the boys lost to Spain today, but a bit more of a belting 16 to five. So I think the sharks are in a little bit of trouble progressing there, but I don't think that's entirely unexpected. Usually our women carry the mantle pretty well when it comes to that. Athlete of the day, let's knock this one out of the park. Now, before I get your nominee, Colin has chimed in today. Good to see, he's trying to get one. He's voted for our Silver Medicine, the trampoline, Dong Dong. It was, China has won a medal. So Dong Dong has won a medal in every Olympics since Beijing. Only qualified fifth, a bit of a surprise. And Colin has then gone on to say that he has the best name ever, which I'm telling you now, like, yeah, him and Jonas Jonas, pretty much possibly the best. And plus Dong Dong became a meme after the last Olympics. So that's always a thing. But for you, Jarrod, who are you thinking?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Well, there are two that immediately come to mind, either the San Marinese pair from the shooting, or otherwise, Ron Browning for the 100 metres. But then this one's really tough too, because I want to say as well, Shelley Anne Fraser Price, but obviously she hasn't raced the final as we're speaking. So like tomorrow, I might have to do a Colin and pick somebody from the day before, but I feel like technically that's allowed because it was after we recorded.
BEN WATERWORTH: Now Colin would shoot us if we did that.
JARROD LOOBEEK: But even if I feel like if she wins anything, any colour medal, like it has to be her.
BEN WATERWORTH: But I mean, look, I will say, we're gonna do something a little bit different this year. We usually in Rio and Pyeongchang, we do kind of our wrap up episode with the closing ceremony this time around, because basically you're probably not gonna be able to join us for the closing ceremony recap, because it's gonna be on very, very late and you have a real job, so you'll probably have to go up. We're probably gonna do an actual, just a separate wrap up episode, and I feel we need to do an athlete of the games. So I mean, she could potentially be a nominee or something like that. So I think we need to stick to our rules here, unless you just wanna sit here for the next 50 minutes and wait for it. But yeah, I mean, I don't disagree with you. Like, I mean, even right now, I mean, I watched her semi and she basically walked it. But yeah, look, my nominee was gonna be just, not even the pairing, I was just gonna put up Alessandro Pirelli, just for the fact that San Marino go from not ever having won a medal to having now won two. And Alessandro Pirelli has won 66% of those. And I mean, I don't know anything about Gianmarco Berti, not to take away from him. But I mean, you know, Alessandro Pirelli must be a national icon now in San Marino. So I mean, she was gonna be my nominee, although Ryan Browning was a late, we can't do another Australian, Jarrod. I don't think we can do another Australian, can we?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I'm, no, I'm happy to pick San Marino because I do, like we said the other day, they're an outside shot. Just Fox hadn't won, like they had it in the bag that day. So I think it's kind of, it's fitting, and it's nice that it's come back around, that it's an option to give it to them.
BEN WATERWORTH: And in fairness, Colin, that was Colin's nominee the other day, so technically Colin. But just to clarify, are we just giving it to Alessandro, or are we giving it to both? Yeah, I think that's fair. I think Alessandro should get it. And again, not to take away from you, Jeanne, but let's be honest, Alessandro is carrying your country right now. Like, I mean, I couldn't tell you who the president of San Marino is. Like, the only time I ever knew San Marino was, is that back in the day when there were two Grand Prixs in Italy, they would call one the San Marino Grand Prix. And I always thought it was literally in San Marino. The track's called Imola, but it's not. It's not in San Marino. They just couldn't call two races the Italian Grand Prix. So we'll call that the San Marino Grand Prix. It's like when they had two German Grand Prixs, these called one the Luxembourg Grand Prix, but it wasn't in Luxembourg. Go figure. So, yeah, Alessandro, good job, Alessandro. Well, round of applause. I appreciate that. What did you watch today, Jarrod? I know we've already mentioned a few there, but was there anything else that you watched that you haven't mentioned?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Bits and pieces of everything. Obviously the athletics, the BMX, which I just said was just great. And this is, I think, what everyone was expecting from the skateboarding. I'm glad that it's not, they don't have to follow their runs with a big trick section. I'm glad that we're just letting them do a run and get as many tricks out as possible. Did catch a little bit of the water poi thrashing from Spain, which is a little bit upsetting. A bit of the boomers game, the hockey, which was great. Yeah, that was about it. And a little bit of the ending kind of the mixed triathlon as well, which contrary to Colin's thoughts, I think that that's one of the lesser exciting mixed events because they're just running with the same gender and you don't really see. They should be able to choose what order they go in.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's very true. I like your idea before when you said we should do a sports episode. Possible other mixed gender ones. I caught a bit of the mixed gender judo. Now, they don't like, it's not a man against a woman. It's not just men throwing women around. It was kind of the mixed team. So, you would have two women come out and fight, and you'd have two men come out and fight, and they'd just alternate. And it was kind of, it was very interesting. It was very quick. It was like boom, get out there, fight. And judo is quite a quick sport. We're going to be doing some commentary during the week of judo because it's very entertaining, actually, underrated. It makes me really look forward actually to the karate because this is one of these sports that I think I mentioned that I've never seen professional karate ever. So I did karate, I think, for like six months as a kid, but that was kind of learn how to go, yah, yah, whereas I've never seen it. I've not even seen the karate kid. So like, I don't know anything about it. So I'm actually really looking forward to that. But I enjoy watching the judo. So I watch more handball. The Swedish women were playing, so I had to keep an eye on the Swedish women. They're one of my favourite teams at these Olympics for no other reason than that they're good at handball. Obviously the swimming, obviously athletics, BMX. I saw some of that. Basketball, as I mentioned. Hockey, I saw a bunch of that. And I think that, oh golf, I watched some golf. I just, I'm not ashamed. I watched some golf. It's not hard to do when it's all Channel 7 showing up just to make. Seriously, they love the golf. Like it's always on. I had a friend message me today, since when is golf at the Olympics?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Does Seven have the rights to golf outside the Olympics or something? Is this what they're leading up to? A bid to say that they've shown it so much that...
BEN WATERWORTH: It's just like, I feel, I feel like a hypocrite, because it's such a boring sport to watch, but I'm pro golf at the Olympics. I'm not one of these people who say take it. I think like golf is one of the biggest sports in the world, believe it or not. It really is a massive sport. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but like at the end of the day, to me, it deserves its place at the Olympics. To me, it's gonna be like tennis. It will be like tennis in say, three or four Olympics time. We've sadly in the first two Olympics we've seen, we've had a lot of the pros, the major players, you know, didn't go cause of Zika back in the day. And then now, and it's also the format, cause it's match play format. I know Adam Scott's very against that. So he doesn't agree with it. So that's why you never see Adam Scott at the Olympics. And I know a lot, I think Roy McElroy is at these Olympics, but for the most part, some of the big names like Tiger Woods has never been at the Olympics, you know, but one day I think they will. But I don't know, I'm pro golf, Jarrod. I wish I was a pro golfer, I'll be rich, but I'm pro golf at the Olympics.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think you know my stance is just as many sports as possible, so I'm fine with it there. Maybe it could be shortened a bit.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just have the longest drive.
JARROD LOOBEEK: One round, yes.
BEN WATERWORTH: Get the kids involved. Seriously, longest drive would be entertaining. Happy Gilmore it up, right?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, trick shot round, to get points from the judges. That's where it's at. But that's what, like, you just need to see, if like golf comes down to like, it's probably not called a putt off, but whatever, like a, whatever you, I don't know, whatever the type is in golf, I know you just play out like another round or whatever. But like, that's interesting. But it's just the fact that like, it's over like so many days, and it's just like repeat, repeat, repeat, that I think makes it lag and is a little bit boring. But as soon as it gets close and you can focus on it and knowing that there's going to be a medal result, then I think it'll be interesting.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's, yeah, I know they have an extra hole, because I know Greg Norman famously would always lose in extra holes basically whenever he made a final. So, yeah, but yeah. Hashtag keep golf at the Olympics, everyone. And also bring back softball and baseball. Can I say I didn't actually see much of the baseball yet. I know there's been some baseball going on right now, but I saw Japan beat Mexico 7-4 today, and Korea are playing the US as we speak right now. So there you go. Now Colin didn't send me through any CBC fails today, which I was a little bit sad about, but Jarrod, did you have any Channel 7 goodies for the day?
JARROD LOOBEEK: The only thing I had was just Bruce reacting to that American sprinter doing terribly, and him just saying, I think Tamsin was like making up stuff and trying to like say, oh, he kind of looked like this or that. And then Bruce just turns in with, you know what he looked? Slow. Which is just such a great moment. And it was just true. It's just blunt and to the point. There was this guy who they hyped up to win the whole thing and then doesn't even qualify. Just such a good Bruce moment.
BEN WATERWORTH: I appreciated the fact that every time he would say to him, oh, that bloke, bloke, bloke. And like Bruce isn't exactly your most manliest of men, but he's just bloke. I think I've ever heard Bruce call Bruce. I did like Tamsin on her social media today. Shared some pictures of her and Bruce in the, I don't want to even call it a commentary box. It's a lunch room at the Channel 7 studios. Have you seen some of the images that like Thorpey and that were doing there? It's just like a trestle table with a couple of monitors on it. But Bruce pulling the fashion. He's got the hooded denim jacket. Didn't know Bruce could pull it off, but good on him. Just a bit of breaking news here. I can see in the weight lifting going on, Brody Robert Santavi is leading the men's 96 kilograms right now. He's got a 378, halfway through the clean and jerk. He lifted 200. Number one ranked lifter is about to go for 207 in Georgian Anton Plesnoy. Yep, that guy. So, but right now, Canada on the cusp possibly of another gold and another gold in weight lifting. So that would be pretty exciting. I have a few. One I think I mentioned to you two off air during our swimming commentary was Basil, talking up Caleb Dressel. Mark Spitz has won seven gold in an Olympics. Michael Phelps has won eight gold in one Olympics. Caleb Dressel going for six. I mean, sure.
JARROD LOOBEEK: And you'd be able to leave one less and talk it up. Not be able to leave one more.
BEN WATERWORTH: I really don't understand the commentators, these Olympics of not understanding like that. I did love Basil as well. 1,500 and 800 for Kaylee, 400 and 200 for Ani. Let's call it a draw. Sure. Again, they didn't even care. Like neither of them cared about this sort of stuff. I also appreciated, I think it was to Emily Seabom that they, oh no, it was to Ariane, the poolside guy who's generally pretty good. He comes across her, you're used to winning gold. This must feel pretty good. Like she won a silver, but like I don't understand the, you know, you must feel good with this. But like Ariane was actually quite good because I think she was like, oh, I beat my personal best by like two seconds or something like that. So again, like I think even some of these swimmers are kind of just getting over the channel seven hype and everything along those lines. Oh, Matthew Denny's just thrown off. 6594 is up to fourth right now in the discus. So there you go, some news there. What else do I have here? Oh, I like Liesl Jones talking about the Nine Medal Club. To which she goes, it's a rich club, not financially, but still rich. She's wanting some money, basically. One thing I will appreciate though with Basil is that I like it when Liesl and Thorpe get into a bit of a conversation, like an analysis of swimming and kind of that. Basil just lets them talk. Like it's really, really good. And like, cause I have to say, Thorpe, the more these games, he sounded so bored at the beginning, but some of the insight he gives, like he was giving insight into the butterfly today, and he's literally going like, I'm not a butterfly swimmer. So like, I'm only just saying this because of this, but this is what I would suggest. I'm like, I was like enthralled. Like I love it when you got really good expectations, cause you can get these former champions and think they're going to be great, but sometimes they're just, they're not that good. You think they would be better, but Thorpe is really bloody good. So yeah, I really, really appreciated that. I had a bit of a weird commentary moment over on the trampoline. These were not channel seven commenters. I think we just got the IOC feed. So I don't know who this was. The exact quote was, their family are deeply embedded in trampoline. No pun intended. Now where's the pun in embedded in trampoline? Is this like an in-joke that trampolinas get?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Is that what the like man of the tramp is called, the bed?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I don't know. Like this is one of those moments where I'm like, what pun?
JARROD LOOBEEK: All the trampolinas loved it. They're all having a laugh, but the general public didn't say what.
BEN WATERWORTH: There was one I forgot to mention the other night. I think I caught some Tae Kwon Do. It was on about one in the morning. And obviously got again, it must have been the IOC feed or the BBC feed. He had a British commentator. And God, I wish I had wrote down some of what he said because he just had like, he had puns for everything. It was like, she's kicked her firm in the chest there, and she's about to kick herself into the gold medal. Like, it's like he had them all written down, but they were seamless. Like it just, it was perfect. And I, oh, I really wish I could track that down because it was so good. Maybe I'll check to see if there's a replay on the seven app and they might still have that person's commentary. I did appreciate Tamsin Manu at one point there. Instead of saying fabulous contest, she said fabulous cunt test, which was always good. And also a special note out, the guy who does the field commentary on channel seven, he's really good. Do you remember his name?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No.
BEN WATERWORTH: That but like kind of, as you said before, like it's a seamless transition, like between him, Bruce and Tamsin, really, really good. But he was talking about the long jump. And I really wish that we had Colin here to kind of listen to this as well. But he was talking about, he's worried about the quality of the sand. He was like, oh, this looks like it's flat off Mount Fuji, like when it last erupted 50 years ago. And then he literally had to like, oh, sand, it gets everywhere. Just like, it's coarse and irritating, and it's rough and it gets everywhere. But the one little thing, this wasn't a Channel 7 thing, but Tasmanian journalist here for Southern Cross tweeted out a photo today as a bit of a teaser. And I'm gonna try and remember on Monday night to watch our news down here, Channel 7, Southern Cross, whatever you wanna call it. It was a photo of Jess Fox's parents as competitors at a Canoe Slalom event in 1992 in Tasmania before they had met and conceived Jess being interviewed by Steve Titmuss. So the father of Ariane Titmuss was interviewing the parents of Jess Fox. Now, this is a local journal here in Tasmania, tagged Jess and tagged Steve Titmuss. As I've said, Steve Titmuss used to be our number one news reader in this state. Jess Fox replied and was like, holy crap, no way. So I need to see if this will be, if I miss it on Monday night, perhaps he'll tweet it out. But how's that for six degrees of separation and Kevin Bacon, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Small, it's a small world.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm actually really concerned now that somebody's gonna get all these clips of me interviewing all these athletes together and go, this guy has interviewed the following athletes and none of them, since being interviewed, have won a gold medal. So, there's a bit of a trend. Remember when I interviewed Mark Webber the year after he nearly won the F1 World Championship, but he choked. I'm trying to think if there's been anyone I've interviewed who has actually gone on to do something good. I'm really struggling. Sam Stozer, she won the Grand Slam before. Well, Ash Barty won Wimbledon, two Grand Slams after I interviewed her. You know, not the Olympics, but can we take that?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think so.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, we'll take that. Thank you. We'll go for that. All right. Well, I should really go over some other things here and we can look ahead to the day tomorrow because we're at the halfway point, Jarrod. I'm a bit sad. I'm always a bit sad on like the first or the second Saturday because you kind of like, that first Saturday is always exciting. It's the morning after the opening ceremony. You're pumped. The Olympics are here. The second one's always got that bittersweet feeling because you're kind of like, oh man. Like as much as we kind of are a bit like cool, get the swimming done with, when the swimming over, you're like, oh. Like from this point on, it's getting close to the end. I mean, I feel the summer's always different to the winter because the winter, like it all just gels into one. Whereas as soon as the swimming's over, you're kind of like, oh, like how are you feeling right now halfway through?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it's just, it feels like it's gone so fast. And like you say, there's that clear delineation between the swimming ending and that first week ending and the fact that now you're like, oh, like we're at like the halfway point pretty much, like, I think especially this one that's had so much build up and the fact that it's got delayed and now it's here, but now it's halfway through and it's nearly over. It's like, oh, like then like what next? Like I suppose at least like the next lot are like so much closer, like Beijing's right around the corner, but still it's just, I suppose it's just enjoying this last week while it lasts. And I'm looking forward to suppose more good results.
BEN WATERWORTH: Let's say this right now. I'm looking in a little whiteboard in front of me is 188 days to Beijing. So that doesn't sound too bad. So that'll be what? Like at about the 180 mark when we come to the closing ceremony. So that will be pretty good. Just one thing I show a little housekeeping thing I should have mentioned too. We teased yesterday that Aaron Bradham, Brendan Rodney would be in the 100 metres. We actually got that wrong. They're only running in the 200. We didn't realise at a time. So they're not running today, but they might be in the relays. We're hoping they'll be in the relays. So we'll see how that plays out. And obviously Charlotte Caslick also competed today. So again, the curse, purse, whatever. Speaking of curse and the purse and everything along those lines, feedthedream.ca, I feel like we can only send one message today. And that has to be to Kylie Moss, doesn't it?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, surely.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. All right. So what do we say here? Silver lining, silver lining, plaid book, Kylie Moss, you shine so silver backwards. Love OTPXXOO. Sorry. No, for the curse. No, we won't add that. Ah, all right. Oh, input your name. Shit. Who shall we go with today? Dong Jonas. That works for me. Email Colin. I'm not even gonna hide it today. gmail.com. Everyone email him. He'll accept you. He doesn't have many friends. All right, let's view some of these. I'll hate to submit it before you can view the images. How about we just scroll down a few here? I've only made it to like page three of 66. So let's try and make it at least a page. Socks of Soxie Sox, the New Zealand page. Carlotta, push yourself to greatness. Good one there. Let's see here. Josh Farley, all of the hard work, discipline, focus and drive is amazing. Setbacks are met for comebacks. And after a wild year, go Team Canada, make us proud. Yeah, I still haven't seen one of ours yet. Eric, continue to shine and rise above the rest. Sean, okay. Love from Vancouver. Yeah, Sean, do it. They're so nice. Like Canada's just so nice. AJ, I am AJ, nine years old, and I am charring for Team Canada. Well, better turn the barbecue down there. Andre, Lynn and Famille, we are so proud of you. You are a great pride for Team Canada. Keep up the good work. You are all amazing athletes. And Annette McKinnon, clearly here for Penny Alexia. Go Penny! From East York, good wishes to all Canadian athletes. Just want to point out ahead of tomorrow, and we'll look ahead to the day tomorrow, that could be a record breaking day for both Australia and Canada, because Penny has got her last chance if she does swim the four by 100 medley. And of course, we know that Emma McKeen's got the chance. So it could be tomorrow. We could have the two greatest, for their respective countries, for Canada and Australia, and Penny Alexiak and Emma McKeon. So we're keeping a very close eye on that. We have 25 medals being awarded tomorrow. 25 medal events, I should say, which I believe is the fourth most of the games. It is third most of the games. So a very busy day happening tomorrow. We have our last day of swimming, which is either a good or a bad thing, but our first day of wrestling tomorrow, Jarrod. The wrestlers are out there going on. I will mention, though, in the swimming, keep an eye out for Australia in the four by 100 metre medley for men. We are in lane seven in that event after being the third slowest timed in that one. Canada are in lane eight. They were the slowest in that one. In the women's 50, as I think we mentioned before, Emma McKeon set an Olympic record in the semi. She will go through as fast as Kate Campbell did make it as well. So chance there for Kate to get that. Sarah Sostrom got it there. And actually one of my favourite names of the Olympics outside of Dong Dong and Jonas Jonas is Ranomi Kromawojojo from the Netherlands. I mean, there's a commentator's name if you've ever had one. And I think I got that correct as well. Kromawojojo. Can we make her athlete of the day tomorrow just because she's got a great name?
JARROD LOOBEEK: It's got such a good ring to it. It reminds me of from Rio, the Della Vadova, Go Q in the basketball. But yeah, Kromawojojo is just such an amazing surname and just the commentator's dream.
BEN WATERWORTH: I haven't seen much of Della Vadova these Olympics. I noticed that he signed for Melbourne United unless he gets signed up for an NBA team. I love that little asterisk. Like, yeah, I'm gonna come back and play for Australia, but if I get signed up for an NBA team, piss off. Sad that the Tassie Jackjumpers, that was our number one hopeful that we were gonna get. That was our coach came out straight away. I was like, we're gonna get Della Vadova. Clearly you've failed on that one. In the men's high jump tomorrow, we've got Brandon Stark, of course. The Yo Pro Mojo, what are you thinking, unless Kyle's back tomorrow in the four by one, but last chance, Brandon.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it feels like, well, like Barty got a medal, so maybe the Yo Pro's a good thing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, maybe it is, cause two for two. They've both got medals, so, you know, maybe it's just like, again, we need to be not, so maybe we're being too Australia here by claiming to break the curse, you gotta win a gold. So I don't know. And the one actually that I'm interested tomorrow in not an Australian, not a Canadian, but in the women's shot put, Valerie Adams, Dame Valerie Adams. Sorry, she's a New Zealand icon. She won gold in Beijing in the women's shot put, gold in London in the women's shot put, silver in Rio, a four time world champion, a four time world indoor champion, a three time Commonwealth Games gold medallist. This woman is seriously a national icon in New Zealand. She is one of these athletes that everyone in the country knows. So she's in the final again tomorrow. She's at the ripe old age of 36, and apparently she's got about 20 brothers and sisters. So I'm sure they're all going to be cheering on from home. I wonder how that works over there on Sky NZ when they're doing the coverage. I need to ask Nick a little bit more on how that's going, but I'm going to keep an eye on Valerie. I've got a bit of a soft spot for Valerie in that event. Now, just quick update on the weightlifting. Canada is in second place. They've been overtaken by a Venezuelan weightlifter. Now, try and get this name out, Ben. Kaydoma Giovane Valenilas Sanchez is that one there. And in the shot put, it is either the discus, it is over. Matthew Denny has finished fourth, a 6702, but a personal best there for Matthew. Five centimetres or five millimeters is that actually, off of a bronze medal. Gold went to Sweden's Daniel Stahl, Silver to Simon Peterson, and bronze to Lukas Weishandlinger of Sweden. Do you think I got that one correct? Yeah. So tomorrow, I guess, what are you looking forward to, Jarrod? We're gonna have, as I said, 25 medals being decided, including the BMX Freestyles. We've got the golf and the men's, got some men's and women's gymnastics happening tomorrow. We'll get our gold in the men's laser and sailing, so we'll have at least one guaranteed gold. Obviously, the big, big one tomorrow is the men's 100 metres, which we will be commentating on tomorrow night's episode. I mean, a big day tomorrow happening with the Olympics.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, really looking forward to the BMX. That was so much fun to watch today, and it feels like we're a genuine medal chance in that, which is probably jinx it. But then also, like you say, the men's 100 metre sprint, they've hyped it up so much, and I don't know if you saw the promo where they were showing Bolt winning in Beijing and then in London, then Rio, and then they flashed to Tokyo and put a question mark next to it. So it is really the story of the moment and the fact that Australia has a runner in the semifinals is just amazing and makes it even more fun to look forward to.
BEN WATERWORTH: And speaking of it, let's cross live now to news.com.au, because why wouldn't we? The esteemed website that predicted he would win a medal, their number one story right now. We have a sprinter, Browning Brakes Aussie record in Scorching Start. Australia is lucky to even get a man to qualify for the 100-metre sprint at the Olympics, let alone dominate an opening heat in a record time like Ryan Browning did. Good job. Their second headline, Djokovic Gifts Bati An Olympic Medal. Oh my God, news.com.au, seriously, never, never change. Yeah, I'm looking forward to the 100-metre. It's gonna be very, very interesting. Yeah, and the same boltless 100-metre is a weird thing to think about. Because I mean, he did run in Athens. He obviously just didn't make the final, but you gotta go back to Sydney. Maurice Greene winning the 100, and all the hype around Marion Jones. Remember her, the pre-drugs? Couldn't she win the five gold? And she what, won three and had them all stripped off her? I did like the Olympics official social media today, shared the here are your last 10 women's 100-metre champions. So you're scrolling through, gets to Athens, skips, go straight to Atlanta. So they didn't even put the silver medallist from Sydney as the winner, because what, they didn't have a photo of her celebrating? Like, come on, I'd be duped if I was the silver medallist from Sydney who got the gold. So yeah, bring that on. In terms of Off The Podium guests, big day tomorrow. Well, actually we should have had four, but of course, Aaron and Brendan aren't competing. But Kylie, should she be in the four by one mixed? She, I'm not sure if she's been named yet to be in the final there for Canada, but she's in with a shot there. But last chance for our fencing friend, Mr. Max von Haasstar, the team's foil tomorrow. Canada are out there. Now, I'm assuming that they will have to show this on the app because I don't think it's a matter of they have all at once. And I can see here now that Canada and Germany have to battle it off to make the quarter. So everyone is automatically into the quarters, except obviously for the two lowest ranked teams, which are Canada and Germany. So it's a play in. Canada plays Germany in the round of 16. Should Canada win that one, they then go on to play the US in the quarterfinals, which are like you talk about rivalries. I mean, Canada and USA in fencing, Jarrod. What can we say? I mean, that goes back to the days of pirate ships and just everything along those lines. I mean, that in itself is selling itself. Bugger Ariane and bugger Kaylee, this is where it's at, right?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, that'll be a swashbuckling masterpiece. I do hope they put on some Pirates of the Caribbean in the background for that one.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm telling you now, I'm gonna hit record on that. We're gonna commentate that one. And I wanna see the rematch between Max and Garrick. I want this beer sorted out once and for all. So Max, if you happen to listen to this before you compete tomorrow, I know you've commented on a few of our things, had a bit of a chat with you this week. Best of luck for tomorrow. We really hope you make it into the quarters just so you can go up against Garrick and get that beer back and then make a semis for Canada. Never won a medal in Olympic fencing as Canada. So there's a good run there, hopefully. But again, you know I interviewed him, so they'll probably lose to Germany in that round. Yes, anyway, Jarrod, I wanna end this now, but unless you wanna wait 12 minutes to watch the Women's 100, it's entirely up to you. I'm gonna leave it open to you. If you wanna talk for 12 more minutes, we can wait for the 100 for the women, so we can talk about it. Or what are you feeling?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think we leave it, and then we can talk about the men's and the women's tomorrow.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, look at you, ever the diplomat. I like it, exactly. Thank you, Jarrod, though, for joining us, and it was a pleasure having you in the commentary box today. Thank you for joining us today.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thank you, it was fun.
BEN WATERWORTH: And to Colin, you lazy bastard, I don't know what to say. You're sad, because Kylie didn't win the gold. The curse is not in the purse. It's still out of the purse. Gotta put it back in the purse and see how that goes. Remember to like us on Facebook, subscribe to all of our relevant channels, and follow us on the social media. Actually, right now, this is this mixed four by four hundred relay going on right now, which is, again, Colin's least favourite event. But maybe we'll talk a little bit of that tomorrow. Thanks for listening to Off The Podium. We'll speak to you tomorrow. Good night.
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