2024 Paris Olympic Games day 4: Five things you missed while you were sleeping

Despite winning a late gold, it has been a largely disastrous day for Australia with plenty of action across day four of competition not going to plan. Here are five things you missed while you were sleeping.

It has been a largely disastrous day for Australia with plenty of action across day four of competition not going to plan.

Canada proved our worst enemy, knocking over team after team after team of Aussies across different events.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. Many of our competitiors delivered the goods.

Here are five things you missed while you were sleeping.

CANADA BREAK AUSTRALIAN HEARTS ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES

Woe Canada! The country of the maple leaf has had a day out in paris and all of it at Australia’s expense. The Boomers went down to Canada first. The our 3x3 basketball women fell to the Canadians as well. The trifecta of misery was capped off with Canada vs Australia in the Rugby Sevens semis but more on that below.

Australia's Maddison Levi and Isabella Nasser were devastated after the women's semi-final rugby sevens match between Canada and Australia. Picture: Carl De Souza/AFP

WOMEN’S RUGBY SEVENS GOLD MEDAL DREAM ENDS IN TEARS

The gold medal dream of the Australian women’s sevens team ended in tears after they were beaten in their semifinal at Stade de France by giant killers Canada. A day after ending France’s hopes of a podium finish, the Canadians claimed the scalp of Australia as they set up a gold medal match against New Zealand. The bronze medal also slipped through our fingers just hours later when the US scored a last-second try to deny Australia a podium finish.

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CHINESE SWIMMERS SECRETLY BANNED BY WADA

It has been revealed two Chinese swimmers were secretly given a provisional ban of 12 months after failing doping tests in 2022, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has confirmed. One of the swimmers is competing at the Paris Olympics and was part of the Chinese relay that upset Australia to win gold at the last Olympics in Tokyo. WADA said the two swimmers tested positive for the banned steroid metandienone before they were later found not guilty of doping, with Chinese regulators CHINADA ruling they had been contaminated by eating tainted meat from burgers. The bombshell announcement comes three months after we broke the news that 23 Chinese swimmers were secretly exonerated after testing positive to a banned heart drug in 2021.WADA has been criticised for not appealing the findings but maintains it was not being lenient on the Chinese.

AUSTRALIA VS AUSTRALIA IN TAHITI FOR CHANCE AT SURFING MEDAL

Australia is guaranteed to surf for an Olympic medal but it will come at the expense of another of the nation’s stars. Jack Robinson and Ethan Ewing are set for an All-Australian quarter-final when the surfing resumes at Tahiti’s famous Teahupo’o break. The winner will progress to the semi-finals where another win will put the athlete into a gold medal final while a loss will result in a chance to surf for bronze and mirror what Aussie Owen Wright did at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

AUSSIE SHARKS BEAT OLYMPIC CHAMPS IN UPSET OF THE GAMES

A rare moment of brilliance for Team Australia today came when the Sharks pulled off the upset of the Games so far with a rousing 8-3 win over reigning Olympic champions Serbia. For water polo, this is the equivalent of the Boomers defeating the Dream Team. The perfect showcase of David taking it up to Goliath and walking away victorious. The Sharks had never beaten Serbia in 17 attempts. Magic.