The Matildas have kicked off their Olympic campaign with a grandstand finish as Sam Kerr reminded us all of how good she is.
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It may have taken 20 minutes but the Matildas have scored first agianst New Zealand.
Tameka Yallop put it in the back of the net after a mountain of territory and possession from Australia.
A missed opportunity handed Australia its golden chance as they put Yallop into the box unmarked.
She slotted the goal to make it 1-0 for the Matildas and start the campaign in perfect fashion.
The US women's football team has conquered everything in the football world over the years but have been shocked in the opening game of the Olympics.
The World No. 1 side and four-time Olympic gold medalists at the 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics – women's football has only been in the Games since 1996 – were left shocked with a 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Sweden in the Group G opener.
Sweden are no slouches at the sport and are ranked 5th in the world.
They also knocked the US out of the Rio Olympics in the quarterfinals before going on to a silver medal.
While it was not unfathomable that Sweden should be the US team, it was that they should beat the US so easily, with social media erupting over the thrashing.
It was incredible as it was the first time in 44 games over two years that the Americans had been defeated.
GOAL! Hurtig heads home. Sweden lead #USWNT 3-0. This is a shocking result for Team USA in their #Tokyo2020 Olympics opener.
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) July 21, 2021
#USWNT getting thoroughly outplayed and outcoached. #Olympics
— Michael Miller (@MikeMillerDC) July 21, 2021
You’d have to think the Matildas — and the Football Ferns — are watching this discombobulated #USWNT performance and thinking they have a fighting chance at advancing #Olympics
— Michael Miller (@MikeMillerDC) July 21, 2021
This is terrible.#USWNT 💩ing the bed in the #Olympics
— Brian Holland (@BHollandSports) July 21, 2021
#USWNT’s #Olympic nightmare continues? #Tokyo2020
— Sudatta (@iSudatta) July 21, 2021
Yummy, yummy, US women's football meltdown in my tummy
— Flo Lloyd-Hughes (@FloydTweet) July 21, 2021
While the US have come back from a first game loss in the past, Australia and New Zealand have a chance of knocking the US out of the Olympics with wins.
The top two teams in each group go through to the finals, while the highest two third ranked teams in groups E, F and G can sneak into the knockout stage
New Zealand face the US on Saturday, while Australia get a shot next Tuesday.
Australia will host the 2032 Olympic Games with Brisbane winning the hosting rights to the global event.
Brisbane will join Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000 as Australian host cities with the successful bid.
While Brisbane was essentially the only contender still left in the hunt, after seeing off the lines of India’s Ahmedabad, Jakarta in Indonesia, Doha in Qatar, Rhine-Ruhr in Germany and Madrid in Spain, the Aussie city has long been the front runner.
It was pushed by the IOC’s Future Host Commission and was the only city to take place in targeted dialogue with the IOC.
The 87 members of the IOC voting committee put their votes forward, with Brisbane needing 44 votes to win the bid.
And then IOC president Thomas Bach said the magic words: “The Games of the XXXVth Olympiad are awarded to Brisbane, Australia."
The Australian Olympic team has been rocked by a star's provisional suspension after returning a positive result for cocaine in his system.
It emerged on Wednesday morning, equestrian debutant Jamie Kermond had returned a positive A-sample for a metabolite of cocaine, according to Sports Integrity Australia.
According to reports, he did not travel with the rest of the team when they flew to Tokyo on Tuesday night.
His horse "Napa" has already landed on the ground in Tokyo.
The test was conducted in late June, but reports claim he was only informed of his failed test this week.
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said in a statement it would address the matter "later today".
Equestrian Australia released a statement confirming the news.
“Equestrian Australia has provisionally suspended Jumping athlete Jamie Kermond under the Australian National Anti-Doping Policy 2021,” the governing body claimed.
“The mandatory Provisional Suspension Notice asserts Mr Kermond returned a positive A-sample for a metabolite of cocaine following a test conducted by Sport Integrity Australia on June 26, 2021.
“Cocaine is prohibited In-Competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Australian National Anti-Doping Policy 2021.
"Mr Kermond is prohibited from participating in any WADA compliant event, including the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, while the provisional suspension is in place.”
A Ugandan athlete who disappeared in Japan last week has been found by police.
The weightlifter was the first athlete to test positive after arriving in Japan.
After travelling to Osaka, where the Ugandan team was finishing its pre-Olympics training camp, the athlete, now identified as 20-year-old Julius Ssekitoleko, went missing after failing to make the team's final Olympics squad.
He was due to fly home on Tuesday but he went missing after failing to show up for a scheduled Covid-19 test.
According to The New York Times, he left a note saying he wished to work in Japan.
Police eventually tracked him down 160km away from Osaka in Yokkaichi.
Plans to send him home have not been finalised.
Australia's softball team has featured in the first official event of the Tokyo Olympics in a deflating scene.The Aussie team is taking on host nation Japan in an event that was designed to charge local Olympic spirit just days before Friday's Opening Ceremony.
However, the eerie scenes of an empty stadium and fake crowd noise featuring on Channel 7's broadcast got the world's biggest athletic event off to a less than impressive start.
The AP news agency reported there were just 50 people watching at the back of the grandstand – members of the teams' staff and media representatives.
The softball stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
The stringent coronavirus measures that will surround the Olympics will also result in the 68,000-seat Tokyo Olympic Stadium being deserted during Friday's opening ceremony.Some commentators labelled the scenes "sad".
Pretty sad to see this softball game in front of no fans. But it's on television in the US so it's a win for all concerned.
— Bob Williams (@WilliamsBob75) July 21, 2021
everything about an olympics during a global pandemic — virus-stricken athletes; empty stadiums, softball in fukushima (the site of a nuclear disaster) — is too dystopian to be believed https://t.co/VOQyprEyzS
— Jennifer Hsu (@jennhsu) July 21, 2021
Paralympian Becca Meyers has been forced to withdraw from America's team as a result of her mum – also her personal carer – being denied entry for the Tokyo Games.
The swimmer is deaf and blind.
The three-time gold medallist posted on Friday morning she was heartbroken to have to make the decision to withdraw as a form of protest against the treatment of Paralympic athletes.
Meyers said the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee denied her request and claims the American Paralympic swimming team will have just one designated carer to look after the entire 34-person squad – including nine swimmers that are blind.
Heartbroken to share that I’m withdrawing from the Tokyo Paralympic Games. The USOPC has repeatedly denied my reasonable and essential accommodation because of my disability, leaving me no choice. Full statement below: pic.twitter.com/p9tKsbPip2
— Becca Meyers (@becca_meyers) July 20, 2021
There are predictions we could see the hottest Olympics ever after temperatures soared to 34C on Tuesday.
The sand was so hot at the beach volleyball stadium that athletes were unable to train without getting their feet burned.
Staff at the arena at Shiokaze Park in Tokyo, close to the famous Rainbow Bridge, had to hose down the sand.
Fears over the weather, which is also expected to see humidity sit at around 70 per cent, has already seen organisers move the marathon and race walking 800km north of Tokyo to the much-cooler Sapporo.
When Tokyo last held the Olympics in 1964, the Games were held in October to avoid the summer heat.
South Africa’s Olympic football coach fears his players’ health could be at risk after being forced to isolate at the Tokyo Games, citing Christian Eriksen’s traumatic ordeal at Euro 2020.
The team head into their opening game against Japan on Thursday in disarray after two players and a video analyst tested positive for coronavirus following their arrival at the Olympic Village.
Twenty-one members of the team contingent were named as close contacts on Monday, forcing them to miss two training sessions as they isolated in their rooms.
Coach David Notoane fears the lack of time to acclimatise in hot and steamy Tokyo could put his players at risk.
He pointed to the example of Denmark midfielder Eriksen, who collapsed at the European Championship last month after suffering a cardiac arrest before being resuscitated.
“You saw what happened in Euro 2020 when Denmark played,” Notoane said on Tuesday.
“One can only hope and pray that with the players having been out of activity for a long time since we arrived here, we don’t experience something like that.”
“Maybe we haven’t acclimatised enough to these conditions as we would have liked to,” he added.
– AFP
The number of positive Covid cases among those accredited for the Tokyo Olympics has risen to 67, prompting a warning from officials the Games are far from certain of going ahead.
Toshiro Muto, the chief of the organising committee, did not rule out cancelling the event if cases spike despite the opening ceremony being scheduled to begin on Friday night.
Asked at a news conference if he could still pull the pin on the global sporting showpiece, Toshiro Muto said he would keep an eye on infection numbers and liaise with other organisers if necessary.
"We will continue discussions if there is a spike in cases," Muto said.
"We have agreed that based on the coronavirus situation, we will convene five-party talks again. At this point, the coronavirus cases may rise or fall, so we will think about what we should do when the situation arises."
There were 10 new positive cases among those with Olympics accreditation reported in the past 24 hours.
Tokyo, which like Australia has lagged behind the rest of the world with its vaccination rollout, reported 1387 cases on Tuesday.
A spokesman for Tokyo 2020 later said organisers were "concentrating 100 per cent on delivering successful Games".
Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee, has defended the decision to reschedule the Games for this summer.
In his opening comments at the 138th IOC Session in Tokyo, Bach said: "Cancellation would have been the easy way for us.
"We could have drawn on the insurance that we had at the time and moved on to Paris 2024.
"But, in fact, cancellation was never an option for us – the IOC never abandons the athletes."
The gold medallist is making a big splash in the fashion world, swapping out her canoe for the catwalk.
A former Olympic medallist has been accused of taking part in a bungled $200m drug import plot alongside another man.
Australian break dancer Raygun has received a fresh honour after her infamous performance at the Paris Olympic Games.