A golden day to lift our spirits

“I hope we’ve managed to lift your spirits,’’ Olympic flag-bearer Cate Campbell said in a message to pandemic-stricken Australians back home. It was quite an understatement from a classy competitor we took to our hearts, through ups and downs, a long time ago. In a nailbiting race, Campbell had just anchored our women’s 4x100 medley relay team to victory on the final, stellar day of Olympic swimming — one of the most exciting meets in our sporting history.

The relay gave Emma McKeon, who powered through the butterfly leg, her record 10th Olympic gold. Shortly beforehand, she had also triumphed in the 50m freestyle, blitzing through the water in an Olympic record of 23.81 seconds. Her overall performance eclipses those of icons such as Ian Thorpe and Liesel Jones.

Australia won at least one gold medal every day at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre, with the total golden haul of nine overtaking the benchmark from 65 years ago at the Melbourne Olympics. The great feeling the swimmers inspired, however, was about more than records and medals. Their teamwork and sporting spirits shone bright.

Sunday’s superlatives were sprinkled far and wide. In an extraordinary display that looked like acrobatics on a bike, Queensland BMX star Logan Martin stunned television audiences in the sport’s Olympic debut. Then came Matt Wearn, who was so far ahead of the pack in the men’s laser sailing event coming in to the final race that he only had to take to the water to win gold. Now for the week ahead — cycling, athletics, the equestrian competition, and team games. So many skilled champions to cheer as they lift our spirits.