Olympic gold rush: let the Fox hunt begin
After a year-long delay the Games are here. And it all starts with two Aussie women’s teams.
From out of the Covid-19 gloom, at a few minutes after 10am (AEST) on Wednesday, the first ball of the Tokyo Olympics will be pitched in anger – possibly by veteran Australian softballer Stacey Porter.
A few hours later, in the main Olympic stadium in Tokyo, Sam Kerr and the Matildas will kick off their campaign for gold.
The opening ceremony of one of the most dystopian Olympics ever is still two days away, but after a year-long Covid delay the Games are here. And it all starts with two Aussie women’s teams taking on Japan.
By Saturday the swimmers will be in the water, carrying renewed hopes of gold-medal glory in the pool. And early next week, canoe star Jess Fox, one of Australia’s brightest hopes, begins her campaign on the raging waters of the Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre on the shores of Tokyo Bay.
Olympics analyst Gracenote has fearlessly tipped Australia, on the back of a revitalised pool effort, to double its gold medal tally of eight from the past two Olympics to 16 this time – and two of them could come from Fox.
For the first time in Olympic history, the world’s best female canoeists will get the same rights as their male counterparts – with Fox set to start as a warm favourite in the first-ever women’s canoe slalom C1 event. Previously she was only able to compete at the Olympics in kayaks using double-bladed paddles, despite dominating C1 events elsewhere for a decade.
It gives her two bites at a cherry that has so far been beyond her reach – Olympic gold. Fox has won an incredible 10 world championship medals – seven gold – plus seven overall World Cup titles and Olympic silver and bronze; now she is aiming for the top step of the podium.
“The gold is the dream,” she said. “A lot of athletes dream of that Olympic gold medal.”
Elsewhere, if luck and the Olympic gods are smiling on Australia there are as many as eight golds for the taking in the swimming. Australian swimmers are ranked No. 1 in the world in 13 events and the 2021 team is littered with potential winners.
Add that to the chance of a couple of golds in the cycling, maybe one each in the rowing and the sailing and Ash Barty backing up from Wimbledon and the prospect of Australia’s best Olympic performance since Beijing is well and truly on the cards.
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