Looking back in the years to come this will be the Olympics where New Zealand women, from Emma Twigg to the sevens team to Grace Prendergast and Kerry Gowler to Valerie Adams, took centre stage. And so it feels entirely appropriate that the greatest excitement today will almost certainly be
Tokyo Olympics 2020: Phil Gifford - My five events to watch on day 13
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Lisa Carrington, of New Zealand, reacts after winning the women's kayak double 500m final with Caitlin Regal. Photo / AP
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2) Time for the nightmares to stop?
Tom Walsh, Jacko Gill - Men's shot put final, 2.05pm
Kiwis and Olympic shot put craziness seem to have an unfortunate affinity. Walsh was able to joke about the frantic appeals that kept him in contention in qualifying. Hopefully it didn't drain too much nervous energy away. In London in 2012 a simple book keeping error, which saw Valerie Adams almost refused the chance to throw, affected her right through to the final. Let me quote how she described her emotions: "I didn't feel like myself. It was like a bad dream. The person throwing in that competition wasn't like me. Normally I'm feisty, and I'm out there pushing hard, firing on all cylinders. But instead I felt like I'd just stepped off the plane into the circle."
Updates: nzherald.co.nz
Live commentary: Newstalk ZB
Watch live: SKY Channel 54, TVNZ
3) Mastering the mind game
Sam Webster - Men's track cycling, sprint quarter-finals. 7.03pm
Webster, at 30 a veteran with two Commonwealth Games gold medals, said before Tokyo that he's far from finished, and so it's proving. Into the last eight of the sprint, on a track he says he feels comfortable with, his astute summation of what's needed in the sprint at this level, "it's 100% mental", could see him advance even further.
Updates: nzherald.co.nz
Live commentary: Newstalk ZB
Watch live: SKY Channel 56, TVNZ
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4) Memories to last a lifetime
Nick Willis - Men's 1500 metres semi-final. 11pm
No Olympic event stirs more nostalgia for many of us than the men's 1500 metres. Willis has kept the flame alive. It was Peter Snell in 1964 in Tokyo who set it alight. A teenage labourer in the Forest Service in Thames at the time Snell won gold, I watched the flickering black and white tv coverage and was entranced. A decade later John Davies told me a brilliant Snell story. When Snell sprinted down the back straight in Tokyo, said John, his strides were so powerful he dug holes in the cinder track. Davies and Czech Josef Odlozil finished the race, Odlozil second and Davies third, with red cinders splattered over the front of their singlets. "There were these twin plumes that came up above waist height with every step Peter took."
Updates: nzherald.co.nz
Live commentary: Newstalk ZB
Watch live: SKY Channel 54, TVNZ
5) No time for dancing
Andrea Anacan - Women's karate, individual Kata. 1pm
Born in the Philippines, Anacan says when she was four "My mum gave me an option between ballet or karate, and apparently I told her, 'Well, what's going to happen if I get kidnapped? Do you want me to dance in front of them? Or do you want me to fight them off?'" Don't expect "Karate Kid" combat with Kata, which is a series of non-contact attacking and defensive moves. Anacan's diminutive stature, 1.5m (4ft 11in), would be a disadvantage in contact karate, but her low centre of gravity actually helps in kata, where in 2018 she finished seventh at the world championship.
Updates: nzherald.co.nz
Live updates: Newstalk ZB
Watch live: SKY Channel 600, TVNZ
