David Nyika, of New Zealand, reacts after defeating Belarus' Uladzislau Smiahlikau during their heavy weight 91kg quarterfinal boxing match. photo / AP
David Nyika, of New Zealand, reacts after defeating Belarus' Uladzislau Smiahlikau during their heavy weight 91kg quarterfinal boxing match. photo / AP
Monday promised headlines for New Zealand, but the Laurel Hubbard controversy deflated with three failed lifts, and three dropped rails ended the equestrian medal challenge. But today fireworks should ignite again, with Lisa Carrington, Peter Burling, and Blair Tuke all fighting for gold.
1) Channelingthe emotion
Lisa Carrington - Women's kayak single, 200m final. 2.37pm
Carrington swears she still gets nervous before every race at a big meet. In the 200m heat yesterday she led from the start, giving the rest of the field, even in the lightening 40.715s it took her to reach the finish line, a fine view of the stern of her kayak. Obviously she knows how to channel her nervous energy.
Full Kiwi schedule below. Click on a name to see athlete's bio, upcoming events, past Games performance and medal chance.
2) Refreshed and ready
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke - Men's yachting, 49er medal race. 4.30pm
A day's delay due to a lack of wind is unlikely to have disturbed the most successful sailors New Zealand has ever produced. They had to claw their way to the top of the table in the heats, and while a sport that relies so much on the vagaries of nature is always open to upsets, gold beckons again for Burling and Tuke who, remarkably, are still only 30 and 32 years old.
3) He looks as tough as trying to say his name quickly
David Nyika - Men's boxing, 91kg semifinal
It couldn't get tougher for Nyika, with his opponent, Russian Muslim (that's his first name, not a description of his religious persuasion) Gadzhimagomedov, rated No.1 in the world. Gadzhimagomedov fights under the International Olympic Committee's weasel flag of the Russian Olympic Committee, designed to apparently distinguish the banned drug cheating Russian team from, er, the sportspeople who used to compete for the banned drug cheating Russian team. He looks straight from central casting for a Bond movie villain, big and threatening. Nyika presents more like the boy next door, but he didn't win a Commonwealth gold medal in 2018 by being sweet natured. A nerve wracking, but potentially fascinating, match-up.
Tom Walsh, Jacko Gill - Men's shot put, qualifying. 10.15pm
Two very different characters, with Walsh the gregarious man of the world, and Gill a quieter natured obsessive, whose father Walter, to be fair a concrete contractor by trade, installed a throwing circle in the back yard when Jacko had barely started high school so the teenager could train as often as he wanted to. Walsh has found some hot form leading into the Games, after losing to Gill in early season meets, and and the Kiwis' rivalry offers an intriguing contest inside a bigger contest tonight.
Nick Willis, Sam Tanner - Men's 1500 metres, heats. 12.05pm.
Nick Willis is 38, Sam Tanner is 20. Athletics has made them mates, and Willis was gracious enough to go out celebrating with Tanner in New York in February after Tanner ran 3m 34.72s to break Willis' national indoor 1500 metres record. Hopefully, when the heats in Tokyo are over this afternoon, there'll be some of the sentiments Tanner expressed after that brilliant run, when he said he was "frothing, fizzing, bubbling, everything".
