It’s bronze for Wilde! NZ Herald's Focus Sport Cheree Kinnear wraps our first medal for Tokyo 2020 plus all the news from day three as the Black Sticks and our surfers impress, while Emma Twigg opens up about her quest for Olympic gold. Video / NZ Herald
Seasoned sports journalist and renowned broadcaster Phil Gifford singles out five events to watch on day three of the Tokyo Olympics.
If you love sport as theatre, there's been a swag of delight, and heartbreak, already at the Games, from the down of seeing our men's football team (I supposewe have to use that weird name, the Oly Whites), lose at the death against Honduras, to the wonderful high of Dunedin teenager, Erika Fairweather, burning up the pool.
Here are my five to watch to enjoy the drama today in Tokyo.
In 2018 Dylan Cleaver was reporting that the sacking of coach Mark Hager after almost a decade in charge of the Black Sticks, had led to serious divisions inside the team. The chairman of Hockey New Zealand, Mike Bignell, said HNZ wasn't naïve to believe "everything was fine." So a big hello, and good on you, to current coach Graham Smith, who played 151 times for his homeland of Ireland. Directed by Smith the Black Sticks, currently ranked sixth in the world, startled not so much by winning, but by the margin in that 3-0 whipping of world No.2 ranked Argentina.
Playing the host country, Japan (ranked at No.14), even without a crowd, will add an element of emotion to tonight's contest. If the Black Sticks can triumph again the stars may finally be aligning for a medal winning campaign.
Live updates: nzherald.co.nz. Watch live: SKY Channel 57, TVNZ.
Erika Fairweather - Women's 400 metres freestyle final, 2.20pm Kavanagh College in Dunedin's head girl, the Games were perfectly timed for 17-year-old Fairweather. She could get ready and then travel to Tokyo in the school holidays. Last night she took more than four seconds off her personal best to qualify for today's final as fourth fastest. There were such huge expectations for Lewis Clairburt you hesitate to make predictions, but it's hard to not have a ray of hope that Fairweather might break swimming's massive medal drought.
Live updates: nzherald.co.nz. Live commentary: Newstalk ZB. Watch live: SKY Channel 54, TVNZ.
3) Finding the gold key
New Zealand v South Korea - Rugby sevens, first round, 1pm. (then, at 8.30pm, New Zealand v Argentina)
The Rio Olympics were a nightmare for the men's sevens side, losing to Japan in pool play, and striking eventual winners, Fiji, in the quarter-final. It was the end of the road as national coach for the legend, Sir Gordon Tietjens. Tietjens was old school, to the point he'd end some training sessions with a game of scrag called Death, which once saw Christian Cullen's pulse rate peak at 194.
Tietjens' replacement, Scotsman Clark Laidlaw, has followed his own path, with an emphasis on team spirit. They even have connection camps where there's more talk than training. If it all sounds a bit woke, think again. On the way to winning the World Cup in 2018 they beat Fiji in the semifinals, and then whipped England 33-12 in the final.
Live updates: nzherald.co.nz. Watch live: SKY Channel 55, TVNZ.
4) Due for a happy ending
Anton Cooper - Mountain biking, men's cross country, 6pm
Drama and Cooper, a straight up and down sort of guy from Christchurch, seem an unlikely mix. But through no fault of his own in 2018 the nation stared amazed when he had the bird flipped at him by team-mate Sam Gaze, at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Gaze thought Cooper should have waited for him when Gaze punctured. The Port Hill fires in 2017 saw Cooper begging police to let him through the cordon outside his new house to get his racing bike. He comes to Tokyo ranked in the top four in the world, and while it's his first Olympics, he won't be facing any top rider he's not very familiar with.
Live updates: nzherald.co.nz Live commentary: Newstalk ZB Watch live: SKY Channel 54
Sam Meech - Yachting men's Laser, 3.05pm and 4.15pm
When Meech and his sister Molly, who will also race in Tokyo, were young kids they spent almost a decade on a family yacht with their British parents, sailing all over the world. Sam says while the experience didn't lead directly to their competitive success (he won bronze in Rio, and Molly won silver) he does allow it developed a love of the ocean. Sam's first day yesterday in Enoshima was average, only finishing 19th, perhaps a reflection of his lack of racing this year. But hey, when you've been on a yacht eluding pirates in the Middle East, handling this sort of pressure shouldn't be too big an ask.
Live updates: nzherald.co.nz. Watch live: SKY Channel 57, TVNZ.
