Day 7 was probably the quietest for Australia so far. However, it ended in tragedy with the Matilda's losing their soccer quarter final to the mighty Brazil on penalties. It all looked so good after Brazil missed their 5th penalty. The Albatross had already declared victory - but the Falcon has seen many a choke worse than this and the Aussies also miss their 5th penalty eventually going on to lose in sudden death.
It was another day of minor medals for Australia - largely at the hands of the old enemy. As a result we have plummeted to 9th in the medal standings (London anyone?) Our Men's cyclists were beaten by team GB in the final of the team pursuit, taking silver. Our women lost the bronze medal race in the Women's team sprint. Our Men's fours in the rowing also took the silver behind team GB, while Kim Brennan progressed to the final in the Women's single sculls.
There were more minor medals at the track with Australia taking a bronze in the Men's 20km walk behind a Chinese pair. Dane-Bird smith can always hope they are both suspended for doping and he later takes the gold. The highlight on the track came in the Women's 10,000m where Ethiopian Almaz Ayanna obliterated the world record in a truly stunning performance. Given the record was previously held by a Chinese woman busted for doping questions are already being asked.
It was a quieter day in the pool for Australia - the Campbell sisters both finished second in their semis in their Womens 50m Freestyle semis and qualified for the final. The way our meet is going they'll finish 4th and 5th in the final. Mack Horton qualified 4th fastest for the Men's 1500m final tomorrow morning. The big shock was defending champion Sun Yang bombing out and failing to qualify. Apparently he was 'sick'. The bigger shock was Michael Phelps being beaten in an individual event - he finished in a 3-way tie for silver (yes that's right a triple dead heat for second!!!) behind a Singaporean swimmer of all things.
The Boomers bounced back from the loss against the USA to flog China.
Medal Tally
1- United States - 20-13-17
2 - China - 13-10-14
3- Great Britain - 7-9-6
9-Australia - 5-6-7
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