As we close the official first week of the Tokyo Olympics, there have been many outstanding moments from our Indigenous athletes and still plenty more to come.
Although the Olympic campaign is over for eight of our Indigenous Olympians, team events hockey, basketball and football (soccer) are still underway.
Wulli Wulli woman Taliqua Clancy and her beach volleyball partner Mariafe Artacho del Solar will face Russian duo Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina (ROC) in a top-of-the-pool match-up, with both teams entering the match with two wins from two games.
Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar are through to the knockout stage of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament with a 22-20 21-19 victory over Italy’s Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi-Toth. ??
?https://t.co/6lhqoOTHwD#TokyoTogether | @ausvolley pic.twitter.com/aVRnDhZyHe
— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 28, 2021
Tennis world No.1 Ash Barty stepped up to compete in the tennis singles, doubles and mixed doubles this year at Tokyo and has made it to the mixed doubles semi-finals with her partner John Peers, where they will play off against ROC’s Pavlyuchenkova and Rublev.
?? @ashbarty x @johnwpeers ??
The first Australian team to advance to a mixed doubles semifinal in Olympic history, eliminating Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari of Greece with a hard-fought 6-4 4-6 [10-6] victory.#Olympics • #Tennis • #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/p7W51GOtMW
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) July 29, 2021
The Rugby Sevens faced Canada on Wednesday night, where they took out the match 26-7 to finish their Olympic journey at seventh place.
The Fijian rugby sevens team won the country’s second gold medal by beating Aotearoa/New Zealand 27-12 in the final.
What a moment. Fiji’s rugby team sing their hearts out for their nation after winning gold. This is a team that had to come here on a freight plane, and spent months away from their families because of covid. pic.twitter.com/IdIQRpUuFS
— James Longman (@JamesAALongman) July 29, 2021
The first Indigenous Olympian to compete in the shooting event, Thomas Grice, has finished his singles event at 25th with 119 points but will compete in the team event tomorrow with partner Laetisha Scanlan.
Monero Ngarigo and Yuin woman Angie Blackburn is set to make her Olympic debut as a part of the 4x400m relay team on Thursday.
With many medal events yet to come, Australia is sitting at fifth position with 20 medals: eight gold, two silver and 10 bronze.
By Teisha Cloos