Performances to Be Proud of In Rio

There were no medals but huge progress from a strong NSWIS contingent that did Australia’s track and field campaign proud in Rio.

2009 world champion Dani Samuels finished fourth in the discus final with a throw of 64.90m on her sixth attempt.

It was just 44 centimetres short of the bronze medal.

“I’ve come ninth in an Olympics and just missed a final and come fourth and just missed a medal. I’ll be back for Tokyo as it’s the only medal I don’t have,” Samuels said.

Eloise Wellings and Madeline Heiner-Hills each created Australian athletics history in Rio.

Wellings became the first ever Australian to record a top 10 finish in the final of the 10,000m.

Then Wellings and Heiner-Hills were among a group of three who became the first ever Australians to qualify for the final of the 5000m.

Two days earlier, Heiner-Hills was the first Australian to ever compete in the women’s Olympic steeplechase final, finishing seventh.

Victoria Mitchell was 10^th in her heat and missed the final.

“It’s just so exciting, especially for distance running in Australia,” Wellings said.

Ella Nelson ran the fastest 200m race of her life in the semi-finals, only to miss the final by just 0.01 of a second.

“I ran a PB, I couldn’t be happier,” Nelson said.

“I know there’s one spot there, just 1/100^th of a second, but it’s just incredible … I am just so proud of myself for the year that I have had and everything going forward.”

Anneliese Rubie qualified for the semi-finals of the 400m then ran the second leg in the final of the 4 x 400m relay.

Jenny Blundell finished 11th^th in the second semi-final of the 1500m in a time of 4:13.25.

Brandon Starc became the first Australian to compete in the men’s high jump final in 20 years after a qualifying leap of 2.29m.

It came amid the hysteria of gold medal performances from Usain Bolt and Wayde van Niekerk happening around him.

The final didn’t quite go as well as he made an early exit from the competition.

“I can learn from that … the things they did out there are not out of my reach.”

Selma Kajan made her Olympic debut in the 800m heats but missed the final after finishing seventh in a time of 2.05.20.

“I’m over the moon to be here. I just wanted to take that experience and hopefully use it for the future,” Kajan said.

Despite starting well in her heat of the 100m hurdles, Michelle Jenneke finished sixth.

“My actual race was probably one of the worst races I have ever done. I am pretty disappointed. There were just a few things that went wrong.”,” Jenneke said.

NSWIS distance star Milly Clark finished an incredible 18^th in the women’s marathon, to be the first of three Australians across the line.

It was the fifth best placing by an Australian at an Olympics Games.

“First Olympics, top 20, it hasn’t really sunk in. I think it will when I see my family and my coach and everyone else,” Clark said.

In a race memorable for Mo Farah’s gold medal winning performance following a fall, NSWIS runner Ben St Lawrence finished 28^th in the men’s 10,000m.

There was extreme disappointment long-jumper Fabrice Lapierre after registering just one legal jump from his three attempts and being eliminated from the final. He finished 10^th.

“It sucks. You’ve got to get on that board. I’m pretty sure I would have jumped the furthest tonight but I just didn’t get on the board, I fouled, and it hurts.”

Aaron Royle and Ryan Bailie created their own slice of history in the men’s triathlon.

It was the first time Australia had two men finish in the top 10 since triathlon was admitted to the Olympic program at Sydney in 2000.

“I’ve got a little bit of mixed emotions right now but at the end of the day I’m going to be proud with that effort,” Royle said.

The Katz brothers, Joshua and Nathan both competed in the first Olympics in the judo competition.

Both made first round exits, with Nathan agonisingly close to progressing from his first round bout.

Safwan Khalil and Hayder Shkara were both eliminated through the repechage rounds of the taekwondo competition.

In one of the closest fights of the Games, Shkara was beaten on superiority after a scoreless fight.

Boxer Daniel Lewis scored a first round win in the 75kg division over Poland’s Tomasz Jablonski.

Things got tougher going forward though as the second-seed from Uzbekistan put an end to his campaign.

Daniel Repacholi and Blake Blackburn finished mid-table in the Air Pistol shooting, while Warren Potent couldn’t match his Beijing bronze medal in the 50m rifle prone.

James Willett qualified for the final of the double trap with an Olympic record but crucial misses saw him in a shootout for the bronze medal. He finished fifth.

Australia’s table tennis hopes rested with Chris (Xin)Yan. He was bundled out of the men’s singles event, despite taking two games off Russian Aleksandar Karakesevic.

NSWIS provided Australia’s two representatives in an eventful women’s cycling road race.

Amanda Spratt finished 15^th, just over four minutes behind Dutch gold medallist Anna van der Breggen. Rachel Neylan was slightly further back in 22^nd.

On the whitewater, NSWIS athlete Ian Borrows cruelly missed out on a place in the 10-man final of the canoe slalom C1.

He missed qualifying for the medal round by an agonizing 0.09 of a second.

“To be honest, I thought I paddled well. Maybe there were a couple of small mistakes that cost me two or three seconds,” Borrows said.

Fellow NSWIS athlete Lucien Delfour missed the semi-finals in the men’s kayak K1 event after incurring a 50 second penalty at Gate 20 in his second run.

The youngest member of Australia’s rowing team, NSWIS athlete Genevieve Horton, missed out on the top three spot required to progress to the A-Final of the women’s double sculls.

Horton and partner Sally Kehoe were drawn in a tough semi-final against reigning Olympic champions Great Britain as well as dual World Cup winners Poland.

Fellow NSWIS rower Chris Morgan also missed qualification for the A-Final in the men’s double sculls alongside David Watts.

Murray Stewart went into the K1 1000m final as the fastest qualifier but just missed a medal, finishing fourth.

“I’m pretty tired, but I think I would feel a lot less tired if I had a medal around my neck. I definitely tightened up a bit over the last 100 or 150. I’ve been working hard not to do that. If I had executed a perfect race plan and finished fourth I think I would be a little less disappointed,” Stewart said.

Swimmer Jarrod Poort led the 10km marathon swim for all but the last 1500m in one of the most daring and brave performances of these Games.

His bold bid for gold came unstuck and he finished 21^st.

“I used a lot of heart…. just everything I had…I was hurting at the end. I could smell it…I couldn’t quite taste it but I just couldn’t hang on in there,” Poort said.

Melissa Wu fell just outside the medals in the 10m platform diving event.

The three-time Olympian finished fifth, while Brittany O’Brien featured in the semi-finals after earning a late call-up to Australia’s Olympic team.

“It was a really tough event. To even be up in the top five, I’m really happy with – especially with the pressure of the Olympic Games,” Wu said.

On the 3m springboard Kevin Chavez was 26^th in qualifying and missed the final, while Esther Qin enjoyed a memorable debut Olympics.

She finished sixth in the final after qualifying in 10^th.

“I’m happy, it wasn’t my best round but I was consistent and I didn’t really have any big misses so I am happy,” Qin said.