Home Australia Tokyo Olympics highlights Sunday: Australia celebrates best single day in history, Emma McKeon breaks multiple records

Tokyo Olympics highlights Sunday: Australia celebrates best single day in history, Emma McKeon breaks multiple records

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History was made today as the team in Tokyo claimed more gold medals for Australia in a single day than ever before.

Emma McKeon led the way with a gold in the women’s 50m freestyle, then jumped back in the pool with the rest of the relay team to clinch gold in the 4x100m medley relay.

Matt Wearn held command over the seas to win gold in the men’s laser sailing event.

And back on land, Logan Martin won the first-ever men’s gold for the new freestyle BMX event.

Raining gold on the last day in the pool

The final day of swimming was a cracker for the Australian women.

The first gold of the day (and new Olympic record) was won by McKeon in the women’s 50m freestyle. McKeon competed alongside fellow Dolphin Cate Campbell.

Campbell came in seventh, but there was less than a second between McKeon’s win and the US in last place.

Both McKeon and Campbell hopped back in the pool shortly after, joining Kaylee McKeown and Chelsea Hodges to win the gold and the Olympic record in the women’s 4x100m medley relay.

It was a nail-biter against the Canadians to the finish, with Campbell’s reaction time of just 0.04 seconds in the handover from McKeon’s butterfly to the anchoring freestyle leg helping the Australians gain that crucial ground.

“I looked up and the girls were celebrating and I thought my changeover was very quick, we’ve either just won an Olympic gold medal or we’ve just been disqualified,” Campbell told Channel Seven.

With a whopping 11 medals under her belt (seven medals at Tokyo and four at Rio in 2016), McKeon has won the most Olympic medals of any Australian Olympian.

That record was previously nine medals, held jointly by Ian Thorpe and Leisel Jones.

Her collection also makes her equal record-holder with the most medals won at a single Games by any woman in any sport in Olympic history.

Logan Martin wins first men’s freestyle BMX gold

Another name going into the history books is Logan Martin’s — the first-ever winner of the men’s freestyle BMX event at the Olympics.

Martin set the bar untouchably high in the first round of rides, with a whopping score of 93.30.

The freestyle BMX gold is the first for Australia in Tokyo in a sport not based in water.

Matt Wearn stays afloat to earn laser sailing gold medal

Australia’s Matt Wearn won gold in the men’s laser sailing event after establishing an unassailable points lead ahead of Sunday’s race.

It is Australia’s third straight gold medal in the event, following the victories recorded by Tom Slingsby (2012) and Tom Burton (2016).

It is also the medal that tipped the Tokyo team into the record books for the most successful single day for Australia in Olympic history.

Kookaburras laughing after men’s quarter-final hockey win against the Netherlands

The Australian men’s hockey team has progressed to the semi-finals and a chance for a medal after beating the Netherlands.

Australia won the clash after winning the penalty shootout 3-0, after the match ended in a 2-2 draw in regular playing time.

The Kookaburras had pulled ahead twice in the game, thanks to goals by Tom Wickham, but the Netherlands managed to equalise through goals by Mink van der Weerden and Jeroen Hertzberger.

Australia will play Germany in their semi-finals on Tuesday.

The twisties continue to get the best of Simone Biles

This certainly isn’t a highlight, but an important development in Simone Biles’s Olympic journey.

Biles announced she would not defend her Olympic gold medal on floor exercise.

The four-time Olympic champion withdrew from last Tuesday’s women’s team final as well as Thursday’s individual all-around, vault and uneven bars finals, saying she had to focus on her mental health.

Biles it yet to make a decision on whether to participate in the final gymnastics event — Tuesday’s balance beam final.

Biles is dealing with a mental block that in gymnastics is referred to as “the twisties”. It refers to a difficulty figuring out where one’s body is in relation to the ground when in the air

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