The Paris Dossier – Day 3

It’s time to hold our collective breath. Defending champs, the Black Ferns Sevens, will play for a medal for a third time at an Olympic Games. Having explosively fended off all challengers so far at Stade de France, they’ll face their real test in the semifinals against the US.
As it heats up in Paris, the sun set early on our tennis doubles pair, light winds are foiling our sailors in Marseille, our first rowing crew are eliminated, and we’re yet to get on the medals board. But remember, patience is a virtue.
There’s no going past our Black Ferns Sevens, who stormed into this morning’s quarterfinal with three convincing pool wins and with all their biggest names firing. Their 55-5 thumping of China in their first knock-out match was easily NZ’s best result on a thin day for our wāhine in Paris.
“I’m happy now. It was a bit of a slow start for us, but this crowd is wicked – I think they brought us home,” Stacey Waaka told Sky Sport immediately after the crushing victory.
In front of a roaring crowd of 69,000, the Black Ferns got off to the ideal start, scoring in the first 40s after a Teresa Setefano break was finished off by captain Sarah Hirini. But the glorious skipper, on the comeback from serious injury, was sent to the sinbin for two minutes soon after for a head knock on a Chinese player.
China – who have Kiwi sevens maestro Sir Gordon Tietjens in their coaching staff – hit back when New Zealand were down to six, but tries to Jasmin Felix-Hotham, Michaela Blyde and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe put the favourites up 24-5 at halftime.
The juggernaut continued with Blyde, Felix-Hotham, Hirini and Mahina Paul all crossing the tryline again – Paul scoring straight off the bench in her first of two.
They will now meet the United States in the semifinal tomorrow morning, after they ground out a 17-7 quarterfinal win over Great Britain.
Hirini, both villain and hero in the NZ quarterfinal, had promised to put “$200 in the team fund” for her yellow card, Waaka laughed.
“But she came back on and had an amazing performance in the second half, so we couldn’t ask for much more from our captain,” she said. “Her experience, her knowledge, her skill and the resilience she’s shown to come back and play at this elite level after seven months of rehabilitation every single day… we’re glad she’s on our team.
“She helps bring out the energy we need and she gives us good talks, too.”
Dunedin’s Erika Fairweather has finished seventh in her second final at these Games, the 200m freestyle – exactly where she was seeded for this race. It was Australia gold and silver, with world champion Mollie O’Callaghan edging out new world record holder Ariarne Titmus.
Fairweather was happy with her performance. “I just love having fun racing and I think that’s what I tried to focus on tonight – not the time, or the outcome, just having fun with how I was swimming in the water,” she told Sky Sport.
Fairweather still has a couple of events to go in Paris – her next the 800m freestyle.
“No one is going to touch this skill with a 10-foot pole. It is so dangerous and so skillful, you will not see anyone, in any subdivision all day, even come close to her”
– Gymnastics commentator and actor Laurie Hernandez on Simone Biles’ vault: Biles holds 11 out of 12 best all-around scores in the world for the current Olympic cycle.
Day 3 in Paris didn’t provide much joy for NZ but the Black Ferns Sevens swept all before them in their pool, wiping away Fiji 38-7 to move to their quarterfinal at 7 am today against China, who had themselves caused a huge upset in pool play beating the Fijians. Stacey Waaka crossed the tryline twice times.
New Zealand’s slow start to medalling at the Olympics continues, but with the Sevens Sisters, there has to be a good chance we’re on the board with a medal of some colour before the full first week is out, which happened in Tokyo and Sydney.

On another light winds day in Marseille, Jo Aleh and Molly Meech had a better performance with two top 10 finishes,  moving up to 19th overall in a field of 20, at the halfway point for the 49erFX fleet. 
Windfoiler Veerle ten Have finally got out on the water to race in her first Olympic Games, but only for two races. She sits in 21st overall, after a 23rd and a 15th.
Our rowing pair, Kate Haines and Alana Sherman needed to finish in the first three in their repechage to progress to the semi-finals but could manage only fourth, in 7min 46.18s. The repechage was won by Denmark in 7min 34.57s.
After waiting three days to get on the red clay court at Roland Garros, our tennis doubles pair of Erin Routliffe and Lulu Sun are out – beaten 6-2, 6-3 by Italy’s third-seeded Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani in their first round encounter. Paolini had reached the Wimbledon singles final.
Equestrian Jonelle Price didn’t qualify for the individual show jumping final, finishing her fourth Olympics in 40th overall. Her husband, Tim, was the best of the Kiwis, ending up sixth. The NZ team, also including Clarke Johnstone, finished 8th in the overall team eventing competition.
“I’ve had her two years and she hasn’t had a single fence down, so you can see why I went in with confidence,” Jonelle Price said. “I really thought we had a shot at a top 10 finish individually. Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way, but you have to hang in there and keep fighting.”
Extreme heat is a factor for athletes in Paris with soaring temperatures influencing preparation and performance. In 1924, there were 29 “hot” days, with maximum temperatures of 25C (77F) or higher, and two “scorching” days, when temperatures reached 30C (86F) or higher. Last year, there were 86 hot days and 26 scorching days in Paris, according to a report, Rings of Fire on the climate impact of the Olympics.
Today in Paris, the mercury hit 36 degrees at the height of the afternoon – not quite hot enough to dive into the dodgy waters of the Seine, which our triathletes must do tomorrow.
Training in the famous waterway was canned for a second day and World Triathlon and city officials hope the warmer weather will bring down levels of E.coli and other bacteria so the men’s and women’s triathlon can do the swim stage of their races over the next two days.
LockerRoom writer and London Olympics heptathlete Sarah Cowley-Ross is on the ground in Paris and will make her daily pick of who she’s looking forward to watching.
“Our Olympic rowing champion Emma Twigg will be back on the water at Vaires sur Marne Nautical Stadium tomorrow in the quarterfinals of the women’s single sculls. It should give her the first real test against some of the big dogs in her field and a good indication of her boat speed as she defends her Tokyo title. 
“Also look out for Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors, making their Olympic mum-back together, as they line up in the semifinal of the women’s double scull.
“And I’ll be back at Stade de France soaking up more of the incredible atmosphere in the final day of the sevens tournament.” 
In sailing, the NZ men’s Skiff pair of Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie lead the field after two wins and an eighth, putting them on 14 points, ahead of second-placed Ireland on 19.
Mountain biker Sam Gaze decried a “horrible, terrible” start after being squeezed on the first corner and battling hard up into fourth at half way, but ending in sixth. “I gave it everything I had,” he said. “The race was ridiculously fast.”
And yesterday Raglan surfer Billy Stairmand was eliminated by twice world champion Filipe Toledo of Brazil.
Equestrian: Melissa Galloway, dressage (individual – open) Grand Prix Day 9 pm.
Rowing: Emma Twigg, single sculls quarterfinal, 7.30 pm; Lucy Spoors, Brooke Francis, double sculls semifinal, 8.50 pm.
Rugby Sevens: Black Ferns knockout matches 12.30 am to 5.45 am
Sailing: Veerle ten Have, Foil races 6-10, 10:13 pm; Jo Aleh, Molly Meech, 49er FX races 7-9, 1:45 am
Swimming: Eve Thomas, 1500m freestyle heat, 9 pm

To see the full schedule of when New Zealand athletes are competing on Sky Sport, go to https://www.sky.co.nz/discover/sky-sport/olympics#schedule
To watch in New Zealand go to Sky Sport, stream on Sky Sport Now, or watch free-to-air on Sky Open (Freeview Channel 15 or stream free via Sky Go).