Here we are a week into the 2020 Tokyo Games which can only mean one thing -- the track and field athletes finally come out to play.
We're not quite finished in the pool, with hopes for more Australian medals today. It's quarter-finals time for the Matildas as they face Great Britain and Ash Barty and John Peers play in the mixed doubles semi-final.
Find the full Olympics schedule here
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
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Read on for rolling coverage of Australia's efforts at the Olympics:
Matildas beat GB, charge into Olympics semifinal
The Matildas have snatched one of Australian football's great victories, defeating Great Britain 4-3 in extra-time to charge into the Tokyo Olympics semi-finals.
Australia snatched the lead against the run of play through Alanna Kennedy's brilliant header in the 35th minute, then fell behind to two Ellen White goals before Sam Kerr struck in the 89th minute to send the game to 120 minutes.
Mary Fowler's dramatic strike in the 103rd minute put the Australians in front - barely a minute after the brilliant Teagan Micah saved a penalty - before Kerr sealed the deal with a header in the 106th.
White completed her hat-trick in the 115th minute but the Matildas held on, becoming the first Australian football team to reach the Olympics final four.
Great Britain dominated most of the opening half and should have taken the lead, bar Micah's goalkeeping masterclass.
In the 15th minute, Keira Walsh smacked the post from long-range, while in the 24th, Lauren Hemp's close-range shot forced a brilliant Micah save.
Eleven minutes later, Australia snatched the lead.
Steph Catley looped a corner into the box, with Kennedy making light work of the much-shorter Demi Stokes to nod home a towering header.
Great Britain hit back against the run of play in the 57th minute, when Hemp's delightful cross dropped perfectly between Kennedy and Ellie Carpenter, for White to head home.
Nine minutes later, Aivi Luik and Kennedy got in each other's way and were unable to clear the ball and it fell to White, who powered her second past a helpless Micah.
Then the Matildas hit back.
Emily van Egmond looped a searching long ball into the 18-yard box and Kennedy flicked a header on to Kerr, who took a touch, let the ball settle then rifled it past the scattered British defence to send the game to 120 minutes.
Micah denied Walsh's scintillating shot in the 94th minute, then batted away White's close-range effort.
But her biggest moment came in the 102nd when Ellie Carpenter gave away an arguably soft penalty against Nikita Parris.
Caroline Weir's spot-kick was poor and a commanding Micah palmed it away.
Less than 90 seconds later, teen sensation Fowler tried her luck on her left from distance.
The shot took a heavy deflection off Great Britain superstar Lucy Bronze and nestled in the top corner.
Three minutes later, Kerr leapt over Houghton to double Australia's lead - before White's late header forced the Matildas to grit their teeth and hang on for a famous victory.
-- AAP
WE'VE JUST MADE HISTORY! 🇦🇺
— Matildas (@TheMatildas) July 30, 2021
See you in the Semi Finals. #WeAreMatildas #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/oSA1gnYiPa
Tears as Aussie 7s exit Games in quarters
Fiji's women have shocked Australia's rugby sevens golden girls with a 14-12 quarter-final victory in Tokyo.
Gold medallists in the sport's debut in Rio five years ago, Australia had started their campaign with such promise.
But 14-12 losses to the United States and Fiji on Friday left them on the ground in tears with fifth place now their best-case outcome.
Fiji's Alowesi Nakoci and Ana Maria Naisami both scored in the first half as costly mistakes robbed Australia of possession.
Faith Nathan finally crossed after Fiji were yellow carded for a 14-5 halftime score.
Australia steadied in the second half but couldn't break Fiji's line, Charlotte Caslick stopped just short and then dispossessed in a crucial play.
Caslick found a gap inside the final minute to put them within a try of an unlikely win, but they couldn't regain possession as Fiji moved into the final four.
-- AAP
Spain hand Stingers first Tokyo defeat
Spain have leap-frogged Australia into top spot in Group A after a 15-9 victory in the women's water polo at the Tokyo Olympics.
A wasteful Stingers outfit was made to pay for a series of empty power plays, Spain making their charge in the third quarter when they scored four goals to Australia's one to grab hold of the contest.
The defeat drops Australia to second in the standings ahead of their final group match against struggling South Africa, who have scored just six goals and shipped 83 in their three games so far.
Australia started strongly as they took advantage of a pair of power plays to go to the first break locked at 3-all.
But after converting two of their first three power plays, Australia were just three of eight when they had the one player advantage the rest of the way.
The Stingers had little answer to Spain's Bea Ortiz who finished with five goals on eight attempts.
Trailing 7-6 at the main break, Australia were back on level terms soon after the restart before Spain poured four unanswered past goalkeeper Lea Yanitsas.
Another goal early in the fourth quarter had Spain up by five, and while back-to-back goals had Australia down by three with just over five minutes remaining, the Spanish responded for the vital win.
-- AAP
Barty and Peers to fight for bronze
Tennis golden girl Ash Barty has suffered Olympic heartbreak, losing a cliffhanger of a mixed doubles semi-final with Davis Cup stalwart John Peers.
Barty and Peers must settle for a bronze-medal playoff after falling 5-7 6-4 13-11 to Andrey Rublev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova after letting a match point slip against the Russians in a tension-filled deciding super tiebreak.
Peers and the newly-crowned Wimbledon champion had been a point away from the chance to join doubles greats legends Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge as Australian tennis' only Games gold medallists.
Alas, Barty and Peers must instead return on Saturday to fight for a bronze after Rublev, the men's world No.7, and Pavlyuchenkova, the women's 2021 French Open finalist, held their nerve to clinch a gallant comeback win on their third match point.
After a shock first-round exit as top seed in the singles, then a tight third-round loss in women's doubles with Storm Sanders, Barty seemed poised to make the mixed final after taking the opening set on Friday night.
But, after overcoming the concession of the second set to establish a 6-4 advantage in the super tiebreak, Barty and Peers were unable to close out the thriller.
They eventually succumbed when Rublev rifled an unplayable return of serve from Peers into Barty's body at the net.
Bidding to claim Australia's first Olympic tennis medal since Alicia Molik won bronze in the women's singles in Athens 17 years ago, Barty and Peers could face all-conquering men's world No.1 Novak Djokovic in the battle for third place and a coveted spot on the podium.
Djokovic and Serbian teammate Nina Stojanovic play Russians Aslan Karatsev and Elena Vesnina in Friday night's second semi-final in Tokyo.
-- AAP
Aussie sailor Wearn set for Olympic gold
Australian sailor Matt Wearn can celebrate an early Olympic gold in the one-man Laser class, holding an unassailable lead before the medal round in Tokyo.
Wearn must simply complete the final course on Sunday without disqualification to secure his gold medal.
It continues a stunning domination in the Olympic event by Australia, with the 25-year-old following in the wake of Tom Slingsby winning gold in London Olympics and Tom Burton in Rio four years ago.
Banking a 12th and eighth place in the ninth and 10th races late on Friday in the waters off Enoshima on Friday, Wearn extended his lead over his nearest rival Norwegian Hermann Tomasgaard to 22 net points.
-- AAP
Aussie pair stumble in Tokyo sand
Slow starts in the first and third set have cost Australian beach volleyball pair Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy, who will still progress to the round of 16 despite a loss in their final pool game of Tokyo's Games.
Their two-match unbeaten run was halted by Russia's Nadedza Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina 21-8 15-21 15-12 on Friday, leaving them second in their pool and safely through to Sunday's knockout stage.
Their radar was off in a sloppy first set, winning just six of 22 attacks, before they flipped it in the second to convert 15 of 21.
An 0-4 start to the deciding set cost them though, despite saving two match points in a late rally.
-- AAP
Canoe ace Delfour just shy of K1 medal
Lucien Delfour has been unable to add a third canoe slalom Olympic medal to Australia's tally, finishing eighth in the men's K1 final.
Delfour powered through the tough Tokyo whitewater course to sit third, but he wasn't able to hold his podium place with the five fastest qualifiers in the final still to complete their run on Friday afternoon.
World champion Czech Jiri Prskavec, who won bronze in Rio, blitzed the field to finish 3.22 seconds clear.
Slovakia's Jakub Grigar took silver with Germany's Hannes Aigner claiming bronze.
Delfour incurred a two-second time penalty for knocking the sixth gate, while he almost came unstuck in the bottom half of the Kansai course taking on some challenging late gates.
The 32-year-old's time of 102.33 was 10.7 seconds behind winner Prskavec.
-- AAP
Cameron Smith makes charge in Olympic golf
Red-hot American Xander Schauffele snatched the halfway lead with a record-equalling round as a cruel late blow left Cameron Smith cursing his luck at the Olympic men's golf tournament.
Smith had rocketed into medal contention with a major move before eventually signing for a birdie-filled four-under-par 67.
While reviving his hopes of jagging a place on the podium on Sunday, Smith lamented not being much higher up the leaderboard than in a tie for 20th - and seven shots off the pace - if not for some rotten luck at the last.
He pulled his approach shot out of the rough into the - ironically mostly empty - stands and watched his ball, incredibly, ricochet sideways into the water. He wound up taking a dreaded double-bogey six to tumble from well inside the top 10 in a true dinner spoiler if ever there was one. "
That was pretty unfortunate," Smith said. "I was trying to get it down there on the left but the rough caught the heel (of the club) a little bit and it went a little bit further than I anticipated."
After starting the day eight back after a ho-hum even-par first round, Smith had been only three strokes adrift of the lead walking to the 18th tee. But the 2020 Masters runner-up departed the scorers' hut with his deficit more than doubled.
Aussies Denny and Starc in mix for medals
Australian Matthew Denny has lived up to his billing as a noted big-event performer by qualifying fourth for Saturday's discus final in Tokyo.
Now fully recovered from a serious rib cartilage injury, the big Queenslander was just a metre shy of his personal best on Friday with an impressive throw of 65.13m.
World No.1 Daniel Stahl from Sweden confirmed his gold-medal favouritism, needing just one throw to be the only man to better the automatic qualifying mark of 66m.
But in what otherwise shapes as a wide-open final, the 25-year-old Denny has put himself right in the mix to become the first Australian man to win an Olympic discus medal.
"I'm not a guy to go out and say I'm going to win gold or whatever," said Denny, who was sixth at the 2019 world championships in Doha. "It's a stacked comp, it's going to be tough.
"I'm in really good form when it counts to get the actual distance I need. If there's a PB there then sweet and if we go further than that then I'm laughing. My thing is more to perform when that sliding-door moment happens and grab whatever you can."
Meanwhile, Brandon Starc earned his place in the final of the high jump. Starc needed just one jump to clear the 2.28m marker.
His PB is a jump of 2.36m, set in 2018, and Starc will be hopefully of matching that effort in the final and challenging for a medal.
Aussie BMX medal hopeful stretchered from course
Australia's Saya Sakakibara has been involved in a devastating crash that has seen her stretchered off the course and ended her hopes of an Olympic medal.
Leading the pack in her final semifinal run, Sakakibara only needed to cross the finish line to cement her place in the finals, but a a dramatic crash just before the final straight saw her slam hard into the pavement and not return to the bike to cross the finish.
Clearly badly hurt, she was tended to by paramedics and was eventually carried off the course on a stretcher. Her team is reporting she is conscious and moving her arms, but is shaken and will continue to be treated.
Fellow Aussie Lauren Reynolds managed to make her way into the final after making it through her final semifinal run unscathed, but she couldn't keep up with the race leaders, falling to fifth in the final race.
Kookaburras draw with Spain
A last-minute goal from a desperate Spain has forced a 1-1 draw in Australia's first hiccup of their men's hockey Olympic campaign.
The Kookaburras, the world No.1 ranked team, had won an unprecedented four consecutive matches to begin the Tokyo Games
They looked on track for another thanks to a sharp Tom Wickham backstick tap-in from a penalty corner after 18 minutes.
But, after goalkeeper Andrew Charter had already repelled three late penalty corners, Pau Quemada's drag flick squeezed past his pad to secure Spain a quarter-final berth.
The Kookaburras, who have played five times in seven days, will still enter Sunday's quarter-final as their pool's top seed with their opponent to be decided after games later on Friday.
Australian coach Colin Batch said the scenario was an ideal dress rehearsal for Sunday's knockout fixture.
"They (Spain) were very motivated ... it was a different sort of game for sure," he said.
"It's easy to be disappointed and straight after the game the guys were.
"But the reality is we've played strongly and finished on top and qualified easily."
Australia held 59 per cent of possession and controlled play, but Spain arguably deserved their goal after earlier hitting the crossbar from a deflected shot and having another one disallowed on review.
Australia, an equal-worst sixth at the 2016 Olympics, are chasing their second men's hockey gold after a breakthrough 2004 triumph.
The Kookaburras are sweating on the fitness of Tom Craig, who suffered a leg injury in the tournament opener but could return for the knockout stage.
Belgium are the clear standouts in the opposing pool, winning all four games so far with a 24-7 combined scoreline.
-- AAP
Two Australian athletes, team member remain in isolation-team
Two unnamed Australian track and field athletes and one athletics team member will remain in quarantine for the rest of the Tokyo Olympics, after coming in contact with U.S. pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, but will be able to compete with negative COVID-19 tests, Team Australia said.
The American, a double world champion, tested positive and was forced to drop out of the Games, and the entire Australian athletics team briefly went into quarantine on Thursday after the trio had a short encounter with him.
The team was cleared a little later but the three members will continue to remain isolated from the rest of their athletics team members, and will train alone until the end of their competitions.
"They (Australian athletes) all tested negative and that was confirmed by their daily test results," team chief Ian Chesterman told a news conference on Friday.
"They have been tested a lot. We moved the athletes back into their normal day. We have made the decision to continue to isolate the three as a precautionary measure," Chesterman said. "We want to make sure to continue to look after our team."
Games procedures state that athletes who are contact-traced and have not yet competed will be isolated from the rest of the squad. They then have to be tested six hours prior to their competition and return a negative result in order to compete.
Japan is now struggling to contain the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus, with daily cases nationwide topping 10,000 for the first time on Thursday and the city of Tokyo in a state of emergency.
Chesterman said all Australian athletes were tested daily in Tokyo.
The trio had met the American athlete and had hugged and shaken hands, team doctor David Hughes said.
"In terms of level of risk I judge it low to moderate," Hughes said. "The three are fully vaccinated."
He said the encounter was "a mixture of brief hugs and handshakes. We cannot afford to take those sort of risks."
Hughes said the athletes would be able to continue training for their events, even in isolation.
-- Reuters
McKeon wins 100m freestyle gold, Campbell claims bronze
Australia's Emma McKeon has won the gold medal and compatriot Cate Campbell the bronze in the women's 100-metres freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics.
McKeon's triumph gives her a second gold of the Games - she and Campbell were part of Australia's victorious 4x100m freestyle relay team.
McKeon, who has also won two bronze medals in Tokyo, is one medal shy of equalling the record of Ian Thorpe and Shane Gould for most medals by an Australia at a single Olympics, with five.
She started that quest on Friday night, setting an Olympic record in the 50m freestyle heat. McKeon clocked 24.02 seconds to comfortably win her heat and be quickest into the semi-finals.
Aussie sevens stumble in their final pool match
The United States have crashed and bashed their way past Australia in a 14-12 women's rugby sevens result that's turned the defending Olympic champion's title defence on its head.
Making the most of their obvious physical advantage, the United States slowly crushed an Australian defence that held firm until midway through the second half.
After leading 12-0, they finally succumbed and conceded again when a sloppy pass hit the ground in a loss that sees Australia finish second in their pool.
Aussie men's eights finish sixth, women fifth in their finals
The Australian men's coxed eight blamed a lack of international racing due to COVID-19 for their misfiring performance in the final Olympic race in Tokyo.
While it didn't take the gloss off one of Australia's most successful Olympic rowing campaigns, with two gold and two bronze medals, the men were dead last in their medal race on Friday.
New Zealand, who last won the men's coxless eight at Munich in 1972, relegated world champions Germany to silver while 2016 Olympic gold medallists Great Britain were third in the red-hot field.
Australia's women's eight were in the hunt at the halfway mark of their final but were mowed down by their fast-finishing rivals to place fifth, with Canada taking gold.
New Zealand stunningly earned a third medal, following Emma Twigg's solo sculls triumph earlier Friday, taking silver while China picked up bronze.
Men's coxswain Stuart Sim said the race was "high quality" and the Aussies simply couldn't match the pace.
While it hadn't affected the smaller boats, who can train against each other, he felt being unable to compete internationally had counted against the eights.
"Men's eight is a big energy boat and the race was high quality," Sims told AAP.
"We haven't raced for two years competitively and it's really tough to bring that level of energy required to get the eight going when you're by yourselves in camp."
Women's eights rower Molly Goodman said they were proud of their efforts in Tokyo with the crew unable to make it into the final in Rio.
"We knew we could perform if we had a great race," Goodman said. "We came out strong, were fast in the middle but they were just too strong in the end.
"We're disappointed but we're proud of what we've done."
Australia's Tokyo haul equals the most rowing gold medals won at an Olympics.
Atlanta 1996 was their most prolific campaign, winning six medals including two gold to top the medal tally.
In Sydney 2000 they won five rowing medals but no gold.
-- AAP
Jess Fox to defend gold in Paris
Golden girl Jessica Fox will be back to defend her C1 crown in Paris, having already tested out the 2024 Olympic whitewater course en route to Tokyo.
Winning an emotional gold in the C1 as well as bronze in the K1 this week to go with a bronze and silver medal in that event from Rio and London, Fox is already the most successful female canoe slalom athlete of all-time.
But the 27-year-old said she's not done yet, committing to compete in the double in Paris in three years time.
McKeon eyes more gold for Australia
Swimmer Emma McKeon is on the verge of becoming another Australia double gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics.
McKeon enters Friday's 100m freestyle final (11:59am AEST) as hot favourite to win her fourth medal of the Games.
Already with gold from the 4x100m freestyle relay and bronzes in the 100m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay, McKeon was the quickest into the 100 free final.
Her long-time teammate Cate Campbell was third quickest - she also could join countrywoman Ariarne Titmus as a dual gold medallist with victory.
In other action as Australia seeks to add to its eight golds, two silvers and 10 bronze medals, Lucien Delfour is a big chance in the men's K1 canoe. He qualified third-fastest for Friday's semi-finals (3:51pm AEST), with the medal race to follow (5pm AEST).
The track and field program starts on Friday and 11 Australians are in action.
Matthew Denny is aiming for a big start in the discus (10:45am AEST) and is an outside medal hope.
The only athletics medal event on Friday will be the men's 10,000m, where Ugandan world record holder Joshua Cheptegei is the short-priced favourite to complete the first leg of a prospective 10,000m-5000m double.
Ash Barty and John Peers face Russian pair Andrey Rublev and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the tournament's No.4 seeds, in the mixed doubles semi-finals (4pm AEST).
The men's (11:25am AEST) and women's (11:05am AEST) eights will try to add to the rich Australian rowing medal haul in Tokyo on the last day of the Games regatta.
The Matildas face Great Britain in a blockbuster women's soccer quarter-final (7pm AEST).
The women's rugby sevens team is coming off two wins when it plays the United States (11:30am AEST), ahead of the quarter-finals (6:30pm AEST) , while the unbeaten Kookaburras face Spain in men's hockey (11am AEST) and the Stingers take on Spain in women's water polo (8:50pm AEST).
BMX racers Saya Sakakibara (11::15am AEST) and Lauren Reynolds (11:20am AEST) are through to the semi-finals, with the medals also to be decided on Friday (12:50pm AEST).
Jessica Pickering is the Australian entry in the women's trampoline (2pm AEST).