Olympics day 6 early wrap: Swiatek stunned in semis, NZ sculls pair lead rowing gold rush

There were more medals and drama in the early action on Thursday's day 6 of the Paris Olympic Games:
Tennis: Swiatek stunned in semifinals by China's Zheng
Iga Swiatek will have to wait four more years to try to win an Olympic gold medal after the Polish top seed was shocked by China's Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals at Roland Garros on Thursday — her first loss there since 2021.
Swiatek, the overwhelming favourite for gold after a third successive French Open title this year confirmed her as the Queen of Clay, was outplayed 6-2 7-5 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
In snapping Swiatek's 25-match winning streak at Roland Garros, Australian Open runner-up Zheng became the first Chinese player to reach the singles final at an Olympic tournament.
The country's previous best singles result at the Olympics was Li Na finishing fourth in the 2008 Beijing Games.
Zheng, who did not even have to bring her A-game against a badly off-key Swiatek, will face either Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova or Croatia's Donna Vekic for the gold medal. Swiatek will have to console herself with a match for a bronze medal.
With so many big names missing from the Olympic singles and with several seeds having already fallen, Swiatek had looked odds on to add the Olympic gold to her five Grand Slam titles.
She held a 6-0 career record against Zheng, but the 23-year-old Swiatek picked the worst possible time to produce one of her worst displays of the season, spraying 36 unforced errors.
Qinwen Zheng has just beaten Iga Swiatek 6-2, 7-5! 🙌
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 1, 2024
She becomes the first athlete from her nation to make an Olympic tennis final!#Paris2024 | #CloserToYourChampions pic.twitter.com/3xtw1HMn7w
Swiatek was never in the opening set as she looked uncomfortable in the hot and humid conditions, struggling to find her range with shots often missing the lines by metres.
After a bathroom break to re-set she seemed to have regained control in the second set as she went 4-0 ahead.
But it proved a false dawn as the errors returned and Zheng took full advantage to claw her way back.
Swiatek dropped serve at 5-5 and Zheng then kept cool as she served for victory — banging a first serve on to the line on match point that her opponent thought had landed out.
A quick check from the umpire confirmed Swiatek's fate.
The men's quarterfinals are also on the schedule on Thursday with second seeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz first up against American Tommy Paul.
Serbian top seed Novak Djokovic continues his bid for long-awaited Olympic gold against Stefanos Tsitsipas while defending champion Alexander Zverev faces Italy's Lorenzo Musetti.
The other men's last-eight clash is between Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Norway's Casper Ruud.
New Zealand sculls pair lead rowing gold rush at Paris Games
New Zealand, Romania, Netherlands and the US all won gold as the double sculls and fours Olympic competitions reached their climax at the Paris Games on a thrilling morning of racing at the Vaires-sur-Marnes Nautical Stadium on Thursday.
Kicking off a period of just over an hour in which a barrage of medals were awarded, the Kiwi crew of Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors held their nerve in a tight finish to edge Romania in a time of 6:50.45, hanging on to grab gold by 0.24 seconds.
The pair have both become mothers since the last Olympics, and they paid tribute to their children, who were watching from the stands, after their victory.
“They're definitely our superpower in the background. Since Tokyo (2020) we've both believed we could win this race. It's been a slow build, but to be here and finally do it in front of them, I can't believe it,” Spoors said.
Romania went out fast in the men's double sculls final but were quickly reined in by a strong Dutch crew who took the lead around the midway point of the race and looked strong before being pulled back.
Despite looking spent, the Romanians came roaring back to take the lead again, leaving the Dutch in a furious battle for second place with the resurgent Ireland crew, who ultimately had to be content with bronze despite their strong finish.
“I don't care who is the world champion, who is the silver medallist,” Romania's Marian Enache said after the victory. “I have respect for all the crews that compete against me. I told them before: if they want to beat me, they must die.”
After a fourth place and one silver medal in the opening two races, the Dutch finally made the top step of the podium in the women’s four final after a thrilling showdown with the British crew that saw them finish 0.18 seconds in front to grab gold.
“I just went, 'keep rowing, keep rowing', then I heard Hermijnte (Drenth) behind me — 'guys, we won.',” Tinka Offereins of the Dutch team said. “I looked too late at the screen, and we were first. It was not normal. I can't believe it.”
The day's racing ended with the men's four final which the US dominated almost from the start, brushing off a late challenge from New Zealand to finish in 5:49.03 for gold.
Athletics: China's Yang secures women's race walk gold
China's Yang Jiayu claimed gold in the women's 20km race walk at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, pulling away from the field after the 5km mark and barely looking back en route to a victory that fulfilled a promise made to her late father.
Yang crossed the finish line in one hour 25 minutes and 54 seconds, Spain's Maria Perez secured the silver medal in 1:26.19 and Australia's Jemima Montag won bronze in 1:26.25.
“I never mentioned this before but I promised him (her father) I would win gold,” Yang said. “Now I have finally done it, I am very proud of myself.”
Yang is the fourth Chinese woman to win the event in the seven times it has been contested at the Olympics.
Brian Pintado of Ecuador won the men's race earlier on Thursday for the first athletics medal of the Paris Olympics.
With her victory, Yang added Olympic champion to a sparkling resume that already included world record holder and 2017 world champion.
The 28-year-old's bold race tactics to surge into an early lead paid off in emphatic fashion as she already had half a minute on the field by the 10km mark.
Perez, the 2023 world champion who finished fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, threatened to chip away at the difference around the 18km mark, but Yang responded in spectacular fashion and was unchallenged the rest of the way.
Yang's father died of illness while she was competing at the 2015 World University Games and when she won the 2017 worlds in London she dedicated the victory to her dad saying: “I wanted to make my father in heaven proud of me.”
She went on to chop a whopping 49 seconds off the world record in March 2021, but struggled to a 12th-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics four months later.
“Tokyo was very tricky for me, so I worked very hard to come back and get the best results in Paris,” she said.
Thursday's race was more about placing than times, particularly in the sizzling 28 Celsius heat.
The women doused their heads with water at every aid station and many wore scarves full of ice to keep their body temperature from rising dangerously.
Hundreds of fans, six deep in some places, lined the course that travelled in 1km loops along the Pont d'Iena and under the base of the Eiffel Tower. They banged loudly on the cardboard barriers each time the walkers passed by.
The athletics competition now shifts to Stade de France beginning on Friday.
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