Olympics day 11 early wrap: Netherlands reach men’s hockey final, Quan wins diving gold

There was action on the hockey field and basketball court and medals in diving and skateboarding on Tuesday's day 11 of the Paris Olympics:  

Hockey: Netherlands down Spain 4-0 to reach men's hockey final

Top-ranked Netherlands reached the men's hockey final at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday with a much more comfortable 4-0 win over Spain than in the pool stage when they had to fight back from two goals down.

Cheers erupted from the sea of orange blanketing the crowd just before the final whistle as Dutch fans showed up in force.

They will play in their first Olympic final since London 2012 as they bid to end a 24-year gold medal drought.

India and Germany meet in the second semi-final later on Tuesday - a rematch of their Tokyo Games bronze medal clash.

Spain, who lost 5-3 to the Dutch in their Pool A match, will get their first chance to compete for a medal since 2008 in the bronze medal match.

Netherlands defender Jip Janssen opened the scoring with a converted penalty stroke in the 12th minute after goalkeeper Luis Calzado kicked the legs out from under forward Tjep Hoedemakers while going for the ball.

Captain Thierry Brinkman got the second in the 20th after collecting a rebound off Spain defender Ignacio Rodriguez's stick and blasting the ball into the net for his first goal of the Paris Games.

"I was waiting for that moment for the whole tournament because I had a bit of bad luck in the nine yards. All the balls were not coming to my stick, so I was waiting for this moment," Brinkman said.

"You have to keep the patience always as an international striker. The most important ball is the next ball, the next chance you get."

The scoring continued in the opening minutes of the third quarter as forward Thijs van Dam sank his shot with plenty of space in the circle after two Spain defenders collided trying to collect a deep pass by the Netherlands skipper.

The crowd again erupted in the 50th minute when forward Duco Telgenkamp scored the Dutch team's fourth.

"We didn't do a lot of things wrong, but the small details killed us," Spain skipper Marc Miralles said.

"They did not have that many chances I think, but they were very efficient and that's definitely what we need to improve for the next game." 

Diving: China's Quan wins gold in women's 10m platform

China's Quan Hongchan won the women's 10m platform event on Tuesday, bagging the country's fifth diving gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Quan retained her Tokyo title on 425.60 points from teammate Chen Yuxi who again won silver. North Korea's Kim Mi Rae took the bronze.

Quan and Chen, who won the synchronised 10m platform event last week, were clear favourites to reach the individual final having dominated the preliminary and semi-final rounds.

The 17-year-old Quan quickly demonstrate what perfection is in a dive by getting full marks from all the judges on her first – a forward 3-1/2 somersaults piked.

Quan made mistakes on her third dive, however, which allowed Chen, who turns 19 next month, to narrow the gap to 1.6 points after the 20-year-old executed a neat routine from an arm stand position to score 89.1 points, her highest in the final.

Quan quickly recovered with a better fourth dive, scoring 92.4 points to keep her lead, and finished well to claim gold.

"I give myself 50 [out of 100] for today's performance," Quan said after the event. "I didn't do any of the dives well other than the first one."

With her victory, Quan has become the fifth person to defend an Olympic title in diving.

Her journey to the second Olympic trophy wasn't easy as Quan had to cope with puberty after winning the gold medal in Tokyo at the age of 14.

"The most difficult challenge is that I had to change my routines. And I also had to cope with weight gains," Quan said. "But I had a lot of support from my coach who's been giving me guidance and encouragement."

Silver medallist Chen said she was happy the gold went to China.

"I set some goals for myself before the competition and I'm glad I've delivered them and performed with all I had," she said.

"China won the gold and it was won by my partner. I'm very happy about it," she said. "It is a pity that I lost so narrowly but I'll just have to work harder."

The 23-year-old Kim picked up her second medal in Paris after taking silver in the synchronised 10m platform event, becoming her country's second Olympian to claim multiple medals in a single Games and the first diver to stand on the Olympic podium.

"When I realized I wasn't able to do better, I felt sad... At the same time it is a meaningful, significant medal," she said.

"It's going to be significant in the memory of North Korea. It’s going to be a very small corner of the page of the history of North Korea," she added. 

Basketball: Jokic leads Serbia to overtime win over Australia and into semis, Germany beat Greece

Nikola Jokic proved again why he is a three-time NBA most valuable player, leading Serbia to a nail-biting 95-90 overtime win over Australia on Tuesday and into the final four of the Paris Olympics men's basketball tournament.

It was an uphill victory from the start for Serbia, who dug themselves out of a 24-point first half hole to reach the brink of a regulation victory only to watch Patty Mill hit a desperation fade away jumper with 1.4 seconds to play to force the extra session.

With just over a minute to go in overtime and Serbia trailing 90-89 Jokic came to his country's rescue, scoring two clutch baskets to deliver the dagger and a 93-90 lead.

Bogdan Bogdanovic made the final two free throws to seal the victory.

Jokic finished with a team high 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Bogdanovic contributed 17 points to the Serbian cause.

The win sends Serbia through to the semi-finals for the second in the last three Games, where they now await the winner of U.S. and Brazil. "Just amazing," said Bogdanovic praising Jokic. "Defensively, too.

"People don't see that a lot, defensively, he's tough as well. But I know he can play even better than that," Bogdanovic added. "He makes the game easy. It's fun to play with him."

Earlier, Franz Wagner hit for 18 points as Germany overcame a sleepy start to ease past Greece 76-63 and secure their spot in a first ever Olympic final four.

After group play in Lille, the basketball tournament has moved to Paris for the knockout round with four quarter-finals highlighted by a showdown between medal contenders France and Canada followed by the LeBron James-led U.S. taking on Brazil.

Skateboarding: Australia's Trew takes gold medal in women's park

Arisa Trew won gold in women's park skateboarding at the Paris Games on Tuesday to become the first Australian woman to win a skateboarding medal at the Olympics.

The 14-year-old saved her best for last, delivering a gutsy and precise performance on her third and final run and was rewarded with a huge score of 93.18 on a sunsoaked day at La Concorde.

Japan's Cocona Hiraki won silver and Britain's Sky Brown took bronze. Hiraki also won silver and Brown bronze at the competition at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

A new champion was guaranteed after Tokyo gold medalist Sakura Yosozumi failed to qualify for the final during preliminary rounds, which were held earlier in the day. 

All the latest Paris Games coverage on TimesLIVE’s Olympics 2024 page.

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