Olympics day 11: Boomers' battle as Serbia make quarter-final fightback (2024)

• The live blog will appear below the first two paragraphs
• Scroll below the blog to read the day 10 recap

Australia has failed to win a gold medal on just one of the 11 days so far at Paris, and there's hope the country will bag a couple of more in the sailing when Matt Wearn hits the water.

The Boomers face a massive test against Serbia, while two-time javelin world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber begins her quest for Olympic gold. Follow the action below.

DAY 10 RECAP: 'Do I have the genes?'Fox's emotional kayak gold

If the Fox sisters were a country of their own, they'd have finished the night in the Olympic village 17th on the overall medal count - and only 11 countries would have had more gold.

Noemie Fox stepped out of the shadow of her triple Olympic champion sister Jessica to win a gold medal of her own in the kayak cross, completing a clean sweep of women's canoe events for the duo.

Which is why Jessica - who already claimed the canoe single and kayak single titles in Paris - jumped into the water to celebrate with her younger sister after she won the whitewater event.

"Even qualifying was a moment where I realised that I qualified on my own merit and you're capable of doing great things as well," Noemie said.

"The past two years I've really been doing it for my own projects. But before that I did [ask myself] 'do I have the genes as well or am I just doing it because I'm making the team?'

"I found my own love for the sport and having the Olympic window changed everything. When you dream big, you love what you do."

"I'm [Jessica's] biggest cheerleader, just like she's mine. To watch her win two golds and then to have her as my biggest cheerleader, it's a fairytale ending.

"She's the greatest of all time in our sport. When someone like that really believes in you and tells you 'you've got it', you've got to go and get it. I got my moment and it's my medal and we're walking away with three gold medals in our family, which is insane."

If that was not enough, their mother Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi is also an Olympic medallist, winning a kayak single bronze for France at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

"You don't really dare to dream this big, but I did this time," Fox said. "t was pure joy - there's no way to describe that feeling. It's crazy that it's mine."

Dad Richard finished fourth at the Olympics and was in the stands calling the race as part of the Channel Nine commentary. It's not surprise he jumped out of his seat to join the rest of the family when Myriam launched herself into the water to celebrate with Noemie and Jessica.

"I thought Mum was going to drown," Noemie Fox said.

"I don't know, I was just screaming. We were both screaming. She was like, 'what is going on? What the hell?'

"I had a moment when I was like, 'OK, I'm going to be like Jess or like Mum, I'm not going to be like Dad, I'm not going to finish fourth."

Jessica Fox arrived in Paris chasing a treble, only to be knocked out of the kayak cross tournament in a race won by her little sister.

But that was never going to stop her roaring across the bank, cheering Noemie to gold.

"I was so nervous, I just wanted her to do a good race ... she nailed it," Jessica said. I'm just in awe of her ... she's an Olympic champion and she has worked so hard for that, I'm so happy for her."

SURFING SILVER

It was the lone gold medal for Australia on day 10 in Paris. Some 16,000 kilometres away, the waves stopped Jack Robinson from claiming one more.

Robinson scored 7.83 to local favourite Kauli Vaast's 17.67 to claim silver in the men's surfing tournament at Teahupo'o where, sandwiched between steep, forested mountains and a sparkling blue lagoon, Olympic billboards were comfortably outnumbered by stalls selling fresh fish or mangoes and other fruit.

Yet in the water, Robinson would dethrone some of the sport's best to secure Australia's best result in Olympic surfing, which was added to the program in Tokyo.

HOCKEYROO HEARTBREAK

Jane Claxton has taken a parting shot at those responsible for the Hockeyroos' historical cultural issues and, in a tearful goodbye, lamented the brutal reality of another short-lived Olympic campaign.

Australia were upset 3-2 by China in Monday's Olympics quarter-finals, the sixth consecutive loss at the stage for the team since winning a third gold in four Games in Sydney 24 years ago.

Three-time Olympian Claxton confirmed her retirement after the Paris loss before delving into the program's cultural overhaul and the emotional toll of more Olympic heartbreak.

"It doesn't reflect what we are as a group; the high skill level and work-rate, tenacity, resilience," said Claxton, who has won World Cup silver, bronze and Commonwealth gold.

"I know Australians value [Olympic] medals and that's how they value your worth as an athlete and that's heartbreaking.

"You don't want to be walking away from a 13-year career with nothing to show for it, even though you have so much."

HOW THE DAY PANNED OUT

Gold: Noemie Fox - (canoe slalom - kayak cross) - This story is getting more improbably magnificent by the day. For so long stuck behind behind her superstar sister Jessica on the Olympic stage, Noemie finally gets her moment in the sun. And wins the gold. As you do.

OTHER HEADLINE GOLD MEDALLISTS

* Swede Armand Duplantis has gone one better in defending his Olympic gold in the men's pole vault final, breaking his own world record and shattering the Olympic record with a jump of 6.25m.

* Great Britain have broken the world record and secured gold in the women's team sprint track cycling after a nail-biting finish against New Zealand.

* Teenager Kayla Nemour wept tears of joy as she won Algeria's first ever Olympic gymnastic gold and first medal for her country in Paris in the women's uneven bars.

WHAT ELSE HAPPENED

* The Hockeyroos' Olympic campaign is over after a shock loss to China going down 3-2 in their women's hockey quarter-final.

* The Aussie Sharks are looking to put a narrow loss to lowly Japan behind them as they march on to the quarter-finals.

* Pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall battled through an ankle injury to finish sixth in the men's pole vault final, improving from his Tokyo Olympics result.

* Australias world champion Nina Kennedy has cruised into the women's pole vault final after recording a jump of 4.55m.

* Australia are out of medal contention in the men's team table tennis after crashing 3-0 to Tokyo bronze medallists Japan.

* The Australian men's team pursuit qualified the fastest at the velodrome in the track cycling ahead of the finals later this week.

WHO SAID WHAT?

"I dared to dream to get to the Olympics, and then to get to that final, it was really just all about focusing on the race," Olympic debutant Noemie Fox on winning the first ever Olympic gold in the women's kayak cross.

"We got off to a good start and maybe we got complacent, they fought to the very end and they got the win," Luke Pavillard on the Sharks nail-biting loss against Japan in the men's water polo.

"We started well but we were a bit patchy in the middle, a goal that was not a goal made the lead quite hard to come back from, but I'm still really proud of the girls," Hockeyroos' Kaitlin Nobbs on their shock loss to China in the women's hockey.