The Opals will play for Olympic bronze after their latest effort to unseat the all-conquering Americans was swatted away in a 85-64 semi-final loss.

Australia had their moments but were no match for the Americans’ physicality and athleticism around the rim, Opals tumbling to the pine a common sight on Friday at the Bercy Arena.

Their Olympic head-to-head record now reads 0-9 and the US are on a 60-match Games streak as they seek an eighth-straight title on Sunday.

Only twice on that run, since 1992, have they won by less than 10 points.

Jackie Young (14 points) and A’ja Wilson (10 points, eight rebounds) started well before two-time Olympic champion Breanna Stewart (16 points, six rebounds, five assists) took over.

Captain Tess Madgen (10) held her own while 19-year-old Isobel Borlase (11 points) impressed when given the chance in the final quarter.

“We felt we could match it with them and tonight we probably didn’t play the Opals brand that we really wanted to come out and play,” Cayla George said.

“We allowed them to get out and run, do what they really like to and do what they’re good at.

“We didn’t really get them bogged down in an offence as much as we would have liked.”

They’ll play the winner of France and Belgium in Sunday’s bronze medal game.

“We’ll bounce back quickly,’ George said.

“I feel like you just have to figure it out as quick as possible.

“Each individual will do that in a different way. For me, I’m almost ready to play again tomorrow morning. Let’s get this medal game started.”

There was plenty of feeling in it for an Opals side coached by New York Liberty boss Sandy Brondello and boasting seven current WNBA players in the side, plus former league great and Hall of Famer Lauren Jackson.

But they were shaky to begin, six turnovers and three blocked shots allowing the US to race out by 10 points in the first five minutes.

Madgen steadied with five quick points and an expert Sami Whitcomb assist to a cutting Jade Melbourne got them within two points approaching quarter time.

Jackson’s first-quarter injection, mostly to guard Brittney Griner, also seemed to spark the side as confidence swelled.

It was promptly eaten up by the US though, who denied any good Australia looks to began the second quarter and racked up 14-straight points to put the game to bed just minutes into that period.

Jewell Lloyd’s triple made it 30-16, Cayla George nailing a triple in front of the spectating US men’s stars Kevin Durant and Bam Adebeyo a rare highlight of a 25-11 quarter.

The Opals tried to attack the rim but were constantly shut down, bouncing off stationary US bodies and unable to earn a free throw until the final quarter.

The Americans bossed the boards, winning rebounds 46-34 and points in the paint 44-28.

The loss busted a brilliant three-game winning streak that had resuscitated the Opals after a horror first-up defeat to Nigeria.

Australia is chasing a return to the podium for the first time since 2012, when they clinched a fifth-straight minor placing in London.

Jackson, 43 and in her fifth Olympic campaign, received post-game hugs from her US rivals and retired US soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who was among the stars sitting courtside.

Beach volleyball defeat

Australian beach volleyball duo Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy have suffered a comprehensive defeat to Switzerland in their bronze medal match, missing out on a second Olympic medal.

A night after they had lost out agonisingly to Brazil in their semi-final, the Aussie pair suffered more heartbreak, outplayed 21-17 21-15 by Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner.

Playing while the illuminated Eiffel Tower sparkled in the dark, the lights went out for the Australians, who looked as if they were suffering a hangover from the three-set defeat 24 hours earlier.

Adelaide’s 30-year-old del Solar and Brisbane’s 32-year-old Clancy were never in the hunt, a burst of brilliance from the Swiss in the middle of the first set effectively taking the stanza away.

Things only got worse in the second set with Hueberli’s blocking excellence and Brunner’s remarkable speed over the sand ensuring there was no way del Solar and Clancy would add to the silver won in Tokyo.

It was a deeply disappointing end to their campaign for the pair, who broke a 21-year medal drought for Australia by making the Tokyo final, following in the footsteps of golden girls Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook, who triumphed in Sydney 2000.

Ryan surprises herself and coach

Australian Lauren Ryan certainly didn’t expect to be leading the star-studded Olympic 10,000m final just past the halfway point.

It was something of a shock to her coach too.

In the pack behind her was world record holder Beatrice Chebet – who would go on to win the gold – Dutch superstar Sifan Hassan and the best Ethiopians and Kenyans.

Ryan’s turn at the front only lasted for little more than a lap and she eventually finished 13th – still the second-best result by an Australian woman in an Olympic 10,000m.

And she had a ball.

“Everything was in place to have a great race and I feel like that’s what we did,” said the 26-year-old Ryan, who spent several years in the US college system representing Florida State University.

“We executed the race as well as we could have, except my coach (Lara Rogers) was probably like ‘don’t lead it’.

“But I felt comfortable enough to do it and I thought it paid off because we lost a bunch of girls and it made the pack a lot smaller when we got to the end.

“So I’m really happy.”

Rousseau into semis

Australian diving star Cassiel Rousseau has summoned the spirit of his Olympic-winning French grandfather as he sailed into the semi-finals of the 10m platform in Paris.

For Rousseau, world champion in 2023 in an event dominated by Chinese divers, his odyssey back in the land of his forebears has been most enjoyable as he seeks to emulate his grandpa Michel Rousseau, who was the track cycling champion for France at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

“We’re kind of doing the old switcheroo here, the Aussie going to France instead of the French going to Australia,” smiled the laid-back Queenslander after finishing seventh in prelims on Friday to qualify for the 18-man semi-final on Saturday.

“He obviously won the gold. I’m not hopeful to win a gold here, but I’m just going to keep trying my best.

“But I always feel his spirit, 100 per cent, every single competition I do, he’s always with me. He was an amazing man.”

The 23-year-old is one of the more fascinating figures of the Australian team in Paris, a self-confessed shy guy who’s also always been an extrovert when presented with a crowd ever since he was a child circus performer and a champion acrobatic gymnast in Queensland as a kid.

From a multi-talented family, with sister Elodie once a Cirque Du Soleil performer in Las Vegas, Rousseau was in the final of Australia’s Got Talent when just 11, but it was only five years later that he turned his aerial skills to diving, becoming the country’s junior champ within a year.

By last year, his journey had taken him to a world title in Fukuoka, during which he achieved the rare feat of beating the two top Chinese.

But his form has dipped since then – not that this cheery figure seems too worried. He’s here to have fun, he smiles.

“Of course, everyone expects great things, but I don’t,” he shrugged.

“I never look to get a medal. In Japan last year, it was probably my peak performance and I’m not really at my peak at the moment. Hopefully, next year.

“But obviously anything’s possible. If you land on your head, you should be fine to make the final, so hopefully I’ll be able to do that.”

So where’s the drop occurred in 2024?

“Just mentally and physically, it just hasn’t been the best. It’s kinda just being a human, I guess,” he said.

“The aim is to have fun. I’m incredibly grateful to be here, being able to a compete in the Olympics and be able to travel so much as an athlete. I’m extremely happy with my performance.”

His French roots run particularly deep, with his Parisian mum ensuring that twin Rousseau and his six siblings spoke French at home when he was young.

“It’s an amazing, interesting story I have with my family in France. Just being in Paris, where mum grew up in, is just an amazing feeling, and her showing me around last week was just a good feeling.”

Rousseau scored 453.10 points, way behind Chinese leader Cao Yuan’s 500.15, and will be joined in the semis by 18-year-old Adelaide diver Jaxon Bowshire who performed superbly on debut to finish 14th with 390.30.

Craig runs personal best

Teenage middle-distance star Peyton Craig has taken enormous self-belief from going within a whisker of becoming just the second Australian man in more than half a century to contest an Olympic 800m final.

Craig, 19, ran a tactically-astute race on Friday in Paris that belied his inexperience on the world stage, stopping the clock in a personal best time of one minute 44.11 seconds in sixth place.

It was easily the quickest of the three semi-finals, so fourth would have been good enough to earn the Queenslander a spot in the final on Saturday night.

“What’s really satisfying is I know I gave myself every shot – I didn’t put myself in a bad position in the race at all,” said Craig, who also dabbled in swimming, triathlons and rugby league at a high level as a kid before deciding to focus on the track.

“With 100 metres to go I genuinely thought I might have gotten past those guys and it just happened that the Spanish guy pulled out in front of me and probably checked my run a little bit.

“But I emptied the tank, ran a PB and you can’t ask for much more than running your lifetime best in a semi-final.

“I’m still so raw to the sport and I know with a lot more work I can be really quite competitive on the world stage.

“So it definitely lights the fire that was already burning and it’s just like pouring petrol on the flame.”

Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi led all qualifiers in 1:43.42.

Craig will now turn his attention to next month’s world juniors in Peru.

“My goal is to win world juniors and I know after this Olympic experience that I’m good enough,” he said.

“It’s a matter of executing, running the right way.

“I had a motto here to give myself an opportunity to do something special … and I’m going to carry that through to world juniors.”

Three years ago in Tokyo, Peter Bol became the first Australian man since Ralph Doubell won gold at the 1968 Mexico City Games to contest an Olympic 800m final.

Bol and national record holder Joseph Deng both had disappointing Paris campaigns, being run out in the repechage round without firing a shot.

National record holder Lauren Ryan ran on gamely to finish 13th in the women’s 10,000m final won by Kenyan Beatrice Chebet in 30:43.25, just ahead of surprise silver medallist Nadia Battocletti from Italy and Dutch star Sifan Hassan.

Ryan was in the top four throughout the opening half of the race and even took a turn at the front with 12 laps to go before being swamped by the big guns.

She clocked a time of 31:13.25.

The only Australian woman to finish higher in an Olympic 10,000m final was Eloise Wellings, who was 10th in 2016.

Connor Murphy could only manage 16.30m in the triple jump final – well shy of his PB of 16.90m – and finished last.

The 22-year-old was Australia’s first Olympic triple jump finalist since his coach and father Andrew, who was 10th at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Fellow Olympic debutants Camryn Newton-Smith and Tori West were 19th and 20th in the heptathlon.

Belgian Nafissatou Thiam won a record third Olympic title with 6880 points ahead of British two-time world champ Katarina Johnson-Thompson (6844).

—AAP