Tears, distress as Australia lets medals slip in brutal double dose of sevens misfortune

Australia's women's rugby sevens team have been dealt a double dose of heartbreak, missing the podium after losing to the USA in the bronze medal match following a devastating semi-final defeat to Canada.

Tim Walsh's side never trailed in the third-place playoff until after the final siren. They looked to have sealed a medal when Maddison Levi put Australia into the lead late on with her 14th try of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

But shortly after the ensuing kick-off, Alex Sedrick broke a tackle from Teagan Levi in her own half before racing 80 metres to score under the posts. The simple conversion sealed bronze.

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For the second time in hours, the Australians were in tears after full-time, and captain Charlotte Caslick lamented two performances that were below the side's best.

"Obviously it wasn't our day, we didn't control possession like we probably know that we can," she said after the loss.

"But I'm really proud of the girls. They played their hearts out, and that's all that we can ask for."

After dominating the opening two days of competition with four wins from as many games, Australia couldn't reach the same level in their last two matches.

They fell off tackles and made a string of handling errors, including a crucial blunder when Sariah Paki knocked on with an open try-line begging.

But with tears in her eyes, Caslick struck an optimistic tone about her side's future.

"A lot of these girls will go on to the next Olympics and the home Olympics in Brisbane 2032," she said.

"The sport's in very good hands. They're brave and they leave their hearts out on the field. So I couldn't be any prouder."

Earlier in the day, the Aussies had fallen victim to one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport at the Olympics, going down to Canada in the semi-finals to lose their chance of taking home gold.

Coming into the game as white-hot favourites, the Aussies started well with tries to Maddison Levi – her 12th of the Games – and Sariah Paki to go up 12-0.

But Canada piled on 21 unanswered points at Stade de France, including a crucial try on the stroke of half-time, to seal an unlikely gold medal match-up with New Zealand.

There were tears on the Australian bench as the outcome became inevitable, and veteran Sharni Smale admitted the team was "numb" after the shock loss.

"Can't really put it into words," she said.

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"It kinda sucks. But this is what's sport's about, right?

"The triumphs, the losses, it all comes with it."

It's the second upset in a row Canada had sprung, after surprising hosts France in the quarter-finals, but the underdogs were unable to repeat the dose in the gold medal match, which they lost narrowly to New Zealand.