Queen Kaylee and the Canada curse: What you missed from Paris while you were sleeping

PARIS: After a three-day gold rush, day four of Paris 2024 was looming as a day to forget for Australia.

Three different Aussie teams lost to Canada in a matter of hours and the Kookaburras got walloped 6-2 by Belgium.

But true to form, the swimming stars got the job done, with Kaylee McKeown's defence of her 100m backstroke crown bringing the house down at the pool.

Catch up on all the action below.

Kaylee goes back-to-back

McKeown set a new Olympic record as she stormed home to beat out her fierce US rival Regan Smith, who claimed silver.

It was the 23-year-old Queenslander's third individual gold medal - drawing her level with only Ian Thorpe, Betty Cuthbert, Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser and Shane Gould among Australians - with the 200m backstroke, 200m individual medley and relays to come.

She could these Games as our most decorated individual Olympic athlete.

After the race, McKeown paid tribute to her late father, who died in 2020 after a battle with brain cancer.

Later in the pool, Elijah Winnington finished a disappointing eighth in the 800m freestyle final after leading early in the race.

Mollie O'Callaghan, Shayna Jack and Kyle Chalmers also all qualified for tomorrow's 100m freestyle finals.

Australia's first bronze of Paris

In the last race of day four, the men's 4x200m freestyle relay team of Maximilian Giuliani, Flynn Southam, Winnington, and Thomas Neill powered to third.

Winnington's swim came less than an hour after his 800m final.

Great Britain defended its Olympic crown, with the US winning silver.

Sevens stunner leaves Aussies in tears

The white-hot favourite in the women's rugby sevens semi-final, Australia raced to a 12-0 lead and it looked like they'd play for gold.

Canada clearly didn't get the memo, rattling off 21 straight points to consign the Aussies to the bronze medal playoff.

As the reality of the loss set in, players could be seen in tears before the final whistle blew.

Unfortunately, the nightmare didn't end there as the USA crossed over in the final moments to snatch a bronze medal from Australia's grasp.

Brutal.

Biles and Team USA back on top of the world

US superstar Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast in history, was infamously forced to pull out of much of her program in Tokyo with the "twisties".

But her "redemption tour" is well and truly on track, with the champion leading Team USA to yet another gold in the women's team final.

Boomers brave but fall to star-studded Canadians

For a famously friendly country, Canada wasn't especially kind to Australia today in Olympic competition.

After turfing our women's rugby sevens team out in the semis, the men's basketball team also did a number on the Boomers.

Australia led at the half but Canada's roster of NBA stars including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (16 points) and RJ Barrett (24 points) proved too strong late in a 93-83 comeback win in Lille.

Josh Giddey scored 19 points and had seven assists for the Boomers, who were unable to keep pace when the Canadians pulled away.

Patty Mills (eight points) struggled again from deep but did flatten Canada's Lu Dort with a foul described as "Aussie rules-like" on the Nine commentary.

Just to add to the Canadian dominance, they also pipped Australia in the women's 3x3 basketball 22-14.

Fox begins hunt for second gold

Jess Fox, fresh from gold in the K1, cruised into the semi-final of the C1 slalom with the second-fastest time despite an error in her second heat run.

The reigning C1 gold medallist from Tokyo will race in the semi at 11.30pm AEST, with the final at 1.25am AEST Thursday.

Sharks take a bite out of Serbia

Serbia's men's water polo team is the back-to-back reigning Olympic champion.

Australia hadn't beaten them in 17 previous meetings - until today, when the Sharks completed one the biggest water polo upsets in history.

Luke Pavillard scored four goals in the 8-3 win, including this one below.

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Finally, take a look at this photo

Seriously - there's not much more we can say about Jerome Brouillet from Agence France-Presse's all-time snap of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina in Tahiti.

Watch every moment, every medal of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 live and free on Channel 9 and 9Now. Plus, every event streaming ad free, live and on demand with 4K on Stan Sport.