It's been the story of Australia's Olympic campaign. They underachieved in the pool, they underachieved on the cycling track, and now the women's basketball team will walk away from Rio without the medal they were expected to win.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In a shock 73-71 loss on Tuesday afternoon, the 14th ranked Serbians stunned the world No.2 Australians to end their hopes of winning a medal for the sixth consecutive Olympics.
A powerhouse performance from Liz Cambage (29 points, 11 rebounds) wasn't enough to help the Opals avoid a stunning exit from the Rio Olympics, edged out by the Serbians in a nail-biting quarter-final.
The heartbreaking loss reduced the women to tears, ending captain Penny Taylor's career on a sombre note as her teammates admitted they struggled to look her in the eye after the match.
"For a kid growing up in basketball, this is the goal," an emotional Taylor said.
"This is the ultimate - to represent your country, to be named one of the best basketballers in your country is huge. That was always my goal. It hurts a little not to have done that tonight."
"It's pretty upsetting. We expect more from ourselves and everyone expects more from us. It hurts to let people down and let ourselves down. All the work that has gone into it ... it's very disappointing.
The Opals came into the game with a perfect 5-0 record in the group stage, and were expected to make light work of a Serbian team that had won just two of its five games at the Olympics.
However the Australians, who along with the United States went through the group stage undefeated, didn't have it all their own way and went into the fourth quarter hanging on to a narrow one point lead.
The lead ebbed and flowed throughout a dramatic final quarter and the Aussies found themselves trailing by three points with a minute remaining and were unable to reduce the deficit.
"We were confident of getting through this and getting to the medal rounds," coach Brendan Joyce said.
"But we've been knocked out and it is really difficult to swallow ... we had hoped the three-and-a-half years of work would still give us an opportunity to medal. And realistically, we should have. No excuses."
Cambage was furious after the match, livid the Serbians weren't fouled for a challenge on her in the dying minutes.
The Aussie has been the target of opposition tactics all Olympics.
"She's been fouled in every game. I think because of her length and size, sometimes they just don't call it. Otherwise she would be going to the free-throw line a hell of a lot more."
